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F is for Fascism (Ferguson MO)

nah man, Colonel Angus (who's likely never performed cunnilingus and if so had no idea what he was doing) knows what's up he's got a boat
 
Examining the rationality of the property destruction is tilting at windmills. If you're an old guy getting mad about it, then it served its purpose. With the exception of a few obvious landmarks like police stations, civil war monuments, banks, I would hesitate to attach any political motivation to the property destruction. People (kids) are very destructive when they can get away with it. People shoot up stop signs, trash construction sites, destroy bathroom stalls. It's not political.
 
are y'all donating to local bail funds? i would definitely encourage you to do so if the images of police brutality horrify you.
 
I'll own that this is probably more self-serving and rambly and I'm doing my best to be honest about my opinions so I'd appreciate an honest response if you choose to do so.

Imo, if you're interested in being productive right now, the time calls for a self-evaluation of your contribution to anti-racist power and actions.

It's okay to be outraged. I know the implicit belief that facts trump emotions can rule pretty heavily around here, but if you're a human being then you're kind of stuck with the stickiness of emotions and feelings and there's just not a whole hell of a lot you can do to get rid of them (besides repress).

With that said, if you are finding yourself more moved toward anger by destruction of property in the last few days than by what organizers are protesting about - among them: the murder of innocent Americans (this thread was started with Michael Brown's name on its lips), the militarization of local and federal policing, and the carceral logics that guide and shape both - then I'm not sure how you're contributing to anti-racist action. If you agree that there's been enough state-sanctioned and excused police violence, that we've literally reached a limit, then where is that anger? I get that you see the death of George Floyd as tragic, but are you actually motivated enough about it to contribute to fighting what caused it?

I honestly don't want to cite specific posters, or what they've posted, or build a profile to prove that they're more outraged about one thing or the other. I don't think that actually helps persuade people to fight racism. I just ask anyone who reads this to actually take a second to reflect on how they're balancing what they're outraged about, and how they think their balance actually fights systemic racism in this country. I don't think the after-hours destruction of storefronts is an anti-racist action, but when you treat the smashing of storefronts as "the other side" of the protest coin - as the bad agents to the good agents - I think you devalue the fight that people are putting in right now for justice. That's the fight I witnessed on the ground yesterday.

Last night WPXI's coverage of the peaceful protest in East Liberty (which went on for nearly 4-and-a-half hours) received about 20% of the 11pm airtime. The police violence against the protesters received the lion's share, while the rest of the coverage focused on the profile of white kid who started the incineration of a cop car on Saturday and who turned himself in today. Does that make you angry? I hope so.
 
RJKarl said:
Because it was such obvious BS. The militirazation of police is a Republican concept. It was promoted by a GOP Congress and in many cases GOP governors like in MO, MI and PA (the previous governors created much of this).

By MDMH wants to re-elect Trump if he doesn't get everything he wants. How he wants it and gets it now.
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This is so factually incorrect.
 
I'd just rather argue about the efficacy of what I bolded because at least it's a better tribute to George Floyd et al. than talking about whether or not a white dude's dick works or not.
 
Ayo said:
Nothing says fuck capitalism like destroying the property of a small business on fucking Allerton Ave in The Bronx. Hell yeah.
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If you're angrier/choosing to direct your anger at actions of those protesting (with some looting/rioting involved) than the underlying reasons for the protests (structural racism, killer cops, militarization of local communities and cops) then you are part of the problem.

Check your values.
 
Ayo with three posts on this topic that I see and they're all about the protestors/looters/rioters.

***Ayo*** is mafia
 
TenaciousKory said:
With that said, if you are finding yourself more moved toward anger by destruction of property in the last few days than by what organizers are protesting about
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Wakeforest22890 said:
If you're angrier/choosing to direct your anger at actions of those protesting (with some looting/rioting involved) than the underlying reasons for the protests (structural racism, killer cops, militarization of local communities and cops) then you are part of the problem.

Check your values.
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Do you guys really think any of the (serious) posters here are *angrier* about the looting than the murder? Seems like a bit of a strawman.
 
tiltdeac said:
Do you guys really think any of the (serious) posters here are *angrier* about the looting than the murder? Seems like a bit of a strawman.
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I don't know. I specifically don't want to look through posts to try and prove it or anything. I'm just responding to a feeling I've had reading through this thread and seeing posts elsewhere. I could be wrong. I could be saying more about myself than others, tbh.
 
local bail funds are just a great general method of fighting injustice. There are a heartbreaking amount of poor and homeless people wallowing in jail for weeks because they can't pay small bond amounts for insignificant bullshit charges - crimes of poverty.
 
Strickland33 said:
are y'all donating to local bail funds? i would definitely encourage you to do so if the images of police brutality horrify you.
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Seconding this. We've contributed to the NC Community Bail Fund of Durham. For anyone interested, here's the link to the National Bail Fund Network.

Aside from helping to bail out protestors, these funds do incredibly important work to help return folks to their communities, families, and jobs prior to standing trial.
 
tiltdeac said:
Do you guys really think any of the (serious) posters here are *angrier* about the looting than the murder? Seems like a bit of a strawman.
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The only capital we have on the message boards are posts. He's spent the only capital he has on this topic as far as the forum goes expressing his outrage against looters without once mentioning the underlying causal factors.
 
Only the posters can really know how they feel and the only way they can know is to take some time, examine the actions they've taken so far, and be honest about what they're devoting their energies to.

One of my colleagues had a short FB post that has been on my mind the last few days: "if you have white friends or even white family and they aren't anti-racist and/or actively doing anti-racist work, you do not have white friends. You know some white people."
 
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