- February 2nd, 2021, 7:15 pm#4945458There is a massive difference between the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 and the insurrection this January--they aren't even comparable.
Literally no one justified the destruction caused during the riots following the death of George Flloyd; what people DID say, was that they understood why it was happening. Black Americans continue to live under the oppression of institutional racism and many felt they had exhausted every legal and civil avenue for fighting for change. Black men continued to be killed by police at rates far higher than other Americans. They tried kneeling to raise awareness and were told "stop kneeling and protest the right way" by none other than the President and Vice-President of their own country. At some point, you can only push a people so far before they snap... if you think this was bad, one need only look at the 50s and 60s to see how violently an oppressed people can lash out.
The insurrection is not similar in this regard; their justification for storming the Capitol was based on an entirely fabricated lie--they led a violent mob because they thought an election was stolen... which it wasn't. The other reason it isn't similar is because the George Floyd protests were apolitical--meaning the people involved had an agenda, but it was not tied to a political party--whereas the Capitol riot was explicitly tied to the Republican Party--the Republican president held a rally at the White House and told Republican supporters, who were waving flags and wearing apparel for the Republican President, to march on the capitol and "fight like hell" for his lie that he had actually won the election.
While both situations devolved into violence, they aren't relatable. It's the difference between being upset that a building started on fire due to poor maintenance and shoddy electrical work, and an arsonist setting the building on fire. Both involve the destruction of the building and possible loss of life, but you don't get mad at the wiring, you blame the engineer who allowed the system to fail... in the case of the George Floyd events, blame people in power who don't care to address the concerns of Black Americans and are content with the status quo.