Global Anger Grows Over George Floyd's Death

[earthdome]

56 minutes ago, scott h said:

And the bad apples HAVE been arrested and HAVE been charged.

It took protests with riots before that happened. Remember the rest of that saying, "A bad apple spoils the bunch".

There have been many bad apples and the bunch have been spoiled for a long time. A LEO getting fired for an incident like this is rare, actually getting charged with a crime is extremely rare. Normally they lawyer up with free legal counsel from the police union and in almost every case the officers will be acquitted or the charges dropped at a later time. Then the city, state, etc. will get sued by the union and the officer will be reinstated with all back pay. Or they get hired in a different jurisdiction where they can continue occasional abuse while on the job. Of course the city, county, state are sued and the tax payers have to foot the bill for millions of dollars in settlements to the families of the victims. If the bad apples can't be held accountable then the problem will never get fixed. This may be that rare case where one or more of the officers will get convicted.

I grant that there are people in law enforcement with good intentions, good hearts, etc. But many of the organizations they work for are rotten to the core. Where the good cops have learned to look the other way and not cross that thin blue line. Because if they cross that thin blue line they end up in a dead end career or forced out completely.

Example: https://www.autoblog.com/2014/02/12/officer-who-issued-120-mph-ticket-suing-police-harassment/

I was actually very surprised to hear that some police organizations have come out against the abuse of force in this case.

Finally, this isn't primarily a race issue though police abuse is more likely to happen to minorities, it is an abuse of authority and can happen to anyone regardless of race.

As an example I give you Kelly Thomas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Kelly_Thomas

With all that said, that history of abuse does not justify rioting, looting, burning, stealing, etc.

 

[GeoffH]

2 hours ago, scott h said:

And the bad apples HAVE been arrested and HAVE been charged.

If shouldn't have taken nationwide protests for that to happen; initially there were no charges... then there were huge and violent protests, then one guy was charged with third degree murder but the protests continued, now one guy has been charged with second degree murder and 3 others with aiding or abetting.

I see that as happening in reaction to the protests, ie laying the charges and then ramping them up something that almost certainly wouldn't have happened without the protests.

 

 

 

Edited June 4, 2020 by GeoffH

[Gator]

On 6/3/2020 at 2:10 AM, GeoffH said:

Protests of this magnitude were always going to be internationally newsworthy, there was never a doubt of that.  But when media (both US and international) are attacked and arrested on air.  

It’s not just the police, it’s also protesters attacking the media. Albeit most of them have been shown or thought to be extremists.....from both sides. And many of the riots, looting a and vandalism have been instigated by them as well. 
 

https://www.cjr.org/opinion/reporters-press-freedom-police-protests.php

 

[GeoffH]

20 minutes ago, Gator said:

It’s not just the police, it’s also protesters attacking the media. Albeit most of them have been shown or thought to be extremists.....from both sides.

That is true but I expect criminals to act as criminals and extremists to act as extremists, that is to say  nobody expects moral behaviour from them.

Police should be held to a higher standard of conduct, in fact in most jurisdictions that is a factor that can be taken into account in court hearings.

But outside of the court system there is the fact that those people who are there to 'protect and serve' the community should be called out when they fail in their duty and yes more strongly than the general community.  Is that a double standard?  Sure... but it's one that Police agree to when they become officers of the law.

The problem however is that over the years some Police have become a law unto themselves who see the court system not as another pillar of the justice system but as an obstacle to be overcome or bypassed.

[Snowy79]

There's been some very good Black women on social media that have made some comments based on facts that pretty much summed up the politicising of this and how it seams to re appear every four years just as there's an election coming up.

On top of the politics they also highlighted again based on facts that police brutality and the killing of Blacks by White police officers is in the minority.  It was quoted the percentage of violent crimes commited by Blacks compared to Whites and highlighted that Blacks only made up something like 6% of the population but 45% of violent crimes.  Also way more Whites were killed by the police and that the majority of Blacks are killed by other Blacks.  She even broke it down not just on population but actual violent criminals which made a big difference to the figures.

By far the most interesting point that was made was can anyone name a Jewish hardened criminal that Jews have rioted over when they were killed by the police or a White criminal, Hispanic criminal etc. She rattled off some Whites that were killed by Blacks recently including a police officer. She asked where were the White riots with Whites looting other Whites stores?  

The guy Floyd had a long criminal record which again was highlighted including him getting a 5 year stretch for robbing a pregnant Black women in her house with a group of other Blacks.

It was pretty much summed up by saying the biggest issue facing the Black community wasn't racism it was the high percentage of Fatherless families, it was in the culture to look down on people that wanted to better themselves and how growing up if you were successful those around you abused you for selling kind out.

Google Candice Owen.  A very clever women who gets seriously pissed off with the way the media and politicians make out racism to be the big issue.  This is well worth a watch.

 https://web.facebook.com/realCandaceOwens/videos/273957870461345/

[Tommy T.]

9 hours ago, GeoffH said:

Direct attacks with violence upon the press have been something only seen in countries without press freedom, like China, Russia...

Hmmm... didn't some of that occur in 1968 race riots in Watts? Maybe I was too drugged out or drunk at the time, but I remember (maybe faultily)  that everyone was a target then...?

 

[GeoffH]

1 minute ago, Tommy T. said:

Hmmm... didn't some of that occur in 1968 race riots in Watts? Maybe I was too drugged out or drunk at the time, but I remember (maybe faultily)  that everyone was a target then...?

Possibly but it didn't make 'international news' from what I remember, sorry if I was wrong Tommy.

[Tommy T.]

Just now, GeoffH said:

Possibly but it didn't make 'international news' from what I remember, sorry if I was wrong Tommy.

No need for sorry, Geoff... I think you may be totally correct! I really missed much of the unrest back in the "bad old days" due to my youth at the time...

However, nowadays, if anyone, of any importance, so much as unleashes a smelly fart... the entire world knows it within milliseconds!

I personally believe that the media is responsible, to a high degree, for fomenting the unrest we read about and see. Yeah... there are lots of culprits, lots of blame to lay around... but media inflames it, beyond the reality of the situations too. Yet... the s*** is still happening anyway...

[Dave Hounddriver]

21 hours ago, Mike J said:

I think many black Americans would ask; "Would those officers have been charged and arrested if there was no video, if there were no protests"?

Some Non-Americans would ask:  "WTF?  Has nothing changed in the US Police Departments since Rodney King was dragged from his truck and beaten on March 3, 1991??  That was video'd too.  Seems nothing was learned."

[Tukaram (Tim)]

1 hour ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

Some Non-Americans would ask:  "WTF?  Has nothing changed in the US Police Departments since Rodney King was dragged from his truck and beaten on March 3, 1991??  That was video'd too.  Seems nothing was learned."

That is the biggest problem. It is not an isolated incident and nothing is changing.  As MLK said "A riot is the language of the unheard."  No real change in America has come without protests, and usually violence.

When women wanted to vote, when workers wanted to unionize - protests and violence. When the colonist wanted to break from England - protest and violence. America is built on violence. Every positive change we have made, was made while kicking and screaming - being dragged into the future and humane treatment of others. We are still a young country, growing pains suck.