The past several years have seen me contemplating those children who came of age after Michael Brown's death in Ferguson, Missouri.  They are now older teens and young adults who watched George Floyd's death and the January 6, 2021 protest in D.C., two events that undoubtedly confirmed their hatred for conservatives.  These milestones created the type of hubris that led several individuals to presume they could beat an armed teen in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year with impunity.  This was a classic, and tragic, political delusion.

Millennials live in an era in which their parents can't spank them, teachers are assaulted on live stream, police officers are humiliated, and self-defenders are demonized as vigilantes for prevailing in ideologically charged confrontations.  I'm acutely concerned about a generation whose unrealistic sense of immunity from consequences sends them into life-threatening situations.  Such delusion promises high-profile trials and highly destructive uprisings.

I fully support political development, not political delusion.  More dead or wounded young people isn't my idea of "progress."  My safety advocacy started during the institutional implosion Black America experienced during the crack cocaine era.  Sudden gun battles and tales of woe at neighborhood association meetings became commonplace.

That tragic, sweeping loss of life, followed by the relative sense of safety Black communities carved out since then, doesn't make me cavalier about Millennials' lack of restraint.  My generation lost victims who were caught off guard, as compared to today's youths, who are doing fatal versions of the Charge of the Light Brigade.  This mindset isn't sustainable, no matter how much it's enabled by officeholders.

Image: Protesters block I-84 in Portland.  YouTube screen grab.

We're witnessing an ideological war, where ideologues attack each other at public gatherings.  For years, we've watched battles among Antifa cells, BLM, Proud Boys, and conservative militias.  They plowed fertile ground culminating in the Kyle Rittenhouse case.  We're undergoing a new normal that even the next new normal of pandemic lockdowns and crowd restrictions didn't stop, especially during the 2020 presidential election cycle.  Americans who were banned from work and music venues nonetheless watched large marches, protests, and rioting happen, heedless of a pandemic.  Obviously, two sets of rules were in operation.

Between Michael Brown's death in August 2014 and George Floyd's in May 2020, we witnessed aggressive law enforcement stand down while public aggression has boomed.  This role reversal hasn't ushered in violent crime reduction or other promised results of more passive policing.

Leftist Millennials are accustomed to stopping traffic or destroying property with the blessing of progressive policymakers.  They're also quite comfortable confronting and attacking anyone based on mere political disagreement.  MAGA hat–wearers routinely experienced taunting, hats snatched off their heads, and beatings for what was once considered free speech.

Today's leftist violence reminds me of anti-desegregation mobs descending upon Freedom Riders and ambushing activists trying to integrate public accommodations.  They also share the same sense of brutal entitlement.  Critics argue it's simply the same philosophy separated by different time periods.

As an advocate for community safety and control, this combative attitude destabilizes already fragile urban areas.  Mass property damage and arson won't improve communities held hostage by daily violent crime and larceny.  While I support assertive advocacy, it must be disciplined instead of destructive.  The inner city already has enough conflict without outsiders escalating instability.

Partisanship is destabilizing society by using leftist Millennials as shock troops to beat civic institutions into submission.  This manipulation makes them foolishly think they're untouchable.  Such political delusion sends young people running toward avoidable danger.

Nadra Enzi AKA Cap Black.  Writer/Commentator on Liberation and Liberty.  #ActualSuperHeroForLiberty Advocate.  #HaltHunger Organizer.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.