“We will be closing at 7PM due to the curfew”.
One week after Raleigh had moved into Phase 2 of our reopening after a three month pandemic lockdown, our mayor declared a state of emergency and a curfew to “maintain order and protect public health, safety welfare, and property.” This was in response to local protests about George Floyd’s murder by the Minneapolis police and looting that happened the nights of the protests. The curfew will last indefinitely until the Mayor lifts it.
I was aware of protests and looting in several larger cities in the US, but wasn’t expecting it to happen here.
My immediate reaction to hearing about this was exasperation.
Really? Is this what we’re doing?
I can understand why our mayor might do this.
- There are not enough police to control large crowds if they riot or loot.
- Here in Raleigh, looters took advantage of the protest to steal from stores in high end suburban malls that are 10 miles from the protest sites.
People are fearful of rioters, based on the media’s sensationalized stories and video.
I remember states of emergency and curfews in Florida when we had hurricanes. The only people on the streets were looters and a few crazy hurricane partiers.
But damn, I hate to see this.
I support the protests, even if I am skeptical that they will have any measurable effect.
I’ve got more to say on police brutality, systemic racism and protesting that I’ll save for a separate post.
For now, I’m disappointed that looters have taken advantage of the protests to steal and vandalize. It draws attention away from the legitimate issues while damaging the places where we live.
I feel bad for the businesses (especially the small businesses) who reopened just days ago that now have to replace windows, inventory and furnishings that were damaged.
I wonder if we’ll see a spike from Covid cases in 2 weeks. This is a real world test of our public pandemic policies. We’ll soon learn if the policies that ban large crowds, mandate social distancing and require wearing face masks in public actually makes a difference in infections and hospitalizations.
I have had it with lockdowns. I didn’t believe we’d ever lockdown society the way we have for as long as we have already.
Then to see a state of emergence and curfew declared so quickly as we are emerging from the Covid-19 lockdown was another disappointing surprise .
I hope using lockdowns to control society don’t become as commonplace and accepted as the Patriot Act and the TSA became after 9/11.