Rioters
By: Ben Florian
BBC Report
This article is from the BBC and their views of what happened Tuesday April 28th in America and Baltimore. The article talks mostly of the good things. They day was filled with mostly peaceful protests. The violence was minimal compared to the previous day. The curfew that took place also worked relatively well. There were only ten arrests made compared to the two hundred that took place on Monday. Progress is being made and people are starting to turn more towards peace than violence. It also shows how countries and people outside of America see what happens and how they react.
The Letter
Dear rioters,
I understand where you are coming from. What has been done to you is wrong and unjust and must be answered for. Justice must be served and if they don’t supply it we will make them. But when I say this I do not endorse the latest actions being taken. Attacking, stealing and lashing out are not the answers. They only make our cause look wrong and us look like we are taking advantage of the reason death and using it as an excuse to commit crimes. Peaceful protests are the answer. Boycotts, marches and the spreading of information are the ways to go about this. They have worked in the past and will work now. Look at Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. He would be disgusted by these current actions. Violence only leads to more violence and we need to be the bigger people and stop this chain. The actions taken on Tuesday, April 28th should be used as an example. The protests were mainly peaceful and even a street party held for peaceful protest. This is how we need to express our opinion. Not through violence and attacks but through music and other healthy forms. These are messages we should be spreading. This is what is getting attention of people. Even over seas the BBC (British Broadcasting Channel) took note of the peaceful protest and the different tone that Tuesday had following all of the violence that took place on Monday.
I urge you to follow the example of Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. and follow his four basic steps to a peaceful protest. The first step is to collect the facts and decide if there is an injustice and if so where it lies. The second is to negotiate and do your best to talk out the problem without any conflict. The third is to purify yourself. Before attacking another’s injustice purify yourself of yours. The fourth and final step is to take a direct action and when I say that I do not urge you to set your city, your home on fire and attack your neighbors. I implore that you take the peaceful actions much like the ones taken this recent Tuesday. This is how justice will be reached and if you do not believe me look to the past and see where it worked.
Sincerely,
Ben Florian, another peaceful protestor