The frustrated anger over another killing of a black man at the hands of police officers is real — the sustained protests this past week in dozens of American cities can’t all be laid at the feet of “outside agitators.”

There were no “buses from Buffalo and Rochester” pulling into Olean Sunday, as rumored, to foment a rallying of more than 200 people at the State and Union street intersection. Participants chanted and marched on the city’s streets for several hours in — except for a couple of brief skirmishes — a peaceful cry against the brutality that all too often results in tragically pointless deaths.

There were both protest participants and onlookers who expressed some surprise at how large the Olean turnout was — a statement in itself of how widespread the condemnation of what was seen last week in Minneapolis in the killing of George Floyd. Bradford also had a protest event going Monday afternoon.

It’s not just in the largest urban centers of the nation that people are outraged over such shameful episodes.

There was relief and even an element of pride in Olean that it all didn’t descend to the chaotic violence seen elsewhere. Credit for that is due to everyone involved, from the protesters themselves to the Olean Police Department and supporting officers, who made their presence known but kept an easy distance as the night played out.

Would that it were so in many other American cities the past several nights, where the best intentions of calling out police brutality and poor law enforcement relations with communities of color have indeed been hijacked by those eager to ignite violence, senselessly destroy and burn property and, in sad sprees of callous opportunism, loot businesses in their communities.

Be it “outside” or “inside” agitators — or perhaps it’s simply a mob mentality run amok, supercharged by pent-up frustrations at coronavirus pandemic restrictions — the damage wrought in so many cities overshadows the reasons for protest. Any worthy message has all too often gone up in the smoke of burning buildings and police vehicles or has been shattered with the glass of storefronts.

Mayors and governors of various cities and states also deserve their share of responsibility for allowing the dangerous lawlessness to rage out of control.

Perhaps the strategy, at first, was not to forcefully intervene in the hope that violence and destruction wouldn’t escalate even further. Perhaps even some mayors and governors, wanting to wave their progressive credentials in front of the seething crowds, were reluctant to order the force necessary to protect municipal and private property.

Either case says little about the ability of these politicians to lead their cities and/or states in a crisis the likes of which has flared these past days. Passivity has backfired disastrously, as mobs have only become more emboldened. Hopes that liberal credentials would count for anything regarding influencing crowds to cease and desist mayhem shows what little respect and regard they actually have from much of their constituencies.

Meanwhile, the majority that are the good, honorable cops have had to stoically endure the taunts and even the physical attacks of protesters and the attendant mob elements.

As for President Trump, it’s now that the nation pays again for the divisiveness that defines his presidency — some it his own doing, some of it fomented by his detractors. Any message Trump might deliver, be it a call for more decisive action against destructive rioters or a call for calm and understanding, are going to be denounced by his enemies in politics and the press as either too aggressive and heavy-handed, or simply hollow.

The very divisiveness of his presidency, his lack of deftness in reaching out to anyone other than his supporters, renders his voice almost mute in an atmosphere of raw, emotional anger.

As a consequence of the divisiveness, poor leadership and elemental selfishness at the protest line, American cities are convulsed by violence and destruction. In the age of a viral pandemic, we’ve managed to heap another crisis on the staggering load we’ve already been carrying.

There’s plenty of shouting; not enough people are talking and listening. We’d do well to start before the load becomes too much to bear.

(Jim Eckstrom is editor of the Olean Times Herald and Bradford Publishing Co. His email is jeckstrom@oleantimesherald.com.)