Brauchler: Peace, please, at the Elijah McClain protests this Sunday – The Denver Post

August 30 is the one year anniversary of the tragic and traumatic death of innocent Elijah McClain in Adams County. A yet-unknown number of Coloradans intend on Sunday the day before police encountered McClain to peacefully exercise their First Amendment rights to honor Elijahs life, protest his death and seek justice. Another unknown number of people intend to hijack that protest to advance the cause of violence and lawlessness. Those people are not protestors; they are rioters and criminals.

This disturbing scenario has played out in Denver and Aurora numerous times in the past several months. I have grown weary of the lack of arrests and accountability for those who brazenly, wantonly, and repeatedly flaunt our laws, destroy our property, and attempt to injure our public safety officers.

We continue to witness the complete abdication of responsibility from our governor, attorney general and those in control of our legislature. They have failed to publicly and forcefully denounce the criminal rioters. Scanning their social media feeds and public pronouncements for any criticism of those who thrive on the lack of response by a police force stymied by the politics of appeasement is like a Wheres Waldo search in braille.

The deafening silence, unjustifiable inaction, and failure to demonstrate leadership from their positions of authority positions we loaned to them to defend the rule of law in our community is the result of either their fear of alienating the extremists in their base, or their satisfaction with the outcome. Oh, if we had just one Polis-esque stay off the damn highways or those who destroy public property are selfish bastards. Alasjust crickets.

What was that phrase the extremists and Democratic nominee for president Joe Biden have been pushing? Oh yeah: silence is complicity.

The anarchist apologists who have whimsically dismissed the crimes that repeatedly occur as far less important than the causes they claim motivate them are ignorant, nave, and disingenuous.

Ignorant in that they have conflated moral relativism with legal irrelevance. Defacing our Capitol is not unfortunate, it is unlawful. There is no First Amendment protection to violations of our laws as long as it was for a super important issue.

Nave in that history is replete with examples of appeasement failing to achieve peace, but rather leading to greater conflict. Weakness invites aggression.

Disingenuous in that they would never ever apply this nonsensical justification to a group whose ideology they opposed. Can you imagine what new courage our currently muted government officials would say if pro-life activists repeatedly trashed government buildings?

There is nothing noble or righteous about the manner in which the rioters have stolen the message of those who peacefully seek accountability and reform. Barricading police inside a building is not an act of civil disobedience akin to a sit-in at a whites-only lunch counter at Woolworths. Spilling over I-225 to shutdown highway travel for the unsuspecting and innocent, endangering lives. Harassing motorists is not the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

Enough is enough.

Hundreds will be involved in Sundays events.

To protesters: keep it up. Remain visible, heard, and peaceful. Know that the forces of anarchy and lawlessness will be there with you. You bear some responsibility for them because you can do something about them. Reject them. Denounce them. Report them. Reclaim the moral high ground from those who will subvert your message and tarnish the perception of your cause. Your message deserves protection. Their methods deserve prosecution.

To law enforcement: we support you in the defense of the rule of law. You know it is more than a tweetable platitude; it is an obligation from your oath. Be proactive, not reactive. Take appropriate action to protect protestors and hold rioters accountable: public safety, not political appeasement.

To the rioters: peace. Our community deserves it and the law commands it. You have no legal justification to damage property, fire incendiary devices at police officers, or take over an interstate highway. This is not a challenge, but a commitment. The palsied will of some government officeholders is not contagious to other elected leaders. Some of us take seriously our oaths to support Colorados laws and faithfully discharge the duties of our offices.

To all Coloradans, it is time to publicly choose. With whom do you stand, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the protesters, or the rioters? Let us commit ourselves to allow this Sunday to be about remembering a sweet, young man who should not have died, instead of criminal rioting and law enforcements response to it.

George H. Brauchler is the district attorney for the 18th Judicial District, which includes Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties.

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Updated Aug. 21, 2020 at 3:27 p.m. This column originally had the wrong date of Elijah McClains death. McClain died in the hospital on Aug. 30 after he was removed from life support.

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Brauchler: Peace, please, at the Elijah McClain protests this Sunday - The Denver Post