The Black Lives Matter movement

[Thrag]

The police have discovered the real victims of racism.

Maine Association of Police accuses demonstrators of ‘racism’ towards cops

[Rightbug]

@Starflightdream

It’s surprising how often I feel like I get hit in the face with racism in real life conversations, and I don’t even belong to a minority (here). I mean, I grew up as a white kid in a 99% asian town (Sendai, 1980s), but it seems like that doesn’t count. At best, it lends some perspective, but I was never systemically oppressed like what’s been happening in the U.S.

I don’t have any hard core Trump supporters as friends on Facebook (well, maybe one or two but they’ve been silent) but there are some conservatives who I assume still vote Republican. (Which, I realize makes them complicit, I’m drawing a line here between complicit Republican voters and the hardcore Trump authoritarians.). Several of them have posted statements from Mattis and Bush. One of them who posted a meme about liberals changing views on protesting in the face of Covid has since posted a horrified emoji to one of my authoritarian watch posts. (I actually engaged with him on the protest thing, making the conservative case for resisting over reach of government agents and demanding that constitutional rights be recognized universally.)

It’s not much but it shows that even they are not buying the Fox News line. That even they think there is some bullshit going on and that the racism and police abuse needs to be reined back in. It’s a start at least.

[newbrof]

of course cops are a race, they are members of the family of pigs. Maybe PETA should step in.

[Perky_Goth]

@vinraith

I can’t imagine that the net benefit of a march supporting BLM in Germany outweighs the increased COVID risk.

I can’t speak for who was there, but I would think the motivation is not just about black people or just about discrimination in America.

[ImaTarget]

Yep, the events unfolding have also rekindled discussions about racism in Germany and how it’s ignored and swept under the rug. It’s not only an American thing but it was the catalyst to get everyone to stand up and take a look at themselves. At least for some people.

[Alstein]

Any organization that has use of force (such as police or military) as part of its mission should not be allowed to unionize.

[Timex]

@Alstein

Any organization that has use of force (such as police or military) as part of its mission should not be allowed to unionize.

What’s the rationale here?

[Dejin]

Matt Duss (mattduss)

[Dejin]

Charged with second degree assault.

Buffalo police officers arrested after shoving 75-year-old protester

[TranquilityBase]

@Starflightdream

I’m really hoping some radical change happens because of this; police reform would be a start.

Seems almost unavoidable at this point. There’s so many videos from all over of cops going completely over the line.

Then again, going by recent trends, there’s still a fairly high chance of an even bigger disaster befalling us soon that’ll knock it out of the news.

[Menzo]

There needs to be a 2x penalty modifier if the assailant lies about the circumstances. Right now there’s no reason for cops not to lie about what happened, because unless there’s video, they will get away with it every time.

[Mark_Asher]

More likely stuff like sensitivity training, more minorities in position of authority, etc. I don’t expect them to take away their military weapons or stop them from firing tear gas at crowds or beating on people.

[triggercut]

@Timex

@Alstein

Any organization that has use of force (such as police or military) as part of its mission should not be allowed to unionize.

What’s the rationale here?

Lack of oversight from an exterior leadership or organization.

Sharpe spelled this out really well upthread.

[triggercut]

Interesting:

Kyle Griffin (kylegriffin1)

[triggercut]

@Sharpe

Up til now, police unions have generally been protected by Dems as part of the general pro-union sentiment and also as public sector unions.

However, there is a meaningful distinction that can be made, in that we should not allow unionization of jobs involving the state sanctioned use of force. Since the state has to have control of the use of force, we need a unitary chain of command, and complete control of the use of force by the elected officials. When you think about it, the whole police union issue of contesting their own management on issues of training and use of force, of protecting officers who are accused of abusing force, etc., is just completely nonsensical.

I can see a place for police unions to bargain for wages, hours, and benefits, although it might be necessary to remove them entirely for a period of time until the current abuses and precedents are diminished. But what I cannot see is allowing an authority not elected by the voters interfere with the normal command, control, training and decisions on the use of force. We are supposed to have civilian control of the use of force in this country and it’s become apparent that we do not, not truly. That’s a problem. A serious problem.

The best way forward on this would be the proverbial “comprehensive reform package” where we strengthen other unions (I am in favor of adopting some of the European style “industry wide bargaining” ideas) and then restrict police unions as part of a comprehensive trade-off.

However given the exigency of the current use of force crisis, we probably have to reform and restrict the police, including police unions, right now, first.

Here’s Sharpe’s excellent post explaining the issues with the comprehensive unionization of law enforcement in the US.

And I say that as someone who is absolutely pro-union.

[wisefool]

AOC needs to troll and introduce legislation to rename it Antifa Day

[Aceris]

The largest antifacist operation in history was carried out by a brutal oppressive dictatorship that had previously signed a secret alliance with the fascists.

With regard to modern day antifa - well, the enemy of my enemy is my enemies’ enemy, no more and no less.

[Papageno]

“Don’t let the door hit ya where the Good Lord split ya!”

Who was he railing against, exactly, for being “Anti-White” (as he would no doubt write it, sans quotation marks)? Some obligatory bland PR statements from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo expressing vague support for non-specific anti-racism, I presume?

[triggercut]

There’s always one who has to “Actually” D-Day commemoration online.

OK, there are usually more. Thankfully, most of them have been hided out of Qt3. Most, but not all, apparently.

[triggercut]

Jeff Jensen (JJensen_13)

Have seen others they report the same, which is good to see.

Wish I could be down there.