[RD] George Floyd and protesting while black

[Truthy]

Yes I believe the charges filed were tactical in intent in that if they went for 1st degree murder they would likely lose the case.

Yeah, I think our sense of justice is offended that it's categorized as some lesser form of murder, which also comes with a lighter sentence, but I really don't think you'd be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Chauvin intended to kill Floyd.

 

[Farm Boy]

We have lesser charges of murder for exactly this situation. They're murder charges. They carry sentences of 25 years for a reason. They need to function in situations exactly like this, where maybe you can't prove intent, but the action is so obviously murderous that you can't let this guy walk if this is what he does with the trappings of power.

 

[red_elk]

It astounds me that after the last 3 years of America acting like a complete douchebag on the world stage that we somehow still manage to retain enough goodwill from the rest of the world that people all over the planet are marching in solidarity with us. Honestly at this point it probably isn't even deserved, so destructive have we been on the world stage in this administration - and that's putting aside our endless military misadventures spanning multiple administrations. I hope that if this administration ends we can retain a place of warmth and affection in the hearts and minds of the world but I have an ominous feeling that these sympathy marches are the last gasp of desperation from a world that has hoped in vain for years that we can actually change.

The world understands that douchebags on the world stage are now being douchebags to American people.

 

[H4run]

Just utting this here for the record, not to celebrate or anything like that, but damn last night was hectic:

One cop hit by a speeding black car, ragdolls into a white van, splayed out on the ground, in the Bronx.

Another cop on the ground, Midtown, unknown why.

Another got attacked by a paltry mob but the way he was walking he might as well had been hit by kittens.

So thats 2 cops down in NYC, 1 attacked on video. Scores more probably hurt.

A marshall or some cop got shot in the head in the Circus Circus, Las Vegas.

Four cops wounded in Saint Louis?

Looking through the Livemap now....

"3 officers injured on Bailey last night around 10pm. One Trooper was run over; treated at ECMC for a shattered pelvis and a broken leg; 2nd Trooper suffered a hand/wrist injury was treated and released" - Buffalo, NY

This is really some serious list. Where would all of these lead to I wonder after I reading all of you guys' post.

If the president too green and too self-centered to solve the problem. The police violent containment is replied with violent resistance. The right wing launch their own false-flag propaganda to escalate the situation to their own violent "profit" which is a reason and public support to target the "antifa". The increased tension would further divide the field military between the pro protester and pro establishment, what will all of these lead to?

 

[H4run]

American is no freaking Hong Kongers, they would not cry when the police beating them with baton, their citizen own guns that probably can out-match the security apparatus themselves (beside the army), the heck, if the marginalized and oppressed ethnic group chose to resist the force containment with equal violence things would get very nasty. The use of power here is stupid, they should use persuasion and focus on conflict de-escalation.

 

[Farm Boy]

Minneapolis was calmer last night, from what I gather? Overnight protests and pretty damning autopsy reports?

 

[Arwon]

It astounds me that after the last 3 years of America acting like a complete douchebag on the world stage that we somehow still manage to retain enough goodwill from the rest of the world that people all over the planet are marching in solidarity with us. Honestly at this point it probably isn't even deserved, so destructive have we been on the world stage in this administration - and that's putting aside our endless military misadventures spanning multiple administrations. I hope that if this administration ends we can retain a place of warmth and affection in the hearts and minds of the world but I have an ominous feeling that these sympathy marches are the last gasp of desperation from a world that has hoped in vain for years that we can actually change.

I think everyone understands that the US government is a government specifically of the hegemonic group and that many US citizens from ethnic minority backgrounds are victims of the same douchebag system.

 

[Tristan_C]

I wasn't alive in the 60s and 70s, and I know some of you were. I have seen footage from the greatest hits like Chicago '68 and the civil rights firehoses, but I'm still wondering how the last week compares in the recollections of those of you who were active during those years. Anyone?

 

[H4run]

Just finish watching this, pretty much gives me some of the perspective on what happened.

 

[zxcvbob]

I wasn't alive in the 60s and 70s, and I know some of you were. I have seen footage from the greatest hits like Chicago '68 and the civil rights firehoses, but I'm still wondering how the last week compares in the recollections of those of you who were active during those years. Anyone?

I was alive in the 60's but don't remember them well (except Apollo 11); I grew up pretty isolated. But what's going on now is more like Detroit 67 than Chicago 68. Chicago 67 didn't happen because Mayor Daley didn't allow it to happen.

 

[AmazonQueen]

Clergy amongst those swept aside for Trump's photo op.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...e-washington-dc-st-john-church-trump-photo-op

 

[EnglishEdward]

There could be a great silence from the evangical right
when it comes to supporting that 'Republican' candidate.

 

[red_elk]

Do protesters have clear demands and goals?
"Black Lives Matter" is all good, but it's a slogan, not a demand.
"Justice for George Floyd" is also not much of a demand, the murderer is already arrested.

 

[Farm Boy]

Minnesota needs to change its policing hold protocols to be less 1990s, for one little thing. I gather there are more.

This does remind me some of the early 90s. There was an awful heat wave that summer, generalized unrest.

 

[civvver]

Here's a link on that autopsy report folks. Should be interesting to see what the judgements are on the state-ordered report are, considering.

Independent Autopsy Shows George Floyd Was Asphyxiated (Variety).

If someone blocks your carotid artery is that the same as asphyxiation?

 

[Lexicus]

Social Justice Capitalists

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I wasn't alive in the 60s and 70s, and I know some of you were. I have seen footage from the greatest hits like Chicago '68 and the civil rights firehoses, but I'm still wondering how the last week compares in the recollections of those of you who were active during those years. Anyone?

I was too young. I can make comparisons to the Rodney King riot from a near LA perspective and things seem less chaotic now than they were then, although the media hype amplification is greater. The national scope is different as well. The RK was an LA thing. This national solidarity is vastly different I think. It also doesn't have the "it will wind down" feeling.

Lower intensity, longer duration...that's my take. At least in LA.

 

[caketastydelish]

Trump claims that his side is the "silent majority". Wrong. They are not silent, and they are definitely not the majority. Trump lost the popular vote by a comfortable margin. That's not even including people in jail who can't vote, voter suppression against oppressed people, gerrymandering, etc. Almost all of these people would have voted against Trump. The vast majority of the world's population at large is against Trump. Not even remotely the majority. And racists and bigots haven't been silent remotely.

edit: @Timsup2nothin it's more than national, it's international. There have been more protests by people in many different countries specifically about this. Honestly, I've never seen anything like it. People have been protesting outside the US embassy in Britain, and that's just one example.

 

[zxcvbob]

I wasn't alive in the 60s and 70s, and I know some of you were. I have seen footage from the greatest hits like Chicago '68 and the civil rights firehoses, but I'm still wondering how the last week compares in the recollections of those of you who were active during those years. Anyone?

Does anybody remember the Yippies?

 

[Lexicus]

The best thing about this is I am seeing posts about how the fact that cops have TACTICOOL riot gear but doctors and nurses are wearing garbage bags is a conscious political choice our society has made over the last forty years. Those posts point toward the way forward. We must invest in helping one another, not in an apparatus of repression.