In the ongoing battle over the proper role of law enforcement and conflicts between officers and the public there has obviously been one overlooked set of villains: runners. That’s right… we’re talking about those joggers who go out in their fancy running shorts and high end shoes, competing in the curious process of spending their day pounding the pavement along ridiculously long routes when they could have just summoned an Uber to get there in about ten minutes. They are clearly the problem with today’s society and Black Lives Matter in St. Paul, Minnesota is finally going to do something about it by shutting down the Twin Cities Marathon. (Star Tribune)

Four days before more than 11,000 runners line up for the start of Sunday’s Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon, the threat by protesters to disrupt the 26.2-mile race has some marathoners on edge about their safety, while others are angry that months of training could be jeopardized as they approach the finish line.

The St. Paul chapter of Black Lives Matter says it’s planning on “shutting down” the annual October running event near the finish at the State Capitol to raise awareness of recent incidents involving St. Paul police and people of color.

St. Paul police and the marathon’s organizers declined Tuesday to discuss the protest, but issued statements saying they are working on plans to ensure the safety of runners, volunteers and spectators.

For their part, the organizers of the race are taking a very cautious approach. (Runners World)

“We are working closely with city officials to ensure the safety of all participants, volunteers, and spectators,” the statement read. “City officials are advising on logistics and recommendations and we will share that with you as soon as it is available. We ask for your patience as we work on this, and want to reiterate that your safety is our highest priority.”

Rashad Turner is the nominal spokesperson for the St. Paul chapter of BLM and the greatest danger he usually poses is to anyone standing between him and a CNN camera. But in this case he became rather shy, refusing to talk to the Star Trib and instead releasing part of a quote from MLK where he describes one of the greatest threats to black Americans as being whites who are “more devoted to order than justice.”

Turner is the perfect icon for the Black Lives Matter movement and his comments there are part of the reason that I truly do hope that Black Lives Matter shuts down the finish line for this marathon. It’s not because I have anything against runners or their events. As the interviews in the Trib article point out, many of these people train all year long for this event and the fastest competitors use it as a stepping stone to gain entry to some of the big, national races. Others are raising money for charity or holding memorials for victims of crime. But if the ruination of one year’s marathon is what it takes to draw attention to the despicable tactics of Black Lives Matter and further cements public opinion against the organization it would be well worth the cost in the long run.

The national media is in love with the movement and their talking heads are more than willing to turn a blind eye to BLM’s violent rhetoric and counterproductive tactics in the name of good ratings and applause from liberals. But when they go too far (as they generally do) even the cable news hosts are forced to cover the story and highlight the damage being done by these alleged Social Justice Warriors. Indeed, even some of BLM’s own organizers and members are aghast at the disgusting and misguided nature of this scheme, including Ashley Oliver of their Minneapolis chapter.

“It pains me to dissociate myself from this rally,” she said in an interview Tuesday. Although she’s been criticized by some for speaking out against the protest, she said disrupting the marathon is the wrong forum to get the Black Lives Matters message out. There’s no connection between the runners or the marathon to the injustices such as police brutality that she’s fighting against, she said.

“This puts the movement in an awful light,” Oliver said. “This is being done for publicity and for disturbance sake. I can’t get behind that. Our message will get lost.”

That’s nice to hear from Ms. Oliver, but even if her heart is in the right place she is clearly an outlier in the movement. The primary goal of BLM actually is publicity for disturbance sake and it’s designed to inflame racial tension. If enough of the public is made aware of this – including those who might otherwise be lending a sympathetic ear to the agitators – then political leaders might find the resolve to get the police out there during attacks such as this and demonstrate what some real aggressive policing looks like. Those who would seek to shut down normal, civil society and the rights of people who are completely unrelated to the perceived injustice they are protesting don’t belong on cable news shows… they should be in jail.