Has It Come to You Yet? It Has to Me

On Saturday, there was a police incident in my city – Allentown, Pennsylvania – in which a man had to be subdued outside a hospital.

This occurred just a few blocks from my house.

According to initial reports, the man – who is either black or Hispanic – was seen staggering and vomiting near the hospital’s emergency entrance. Police arrived and the man began yelling and spitting at them. When three officers tried to subdue him, all four fell to the ground. The officers continued to try to bring the man under control and at one point one of them put his knee on the man’s head. The reports say that the cops later escorted the now-handcuffed man into the hospital, where he was treated and released.

A bypasser recorded video of the incident and posted it online. The video went viral and has now blown up on social media and in the news. As far as I know, it’s the first case of a cop controlling a person with a knee to the head/neck area since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis seven weeks ago.

As I said, this happened near my home. A mere four blocks away.

As a result of the incident, a protest occurred Saturday night in the center of Allentown – as far as I know, the first in this area. After a while, the protesters walked to a city precinct building, where the police chief and the mayor met them and talked about it. There was no reported violence. Another protest is planned for some time today.

The city and Lehigh county are conducting investigations with results expected later this week. The mayor and police chief told the protesters that they would gather all the information they could before reaching a conclusion.

Those are the facts as far as I have been able to ascertain to this point.

I bought my first gun, a pistol, back in February. That would have been before the pandemic lockdowns started, but I bought it because I foresaw some kind of trouble coming as a result of the virus and I wanted to be better prepared than merely stocking up on food. Like to protect that food. Also, just last night I won an online auction for a high-quality, police-used shotgun, so that’s on its way to me. More protection.

I only learned of Saturday’s incident this morning. It means that now the nationwide crisis has come to me. There are lots of tempting arson targets in my neighborhood – small businesses that, like those in cities such as Minneapolis, Seattle, and New York, are already reeling from the lockdown so will likely not survive their physical destruction. The homes here are mostly townhouses (I live in one) and there could easily be a CHAZ-like takeover that would trap me and the other residents in place. The West End in Allentown is the “rich” part of the city and is generally despised by the other parts, although you don’t reach the bigger, more valuable houses for several blocks farther west than mine. If my immediate area isn’t directly targeted, it’s on the way to those mean, nasty, icky “rich” folks.

(The real rich live outside the city but that won’t occur to mindless thugs.)

I know the mayor of Allentown personally. He’s a good man but I don’t think he’ll do well handling any escalations that might come – he used to be the principal at a school where I was a substitute teacher and the place had no discipline at all. I expect, if not Seattle-caliber submission, then surely catering to any irrational demands that people make. That isn’t going to stop any rioting.

I will defend myself and my property, whatever that ends up meaning. I’m not heavily armed here but I will do as much as I can should the need arise. I’ll be “battening down the hatches” starting today, just in case. This isn’t by any means panic, just calm, rational assessment of the possibilities. It doesn’t make sense to me to do anything else.

Are you ready to deal with something like this? Have you taken actual steps to prepare? Or are you sitting comfortably, believing that all this is happening somewhere else and it won’t directly threaten you? Let me tell you, you’re not immune. I saw trouble of a different kind on the horizon and started preparations months ago, so it’s only a (sort of) happy accident that I’m as ready as I am. I’m not one of those “doomsday preppers” but I keep my eyes and ears open and do what I need to, when I can. Do you?

What are you doing for the time when the rioters are at your door? Are you ready to stand up and fight for what’s right or are you only giving this crisis literal lip service by merely talking about it?

Because if it’s not halted soon, it will come for you.

[I will post updates on the situation when I know more.]