Riots

[whitetea]

there is something called a criminal justice system that is supposed to handle criminal acts like murders. This is just moralizing, not really an argument. And by the way, people are getting injured everyday by the rioters, and the businesses have owners and employees.

Criminal justice system has clearly never failed you. That's privilege.

 

[Fish Face]

I dont live in the US but i live in the UK. I have been watching what is going on the USA on tv.

Here in the UK there protests about george floyd too .

I am a massive politics junkie . I am also a brown female.

Personally i think the protestors have every right to be angry.

Too many black men have died before thier time due to police brutality and the justice system does not help either. The charge against the police officer 3rd degree is not suitable . If you put your knee on someones neck it is foreseeable harm will occur and the poor man kept saying loudly he can not breathe. That officer know what was doing.
That officer needs to be charged either with 1st or 2nd degree. 3rd degree is bullshit .

There is a real injustice that is happening

I dont agree with the looting however.

The problem with looting the people who live in the area will be the ones living with the long term damage. The long term damage will economic harm and unemployment due to the business struggling to open due insurance issues and safety issues as well caused by the rioting

If people want to loot they should rob a bank as banks are pools of wealth and banks are insured.
I dont think you can get rid of racism . Racism is a hatred for your fellow human being . Only in a perfect world there is no racism . This world is imperfect and so are human beings so things like racism will always exist.
Humans can create a better world than the one we are living in but will never be perfect.

What state are you in?

Take care and keep safe

I am in the UK as well. I remember Stephen Lawrence. I remember Mark Duggan and the rioting and looting. Mark Duggan was forgotten amongst riots and looting. Stephen Lawrence changed things, obviously not enough because Mark Duggan wouldn't have happened but you cannot change things that quickly. Rioting and looting is just going to feed into racism.

 

[GoodPersonEffed]

personally i would love to see the day everybody refuses to paying tax as a protest.
That would be awesome

I totally agree. I think this would be highly effective.

The basis for the US revolution was taxation without representation. Now, the elected officials do not represent the people, they represent other interests. And not just in the US. If citizens collectively take away their financial support, the government cannot function. And it can't just create new money, the financial system can't function that way.

 

[Fish Face]

We're coming off 3(?) months of covid and lockdown and now you have your place of business torched and looted. Do you try and rebuild, or do you just say fuck it and move on.

That tax base and those places of employment now leaves the cities. What takes its place? Crime, prostitution, drink and drugs, and more broken families. Nobody is going to invest in a community that ransacks shit.

Thank you for mentioning that COVID-19 is actually still happening. Looters in masks! That is not going to protect them. The BAME community is more at risk than anyone! Nothing comes from looting and rioting. Protest peacefully. Once you get violence and criminal activity and you are damaging businesses and your own community you lose the argument. Might get publicity but not good publicity.

 

[puppy9]

I totally agree. I think this would be highly effective.

The basis for the US revolution was taxation without representation. Now, the elected officials do not represent the people, they represent other interests. And not just in the US. If citizens collectively take away their financial support, the government cannot function. And it can't just create new money, the financial system can't function that way.

Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience. A nonviolent protest for unjust government actions. You're a genius. That will teach em. Correct me if I'm wrong!!!

 

[Fizzel87]

Thank you for mentioning that COVID-19 is actually still happening. Looters in masks! That is not going to protect them. The BAME community is more at risk than anyone! Nothing comes from looting and rioting. Protest peacefully. Once you get violence and criminal activity and you are damaging businesses and your own community you lose the argument. Might get publicity but not good publicity.

We're shutting down everything because people might die of covid, but congregating in mass riots is seemingly now acceptable. And if you're dragged out of your homes and cars and beaten to death... Ahh well.

 

[Fish Face]

Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience. A nonviolent protest for unjust government actions. You're a genius. That will teach em. Correct me if I'm wrong!!!

But how do you propose they take away financial support? It sounds very good but how? Even with the technology and communications we have in place that would be very difficult to achieve.

