[News] Protests Against Police Violence After Death of George Floyd

Discuss police violence, the victims of police violence (including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor), the Black-led protests against said violence, and related topics.

The water bottle destruction is just so... case in point!!! Good grief.

I'm reminded of the video showing cops very deliberately destroying tents that homeless people were using, explicitly and carefully ruining the only form of shelter they had left.

And despite the video, of course, nothing happened and nothing changed.

Malor wrote:

I'm reminded of the video showing cops very deliberately destroying tents that homeless people were using, explicitly and carefully ruining the only form of shelter they had left.

And despite the video, of course, nothing happened and nothing changed.

Seattle cops are notoriously cruel and regularly sweep tent city. This is routine for them.

Malor wrote:

I'm reminded of the video showing cops very deliberately destroying tents that homeless people were using, explicitly and carefully ruining the only form of shelter they had left.

And despite the video, of course, nothing happened and nothing changed.

Our local cops do a lot of that.

Stele wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

Is the other one a good cop? He still walked away. That's kind of the whole deal.

Yeah good point. Frustrating to see someone know the right thing but peer pressured out of it.

Let’s not ignore the fact that the “good cop” who almost checked on the man was also the cop that pushed him. That’s good-cop in the same way as your brother who just hit you in the head with a stick pretends to be worried so that mom won’t get mad.

Somewhere in Hollywood there's a writer who's using this news story as the basis for a script for a horror movie.

There's no such thing as a good cop. You'd never have signed up to be one in the first place if you were a good person. Good people, the ones who actually want to help, become firefighters. EMTs. Social workers.

I've said it before, I'll say it again. The type of person who wants to become a cop is exactly the type of person who should never, ever, be a cop.

In summary, #ACAB

(the people quitting aren't good cops, they're individuals maybe waking up to becoming good PEOPLE...which is why they are no longer cops)

WP: David McAtee fed Louisville police for years. To some who knew him, his fatal shooting doesn’t add up.

The man known as “YaYa” was in negotiations to buy the property at the corner of 26th and Broadway in Louisville’s West End so he could build a proper space for his thriving barbecue business. But as Sunday night turned into Monday morning and the usual weekend crowd stayed past the city’s 9 p.m. curfew, David McAtee’s dream died when he did. The founder and namesake of YaYa’s BBQ was killed in an exchange of gunfire following a display of law enforcement power that one city council member said demonstrates how police treat black communities differently than white ones.
r013nt0 wrote:

There's no such thing as a good cop. You'd never have signed up to be one in the first place if you were a good person. Good people, the ones who actually want to help, become firefighters. EMTs. Social workers.

I've said it before, I'll say it again. The type of person who wants to become a cop is exactly the type of person who should never, ever, be a cop.

In summary, #ACAB

(the people quitting aren't good cops, they're individuals maybe waking up to becoming good PEOPLE...which is why they are no longer cops)

This is a stupid post and beneath you.

Disagree, but okay.

From a few days ago, but powerful:

SallyNasty wrote:
r013nt0 wrote:

There's no such thing as a good cop. You'd never have signed up to be one in the first place if you were a good person. Good people, the ones who actually want to help, become firefighters. EMTs. Social workers.

I've said it before, I'll say it again. The type of person who wants to become a cop is exactly the type of person who should never, ever, be a cop.

In summary, #ACAB

(the people quitting aren't good cops, they're individuals maybe waking up to becoming good PEOPLE...which is why they are no longer cops)

This is a stupid post and beneath you.

One of the four officers arrested in George Floyd's murder didn't apply to be a cop until he was 35, after community service and work with at-risk youth. He's the rookie who twice told Chauvin to move Floyd off his stomach.

Personnel records shed light on four Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyd's death

Thomas Lane, 37, of St. Paul, is detailed in charges as pointing a gun at Floyd before handcuffing him. Later, charges said he questioned Chauvin’s restraint tactics twice during the encounter.

Despite his concerns, he did not act to forcibly remove Chauvin from Floyd’s neck.

According to his work file, Lane is a University of Minnesota graduate who worked with at-risk youth as a juvenile detention guard and probation officer in the Twin Cities before applying as a police recruit at age 35.

