That's what Candace Owens is missing. Eric Garner died for selling loose cigarettes. George Floyd apparently used a counterfeit $20 bill. Michael Brown apparently stole something. How "savory" do you have to be, to keep breathing?
Frankly, it's the defensive reaction of white people at the mention of the protests against these excesses that clues me in to a racial dimension to the discussion. I either have principles, by which I say, "these actions in these situations permit uses of force x, y, and z," or I justify my own comfort after the fact. Some of us would frankly just rather not deal with the fact that someone entrusted with the public safety probably murdered a man in cold blood.
As I saw a video of a Black Lives Matter protester invited to speak at a Trump rally,--this is as weird as it sounds--I nevertheless thought about how easy it is for someone to justify the death of Michael Brown, or Trayvon Martin, and others, by pointing out that they were not heroes. Very few are; should they die when the police--or others who arrogate that authority to themselves--decide arbitrarily to kill them? I suppose I'm glad that dialogue even at certain extremes is taking place, but it probably has the effect once again of normalizing Donald Trump, and making his movement seem acceptable. If you're asking if I think we have more to fear from Donald Trump than (most of) Black Lives Matter, the answer is yes. Take that or leave it; I don't care if it makes you angry.
This is how fascism advances: the steady normalization of state-sanctioned violence. This entire discussion is constructed--at least on social media--as a false binary. We either back the blue, so to speak, or we back lawbreakers and killers. How about a free people stands up and says, "neither!" At least not unconditionally.
I think it generally fair to say that white people who wanted their politicians to be tough on crime were not thinking about what it meant for the black community. The legacy and inertia of our racist past meant a racist result, even if it was not intended. Some of the woke brigades aren't even cutting black Democrats any slack, perhaps rightly so.
And at worst, we knowingly intended to keep black people away from us, away from our quiet, comfortable lives in the suburbs. They can entertain us, or serve us, but they dare not begin to think that they have equality and dignity. I put it in stark terms, so that we can look at it, and really think about it. Is this vicious racism lurking in our hearts? Maybe it does more than lurk.
Frankly, it's the defensive reaction of white people at the mention of the protests against these excesses that clues me in to a racial dimension to the discussion. I either have principles, by which I say, "these actions in these situations permit uses of force x, y, and z," or I justify my own comfort after the fact. Some of us would frankly just rather not deal with the fact that someone entrusted with the public safety probably murdered a man in cold blood.
As I saw a video of a Black Lives Matter protester invited to speak at a Trump rally,--this is as weird as it sounds--I nevertheless thought about how easy it is for someone to justify the death of Michael Brown, or Trayvon Martin, and others, by pointing out that they were not heroes. Very few are; should they die when the police--or others who arrogate that authority to themselves--decide arbitrarily to kill them? I suppose I'm glad that dialogue even at certain extremes is taking place, but it probably has the effect once again of normalizing Donald Trump, and making his movement seem acceptable. If you're asking if I think we have more to fear from Donald Trump than (most of) Black Lives Matter, the answer is yes. Take that or leave it; I don't care if it makes you angry.
This is how fascism advances: the steady normalization of state-sanctioned violence. This entire discussion is constructed--at least on social media--as a false binary. We either back the blue, so to speak, or we back lawbreakers and killers. How about a free people stands up and says, "neither!" At least not unconditionally.
I think it generally fair to say that white people who wanted their politicians to be tough on crime were not thinking about what it meant for the black community. The legacy and inertia of our racist past meant a racist result, even if it was not intended. Some of the woke brigades aren't even cutting black Democrats any slack, perhaps rightly so.
And at worst, we knowingly intended to keep black people away from us, away from our quiet, comfortable lives in the suburbs. They can entertain us, or serve us, but they dare not begin to think that they have equality and dignity. I put it in stark terms, so that we can look at it, and really think about it. Is this vicious racism lurking in our hearts? Maybe it does more than lurk.
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