Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space

"A community’s physical form, rather than its land uses, is its most intrinsic and enduring characteristic." [Katz, EPA] This blog focuses on place and placemaking and all that makes it work--historic preservation, urban design, transportation, asset-based community development, arts & cultural development, commercial district revitalization, tourism & destination development, and quality of life advocacy--along with doses of civic engagement and good governance watchdogging.

Sunday, May 31, 2020

Fire I'll take you to burn (from the lyric to the song "Fire" by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, 1968)

It's ironic that the demonstrations following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police misconduct is not quite one month after the 50th anniversary of the killings of student demonstrators at the hands of National Guardsmen and/or police at Kent State and Jackson State.

-- "50th anniversary of Kent State University shootings: May 4th"



While there have been plenty of demonstrations that haven't ended in mayhem, with the rioting across the country as a part of demonstrations against the killing of George Floyd ending up in looting and myriads of property destruction in cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, Oakland, Portland, Salt Lake City, etc., it's hard to know what to think.

I understand the rage, especially the symbolism of the burning down of the Third Precinct police station in Minneapolis.

But destroying stores like Target, I don't understand. Or destroying police cars in a place like Salt Lake.  Well, I do think I understand.

From the standpoint of revolutionary practice, taking advantage of events like demonstrations to foment violence in the name of revolution is the name of the game ("An Inside Look at the Antifa Movement," NBC Bay Area).

Oakland California, May 30, 2020

Protest in Salt Lake City Over the death of George Floyd
The New Radical Chic?  Protesters climb on a flipped over police vehicle Saturday, May 30, 2020, in Salt Lake City. Thousands of people converged on downtown Salt Lake City on Saturday to protest the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and some demonstrators set fire to a police car and threw eggs and wrote graffiti on a police station. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Then again, there is the general rage, which builds up over time, over how policing preferences the wealthy, whites, property, capital, and rioting is at the very least, understandable ("Did The 1965 Watts Riots Change Anything?," JSTOR). From the article:
... when researchers went out and actually talked with people in the neighborhood, they found a very different story. Looking at interviews with 586 black adults who lived within the curfew zone that marked the area of the riots, Sears and Tomlinson found that 22 percent said they’d been at least somewhat involved in the unrest. Fifty-six percent said the unrest had a purpose or goal, and 58 percent expected it to have favorable effects. And, while 50 percent said their overall feeling about the riots was unfavorable, more than a quarter reported feeling favorably about them. Even among those who were unhappy that the riots happened, 75 percent described it in terms like “a shame” or “a sad thing,” while only a quarter used words suggesting blame, like “disgrace,” “unnecessary,” or “senseless.”
In Planning in the Public Domain, John Friedmann distinguishes between (1) rote work based on the maintenance of the state; (2) radical practice, which challenges convention but still respects the boundaries of government and the social contract; and (3) revolutionary practice, which challenges the boundaries of government and is willing to go beyond.
Basic Concepts, Planning in the Public Domain

There is a great essay in the Guardian, "The answer to police violence is not 'reform'. It's defunding. Here's why," by Alex Vitale, Brooklyn College professor and author of the book The End of Policing (review).

He argues that the problems with policing are systemic and structural, regardless of throwing money at change and training.  That we have criminalized many social problems and de-emphasized non-police responses, while simultaneously militarizing the police.  The book goes through ten areas of policing and he recommends that police no longer be the first responders when it comes to these matters.  From the review:
Vitale argues that policing is ‘a tool for managing deeply entrenched inequalities’ that are organised along the intersecting terrains of race, class, gender and sexuality. This convincing critique of law enforcement underpins Vitale’s view that ‘any real agenda for police reform must look to replace police with empowered communities working to solve their own problems’.The book is organised into ten chapters that look at the criminalisation of different communities, including school children, sex workers and homeless people.

In the opening chapter, ‘The Limits of Police Reform’, Vitale examines how reforming police training concerning the use of physical force ignores a deeper, ‘casual disregard’ for black lives. Police training is part of the problem, since it is highly militarised and provided by private companies that serve police and military clients. The chapter discredits the liberal assumption that a more diverse police force equals a less racist one – diversity training is pointless since racism shapes official police procedure.
The Silent Majority/White fear of unrest as a political force that favors conservative responses.  Although, like how charlie made the point that it is likely that #BlackLivesMatter and the negative response by many helped to elect Donald Trump, I fear that the current demonstrations and rioting will help to peel off white support for Joseph Biden ("Echoes of the ‘silent majority,’ 50 years after Richard Nixon’s speech," Boston Globe; "This rage isn’t just for George Floyd. It’s for every victim of the police like him.," Washington Post) and could contribute to Trump's re-election ("This is the presidency George Wallace never had," Washington Post, albeit possibly without winning the popular vote, just like last time.

This song, from 1968, keeps popping into my mind.

Labels: , , ,

14 Comments:

At 3:49 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://twitter.com/MalloryNoePayne/status/1267053154341982208

https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/05/31/confederate-statues-vandalized-protesters-george-floyd/

 
At 7:03 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

In the UK, where police aren't militarized in the way that they are in the US, and most officers don't carry guns, can the police be more proactive in positive ways, which Vitale doesn't think is possible with the police in the US?

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/may/31/out-on-the-microbeats-where-police-hope-to-reclaim-londons-streets-from-gangs

 
At 8:06 AM, Anonymous charlie said...

