George Floyd Protests

[clueliss]

I noticed some hestiance in the BLM thread for folks to discuss the current protests.  So I'm starting a new thread here in Politics for discussion of the protests.  

 

Louisville just fired it's Police Chief due to shootings by Police - they didn't have body cams activated.

https://abc17news.com/news/national-world/2020/06/02/louisville-kentucky-police-chief-fired-after-protest-shooting-death/

 

Locally for me - Walmart and Lowes barricade the doors (note that the protests here are downtown and they are NOT downtown)

 

Walgreens, however, should have been concerned (they are downtown and right at the intersection that protesters keep blocking)

 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/6/1/21276963/chicago-protests-looting-george-floyd-live-blog

A list of the more major points from Chicago yesterday.

Most importantly CPS is going to resume distributing lunches.  Over half a million kids in Chicago Public Schools are low income and for many the free lunches being distributed constitute their main meal of the day.  They suspended this yesterday due to unrest.  Unfortunately many of the kids who need those meals are in hard hit neighborhoods currently without what few grocery type stores they had.  

Out in the burbs by me we had national guard at our Menards, and there was some looting which seemed to be stopped quickly and a lot of places closed Sunday to send workers home.

 

[nausicaa]

Interesting side story:

This morning the United Daughters of the Confederacy quietly removed a Confederate statue from where they had originally installed it in Alexandria, VA decades ago.

In some ways I find this more interesting than protesters lighting the UDC headquarters on fire in Richmond two nights ago. There's been a ton of debate in Virginia over the removal of our public Confederate statues since the Charlottesville protest. You can imagine which side the UDC fell on.

This seems like a big admission of failure for their side (a side not really big on admitting failure-- even 150 years later :rim shot:). It seems they've finally realized they are now of the minority opinion and are taking a defensive position rather than an offensive one.

[clueliss]

Officers charged after Atlanta college students dragged from car.

 

[fraurosena]

After 5000 people crammed into the Dam in Amsterdam yesterday to protest against racism, leading to justified backlash and criticism, The Hague today is showing all of us how powerful protesting in these times of social distancing can be done:

 

[fraurosena]

Boom.

 

[clueliss]

Australia is asking for an investigation after a film crew was attacked by police yesterday in DC.

 

[Smee]

While I am pleased that the officers responsible for George Floyd’s death are being held to account, that was one murder in a long history of racially motivated police brutality and misuse of power, evidenced further by the footage coming out of protests and the fact that these protests are happening all around the world. I’m in Australia, where the deaths of Aboriginal people in custody have been brought into spotlight in recent days, and myself and other white people in all likelihood would not have known the name David Dungay if it weren’t for George Floyd. There’s an international conversation happening about racism that is long overdue.

Arresting the cop/murderer isn’t going to be enough, I think in part because arrests and charges and court cases go through the same corrupt judicial system that is being protested. But what’s the alternative? I’m beginning to find it troubling that there aren’t clear demands for what happens next. I don’t want the protests to fizzle out and I don’t want them to go on forever. If/when enough people in power are listening, then what?

[NakedKnees]

I went to one of the many protests in LA county on Sunday. It was powerful and felt like community-driven event. I was there for about 3 hours and only passed about three 10-minute periods where my 6 foot bubble was being violated, and I probably could have avoided those moments if I tried a bit harder too. That said, if you were not trying, it was easy (even normalized) to not be socially distanced at that protest. 95%+ of the group had decent masks, at least. The most I've seen in public so far.

I also saw looting begin, and left right after. I didn't fully believe this before, but now that I've seen it with my own two eyes I can say it with more certainty: the group looting was organized and 100% distinct, physically and behaviorally, from the protestors. There were police cars driving right by doing nothing. I also saw "bait" police car. I have my own opinions on crimes against property, reparations, and more... but I'm trying to leave them out and just comment on what I saw.

The racism problem in the US breaks my heart. I hope this momentum continues and we see real change occur. I personally would like to see police gradually defunded and replaced with new organization(s), along with a focus on not displacing ethical workers within police forces. That said, I want to see some whistleblowers get the unqualified and the bloodthirsty OUT. I won't consider trusting a cop until the norm is to report their own when they do wrong. 

[clueliss]

 

 

[fraurosena]

 

[clueliss]

Jun Song (us big brother winner, season 5 - she’s lived in Belgium for years now and has shared about encounters with racism there) shared this on Twitter

 

[nausicaa]

8 hours ago, fraurosena said:

 

I'd say the NRA lost its last claim to any integrity when it failed to stand up for Philando Castile, a legal gun owner who was shot because he was legally carrying a handgun and informed the officer of such. 

