Fine by me! Not everyone can understand each other. So it goes, until we die, and the children carry on after us. Sometimes it takes decades for stuff to sink in.
Clearly.
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No, definitely not. You should either ignore it (if you don’t care about the various things it signifies) or else use it as the starting point of a conversation. It’s possible that the conversation might lead to a situation where it would be appropriate to take offense. (It’s also possible that it might lead to a shooting, but that’s true of any police interaction, there’s no need to be a coward about it.)
If I was part of that conversation I’d point out that since known racists and fascists proudly wear that symbol, the cop may find himself treated as a self-admitted racist or fascist by good and well-meaning people - and in such cases my sympathies would not be with the cop. I’d be polite but also blunt.
Because it seems necessary (not for you, Jeff, but for other readers): A question was honestly asked and I have honestly answered. Obviously this is my personal opinion; it also describes my actual behaviour in such situations. I make no claim to moral authority or high levels of expertise in dealing with police or political expression, I am simply answering the question as asked.
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Never underestimate the value of time in changing opinions. When was the last time anyone we talked to ever said “yes, you’ve completely changed my mind on this!”
If anything we get the backfire effect.
I get that it’s a painful, multi-decade slog. But it works!
Yeah, I’ve been trying to imagine the actual conversation, how it would have gone. And bear in mind this a cop wearing an (unnecessarily, I think we can all agree) pro-cop bracelet slogan.
“I see you’re wearing a Blue Lives Matter wristband. Are you a fascist?”
Probably not the best opening… but if the idea is to get a fellow white person to question their views, I dunno what the right opening even is.
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That’s far easier for you to say, than for people like me to endure.
We’ve been telling ourselves “change gon’ come” since the beginning…
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Well, look at the implied purpose of this topic:
I wasn’t clear how, but I am asking. If that’s not progress, what is? Would I have bothered if I didn’t care?
And I’m quite certain the 10 - 20 years ago me would not have bothered.
Boston?
Must be nice to pull $75/hr to stare at your phone.
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I don’t know you; I don’t know your intent.
I know how you argue your point of view, that’s all.
And no, your own individual growth and evolution doesn’t equate to “progress” when it comes to race relations and social equality in the US - you’re just one person. The problems are systemic and therefore the resolutions need to be systemic as well…
Again, way easier said than done.
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Yeah, I have no sure-fire formula. I do handle cop interactions differently depending on who else is present.
My children are convinced that I will one day die at the hands of police because of some previous incidents where I got far more annoyed than is ever advisable, and because frankly I don’t care if I get shot or killed. So I try (not always successfully) to be very deferential and respectful to cops if family are present.
Where did I say that it did?
Which brings me back to “decades”. The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The next best time is today. But the data shows that this works.
I think the best formula in this case would be to ask questions, rather than offer opinions. “What’s that about?” “Why do you wear it?”
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This is not a rebuke of your comment, I’ve linked to this a couple of different places this month because I feel its relevant to the criticism of the “how” of social progress. I repeat, I’m not rebuking your statement of fact, I’m just seeking to inform the “how” of how time affects progress. The most relevant bit:
I had also hoped that the white moderate would reject the myth concerning time in relation to the struggle for freedom. I have just received a letter from a white brother in Texas. He writes: “All Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but it is possible that you are in too great a religious hurry. It has taken Christianity almost two thousand years to accomplish what it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to earth.” Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time, from the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively. More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right. Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity.
BLM was first. Can we also agree that BLM is a protest against police brutality? We don’t even have to agree they have a valid claim (I know you’re not denying it, but I am trying to establish the relationship between black and blue lives matter, so let’s not attempt to prove objective truths so we don’t have to argue subjective perspectives either).
If BLM is a critique of police brutality against black people, then how can Blue LM seriously coopt an existing slogan to raise awareness of their own perceived issue without dismissing BLM?
You don’t even have to believe that Blue LM is a direct response to BLM to understand how it serves to dismiss it.
At his point, to say that All Lives Matter was genuinely concerned with the well being of all people is much more plausible than saying that Blue LM is not a rebuke of BLM. This is because BLM is a critique of police.
I don’t think yo need to be offended, if it informs you, it is probably good enough.
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There were, incidentally, according to my brother, five Negro policemen in Atlanta at this time, who, though they were not allowed to arrest whites, would, of course, be willing, indeed, in their position, anxious, to arrest any Negro who seemed to need it. In Harlem, Negro policemen are feared even more than whites, for they have more to prove and fewer ways to prove it.
— James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son
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If the math is unclear:
Time + Action = results
Not
Action = results
As in “I just explained this thing to the guy again, he should immediately agree with me, as I have now utterly and irrevocably changed his mind on this matter.”
Seriously. When was the last time you actually saw someone change their mind? It doesn’t work like that. At all. Minds do change, but you’ll never see it happen. If that’s discouraging to you, perhaps activism isn’t your field.
You didn’t state it as a declarative statement, but:
That’s a drop in the bucket compared to an ocean’s worth of what’s needed.
Good for you, for even thinking to ask the question; have a cookie.
The rest of society still has quite a long way to go, though.
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Well I for one have learned stuff in this topic through the replies, and that is always my goal.
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It’s not exactly commonplace among the people I prefer to hang out with, but happens often enough to be unremarkable.
I honestly don’t see that anywhere in this conversation until now, I only see the mention of time, which is why I interjected as I did. But yeah, that is what I was saying.
Slightly off topic now but I’m actually starting to think that changing hearts and minds is useless. That the idea that personal responsibility to have an opinion and back it up is too much of a burden on the individual, not because individuals shouldn’t have opinions but because this insistence on individuality is born of lack of trust in society to which people then fall into a trust in their clique.
I don’t try to change a person’s mind, too invasive for today’s modern human, I only attempt to inform their opinion in hopes that they can then carry it back to their peers, infect the hive mind if you will.
I think we’re just violently agreeing with each other now.
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Black Americans are being murdered by police on a regular basis. St Louis has just suffered a week-long police riot. A genuine, 1930’s-grade fascist movement is rapidly securing total control of the country.
Every PoC in America is in severe, urgent danger. And once the fascists have done with them, then they’ll come for you.
Niemoller began reciting his poem quite a long time ago.
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Yeah. 
https://twitter.com/blackblocboi/status/897505048040587264
Not today, not tomorrow. But someday, and maybe someday soon.
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