Another "I can't breath" death: Police Reform & Protests in the USA

[Natta Lmo]

This is history. Not today.

Might as well just @Natta Lmo, how do you think they fare compared to people living under a pretty much military dictatorship?

lol... why u ask this? obvious to anyone that people under military dictatorship is worse than people living in a free country...

[Masark]

Read the article. They said they are investigating online posts encouraging people to go there and create chaos. They have not proven that any neo-nazi's have actually been looting. We will know who actually looted when they are arrested.

Try again.

He said some of the 40 arrests made in the Twin Cities Friday night were of people linked to white supremacist groups and organized crime.

[tehealadin]

I don't know how to feel about the riots. On the one hand, it is self destructive, destroying communities and the livelihoods of people within them. However the anger is very real and legitimate. It has two aspects to it. The first should concern everyone. Regardless of race, do you want to live in a society where an officer of the law can murder someone in the street who is restrained? If I can ignore the racial element for a second, if you look at that and think "it is just a black man" or "it is just a criminal", then you are also saying "it is ok if it happens to me or something I care about", the world isn't as neat as "cops just kill people I don't like", if you find it acceptable to murder someone you don't like (and lets be clear, this wasn't a preservation of life scenario, there was simply no need for this to have happened), it rings hollow if you then protest and object if it happens to someone you do care about. Calling out and being against this type of behaviour from the police is also an appeal that they don't do it to you.

The second aspect is clearly the racial element which can't be ignored. The image of white cops killing black men has been around for so long in the US. No matter what progress might be made in places, when stuff like this happens, it undoes all of that progress and reinforces the idea that black men (I emphasise black men, to the best of my knowledge even in the days of slavery, the racists weren't as murderous towards black women, though that doesn't mean to say that they weren't cruel or never killed them) need to fear for their lives when interacting with the police. It isn't healthy for society as a whole, nevermind communities within that society to be this fearful of the police, and lets not beat about the bush, there is a real and legitimate grievance here that can't be ignored.

It begs the question, and if I am being ignorant here please enlighten me, I maybe haven't followed this as closely as I could have, but would the murder charges have been brought without the riots? It shouldn't take actions like that for the process of justice to be started. Whilst I can't condone it, and it will be interesting to see what all groups are involved, there are certainly types who see a case like this and think "YES!" as it gives them an excuse to wreck things, it is very difficult to not have sympathy with the underlying anger that has sparked it. I would have been interested to see what had happened if the instant this crime came to light, instead of just sacking the officers, they were arrested and charged aka what they should have done in the first place.

Will this be a catalyst for change? Who knows, but I doubt it. This isn't the first case of its kind, I can't imagine it will be the last. And ultimately anger makes it easy for hatred to breed. And no matter how justified the anger is, when hatred starts to spread, it becomes everyone's problem and can make a movement toxic, which I don't want to see. Civil rights groups have been fighting hatred for centuries, the most impactful ones tended to be the ones that didn't fight fire with fire. How many black businesses were destroyed by these riots? How many innocent people have had their lives upended by this? Does injustice validate visiting injustice on innocent people? I remember watching a documentary on Netflix about the LA riots, and there was a middle aged black man on the street begging looters to stay out of his shop, he built it up, it was his life, and the crowds were just pouring out with his stock, not caring one bit, people of all races, ignorant to his cries. Ruining his life was not justice for Rodney King, it didn't stick it to the LAPD and it certainly didn't put an end to police brutality, it was just senseless. And it isn't racist, or advancing white supremacy to take issue with this, or to feel sympathy with innocent people having their lives ruined as a result of rioting, no matter how legitimate the anger that sparked the riots.

I fear for people who might have been made to suffer a similar fate. That is why I am torn with this. On the one hand I cannot accept that the answer to injustice and suffering is injustice and suffering of innocent people, I just have to believe that there is another way. On the other, if authorities only take you seriously when you resort to extreme measures, and your grievances are legitimate...I can't help but have some degree of sympathy, what do you do to enact change and to chase justice if the authorities aren't moved by mere words? I just wish the anger could have been better directed.

[Natta Lmo]

Seattle just went into lockdown, SPD has been called out to disperse the protesters and enforce curfew. 1992 here we come...sigh.

lol... what outcome do u expect if u riot?

[rrayy]

Try again.

Arrests, not convictions. Try again..

[Masark]

This just keeps getting better. The president of the Minneapolis Police Union is a member of a white supremacist biker gang.

https://www.motherjones.com/crime-ju...-floyd-racism/

[Felya]

Arrests, not convictions. Try again..

The proof you need is convictions of looting?

[Masark]

The proof you need is convictions of looting?

Only if they're white.

[Elegiac]

Arrests, not convictions. Try again..

Arrest is sufficient grounds for a death penalty, according to the way you people have been carrying on about people that resist it, so by your logic it's totally confirmed.

ITT: Confirmed by Rray that white supremacists were responsible for the looting during these riots. You can argue with me, but you can't argue with logic.

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This keeps getting better. The president of the Minneapolis Police Union is a member of a white supremacist biker gang.

https://www.motherjones.com/crime-ju...-floyd-racism/

The jury has found him guilty of being a redneck, white bread, chicken shit motherfucker.

Fire his ass.

[rrayy]

The proof you need is convictions of looting?

Well, yeah. A conviction menas they were proven beyond a reasonable doubt to have done some looting. Don't worry, it will come out soon that Antifa members will be arrested as well. Remember, they said some, not all. YOu are trying to claim they alone started it.

[Lanrefni]

There is no evidence that it works. So it's just an excuse.

Ho Chi Minh and the Việt Minh would beg to fucking differ.

[PhaelixWW]

Seattle just went into lockdown, SPD has been called out to disperse the protesters and enforce curfew. 1992 here we come...sigh.

They announced a 5pm curfew... at like 5:01pm.

[Elegiac]

Welp, Seattle PD just pepper sprayed a child.



Fuck. The police. There are no good cops.

[Katie N]

Ho Chi Minh and the Việt Minh would beg to fucking differ.

War is not violent protesting.

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Fuck. The police. There are no good cops.

You sound like an extremist.

[Elegiac]

You sound like an extremist.

Yeah. Extremely annoyed that my fellow colonizers won't check themselves and stop being racist for one goddamn second.

There is no excuse for employing chemical weapons on civilians.

[Templar 331]

Welp, Seattle PD just pepper sprayed a child.

Fuck. The police. There are no good cops.

I hate to be that guy but why would anyone take their kid to a protest? Especially one that has gotten violent across the country?

[Elegiac]

You sound like an extremist.

-snip-
Mod edit: While this is a famous image, link to things such as this with a warning.

Please tell me why one shouldn't be extremely opposed to the things that cause these images.

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I hate to be that guy

Then don't be that guy and sit the fuck down rather than tiptoe on victim blaming, comprenez-vous?

[Katie N]

Yeah. Extremely annoyed that my fellow colonizers won't check themselves and stop being racist for one goddamn second.

There is no excuse for employing chemical weapons on civilians.

There is also no excuse to branding a job that has over more than half a million workers as them all being evil.

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I hate to be that guy but why would anyone take their kid to a protest? Especially one that has gotten violent across the country?

Because they are stupid.

[Elegiac]

There is also no excuse to branding a job that has over more than half a million workers as them all being evil.

I didn't say all cops are evil.

I said there are no good cops. There are evil cops, and there are complicit cops.

Inaction in the face of injustice is a sin, Karen.

[Katie N]

I didn't say all cops are evil.

I said there are no good cops. There are evil cops, and there are complicit cops.

Inaction in the face of injustice is a sin, Karen.

So you're saying all cops are evil.