 

[HelensNepenthe]

there is something called a criminal justice system that is supposed to handle criminal acts like murders. This is just moralizing, not really an argument. And by the way, people are getting injured everyday by the rioters, and the businesses have owners and employees.

Funny how you praise a criminal justice system yet there are more people unconvicted sitting in jail awaiting for a pre-trial than convicted of any crime. The system has become throwing people in jail for weed or people who give off a bad check.

- - -

I don't know how to tell anyone this — civil rights and LGBT rights were not all peaceful protesting. These protestors are liberating themselves. Peaceful protesting has not lead anyone in the Black Lives Matter moment to go anywhere. Instead they received a headknod and "what they want to hear".

if you're under this only-in-grade-school assumption Stonewall didn't happen with buildings being destroyed, or any civil right protester didn't destroy buildings, education on the World Wide Web is out there for you to brush up on.

 

[a.n.kirillov]

Funny how you praise a criminal justice system yet there are more people unconvicted sitting in jail awaiting for a pre-trial than convicted of any crime. The system has become throwing people in jail for weed or people who give off a bad check.

I am not claiming the criminal justice system works.

 

[Finis Autem Spero]

I'm in the UK, torn between wanting to see everything burn to the ground and seeing some meaningful change. The former is more likely to happen than the latter though.

Also kinda wish I lived in the US so I could suicide by cop. Wouldn't mind throwing my life away to defend some of the protestors.

 

[ForensicallyAware]

 

[GoodPersonEffed]

Also kinda wish I lived in the US so I could suicide by cop. Wouldn't mind throwing my life away to defend some of the protestors.

Not to derail the thread, but this is the only instance of suicide by cop I've ever seen presented that I'm okay with. LE is attacking peaceful protestors and inciting violence. It wouldn't be provocation, it would be taking advantage of a situation in which they were already willing to inappropriately use violence. Which is the point of the protests anyway, unprovoked and inexcusable LE violence against citizens. They're supposed to protect, not victimize.

My dad was a cop in a major US city in the 70s and 80s, before there were tasers. They were trained to fire only as a last resort, which is why the introduction of tasers was helpful. He was in uniform for around five years, then a detective. In all his years, I don't know how many times he used his nightstick when he was in uniform, but he only ever drew his weapon once, and he didn't fire. Among cops in his department, it was a big deal if someone actually fired their weapon.

Suicide by cop has only become a thing in more recent decades because LE agencies are allowing an excessive use of lethal force. Don't get me wrong, there has always been corruption in LE agencies, some quite notable, such as Los Angeles, see the book The Onion Fields (and LA's current chief, btw, is saying that rioters are equally culpable for the death they're protesting -- wtf??). Wherever there is power, there are people who are going to be drawn to that field to abuse it and to victimize. But before, departments tried to keep that shit on the DL so they could participate in organized crime and get away with raping prostitutes. Now they outright assault the public, and the main targets are ethnic minorities, as has always been the case, and folks are getting fed up. Even my dad, good guy though he tried to be (he quit the FOP and stayed out of politics because he's not the power hungry type), he was quite racist about Blacks and Mexicans. I could get into all the socioeconomics of increased criminality in areas of lower income, but that's straying way off my point.

Which is, shit's gotten way fucked up in America where those who are supposed to protect the public are screwing over and assaulting the citizens, from politicians to LE, and it's escalated to the point it's fucking overt. It's so out in open what all of them are doing, and what power do citizens have against organized groups of law makers and enforcers? If LE officers are already willing to assault and shoot citizens for protesting, which is a fundamental constitutional right, then I'm not too upset about taking advantage of it -- this from someone who is vocally against suicide by cop and says, "Cops are human and can get PTSD, too."

Pretty much this. It's called deindividuation. The norms, morals, and rules we have been raised with, become accustomed to and live by in society so that we don't live in a state of anarchy get broken by a small minority of those rioting, and because the rioters are behaving in a pact almost against the authority, it becomes us vs. them and their own values that they have lived with their entire lives just get lost.
The rioters begin to act as a pact or in a mob because they see themselves as almost anonymous in a crowd and 'normal' behaviour and conventional rules / conduct no longer apply and no logical thinking or reasoning is being applied hense deindividuation.

