U.S Riots

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Thank you for checking in and your concern. I'm convinced there's a few bad actor's hijacking some of these demonstrations possibly even "paid agitator's who police see show up at various different events. Someone casts the first stone or decides to throw a Molotov cocktail and it's brought to an entire new level of mayhem.

Where on Sunday I saw that down in New Orleans a large crowd formed a kneel-down prayer peacefully in front of the cathedral in the French Quarter.

People choose to act the way they do.
Yes - protesting and rioting/looting are two separate actions. Sometimes one is used as a cover for the other though.
Piles of bricks are showing up at protest sites, so appearing more and more as a funded effort. Pretty sure this has already stopped being about Floyd and violation of his civil rights. We received word from a friend last night that the FBI came to his door asking if they would be willing to defend their home. They did this throughout their neighborhood!!! The FBI would never do that, nor have the time for it. Not sure if it's wide spread or local to his neighborhood, but definitely seems a scouting operation to spread activities to neighborhoods. Stay sharp and safe everyone!
 
Perhaps some American contributors can clarify something for me: facts almost always get brushed aside when people take sides, particularly in these race conflicts.
In the UK the BBC reported that 4 white cops were responsible for this guy's death - yet one has what looks like a Vietnamese name, and another what could be Chinese (Keung).
A google search reveals nothing.
 
interesting example
Unfortunately it is. The problem is it happened. Not full blown riot, but a man was actually murdered over a chicken sandwich. Store employees were attacked. Customers attacked each other. A gun was pulled, and I seem to remember an incident involving a car. At different locations all over the country, over a chicken sandwich. People are losing their minds anymore over everything that upsets them. When does it stop? Violence for violence sake begats nothing but more violence.

What I really dont understand is the destruction of ones own community. Why cant rioters be armed with brooms and a trash can?
 
That's not true.

Perhaps images of stacks of fresh loaves of bread for the above stated chicken sandwiches then?
Perhaps some American contributors can clarify something for me: facts almost always get brushed aside when people take sides, particularly in these race conflicts.
In the UK the BBC reported that 4 white cops were responsible for this guy's death - yet one has what looks like a Vietnamese name, and another what could be Chinese (Keung).
A google search reveals nothing.
There were a mix. First part of this video shows all the officers involved and at 1:05, their names:
 
Perhaps some American contributors can clarify something for me: facts almost always get brushed aside when people take sides, particularly in these race conflicts.
In the UK the BBC reported that 4 white cops were responsible for this guy's death - yet one has what looks like a Vietnamese name, and another what could be Chinese (Keung).
A google search reveals nothing.

The officer who killed George Floyd was white. At least one other officer on the scene was not white, and likely Asian, according to photos circulating.

The protests are not only about Floyd.

Opportunists and agents provocateurs will always find their way to protests. There is no perfect way to do it. And it’s very telling when someone condemns the destruction of property before expressing anything at all about loss of life, structural bias, or inequality of opportunity.
 
The officer who killed George Floyd was white. At least one other officer on the scene was not white, and likely Asian, according to photos circulating.

The protests are not only about Floyd.

Opportunists and agents provocateurs will always find their way to protests. There is no perfect way to do it. And it’s very telling when someone condemns the destruction of property before expressing anything at all about loss of life, structural bias, or inequality of opportunity.


I think is a nice succinct wrap up of things.

The one thing I would say is that in regards to people focusing on destruction of property and loss vs. the systemic problems we have as a country isn't always something to be taken as a negative. There's simply a lot of the population that has never had to worry about structural bias, or inequality - so it's simply NOT part of their ethos - so I would caution being over critical of XY citizen that doesn't fully understand what people are protesting but do understand the shock value of seeing a storefront destroyed. It's a chance to have the discussion and educate rather than draw more lines in the sand.
 
What I really dont understand is the destruction of ones own community. Why cant rioters be armed with brooms and a trash can?

“Riots are the language of the unheard.” -MLK

There have been peaceful protests, noticeably by sports figures kneeling, speeches at award shows, peaceful protests that were tear gassed by police, basketball players wearing “I can’t breathe” on t shirts, BLM marches, and on and on for many years. And there have been many killings by police caught on film recently.

The overwhelming majority of protesters are non-violent, but media is quick to report what violence there is, because it gets more viewers, I imagine.
 
I think is a nice succinct wrap up of things.

The one thing I would say is that in regards to people focusing on destruction of property and loss vs. the systemic problems we have as a country isn't always something to be taken as a negative. There's simply a lot of the population that has never had to worry about structural bias, or inequality - so it's simply NOT part of their ethos - so I would caution being over critical of XY citizen that doesn't fully understand what people are protesting but do understand the shock value of seeing a storefront destroyed. It's a chance to have the discussion and educate rather than draw more lines in the sand.
Thank you, that’s why I said “telling”.
 
When does it stop? Violence for violence sake begets nothing but more violence.

What I really dont understand is the destruction of ones own community. Why cant rioters be armed with brooms and a trash can?

It's not going to stop. The potential solutions are:

We destroy ourselves.
Some gene mutates via evolution and humans become docile, like domestic cattle, content to stand in our own filth.
There's a societal reformation, akin to the Venus project.

In the mean time, I'm content to responsibly join the protests during the day and go home and lock the doors at night.

