Say nothing/Do nothing…LOSE, because nothing changes.
Silently kneel to call attention…LOSE, because how dare you protest in this manner. nothing changes
Form a rally or march…LOSE, because some wing nut jumps in a car and runs you down or the police tear gas you and arrest you thereby committing the violence against POC you are protesting to bring attention to in the first place…nothing changes.
Let’s change tactics…run for office, try to get elected to make changes…LOSE, because the other side has fixed and gerrymandering everything so it is nearly impossible for you to get elected. So again…nothing changes.
I remember living in Oakland when our neighborhood got trashed in the wake of Oscar Grant’s murder by BART Police. I wasn’t in the thick of it but I was close enough to learn what tear gas smells like. I don’t like riots but I think of them as the inevitable outcome of a populace pushed too far. If you don’t want riots you need to fix the problems people like Colin Kaepernick were protesting.
When there is no justice, there can be no rule of law.
If you want people to obey the law and not “riot”, those elected, appointed, or hired by the government have a responsibility to apply the law equally.
If our policies make millions of people feel like their lives are in constant danger. That bad actors are completely tolerated by the state. That every interaction with police has a very real chance of end fatally. Then what else can we expect but civil unrest?
Rebellion against an unjust system is the most patriotic thing a person can do. The government isn’t our country, our people are our country. Defending our country from tyranny, corruption, and injustice is the only way we can hold onto our shared vision of liberty, democracy, and equality.
Clearly, these protesters should have scheduled an appropriate time, date, and location for their protest. MPD has an opening for a small protest next April - oh, wait, that’s the same time as the city council meeting. Let’s see, looks like there’s an opening for a protest in early May, 2021, better hurry up and schedule it… (/S, just in case)
The other thing is that many cops are veterans. And both the police and military heavily disincentivize seeking mental health treatment for things like PTSD.
So the system judges people to not get help, and that can end poorly.
Making annual mental health screening mandatory would do a lot. Just seeing a dead body (something that happens a lot since cops respond to car accidents) would do wonders.
People with PTSD are not necessarily violent, but it’s valid to say someone with that diagnosis might not be a good fit to carry a gun in high stress situations.
The other thing is that many cops are veterans. And both the police and military heavily disincentivize seeking mental health treatment for things like PTSD
This is categorically false. While it can be true that many current and former military personnel will refuse to seek out and follow through with mental health treatment, it is a false claim that the military disincentivizes said treatment. They have always actively promoted and suggested it and it is mandatory for service members to go through some counseling when coming back from combat duty.
The above is an over generalization and creates a false equivalency.
Demoting, removing from duty, and pulling clearances required for certain roles all disincentive. You can say “do X” and still disincentivize it.
(Eg: offering post duty counseling but having adverse impacts if one truthfully states they have negative impacts)
Putting someone in a position of losing their income if they are open and honest with a medical professional absolutely disincentivizes the seeking of treatment.
Floyd’s murder doesn’t require an explanation beyond systemic racism. However, the fact that Chauvin and Floyd knew each other for 17 years makes me wonder if there isn’t more to the story.
I’m just gonna wildly speculate here:
Derek Chauvin is a white cop with two houses and a penchant for violence. He’s moonlighted as a bouncer at a nightclub for 17 years, where he got to know his black coworker, George Floyd.
Over the nearly two decades that they worked together, Floyd may have witnessed Chauvin engaging in corrupt activities at the nightclub, activities that supplement Chauvin’s meager police salary enough to purchase a second home in Florida. Eventually, Floyd learns too much about Minneapolis police corruption, and Chauvin decides he must be “dealt with.”
Chauvin and his corrupt cop buddies set up Floyd for a confrontation. Protected by a thoroughly racist justice system, they murder George Floyd in broad daylight, in front of multiple witnesses. Floyd knew these cops, and knew they were there to kill him: gasping for breath, he exclaimed “They’re gonna kill me!” He stops breathing, and the corrupt racist cops walk away feeling safe, knowing now that their secrets won’t come out, and that the system won’t do shit about the death of another black man at the hands of police.
I don’t mean for this speculation to in any way imply that there’s a non-racist reason for the police’s incessant murdering of people of color. They murder with impunity because of the racist system and because of their racist beliefs. George Floyd’s murder is, without question, the result of racism.
ETA: It looks like George Floyd worked there for just the past year, while Chauvin worked there for the past 17 years.
Unfortunately the ones who do often struggle for work, and veterans preference is given when hiring in many depts, nudging ppl having personal issues to avoid treatment and seek out an institution that actively recruits them when many employers do the opposite.
Tone Policing and other similar manipulation tactics should be taught to youngsters in school, so that they can one day spot it should it be used against them. I’m not referring to flagging someones posts because of a “F” word, but more about the technique to provoke anger in protesters so that the subject of their protests vanishes behind the visible effects, de facto taking away credibility from their cause . Herding protesters towards areas where there is lots of glass to smash and stuff to burn, provoking them using tear gas or unnecessary baton charges, then let the cameras be turned on just at the right moment to give an one-sided view, is an art the police, and those who give them orders, knows way better than most of us.