I have seen a lot of posts from pro-2A people (including Dana Loesch) about how this authoritarian government display is why we need guns, a position I don't necessarily disagree with, but they still seem to be phrasing it in a "if this happens one day to us" way rather than addressing what is happening to other American citizens and their constitutional rights right now. 

Edited June 3, 2020 by nausicaa

[clueliss]

The Thread quoted here documents actions against peaceful protestors (on the media).  

 

[AmericanRose]

Have there been any reports of personal homes/apartment buildings being looted?

I've only seen reports of businesses... but people are acting as though looters are coming for residences.

[clueliss]

I'm listening to CNN right now - Amy Klobacher has told them that they've increased the charge against the one officer to murder 2 and charges are coming against the other 3.  Official notification from the State Attorney General is pending.  

[clueliss]

On a lighter note - I have hope for the younger generation 

Kpop fans take over whitelivesmatter hashtag and drown out racists.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

 

[clueliss]

This was an interesting tidbit I never realized about Kansas City MO police department until a day or two ago.  KCPD isn’t under local control,  it’s under state control.  

 

Protesting in London

 

[clueliss]

We’ve had some incidents of people driving thru blocked intersections during protests here.  Earlier this week two people were injured in separate incidents.  They just posted this footage of a white guy resisting arrest for driving in the sidewalk.  (trivia I uncovered when researching the area 10 years ago when moving here:  this part of Missouri is/was known as “little Dixie”)
 

 

[nausicaa]

Can anyone with more legal knowledge than me explain why American citizens are required to listen to orders from any of these paramilitary guys who have no markings identifying which agency they are a part of and no badge numbers to identify and track them? 

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

1 hour ago, nausicaa said:

Can anyone with more legal knowledge than me explain why American citizens are required to listen to orders from any of these paramilitary guys who have no markings identifying which agency they are a part of and no badge numbers to identify and track them? 

Legally we are not. But it is ingrained in us to obey authority, or it used to be, because if some asshole from ALERT came up to me I would probably have them pissing their pants.  But I'm a middle aged bitch, others might not be as emboldened as I, but their is not law that says anyone has to do what someone with a bigmouth has to do. 

In the case of protests around the country, it may be hard for people to see if the person pepper spraying them, or manhandling them has proper identification. And that is what they are counting on, people being scared and confused into following orders of someone who has absolutely no authority over anyone.  

[SPHASH]

1 hour ago, allthegoodnamesrgone said:

Legally we are not. But it is ingrained in us to obey authority, or it used to be, because if some asshole from ALERT came up to me I would probably have them pissing their pants.  But I'm a middle aged bitch, others might not be as emboldened as I, but their is not law that says anyone has to do what someone with a bigmouth has to do. 

In the case of protests around the country, it may be hard for people to see if the person pepper spraying them, or manhandling them has proper identification. And that is what they are counting on, people being scared and confused into following orders of someone who has absolutely no authority over anyone.  

Speaking of ALERT has Lawson Bates and JD Duggar shown up at these protests to offer their "expertise"?

[meep]

3 hours ago, nausicaa said:

Can anyone with more legal knowledge than me explain why American citizens are required to listen to orders from any of these paramilitary guys who have no markings identifying which agency they are a part of and no badge numbers to identify and track them? 

Kinda risky to resist when all these guys are pointing a gun in your face. 

[Smash!]

Here a quote from todays (June 3) Letters from an American by Heather Cox Richardson

Does that mean that the team Trump/Barr is building their own militia now?

Quote

Social media roiled all day as users tried to figure out who were the soldiers in Washington, D.C. wearing no identification and saying they reported to the Department of Justice. Tonight the answer came: they were riot teams from the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice that oversees incarcerated people.

This is problematic for a number of reasons. First, according to Holocaust scholar Waitman Wade Beorn, who studies ethical decision making in the military, it’s a problem because soldiers are trained to defend civilians while prison guards are used to seeing civilians as their enemies, and are accustomed to using force, rather than de-escalation, to subdue them. The U.S. military, Beorn points out, does not like to be employed against Americans, and has a long tradition of that reluctance.

Their lack of name tags and insignia was also problematic. It hampers accountability-- how can you complain about the actions of an officer if you cannot identify him?-- and it blurs the lines between actual officers of the law and the men on the streets toting guns and demanding protesters answer to them. The use of unidentifiable police is common among authoritarian leaders.

 

Edited June 4, 2020 by Smash!