In 2020, riots broke out across the country under the supposed banner of “Black Lives Matter.” Streets in cities throughout the nation were reduced to warzones, while people flooded the streets to use violence and intimidation to fight for racial equity … or to loot Foot Locker.

Then, one election and a few months later, rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

Now, we should be able to agree that all forms of political violence are deplorable. Riots rebranded as a struggle for racial justice are undeniably wrong, as are riots that seek the overturning of an election. But if Jan. 6 was wrong — which it absolutely was — why weren’t the BLM riots of 2020 also wrong? 

Especially since they were worse!

At least 25 Americans were killed during hundreds of BLM riots in 2020, along with billions of dollars’ worth of damage. On Jan. 6, one person was killed (Ashli Babbitt, a rioter), and $1.5 million in damage was done.

Losing a finger is bad, and losing an arm is bad. While both are bad, one is objectively worse than the other. Using any reasonable metric, the BLM riots of 2020 were worse than Jan. 6.

However, you might believe the opposite if you paid attention to the response of the media and the Democratic Party, who largely ignored, downplayed or excused the violence of 2020. CNN created a generational meme with their “fiery but mostly peaceful” reporting, while Kamala Harris — now our de facto president — worked to bail out those arrested during riots in Minneapolis.

The same Kamala Harris later compared Jan. 6 to the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 …

What’s behind this absurd lack of perspective? It’s simple: a refusal among the powerful to speak the truth to those they fear, partnered with the naive belief that they can benefit from certain political violence.

They believed (correctly) that they would benefit from the explosion of violence under chants of “Black Lives Matter,” and were also deeply afraid of the screams of “racism” that would follow any condemnation of violence among minority communities — which bizarrely included the very-white hordes of Antifa instigators.

However, there was no risk or fear associated with the condemnation of violence committed by white people in MAGA hats.

And the same problems are at the heart of the violence gripping the United Kingdom.

After months of bubbling anger over immigration policies and associated crimes, riots have broken out across the country. While police have battled far-right gangs who are engaging in horrendous acts of violence — such as an arson attack on a hotel housing migrants — large crowds of armed Muslim men masquerading as vigilante groups have also massed in cities, with chants of “Allahu Akbar” ringing out as they also engage in acts of violence.

This widespread racially motivated violence is wrong, no matter the race of the victim or perpetrator. But if you were to rely on the BBC, for example, you’d think that these riots were solely a far-right issue, with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announcing that he “utterly condemn[ed]” the “far-right thuggery” on display.

The same weakness and political cynicism we saw in 2020 and 2021 are at the center of the violence exploding on British streets. The stage was set as a result of a mainstream refusal to speak the truth about the impacts of unfettered immigration (amounting to cultural suicide), which created a vacuum that was happily filled by extremists. After deplorable and yet inevitable violence broke out, only one side of a two-sided problem is being criticized. Fear and arrogance have created a racially segregated response to violence, which only fuels the accusations of “two-tier policing” at the root of initial protests.

Unless our condemnation of violence is unapologetic, shameless and colorblind, and unless we are willing to say difficult things that are true, we are doing nothing but throwing gas on the flames.

Because when you’re being punched in the middle of a riot you created, does it matter whether the fist is white or brown?

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