Application forms also list a litany of volunteer work mentoring Somali youth and school kids.

Should he have done more? Yes, in hindsight, I'm sure he's wishing he had. But anyone who's worked in a hierarchical organization knows it's career suicide to contradict a senior member of one's unit.

Is Lane a bastard? Maybe more will come out as we head to trial. But I disagree with the #ACAB hashtag. Systemic reform is what's needed. Not blanket condemnation of anyone who wants to serve and protect.

JLS wrote:

Should he have done more? Yes, in hindsight, I'm sure he's wishing he had. But anyone who's worked in a hierarchical organization knows it's career suicide to contradict a senior member of one's unit.

If your line of work is such that it's career suicide to prevent a literal homicide, maybe you should look for a different line of work.

hbi2k wrote:
JLS wrote:

Should he have done more? Yes, in hindsight, I'm sure he's wishing he had. But anyone who's worked in a hierarchical organization knows it's career suicide to contradict a senior member of one's unit.

If your line of work is such that it's career suicide to prevent a literal homicide, maybe you should look for a different line of work.

Yep. I’m shocked that anyone can defend cops in this situation. Your duty is to do the right thing. In that profession above all else.

Again, imo if you want to serve and protect, you don't choose to become a cop. Is writing people tickets for...parking somewhere... protecting? How about tearing down the tents of homeless people? Who does that serve or protect? The racist and classist war on drugs... is that serving, or protecting?

The firefighters are the ones who rescue you from your crushed car. The EMTs keep you alive on your way to the hospital. Social workers rescue battered women and children. In the US, cops are there to punish. No surprise, as the entire profession is born of the slave hunters.

Also, if you really need to stop and think when your options are career suicide vs. participating in murdering an innocent, you're not a good person! HTH!

DSGamer wrote:
hbi2k wrote:
JLS wrote:

Should he have done more? Yes, in hindsight, I'm sure he's wishing he had. But anyone who's worked in a hierarchical organization knows it's career suicide to contradict a senior member of one's unit.

If your line of work is such that it's career suicide to prevent a literal homicide, maybe you should look for a different line of work.

Yep. I’m shocked that anyone can defend cops in this situation. Your duty is to do the right thing. In that profession above all else.

I suspect former officer Lane will regret his lack of courage for the rest of his life, regardless of whatever sentence he receives. I'm not defending his (in)action. I'm trying to put a human face on it. I hope I would do the right thing if I were in that situation.

JLS wrote:
DSGamer wrote:
hbi2k wrote:
JLS wrote:

Should he have done more? Yes, in hindsight, I'm sure he's wishing he had. But anyone who's worked in a hierarchical organization knows it's career suicide to contradict a senior member of one's unit.

If your line of work is such that it's career suicide to prevent a literal homicide, maybe you should look for a different line of work.

Yep. I’m shocked that anyone can defend cops in this situation. Your duty is to do the right thing. In that profession above all else.

I suspect former officer Lane will regret his lack of courage for the rest of his life, regardless of whatever sentence he receives. I'm not defending his (in)action. I'm trying to put a human face on it. I hope I would do the right thing if I were in that situation.

We give them a monopoly on the legitimate use of force. It’s not too much to expect of them. If they can’t be better, they can find other jobs.

And we as a society have to begin changing the nature of the work they do.

JLS wrote:

Should he have done more? Yes, in hindsight, I'm sure he's wishing he had. But anyone who's worked in a hierarchical organization knows it's career suicide to contradict a senior member of one's unit.

Is Lane a bastard? Maybe more will come out as we head to trial. But I disagree with the #ACAB hashtag. Systemic reform is what's needed. Not blanket condemnation of anyone who wants to serve and protect.

So how do you systemically reform a hierarchical organization who's senior members (and representative unions) are going to actively resist said reform?

I mean the LA Police Protective League just told the new LA Council President that they "might be a little late" if she should call them because she dared to propose trimming between $100 to $150 million out of LA PD's $2 billion budget.

This was LAPD's response to a peaceful protest two days ago.

It would be career suicide *not* to beat peaceful protestors with clubs if everyone else is doing it.

