“Black Lives Matter” has announced that they intend to protest at, and attempt to block, the Twin Cities Marathon.
Let’s make sure this is clear; after months of protesting at things that the DFL elites in Kenwood and Summit Avenue revile (the Mall of America) or are outside their frame of reference (the State Fair, the Green Line during a Vikings game) or that isn’t part of their lives (or rush hour on I94 in the Midway, I35W in South Minneapolis, or Snelling Avenue), they may have finally gone a bridge too far; they’re not just inconveniencing the proles this time; they’re going to mess with one of those things of which white, upper-middle-class, MPR-listening, St. Olaf-alumniing, Volvo-driving, Whole-Foods-shopping Minnesota is most proud; an institution that is one of the A-list faces of the part of Minnesota that wants to look at the rest of the world and say “yeah, we’re a little like New York!”.
As I started thinking about writing, I got an email from a regular reader:
I’ve been minimally following the BLM plans to protest the marathon. I know people who run the marathon who have never supported BLM, so their reaction is obviously anger. However, secretly I kind of like that the group is finally disrupting something other than poor and working class people getting to and from work. Especially when I read comments on Facebook that suggest the mindset of “why are you protesting us? We support you.” to which BLM protesters respond with something like “if you support us, what have you done to make real changes?” (not exact quotes, but enough similar sentiments on the Facebook pages that [the operator of a local political discussion listserver] linked to) Liberal types who tend to think they’re helping by voting for all of the stuff that Liberals like probably are scratching their heads at that, which at least makes this protest fun to follow.
It’s more than just Schadenfreude, of course…
…although there’s plenty of that, too.
For example: what must it be like to be Betsy Hodges or Chris Coleman, right now? They’ve bent over 90 degrees past backwards for BLM – who, being liberal and (partly) black, they consider their electoral property – allowing them to block city streets numerous times without the protest permit every other group would need to bet, much less blocking interstate highways and mass transit over and over again. And now – after all those favors – BLM ungratefully wants to screw with one of Hodges and Coleman’s marquee events?
Will either of them decide to “get tough”, as the eyes of the marathon-running world are on them?
But beyond that? As the emailer pointed out – how will “progressive” Minnesota react to their own hypocrisy being sent up on a world stage?
On of the TV stations last night as part of their story on this presented a stern lawyer lecturing runners of the criminal liability they would face if they ran into one of the illegal protesters. You could prosecuted or worse he said. I suppose by worse he means being raped in prison.
Why would the runner – on the route that was duly designated to run on – be liable for running into someone who is where he or she isn’t supposed to be? Wouldn’t the “aggressor” be the one who deliberately put himself in the way?
As a an experienced but now retired runner and a veteran of 30+ marathons, I can report that distance runners are not necessarily the mild mannered geeks the BLM crowd supposes. Runners have quite a bit of aggression stored up, especially in competitive situations. More than once I’ve sworn and made rude gestures at carsful of punks who found it sporting to mock me. At mile 25 of a marathon, adrenaline levels are necessarily high to will oneself to continue running. I’m pretty sure if I were running and a protestor got in my way, he’d be on his ass and I’d keep going.
I think Rushad and his white kids from Mac want the confrontation. They were able to get it earlier, so they need to push it so far that the police have to act. They will be there with the cameras ready to find that 5 second shot.
If you see a protester block a runner and the runner pushes said protester, you are going to see some acting.
I read the comments on the marathon Facebook page. Most make sense (why are they ruining something I’ve been training for the past 12 months. But a few liberals are there. One said “we are on the same side. I realize my privilege”.
make that…”weren’t able to get it earlier”. The police were very accommodating. Rumor our there is Chris Coleman doesn’t want to see the police on TV rustling with the thugs…bad visuals for someone who wants to be Governor.
Having done a few marathons, and the months of training that go into it, I would be more than a little angry to have it interrupted.
I think that with the amount of money that runners pay, part of which in turn goes to the cities to close those streets down, that either St Paul or Minneapolis is going to have problems if they just stand by and let the event get disrupted.
They burned the naming a street for Dr Martin Luther King, Jr already so the DFL is out of (symbolic) options to appease the BLM movement. Would they consider renaming Summit Ave and Grand Ave for Malcolm X and Medger Evers?
The stategy is to identify who you need to influence to get you want, then influence them.
The people you need to influence to get what you want are not always or even commonly the people who have what you want. Any means to influence the targets are acceptable, including intimidation, threats of violence, and blackmail.
In this case the idea is to put pressure on St. Paul politicians to give BLM ‘a seat at the table”, that is, to give them influence over city policing policies.
These techniques were perfected in the 60s and 70s. They have worked very well for the Left.