[RD] George Floyd and protesting while black

[Manfred Belheim]

Careful of your identity at the protests, the cops are going to some lengths to identify people. Through photos, a tatoo, online comments and linkedin they went from torching a police car to a massage therapist.

Did you not mean "careful of your behaviour at the protests"? No I guess you probably didn't.

 

[Sommerswerd]

Y'know, I keep saying things about the militarisation of police, but using actual military aircraft to survey (and identify?) protesters is another step along the path that reads ‘ridiculous’:

Air Force Investigates Military Planes That Monitored Protesters

The Air Force inspector general is examining whether demonstrators were improperly surveilled in Washington and Minneapolis. Here’s the latest.​

Also, here's why I'm not in favour of just letting everyone have guns:

Hundreds of armed counter-protesters confront Black Lives Matter rally in Ohio
Counter-protesters harassed group of peaceful demonstrators with rifles, bats and racial slurs in mostly white town of Bethel

Spoiler :

A small and peaceful demonstration in an Ohio town to support the Black Lives Matter movement at the weekend was overwhelmed when hundreds of counter-protesters – some armed with rifles or baseball bats – harassed the group.

Alicia Gee, a 36-year-old substitute school teacher, expected about 50 people to attend a demonstration – the first protest she had ever organized, she told the Cincinnati Enquirer – but almost twice as many turned out.

The rally was intended to show solidarity with the minority black community in Bethel, a mostly white town of about 2,800 people 30 miles east of Cincinnati, she added.

But the small group of protesters were overwhelmed when roughly 700 counter-protesters turned up to show their opposition to the kind of rallies and marches against racism and police brutality sweeping the nation since the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis in May.

Gee’s gathering demonstrated the renewed reach of the Black Lives Matter movement to small, majority white towns in the midwest that haven’t seen protests in years, spurred by recent, high-profile examples of killings of black people by white police officers or armed individuals acting as vigilantes.

Some small towns holding rallies now did not see such events after the killing of Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014.

Gee referenced violent tragedies such as the alleged murder of Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, the shooting death of Breonna Taylor by Louisville police, and the killing of Ahmaud Arbery by two armed white men in Georgia.

She said in a Facebook post that such brutality made it “perfectly clear to me it’s time for my comfort to be put by the wayside, it is time for me to use my body, my voice, and my privilege to show my town that it is not ‘fine,’ that it’s not just ‘city folks’ that have the right to peacefully assemble, and that Black Lives Matter even if there are just a few in our town.”

But the demonstration was engulfed by a combination of armed gun-rights defenders, “back the blue” pro-police groups and about 250 people on motorcycles, which forced the group to move two blocks from its original location and led to tumult.

Videos from what turned into a two-hour clash, several of which circulated on Twitter and Facebook, show the counter-protesters shouting racial slurs and “all lives matter” and accosting demonstrators.

“They were grabbing me, and grabbing my mom, and they just seemed to have no respect for the law,” Andrea Dennis, a Bethel resident whose Facebook live from the demonstration shows a man ripping a fellow demonstrator’s sign from her hands, told the Enquirer.

Bethel police said they were investigating 10 “incidents” from Sunday afternoon.

In another Facebook live video, Heather Bratton, also from Bethel, asserts “this is my hometown too!” to a white woman who repeatedly uses the N-word.

A few counter-demonstrators “started coming over and ripping signs out of our hands, ripping the hats and masks off of our faces, ripping things out of our pockets,” wrote demonstrator Abbi Remers on Facebook, along with a photo of a man’s bloody cheek, a bloodied mask, and video of men shouting “This ain’t Seattle!” and “This is a Republican state!”

Another widely circulated video shows a man wearing what appears to be a Confederate flag bandana sucker-punching a protester in the back of the head in front of a police officer, who makes no arrest attempt. The video drew condemnation from Ohio senator Sherrod Brown.

“These officers’ inaction is shameful,” Brown tweeted. “This is why we need the Justice in Policing Act – to hold police accountable,” he added, referring to legislation introduced by House Democrats earlier this month.

Josh Martinez (@YoJoshMartinez)

A #BlackLivesMatter protestor in #Bethel #Ohio got sucker punched DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF A COP & nothing was done by the officer to protect and serve the protestor.

‍ pic.twitter.com/BPeKhOjxb3

June 15, 2020
In a virtual village council meeting on Tuesday, Bethel police chief Steve Teague said the officer present had not witnessed the incident because his attention was pulled to the side. All six of Bethel’s officers were present on Sunday, Teague said, as well as some county deputies.

On Wednesday, Bethel police issued an arrest warrant for assault, citing the video as evidence.

Because of tension and intimidation on Sunday, Gee said in a Facebook live video posted Monday that she did not plan to schedule another demonstration. “I want us to heal, I want our community to heal, I want peace and love to be spread,” she said. “And I’m worried that what we saw yesterday with more counter-protesters coming out – I’m worried that’s going to happen again.”

By Monday evening, Bethel mayor Jay Noble imposed a 9pm curfew, citing “the threat of continued and escalating violence.”

Gee urged supporters to “not come to Bethel right now”, in a chilling echo of so-called “sundown towns” – majority-white towns where black people were evicted, barred from buying property, and banned after dark by threat of violence earlier in the 20th century.

