"Black Lives Matter" - it's stupid. Just cut the crap.....

[luvsJack]

The only assumption I can think you are referring too is that if he was white he wouldn't have been stopped. But I think I can make that assumption since NONE of the other kids have been stopped.

Don't assume. My son is white. Stopped twice for walking and once on a skateboard.

 

[pocomom]

Don't assume. My son is white. Stopped twice for walking and once on a skateboard.

If it is true that's has nothing to do with MY neighborhood where none of the white kids have been stopped.
Do you actually believe white kids are stopped and searched equally?

 

[Nancyg56]

I see Blue Lives Matter being used because many see them as being under siege and want to show their support. Some people believe in both slogans.

I am conflicted. I used this phrase once on the DIS and got some pretty interesting comments. Now that did not change my intention or how I feel about Blue, but if did make me consider how the phrase is interpreted.

I think that most of these phrases affect people that way too. We look at them the way we want to, and therefore we all react differently.

Maybe the catch phrases need to go.

 

[mom2rtk]

Is killing a police officer classified as a hate crime?

 

[lisaviolet]

Cut the crap.

Yeah, cut the crap acting like it doesn't exist - over decades. Maybe we should all cut that crap.

One can carry differing thoughts, differing emotions and be sickened by all issues.

I wanted to throw up last night watching that footage, seeing the courage of those police officers, knowing that their loved ones were watching it as well. Not knowing if their loved ones would come home. Or maybe even recognizing their loved ones being gunned down for protecting us all. It is beyond disgusting. I am forever saying what a difficult profession this has become.

I have seen outrage, read about outrage over what is happening in cities like Chicago, like Detroit, issues in my own city - Toronto. The gun violence. So because it hasn't been fixed doesn't mean people are not outraged.

People should be peacefully protesting. I support that as well.

I haven't been able to let Walter Scott leave my head. It plays on me over and over. Walter knowing that they were going to kill him, the officers trying to plant evidence to cover up their killing. How all of it would never have been fully understood, without that tape.

I have been told stories here in Toronto. Firsthand stories of innocent children (teenagers) - absolutely innocent ones being taken down to the ground with force and screamed at while walking home from a store, stories of innocent black citizens being beaten up by police. Why? I don't believe it is fully racist. There is racism, 100%. |But there has to be some other factors, just has to be. I believe there are some police officers that have a God complex with anyone, some that are too fearful to do their job properly and therefore should not be a police officer - because it forces them to react irrationally at times. And I believe that often when searching for a black suspect of a crime that other races - which is them doing their job - they often have a hard time differentiating features, identification of black suspects in a way that they don't have with whites.

But it takes a lack of bravado to admit that this could be an issue for them doing their job, and for the safety of black citizens.

___________________________________________________________

This article is beyond powerful to me, please read it and explain to me how there is not an ongoing issue and problem for the black community. For us all because these are our friends, coworkers, loved ones and fellow citizens.

The Skin I’m In: I’ve been interrogated by police more than 50 times—all because I’m black.

http://torontolife.com/city/life/skin-im-ive-interrogated-police-50-times-im-black/

______________________________________________

I have been in a car with a black driver and on three occasions I have had excessive and what I feel very inappropriate conduct by police on some very minor issues, one which wasn't even a traffic violation.

One was making a legal u-turn. Pulled over by two cops. Both aggressively coming to both sides of the car. Very forcefully. When asked why they were pulling us over, they answered we looked suspicious to them. Huh? We realized we were going the wrong direction and u-turned. |They questioned us for a long time, and aggressively. Can you really tell me that that would have happened if one of us was not black? Over time, and many instances, I think not.

And I know this was controversial but when the Governor answered that these issues most likely wouldn't happen to whites, it is the truth. And I was relieved to hear it. Given what I've seen, read and heard directly - I was relieved to hear it.

___________________________________________________

I will never understand why one can't hold varying thoughts. It is disgusting that police officers are being killed. It is disgusting - even if the evidence brings out criminal behaviour - that a man is on the ground pinned by two police officers and needs to be shot four times and killed. It is disgusting that black families often have to tell their children that their rights shouldn't be voiced if they are pulled over by police, because your life might be in jeopardy.


All issues can be true, for crying out loud. So yeah I would like to cut the crap, all of it.

 

[Claudia1]

OK..... but what can we DO to make it better? This is a very serious question and I want to be part of the solution, not the problem. How do I help?

I live in a rural, middle-class neighborhood and have had discussions with my black and ethnic friends. They don't live with the daily fear of being attacked because of their race when in our community. I know this is not the norm, tho. I see people as people.

So I'm asking a very serious question...... what do we do to help when we are not in the battle zones?

 

[plutotek]

The primary definition of terrorism per Dictionary.com is "the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes." Terrorism can be many different things.

Thank you for this, as I would have been much more blunt in my response.

However, I would have to say there are members of the BLM movement that fall more towards the domestic terrorist side of the scale than the legitimate social activist.

