Over the weekend, a group of men took over the headquarters of a U.S. wildlife refuge near Burns, Oregon — a small city in the Eastern part of the Beaver State. The men are angry over the imminent imprisonment of two area ranchers who were found guilty of arson three years ago. The convicted men set a series of fires in 2001 and 2006, intending to protect their lands and cover up evidence of deer poaching, but one blaze went on to also burn 139 acres of federal property.
The ranchers were convicted by a federal jury in 2012. After a plea deal, one was sentenced to three months in jail — the other, one year. This past October, however, a U.S. district judge re-sentenced each man to five years in prison — even though their sentences had already been fully served. That judge — differing from the previous, presiding judge — felt the initial sentence was too lenient.
The men now occupying government property decided to protest. They are mad.
A couple clarifying, relevant notes: (1) the family of the convicted ranchers does not support how the protestors have behaved; (2) many of the protestors have come from other towns and other states; and (3) the convicted ranchers still turned themselves in to police custody.
I find myself pondering, no less, a Slate Magazine headline: “What in Tarnation Is Going on With All These Angry Ranchers?”
Let’s be clear…
They have a right to protest.
They do not have a right to federal land.
That is true of all the protestors we’ve seen in recent months…
People have a right to protest.
People have a right to voice their opinions.
People even have a right to rant.
They do not, however, have a right to destroy.
They do not have a right to threaten.
And they do not have a right to take someone else’s property for their own.
That’s the case regardless of the passion or protest — regardless of whom the protestors actually are… their agenda or any demographic category… be it in Burns, Baltimore, or some place of supposed higher learning, etc.
The protestors are mad. But their madness does not change what they have a right to do.
It does, however, sometimes change how we react. That’s the hard part.
We look at all these protestors — all these mad people — and while we may agree or not with the purpose for the protest, we sometimes allow our empathy for the person or cause to alter our acceptance of what’s right and wrong; we extend abundant grace to one but none to the other. We then too often find ourselves caught in the queasy quandary of believing it’s ok for some people to illegally occupy or destroy — but for others, it is not. That may say more about us than it does about them.
Yes, we can be a strange people… mad, if you will.
Respectfully…
AR