Boarding Up for Verdict Day

With a verdict in the Derek Chauvin Trial for ex-cop Chauvin's murder of George Floyd predicted anytime after Monday, April 19, 2021, businesses and empty buildings are boarding up for a possible riot on Verdict Day. For the City's police preparations, see https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/sfpd-prepares-for-possible-protests-as-chauvin-trial-continues/

Monday, April 19, 2021 is when the lawyers plan to provide their closing statements and the judge will provide jury instructions requested by the lawyers, all of which are routinely ignored by juries. The jurors only listen to what coincides with their life experiences which is why a conviction is unlikely since this is not a workingclass jury and neither are most juries. Most members of the workingclass, such as George Floyd was, cannot afford to sit as jurors as they need every penny they make to survive.

Those of us who live in San Francisco’s rent-controlled apartment buildings, namely all residential rental buildings of 2 or more units built before 1979, are outraged that our city and our buildings were targeted by the ransackers who showed up last May 2020 when George Floyd was killed, mostly from out of town. They ransacked our local pharmacies and grocery stores, started fires in small businesses and scribbled graffiti on our buildings. They carefully avoided putting graffiti on the condominium buildings which are among the rent-controlled apartment buildings and stand out clearly as rich folks’ homes. This is a clear sign that they were agent provocateurs.

We would like the ransackers from out of town to stay home and the local ransackers to stay in their neighborhoods, organize the usual speeches and sign-waving protests and when they are done with their protest, they can finally discuss staying home the next day in an effort to carry out a general strike, sending a clear message to the ruling class that their profits will be cut if their police state is allowed to exist.

San Francisco is now a ghost town or a graveyard as the businesses that struggled to stay alive last May 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic that devastated our economy are now gone permanently. There are no tourists and most office workers are still working from home, which has caused the Union Square shopping area to have at least 30% vacant offices and stores and practically all of the restaurants in the Financial District to close permanently. This is true throughout the City; every commercial district has empty storefronts. The devastation is horrific with an estimated 50% of small businesses gone permanently, threatening our city budget with massive loss of income which fund our city services like our bus service, which now can only afford to operate at 70% of capacity, needs major structural repairs and has a massive deficit. Thanks to vaccinations, we can now open our economy, and the sooner, the better. COVID19 is here to stay so get your vaccine today.

Anyone who thinks the legal system has anything to offer, either civil or criminal, is about to receive another object lesson of failure. In fact, a country that has no socialized medicine, still has the death penalty, is 13th in infrastructure and 27th in healthcare and education, barely qualifies as an industrialized society. The only thing this country has to offer in some areas, like San Francisco, is its natural beauty provided by Mother Earth. Everything else can be obtained in any industrialized society, and the rest of the industrialized world has socialized medicine.

The rest of the world, from Haiti to France and everywhere else, carries out a general strike of at least 24 hours in the face of injustice. So far, the only time people stay home in this country is when there is a football or baseball parade. Americans ought to try a general strike which always gets the attention of the ruling capitalist class as they only care about their profits and will end this nightmare of police murders if their profits are cut by a general strike.