Running racism in America thread

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal"

A dirty lie for 244 years.

 

Note the direction of the tear gas canister he kicks. That guy played at Florida State in the 1990s.

 

One thing I’m noticing is that these protestors, many of them unarmed, are more than holding their own against the police. Also, just wait until they realize this and may also have an upper hand if they go off and enjoy some of those fine second amendment rights that we have. That’ll be when the real fun starts. It’ll probably also be the same day the second amendment starts getting some alterations in Congress.

 

if anyone is curious, today is the anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

1921 Tulsa Race Massacre - Tulsa Historical Society & Museum

 

A curfew from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. was announced for my city until further notice. Great job.

 

Agree completely. Some men were obviously created more equal than others.

 

We stayed up late last night watching protests that ended up at the police headquarters in downtown Oklahoma City. My wife went to bed after midnight. My son and I watched until after 1:30 and turned it off before a standoff with officers ended.

It began with a march about a mile to the north that was intentionally peaceful, but there were a few folks who wanted trouble. They were dissuaded by people in the crowd and a few of the most ardent troublemakers were arrested early on.

Law enforcement had circled the police headquarters and the very large county jail that is next door. A tense but nonviolent face off pretty quickly escalated when vehicles were vandalized. The situation then devolved into surges of protesters never quite making it to police lines before being repelled by tear gas and either pepper balls or rubber bullets.

One of the sights I found sad was that many of the officers on the line were not the type I would expect to see in riot gear. They were often middle-age men and women who looked as though they really didn’t want to be there, not the stereotypical paramilitary stern folks. Obviously, the crowd could not be allowed to take over the police headquarters (I don’t think that there are real precincts in OKC) and the jail. The protesters wanted to be heard and were further agitated by the line of police, so the stalemate continued until more typical crowd-control police lines began to push protesters out of the area.

There is supposed to be a better protest this afternoon organized by local NAACP and Black Lives Matter groups.
My son said last night that he wanted to go, but we’ve been social distancing almost to the point of quarantine for two months and attending would compromise that. Even though this would be a daytime protest and less likely to get out of control, I’ve covered enough of these situations in my past life to know that a crowd can quickly become a mob with its own emotion and personality and folks might do things they wouldn’t normally do.

If my son insists on going, I will probably also go because I have more experience and because sitting at home waiting for him to return would make me crazy. My wife really, really does not want us to go, so the decision has probably been made. But I have no idea what the afternoon holds. Strange times.

 

doing what we believe to be right is all any of us can do

be safe

 

Can’t find the original post about this guy from last night, but look who I found on the twitter.

 

I’ve never heard of this guy, but I sure hope he gets arrested soon.