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Black Lives Matter


Geechee Girl

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I did finally post on Facebook. Mr. Kinsey's story was just too much for me to not say something. I kept it very simple by stating I'm not commenting on whether police responded appropriately for the call they received or not... But I also made it extremely clear that not intending to shoot someone means shit when you actually do. And that I hope the investigation is fair and thorough because Mr. Kinsey and his patient deserve justice.

I didn't get tons of likes or comments - but I got more than I expected and it was all positive feedback from other white people. So that made me feel a bit more positive.

And this was printed in a newspaper here as well. Thought you guys may want to take a look abd offer your thoughts:

http://m.ctpost.com/news/texas/article/How-sympathetic-whites-are-helping-to-fuel-racial-8404713.php

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18 hours ago, treehugger said:

[snip]

Side rant - the people who are all over my facebook sharing "heartwarming" stories of officers doing their fucking jobs as though somehow that redeems everything pisses me off.  I worked in a group home for people with mental illness, a nursing home, and did homecare.  My entire work day consisted of heartwarming stories and good things I was doing for people because that was my job.  If I or my co-workers had been accused of abuse (of any kind, we were in a position of power above our residents), or misconduct or harassment, or anything really - no one would have started bringing up the heartwarming stories to detract from the investigation into the claims of abuse,  because they have nothing to do with each other.  It just irks me to no end that people seem to be so overwhelmed with warm feelings by police officers doing their jobs.  If nothing else, that speaks volumes about how low society's expectations of police really are.  

There is, or was, a twitter trend to this effect -- if we praised everybody for doing their job the way we are now praising "good" cops.

As a teen, I volunteered both full and part time at a Women's Shelter and resource center for domestic violence. The worst people we had to deal with? Usually the cops -- rude, escalating, misogynists, and actually highly likely to be domestic abusers themselves (http://womenandpolicing.com/violencefs.asp). We had exactly one local officer we were on good terms with and when we did the training courses for new volunteers, he would do one of the 30 classes. His spiel was essentially, "Don't trust us, we are often not equipped to help, sometimes my fellow officers will arrest your victims, these are the risks involved in calling us. "

It was tense.

I've also mentioned this before but I live in the Twin Cities. Things are tense here since Philando Castile and they should be. I also happen to live near a major highway through the cities that was blocked by protestors recently. I was not aware of this protest going on and was just to walk my happy ass to work. I closed the front door and was greeted immediately with, "If you do not leave, you will be arrested." Like, um, I live here? (Full disclosure: I am white. I am lucky in this situation.) 

There is not enough screening for who becomes a cop. IMO, if a job you want involves you having a lot of power with little to no consequence over many individuals, you should be screened with the highest scrutiny. They are trained, then, to be reactionary and violent, impatient, etc. And on top of that, they seem to never get in trouble. The cop who shot Charles Kinsey is, as of, the news 23 hours ago simply on administrative leave. 

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On 7/22/2016 at 6:39 AM, Terrie said:

Apparently, the caretaker was shot by mistake. The officer was trying to shot the autistic man, on the grounds that he thought a disabled guy with a toy truck was a danger to the caregiver.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/charles-kinsey-shooting-union-officer-shot-unarmed-caregiver-by-mistake/

I can't say it makes things worse, because, really, how does this story get any worse than shooting an unarmed man while he lays on the ground with his hands in the air? But it certainly doesn't make it better. "Oh, our trained officers not only can't aim, they also think people with disabilities are a threat to those around them."

Because disabled lives don't matter either.  I don't know what Black people have been through personally, but I have disabilities and so do others in my family.  Believe me when I say: our lives truly don't matter.  It is openly socially acceptable and totally legal to put every obstacle in front of a person with disabilities until you make it impossible for them to function like nondisabled people.

To compare it to what an earlier poster said about society not being racist because most people aren't openly advocating killing Black people...first, plenty still do, and second, the idea of killing people because they're disabled in some way is so commonplace, people don't even think twice about it.  I've listened to perfectly reasonable, intelligent adults who know my history say things like "well she probably miscarried because the baby would have been disabled and it's better off this way.  No one wants to have someone with disabilities in their family."  

This is why I think Black lives matter.  I think it's shit to go through what I've been through and while I know it isn't the same as what Black people have experienced, I personally have experienced too much of "some people are more equal than others" to accept it for anyone else.

