Rednecks and perhaps Americans in general are pretty renowned for not being the best when it comes to knowledge of geography but I think maybe we can get a pass on this one because this is a country that I have never even heard of before today.
In a news feed that I receive the headline read "Charlotte protesters attack officers, set tractor-trailer on fire in riot at Eritrean 'cultural event'".
I thought for a minute that maybe Eritrea was a country in North Carolina or something like that because some of our county names can be a bit perplexing and rather arbitrary sounding. I read on because I never really understand the motivations behind riots since the state is always going to win in these situations. Apparently two rival groups of Eritrea collided with one another in Charlotte and when the police because the two groups were blocking traffic, the groups started to attack the police.
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At one point in time the rioters decided it would be a good idea to set a tractor trailer truck on fire as well and this is where the mob mentality really gets to me. The owner of that truck likely had nothing to do with what was going on and that's just mean, regardless of how justified your anger is in whatever riot you are participating in. I felt the same way back when people in California protested Trump's Presidential win by busting up just any business without any real regard to what the business was or if they had anything to do with anything. Attacking Starbucks because Trump won was particularly stupid because if there ever was a business that appeals primarily to liberals, it would be Starbucks. Us conservative rednecks would never pay $6 for a cup of coffee.
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So instead of remaining ignorant I decided to do a bit of investigation and if you are like me and had no idea that this was even a country, there it is on the map above. With a population of a mere 6 million people, the USA has several cities with a higher amount of folks in it than this entire country.
I had no idea that this place existed so it should come as no surprise that I also had no idea that they have had governmental unrest and violence there for quite some time. I wish I could say that this surprises me but given what little I know about this part of the world, it doesn't.
Back to the event in Charlotte: Apparently it was an event with one group in support of the Eritrean government and another group got ahold of the fact that this event was happening and turned up to protest it. It was before lunch before things started getting ugly. Police were called in around 11:30 AM and things were cool until the people seemed to be intentionally blocking traffic and at that point the police issued an order to disperse. Things got violent and the mob started attacking the police.
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Two things to take away from this picture taken earlier in the day. 1, there really isn't that much traffic to contend with here but then again, the road may have been shut down at this point and 2, there was plenty of space on the sides so the people that were out in the street in my mind were intentionally agitating the police. Well if that was their objective it worked because the "riot squad" was called in at 6:30 PM.
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Call me a coward if you want to, but when these guys turn up to an event you are attending it is probably in your best interests to get the hell outta there and head home. I'm not saying that I support everything police do, I certainly do not. This does not change the fact that by the time the armored human tanks with shields turn up, whatever it is that you are doing is going to get shut down, especially in a rather conservative state like North Carolina.
I am fortunate enough to live NOT in Charlotte, but instead in a part of the state far to the East where myself and everyone else in the community has a sort of level of respect for one another. I have protested, I did it during Covid times, but because there is a rather high level of adult-like behavior in our community, things never escalated to the point where anything even close to this happened.
Whatever it is that you are attempting to achieve with the protest, setting random vehicles on fire and assaulting officers probably isn't going to further your cause. The thing here is, the people at the protest didn't even have any issue with anything America oriented, they were arguing over the politics of a distant country that I have never heard of until today.
While looking up what the heck Eritrea is I also found out that several instances similar to this one, involving the same rival groups, have been happening in various places in Europe as well. This is something I cannot understand. Why destroy things here over a conflict that is happening thousands of miles away?