Yesterday yet another black man was shot and killed by a police officer in deeply troubling circumstances. Philando Castile was in his car, safety belt on, apparently reaching for his license, when the officer shot him during a traffic stop in a suburb of St. Paul Minnesota.
His girlfriend Diamond Reynolds, in the car with him, somehow maintained her composure enough to film the aftermath of the shooting, streaming it live to Facebook. (You can watch the footage here.)
Matt Forney — the internet-famous woman-hating white supremacist — has somehow convinced himself that it’s all an elaborate hoax. In a succession of Tweets, he lays out his case, such as it is. (Click on the screenshots to see the Tweets in context on Twitter.)
Forney — in several Tweets and in a post on his blog — sets forth a series of easily refutable “arguments” which in his mind prove his case. His first “argument” will give you a sense of Forney’s keen mind in action: `
She was never arrested; just detained. The cops threw her phone to the ground after detaining her. It was returned to her later. All of this is clear from watching the video.
I’m not going to bother with the rest of his arguments because, well, here’s the thing:
Philando Castile, a real person, is dead. He died in the hospital as a result of his wounds. Is the hospital that reported this part of the conspiracy? Did he volunteer to be killed in a random traffic stop in order to give BlackLivesMatter a new talking point? Did his girlfriend agree to go along with this bizarre plan?
The St. Anthony Police Department has acknowledged the shooting and Castile’s death and put the officer who shot Castile on leave. The St. Anthony Police Department is, in fact, a real police department, not a troupe of actors. Is the St. Anthony Police Department working in cahoots with BlackLivesMatter to make itself look bad? Is the officer who shot Castile — whom Reynolds has described as “Asian” — hoping that his actions will help BlackLivesMatter “slander” white men? Even though he apparently isn’t white?
The governor of Minnesota has asked the Justice Department to investigate. Is he part of the conspiracy too? Is the Justice Department?
I’ll stop here, but my basic point is this: There is a real world. Matt Forney clearly does not live in it.
*stream of expletives*
I have an easier time believing Matt Forney is a hoax to make white men look bad.
His first point is that “any reputable cop will take your phone away,” rather than willingly get filmed. So, he’s supporting his argument — that the police are trustworthy — by pointing out that the police don’t want their actions available for public viewing.
Right.
Throws up in mouth.
I think you’ll find the footage shows that these are not, in fact, reputable cops.
Damn! He makes the Flat Earthers sound sane.
Please no.
I wish I could give the girlfriend a hug right now. It must be terrifying seeing your boyfriend shot to death in front of you.
Conspiracy theorists gonna conspiracy theorize…
“Any reputable cop would have taken her phone away.”
What kind of reputation are we talking about, here?
It’s easier for him to assume this is all fake than to face the truth that there is systematic racism in the system, apparently.
Oh, and she has the right to record police activity. The police do not have the right to take away a phone when someone’s recording, because someone recording them is protected by the first amendment, which ALL Americans have, not just the cishet white dudes, Forney.
The police cannot take away your phone when you’re recording them, and in this day and age, it’ll only get them in trouble, as it should.
You have the right to bear arms, I have the right to record the police.
Joe, please refer back to the comments policy. We don’t say that stuff here.
Just when you think he couldn’t possibly be any more of a shitbird, he somehow manages to top himself. Unless he previously posted some #SandyHookTruth, in which case he has finally reached Peak Shitbird.
There was also a little girl, about 4 years old, in the car watching. I think she was his daughter but don’t quote me on that because right now I’m too broken up to go back and re-read the story again.
But I do remember that the little girl was also arrested and detained until 5am with no food, no water, and no human contact. She was kept in a separate room from the girlfriend too.
I used to hang out in Falcon Heights. The only reason I’m alive right now is because I’m white, I stg. I had to laugh when they said the police department had no problems when I know there are more than a few cops there who moonlight selling drugs and other things. x__x Well, who knows, maybe the moonlighting selling coke has changed, I hope so but it yeah this was NOT faked. Falcon Heights IS that bad when it comes to their cops, Roseville is a tad better, but FH, SP and MLPS have such a HUGE issue with the communities here that it isn’t even funny. I mean shit, a cop from the last on the list there attempted to murder my husband once. So yeah… the people of Minnesota may be nice(ish) but our cops are NOT. This was NOT faked. Forney can suck a toilet seat.
I really despise these racist *******, and as soon as I recover from this cancer (last chemo tomorrow, last radiation treatment Monday YAY!) I have made a pledge to join BLM and do my best to be a humble, effective white ally. I admire the movement and the brave men and women putting their lives on the line on a daily basis.
