The Morning After Continues Apace
The recent history of moral panics shows that they sooner or later work themselves out through the legal system. The McMartin preschool case, the most visible episode of the 1980s Satanic day care panic, lasted seven years but resulted in no convictions, and all charges were dropped in 1990. The putative 2019 MAGA attack on Jussie Smollett took place before the 2020 COVID-BLM panic, but it was nevertheless a background issue throughout 2020 as public and law enforcement outcry over the case's being dropped eventualy resulted in appointment of a special prosecutor. In addition, the most vocal opjection to the anticipated outcome of Smollett's trial came from Black Lives Matter , one of the chief entrepreneurs of the 2020 panic: In our commitment to abolition, we can never believe police, especially the Chicago Police Department (CPD) over Jussie Smollett, a Black man who has been courageously present, visible, and vocal in the struggle for Black freedom. . . ....