Same principle applies to any group activity - why nice people can turn to hooligans at football matches etc. Your identity just turns into that of the crowd you're in.

Yes! It also happens in hazing rituals for male-dominated fraternal organizations, including the military and LE. It's an ancient practice. It concurrently increases bonding and uplifts aggressive behaviors. The cops themselves are deindividuated, they take on the identity of their crowd.

My dad was a former Marine and cop, and while he wasn't the badass aggressive type, he very much took on and bought into those organizations' self-proclaimed rights to authority and power, and hated when I or my mother would dare to question and think for ourselves. Those identities defined him, and they had total authority. When he got sick of being a cop and retired a few years early, he didn't really put it together that hating the environment was the same as rejecting its power and authority. He's been retired for a very long time, but he will always be a cop. He was a Marine for four years, and he will always be a Marine. I don't think he'd have an identity without either of them. He said that in bootcamp, the Marines break you down and build you back up -- same as the fraternal rituals I mentioned -- and he loved that they did, again not recognizing that he got out, in spite of offers for advancement, because abuses of power, assault, and killing go against who he really is, a guy who would rather help others than hurt them, and fight someone off rather than attack them.

Sorry for the tangent. Your post just helped me make more connections about LE, and for me there's a personal element to that.


Lord, this turned into a wall of text!

 

[AlreadyGone]

there is something called a criminal justice system that is supposed to handle criminal acts like murders. This is just moralizing, not really an argument. And by the way, people are getting injured everyday by the rioters, and the businesses have owners and employees.

The issue with this is that the police officers always get off free. Put the crime on video and it is not enough. What does it take to convict a police officer of murder when it is clear as day? Now they say the crime was "unintentional" when people told him to stop and the guy told him he couldn't breathe. The cop knew what he was doing and he had every intention of killing that man. The criminal justice system seems to work unless it is involving a police officer, then there is never enough evidence. People are tired of this. It is funny that ALL of this could have been avoided if either the police officer stopped or one of the other cops told him to stop.

 

[puppy9]

If anarchy brings change for a better life so be it. America intervention (war and proxy war) around the world; those innocent lives that perish with their weapon are called collateral damage. That's dehumanizing innocent lives. The White House ain't losing their sleep by that. The protestors ain't fighting for their pockets, it's change of the system they want and I hope they'll get at any cost. Donald Trump is just collateral damage if the proverbial guillotine starts rolling heads (hyperbole on my side).

 

[CalmStrikeofMercy]

People are attacking businesses that fund prison labor (check out 50 businesses that contract slave/prison labor). Attacking businesses that fund the police department. Some of it looks like RICO. Stimulating the economy as well as why they burn some buildings.

Attacking confederate monuments and confederate buildings. Attacking freemason buildings (close associates of confederates).

It is literally a less deadly civil war that intersects with class warfare.

People are fed up with corruption (so many bad apple cops that makes the entire tree look lile it needs to be pruned as well as judges caught embezzling and later to be found are of poor moral and ethical standing). The raiders are digging up horrible and truthful allegations within the justice department. Just...the entire tree starts to look bad.

People are beginning to get pissed off with a police state that has them feeling oppressed with depressed wages and few opportunities to make it in the meritocracy. Average American has a ton of debt (check out national debt clock for more info).

They call it a dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.

 

[GoodPersonEffed]

People are attacking businesses that fund prison labor (check out 50 businesses that contract slave/prison labor). Attacking businesses that fund the police department. Some of it looks like RICO. Stimulating the economy as well as why they burn some buildings.

Attacking confederate monuments and confederate buildings. Attacking freemason buildings (close associates of confederates).

It is literally a less deadly civil war that intersects with class warfare.

People are fed up with corruption (so many bad apple cops that makes the entire tree look lile it needs to be pruned as well as judges caught embezzling and later to be found are of poor moral and ethical standing). The raiders are digging up horrible and truthful allegations within the justice department. Just...the entire tree starts to look bad.

