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# What Counts as Looting?
June 01 2020
Written by Chuck Collins.
[](https://www.addtoany.com/share)
**GUEST WORDS--**Over the last several days, protesters across the United States have demanded justice for the horrific police killings of George Floyd and countless other African Americans.
These uprisings for racial justice have seen more police [violence](https://click.everyaction.com/k/17712904/203747410/737520305?nvep=ew0KICAiVGVuYW50VXJpIjogIm5ncHZhbjovL3Zhbi9FQS9FQTAwMy8xLzc1MjEwIiwNCiAgIkRpc3RyaWJ1dGlvblVuaXF1ZUlkIjogImE2Njc1M2NjLTNhYTQtZWExMS05YjA1LTAwMTU1ZDAzYjVkZCIsDQogICJFbWFpbEFkZHJlc3MiOiAiZGlja3BsYXRraW5AZ21haWwuY29tIg0KfQ%3D%3D&hmac=XKGLn1tmAqkBVvU-QK0w0jLfz7cDDCVp0NLMVS_m95I=&emci=24620219-31a4-ea11-9b05-00155d03b5dd&emdi=a66753cc-3aa4-ea11-9b05-00155d03b5dd&ceid=4019688) against protesters and sparked a new national dialogue on a question that needs raising: *What counts as looting?*
We have looting, the standard media take tells us, when people take stuff out of Target. Do we also have looting when the Target CEO takes in [$21.6 million](https://click.everyaction.com/k/17712905/203747411/157807500?nvep=ew0KICAiVGVuYW50VXJpIjogIm5ncHZhbjovL3Zhbi9FQS9FQTAwMy8xLzc1MjEwIiwNCiAgIkRpc3RyaWJ1dGlvblVuaXF1ZUlkIjogImE2Njc1M2NjLTNhYTQtZWExMS05YjA1LTAwMTU1ZDAzYjVkZCIsDQogICJFbWFpbEFkZHJlc3MiOiAiZGlja3BsYXRraW5AZ21haWwuY29tIg0KfQ%3D%3D&hmac=XKGLn1tmAqkBVvU-QK0w0jLfz7cDDCVp0NLMVS_m95I=&emci=24620219-31a4-ea11-9b05-00155d03b5dd&emdi=a66753cc-3aa4-ea11-9b05-00155d03b5dd&ceid=4019688) in compensation and pays so little attention to safety and employee well-being that Target workers recently had to go on strike?
Or did the satirists at *The Onion* have it right when they [blasted](https://click.everyaction.com/k/17712906/203747412/166533433?nvep=ew0KICAiVGVuYW50VXJpIjogIm5ncHZhbjovL3Zhbi9FQS9FQTAwMy8xLzc1MjEwIiwNCiAgIkRpc3RyaWJ1dGlvblVuaXF1ZUlkIjogImE2Njc1M2NjLTNhYTQtZWExMS05YjA1LTAwMTU1ZDAzYjVkZCIsDQogICJFbWFpbEFkZHJlc3MiOiAiZGlja3BsYXRraW5AZ21haWwuY29tIg0KfQ%3D%3D&hmac=XKGLn1tmAqkBVvU-QK0w0jLfz7cDDCVp0NLMVS_m95I=&emci=24620219-31a4-ea11-9b05-00155d03b5dd&emdi=a66753cc-3aa4-ea11-9b05-00155d03b5dd&ceid=4019688) protestors for having the nerve to loot a business without first forming a private equity firm to gather "a group of clandestine investors to purchase it at a severely reduced price and slowly bleed it to death."
Or is looting [directing](https://click.everyaction.com/k/17712907/203747413/-127197711?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxNjg0NTkxLCJwb3N0X2lkIjo0OTczOTQsIl8iOiJveFlOcyIsImlhdCI6MTU5MDY4NzQzNCwiZXhwIjoxNTkwNjkxMDM0LCJpc3MiOiJwdWItMzc3NzgiLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.p5PQGY1NG2KxW8JOQdZHskRbpkDQtyOZ4bTL5VqYW2c&nvep=ew0KICAiVGVuYW50VXJpIjogIm5ncHZhbjovL3Zhbi9FQS9FQTAwMy8xLzc1MjEwIiwNCiAgIkRpc3RyaWJ1dGlvblVuaXF1ZUlkIjogImE2Njc1M2NjLTNhYTQtZWExMS05YjA1LTAwMTU1ZDAzYjVkZCIsDQogICJFbWFpbEFkZHJlc3MiOiAiZGlja3BsYXRraW5AZ21haWwuY29tIg0KfQ%3D%3D&hmac=XKGLn1tmAqkBVvU-QK0w0jLfz7cDDCVp0NLMVS_m95I=&emci=24620219-31a4-ea11-9b05-00155d03b5dd&emdi=a66753cc-3aa4-ea11-9b05-00155d03b5dd&ceid=4019688) federal Coronavirus aid to the nation's most powerful corporate executives?
Black lives do matter. The looting we should be worried about, the kind that spawns inequality and violence, has gone on for far too long.
From the [Onion](https://www.theonion.com/protestors-criticized-for-looting-businesses-without-fo-1843735351?emci=24620219-31a4-ea11-9b05-00155d03b5dd&emdi=a66753cc-3aa4-ea11-9b05-00155d03b5dd&ceid=4019688). “MINNEAPOLIS—Calling for a more measured way to express opposition to police brutality, critics slammed demonstrators Thursday for recklessly looting businesses without forming a private equity firm first. “Look, we all have the right to protest, but that doesn’t mean you can just rush in and destroy any business without gathering a group of clandestine investors to purchase it at a severely reduced price and slowly bleed it to death,” said Facebook commenter Amy Mulrain, echoing the sentiments of detractors nationwide who blasted the demonstrators for not hiring a consultant group to take stock of a struggling company’s assets before plundering. “I understand that people are angry, but they shouldn’t just endanger businesses without even a thought to enriching themselves through leveraged buyouts and across-the-board terminations. It’s disgusting to put workers at risk by looting. You do it by chipping away at their health benefits and eventually laying them off. There’s a right way and wrong way to do this.” At press time, critics recommended that protestors hold law enforcement accountable by simply purchasing the Minneapolis police department from taxpayers.”
### *(Chuck Collins writes for* [*Inequality@ips-dc.org*](mailto:Inequality@ips-dc.org)*. He can be reached at* [*inequality@ips-dc.org*](mailto:inequality@ips-dc.org)*.)*
### -cw
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