Recent Political Violence in America

[LittleRaven]

Wrong. Lots of people already knew, we just weren't listening to them.

You may want to read my quote again. I said "than people in power suspected," not people in general. The black community has been saying things were this bad for a very long time, and population at large consistently ignored them, until massive amounts of video evidence surfaced.

[LittleRaven]

In this country, exposing police brutality IS political. Payback IS political. Being singled out by NYC's larged gang, the NYPD, IS political.

Uh, ok, but by that definition, EVERYTHING is political, which strips the word of most of its meaning. The police have been engaging in petty payback for as long as there have been police. It certainly predates the recent political situation.

Did you read the article I linked? Ramsey Orta was not trying to make a political statement when he recorded Eric's death. He's not a political guy. Eric was just his friend, and he had his phone out when police jumped him, so he recorded a video. He uploaded it, and BLM latched onto it, but Ramsey is not associated with BLM. And he isn't being persecuted because of his relationship with BLM. The police are making his life miserable because he made them look bad, not because of his political beliefs. It sucks to be Ramsey either way, but the intent of the cops is important when we're looking at the bigger picture.

(oh, and in case this wasn't clear - No, police should absolutely not engage in petty payback campaigns against people who embarrass them. But they do, all over the country, because police are still humans, and petty payback is a very, VERY human activity.)

The police operate, intentionally or not, as political agency, with a political agenda, and those in power choose to let them get away with it, because it's convenient to have violent defenders of the status quo.

"Those in power" in this context are the people of the United States. In case you haven't noticed, when prosecutors actually do charge police with crimes, juries tend to let them go. Unless you have an absolutely airtight case against an officer, complete with videos of him kicking puppies, the jury will decide in his favor 9 times out of 10.

I don't know how you fix that. No system that is accountable to the people is going to entirely free of their prejudices. And Americans are overwhelmingly biased in favor of police, at least once it hits the courtroom.

My issue is with your whole perspective. When AntiFa punches a Nazi that the police are shielding, it's political, but when the police crack skulls of black men for selling loosies you think it has nothing to do with politics?

There's a pretty concrete difference. The Nazi is protesting to make a political statement. Antifa is out punching out the Nazi to make a political statement. Politics is literally the only reason that either of them are out and about.

Eric Gardner was not trying to make a political statement selling loosies. He was just trying to make a few bucks. The cops did not arrest him to make a political statement. They were just doing their jobs. (badly) The cops are not going after Ramsey Orta to make a political statement...they just want him punished for displaying their incompetence. (and to be fair, Ramsey had plenty of trouble with the law before he uploaded that video.)

Does this spill over into the political realm? Sure. Eric Gardner wasn't political himself, but his death was wielded as a potent political weapon by BLM. But BLM is not advocating violence, contrary to what some on the right seem to believe. Nor is the state engaging in violence against BLM. BLM is a perfectly legitimate movement that has protested in dozens of cities across the nation without incident.

As for Black Lives Matter being allowed to protest...are you paying attention? When Nazis or KKK march, the police protect them. When BLM marches, the police menace them.

Now I'm confused. BLM marched here in Austin. I watched them go past my office. The cops didn't hassle them. A quick google search isn't bringing up any notable examples of police clamping down on official BLM marches. The closest I can find is this.

Black Lives Matter leader DeRay McKesson was among the more than 200 people arrested during anti-police-brutality protests throughout the country this weekend. Like most of the protesters arrested in Baton Rouge, McKesson was charged with obstructing a highway when he was taken into custody on Saturday night.

That wasn't a standard BLM march, though. That was part of a much larger protest that got well out of hand.

Am I missing something? Can you provide a cite for this police harassment of BLM marches?