Running racism in America thread

What Matt said. Jesus. Only Covid had less of a chance of being avoided but even that should have had a better government response.

 

Fuck... my bad.

Couldn’t is what I meant.

 

AAU kids tend to be coddled. That’s the analogy.

 

One of the best images I’ve seen in a While

Oakland’s Protest Rider on Why She Took to Horseback for George Floyd | KQED

 

police and fire did an incredible job of capitalizing on a tragedy and playing up the “heroes!!!!” angle. If anything, police and fire have proven that unions work in this country, contrary to what the conservative squawk boxes will lead you to believe. Through the FOP and firefighters unions these guys have managed to successfully lobby for more and more funding for more and more toys.

 

Money is the key.

It’s the people selling the weapons and toys who are the real puppet masters of America.

 

One factor you are forgetting is Floyd is the third incident in three months, following Ahmaud Aubery and Breanna Taylor

 

Neighbor college student said whites can't use the N-word because blacks have "reclaimed" it. I asked "What about rappers who use the N-word and language that degrades women in the same song?"

"That's a separate issue."

 

My fear is if the protests continue Trump and Barr will sic the military on peaceful protesters without approval of governors. I think Trump’s attitude is like that of Bob Giles, the Detroit News publisher. Early in the newspaper strike Gannett got tired of flying papers out of the North Plant with helicopters and had the trucks drive through the protesters. Fortunately nobody was hurt. When asked about it, Giles said about the protesters: “They got out of the way, didn’t they?”

 

An eight minute and forty five second video of a man being smothered to death is different from a shooting video. Those are fast, and generally the details about the cause are in dispute. In this case, a man is handcuffed and on his belly, helpless because three people are holding him down as he calls out that he can't breathe - and he dies of asphyxiation. In many ways it is more brutal than a shooting video, because you have plenty of time to absorb what is happening and it is impossible to deny what you are seeing.

 

This one really resonated, I think, because:
1) The video is clear and close;
2) Social media usage is up -- or at least it was through early May, the latest I can find in a quick search;
3) If asked to guess where something like the Floyd tragedy happened, very few people would have guessed Minneapolis. And that suggested that bad policing is everywhere. Buffalo, LA, Louisville, etc., have proven that.

 

The question I have and hope is answered eventually is, why did the cop just sit there with his knee on Floyd's neck for that long? Confront him, apprehend him, handcuff him, even subdue him on the ground. Then what? Shove him into a squad car and take him in. It was like the cop was starting his break. "Hmmm, time for my break. I'll just kneel here for 10 minutes until my break is over."