A note to those who are considering picking up a gun, or a stick, or a stone.... You are not anonymous. As an operator of several major multinational surveillance networks, I can say with confidence that your mask doesn't protect you, nor does your umbrella, nor does leaving your handy/cell in your car. There are multiple private/public/municipal devices tracking you at all times, and unmasking you is a simple matter of aggregation and stitching.
 
“Riots are the language of the unheard.” -MLK

There have been peaceful protests, noticeably by sports figures kneeling, speeches at award shows, peaceful protests that were tear gassed by police, basketball players wearing “I can’t breathe” on t shirts, BLM marches, and on and on for many years. And there have been many killings by police caught on film recently.

The overwhelming majority of protesters are non-violent, but media is quick to report what violence there is, because it gets more viewers, I imagine.

I'm separating the peaceful protesters from the rioters. If the rioters really want to be heard and taken seriously, brooms and a trash can would work much better. 10,000 people simultaneously gathering and cleaning would garner just as much press, and those people would be listened to because they arent acting like thugs. All they are getting right now is negative attention. That fixes nothing.


It's not going to stop. The potential solutions are:

We destroy ourselves.
Some gene mutates via evolution and humans become docile, like domestic cattle, content to stand in our own filth.
There's a societal reformation, akin to the Venus project.

Then maybe we deserve what we get. It obviously isnt everyone, so not everyone should be subject to the above three 0solutions. But if we cant fix our own problems and live to tell about it, maybe we dont deserve to be here. It's not for me to decide, but I often wonder about it.
 
We're good here in Portland. My daughter's workplace windows were smashed and the store looted but we get that here from time to time depending on what's happening politically. More in the last few years. I came to Portland via San Francisco so dealing with protests have been a way of life for us for many years.

Our county still has a stay at home order in effect and now we have a curfew. So stay at home but after 8pm REALLY stay at home.
 
I'm separating the peaceful protesters from the rioters. If the rioters really want to be heard and taken seriously, brooms and a trash can would work much better. 10,000 people simultaneously gathering and cleaning would garner just as much press, and those people would be listened to because they arent acting like thugs. All they are getting right now is negative attention. That fixes nothing.

It’s so obvious that I’m surprised I have to point it out: cleaning up doesn’t say “I’m angry and want change” to anyone. News reporters would probably take those actions to mean the exact opposite.

This is yet another in a long line of people unaffected by racism, telling black people that you’re ok with methods of protest, so long as they’re ineffective and/or ridiculous.

Peaceful protests (Ferguson) have been met with tear gas. Tear gas. Sometimes, violence comes from people charged with the task of protecting people.

Other protests have done nothing to stop the near constant brutalizations by police.

Put all this together, and yeah, you’re going to get some violence in these protests. There were plenty of chances to head this off.
 
I'm separating the peaceful protesters from the rioters. If the rioters really want to be heard and taken seriously...

The rioters don't want to be taken seriously. They're opportunists who just want to riot and loot at the expense of otherwise peaceful protests.
 
The rioters don't want to be taken seriously. They're opportunists who just want to riot and loot at the expense of otherwise peaceful protests.

While I probably shouldn't pretend to know another's motivation.....

I imagine that many rioters envision their actions as virtuous, in a "raze the castle, shed the shackles of ecclesiasticism" mindset. It's the same broken notion of virtue that Derek used to rationalize murdering George. Simplified: Me good. Them bad. Violence OK.

I would agree with you on the looters, who are just opportunistic thieves. It challenges my imagination to try to rationalize swiping an armful of Nintendos from a Target. I can pseudo-rationalize looting during food riots, but that's about it.
 
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The rioters don't want to be taken seriously. They're opportunists who just want to riot and loot at the expense of otherwise peaceful protests.

While there are most certainly some opportunists, I don't think you can paint with such a broad brush. There are many different motivations. Some people are expressing anger, and, after decades of abuse, marginalization, lack of support from leadership, and murders regularly caught on film -- I'm not surprised. I'd like to think that I'd be above such violence. But my teenage self? Probably not so much.
 
This is yet another in a long line of people unaffected by racism, telling black people that you’re ok with methods of protest, so long as they’re ineffective and/or ridiculous.

But I'm not, and I could care less about what color they are. It's people acting badly, nothing more. As a member of the human race, it pisses me off to see people acting stupidly trying to achieve a goal. To me it screams "look at us, we want attention" not "this is an issue we would like to resolve". That's all.

It's okay, this will be over soon. Tornado, hurricane, and wild fire seasons are upon us. When nature beats us down, we stop acting like jackasses for a while.
 
Perhaps images of stacks of fresh loaves of bread for the above stated chicken sandwiches then?

There were a mix. First part of this video shows all the officers involved and at 1:05, their names:
Thankyou for that. You are right and the BBC plain wrong.
 
"this is an issue we would like to resolve".

There has been loads of this type of protest already.

sports figures kneeling, speeches at award shows, peaceful protests that were tear gassed by police, basketball players wearing “I can’t breathe” on t shirts, BLM marches, and on and on

The murdering, structural bias, and racism continues. The murdering of black people by police is so frequent and widespread, and the perpetrators so emboldened, that it has been captured many times on camera.

History is rife with examples of violent protests that have effected real change in public sentiment. At the Boston Tea party, people did not actually sit down and have a tea party...
 
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