Suicide Sainthood

The man who said he preferred to die rather than face incarceration did just that.  Clever man that he was, LaVoy Finicum used his death to purchase a martyrhood that his fellow sagebrush rebels can use as both justification and inspiration for continuing their disruption of life in Burns, Oregon.  I can't say that he willingly planned his death but I don't put it past him.  He presented himself as a principled man, a grandfather, risking his life for his beliefs.  I won't gainsay his belief, however dubious, nor do I question his calculation so, yeah, he could have decided to take a bullet for the cause.  After all, Jesus did the same and look what that started.

Getting killed by police is pretty easy, even for a white person.  Brandishing firearms and making threats for weeks on end will make police edgy.  Trying to run a roadblock, and then dropping your hands toward a weapon that you've bragged about to the entire nation  is guaranteed to elicit an armed response.  A man who wanted to live would have raised his hands well into the air and frozen in place as soon as he exited the truck.  Instead, he taunted the beast and died.

Maybe Finicum wasn't that clever but he got what he said he wanted.  His fellows have another grievance to stoke their anger and challenge the government.  I don't doubt that Finicum would approve.