The Riots and Protesting

Riots have seemed to be the new talk of the past couple months. All over the United States we have seen people protesting against the death of Geroge Floyd and others. People have started to take a stand against “police brutality”. Citizens have now used a source of expressing themselves that has been a part of the world for centuries is not being used as a way to express what they feel and do what they feel is the right thing to do. As stated from “The Atlantic”---Since the beginning of this country, riots and violent rhetoric have been markers of patriotism. When our Founding Fathers fought for independence, violence was the clarion call. Phrases such as “Live free or die,” “Give me liberty or give me death,” and “Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God” echoed throughout the nation, and continue today. Force and violence have always been used as weapons to defend liberty, because as John Adams once said in reference to the colonists’ treatment by the British, “We won’t be their Negroes.” Riots have not only been a recent thing, they have designed this world to be the way that it is. It is not good for our world at the moment but it is. Black rebellion and protest, though, have historically never been coupled with allegiance to American democracy. Today, peaceful demonstrations and violent riots alike have erupted across the country in response to police brutality and the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. Yet the language used to refer to protesters has included looters, thugs, and even claims that they are un-American. The philosophy of force and violence to obtain freedom has long been employed by white people and explicitly denied to black Americans. Riots have become the new “American Way”. The deadly violence occurred as protests across the country turned from peaceful to chaotic. There is no peace in this world we call home. Riots are not only part of the United States all across the world people are protesting and rioting. Nations around the world have watched in horror at the five days of civil unrest in the United States following the death of George Floyd. Racism-tinged events no longer startle even America’s closest allies, though many have watched coverage of the often-violent protests with growing unease.