So now we know. It was a white supremacist who started the first riot in Minneapolis. He was walking along wearing a black coat with an umbrella and, the next thing you knew, he was breaking glass windows with a hammer. The crowd of peaceful protesters got excited and soon enough had mastered the art of destructive mayhem. No less than a day later the protesters had started 30 fires costing $500 million, including in police stations.
He is called “The Umbrella Man,” this accused miscreant, because, for one thing, he was indeed carrying an umbrella, and, for another, there was a man who earlier got that name because he was carrying an umbrella at the scene of John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Some thought he was the one who killed Kennedy and so there is a similarity here: Lee Harvey Oswald didn’t do it and the peaceful protesters didn’t do it.
The second part of the thesis appears to have increased legitimacy because various reports tell us that some of those stirring up trouble aren’t protesters, but KKK, neo-Nazis and other groups of white supremacists who are also opportunists.
If this is the case to any considerable extent, the nagging question becomes why Democratic governors and mayors have allowed this to go on, this minimizing of police protection when the Klansmen block traffic, cause utter confusion in downtown areas or throw rocks hitting officers in the head.
