A thread to discuss the police killing of George Floyd and the protests that have arisen in the wake of his death. No trolls.
Categories
The Killing of George Floyd: Open Thread
We Hunted The MammothBucking the Backlash
@Moggie : as far as I have seen, he talked about *looters* being almost all from out of state. Hence my comment.
This article raises some good points.
Basic premise is that black residents are concerned that white outsiders are co-opting the protests to live out their riot fantasies but it’s the black communities that will suffer the repercussions.
I have to agree with that. I have no problem with the unrest; but any law-breaking has to be at the behest of black people. They’re the ones who should be calling the shots and if they request assistance great, but white people should wait until asked, and also comply when asked not to engage in violence and damage.
Just been watching a video where white skater boy types smash windows totally ignoring the pleas of the black protestors begging them to stop.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/31/detroit-protests-george-floyd-tensions
@Alan Robertshaw
And this wouldn’t be the first time a Black-led protest got co-opted by white people who wanted to smash stuff. It’s happened multiple times before in US history because, like you said, Black people will get all the blame.
If white people do want to be helpful, I’ve read a few articles and posts around the web that suggest how white people can use their white privilege to help Black protestors. For example, if a group of Black people has white people around it, cops are less likely to shoot or gas because of more repercussions. As well, cops are more likely to take it seriously if white people call them out or threaten to report them.
Marginal bit of sort of good news amongst all the tragedy. The mining company that blew up the Australian site has apologised.
That means little of course, but it may be the bad publicity might make them think a bit more in future.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/may/31/rio-tinto-apologises-to-traditional-owners-after-blasting-46000-year-old-aboriginal-site
@Naglfar
Not sure where people get that idea, I’ve been in plenty of protests that were white by a large majority, it never stopped the tear gas from flying in my experience.
@Dalillama
Sorry if what I said is incorrect, this was just what I saw posted elsewhere. Apologies for any errors.
Trump has today tweeted that the US “will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization”. Because of course you wouldn’t want actual fascists being declared terrorists.
@Moggie
Under His Eye.
@ moggie
Well come on, his administration is already suffering staff shortages as it is without cleaning out the recruitment pool.
@Alan Robertshaw
And they’ll have even fewer staves if they throw out the fasces.
This may be of interest to Alan as well as any other lawyers lurking about, or anybody who wants to know more about white supremacy in American law enforcement.
https://peopleslawoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Hampton.Cointelpro-Booklet.pdf
@ Vicky P
That is interesting; thank you. I’ve had an initial skim read; but I’ll save for future reference. There’s a really good documentary on the Panthers that went into a lot of this. Wish I could remember what it was called.
@ Alan
Are you thinking of The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution? It was released in 2015.
@ Vicky P
A quick Youtube search suggests, yes.
Cheers for that. There is a vacancy for someone to be my memory if you’re interested. It’s even worse now with all the usual frames of reference gone. I’m one step away from putting ‘get dressed, it’s Monday’ in iCal. I was seriously confused as to what year it was recently.
It’s not still 2020, is it? 2020 lasted at least 3 years.
I realised yesterday that I haven’t worn socks since 14 March, since I’ve hardly been outside. Unusual year.
@ moggie
I’ve just done it again. I’ve been all in a tizzy today trying to motivate myself to get some paperwork done for a hearing. I even turned down a walk with a mate; and I love walking. He just called in on his way back (to tell me how nice it was sat next to the beach with a beer). He said he couldn’t see the fuss if the hearing wasn’t until the 4th. I pointed out that was tomorrow. He then pointed out I was looking at the calendar for April.
Surplus: I used self-printed copies of documents to establish residency in Pittsburgh, Chicago, Montreal (ten years ago), Iqaluit, and again in Montreal (last year), as well as for moving expenses to Montreal and to Iqaluit.
And that reminds me I need to establish presence in Quebec (to renew my health card). So I need to print off a bunch of cell phone receipts.
Moggie: I’ve just bought a bunch of socks because all my comfy lounge-around-the-house wool socks got holes in them from overuse “in these troubled times”.
Re the Black Panthers, I have just this minute been reading a series of posts by Claire Willett on Captain Awkward’s Twitter; they are all about Fred Hampton, the Panthers, and Cointelpro, Hoover’s secret FBI project – very much worth reading, with refs to other films and written records.
As for the mysterious passage of time – it is the first day of winter here in Australia, autumn seemed to disappear in the blink of an eye.
My family and I live in Oakland, California. Our older son is 23, 6’1″, 250 lbs, light skinned Black man with a mop of cinnamon colored dreads down past his shoulders.
He also has schizophrenia.
He finds great relief in getting out of the house for long walks in the neighborhood or on a nearby beach. I often accompany him.
Me, I’m a 59 year old white man.
It came to mind last night that my being with him out in the world greatly increases the area he can safely walk around in. There are places and situations in our own city where his appearance and manner would make him a target were he alone; with me beside him, that mostly ceases to be the case.
At the same time, I’m grateful that I can do that for him and consumed with fear and anger that it’s the case.
I read long ago that whenever you love someone, they become a hostage to fate, but this is more than I anticipated.
So, to recap:
Trump has spent years calling the media “enemies of the people,” and now cops are attacking journalists and arresting them without cause.
Trump’s AG has declared antifa a “terrorist organization.” Declaring anti-fascists as enemies of the state is a tacit admission that you are a fascist state. But the real kicker is that since antifa is not actually an organization, but an alignment, it has no leaders, representatives, or membership. Thus ANYBODY can be declared antifa, and thus a terrorist.
Trump has called the protests “acts of domestic terror.” (The armed white guys in the Michigan capital building screaming at police were “very good people,” remember.)
Trump told several governors “You have to dominate. If you don’t dominate… you’re wasting your time,” and said of the protests “It’s a movement, if you don’t put it down it will get worse and worse.”
Now, “I am mobilizing all federal and local resources, civilian and military, to protect the rights of law abiding Americans,” Trump said in the extraordinary address, which was delivered as police fired smoke devices outside to push protesters back from the White House. “We are ending the riots and lawlessness that has spread throughout our country. We will end it now,” Trump said. “If a city or state refuses to take the actions necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them.”
He then posed with a Bible outside a church for pictures.
Welp, here we are. Looks like he has decided that there is no need to bother with rigging the election when you can go Full Stalin.
75% of white evangelicals still support him.
Yay utter fascism. /s
@Allandrel
And they still see no contradiction.
@Naglfar
White evangelicals literally cannot see beyond the abortion issue. The only thing that matters to them is overturning Roe v. Wade in the judicial system, either in whole in the SCOTUS or in pieces in other courts. Trump has been a good boy when it comes to installing young, anti-abortion judges who will legislate from the bench til the cows come home, and that’s the only thing they care about, whatsoever.
The laser-focus the right has on the bench can be contrasted against the “well, Bernie/my other preferred candidate didn’t get the nod so I’ll just stay home” attitude from the left. The left is losing, has lost, and will continue to lose the judicial branch because the perfect is the enemy of the good, while the right votes for literally anyone who will agree to put their judges in.
@PoM
It’s not just abortion, though. It’s that and anything else that will help them reinforce white supremacist patriarchy. Evangelicals were indifferent to abortion until the ‘70s, when they picked it up after institutional segregation was no longer publicly defensible. The issues themselves are not important, it’s the overarching framework of oppression.