I admire those responding to the brutal actions of ICE in the streets of America’s cities and join Eugene protesters when I can. I was in town on the day that ICE attacked protestors with chemical munitions but left before they arrived. From comments I heard afterward, it appears that the incident provides a learning opportunity for protesters in this leaderless movement.
I winced at the criticism of Chief Chris Skinner’s statement about the EPD response to the breaking of a window at the Eugene Federal Building. Some tried to justify the vandalism using too-familiar arguments that “everyone has the right to resist in the way they see fit” and “destroying property is not violence.”
As Skinner explained, the EPD actions were justified not merely by the broken window, but because it posed a credible threat to those inside the building. Whatever one thinks of that logic, it is a mistake to make an enemy of EPD when one is trying to repel a federal invasion and restore the rule of law. As Gen. Stanley McChrystal once said about winning hearts and minds, try to go to bed with fewer enemies than (you) woke up with…