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@Arwen, thank you for saying this. First of all, I'm very sorry for your painful experiences with being mistreated because you have different abilities than some. I must admit that this is an issue I'm aware of, but I don't think about very often. I'm glad you brought it up. Your life matters. Your abilities matter, and no one else is worth more than you are. I do try to call people out when they make ableist comments, but I will try to be even more vocal, and more aware of any personal biases I have. 

I think it's absolutely vital that we ALL search ourselves and check ourselves on biases towards others. I believe that every single one of us has them. It doesn't make you a bad person unless you're unwilling to do the work of asking yourself where those thoughts exist in your mind, and challenging them, just because it's uncomfortable. It is. It doesn't feel good when I think about things I notice about people, and judge accordingly. A lot of it is subconscious, so I believe it takes some effort to recognize personal biases. 

I know that personally, I can't ask people to support Black Lives Matter, or even hear and empathize with my experiences, if I'm not willing to do the same for others. 

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Faux news said Mr. Kensey didn't have his hands up high enough for the officers to see. :my_angry:

How is shooting the Autistic man any better? I swear some of these cops are dumb and need to be fired. One even tried to lie about the situation. I'm glad both are alive.

Edited by Toothfairy
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On 7/24/2016 at 10:31 AM, Antimony said:

There is not enough screening for who becomes a cop. IMO, if a job you want involves you having a lot of power with little to no consequence over many individuals, you should be screened with the highest scrutiny. They are trained, then, to be reactionary and violent, impatient, etc. And on top of that, they seem to never get in trouble. The cop who shot Charles Kinsey is, as of, the news 23 hours ago simply on administrative leave. 

I'm sure screening would help, but making an actual example out of officers who make the wrong choices would probably go farther. They need to be held accountable and not count on a free pass. They need to consider whether they REALLY need to shoot a perp if it means they potentially will have to get a new career at best.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Spoiler

tumblr_obix3rm2uO1u99ke6o1_1280.jpg

I wanted to add this to the discussion. A while ago there were some people posting about how when you call white people racist they think you're talking about the top part of this pyramid, but really, there is way more to it than just neo-nazis and the KKK.

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18 hours ago, Geechee Girl said:

The 911 recordings are chilling. Kouren Thomas was shot dead by a man claiming to be neighbourhood watch. This feels like Trayvon all over again. HuffPo with audio

 

Fucking hell. :( I heard about this, but I couldn't bring myself to read the details until just now. I'm so sick of this. I don't even know what to say. 

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@iweartanktops, I'm not trying to get your pressure up, but did you see this one about Donnell Thompson? LAPD came clean admitting they killed the wrong black man. I want to know why the po-po plus SWAT that rolled up with a TANK did not consider that the man could have been Deaf or hard of hearing? If LAPD really did believe Donnell was lying on the ground motionless, why not see if he needed medical attention? LAPD is basically like, my bad. 

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@Geechee Girl, I did hear about that. I can't handle all of the details today. :( I get so emotional over this stuff. I'm sure you understand. It just really hurts. 

My youngest brother went to college last weekend (early for football training). He's the youngest of all of us, and pretty spoiled. He also lacks a lot of the wisdom the rest of us "kids" have. I'm scared to death that he's going to be out acting like a typical 18 year old college student, in a small town, and die for mouthing off or something. I lose sleep over him. So this stuff bothers me even more than it used to. I didn't even know that was possible! I will certainly read it in the next few days. 

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1 hour ago, Geechee Girl said:

@iweartanktops I hear you. :hug4: I'll be lifting up your baby brother to have a safe and smooth transition into adulthood, and much success at school.

Thank you! He REALLY needs all the positivity he can get! He's incredibly talented and absolutely brilliant. But he is the most stubborn person I know! You can't tell him anything. And our parents really got lazy, so his upbringing lacked consequences for the most part. It scares me, because I believe that a large part of parenting is preparing your kids for independence. You can't prepare someone for adulthood without setting clear, consistent boundaries, and giving consequences for poor behavior. He's going to have to learn a lot of things the hard way, and I hope it doesn't cost his life. Sorry, it's particularly bothering me right now, since it's his first week. 

