Jason Stockley

Source: St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department

Well, they’re rioting in Missouri again.

Three years after riots rendered Ferguson, MO a permanent ghetto when a fraudulent “Hands up, don’t shoot!” narrative unleashed weeks of burning and looting, this past weekend rioters were back at it again in St. Louis, screaming “BLACK LIVES MATTER!” as they stomped through town while smashing and torching.

Sorry—I need to yawn. I officially have Riot Fatigue. I lived through LA’s Rodney King Riots in 1992. For me, one riot is plenty for a lifetime, thank you very much and goodnight.

This time around, people are destroying storefronts and throwing rocks at cops due to Friday’s “not guilty” verdict regarding the 2011 fatal shooting of suspected heroin dealer Anthony Lamar Smith (black man) at the hands of police officer Jason Stockley (white, naturally).

Here is the dashcam footage of the 2011 incident. Police suspected Smith of dealing drugs in a fast-food parking lot. Smith is shown backing up and smashing into the police car before leading them on a mile-long chase at speeds up to 87MPH on wet streets that ends with Stockley’s car ramming directly into Smith’s vehicle. Stockley is seen getting out of the police car. A full fifteen seconds ensue before he fires into the car, killing Smith.

Smith’s supporters were sure they’d get a conviction due to two facts:

• At one point during the chase, Stockley is heard saying, “Going to kill that motherfucker, don’t you know it.”

• A DNA test of a silver revolver that Stockley says he discovered in Smith’s car found Stockley’s DNA but not Smith’s, leading to speculation that Stockley planted the gun in the car after killing Smith.

In charging Stockley with murder, prosecutors opted for a bench trial of Stockley rather than a jury trial. In a 30-page verdict delivered on Friday, St. Louis Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson said the prosecutors failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Stockley had murdered Smith. He relied on expert testimony claiming that absence of DNA does not necessarily prove someone hadn’t handled an item. He also said that a bystander’s video evidence showed that Stockley—who was not wearing a jacket—had not tucked the gun in his belt and that the gun was too big to be concealed in his pockets. He also said that Stockley’s “kill that motherfucker” statement did not qualify as evidence of premeditation so much as it indicated high-stress frustration. In his closing remarks, Wilson wrote:

Finally, the Court observes, based on its nearly thirty years on the bench, that an urban heroin dealer not in possession of a firearm would be an anomaly.

Ouch!

The verdict didn’t sit well with some of the Gateway City’s more vibrant residents. Starting on Friday and lasting through the weekend, the world witnessed yet another—what would be the proper term?—disturbance? Protest? Uprising? Groundswell? Inspirational display of people power?

Rioters smashed a window and tossed red paint at the house of St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson, which she later described as “irritating.” They mobbed and threatened reporters. They damaged 23 businesses and five police vehicles. They threw rocks, bricks, and gasoline-filled bottles. They hit police with hammers and lobbed chairs through windows. They blocked roads and buses and intersections and even tried obstructing a freeway before police pushed them back.

As far as I can tell, the only good news is that rock band U2 was forced to cancel a concert due to all the mayhem. I hate U2.

But despite all the intentional destruction and planned chaos, what’s important here is that the rioters were “a diverse crowd that includes people of various races and ages.” You see, it was largely a peaceful protest—almost entirely peaceful—until the mass eruption of violence.

Opportunistic whites were quick to condemn the phantom demon of “racism” for what happened between Stockley and Smith. Not one seemed to utter a peep about the idea that whether or not you’re actually dealing heroin out of a parking lot, it’s probably not a good idea to ram your vehicle into a police car and then lead them on a high-speed chase.

Painfully white St. Louis lawmaker Peter Merideth said that “the protesters have been largely absolutely nonviolent.”

Absolutely nonviolent…largely. In other words, 100% nonviolent…OK, maybe 82% nonviolent. But that’s almost absolutely. Meridith also solemnly declared:

It’s important for there to be white leaders standing here, not for our voices to be heard, but just to show support for the voices that need to be heard.

Another voice that felt the deep, yearning itch to be heard was a 27-year-old white woman named Susanna Prins, who toted a sign that said WHITE SILENCE IS VIOLENCE and told a reporter, “Not saying or doing anything makes you complicit in the brutalization of our friends and neighbors.”

But don’t worry your little white head for a moment about brutalizing your friends and neighbors—or their property—if they don’t swallow your narrative. That’s not violence; it’s “justice.”