Rich Lowry: Against the Ferguson mob

  • By Rich Lowry
  • Sunday, August 24, 2014 5:58pm
  • Opinion

The chant “No justice, no peace” is an apt rallying cry for Ferguson, Missouri, where protesters don’t truly want justice and there has been no peace.

What justice demands in the case of the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown by Officer Darren Wilson in disputed circumstances is a full and fair deliberative process that goes wherever the evidence leads. But is anyone marching so that Wilson can go free if the facts don’t support charging him?

No, the demand is for him to be arrested immediately and to be prosecuted no matter what. This is noxious. Just because there is a mob on the streets, as well as on the Internet and TV, braying for a rush to judgment doesn’t mean we need mob justice.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

Ferguson has been angry and grieving, and the rallies and prayer vigils during daytime hours are natural and commendable. The confrontations with the police, the rock-throwing and gunshots, the looting and Molotov cocktails, are not. They are self-indulgent, self-destructive and (given the fate of a few businesses set on fire) literally self-immolating.

There has been an effort to shift moral responsibility for this mayhem from the protesters to the police. There is no doubt that the police have acted appallingly at times (there is never any justification for pointing weapons at peaceful protesters), but at the end of the day, they are simply attempting to restore order.

Initially, we were told the police were “provoking” otherwise civil protesters with their military posture. When, in response to this criticism, the cops backed off almost entirely, looters ransacked local businesses at will and even firebombed the Domino’s Pizza.

Perhaps they took the “no peace” thing too seriously.

One night, MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes got to briefly feel what it’s like to be a cop or an innocent business owner in Ferguson when a couple of rocks were pointlessly thrown at him while he was on the air. Hayes brushed the whole thing off as people being very angry.

Yes, but why are they angry at Hayes? His ready explanation for the rock-throwing recalls the old saw about how a liberal is someone who won’t take his own side in a fight.

To their credit, the overwhelming majority of the protesters are peaceful, and many of them have tried to restrain a lawless fringe. But one of the reasons we have police is to control such a fringe.

It took about a week of looting before people began to seriously wonder what was accomplished by milling around on the streets and sidewalks at night and yelling at cops anyway.

You get the feeling that the enormous emotional investment in Ferguson from almost everyone on the left reflects a nostalgia for the truly heroic phase of the civil-rights movement.

They (most of them, at least) can never be Freedom Riders, but they can write blog posts complaining that the police gear in Ferguson looks scary. They can never register voters in the Jim Crow South, but they can tweet pictures of tear-gas canisters going off. They can never march over the Edmund Pettus Bridge circa 1965, but they can do some cable hits.

Ferguson is all they’ve got, so it must be spun up into a national crisis — our Gaza, our apartheid — to increase the moral drama.

The whole world is supposed to be watching. Presumably, though, the world has better things to do than watch what are, in the scheme of things (and up to this point), relatively minor clashes between police and a handful of protesters.

Even if Officer Wilson executed Michael Brown in cold blood, he would be one murderously bad cop, not an indictment of the entire American system of justice.

If he acted in legitimate self-defense, on the other hand, he shouldn’t be jailed or charged. That would be justice, but given what we’ve seen from Ferguson so far, it would not bring peace.

Rich Lowry can be reached via e-mail: comments.lowry@nationalreview.com.

More in Opinion

President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin of Russia at a joint news conference in Helsinki, Finland, July 16, 2018. (Doug Mills/The New York Times file photo)
Opinion: Mistaking flattery for respect

Flattery played a role in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill.

(Juneau Empire file photo)
Opinion: Life is harder when you outlive your support group

Long-time friends are more important than ever to help us cope, to remind us we are not alone and that others feel the same way.

Deven Mitchell is the executive director and chief executive officer of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. (Photo courtesy of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp.)
Opinion: The key to a stronger fund: Diversification

Diversification is a means of stabilizing returns and mitigating risk.

A silver salmon is weighed at Three Bears in Kenai, Alaska. Evelyn McCoy, customer service PIC at Three Bears, looks on. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Opinion: Will coho salmon be the next to disappear in the Kenai River?

Did we not learn anything from the disappearance of the kings from the Kenai River?

Jonathan Flora is a lifelong commercial fisherman and dockworker from Homer, Alaska.
Point of View: Not fishing for favors — Alaskans need basic health care access

We ask our elected officials to oppose this bill that puts our health and livelihoods in danger.

Alex Koplin. (courtesy photo)
Opinion: Public schools do much more than just teach the three Rs

Isn’t it worth spending the money to provide a quality education for each student that enters our schools?

Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks to reporters at the Alaska State Capitol on Thursday, April 17, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire file photo)
Letter to the Editor: Law enforcement officers helped ensure smooth, secure energy conference

Their visible commitment to public safety allowed attendees to focus fully on collaboration, learning, and the important conversations shaping our path forward.

Laurie Craig / Juneau Empire file photo
The present-day KTOO public broadcasting building, built in 1959 for the U.S. Army’s Alaska Communications System Signal Corps, is located on filled tidelands near Juneau’s subport. Today vehicles on Egan Drive pass by the concrete structure with satellite dishes on the roof that receive signals from NPR, PBS and other sources.
My Turn: Stand for the community radio, not culture war optics

Alaskans are different and we pride ourselves on that. If my vehicle… Continue reading

U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) delivers his annual speech to the Alaska Legislature on Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire file photo)
Opinion: Sullivan, Trump and the rule of lawlessness

In September 2023, U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan established his own Alaska Federal… Continue reading

UAA Provost Denise Runge photographed outside the Administration and Humanities Building at the University of Alaskas Anchorage. (courtesy photo)
Opinion: UAA’s College of Health — Empowering Alaska’s future, one nurse at a time

At the University of Alaska Anchorage, we understand the health of our… Continue reading

U.S. Rep. Nick Begich III, R-Alaska, address a joint session of the Alaska Legislature on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)
Opinion: A noncongressman for Alaska?

It’s right to ask whether Nick Begich is a noncongressman for Alaska.… Continue reading

Boats return to the Homer Harbor at the end of the fishing period for the 30th annual Winter King Salmon Tournament on Saturday, March 23, 2024 in Homer, Alaska. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)
Opinion: Funding sustainable fisheries

Spring is always a busy season for Alaska’s fishermen and fishing communities.… Continue reading

You're browsing in private mode.
Please sign in or subscribe to continue reading articles in this mode.

Peninsula Clarion relies on subscription revenue to provide local content for our readers.

Subscribe

Already a subscriber? Please sign in