Most of you know that a large number of people who stormed the Michigan State Capitol chanting “Lock her up!” at Gretchen Whitmer did so against the express directives of those who organized “Operation Gridlock.” The organizers wanted people to stay in their cars and respect social distancing.
Well, it turns out that the people who stayed in their cars may have been at least as reckless as those who were on the state capitol steps. MSNBC’s “The 11th Hour” found a video from an outraged hospital worker who said he couldn’t get to work because of the clogged highways. Watch here.
James Smith works at Sparrow Hospital, Lansing’s biggest hospital. He blasted the “idiots, total idiots” who were clogging up “every entranceway to get to the hospital” and keeping him from getting to work.
According to the Detroit Free Press, at least one ambulance was bogged down in traffic near Grand Avenue, close to Sparrow’s main campus. A spokesman said that while there were no issues with ambulances being kept from getting in, quite a few were tied up or delayed from getting in. And if this video from Smith is any indication, quite a few other workers at Sparrow had a hard time getting to work today.
Now, I still have a subversive streak even as I’m showing a few flecks of gray in my hair. I’ve taken part in my share of protests. For instance, I’m of the mind that Trump should be forced to resign for knowing how bad coronavirus could get—and short of taking to the streets, the next best thing is signing petitions calling for him to resign.
But there are things you absolutely do not do when protesting. And one of them is keeping emergency vehicles from getting through. Hopefully the higher-ups at Sparrow and Lansing’s other major hospital, McLaren Greater Lansing Hospital, have a not-so-friendly chat with the organizers of Operation Gridlock. And God forbid that an ambulance or fire truck couldn’t get where it needed to go because of this.
I remember the major backlash the Black Lives Matter protesters faced when they blocked airports. What the people behind Operation Gridlock did may have been even more dangerous, and if they don’t face as much backlash as Black Lives Matter faced for blocking airports, something is wrong.