Beginning with the George Floyd riots, liberals have generally taken the position that rioting, looting and arson are just fine, as long as they are done in a righteous cause. This was what the anti-Rittenhouse hysteria was all about: how dare he try to interfere with rioting and arson, carried out by Antifa and BLM? Liberals are generally of the view that looting and arson only damage property, and property doesn’t matter. Besides, all that property is insured, right? A New York Times reporter has written that her paper shelved her article on the devastating effect of the Kenosha riots on small business people who were, for the most part uninsured, until after the election.
Cities like Portland, Minneapolis and San Francisco have been devastated by rioting and looting. But smug suburban liberals haven’t seemed to mind much, as long as crime was confined to urban centers like Minneapolis and San Francisco, where, on Friday night, Union Square was looted. But what will they think when disorder strikes closer to home?
Last night, an organized gang of looters struck the Nordstrom store in Walnut Creek, California. Walnut Creek is a prosperous community of around 64,000, 85% white and Asian. The raid was well-coordinated, as 25 cars blocked the street in front of the store while dozens of looters ran inside, stole merchandise, and left in the waiting vehicles. Apparently only three of the looters were arrested.
#Breaking About 25 cars just blocked the street and rushed into the Walnut Creek Nordstrom making off with goods before getting in cars snd speeding away. At least two people arrested at gunpoint. pic.twitter.com/AG3R94M9L3
— Jodi Hernandez (@JodiHernandezTV) November 21, 2021
This is the description from a San Francisco television station:
Dozens of looters swarmed into the Nordstrom store in downtown Walnut Creek Saturday night, terrorizing shoppers, ripping off bag loads of merchandise and ransacking shelves before fleeing in a several vehicles waiting for them on the street.
Walnut Creek Lt. Ryan Hibbs told KPIX 5 that police began receiving calls about the looting at around 9 p.m. He said there were approximately 80 individuals who ran into the store and began looting and smashing shelves.
More:
A manger at a local P.F. Chang’s nearby told CBS Los Angeles that the looters rushed into Nordstrom in ski masks. “It was insane.”
Police told NBC News that “one employee was pepper sprayed, and two others were punched and kicked. All three sustained minor injuries, and were treated and released at the scene.”
In all probability, the goods were stolen for resale, not for personal use. Most of the shoplifting that has devastated San Francisco has been carried out by organized gangs that make millions of dollars reselling stolen goods on the internet. This is most likely similar.
Liberals have no vocabulary to condemn rioting, looting, arson and vandalism when these crimes are committed by blacks, or by whites pretending to act on behalf of blacks, as with Antifa riots in Portland and Kenosha. Liberals have sown the wind, and America’s cities are reaping the whirlwind. So far, that doesn’t seem to have given many liberals second thoughts. But as looting and other crimes invade the suburbs, a lot of liberals are going to change their tune.