you mean the ones about george floyd? i dont know much about what happened just what i read on a wiki page. so dont take anything i say too much to heart keeping in mind i wasnt there so i dont know. i know some people are calling it murder and i personally feel thats going a bit far. i would however call it police brutality leading to death. to say murder is like saying he purposefully set out to kill him and he didnt. that wasnt exactly his intent when he woke up. however you could say that once he had him there that he could have been thinking about killing him then and just making it look like an accident but then youd have to be in his mind and youre not so calling it a murder isnt exactly a judgement you can make. however he definitely went to far and it can almost be assumed that if he was a white guy that he probably wouldnt have taken it as far as he did. as for the riots themselves i completely agree with it, however i dont understand why it took this long to do it. everyone should have equal rights be it (sorry if this offends anyone) blacks, gays, jewish, it just shouldnt matter. it we removed everyones skin and clothing it wouldnt matter because we would all look the same. the only reason we dont have equal rights is because someone isnt happy with things not being the perfect little black and white world and something is “wrong” and “out of place”
thats my thoughts on race and everything anyway. i personally dont see any difference. ill have my own opinion on the subject sure. like that shirt doesnt match those pants. but im not gonna call you ugly for it.
A preliminary autopsy on Mr. Floyd showed no sign of asphyxiation. That one was done by the state. His family had a second autopsy which resulted in the death being declared a homicide. I don’t know how they can tell, but they said his heart stopped beating before the asshole cop removed his knee. So he’s facing murder and manslaughter charges now.
It wouldn’t surprise me to find out the state lied to save their ass. And I’m not saying he shouldn’t be facing charges. I’m just saying I wouldn’t call it murder exactly.
It seems like the way they police in the US is pretty fucked up, and maybe that disproportionately impacts ethnic minorities. And the George Floyd video was the most blatant evidence of that.
So people are angry. So they riot. Which doesn’t excuse rioters targeting other innocent civilians and their livelihoods.
This kind of thing will keep happening until they reform the police.
“Fucked up” isn’t a strong enough term. Police here have become paramilitary storm troopers who only know force and intimidation. Reason, calm,and patience are no longer elements of police department thinking – the mentality here is control through extreme force at any costs, and let the bodies fall where they may. Of course that is because American citizens are well armed and extremely aggressive in some situations, so the police feel that the ONLY way to approach most situations is with blitzkrieg force and military tactics. What the fuck ever. I am NOT a fan of the police and their gestapo tactics, but I can see why they have had to become so aggressive – we Americans are nuts, and our founding fathers made it a point to give us the right to own, carry, and use guns. I can’t blame the police for having to evolve into this quasi-military thug force, because if they didnt, WE would be shooting them, too.
You’re right that the number of guns in the US makes policing far more difficult. I don’t think that can justify the lack of accountability, or such excessive use of force. Their primary purpose is to protect life – if they end up threatening the lives of civilians over dumb shit, then better not to have them involved in all but the most serious crimes.
I think maybe if police are going to militarize in that way, then they need to accept military levels of risk, training, and responsibility. By which I mean you don’t use lethal force unless you know a target has a weapon they’re about to use, even if that means putting yourself in greater danger. And you only hire those willing to accept and able to handle that level of risk (and pay them accordingly.) You also need to have a thorough investigation by an independent body every time violence is used against a citizen.
” I don’t think that can justify the lack of accountability, or such excessive use of force. ”
THIS is exactly why the USA is in chaos tonight, Husk. Well, that and the pig in charge, but politics is verboten here, mas o menos.
This is why hundreds of thousands are protesting in this country. They’re tired of being targeted and, in a nutshell, killed, by white police officers. They want accountability, reason, and restraint, and they want it from a system that, as of today, has really no clue how to perform under those constraints. It’s sad and someday will be different, but it’s going to be a bi**h of a ride.
Did admins say politics is forbidden? Obviously best not to get too polarizing, but don’t want to find myself accidentally breaking the rules in future.
Not sure it’s even just a ‘white’ thing. I believe some of the officers who stood by as this guy was killed were other ethnicities. And police brutality still seems to be an issue in areas where the majority of officers and hierarchy are non-white. There just seems to be this culture of impunity when it comes to violence against certain communities.
