It is absolute bullshit to say to the suffering, righteously angry, and oppressed “we hear you, but you must phrase your anger in a way that does not threaten us.” It is bullshit to hear this from those who oppress them.
The issue of phrasing is it's the phrasing mixed with the seemingly ever shifting goals.
All 4 cops in the video were immediately fired from a legal perspective 3 hadn't don't anything wrong. From a Moral one you could argue that the 3 were morally in the wrong for not acting to stop their fellow officer but legally the Supreme court rules the Police don't have a duty to protect everyone and there is no law saying being a witness and refusing to act to prevent a death is a crime in itself.
However people wanted legal actions so they're trying the cop who knelt on George Loyd's neck with 4th degree murder. However for some this wasn't enough and they wanted him charged with 1st Degree which while having a longer sentence it requires evidence it was planned pre-meditated murder and the evidence wouldn't support a conviction there which could let the Cop walk.
Things have evolved since them with all kinds of different demands. Some wanting laws passed around Police and Body Camera (Fair I'd say) Some wanting independent conduit review boards (Again fair I'd say as long as some on the board were ex police in good standing who could explain about police training and threat assessment and reasoning etc). Then there are people demanding A national emergency be declared in relation to racism (not gonna happen it's a pointless gesture that will do nothing really) The was some demands I saw the other night calling for ~$17.2 Trillion from the government to be paid to Black people as reparations (works out to something like $350,000 per black person) The thing is that won't happen because it won't really be going just to those were were slave but also it would be going to any Black person who say moved to the USA or their family moved to the USA long after Slavery ended. It also won't happen because it would basically bankrupt the USA by pushing it up from $24.95 Trillion.
The issue is there's no clear end goal and no solid "Do this" marker.
So when you have some-one on the news like was interviewed here in the UK and they say
"Black people are angry, they're not being heard and I don't know how much longer I and others can hold back their anger against you white people"
Or words to that effect it does come off as a threat and with no clear "Do this" way to stop it people will be preparing to face the actual threat being said.
Which added with the stupid stuff like "We're coming to the suburbs next" on social media from a few rioters etc it's going to make people think threat is coming and it's one they see no clear way to prevent coming.
If the riots and burning are also anger being held back then the question has to be what happens when it's not being held back?
Conversely one of the things Trump does well is Threats.
"If Governors don't retake control and reinforce the rule of law and order I will sent the military in to do it for them"
It's a far clearer do this or this happens. Even if it has some room for interpretation it's sill a far more solid set of reasoning.
Also the protests are good but so many seem to be targeting the wrong thing. They're targeting the police. They're protesting at the police. They're getting angry at and yelling at random police officers in the line in some cases. The Police don't have the true power to enforce change, the politicians and lawmakers do. Those protesters who have marched to court houses or are doing so outside the whitehouse, they're at least targeting the right people. There's little point in this case protesting the hammer that bangs on the anvil for doing so when it's the person holding it in control.
The Riots and rioters need to be made to be see in the public eyes as separate to the protests and protesters so there is no attempting to frame the riots as people trying to be heard because otherwise people are only going to be hearing a metaphorical fist to the face and in my experience people don't tend to be very co-operative right after that and won't be too keen listening to what you have to say rather than getting ready to defend themselves ready for another first coming. The Protesters have been doing a damn good job by turning in Rioters and Looters and violent members of the crowd to the Police and calling out rioters and looters while calling for the protests to be peaceful.
It is a grave injustice to tell the people this system has wounded that in caring for their wounds they must abide by this system’s rules.
The problem is in one respect the system was built to prevent further harm to others.
Admittedly the protesters are doing nothing wrong.
The Rioters however are.
The Rioters rather than healing how the system says they should are jabbing a knife into the wound and cutting further.
As these brutal thugs, these domestic terrorists, these police bring down suffering on anyone who demands they change in so much as an uncivil tone, why do we place the blame for it all on their victims? Because we are cowards. Because we refuse to imagine the society we live in has never been just, never cared for the weak, never ruled by consent. When the beast that rules over you demands you express your discontent within your chains, break the goddamn chains.
And for those claiming this is idealistic, childish, tell me, if our leadership is so brutal and corrupt as to justify this, what damnable logic leads you to believe they will listen to our peaceful hymns? What absurd reasoning leads you to believe that if we de-escalate, the police will listen, the politicians will listen, corporate America will listen? They will not listen. They have not been listening. So change the language. Rather, stop asking for change. Demand it. Make it. Seize this change with your own damn hands. Because the hands with the power right now will not fucking listen. They refuse.
Constant annoyance can do far more than a blow to the face.
Gandhi proved how powerful nonviolent resistance can be.
Corporate America already just sees this as a chance to get free advertising by pretending to pander to people. They care about little other than money in the end.
USA
