"What I admire most in any man is a serene spirit, a steady freedom from moral indignation, an all-embracing tolerance--in brief, what is commonly called good sportsmanship. Such a man is not to be mistaken for one who shirks the hard knocks of life. On the contrary, he is frequently an eager gladiator, vastly enjoying opposition. But when he fights he fights in the manner of a gentleman fighting a duel, not in that of a longshoreman cleaning out a waterfront saloon. That is to say, he carefully guards his amour propre by assuming that his opponent is as decent a man as he is, and just as honest--and perhaps, after all, right."
--H.L. Mencken
Maybe it has something to do with how folks around here are raised. But as we read through the newspapers this week--local and national--we kept getting the feeling that the eager gladiators in Little Rock, Ark., are likely to have more of an impact on their communities. And, it should be prominently noted in the lede, that most people here wouldn't trade Little Rock's mayor for the mayor/police commissioner/deer-in-the-headlights guy in Portland, Ore.
The mayor and police commissioner of Portland is Ted Wheeler. (He holds both positions, according to the Associated Press.) His tenure has been interesting. So interesting that most of the nation has watched it during these last few months. It got more interesting Monday, on the mayor's birthday.
In Portland, demonstrators "celebrated" the event by gathering in front of the mayor's apartment building and starting a fire. Police arrived, declared a riot in the street, and ordered protesters to leave. When they refused, officers started putting people in paddywagons.
In contrast, on Tuesday in Little Rock, a group of protesters--not to be mistaken for those who shirk the hard knocks of life--decided they'd had enough, too, and used time during public comments at a city board meeting to demand changes in city government. Including, we sadly report, reallocation of funding for Little Rock's police department. (Our differences there can be laid out in another editorial. And almost certainly will be.)
In Portland, demonstrators apparently wrote vulgar words on balloons during the birthday party--and we don't even want to know which ones. They gathered up a bundle of newspapers (!) and set fire to them on the ground floor of Mayor Wheeler's apartment building. Not to be outdone, others broke windows and damaged a business in the neighborhood.
In Little Rock, activists at the city board meeting wouldn't give up the microphone when asked. Instead, when the mayor here called the next name on his list for public speaking time, other protesters joined the first one and refused to back off. Instead, they took out their phones to record a police officer who decided to approach the lectern.
In Portland, the streets are blocked each night with burning furniture, trash cans, and masses of people. And have been for, oh, nearly 100 days. The papers say more than 600 people have been arrested there since May. This week the mayor of Portland announced he'll move--that is, change home mailing addresses. Which is probably good news for his neighbors.
In Little Rock, at Tuesday night's meeting Mayor Frank Scott practically told officers who were moving closer to the disrupters to stand down. Rachel Herzog's story said the mayor told the police guards at the meeting, "It's peaceful. It's peaceful." Which it was. Then the group went outside to continue their protest.
Their smartly planned, well-organized, peaceful--news-making--protest.
They got their word out. Without a fire in sight.
This country was started during a tax protest. Challenging the government is tradition! in this country. It's as all-American as apple pie and baseball. And as Civil Rights activists made clear many times in the 1960s, very little changes if the people all agree to wait on it. Sometimes it has to be demanded.
But those activists of a previous generation also knew that the right path was the non-violent path because it gathered allies along the way. More people would come to see the right, as God gives us to see the right--unless you scatter their cities with burned-out buildings, blocked roads and broken windows. And dead bodies. That just leads to deeper, bitter and more stubborn opposition.
A longshoreman cleaning out a waterfront saloon doesn't make many friends. Nor many allies for tomorrow's fight.