Make riots a political dead end

Nonviolent protests have a venerable history in North Carolina and beyond. Violent protests — that is, riots — have an ignominious one. A broadly recognized distinction? You might think so. Alas, you’d be wrong.

In 2020, unruly protests against police misconduct devolved across the country into destructive riots. Activists in Charlotte, Asheville, Fayetteville, Greenville, and other cities smashed windows, looted stores, damaged vehicles and property, and attacked police officers. In the state capital, rioters vandalized many businesses. Some even tried to break into a Raleigh police station.

A few months later, unruly protests in favor of Donald Trump’s spurious stolen-election claims devolved into a destructive riot on Capitol Hill. Protestors smashed windows and attacked police officers. Some rioters even tried to break into secure facilities within the US Capitol.

Some political leaders and commentators condemned both sets of events. Many others were selective, making excuses for activists on their “side” while excoriating the rest. Having legitimately won reelection in 2024, President Trump has since issued blanket pardons for Capitol Hill rioters while calling out the National Guard to subdue violent protests in Los Angeles. Many of his Democratic opponents, withering in their criticism of his actions, seem to have forgotten the violent chaos of 2020.

I haven’t. Indeed, my stack of receipts goes back further in time.

On Aug. 20, 2018, a group of activists at UNC-Chapel Hill pulled down “Silent Sam,” a statue commemorating university students who’d fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War. Critics had long argued that given its subject matter — and the fact that it and other Confederate memorials were erected for political reasons during the heyday of Jim Crow — the statue should be removed from campus, or at least from its position of prominence. I generally favor adding monuments and memorials to public spaces, rather than removing existing ones, but I’d written before the incident that the critics made a good case and ought to keep arguing it to state authorities.

Once the protestors became rioters, I lost sympathy. “To allow the mob to achieve its objective would reward criminality, weaken the rule of law, and set a dangerous precedent,” I wrote a week after the statute was torn down. “What might the next mob do?”

At the time, neither UNC’s leadership nor then-governor Roy Cooper, did the right thing. They should have restored the monument and protected it from future attack until the proper authorities removed it the proper way.

In fact, when two years later rioters in Raleigh attacked a Confederate monument on the grounds of the State Capitol, someone ordered the police to pull back and let the attack continue. Then Cooper had all Confederate memorials removed from the grounds, thus endorsing lawless behavior. It was another grave error.

Those who hold public office have a responsibility to uphold the rule of law and protect everyone’s rights, regardless of the political cause in question. Some instances are obviously more serious than others. Tearing down a statute isn’t equivalent to vandalizing businesses, attacking police stations and other government facilities, or assaulting human beings.

But allowing any riotous act to accomplish a political end sets a bad precedent. It is escalatory, not conciliatory. Even supposedly nonviolent acts such as blocking traffic constitute not constitutionally protected expression but the use of physical force to compel public authorities or political adversaries to capitulate. Our leaders should exhibit zero tolerance. That’s their job, one many current and former officeholders have manifestly shirked.

Since the events of 2020 and 2021, we have witnessed more politically motivated riots on campuses and city streets, more property damage, more assaults, and even assassination plots, some tragically successful. Those of sound mind who commit crimes are certainly responsible for them and should be punished. Still, we all have a role to play in turning down the decibel level and respecting the basic rules of politics in a free society.

I hope and pray our future leaders will set a better example.

John Hood is a John Locke Foundation board member. His books Mountain Folk, Forest Folk, and Water Folk combine epic fantasy and American history.