Running racism in America thread

And some reporters were tear gassed, shot with rubber bullets, etc., too.

Don't know about a Federal lawsuit, because these are city and state issues.

But no, the police don't get to label anything that is difficult to handle an "unlawful assembly" and just detain or arrest people on that basis.

The bill of rights still needs to matter. And I hope someone fights that one, even if the cost feels like it is going to outweigh the practical consequences to the locality it happened.

I get that riots and looting are very difficult situations for them to manage, and I am sympathetic to the fact that they have a tough job, but it's their job to try to get it right. If they can't distinguish between people who are breaking the law and people who aren't, they are utterly purposeless to a free society. It's one more reason why we need to rethink their purpose and the powers they have. Why even bother having a police force?

I particularly felt that way this weekend, because they were utterly useless while the area I was in was being destroyed. They made the decision to stand by and watch a mob grab clothing, sneakers and iPhones and destroy everything in sight, because it was better than going in and risking a full-fledged riot and dead bodies. And that was probably the right decision given the circumstances.

But we shouldn't have been there in the first place. The reason they now have to be so concerned about their actions in the face of a full-fledged mob destroying people's property is the years of goodwill they have destroyed with their behavior in poor, minority dominated neighborhoods.

And now, when they are reduced to spectators in the face of mob looting and violence, I really kept saying this weekend, "Why do we need a police force at all?"

 

I can just speak for where I was. And I hate speaking in generalities.

But no, it largely wasn't the same people Saturday night as it had been Saturday during the day.

That isn't to say that Saturday during the day here had gone all that well. In Philadelphia where I am, there was a big demonstration near city hall that eventually made its way to the art museum. Of course the majority of people were there to demonstrate peacefully. You had parents bringing their kids with them. But when it turned unruly, and it was fairly early, it got out of hand quickly. The worst of it was a Starbucks they set on fire near city hall, and some police cars they destroyed and set on fire. Also, a ton of senseless graffiti and just breaking things for no reason. It was disheartening.

Unfortunately, just as you thought that was ending, early evening came, and as you can probably guess, anyone who had come out to protest peacefully had gotten the heck out of there. And the troublemakers took over. That was when the target became this small area in center city near Rittenhouse Square where there is an apple store, sneaker stores, and clothing stores. To state the obvious, the roving bands of teenagers who spilled into the area had not been the peaceful protesters during the day. Looking out the window, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. They were emptying garbage cans from businesses in the area and dragging them around to use to load up the stuff they were stealing. They literally broke windows in stores, and then streamed in, and were carrying shopping bags, like they were out for a night of shopping. Some of then would go in grab clothing, step out, try what they had taken on, throw it in the street and go back in to try to find a better fit. It was insane. They eventually just lit a Vans store on fire and caused a three-alarm blaze. At 2, 3 in the morning, I saw a scene out my window with about 40 kids with shopping bags running around and laughing, and they were standing in the middle of the street using their cell phone lights to show off to each other what they had stolen. They then broke a few windows in a restaurant just for the hell of it.