The words coming from police, government officials, and political commentators is that “Violence does not work. Riots do not work.”

However, their real message is that the riots are effective for change. The news of police brutality and abuse transferred first from word of mouth, but due to phones being in every pocket, we now have instant awareness. Incident after incident, over decades, there has been little to no police accountability. It took days of a city burning down, and more riots starting across the country, to charge the officers in question.

Petitions are made.
No changes. Unheard.

Celebrities peacefully publicly speaking out.
No changes. Unheard.

Peaceful demonstrations.
No changes. Unheard.

Riot.
Now we will do something about it. Now we hear you.

The Messaging

This is the actual message years of silence and excuses brings. The message from police, government officials, and political commentators is: “Riots work.”

This most recent event was touched off by the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. As alluded to already, murder by police, racially motivated or not, is very common in the United States.

If Minneapolis was not burned down, it’s likely that George Floyd’s name would be simply added to the other names of abuse and murder under this officer’s record already. The incident would either be forgotten, or at most, the officer would be transferred to another precinct.

The Unheard

All of this speaks to what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called the, “language of the unheard.”

In 1967, Dr. King made an important point about riots. It followed a year after the riots in Harlem, and the Watts riots the year before that. He makes a point to condemn the riots, but makes a distinction about the reason behind them.

“Let me say as I’ve always said, and I will always continue to say, that riots are socially destructive and self-defeating. …
But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. …
And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again.”

The Languages

This is not an excuse for the riots. This is not justification. This is not an endorsement.
This is the honest observation of two languages: the language of the unheard, and the language of the respondents.
The language of the unheard is riots; abhorrent, yet inevitable under circumstances of prolonged injustice.
The language from the respondents, the police and magistrates, is, “Riots work. Your riots are the only time we will hold our people accountable.”

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You can read the entire speech here, and watch the portion mentioned here.