Call it what you will, Black anger, rage, or whatever. But be mindful of the two things. First, It fuels resistance to systemic racism which is egregiously unjust and should have been ignominiously buried long ago. Second, its material roots lie in racist exploitation, oppression, brutality, and the systematic denial of rights over centuries, notwithstanding the country’s profession at the time of its founding that all people are created equal and have a “right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

That was untrue then and remains no more than an aspiration now. A bloody civil war extirpated slavery to be sure, but not racism. In fact, new structures and forms of racist oppression and exploitation arose soon after the war’s end and are present to this very day. It is this bitter and, at times, deadly reality combined with the unfulfilled proclamations of equality in high places that give rise to the righteousness anger of Black people and their supporters marching in cities across the country.

It’s not just about Biden stepping up. He should, for sure. But the leadership of the entire Democratic Party and democratic movement has to step up as well. It takes more than a village to win an election.

Martial law is easier said than done. Obstacles to such a course of action are more than you might think, including the blow back on Trump and the Republican Party if it, as is likely, broadly repudiated from many quarters of our society, not least from within state/governmental structures. It would constitute a shift from hegemonic rule, which includes an element of domination, to rule by domination exclusively, which is, if not said by its practitioners, an admission of weakness.

Watched Trump’s threat filled speech tonight. It was shocking and beyond the bounds. Its aim was to intimidate and paralyze millions seeking justice. Its intent was to force us to withdraw into private life.

What Trump doesn’t realize is the genie is out of the bottle. No one is going to shrink at this moment. Our demands are just, our mode of struggle is non violent and mass in character, our coalition is broad in scope and diverse in composition, our terrain of struggle is in the voting booth and the corridors of political power as well as on the streets, and, like the old civil rights leaders, our eyes are on the prize and ain’t nobody going to turn us around.

Trump and Barr conveniently make no mention of white supremacist organizations in their condemnation of violence.