People are beginning to get pissed off with a police state that has them feeling oppressed with depressed wages and few opportunities to make it in the meritocracy. Average American has a ton of debt (check out national debt clock for more info).

They call it a dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.

Curious as to what are your sources for this information about what businesses and structures are being targeted.

If it's accurate, then there's tentatively an interesting correlation in that there are a lot Freemasons in law enforcement.

Your statement about RICO was unclear. Would you be willing to clarify?

When you say "people," I wonder what groups are behind these targeted attacks if they are happening? This would have to be organized. The average person would not come up with these targets or have any suspicion of, say, a connection between the Confederacy and freemasonry. It's very strategic. Most people would go after buildings that house or represent their perceived enemies, such as police headquarters, buildings where lawmakers sit or have offices, national monuments, businesses that serve LE and politicians, etc. In fact, part of the Lincoln Memorial was defaced, but that makes sense because of the message it sends, since he was at the forefront of the emancipation of the slaves.

 

[Jon86]

I tend to be cynical and believe most people are using the riots as an excuse to loot and tear down a society they failed to find a place in.

I respect peaceful protests, I understand the anger but blacks are killing each other on extremely high levels, year after year and nobody bats an eye. I don't necessarily believe police directly oppress black people nearly as much as the media portrays. I believe their culture perpetuates poverty. Too many blacks live in single parent households, don't have proper role models at home and they tend glorify the gang culture which leads to negative outcomes.

The asian community is discriminated against but they have both parents at home, extreme discipline and with that they are the wealthiest people within America...

The inequality within America is ultimately getting worse, the blacks within America aren't making it out of the ghetto, they are pissed and that I can understand. As a society, we've done little to improve the lives of the lower classes in decades (black, white or brown).

 

[GoodPersonEffed]

I tend to be cynical and believe most people are using the riots as an excuse to loot and tear down a society they failed to find a place in.

I respect peaceful protests, I understand the anger but blacks are killing each other on extremely high levels, year after year and nobody bats an eye. I don't necessarily believe police directly oppress black people nearly as much as the media portrays. I believe their culture perpetuates poverty. Too many blacks live in single parent households, don't have proper role models at home and they tend glorify the gang culture which leads to negative outcomes.

The asian community is discriminated against but they have both parents at home, extreme discipline and with that they are the wealthiest people within America...

The inequality within America is ultimately getting worse, the blacks within America aren't making it out of the ghetto, they are pissed and that I can understand. As a society, we've done little to improve the lives of the lower classes in decades (black, white or brown).

What I hear in your comment is that it comes from a privileged perspective, and repeats the myths perpetuated by the dominant culture which grants you privilege and denies it to others, reinforcing its false legitimacy. But what is hidden is that you are dominated, too, just more comfortably so. It feels good and safe to be on the side of power, but if that power is ever overturned, it's going to suuuuuuuck. Ask former Nazi officers or Stasi enforcers.

There were some "I believe" statements. Humans need a sense of predictably and control. When we don't know, we may default to belief in order to generate the illusion of those things, and treat them as fact. It feels great when one thinks God is on their side, and awful to face there may be no God supporting them.

I noticed the attempt to validate -- "I understand the anger," ostensibly that some cops kill some Blacks -- followed by an immediate negation, one of blame -- Blacks kill each other. The purpose and function of blame are to discharge pain and discomfort. Oppresion and violence perpetrated on others are indeed uncomfortable subjects. If the opressed rise up against the power on which one leans for support, that's a personal threat.

Just thought I'd share my alternate perspective. It's imperfect, but it's informed by study. Of course, whatever information is available, is allowed to be available by dominant forces, and what I think I know not only could be wrong, but also generates beliefs that feel good to me, that give me as much a sense of predictability and control as the knowledge I gained. Both are comfortable illusions. It feels good to have theoretical foundations and feel right, and I push against that so that I can try to mitigate any potential to control me. Sometimes discomfort is what is to be embraced because it reveals a more trustworthy teacher. But damn it feels good to "know."