Once6/2/2020 - 11:45 am
I was blocked for a few days when I first came to SP for getting political, but I was being pretty inflammatory (read “a**hole there), so I don’t know. I suppose it just depends on the context and how a post is worded. Anywho. Yes, this issue in USA focuses on interactions between white cops and African American population. I’m kicking myself because I don’t remember the name of the man on the national news last night who said something sort of profound. He is a civil rights activist and I think also a lawyer,who is African American, wasn’t paying attention. He concluded his interview by saying that “as an African American in the USA he is glad to still be breathing, but for how long?” A few months back, in Texas, a white cop shot and killed a black woman who was sitting in her living room, playing video games with her young nephew. He was supposed to be performing a welfare check on her after a concerned meighbor called police to check on her. He was walking around the home and saw the woman holding a gun, through a window. He never identified himself as police, and shot her once, killing her in front of her nephew. She owned a gun and thought someone was trying to break in. He is awaiting a murder trial, but a retired female police officer who is also black and worked for the Dallas police dept said that as a black woman, she would be afraid to be stopped by white police in her town.
There is a culture of impunity, and the world is seeing an angry oppressed community say “F**K THIS ANYMORE.” The focus is mostly a positive one of change through dialogue, but hey…sometimes talk just doesn’t address the pent up frustration at an issue that has been simmering for decades.
Once6/2/2020 - 12:17 am
They started as relatively peaceful protests, but the situation is eroding quickly. I live less than a mile from my state capitol and it’s happening here also. It’s a frightening scene. African Americans are extremely angry, with good reason. Someone on the news today said that protesting is how the voiceless express their anger, which is understandable, but what is happening now is that there are people who are showing up to protest and are instead inciting crowds into violence. It is insane. It is totally whacked out, but the issue of police brutality towards the African American community is a MAJOR issue in America. The riots couldn’t come at a worse time. The pandemic has forced so many businesses to close, many of them small family owned types of businesses, and the owners are struggling just to feed their families with little or no income, and now, the protesters are destroying many of these same businesses. Combine that with the whole lack of social distancing to slow the spread of covid, and the result is just a big out of control mess. This is a history making period, and unfortunately, it’s not a pleasant one. My town is, again, a state capital, and a relatively small and peaceful town for the most part, but the past two nights the police have been extremely busy dealing with chaos and mayhem here. 40 miles north of here in Portland, and further north in Seattle the rioting is much worse than here. Leaders are trying the patient approach to controlling the riots, but its not working. Tonight in Portland they have activated the National Guard and called in hundreds more state police from other areas. There most likely will be military intervention at some point soon, simply because there just arent enough police to deal with the level of destruction. And, to top it all off, our “president” is being his usual loudmouth self and inciting even more anger and violence with his words and actions. It is a sad situation, he is a sad excuse for a leader, and well, this is life in these united but chaotic states.
Sorry, I guess I thought I was a reporter for a minute, ran kind of long with this.
Whatever your political beliefs are, something to bear in mind is that the “riots” are being spun for political gains. So it’s important to stick to the ideas that are at the root of unrest. If you believe it’s ok for the police to kill a person who is accused of a nonviolent offence, then you’re probably a douchebag, a racist or both. Everyone else who is alarmed at the degree of unaccountable lethal police forcein the usa (or china or north korea or wherever the government rules with force), I stand with you.
Ignore the political spin of who’s behind the “riots”. Just today a white supremacist group got discovered and banned on Twitter for pretending to be “antifa” and inciting violence. Like I said, ignore the emotional incidents and try to focus on your core beliefs. This isn’t even just a race issue. It’s about government tyranny, plain and simple. Either you’re for or against.
I think it’s pretty stupid because it happens all the time, an it’s kinda sad how everybody is just trying too find a reason too turn Americans on trump, if everybody just kept there cool for a month these 4 police officers woulda went too court an probably would of got locked up for a very long time, but nah let’s all start destroying our own city’s an whatever else
My problem with the riots is that I’m seeing a lot of white people (that don’t understand the meaning of privilege, was raised in the same racist school system/biased history books/no in depth knowledge of black history, that didn’t make a point to understand it in literature, museums, etc say to everyone else, “Rioting is necessary, and if you’re against destroying something, you’re not focusing on the issue.”
Pretty much picture a yuppy gang smashing out windows out of empathy but not really learning anything…. They’ll point out Martin Luther King Jr’s speech but can’t recite it. Grinds my damn gears.
Guaranteed, a lot of people out there “coming together with oppressed p.o.c will tell you they aren’t racist, when every single white person in America is, because we were all raised in a biased system not understanding what it really meant.
I think the problem is more institutional than rooted in individuals. I think police officers are also victims of the trend of police brutality. The culture they get shaped by distorts them so badly that it’s gotten to this point and even good people who become police officers are either reshaped, left helpless, or ejected. Police have a culture of solidarity above everything. They look out for their own. Someone does something wrong, they’ve covered, and either they cover others or they are unwelcome.
