I agree with you on this. Someone pointed out earlier on in this thread that it feels like the police in America these days exist to remind black people of their place. Thinking about that, and what you pointed out there, it's hard not to think that this runs deeper than just a few bad eggs.
Cop in America doing a bad job, again
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I don't know how true the story is, but I came across someone's account of an interaction he had with his classmates at university. He said a guest speaker asked the sociology class a question - in this class, write down who you would be afraid of the most, if you didn't know them and you saw them walking down the street? Most of the white people picked the one black dude in the class and they eventually admitted that it's because he was a 6ft something black guy. His response was 'well that's ironic because I fear you white people the most because ya'll could have me killed out of fear of what *your* perception of me is, not reality."
I'm not sure if this a true account of something that actually happened, or a story that someone conjured up in their own head to make a wider point about how black men are perceived to be 1000 times more dangerous than they actually are, but I'm reminded of that story every time I see another black man lose his life unnecessarily at the hands of a police officer.
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It's racism, pure and simple - America was built on it and it continues to exist very strongly throughout the country. Very sad to say it but it is what it is.
By now we all know there are racist double standards, but I mean: of course police are going to use tear gas and rubber bullets when protesters in front of their precinct start torching police cars, I think you would see that in most countries - just watch a random G8 summit. And of course police create a barrier when there is an angry mob outside of a person's house, ready to do god knows what to him, even if it's a murderer.
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Context: white conservative protesters rebelling against lockdown a couple weeks ago and protesting for their right to go back to work; I also saw another clip where the protesters were armed with guns in plain sight. No riot gear. No tear gas. No guns. Didn’t even see officers manhandling them. Compare that to the current scenes in Minneapolis.
Honestly, the difference in how black people are treated is night and day at this point.
Yep. The only way it is going to change is if we deconstruct the racist construct that exists and is rife throughout society but that's difficult when you have people electing and giving big platforms to people around the world that exhibit that. In the UK for example the fact that Boris Johnson is our PM doesn't put us off to a good start.
This story sickens me so much.
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I cannot imagine at all having to live like that and the fact that people do every single day is disgusting and wrong (Read the thread).
But when a bunch of heavily armed white dudes literally storm a government building it’s fine, and the police just stand and watch.
That tweet baffled the shit out of me until I saw your comment to read the thread.
Stories like that are absolutely heartbreaking and shines a light on the privilege we have as white people in not having to think about stuff like that at every moment of our lives.
Anyone who hasn’t watched this documentary yet absolutely should do, its on Netflix.
America is making its own open (and closed, Mexican border) concentration camps, just like China with the Uigar Muslims, Israel with the Palestinians, Nepal with Rohingyans, Modi with disowned, etc. Obviously they get worse press, rightfully so, but we should not be blind to where things are headed. A camp does not have to be physical, it can be mental and conceptual too.
No amount of prominent black Americans can change that. Not even a token ex-president.
Edit: just saw Rado's post above.
I'm sure there is racism at play and I have no trouble believing that police in general react differently depending on skin colour, but I would say the situations are still apples and oranges. The "open our hair salons" protests were tense, but in a sense contained, whereas once police cars get torched the line into violent escalation has been crossed. The presence of assault rifles also plays a role: you get heavy handed with those rednecks and just one of them starts shooting you could have hundreds of dead people.
why can't people just talk to the pigs, we've got decades of evidence that doing nothing works so well
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It's not modern. From the moment the slaves were 'freed', to maintain them as a commodity, they were being rounded up on any dubious charge, given absurd sentences and put to work in prisons across the country performing the same labour at the 'behest' of slave owners, who were then prison governors. This is business. Big, big business.
It's not afoot, either; just being brought into the light from the darkness it's ably straddled for centuries.
Any attempt to 'rise up' or even live a separatist existence, crushed, swiftly. I assume you know about Black Wall Street?
True reform would cost the country billions in lost revenue through a well that'll never run dry there. There'll be no real change as it makes no sense, on any level, for the powers that be to entertain.
You can thank the hilariously outdated and incompatible with modern society Constitution for that kind of crap. Taking certain outdated books far too seriously is the biggest cause of the dumbassery in the US.
No, but I will be looking up Black Wall Street now.
There is unquestionably racism at play and I can’t agree that the situations are “apples vs oranges” at all, unless you’re including the entirely peaceful protests against police brutality that were met with violence from the police, which are indeed different to the others and further highlight the issue.
Yeah, this one was really unsettling, the poor guy who got murdered had two young kids too. It's 'looking after your own' taken to a whole new level.
National Guard being called in. There’s also protests kicking off elsewhere like LA.
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Why the hell are they burning there own city and local markets. Protest sure. But destroying innocent people's homes or looting isn't fair for anyone. That's not justice.
Surprised how many were there but understandable really. Losing more lives won't solve anything and will just exacerbate matters.
Easy to say from the comfort of home. I'm sure they have protested peacefully many times, and they still get criticized (bending the knee during the anthem), but most importantly, nothing has changed. They still get murdered and treated like less than human.
Violence breeds violence.
Sometimes, like the French Revolution, violence is the only way you think you got going forward. It's a last resource situation for people who has nothing to lose.
won't somebody think about the bricks
Allegedly a lot of the fires have been started by undercover officers
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There was another thread I saw explaining the same thing. Gonna have to do digging to find that one and will edit it in also.
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There was another thread I saw explaining the same thing. Gonna have to do digging to find that one and will edit it in also.
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The only persons IQ which is obvious here is your own. Sadly it's not pretty.
This is the exact thing that is what's really meant by terms like 'white privilege', sure people will twist it to try and make it about money but it's not. Not even close.
Ask any black person and they'll give you dozens of examples.
It's not reasonable to live like this, but we're forced to do it still because there's no choice.
America is a land built off the backs of millions of innocent people they enslaved, gave them no reparations but continued the racial discrimination to this day.
You want to talk about justice? it's been 400 years and there's been no justice for black Americans, quite frankly America is lucky that they haven't burned the entire place to the ground.
Merchandise can be replaced, and often times is covered by insurance. Human lives can't, and the trauma of having to live with this as a black person is too much.
If you have a plan I’d like to hear it. I just don’t see how it’s possible.
why can't we all be reasonable and do a twitter hashtag instead, it's something i, a kindly liberal who definitely agrees with your aims, can feel good about
That reminds me of a news story I read a few months back: police had a kind of run-in with local black people, and afterwards were beating their shields and chanting "Whose house? Our house!"
Chilling and disgraceful.
Imagine what it'll be like when he walks or gets a lesser charge like manslaughter?
Don't get me wrong. I don't blame the outrage one bit. Black people in are getting royally fked in america on a daily basis. I saw it first hand when l went there for the first time. In Florida. Poor fella got slammed on to the bonnet of a car for no fecking reason. He simply put his hand on the officer shoulder to try and explain what happened as a witness and his partner just went for him.
I supposed they are doing it to be taking seriously and make them bastards listen. Obviously I'm not really judging. Do what they have to do for some justice.
You naive soul, we do it every other months for far less than that.
One good thing about french police is that if you give them the opportunity, regardless of your skin color or professional occupation, they will batter you. There is no discrimination on that front.
Spend more money on making things better.
It's that simple really. Don't tell me America can't afford it.
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Listen to some Ice Cube. He explains it.
At some point the cost-benefit analysis of having lots of poorly trained officers doing bad things would have to tip the scale towards taking more time to train people, even if it means fewer officers at a given time.
Is that the issue though? Because I don't think that these officers acted the way they did due to poor training but based on pure contempt.