All I can say is I’m so sorry, to Philando Castile’s friends and family, to his poor, poor girlfriend who had to watch him die (I can’t even imagine how traumatizing that was), and to the entire black community who have once again lost a young person to police violence. I’m sorry that this happened, that this is still happening all the damn time, and I’m sorry that racist pieces of crap like Matt Forney try to revictimize you all.
Oh, and I got ninja’d on this bu several others, but I’d like to say this in a shorter way:
A reputable cop would not fear his actions being videotaped and shared with the public.
Johanna,
Yeah, nobody here in the Twin Cities who as been paying attention is at all surprised by this. Horrified. But not surprised. Every black person I’ve talked to about this issue has been harassed by the cops at least once. I, a white woman, never have.
I’ve seen people on other sites from out of state try to spin it as the cop being terrified because it’s a bad neighborhood. Can you believe that shit? Falcon Heights? A terrifying neighborhood? No.
For the rest of you who aren’t Minnesotan, Falcon Heights is a middle class area. It’s near the St Paul campus of University of Minnesota and the state fairgrounds.
Do manospherians actually just hold competitions to see who can be the literal worst person ever?
Hey, Forney, go fuck yourself.
“It’s a false flag operation!” and its variations has become a very popular idea in conspiracyland in recent years, so it’s not much of a surprise someone would claim this. I doubt he’s the only one doing it.
Anyone in this nation who’s paying attention shouldn’t be surprised anymore, sadly. The police anymore will gun down anyone for doing the most innocent of things and your chances of having that happen to you increase dramatically if you’re not white.
I’m white and the police in my town scare me. They showed up at my front door one evening about three months ago claiming my husband called in saying I was suicidal. Their policy is to take people who might harm themselves to the hospital for evaluation. They kept referring to me as “Sally” while I kept telling them my name was “Jane,” my husband never called the police and they had the wrong house. They would not listen to me or my husband, or allow me to get ID to show them I wasn’t “Sally.” Instead they threatened to have me involuntarily committed (which they can do in this state without even going before a judge) if I didn’t get into the police car and come down to the station while things were straightened out.
So I ended up locked in a interrogation room for an hour while my husband tried to get them to actually look at my driver’s license. The cops were too busy arguing with the ambulance crew who was refusing to transport me to the hospital because of the identity issue.
It took a call to a lawyer friend of mine to get them to pay attention. Meanwhile, poor “Sally,” who might have really needed some help, wasn’t getting it because the cops adamantly refused to look at my driver’s license — proof I wasn’t who they thought I was.
I’m in the process of figuring out if suing the department is feasible. I probably should be grateful they didn’t beat me, taze me or pull a gun on me. If I was black, I probably would have been beaten or worse. When did police become so disconnected with the people they’re supposed to serve?
As a white man, I have to say that the most slanderous thing here about white men is that Matt Forney thinks he represents us in some way.
I guess MN Gov. Dayton is also in on the hoax, since he just gave a speech about the shooting.
@Saphira
The City of New York Police Department, est. 1845
Now there’s an oxymoron if ever I saw one. Especially where black people are concerned. I’ve actually lost count of how many of them have died at the hands of killer cops. That’s how disreputable they are. (I almost wrote “have become”, but I’m pretty sure they’ve always been this way.)
Oh. My. God.
Just when I thought these assholes couldn’t get any lower.
@weirwoodtreehugger
Yeah, Falcon Heights was GREAT to hang around… when the cops weren’t around. I was always at the Source before it moved, and it was fun to tool around and night and I never felt unsafe except when we ran in to cops. FHs cops are way worse than any problem the city has ever had. I mean it’s right next to Roseville and Como Park, FFS. /Minnesota girl rage
And yeah, same with my friends of color having totally terrible experiences with the cops. Only thing that has changed is its finally getting attention.
I thought of this:
@Luzebelitx:
Speaking of which, Mundane Matt thought Alton Sterling getting shot was “justified” – but the new Iron Man being a black teen girl is a fucking travesty!
Seriously.
@ JSun: They ARRESTED A 4 YEAR OLD GIRL AND HELD HER IN CUSTODY ALONE? That’s fucking horrible in and of itself. Could you provide a link to the story you read, please?
@ Tim Gueguen: Agree with you on the “false flag” thing. It’s just another instance of the right denying any reality they don’t want to deal with. I think No True Scotsman is also a part of it: “No one on our side would ever do such a terrible thing!”
@personalpest
that was what was said in the video IIRC. IDK her name but Castiles gf said that she was separated from the girl while she was in custody and they were both held until 5am by police.