 

[DumbBoi]

Its definitely hard, i can see how rioters and looters are in a way a dircet form of protest against these systems, be it the crumbling support infrastucure or society siding with products more than people by destroying parts of them but I can't help but feel as though it underestimates the sheer level of apathy our government can have, on top of how emotionaly fueled they are meaning that arent as focused on specific targets, like the local capitals and local lawmaking venues
Riots have gotten us places, but theres just nothing that shows that they still work today, and if anything, this has just been used as a lighting point to insitgate more violence and laws that allow for more inequality

 

[puppy9]

I tend to be cynical and believe most people are using the riots as an excuse to loot and tear down a society they failed to find a place in.

I respect peaceful protests, I understand the anger but blacks are killing each other on extremely high levels, year after year and nobody bats an eye. I don't necessarily believe police directly oppress black people nearly as much as the media portrays. I believe their culture perpetuates poverty. Too many blacks live in single parent households, don't have proper role models at home and they tend glorify the gang culture which leads to negative outcomes.

The asian community is discriminated against but they have both parents at home, extreme discipline and with that they are the wealthiest people within America...

The inequality within America is ultimately getting worse, the blacks within America aren't making it out of the ghetto, they are pissed and that I can understand. As a society, we've done little to improve the lives of the lower classes in decades (black, white or brown).

That is an abhorrent way of seeing things. I guess it's their fault to be slaves back then; they are largely built, suitable for hard labor. If the people in the past view things as you see it, there will be slaves tending to your edible garden right now.

 

[ForensicallyAware]

Demographics mean that Republicans will struggle to get elected in the future
As the Republican Party is basically the party of whites you are going to have a large unhappy bloc of people who feel they are working to support a welfare class of nonwhites

 

[shipwreck]

I tend to be cynical and believe most people are using the riots as an excuse to loot and tear down a society they failed to find a place in.

I respect peaceful protests, I understand the anger but blacks are killing each other on extremely high levels, year after year and nobody bats an eye. I don't necessarily believe police directly oppress black people nearly as much as the media portrays. I believe their culture perpetuates poverty. Too many blacks live in single parent households, don't have proper role models at home and they tend glorify the gang culture which leads to negative outcomes.

The asian community is discriminated against but they have both parents at home, extreme discipline and with that they are the wealthiest people within America...

The inequality within America is ultimately getting worse, the blacks within America aren't making it out of the ghetto, they are pissed and that I can understand. As a society, we've done little to improve the lives of the lower classes in decades (black, white or brown).

I think the broader point is that there's something deeply wrong with the American psyche. Blacks aren't the only victims of police violence, they just get the worst of it. Police have become more militarized and violent in their responses over the last 50 years - books have been written about it. Same with coronavirus: everyone is vulnerable, but blacks suffer the worst, and this happens against a backdrop of a national debate over health care. Over the same decades we've moved to a costly for-profit health care model that enriches a few and fails to serve most. But it goes far beyond these issues.

We have a president that mocks the disabled, women, immigrants and other groups and a segment of this country approves, while a handful express outrage and the majority simply shrugs - if they're even aware of it. The problem was there long before our current president was elected: he just tapped into something that was already there.

At its most basic, the problem is a lack of respect and concern for others. The policeman who knelt on George Floyd's neck for nine minutes surely knew what he was doing - bystanders begged him to stop. He didn't care. Looters take advantage of the protests to pillage businesses, destroying people's livelihoods. They don't care. Our president's response to the epidemic was to downplay it and not take effective measures. Now 100,000 Americans are dead and millions are jobless. Our leadership didn't care enough to do something to reduce the impact.

If you can't feel concern for other people's problems and hear them when they protest, then you're part of the problem. And sooner or later it will come around to you. Everyone belongs to some subgroup. Here on this forum many of us would fall into the category of suffering from poor mental health. Support for mental health services in the US is abysmal. There's a steady chorus on this site about lack of concern for emotional suffering, lack of understanding and support, lack of services. See the connection?