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6 hours ago, iweartanktops said:

Thank you! He REALLY needs all the positivity he can get! He's incredibly talented and absolutely brilliant. But he is the most stubborn person I know! You can't tell him anything. And our parents really got lazy, so his upbringing lacked consequences for the most part. It scares me, because I believe that a large part of parenting is preparing your kids for independence. You can't prepare someone for adulthood without setting clear, consistent boundaries, and giving consequences for poor behavior. He's going to have to learn a lot of things the hard way, and I hope it doesn't cost his life. Sorry, it's particularly bothering me right now, since it's his first week. 

While I hear you on preparing kids for independence and adulthood, no one should have to prepare their kids for the way this country treats black people. No one should have to prepare their kids to be afraid of the police.

I'm so sorry. I'll send good thoughts your way, and your baby brother's way as well. I hope he'll have a great time in college, and I'm sure he will grow up so much while he's there! :)

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  • 1 month later...

I want to take some time to remember recent events of police brutality against Black people. Their lives matter(ed). Our lives matter. BLACK LIVES MATTER. 

Unnamed 15 year old girl in Maryland 

Quote

 

The incident began Sunday when Hagerstown police officers received a 911 call that a bicyclist hit a car, according to police.

One of the videos shows the girl walking away from police and then attempting to ride away on her bike before she was then pulled back by one officer.

"Get off of me!" the girl cried repeatedly, as she struggled with the officer for several minutes before two cops lifted her up and put her in the back of a police car.

The videos show passersby watching as officers repeatedly told the girl, who was handcuffed, "you are going to get sprayed," and ordered her to put her feet inside the patrol car.

 

The full article, here.

People are justifying the police actions because the girl had such foul language, and had weed on her. I'm not sure how she fell, but what if she was freaking out because she had a concussion*? Or she was just scared to death like most Black people are, these days. I understand why they didn't want her to get back on her bike and leave, but why not call her parents? Why MACE her when she's cuffed and contained in the back seat of the car? I'm certain she's not the first person to cuss the cops out from the back seat. 

Write her a citation for the pot. Call her parents, and be done with it. Disgusting 

*I was dating someone in college who suffered a concussion one night. He acted CRAZY. I had to force him into the car to take him to the hospital. He yelled and cussed at me the whole way, and the whole time we were in the ER. It was awful. But his brain was injured. He didn't even remember the next day. 

Terrence Crutcher 

Quote

 

Moments before they captured footage of Crutcher’s death, police cameras recorded the father of four walking toward his car with his hands above his head while several officers followed closely behind with weapons raised. He lingered at his vehicle’s driver’s side window, his body facing the SUV, before slumping to the ground a second later.

“Shots fired!” a female voice can be heard yelling in video footage released Monday, three days after the deadly encounter.

Tulsa police say Crutcher did not have a gun on him or in his vehicle.

 

Full article

Quote

 

Police said they were responding to a call of a vehicle abandoned in the middle of the roadway. In video from officers' dashcams and also from a helicopter, four officers are seen responding as Crutcher holds his hands up in the air and walks  away from officers, toward his stalled vehicle.

In the video taken from the helicopter, a male is heard to say, "That looks like a bad dude too. He might be on something."

 

According to reports , the officers in the HELICOPTER, could tell he looked like a "bad dude". I wonder how he got that impression from a man walking away with his hands in the air. 

Keith Lamont Scott 

Quote

 

A disabled man, Keith Lamont Scott, 43, was fatally shot by Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., officers who were reportedly searching for someone who had outstanding warrants.

A disabled black man has died at the hospital after being shot by a Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., police officer Tuesday afternoon on Old Concord Road in University City, a subdivision of Charlotte.

Police said that they were searching for someone who had outstanding warrants when they saw a man with what they believed to be a gun leave a vehicle.

According to police reports, the man, who has not been named, returned to his vehicle. Police claim that when they approached the man, he “posed an imminent deadly threat to the officers,” according to the New York Times, and one of them opened fire. An eyewitness reportedly told the victim’s daughter that a Taser was used on her father, and then he was shot at least three times.

 

Full disclosure: I have not done as much research on this case. However, it's interesting that the police were in pursuit of another suspect, but they felt that they needed to disturb this man as he sat in his car. People are also outraged about the video his daughter recorded, just after the shooting. She was cussing up a storm. Apparently a child should remain calm and polite, after watching her father shot to death. 