A black woman directly challenging Trump...this ought to get interesting.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/kbh4hNj.png)

r013nt0 wrote:

Again, imo if you want to serve and protect, you don't choose to become a cop.

Garbage. Lumping every single officer together under a huge umbrella, and applying your upbringing and belief system to every individual that decides to become a police officer, is absolute garbage. I have zero doubt that many individuals join the police department out of a genuine belief that they're protecting people in need through their community. I know, my brother is one of them. When he was 13, he was in a car accident, and his leg was pinned in the car. A police officer sat and stayed with him while they waited for rescue services to get to them. He saw that man as a hero, as someone who came to his aid, worked to protect someone he had never met, and never charged him a dime. When he became an adult, THAT'S what he wanted to be. He didn't join to write parking tickets, or cite people for expired registration. He wanted to help.

He's spent his career trying to promote change in the department. He and I have had several loud, angry arguments over whether or not that's possible. But as much as I doubt that police structured in the way they are now can ever be true servants of the public, I have zero doubt that he wants to serve the public.

OG_slinger wrote:
JLS wrote:

Should he have done more? Yes, in hindsight, I'm sure he's wishing he had. But anyone who's worked in a hierarchical organization knows it's career suicide to contradict a senior member of one's unit.

Is Lane a bastard? Maybe more will come out as we head to trial. But I disagree with the #ACAB hashtag. Systemic reform is what's needed. Not blanket condemnation of anyone who wants to serve and protect.

So how do you systemically reform a hierarchical organization who's senior members (and representative unions) are going to actively resist said reform?

In the case of the MPD there is growing movement to dismantle the police force completely. That's the only way to eliminate the white supremacist union chief and his cronies, "warrior" training, and militarization of the force.

trichy wrote:

Garbage. Lumping every single officer together under a huge umbrella, and applying your upbringing and belief system to every individual that decides to become a police officer, is absolute garbage. I have zero doubt that many individuals join the police department out of a genuine belief that they're protecting people in need through their community. I know, my brother is one of them.

Seems to me you might be having a small moment of cognitive dissonance here.

Let's shift focus off individuals here, please. There's something to be learned here that'll go out the window if people start getting personal and emotional.

Muriel Bowser isn't F'n around.

This is amazing....

(CNN)Washington DC is painting a message in giant, yellow letters down a busy DC street ahead of a planned protest this weekend: BLACK LIVES MATTER.
The massive banner-like project spans two blocks of 16th Street, a central axis that leads southward straight to the White House. Each of the 16 bold, yellow letters spans the width of the two-lane street, creating an unmistakable visual easily spotted by aerial cameras and virtually anyone within a few blocks.
The painters were contacted by DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and began work early Friday morning, the mayor's office told CNN.

IMAGE(https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/200605070213-02-blm-road-painting-washington-exlarge-169.jpeg)

EDIT: Dropping it per Ameobic's request.

r013nt0 wrote:

Again, imo if you want to serve and protect, you don't choose to become a cop. Is writing people tickets for...parking somewhere... protecting? How about tearing down the tents of homeless people? Who does that serve or protect? The racist and classist war on drugs... is that serving, or protecting?

Huh? You could just as easily make a list of important and helpful, heck needed things that police do.

Is breaking up a human trafficking ring protecting? Is stopping a domestic abuser from killing their partner protecting?

Just to be clear I read this

Amoebic wrote:

Let's shift focus off individuals here, please. There's something to be learned here that'll go out the window if people start getting personal and emotional.

But I am not trying to single r013nt0 out I am trying to look at the idea that a whole profession is bad and serves no purpose.

Amoebic wrote:

It's performative. https://twitter.com/DMVBlackLives/st...

Technically... Protest marches are performative as well, no? In my book, any form of protest is a good thing. Especially things that get people to take notice.

JC wrote:
Amoebic wrote:

It's performative. https://twitter.com/DMVBlackLives/st...

Technically... Protest marches are performative as well, no? In my book, any form of protest is a good thing. Especially things that get people to take notice.

I had a similar feeling but Im nowhere near DC and the BlackLivesMatter DC group is saying its a useless distraction. I'll shut up and take their word for it.