Some of this stuff will require national action of some kind. Legislation to ban no-knock warrants. An end to the federal program to send military gear to local police forces. A national standard for use-of-deadly-force. National data collection of violent police incidents. Aggressive federal investigation of incidents. Etc.
On the other hand, local government can do a hell of a lot. They could stop accepting / buying military gear and get rid of what they have. They could stop applying for no-knock warrants. They could funnel police money to mental health care first responders and require that response rather than armed cops. They could funnel police money to decent housing for the homeless. They could ban / curtail use of crowd control weapons like tear gas, riot gear, rubber bullets, etc. A lot of this is directly under their control, which is the reason there are protests.
What the fuck? That woman just said that?
Not sure this has been posted before but it is excellent. In the absence of real, official national data collection and reporting, these folks seem to be doing a hell of a job.
You can fund them if you like.
It is my hope that this protest is active right up into November and culminates at the ballot box.
Just said that 5 years ago, yes.
[The clip is 5 years old]
Menzo
4320
I do think you’re going to have to bust police unions before any wholesale change like this is made. Otherwise, the reaction by many police forces to being “defunded” will be to step back and let crimes be committed, thus showcasing the need for their services.
It should be easy to wholesale fire cops who do this, but with current contracts in many precincts, it’s the opposite.
We’ve already seen that happen in the rioting in NYC. Police unions told their members to let looting happen, and then when complaints roll in, point them towards the mayor and other powers that be.
(That’s Bristol UK, by the way, not Connecticut in the USA.)
Reopening in general is a mess, but most states have decided to skip phase 1 entirely, so the majority of the country are either at Phase 2 already or will be soon. In fact, some states have opened up things like indoor dining already, like Georgia, so those would be closer to Phase 2.5(?).
It’s hard to track Nation-wide but articles like this do a decent job - further discussions on this point might be better on the other thread than this one though.
As someone who (barely) remembers 1968, the headline causes a sinking sensation in my stomach:
… But the actual new news part of this poll, which is much better, is this:
Fifty-nine percent of all voters — including 54 percent of whites, 65 percent of Latinos and 78 percent of African Americans — say they’re more troubled by Floyd’s death and the actions of police.
That’s compared with 27 percent who say they’re more concerned about the protests over Floyd’s death, some of which have turned violent.
Thrag
4326
Candles are IEDs according to seattle PD
I assumed Bristol, Virginia.
Nesrie
4328
I didn’t really matter where it is as long as it is gone. These sort of things belong in museums with context, not to be darn near worshiped in public spaces generations later.
Matt_W
4329
In San Diego yesterday, there was a giant car caravan organized by the local chapter of BLM and March for Black Womxn San Diego that wended its way from La Jolla up north down through my neighborhood and all the way down south to the Mexican border. It passed through my neighborhood for at least 4 hours, with people honking and waving signs and chanting at specific sites of injustices. It was pretty amazing and a creative way to do huge organized protests while also social distancing. I had friends who joined the caravan at the beginning; they were stuck on the freeway for over an hour waiting to get to the starting point. It was hundreds if not thousands of cars. SDPD estimated the caravan was over 5 miles long, but it must have been longer than that:
Aceris
4331
Other than Nelson’s column, I’m not sure that’s a fair description of any public statue of a prominent individual in the UK. (I’m sure I will now be corrected with other examples I’ve forgotten)
I’m fine with organisations and cities deciding to move the statues or rename buildings (whcih had been happening with Colston already). Our cultural heritage is a protean thing that should be allowed to evolve for the better. But a mob claiming allegiance to a foreign political movement pulling down statues and throwing them in the river? Is that really going to help your cause?
(Confederate statues in the US are a very different matter, they fought a war in large part to preserve slavery. In contrast Colston, unlike, say, Washington or Jefferson, lived well before the abolitionist movement even got going).
This seems like a legitimate target / grievance:
The thing that happened when it happened in NYC was that the citizenry was glad the police was gone.