Full article

These victims may have history of crimes. I don't know, and frankly I don't care. We have due process in this country. 

Please feel free to add to this. I want to honor these lives. I send my condolences to their families and loved ones. 

I don't know what can be done. People are tired, terrified, and angry! Protests and rioting can be dangerous. But I understand the feeling of helplessness that leads to it. Now, we have athletes around the country, who are kneeling, quietly during the National Anthem. They have this right, partially because of our sacrificial and courageous veterans. They are not hurting anyone or any property, but again, people are outraged. 

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Thank you, @iweartanktops for posting such a thoughtful summary. I am not as well-informed on recent events as I perhaps should be, mostly because it feels like a death spiral and, well, je suis fatiguée. So much heartbreak.

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1 hour ago, iweartanktops said:

Je suis fatiguée aussi @withaj 

Translation for anyone who doesn't speak French: I am tired/exhausted/fed-up too.

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The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that black men may have legitimate reasons to flee the police. I guess I'm glad that the court is recognizing that it is an issue, but I don't really know how to respond to the idea that the court has to rule on the fact that black men have to the right to walk away from the police.

http://www.wbur.org/news/2016/09/20/mass-high-court-black-men-may-have-legitimate-reason-to-flee-police

Quote

...the court noted that state law gives individuals the right to not speak to police and even walk away if they aren’t charged with anything. The court said when an individual does flee, the action doesn't necessarily mean the person is guilty. And when it comes to black men, the BPD and ACLU reports “documenting a pattern of racial profiling of black males in the city of Boston” must be taken into consideration, the court said.

"We do not eliminate flight as a factor in the reasonable suspicion analysis whenever a black male is the subject of an investigatory stop. However, in such circumstances, flight is not necessarily probative of a suspect's state of mind or consciousness of guilt. Rather, the finding that black males in Boston are disproportionately and repeatedly targeted for FIO [Field Interrogation and Observation] encounters suggests a reason for flight totally unrelated to consciousness of guilt. Such an individual, when approached by the police, might just as easily be motivated by the desire to avoid the recurring indignity of being racially profiled as by the desire to hide criminal activity. Given this reality for black males in the city of Boston, a judge should, in appropriate cases, consider the report's findings in weighing flight as a factor in the reasonable suspicion calculus."

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8 hours ago, samurai_sarah said:

Translation for anyone who doesn't speak French: I am tired/exhausted/fed-up too.

Yes, sorry about that! I know it's against the rules, but I'm obsessed with speaking French at every opportunity. :pb_redface:

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24 minutes ago, iweartanktops said:

Yes, sorry about that! I know it's against the rules, but I'm obsessed with speaking French at every opportunity. :pb_redface:

I didn't know it's against the rules. Learned something new.

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2 hours ago, iweartanktops said:

Yes, sorry about that! I know it's against the rules, but I'm obsessed with speaking French at every opportunity. :pb_redface:

I started it, blame me :pb_biggrin:

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6 hours ago, laPapessaGiovanna said:

I didn't know it's against the rules. Learned something new.

The occasional word or phrase is fine, but the mods need to be able to understand what's going on. @iweartanktops just used a phrase, so no harm done. I just provided a translation for clarity's sake, and because: Madame X- I did pay attention during French lessons, see? :)

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Ughhhhh fucking fuckers.

So a Facebook friend posted this article:

"Rakeyia Scott’s Slip Of The Tongue Is A Window Into The Poignancy Of Police Shootings" http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_57e59706e4b0e80b1ba22256

And captioned something along the lines of "Read this article and try to tell me there isn't a race problem" and now these two guys are trying to argue with him that is someone doesn't immediately comply with the police, they deserve to be shot. And trying to argue since one of the latest shootings involves a black police officer, clearly it isn't a race issue. One guy argued that if he has his gun and encounters a police officer, hem removes his gun from his holster and sets it down to show he isn't a threat.

I tried to point out if a black man did that he'd be shot immediately. Nope, it's not race, this guy was far away enough not to be a threat when he did that. And these guys just fucking refuse to see it and keep arguing their asshole point. I usually try to avoid these Facebook arguments because it triggers my anxiety, but OP was clearly getting very triggered and angry, because these assholes refuse to see that this guy can get shot simply for existing. And I felt like I just had to back him up because these two numbskulls are ganging up on him.

I hate people.

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