There's an epidemic of selfishness in this country. Hopefully the George Floyd riots and coronavirus will prompt us to do a better job of looking after each other.

 

[HelensNepenthe]

I don't know how to tell anyone this — civil rights and LGBT rights were not all peaceful protesting. These protestors are liberating themselves. Peaceful protesting has not lead anyone in the Black Lives Matter moment to go anywhere. Instead they received a headknod and "what they want to hear".

if you're under this only-in-grade-school assumption Stonewall didn't happen with buildings being destroyed, or any civil right protester didn't destroy buildings, education on the World Wide Web is out there for you to brush up on.

A friend of mine recently recommended that I take a look at "This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible", and after reading through it, it's an eye opening experience. I encourage anyone who is wanting to read up on the Civil Rights take a look at this book.

 

[coreofanapple]

Most of the problem here is the result of social media posturing.

 

[shipwreck]

Most of the problem here is the result of social media posturing.

Not sure what you mean. Are you referring to the president's tweets?

 

[coreofanapple]

Not sure what you mean. Are you referring to the president's tweets?

I mean that's always a factor, since he's a slow moving hunk of hamburger meat with a Twitter account, but there's also the whole trend of "Who can be the most woke" that's been going on since, like, 2014. I got swept up into it when I was younger because when it began, it all made sense. Of course, people should have equal rights. But it's spun out of control and now if you think that the riots and lootings are bad, you're branded a "bootlicker" or a racist (even though plenty of black people are calling out this foolishness, lmao) by a bunch of people who only find self worth in how progressive and politically correct they are. And while it was contained online for a while, it's spilling out into the real world because these guys are coming out here to these protests to start shit while also giving justifications to thieves who just want to get in on a new opportunity.

People will sit on their asses and harass corporate Twitter accounts if they haven't made the same white-text-on-black-background, three sentence statements all the other brands have, because they need to know if they can say "Brand good!" Or "Brand bad!" I'm sick of it, no one seems to truly stand for anything anymore, it's all just acronyms and quotes you can easily hashtag, reposts of the same damn picture over and over again, and the same sentences and paragraphs repeated and repeated, all for show. And by July? No one will even fucking remember why this started.

 

[shipwreck]

I mean that's always a factor, since he's a slow moving hunk of hamburger meat with a Twitter account, but there's also the whole trend of "Who can be the most woke" that's been going on since, like, 2014. I got swept up into it when I was younger because when it began, it all made sense. Of course, people should have equal rights. But it's spun out of control and now if you think that the riots and lootings are bad, you're branded a "bootlicker" or a racist (even though plenty of black people are calling out this foolishness, lmao) by a bunch of people who only find self worth in how progressive and politically correct they are. And while it was contained online for a while, it's spilling out into the real world because these guys are coming out here to these protests to start shit while also giving justifications to thieves who just want to get in on a new opportunity.

People will sit on their asses and harass corporate Twitter accounts if they haven't made the same white-text-on-black-background, three sentence statements all the other brands have, because they need to know if they can say "Brand good!" Or "Brand bad!" I'm sick of it, no one seems to truly stand for anything anymore, it's all just acronyms and quotes you can easily hashtag, reposts of the same damn picture over and over again, and the same sentences and paragraphs repeated and repeated, all for show. And by July? No one will even fucking remember why this started.

Yeah, it's really sad to see people's businesses and jobs destroyed by the looting and fires. People have died - I'm surprised more haven't. I think it was bound to reach this point eventually though: when someone tries to say "stop hurting me" over and over with increasing urgency and you don't listen, don't be surprised by a punch in the face.

There's plenty of blame to go around. The looters and arsonists, the police departments around the country whose conduct created the problem, the politicians who fail to act despite repeated protests and pleas, the masses of Americans who put up with the situation, our self-obsessed president who can't think of anything to do but macho posturing and stirring division... I don't blame the legitimate protesters who are out there, even if their motives aren't purely selfless.

 

[BitterlyAlive]

There's an epidemic of selfishness in this country. Hopefully the George Floyd riots and coronavirus will prompt us to do a better job of looking after each other.

