Texas Gov. Abbott, other leaders blame outsiders for protest violence. Don’t buy it.
Elected officials all over the country, and of every political stripe, have discovered something astonishing about those making trouble during protests of police brutality: They are always from somewhere else.
It started in Minnesota, where the killing of black resident George Floyd by a white officer set off a wave of national anger. Gov. Tim Walz said, implausibly, that 80 percent of looters and rioters were out-of-towners. The mayor of St. Paul went even further, saying all those arrested were from other states. Both claims had to be walked back. Miami officials made similar false statements and had to retreat.
And yet, Gov. Greg Abbott waded into this water Tuesday.
“Some of the violence that we’re seeing is not being done by people who reside in Dallas, or even in Texas,” he said in an appearance with Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price and Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson. “Instead, the violence is coming into Texas from across state lines. It’s committed by criminals who are hijacking peaceful protests in order to plunder and in order to loot.”
Department of Public Safety director Steve McCraw added that there’s evidence organized groups, such as antifa, were working to bring violence into the state.
We asked DPS for specifics, and a spokeswoman said that local police departments had reported arrests of people from at least five other states, including as far as New York. The agency did not reply to a follow-up question about what share of overall arrests were of out-of-staters or what evidence McCraw was citing.
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To be fair, the governor is far from alone. Johnson argued at the same event that most of the people arrested in Dallas aren’t from there. But as the Texas Tribune reported, just seven out of the 185 people arrested were from outside of Texas, and the vast majority are from North Texas.
Johnson was technically correct, but it’s not like a horde of outsiders was descending on his city.
Fort Worth Police Chief Ed Kraus played with the numbers, too, when he said half of those arrested Sunday were from outside Fort Worth. Again, technically true, but many were from nearby suburbs. They want their voices heard where these issues matter most right now, and that’s large, urban police departments.
And those arrested and charged with looting Monday night in Arlington were all from the area, too.
There’s no question people are trying to, as Abbott said, hijack the demonstrations to commit crimes. And there’s probably organized groups on both the left and right extremes involved.
But this obsession with their number and influence diminishes the anger these politicians’ constituents feel and the solutions they are demanding.
“Acts of violence and vandalism are overshadowing the death of George Floyd, rather than shining a light on the injustice that occurred,” Abbott said. “They drown out the voices of those who are seeking to protest peacefully.”
And casting blame on shadowy outside forces drowns out the otherwise excellent, forceful statement that Abbott made about why the Floyd killing was such an injustice and the need for change.
This story was originally published June 4, 2020 at 5:02 AM.