Last edited Wed Jul 6, 2016, 01:43 PM - Edit history (1)

Black Lives Matter issues over the double standard of danger imputed to black bodies' very existence??

Last edited Wed Jul 6, 2016, 03:22 PM - Edit history (1)

"Let's pretend this is a new practice. Let's forgive and forget past offenses...and pretend this is something new.
Let's pretend this has not been a systematic american practice since the so-called civil war.
No- wait - while we are pretending...
Let's pretend there is freedom and justice in america.
Let's pretend there has never been black codes and Jim Crow.
Let's all hold hands and sing GOD BLESS AMERICA..."

NM is #1, LA is #16 with MO, OR and FL right behind.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2015/jun/01/the-counted-map-us-police-killings

"Now, what we've been doing is looking at the data,
and we know that police somehow manage to de-escalate,
disarm and not kill white people every day..."

-Jesse Williams

Yes, I'm filling the silence!

Soon will come the rationalizations for the cold-blooded execution we see on The Video.

In rough order:

1) He had a gun. Yes, apparently...in his pocket, untouched in this encounter (his arms are pinned), and in an open carry state where he has every right to have one on his person (thanks to the same people who will defend his death, ironically). His possession of a weapon under these circumstances can in no way justify his death;

2) He didn't go down when the cops tased him and his body jerked around after he was tackled, meaning he was resisting arrest (i.e., "why can't 'these people' just comply with officers' orders?&quot . Yes, but he also wasn't aggressing against them, and once tackled he was immobilized.

Did he jerk around a bit? Sure, which is a natural response any of us will likely make when getting tackled. It is not instinctual for a person to just go limp when they are tackled, especially if they feel they are being tackled for no reason. The natural reaction is to struggle against the discomfort being caused, not to simply be entirely still, especially if the tackle is causing pain. In this regard it is similar to Eric Garner, who struggled against the officer's arm around his neck because it was cutting off blood supply -- an entirely automatic response.

If you don't believe me, next time a stranger jumps on top of you, tell me what you do. The fact that it was an officer in this case doesn't matter. The human mind and body don't react differently to aggression just because the aggression wears a badge;

3) He had a criminal record. Yes, he apparently did. But none of those offenses were capital offenses, and none of them have anything to do with this event. If having a record justifies cops killing you, then by that logic, anyone ever arrested for a crime who has a prior should just be jailed immediately without a trial, or just executed, as the logic is exactly the same.

And let's be honest, if he had NO record, the police would still defend the action of the officers, as would the right wingers who will do so in this case. His prior record simply gives them cover for defending an otherwise indefensible action;

4) What about Chicago? What about black on black violence? Yes of course, except
a) people go to jail for that, regularly;
b) that isn't done in the name of the state with our tax dollars;
c) much of that violence is itself the result of a justice system that doesn't truly protect black people, and thus isn't trusted (surprise surprise given the recently uncovered history of John Burge and the CPD torture den), and as such encourages folks' to settle beef on their own; and

d) by the logic that says "black folks killing other black folks" invalidates concern over extra-judicial execution or racism, the same thing could have been said in the 1920s. Even then, more black folks died at the hands of other blacks than at the hands of police or other whites (because people are more likely to be killed by people they live around), but most rational people would not conclude from that fact that the fight against lynching or racism or police violence was wrongheaded


...and lets not forget, finally, that there are 2.5 times more white-on-white crimes every year than black-on-black ones but we never call them that...Why not? Because we racialize black dysfunction and individualize white dysfunction...

because of white supremacy. That is all.

The quickest arrest and indictment of an officer was in Louisiana, when two black officers shot at a suspect's car, resulting in the death of a white kid.

They were immediately arrested, no bond. Even had the WHITE state trooper breaking into tears on TV...those two black officers learned really quick how neither the white officers nor their department never "had their backs" when it came to accidental white death.


And then there's St. Louis, MO:

Keep it Classy and Chill, Thom. The Classy and Chill Pill.