People outside the Minneapolis police 3rd Precinct building after fires were set at the building during demonstrations over the death George Floyd. AP Photo / Carlos Gonzalez, Star Tribune
People outside the Minneapolis police 3rd Precinct building after fires were set at the building during demonstrations over the death George Floyd. AP Photo / Carlos Gonzalez, Star Tribune
It's hard to get your head around the world and all that's happening at the moment.
As if Covid-19 and the ensuing fallout wasn't bad enough, America is now setting itself on fire.
Denver police officers fire canisters to disperse a protest outside the State Capitol. AP Photo / David Zalubowski
Police brutality anywhere against anyone is rightfully shocking, but with the pattern in the US, I can understand the rage against it, and the feeling of powerlessness.. and the desire to protest.
But what I can't understand is the looting.
The opportunists joining in and decimating local businesses that have nothing to do with any of this.
Businesses and shops probably already hit hard by Covid and the lockdown, now gutted, set alight, all their stock stolen or ruined. Whole streets ransacked and vandalised, buildings and shops graffitied, landmarks destroyed, cars set alight, glass and debris strewn everywhere.
A fire burns inside a business 'Black Owned' in Minneapolis as protests rage on following the death of George Floyd. AP Photo / John Minchillo
Pro-rioters will tell you they have to do something to get attention and demand change, and given they don't trust the law, they're comfortable breaking it - but I don't think responding to crime with more crime is the answer.
They are tearing down their own cities and neighbourhoods. It's the rioters, the looters, and their families who'll be affected by the fallout from that.
Then there's the political argument.. everything these days is political at some level - so there's those who blame US President Donald Trump, and those who support Trump, all pointing the finger at each other.
I just don't know how America picks itself up from this.
A country already so beaten down by Covid-19, a country already awash with division.
The escalating tensions must be terrifying for those living in and around it.
And for those trying desperately to make sure there is real change out of all this, that the right message is heard: How soul-destroying.
Kate Hawkesby. Photo / Michael Craig
Because although the violence and anarchy is grabbing all the column inches and headlines, there are also tens of thousands of people peacefully protesting. That's the real message that's getting lost under the rubble of senseless violence and chaos.
But I think presidential hopeful Joe Biden said it right when he said, "the act of protesting should never be allowed to overshadow the reason we protest".
