Systemic Violence Yes, Systemic Racism No

Talk about misreading the moment. When George Floyd’s death last year triggered BLM protests across America, I drew on previous rounds of anti-police demonstrations whose excesses had led to widespread revulsion, and predicted more of the same.

“The images of looting department stores in Manhattan,” I wrote, ignoring the sheer scale of the participation in the protests, “may ensure that the protesters — and their cause — get dismissed as anarchists.”

It was an epic underestimation of the movement’s power. Because instead of triggering a bipartisan backlash, a Democratic president was elected — despite staying largely quiet about the mass law-breaking. The riots moved the needle so much that Biden’s recent stimulus plan gave equal weight to “advancing racial equity” as “investing in America.”

So a year on, as the grisly details of Floyd’s death are daily news at former cop Derek Chauvin’s trial, this is my admission of a fundamental journalistic error: confusing what ought to be with what is.