Since the Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of the murder of George Floyd last summer, it has become a staple of the Trumpists, Republicans, and white supremacists in general, that these protests were responsible for the looting that devastated some business districts. There definitely was a relationship between these two phenomenal, but it's not the one we have been led to believe. Let me the speak from my own experience on this.
The Looters
On the afternoon of 31 May 2020, there was an outbreak of looting in nearby Santa Monica, CA. It took place in the ritzy shopping area around 4th & Santa Monica Blvd., and since it was, well, Santa Monica, it got nationwide coverage. Here is an ABC7 report on it, complete with a bird's eye view of the looting, shot from a helicopter.
You'll notice that they accurately labeled their report Looting in Santa Monica blocks away from Black Lives Matter protest. The reporter accurately describes the looters of being opportunistic, and you'll notice there are only a handful of Santa Monica Police around, and they are completely overwhelmed. If you know that Santa Monica has a pretty substantial police department, you may be inclined to ask: Well, where are they? More on that later.
The Protesters
There was a rather large and robust march through Santa Monica, and neighboring Venice, to protest the murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others, that took place around the same time.
I picked it up as the march came by my place in Venice. It was heading south on Pacific Ave. from Santa Monica, when I shot this picture from my balcony. Then I promptly joined the march. I live about a block south of Santa Monica.
We continued south on Pacific for about a mile into Venice. While we were still marching south into Venice, the word came down the line that the police, both LAPD & SMPD, had moved the curfew up to 4:00PM. It had been 6:00PM. It was then around 3:30PM, hardly enough time for the marchers to get back to their starting point in Santa Monica, let alone transit home.
It involved local area residents of all ages and many ethnicities.
As we crossed Rose Ave. again, I punked out, for a variety of reasons, including covid, curfew, and just plain being tired of walking, and headed on home.
But I caught what happened next on TV.
As the matchers got into Santa Monica, they were blocked by what looked to be the entire Santa Monica Police Department. As you can see by the time, they were intent on enforcing that 4:00PM curfew they had declared while the march was still in progress. There had been no violence from the marchers to that point, and no looting from the BLM protesters at any time.
This was happening about the same time of the looting was breaking out on Santa Monica & 4th, about a half-mile away.
Apparently, SMPD didn't have enough forces to both kettle and harass the social justice protesters, and deal with the looters at the same time. So, they chose to mess with the peaceful protesters while they let the looters run wild.
From their POV, it was all good, because they could use the looting they failed to stop to tarnish the Black Lives Matter protesters that were demanding an end to police violence and harassment. Two for one.
The looters were opportunists. They were criminals who knew that the police preoccupation with peaceful protesters would give them the opportunity to loot in areas that normally would be heavily policed.
So, you see, rather than the protesters being looters, or even aligned with the looters, it was actually the looters and the police that were making common cause.
More, later
Clay Claiborne
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