17 comments
you mean the ones about george floyd? i dont know much about what happened just what i read on a wiki page. so dont take anything i say too much to heart keeping in mind i wasnt there so i dont know. i know some people are calling it murder and i personally feel thats going a bit far. i would however call it police brutality leading to death. to say murder is like saying he purposefully set out to kill him and he didnt. that wasnt exactly his intent when he woke up. however you could say that once he had him there that he could have been thinking about killing him then and just making it look like an accident but then youd have to be in his mind and youre not so calling it a murder isnt exactly a judgement you can make. however he definitely went to far and it can almost be assumed that if he was a white guy that he probably wouldnt have taken it as far as he did. as for the riots themselves i completely agree with it, however i dont understand why it took this long to do it. everyone should have equal rights be it (sorry if this offends anyone) blacks, gays, jewish, it just shouldnt matter. it we removed everyones skin and clothing it wouldnt matter because we would all look the same. the only reason we dont have equal rights is because someone isnt happy with things not being the perfect little black and white world and something is “wrong” and “out of place”
thats my thoughts on race and everything anyway. i personally dont see any difference. ill have my own opinion on the subject sure. like that shirt doesnt match those pants. but im not gonna call you ugly for it.
A preliminary autopsy on Mr. Floyd showed no sign of asphyxiation. That one was done by the state. His family had a second autopsy which resulted in the death being declared a homicide. I don’t know how they can tell, but they said his heart stopped beating before the asshole cop removed his knee. So he’s facing murder and manslaughter charges now.
It wouldn’t surprise me to find out the state lied to save their ass. And I’m not saying he shouldn’t be facing charges. I’m just saying I wouldn’t call it murder exactly.
Also I did state at the beginning that I don’t know all the details.
It seems like the way they police in the US is pretty fucked up, and maybe that disproportionately impacts ethnic minorities. And the George Floyd video was the most blatant evidence of that.
So people are angry. So they riot. Which doesn’t excuse rioters targeting other innocent civilians and their livelihoods.
This kind of thing will keep happening until they reform the police.
“Fucked up” isn’t a strong enough term. Police here have become paramilitary storm troopers who only know force and intimidation. Reason, calm,and patience are no longer elements of police department thinking – the mentality here is control through extreme force at any costs, and let the bodies fall where they may. Of course that is because American citizens are well armed and extremely aggressive in some situations, so the police feel that the ONLY way to approach most situations is with blitzkrieg force and military tactics. What the fuck ever. I am NOT a fan of the police and their gestapo tactics, but I can see why they have had to become so aggressive – we Americans are nuts, and our founding fathers made it a point to give us the right to own, carry, and use guns. I can’t blame the police for having to evolve into this quasi-military thug force, because if they didnt, WE would be shooting them, too.
Ran kinda long again there, Husk!
You’re right that the number of guns in the US makes policing far more difficult. I don’t think that can justify the lack of accountability, or such excessive use of force. Their primary purpose is to protect life – if they end up threatening the lives of civilians over dumb shit, then better not to have them involved in all but the most serious crimes.
I think maybe if police are going to militarize in that way, then they need to accept military levels of risk, training, and responsibility. By which I mean you don’t use lethal force unless you know a target has a weapon they’re about to use, even if that means putting yourself in greater danger. And you only hire those willing to accept and able to handle that level of risk (and pay them accordingly.) You also need to have a thorough investigation by an independent body every time violence is used against a citizen.
But perhaps it’s a problem with no solution.
” I don’t think that can justify the lack of accountability, or such excessive use of force. ”
THIS is exactly why the USA is in chaos tonight, Husk. Well, that and the pig in charge, but politics is verboten here, mas o menos.
This is why hundreds of thousands are protesting in this country. They’re tired of being targeted and, in a nutshell, killed, by white police officers. They want accountability, reason, and restraint, and they want it from a system that, as of today, has really no clue how to perform under those constraints. It’s sad and someday will be different, but it’s going to be a bi**h of a ride.
Did admins say politics is forbidden? Obviously best not to get too polarizing, but don’t want to find myself accidentally breaking the rules in future.
Not sure it’s even just a ‘white’ thing. I believe some of the officers who stood by as this guy was killed were other ethnicities. And police brutality still seems to be an issue in areas where the majority of officers and hierarchy are non-white. There just seems to be this culture of impunity when it comes to violence against certain communities.
