Running racism in America thread

Someone was shot and killed at the “protest” last night amid the looting.

 

Interesting your use of quote marks there. Why did you use them?

 

In 1972, he won nearly every county in the Florida primary. He won 10 states in the Democratic primary. The day after he was shot, he won Michigan and Maryland (they aren't the South, BTW). He finished with 1.8% fewer votes than McGovern.

The assassination attempt ended his presidential aspirations, not American enlightenment.

 

I'm a white man, and my legs turned to jelly when I've gotten pulled over for exceeding the speed limit. It's a completely unnatural feeling. I can't imagine what it's like to be a black man who ends up in a situation involving a cop. Yet people respond to these videos saying the black man should know what to do, etc., listen to the cops' orders, etc. And when they don't, some of them get killed. The cops' excuse is that they were afraid or felt threatened. But they're the ones who underwent training. They're the ones these situations should come natural to. And their behavior is brushed aside.

Watching the George Floyd video, I'm not sure what disturbs me more: the cop kneeling on Floyd's neck, or the cop(s) watching idly by, allowing it to happen.

 

"A riot is the language of the unheard." - MLK jr

 

Looting stores has nothing to do with a cop murdering a man. (Which, to be clear, is what I think happened.)

One video I saw showed 3-4 white kids jumping through a broken target window to get some swag. We’ve strayed a little far from the purpose of the protest at that point.

 

So you're letting some bad apples spoil the whole bunch?

 

I agree. Rioting is wrong, but it isn’t necessarily unexpected, and it does sometimes become the vehicle through which change is affected.

That’s part of why the cops will be charged. (As they should be.)

 

King's challenge to the nation's social scientists

Urban riots must now be recognized as durable social phenomena. They may be deplored, but they are there and should be understood. Urban riots are a special form of violence. They are not insurrections. The rioters are not seeking to seize territory or to attain control of institutions. They are mainly intended to shock the white community. They are a distorted form of social protest. The looting which is their principal feature serves many functions. It enables the most enraged and deprived Negro to take hold of consumer goods with the ease the white man does by using his purse. Often the Negro does not even want what he takes; he wants the experience of taking. But most of all, alienated from society and knowing that this society cherishes property above people, he is shocking it by abusing property rights. There are thus elements of emotional catharsis in the violent act. This may explain why most cities in which riots have occurred have not had a repetition, even though the causative conditions remain. It is also noteworthy that the amount of physical harm done to white people other than police is infinitesimal and in Detroit whites and Negroes looted in unity.

A profound judgment of today’s riots was expressed by Victor Hugo a century ago. He said, ‘If a soul is left in the darkness, sins will be committed. The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but he who causes the darkness.’

The policymakers of the white society have caused the darkness; they create discrimination; they structured slums; and they perpetuate unemployment, ignorance and poverty. It is incontestable and deplorable that Negroes have committed crimes; but they are derivative crimes. They are born of the greater crimes of the white society. When we ask Negroes to abide by the law, let us also demand that the white man abide by law in the ghettos. Day-in and day-out he violates welfare laws to deprive the poor of their meager allotments; he flagrantly violates building codes and regulations; his police make a mockery of law; and he violates laws on equal employment and education and the provisions for civic services. The slums are the handiwork of a vicious system of the white society; Negroes live in them but do not make them any more than a prisoner makes a prison. Let us say boldly that if the violations of law by the white man in the slums over the years were calculated and compared with the law-breaking of a few days of riots, the hardened criminal would be the white man. These are often difficult things to say but I have come to see more and more that it is necessary to utter the truth in order to deal with the great problems that we face in our society.

 

Officer said 'unfortunate' coronavirus didn't kill more black people, gets fired