Oooh, very well said!

 

[coreofanapple]

There's plenty of blame to go around. The looters and arsonists, the police departments around the country whose conduct created the problem, the politicians who fail to act despite repeated protests and pleas, the masses of Americans who put up with the situation, our self-obsessed president who can't think of anything to do but macho posturing and stirring division... I don't blame the legitimate protesters who are out there, even if their motives aren't purely selfless.

I agree with you wholeheartedly. No one knows how to deal with this and it shows, it's all an unorganized shitshow.

Also, I'm glad I can speak my mind here. I don't have many social media outlets to use, but the ones I do have are full of people who will dogpile you if you insinuate that robbing stores and breaking shit isn't the solution to racism.

 

[Jon86]

What I hear in your comment is that it comes from a privileged perspective, and repeats the myths perpetuated by the dominant culture which grants you privilege and denies it to others, reinforcing its false legitimacy. But what is hidden is that you are dominated, too, just more comfortably so. It feels good and safe to be on the side of power, but if that power is ever overturned, it's going to suuuuuuuck. Ask former Nazi officers or Stasi enforcers.

There were some "I believe" statements. Humans need a sense of predictably and control. When we don't know, we may default to belief in order to generate the illusion of those things, and treat them as fact. It feels great when one thinks God is on their side, and awful to face there may be no God supporting them.

I noticed the attempt to validate -- "I understand the anger," ostensibly that some cops kill some Blacks -- followed by an immediate negation, one of blame -- Blacks kill each other. The purpose and function of blame are to discharge pain and discomfort. Oppresion and violence perpetrated on others are indeed uncomfortable subjects. If the opressed rise up against the power on which one leans for support, that's a personal threat.

Just thought I'd share my alternate perspective. It's imperfect, but it's informed by study. Of course, whatever information is available, is allowed to be available by dominant forces, and what I think I know not only could be wrong, but also generates beliefs that feel good to me, that give me as much a sense of predictability and control as the knowledge I gained. Both are comfortable illusions. It feels good to have theoretical foundations and feel right, and I push against that so that I can try to mitigate any potential to control me. Sometimes discomfort is what is to be embraced because it reveals a more trustworthy teacher. But damn it feels good to "know."

Honestly, I haven't even read the full post yet but i'm tired and am too lazy to read it all right now because I've already concluded i'll disagree, lol.

Anyways, I no longer relate to 99.9% of humans, black, white, brown or whatever color tbh, i'm not even living, i've been suffering from disease(s) for 20 years and am simply a broken man who's alive from fear/guilt.

I see humans as narcissitic, virtue signalling monkeys, donkeys, sheep, whatever you want to call them with no real desire other than to dominate others and reap the rewards (get all the hoes, drugs and money).

I've lived at the bottom of the social hierarchy within society suffering for 20 years, I was once at the top, I didn't deserve to be at the top and I don't deserve to be at the bottom, it just is what it is.

Black people are more likely to get struck by lightning than die at the hands of the police, I accept that blacks face discrimination, so do all minorities. Blacks in general are larger humans and statistically more likely to be involved in criminal behavior, so of course i'd feel safer walking down the street next to a group of Asian men than Blacks, just like i'd feel safer walking down the street by a basset hound instead of a pitbull, pointing this fact out doesn't make me 'racist'.

Aboriginals have negative outcomes in life, they aren't in movies, they have next to no role models. The top artists within the past 20 years are largely black (often lyrics that guide kids to negative outcomes), most pro athletes in america are black, etc. idk what i'm trying to say, all I can say is that the movement is flawed, badly, not unlike#meToo with 'believe all women' like women are incapable of lying, I mean seriously, cmon. Nigerians, that come over dominate in America because of culture. I don't relate to my ancestors who lived 200 years ago, i'm Polish and Irish, my ancestors were slaughtered as well, I never met them, they died before I was born, I don't feel their pain, I feel mine.

I'll read your post later when my brain is capable of absorbing information. I don't really give a fuck about any of this shit tbh, i'm already a rotting corpse.