I was blocked for a few days when I first came to SP for getting political, but I was being pretty inflammatory (read “a**hole there), so I don’t know. I suppose it just depends on the context and how a post is worded. Anywho. Yes, this issue in USA focuses on interactions between white cops and African American population. I’m kicking myself because I don’t remember the name of the man on the national news last night who said something sort of profound. He is a civil rights activist and I think also a lawyer,who is African American, wasn’t paying attention. He concluded his interview by saying that “as an African American in the USA he is glad to still be breathing, but for how long?” A few months back, in Texas, a white cop shot and killed a black woman who was sitting in her living room, playing video games with her young nephew. He was supposed to be performing a welfare check on her after a concerned meighbor called police to check on her. He was walking around the home and saw the woman holding a gun, through a window. He never identified himself as police, and shot her once, killing her in front of her nephew. She owned a gun and thought someone was trying to break in. He is awaiting a murder trial, but a retired female police officer who is also black and worked for the Dallas police dept said that as a black woman, she would be afraid to be stopped by white police in her town.
There is a culture of impunity, and the world is seeing an angry oppressed community say “F**K THIS ANYMORE.” The focus is mostly a positive one of change through dialogue, but hey…sometimes talk just doesn’t address the pent up frustration at an issue that has been simmering for decades.
They started as relatively peaceful protests, but the situation is eroding quickly. I live less than a mile from my state capitol and it’s happening here also. It’s a frightening scene. African Americans are extremely angry, with good reason. Someone on the news today said that protesting is how the voiceless express their anger, which is understandable, but what is happening now is that there are people who are showing up to protest and are instead inciting crowds into violence. It is insane. It is totally whacked out, but the issue of police brutality towards the African American community is a MAJOR issue in America. The riots couldn’t come at a worse time. The pandemic has forced so many businesses to close, many of them small family owned types of businesses, and the owners are struggling just to feed their families with little or no income, and now, the protesters are destroying many of these same businesses. Combine that with the whole lack of social distancing to slow the spread of covid, and the result is just a big out of control mess. This is a history making period, and unfortunately, it’s not a pleasant one. My town is, again, a state capital, and a relatively small and peaceful town for the most part, but the past two nights the police have been extremely busy dealing with chaos and mayhem here. 40 miles north of here in Portland, and further north in Seattle the rioting is much worse than here. Leaders are trying the patient approach to controlling the riots, but its not working. Tonight in Portland they have activated the National Guard and called in hundreds more state police from other areas. There most likely will be military intervention at some point soon, simply because there just arent enough police to deal with the level of destruction. And, to top it all off, our “president” is being his usual loudmouth self and inciting even more anger and violence with his words and actions. It is a sad situation, he is a sad excuse for a leader, and well, this is life in these united but chaotic states.
Sorry, I guess I thought I was a reporter for a minute, ran kind of long with this.
Whatever your political beliefs are, something to bear in mind is that the “riots” are being spun for political gains. So it’s important to stick to the ideas that are at the root of unrest. If you believe it’s ok for the police to kill a person who is accused of a nonviolent offence, then you’re probably a douchebag, a racist or both. Everyone else who is alarmed at the degree of unaccountable lethal police forcein the usa (or china or north korea or wherever the government rules with force), I stand with you.
Ignore the political spin of who’s behind the “riots”. Just today a white supremacist group got discovered and banned on Twitter for pretending to be “antifa” and inciting violence. Like I said, ignore the emotional incidents and try to focus on your core beliefs. This isn’t even just a race issue. It’s about government tyranny, plain and simple. Either you’re for or against.
I think it’s pretty stupid because it happens all the time, an it’s kinda sad how everybody is just trying too find a reason too turn Americans on trump, if everybody just kept there cool for a month these 4 police officers woulda went too court an probably would of got locked up for a very long time, but nah let’s all start destroying our own city’s an whatever else
LOL @ everything would’ve been fine.
Trump isn’t handling it with any respect at all.
My problem with the riots is that I’m seeing a lot of white people (that don’t understand the meaning of privilege, was raised in the same racist school system/biased history books/no in depth knowledge of black history, that didn’t make a point to understand it in literature, museums, etc say to everyone else, “Rioting is necessary, and if you’re against destroying something, you’re not focusing on the issue.”
Pretty much picture a yuppy gang smashing out windows out of empathy but not really learning anything…. They’ll point out Martin Luther King Jr’s speech but can’t recite it. Grinds my damn gears.
Guaranteed, a lot of people out there “coming together with oppressed p.o.c will tell you they aren’t racist, when every single white person in America is, because we were all raised in a biased system not understanding what it really meant.
I think the problem is more institutional than rooted in individuals. I think police officers are also victims of the trend of police brutality. The culture they get shaped by distorts them so badly that it’s gotten to this point and even good people who become police officers are either reshaped, left helpless, or ejected. Police have a culture of solidarity above everything. They look out for their own. Someone does something wrong, they’ve covered, and either they cover others or they are unwelcome.