Any reputable cop would have taken her phone away before murdering her unarmed boyfriend right in front of her
So the cop approaches Philando Castile and Diamond Reynolds about a broken tail light and tells them to put their hands in the air?
No cop has ever told me to put my hands in the air. I’m white.
And Matt Forney, of course, pulls out the only “argument” that the extreme right wing* has: It didn’t happen but if it did that’s okay but it didn’t happen but if it did that’s okay.
This time, he’s using just half of the argument (It didn’t happen). In the interests of fairness and balance, next time he’ll use the other half (It if did happen, that’s okay).
*Batterers use this so-called argument too. They might not self-identify as Nazis/men’s rights activists, but that’s what they are.
******
@AlphaBeta Soup
Congratulations on the nearly completed chemo and radiation. Stay strong and get well. I’m sure that BLM will appreciate your help.
@AlphaBeta Soup
Congrats on your chemo and radiation treatments ending soon. That’s huge!
I’ll stop here, but my basic point is this: There is a real world. Matt Forney clearly does not live in it.
http://i.imgur.com/s8XjzoJ.jpg
Uh…Mikkay? Are you being sarcastic or something? Because I fail to see the humor in that even if I take sarcasm into account. Maybe I just don’t want to laugh about watching your loved one get murdered in front of you. Maybe that’s just me.
Cue the NRA defending the rights of black men exercising their legal 2nd Amendment Rights to not be shot by police in infinity… infinity +1… infinity +3…
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/07/07/3796062/nra-black-lives-matter/
They held her away from her mother for eight hours with no food and no water.
Eyes on the Right
Never were truer words spoken. He makes my skin crawl.
This whole situation is beyond words, but trust the manosphere to make it so much worse.
@Paradoxical Intention – Resident Cheeseburger Slut
Thanks for the link.
The worship of the law that protects their status is doubled down in the face of the system actually going out of its way to address a case police brutality. In this case the law extends to sheriffs, and no one else. Which the sheriff law myth is also crucial to their narrative of enforcing their will on others, as an exercise of their definition of freedom.
His tweets don’t affect me as they are kneejerk reactions without cause, thought or merit.
I am not horrified but saddened at these events no matter how many times they happen. But I do find solace for the families and loved one affected by all managerial parties NOT tolerating such an indefensible action.
Though if you want to go “pragmatic ie status quo never change a thing or the system”, you can easily say this is just a case where there isn’t enough “gray area” for that department wiggle their way out of this travesty.
I saw a comment by him on a Vice video about white supremacists. In the comment he revealed he can be seen at a White Nationalist rally. I checked at 0:42 where he said you can see him and there is someone who defiantly looks like him. I took a screenshot of the comment but I don’t know how to post it here.
Kat:
Gaslighting 101. I’m glad you mentioned batterers. This shit is all connected.
Denying that a murder occurred when it was right there on video…that has to be the ultimate gaslighting move. Mind blowing.
He went full truther, you never go full truther.
Tigger warning, murder, trauma and denial
I once tangentially knew a woman who’s son murdered his wife and then himself. She refused to believe he did it and her denial went so deep that she started seeing her late daughter in law everywhere and was convinced she was being followed by her. I don’t know if the denial ever passed.
I understand why she got so deeply lost in denial. The pain of reality was too much for her to bear. On a deep , deep level she’d rather be the victim of a conspiracy than face the fact her child was a murderer and according to her faith, in hell.
What’s this Fornoy shithead’s excuse? He’ll have to acknowledge that systemic racism exists? That’s too much for him to process? Fragile, isn’t he?
So protests in dallas have started turning violent, which shots being fired. :\
AlphaBeta Soup-That is awesome! I am glad that your treatment is coming to an end!
Matt-Philando Castile faked his death?!? I dare you to say that to his girlfriend’s face. Say that Philando was not murdered by the police as she sat next to him, say that he was not killed with her 4 year old child sitting in the back seat, say that it was all a hoax. Come on, I dare you. What the hell am I saying! No, there is no point in daring you to say it to her face. You are too much of a coward for a that. You only have the guts to hide behind a computer screen. You are a pathetic arsehole.
Yeah, two officers have been shot. They’re looking for someone with a rifle. It never ends. I feel so discouraged about the state of the world.
I’m hearing it was more than one shooter, in Dallas, but who knows this early what’s true.
This might not be a popular opinion, but I believe that America really needs strict gun control laws and that police officers no longer carry guns (expect for SWAT teams). They obviously can not be trusted with them. No guns for everyone! I know it is not going to happen, but one can dream, right?