 

[Patch'sD]

Just remember the scene last night. As the protesters were running for cover, the police were running towards where the bullets were coming from. The police were making sure that the people were out of danger by clearing the areas and getting the people out of the line of sight. Those Dallas Blue Lives were making sure that all lives matters.

 

[taitai]

Which members of the BLM movement would you classify as terrorists and why?

 

[dadtoagirl03]

Nevermind, like trying to reason with the wall.

 

[mom2rtk]

But marching down the road yelling hands up don't shoot isn't productive.

I don't get why they're still using the "hands up don't shoot" mantra anyway. I guess it doesn't matter that never happened?

 

[rickybobby]

There is a child I care about very much. He is 14, very tall 6'6"+, big and autistic. He is well behaved, a good student, and likes the things that 14 year old boys tend to like- video games, playing basketball, hanging out at the pool. His mom works, and his dad just passed away from a lengthy illness, so he often walks home from our neighborhood clubhouse, or the store alone.
If he was white I would be worried that maybe he would get picked on for being autistic.
If he were white, we would think his size is a good thing, it would protect him from those bullies.
If he were white the cops would be the ones who would help him, if there ever were a situation.
But he is not white. And everytime he leaves the house his mom worries about whether he'll get to come home. He has already been stopped twice. Twice. At Fourteen. For walking while black.
He has nothing to do with black on black crime in Chicago.the worst thing this kid has ever done, is not clean his room.
Ignoring this as an issue does not make it go away.
This kid's life matters, and he shouldn't have to play by different rules because he is black.

My son, who is white, is also 14 and also has Autism. He is followed whenever he ventures out alone as well, because his behavior does not fit the norm. I don't like it, but I understand it, as to look at him, you do not know he is autistic unless you are informed of such. Has nothing to do with his race.

 

[rickybobby]

What building did black lives matter suicide bomb? What Americans did black lives matter murder by cutting off their heads with knives and then post said videos on the web? When exactly did Black lives matter declare holy war on America? I must have totally missed all that.



This illogic can easily be turned right back around because over 80% of white murder victims were killed by other whites. And we can then make the fallacious jump to white lives don't matter systemically to other whites because a minority of whites decided to murder other whites. And then we can make another fallacious jump to demanding any white that makes any comment on any racial issue also complain about that and then add a But never mind. Fear the black man right to the end of it. It's a fallacious argument.

They sure as hell burned Ferguson, and were very terroristic toward the accused (and innocent) officer.

 

[WebmasterKathy]

There is a lot of emotion and outrage here, so PLEASE remember to treat other posters with respect so that we can continue this conversation. I feel that talking through this is valuable and necessary and healing, and we can do that as long as we avoid arguments, attacks, and blatant partisan politics.

 

[Shanti]

"Black Lives Matter", "Blue Lives Matter", "Purple Lives Matter", "<any descriptor> Lives Matter"....

They're all just stupid.

How about "ALL Lives Matter"?

Anything else just perpetuates disparity and violence.

Nonsense. Black Lives Matter is a specific response to the targeting of blacks by police that has been occuring in this country for over 100 years.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

If the Black Lives matter's movement there would be outrage in the inner cities where shootings are daily occurrences. Yet the Black Lives Matter movement is concerned with Police actions. Those actions that are fueled by the media and politicians rushing to judgment before a local or federal investigation is completed. The Black Lives Matter movement is a bunch of crap.

The argument I've heard with the BLM movement is when a black man kills another black man he goes to jail. Justice is served. When a cop kills a black man he gets off.

There are protests in the inner cities. I grew up in the inner city. I work in the inner city. There are protests often right in front of my job. Peaceful protests. KIDS protesting. Church leaders protesting. And Praying. It just doesn't make the news.

 

[pocomom]

My son, who is white, is also 14 and also has Autism. He is followed whenever he ventures out alone as well, because his behavior does not fit the norm. I don't like it, but I understand it, as to look at him, you do not know he is autistic unless you are informed of such. Has nothing to do with his race.

Yes, your white son's experience has nothing to do with race. But this black child's experience does.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Nonsense. Black Lives Matter is a specific response to the targeting of blacks by police that has been occuring in this country for over 100 years.

Exactly. This violence is not new, it's the cameras that are new.

 

[asta]

I don't get why they're still using the "hands up don't shoot" mantra anyway. I guess it doesn't matter that never happened?

I don't understand how people can still believe this. The evidence proves this did not happen and yet I heard this being chanted yesterday. I don't know how you reason with people who can't or won't understand truth.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I don't understand how people can still believe this. The evidence proves this did not happen and yet I heard this being chanted yesterday. I don't know how you reason with people who can't or won't understand truth.

Maybe it's just not about these incidents. Maybe they are protesting as a whole. Maybe it's what they've seen in their environment. In their everyday lives in their very own neighborhood. I have personally, with my own two eyes, witnessed cops beating someone up who was defenseless AND hands up so I get what they are saying.

My XH, who is a state corrections officer (and USMC veteran), was beaten by 4 cops while he was cuffed. That case is still pending FOUR years later. And through this all he still defends the good cops.