Dear Editor,
Popular legend has it that in A.D. 64, while a great fire was effectively destroying the city of Rome, Emperor Nero played his fiddle and demonstrated a total lack of concern for his people and the Empire. As a result, Nero has been branded throughout the subsequent 20 centuries as the epitome of an ineffectual leader during a time of crisis.
Just four years ago, in May 2020, a crisis emerged in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after a white police officer’s depraved indifference resulted in the death of George Floyd, a Black man, and the video of the ordeal went viral. In response, what began as a racial justice protest within hours turned into violent, widespread looting and arson.
Over the next three days, more than 1,500 buildings were vandalized, causing $500 million in damages, and at least two people were killed.
As local authorities were quickly overwhelmed by the rioters, the mayor of Minneapolis requested Gov. Tim Walz to deploy the National Guard. Walz waited three days into the violence to activate the Guard.
In his defense, Walz explained that the deployment request was vague and lacked detail. Perhaps Walz feared taking such action would provoke further violence. Regardless, a report by the then-Republican-controlled Minnesota Senate, made public in October 2020, concluded that Walz “had the ability and duty to use force and law enforcement to stop violence, but he did not.”
Whatever the underlying reasoning, Gov. Walz’s lack of decisive leadership kindled lawlessness throughout Minnesota, subsequently inspiring riots in other U.S. cities, whereby state governors activated their respective National Guards, imposed curfews, and hundreds were arrested.
Having learned of Gov. Walz’s ineffectual behavior, I’m reminded of the central theme of Hans Christian Andersen’s story of the Emperor’s New Clothes—that illusion depends, at least in part, on self-deception.
Peter Wibell, Rutledge