The Shooting Gallery: Police Violence MEGATHREAD

[Martinus]

Grabon doesn't care about white people who are victims of police violence.

So clearly that is a false statement.

Not sure about that but you are clearly selective in your outrage. For example, your profile picture features an ISIS murderess. Even if ironic, this seems bad taste - more than if, say, Derspiess had Zimmermann's pic in his profile, for example.

[grumbler]

I think the problem with "Black Lives Matter" is that it turns into a race issue something that really shouldn't be. Police reform in much of the US is badly needed however.

What is the "it" that black lives matter suddenly makes a race issue?

I think too many people subconsciously put "only" in front of BLM because the BLM leadership, for obvious reasons, doesn't spend much time talking about police shootings outside their community.  That's like arguing that the Southern Poverty Law Center thinks that justice should be confined to the poor of the South.

[garbon]

Grabon doesn't care about white people who are victims of police violence.

So clearly that is a false statement.

Not sure about that but you are clearly selective in your outrage. For example, your profile picture features an ISIS murderess. Even if ironic, this seems bad taste - more than if, say, Derspiess had Zimmermann's pic in his profile, for example.

Is this a Polish joke?

[Valmy]

Ah, I hadn't seen that.

Well here is their list of demands:

We demand an end to all forms of discrimination and the full recognition of our human rights.
We demand an immediate end to police brutality and the murder of Black  people and all oppressed people.
We demand full, living wage employment for our people.
We demand decent housing fit for the shelter of human beings and an end to gentrification.
We demand an end to the school to prison pipeline & quality education for all.
We demand freedom from mass incarceration and an end to the prison industrial complex.
We demand a racial justice agenda from the White House that is inclusive of our shared fate as Black men, women, trans and gender-nonconforming people. Not My Brother's Keeper, but Our Children's Keeper.
We demand access to affordable healthy food for our neighborhoods.
We demand an aggressive attack against all laws, policies, and entities that disenfranchise any community from expressing themselves at the ballot.
We demand a public education system that teaches the rich history of Black people and celebrates the contributions we have made to this country and the world.
We demand the release of all U.S. political prisoners.
We demand an end to the military industrial complex that incentivizes private corporations to profit off of the death and destruction of Black and Brown communities across the globe.

Militancy combined with vagueness. Always a winning combination.

[derspiess]

They forgot to demand to keep hope alive.

[Berkut]

It is kind of interesting to see how serious issues are trivially dismissed by those who want to protect the status quo by simply demanding some level of perfect delivery of demands, absent which one can safely ignore the crisis involved.

This is an old playbook.

[derspiess]

Maybe they could whittle their demands down to some better defined, achievable goals and then we could work from there.  They're not exactly doing themselves any favors.

[Valmy]

It is kind of interesting to see how serious issues are trivially dismissed by those who want to protect the status quo by simply demanding some level of perfect delivery of demands, absent which one can safely ignore the crisis involved.

This is an old playbook.

I am sure what I say here on Languish will not dramatically impact whether or not the status quo is preserved but I guess I should be flattered. However if you have read anything I have to say on this topic you would know I am making no such demand to anybody. I am simply worried this movement has been hijacked by left wing extremists. Sadly extremists hijacking important movements is pretty old playbook.

[Berkut]

Maybe they could whittle their demands down to some better defined, achievable goals and then we could work from there.  They're not exactly doing themselves any favors.

I am sure there is no set of "defined, achievable goals" beyond "lets leave everything as it is" that is going to result in them getting any tangible, meaningful support from those who object to their current tactics - said tactics being the direct result of decades of refusal to address those "defined, reasonable goals" absent said tactics.

[Berkut]

It is kind of interesting to see how serious issues are trivially dismissed by those who want to protect the status quo by simply demanding some level of perfect delivery of demands, absent which one can safely ignore the crisis involved.

This is an old playbook.

I am sure what I say here on Languish will not dramatically impact whether or not the status quo is preserved but I guess I should be flattered. However if you have read anything I have to say on this topic you would know I am making no such demand to anybody. I am simply worried this movement has been hijacked by left wing extremists. Sadly extremists hijacking important movements is pretty old playbook.

It certainly is old playbook - but exaggerating the "extremists" in order to simply dismiss the entire thing out of hand is as well.

[Valmy]

It certainly is old playbook - but exaggerating the "extremists" in order to simply dismiss the entire thing out of hand is as well.

Why would I want to dismiss something I passionately support out of hand? That would be an odd playbook indeed.

I am just concerned not attempting to dismiss anybody.

[derspiess]

I am sure there is no set of "defined, achievable goals" beyond "lets leave everything as it is" that is going to result in them getting any tangible, meaningful support from those who object to their current tactics - said tactics being the direct result of decades of refusal to address those "defined, reasonable goals" absent said tactics.

Okay, but only if you're sure.

[Razgovory]

Maybe they could whittle their demands down to some better defined, achievable goals and then we could work from there.  They're not exactly doing themselves any favors.

I am sure there is no set of "defined, achievable goals" beyond "lets leave everything as it is" that is going to result in them getting any tangible, meaningful support from those who object to their current tactics - said tactics being the direct result of decades of refusal to address those "defined, reasonable goals" absent said tactics.

Here I am agreeing with Derspeiss.  This has become Occupy Wall Street 2.0.  We have people who protest so that they can protest.  The goals are not coherent and the methods to achieve these goals have no relationship with accomplishing whatever goals they have.

I'm going to use Ferguson as an example of piss poor organizing and disinterest in actually accomplishing anything meaningful.  The issues in Ferguson stemmed from the police department.  People protesting claimed that it was using brutal tactics, was openly racist, and did not reflect the community.  Okay, those may be valid concerns, and they can be addressed locally.  It does not require actions by the state or Federal government.  There really is little need to attract national or international attention.  The people in the town have the power over their police department.   To address the problems what protesters need to have done was pick candidates for local office, register people to vote, and get their asses to the polling places on election day.  With their newly elected city government they can have whatever police department they want.  They can disband the police department if they feel they need to.  This is a solid goal which can be accomplished by clear, simple actions.  Sadly this was not what the protesters were interested in.  Screaming and spitting on the police for the benefit of your Youtube followers, blocking the highway, kicking cars driving on West Florissant, looting stores and lighting fires does not accomplish any goals.

[Razgovory]

Grabon doesn't care about white people who are victims of police violence.

So clearly that is a false statement.

Not sure about that but you are clearly selective in your outrage. For example, your profile picture features an ISIS murderess. Even if ironic, this seems bad taste - more than if, say, Derspiess had Zimmermann's pic in his profile, for example.

What in the Hell are you talking about?

[Habbaku]

Not sure about that but you are clearly selective in your outrage. For example, your profile picture features an ISIS murderess. Even if ironic, this seems bad taste - more than if, say, Derspiess had Zimmermann's pic in his profile, for example.