A Country In Flames For Good Reason; But Wrong Targets Chosen
First off. let's be totally honest here, it isn't just skin color that Police target with abuse, it is the Class of people they are dealing with more than anything. The more Green color and therefore Power you have in your pocket, determines how much respect you get during your interactions with them more than anything else. As much as I support the protests taking place across America right now, I have a problem with exactly HOW they are protesting. The targeting of small businesses for looting and burning does NOTHING to help the cause. If anything, they are undermining their message of outrage. Sure, their previous peaceful demands for social justice have fallen on deaf ears, but like Colin Kapernick's kneeling during the National Anthem, their choice to burn and loot their own neighborhoods is ill-conceived. Kapernick chose to kneel during the National Anthem that celebrates the freedom and the country that gives him a voice and a platform to express his justifiable outrage. He could have chosen to do so at any time and place, which he did in fact do, ut it backfired upon him in a big way. His choice of venue and timing is what turned the majority of against him and his cause by doing so. If, for instance, he had instead walked out upon the field and delayed the start of the game by kneeling, he would have had almost unanimous support across the board. Had he chosen NOT to go into the locker room during half-time and led a contingent of players onto the field to kneel, that too would have garnered attention without the explosive negativity that kneeling during the National Anthem did. The choices made will determine the response more than the message you are trying to deliver. Writing "Injustice must end" on a baseball bat and then using it to bash in heads will not help your cause in the least as the message will be drowned out by the outrage at its choice of deliverance.
This brings us to the looting and burning of businesses in these cities across the Nation. Just like in the Rodney King/LA protests, the Ferguson/BLM protests, and the Bundy/Bureau of Land Management protests that ensued across the country, the peaceful protests also have their edge in violence. Violence is what brought them to our National attention--not the message itself. Most people disagree with the looting, property damage, and burning of buildings mostly because they feel it isn't necessary in order to get the message across. I disagree. It is only because of the violence that we have all sat up and paid attention. When protests are peaceful and non-disruptive, we change the channel. I blame it on our human nature to curiously observe destruction that seems to fascinate everyone. Where I disagree with the use of this violence to attract attention is the targeting of small businesses that have absolutely nothing to do with what they are protesting about. These businesses are just trying to get a small slice of the American Pie. They are NOT the ones doing the oppressing of the Poor and Lower Middle Class. If anything, they are the ones doing the most to help these segments of our society. Many of these places offer credit to those who would never get approved for it from anywhere else. Targeting them is akin to cutting off your nose to spite your face. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever!
The people behind the oppression and mistreatment of the Poor and Lower Middle Class are the large corporate giants who have driven out the Mom and Pop stores by taking advantage of the legal bribing of public officials with campaign contributions who court these corporate robber barons with tax cuts to bring their minimum wage or slightly better paying jobs to their cities and states. These are the same robber barons that legally bribe officials to allow them to charge obscene amounts of money as "interest" over the life of credit loans, mortgages, and personal loans. These are the same people that pressure their paid political puppets to target their competition, to condemn private land to seize it for development, and pass ordinances to benefit themselves over small businesses so they can reap the largest profit. These are the ones that force politicians to keep costs for essential things like Healthcare, Drugs, Higher Education, and Housing so high that the Poor and Lower Classes cannot achieve them. These robber barons and their lapdog politicians and courts have set themselves up as The Elite, in control of everything from what laws are passed, what taxes they pay, and who our choices are when it comes to electing officials.
Because of the stranglehold that these Elitist's have on our economy, our Government, and our Justice system, there real is no other way to fight them than what we are seeing now--violence-tinged protests. If the people taking part in them were to actually target those mentioned above for sacking and looting, the majority would not only understand, but agree with them. Burning the Police Stations? Yes we could understand that since they are the ones killing innocent people at the behest of their paid-for public officials who tend to turn blind eyes upon excessive abuse of power, guns, and badges until it bites them in the ass. Burning of Government buildings like tax offices, courthouses, and City Halls? Yes we could understand that as well. They all have their place in the oppression of the Poor and Lower Middle Class. Targeting of public officials who ignore the abuse and actually encourage it through their biased legal systems and laws? yes, we could understand that as well. Even the attacking of banks and financial institutions, or even Wall Street for that matter, we could understand; but attacking Small Businesses--in your won neighborhoods at that???? No, I can.t understand or support those actions.
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Honestly, I know there are good cops out there just trying to do their jobs. It is the bad ones that are giving them all a bad name. It doesn't help when the good cops continue to allow the bad cops to get away with their misdeeds because of the Blue Wall of Silence helping to protect them. This makes the good cops accomplices to a crime, and that in itself is illegal as well.
If BLM wants to help their people then maybe BLM should stand for Black Livelihoods Matter.
I think some folks protesting on Rodeo Drive read your article, CK
This is a well written article and sums up how I've been feeling about all this
For the most part I agree with this article which I found to be very reasonable. Protesting is fine. Rioting and looting is not protesting.