Britian has a recent history of riots.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jun/26/man-accused-of-starting-2011-london-riots-mark-duggan

three points:

1) Drove through downtown yesterday around 4; traffic was being re-routed around WF so didn't get a look. Lots of white people in dark clothing. Lots of out of state cars. Saw at least 8 vehicles from Detroit. Race riots are about demonstrating that you own your turf. This is different.

2) Riots are the expected result when you lock down a country for 2 months and ask people to wear masks. Mask wearing is considered bad in american culture because it enables looting.

3) Much like your "NRA protests" a few weeks, there is a political message. NRA protests forced openings -- particularly is the majority of the country where virus never took off. These protests will force McConnnel to consider the state bailouts -- another 2 trillion or so.

 
At 9:35 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

I saw the news about "the pushing of the demonstrators from Lafayette Square" and I wondered if how like the police made bad decisions at Mondawmin Mall in Baltimore, shutting down transit, precipitating the riots there, if that had similar effects in DC.

But as you say, there were people ought to foment and exhibit violence.

This is an element that has been building for awhile. For a long time it was limited to the Bay Area, Seattle, and maybe Portland. Now it has spread.

Masks make it easier.

-----
Thanks for the cite. Didn't ever see that piece.

Interesting that in Tottenham it was precipitated in the same way, by "overpolicing" and the killing of a person by police and the reaction. Just like Watts, Detroit, Stonewall, Ferguson/St. Louis, Baltimore, and now Minneapolis.

But the spread is alarming. I just don't remember if there was this level of violence and destruction associated with BLM events outside of MO and Baltimore. I don't think so.

E.g., like in Salt Lake City. There were destroyed police cars and some damage to buildings.

(Although in terms of protests vis a vis the homeless and Inland Port issues, people were not happy with how police were the "running dogs of capitalism" and maybe there was some latent anger there.)

 
At 9:55 AM, Anonymous charlie said...

best on dc so far:

https://twitter.com/PoPville

Georgtown, Mazza Galerie/Friendship Heights, City Center, parts of downtown.



RE: level of violence -- reminds me of WB protests back in 2000s.

The bad decision was Bowser not announcing an 11 Pm curfew until 8 pm or so.


 
At 11:10 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

a couple interesting links from that Guardian article:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/10/2011-riots-england-uprising-working-class

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/series/reading-the-riots


Despite these efforts to put the rioting and unrest in a wider context, Letwin and Booth argued that “riots, criminality and social disintegration are caused solely by individual characters and attitudes. So long as bad moral attitudes remain, all efforts to improve the inner cities will founder. David Young’s new entrepreneurs will set up in the disco and drug trade.”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/30/oliver-letwin-memo-race-1985-riots-david-cameron-2011-race-equality

 
At 11:14 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/31/time-toss-bad-apples-excuse/

The curfew in SLC was for about 36 hours, starting at 8pm Saturday to 6am today.

Although I joked that from where we live it's a couple miles to the county border, so we could have gone out. (You could go out for food...)

The mayor here, her primary interest before taking office was air quality.

Not even six months, she's had earthquake (in Salt Lake County but affecting the city too), pandemic, and unrest.

Thanks for popville cite.

 
At 11:33 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

f****** a

 
At 1:00 PM, Anonymous charlie said...

also this:

https://www.popville.com/2020/06/photos-from-last-night-and-the-aftermath-this-morning/


https://twitter.com/ABC7Kevin

(you'll have scroll down).


 
At 2:14 PM, Anonymous charlie said...

https://twitter.com/samswey/status/1180655701271732224


 
At 2:32 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Great thread. WOW. Thanks.

https://www.joincampaignzero.org/research

Although I will defend the theory of broken windows, but not how it was transmogrified into zero tolerance policing.

The way I read the original paper is also about community investment and order maintenance.

Although they didn't take it to the level of "social urbanism." Then again, they were writing in the early 1980s.

(I still can't get over how little litter there is in SLC. Although granted, that's in "the nicer" areas. But the area where I live in DC, a middle class neighborhood, with plenty of high priced houses is similar, yet very very very dirty.)

I did reserve _The End of Policing_ from the County Library. (It's nice to have access to two library systems. Plus if U of Utah "reopens" their library is 2 miles away as well.)

 
At 10:22 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

LA says they will spend $250MM on social programs, $150MM will come from a reduction in the police department budge

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-06-05/eric-garcetti-lapd-budget-cuts-10000-officers-protests

Connie Rice, a civil rights lawyer and activist for LAPD reform for decades, called Garcetti’s proposed redirection of funds away from the department “a gesture that is satisfying on a superficial level.” But, she added, “It’s really not enough.”

Rice called for regional cooperation on public safety issues and a paradigm shift that makes policing just one service operating in cooperation with healthcare providers, social workers, recreation specialists and a range of others. Giving police the proper backup from others will allow them to adopt a more supportive mission, Rice said, rather than “a mission of shock and awe and suppression.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/04/defund-the-police-us-george-floyd-budgets

 
At 2:02 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

Critical Resistance, Abolish Policing:

http://criticalresistance.org/abolish-policing/

 
At 1:43 PM, Blogger Richard Layman said...

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/fill-the-steps-philadelphia-gun-violence-homicide-police-crime-community-20210430.html?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Will%20Bunch%2005-04-2021&utm_content=Will%20Bunch%2005-04-2021+CID_93fe713f97c1d8e4780b87b0dbfd3e22&utm_source=newsletter_edit&utm_term=appealed%20to%20readers

 

Post a Comment

<< Home