“It is not a time for any type of Black Lives Matter supporters to be in Bethel right now,” Gee said. “It’s not safe.”

“Our purpose was to show our community that it cares,” she said. “That it loves the people within our community, and right now, that cannot happen.”

I agree with Sommerswerd, the fewer guns the better, full stop.

Isn't that one of the fates for people who're too hot even to rehire as law enforcement in <insert place a few counties away>?

Its amazing that images like this can be in the public domain...

Yet people are still apparently falling over themselves to be the spiritual successors of the "counter protesters" in pictures like this.

I'm sure they say to themselves... "I'm not like those racists"

No you're not "like" those racists ... You are those racists.

 

[El_Machinae]

My money's on China

The landmass and the people will always be there, but to call China "long-lived" is an interesting set of heuristics. The Chinese Civil War should break the 'chain' of the Republic of China that existed before. But if it doesn't, it's because the land and the people are the same. I dunno, it's a bit like saying the British Empire exists while there are still Americans. Same people and landmass, just a switch in governments.

 

[El_Machinae]

Did you not mean "careful of your behaviour at the protests"? No I guess you probably didn't.

You're missing the underlying concern many people have, that they'll be falsely hassled once they're identified. Attending a protest doesn't necessarily lead to "if you behave, the cops will leave you alone". Sure, light a car on fire, and you deserve police attention. But good behaviour doesn't guarantee a lack of reprisals. Either from the public or the police.

 

[Joij21]

Back in the day we had a solution for out-of-work Nazis...

The Apollo Program.

 

[Estebonrober]

The Apollo Program.

You were about two pages late on that reply just so ya know. We also got running west Germany and spying on the eastern bloc in there for good measure. Anyways...

All police doing the sick call thing should be replaced by new officers who vow to help reform policing into community work and not busting skulls, give them a 30% premium. Stop buying military gear.

 

[Joij21]

You were about two pages late on that reply just so ya know. We also got running west Germany and spying on the eastern bloc in there for good measure. Anyways...

All police doing the sick call thing should be replaced by new officers who vow to help reform policing into community work and not busting skulls, give them a 30% premium. Stop buying military gear.

Only one post late, not two.

 

[cardgame]

Did you not mean "careful of your behaviour at the protests"? No I guess you probably didn't.

Identifiable at protest = about to be on the piggy hitlist, doesn't matter what your behavior was. I mean, have you seen the protests? They can't do anything without being charged for some crime or other. Throwing back a tear canister is apparently lethal assault (what does that say when the pigs do it? ).

 

[Berzerker]

they probably dont care about tracking down protesters, just the rioters

 

[Cloud_Strife]

You're missing the underlying concern many people have, that they'll be falsely hassled once they're identified. Attending a protest doesn't necessarily lead to "if you behave, the cops will leave you alone". Sure, light a car on fire, and you deserve police attention. But good behaviour doesn't guarantee a lack of reprisals. Either from the public or the police.

I believe it's intentional.

 

[Anysense]

Looks like Crezth got his wish - people determined to resist the police are getting themselves killed. Brooks clearly wasn't panicking - or whatever excuse for his behavior you might have thought of - it was a perfectly concious and deliberate provocation.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...le-like-animals-in-interview-before-his-death

 

[red_elk]

Provocation for what, you think he wanted police to shoot him?

 

[Kyriakos]

I think the guardian should stop begging for money, while updating their begging prompt with current events. It's just tacky :/

 

[gay_Aleks]

Well, here's our answer to the question, "Are they coming for Washington next?". The answer is - yes! They are!

 

[cardgame]

they probably dont care about tracking down protesters, just the rioters

they probably won't shoot you with rubber bullets if you're a protester, just the rioters

the. police. do. not. give. a. ****.

 

[Anysense]

Provocation for what, you think he wanted police to shoot him?

People who escalate rarely intend to be murdered or be charged with a murder, they just can't help it. What's wrong with them is a different matter.

 

[gay_Aleks]

That's some impressive passive voice there. Pray tell, who does the murdering? What kind of an institution lets that happen? How was it formed, why did it exist?

 

[Ironsided]

Now that the toppling of statues and protests are slowly becoming less potent and more symbolic means to achieve progress is there a leader within the black community ready to organise a movement for real change long term?

Will we see Clyburn and Obama continue to support Joe Bidens “Nothing will fundamentally change” and his bi-partisan compromising line? Would a Cornel West or a Nina Turner or a Killer Mike or someone less poisoned by political corruption be a better organising leader? Could they even win that mandate? What other movements could this movement ally to make it stronger long term? Or should black America (with voluntary mixed support) continue fight the BLM issue as a separate one issue struggle?

 

[Kyriakos]

People who escalate rarely intend to be murdered or be charged with a murder, they just can't help it. What's wrong with them is a different matter.

Was he some kind of celebrity, then? From the video of his death it seems that he tried to avoid being fined, and maybe he also feared the police would know he had spoken against them and would fine him even more - or worse.
In the end, he was gunned down while running away.

Personally I doubt he wouldn't have been gunned down if he hadn't taken the taser. The US police had no issue murdering others without that.

 

[red_elk]

People who escalate rarely intend to be murdered or be charged with a murder, they just can't help it. What's wrong with them is a different matter.

Yeah, but "escalate because they can't help it" is the opposite of "perfectly conscious and deliberate provocation".