I read in the paper last week about the lawsuit brought by the ACLU for various disaffected people who had been with those blocking traffic, smashing windows, and overturning planters downtown, against the St. Louis Police for being too severe with them. The same article reports a statement of Sgt. Matthew Karnowski: “He also said police found six guns after the arrests.” I assume the guns were found on the ground, dropped there by people who’d been carrying them illegally. The police were dealing with an armed crowd of people who themselves or whose associates had committed acts of vandalism. “Innocent bystanders” who have any sense will keep well clear when the law is being ostentatiously broken. The protesters must find a way to separate themselves from criminals or potential criminals. The protesters may mean their demonstrations to be peaceful, but how can they be believed when people in the demonstrations break the law? Is the misbehavior associated with the demonstrations part of a plan to provoke the police? Is it intended to frighten the public? Or does it happen when a demonstration becomes an invitation to a block party for people with nothing better to do.

Today’s news reports the closing of an interstate highway and another invasion of the Galleria. On a television segment someone covering the closing of I-64 read off the list of the protesters demands, a long wishlist of wrongs to be righted. Few, if any, of these problems can be corrected at once. Most are long-term goals. But none of them can be achieved without serious leadership in the black community, and serious, disciplined behavior by protesters who wish to persuade the larger community.