WASHINGTON—As the smoke clears from a national two-week frenzy of rioting, looting, and arson, a substantial far-left push is underway to defund or radically transform police departments, under the premise that they’re systemically racist.
Initially, protests were peaceful and called for justice for George Floyd, the black man who died in police custody on May 25 in Minneapolis. However, rioting escalated in Minneapolis, and curfews did little to help, until the National Guard and state and local police used tear gas and pepper spray to break up crowds and chase rioters away. Parts of the city were reduced to piles of burning rubble.
