US Police: A Military Occupying Force!
It has become increasingly clear that the looting has been perpetrated by criminals using the #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd protests as cover, I said in my initial post about the looting and destruction of local businesses that I hoped that it was not Black Lives Matter and legitimate demonstrators, and that seems to be the case. Also, it has become apparent, that outside actors from both left and right-wing extremist groups are the ones *mostly* responsible for the destruction of property and inciting violence.
Moving onto the subject matter, the militarization of police forces around the country, acting as an occupying force. Last night, we saw Police and national guard around the country teargassing, pepper-spraying and firing rubber bullets at people, black, white and even members of the press, who were peacefully protesting, yes, being disruptive, closing down streets and highways, but people, until the police went in full military-style to disperse crowds, were peacefully protesting and chanting.
There is a bigger problem in America and it goes to the very top, the President, Donald J. Trump, who has repeatedly blown the dog whistle to his base on Twitter, the latest being MAGA night. And the day before this, he tweeted “when the looting starts, the shooting starts“, which he later claimed that MAGA loves black people, and in regard to the shooting of looters, he claims that business owners will be shooting people who try to loot their stores, despite his tweet talking about sending the military to Minneapolis.
Everything that has happened in the past week at a city, state, and federal level shows that law enforcement, national guard, and military forces are looking to put down protestors, not allowing for peaceful protests, which is a constitutionally protected right. Law enforcement should be a peacekeeping force, not a military force to put down people who are using their constitutionally protected right to protest. Law enforcement in the US is inherently broken, and the people in power don’t want to fix it.
Of course, racism is a massive problem in the United States, even in 2020. It seems to me that police forces around the US are attracting the wrong kind of person; when African Americans make up about 13% of the US population, yet make up 50% of the deaths at the hands of law enforcement. And in the age of cell phone cameras and social media, we are seeing this sort of police brutality go viral in hours. Yet, despite clear video evidence, prosecutors regularly refuse to indict murderous police officers.
I’m not saying that all police officers are bad, but clearly, it is not “a few bad apples”, racism in police departments is pervasive. When white people can turn up at a statehouse with assault rifles over Coronavirus lockdowns and a requirement to wear face masks, forcing the legislative session to be canceled, and police do nothing. Then we see Derek Chauvin put his knee on George Floyd’s neck for nine minutes, 2 1/2 minutes of that after Floyd had died, over the suspected use of a counterfeit $20 bill.
Given all the video evidence from multiple police murders of black people, we have to believe that if George Floyd was white, he would have been put in the back of the police car, taken to the 3rd Precinct, and be back on the street an hour or two later, living and breathing. But George Floyd is black, so he is dead, and his murderer will probably plead down to a lesser charge than Murder 3, and manslaughter and be out in less than 2 years. I have zero faith that prosecutors will go for the maximum sentence.
The solution, we need to change the policymakers, our representatives at the city, state, and federal levels. Elect people that will enact change, not reelect the same people, who continually vote to further their donors’ interests over their constituents. Having mayors, and governors with the balls to fire police officers, up to the highest levels of the force, who show a propensity towards racism and excessive force, to stop the murder of people like George Floyd, and remove prosecutors who refuse to indict.
Some examples of Police Brutality in America over the last few days, do you find this acceptable? If you do, you’re are part of the problem, if there are THUGS in America, it’s law enforcement.
https://twitter.com/JordanUhl/status/1266917228752056320
As a footnote, if you are saying or using the #AllLivesMatter hashtag, you are missing the point, of course, all lives matter, but white people, like me, are not being killed by mostly white police officers for alleged petty crimes like selling loose cigarettes or using a counterfeit $20 bill. And no, black people are not more violent, its right-wing propaganda, that perpetrates that black people are more violent. African Americans like everyone else are just trying to get through their day, pay their bills, and live their lives.