I don't agree with rioting and looting, either, but I hear there were looters on Rodeo Drive walking away with Gucci bags
It is when your other "civil" protests haven't done anything to effect change. Once you have exhausted all of the peaceful options, it leaves only one door still to open. Abuse of power by cops is a longstanding "accepted" norm. It wasn't until these riots went Nationwide, that all of a sudden white people sat up and took notice. It started with "fringe" protests like the Bundy ranch episode, and then came the Black Lives Matter movement. Was the problem solved??? Nope! These riots are a direct result of "business as usual" in the LEO career path. It is too bad it took this extreme to get a microscope pointed at how badly the profession has become. It is a far cry from the "Officer Friendly" storybooks we read as children...
Gotta disagree about Kaepernick. I think what he did was the most respectful thing someone could have done. Good or bad in people's minds it made a statement that people are still talking about and/or copying.
If he had just stayed in the locker room it would have just been ignored and glossed over.
I agree with the rest of it but as we have seen with the OWS protests, which were for/against what you are talking about, they were just villainized and deemed left wing nut jobs.
I agree with you about Kaepernick and definitely about OWS. You can see my interviews there at this addy:
That was a very peaceful protest.
And OWS led to exactly what reforms of Wall Street that were in any way meaningful to Main Street? NONE! NADA! ZIP! ZILCH! ZERO!
And this is another reason why people are feeling that only violence will bring any meaningful changes.
We disagree on the appropriateness of the action, but we do agree on its long term remembrance!
Riots, destroying stuff, preventing law abiding people from going about their business and hurting people are not acceptable.
When it comes to those who are not responsible for the oppression and violence being perpetrated upon the people rioting, I believe my article makes it plain to see that I agree with you.
I thought his death was getting a lot of national coverage until the rioting started. Now only the rioting is getting national attention.
To Antifa everyone is the oppressor, they will never be content with America. They need to go to Cuba and be happy. Let see how long their rioting last there when they feel oppressed.
I don't think CK said one word about antifa in his article. Would you kindly point to me where he did if I'm wrong?
Trout, CK didn't, but antifa's movements are known by the authorities. I watched both sides of the coin live last night. A real protest, carried on for hours, where the organizers quickly shut down attempts at violence or attempts to get the crowd worked up to such. After the real protesters went home, the violence started, exactly as had been forecast. Anyone that thinks that antifa is not taking advantage of the situation, is denying what is going on. Not saying there may not be other groups doing the same, but antifa has a presence.
I'm not saying they aren't present, but CK didn't say anything about them in his article. Not one word.
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He talks about burning of small businesses in "your own neighborhoods." Yeah, I'm sure there is some of that going on. I'm also made aware that people are being arrested who are not even from the state. Not hard to find news on antifa making their presence known publicly. So, while CK doesn't mention it, he is questioning why people are targeting some of the things in their own back yard. Answer. Not all of it stems from locals.
I would question it, too, especially the small businesses. And I do think there is an outside element involved, but I'm waiting to make up mind about it until some investigating is done
Yeah, no surprise.
I watched yesterday. The group was diverse, and I think they did a good job. There were whole families in attendance, including kids in strollers. Problem was, once the real protesters starting leaving, the numbers started tipping in favor of the people there strictly to cause chaos.
Same situation here in Charlotte this weekend. Sad stuff.
Antifa is relevant. [deleted]
SO whats your point? [deleted]
Holy crap. It also has been reported that Antifa is planting their weapons in different areas around the cities so they can be easily accessed.
Yep..............................
That's okay, I'm watching the left wing cucks getting gassed right now in Philadelphia.
I think that in this particular case, the violence that got our attention was the state sponsored type where the initial killing took place. It did not need anymore, just keep showing that video. The intended audience for the anger and protests engendered by the scene, the nation and the world, might have been held by just that.
That said, there are other systemic societal issues that do not appear to be going away, that people who are not-white face every day, purely as a result of living in their own skins. So this act of violence, this killing, is a focal point for the release of pent up frustration and anger, a prick of a needle on the infected boil of closeted and ignored racial tension and bigotry. It is seldom neat and clean when a boil is lanced. Infection can spread and fester if not addressed, if not cleansed immediately. This, I think, is what we are now seeing: The popping up of other sores from a boil lanced unwell and incompletely cleaned.
The question is, how will we clean the infection? Will we, as we have in the past, pay lip service to those who have had this "infection" for so long? Will we actually maintain the conversation long enough to become uncomfortable in our own skins till we adjust the societal norms to encompass all people? Will we read the Declaration of Independence once more and realize that our definition of "all men" was yet too narrow still and once again? Changing administrations change policy, often leaving good works unfinished, so will we stick to the cry until all lives truly do matter?
Unfortunately, it isn't enough as is proven by the continuance of the problem despite many episodes that HAVE made National news. How many times have we heard the stories of police killing people that was deemed prosecutable? How many times has a person died because of No-Knock warrants being served in the middle of the night? There was even a case in Atlanta where a 78 year old grandmother was killed when they served such a warrant AT THE WRONG ADDRESS! Look at the guy being charged with trying to kill cops that just killed his unarmed girlfriend during one of these SNAFU's! All of these cases and thousands more have gone pretty much unnoticed...a minor blip on the radar for a day or two, and then it's replaced by the next Kim Kardashian photo op. Only now, thanks to the days on end of rioting and looting are we discussing the atrocities for any length of time.