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Daily thread for news/updates/discussion of George Floyd protests - June 9
This thread is posted daily - please try to post relevant content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Especially significant updates may warrant a separate topic, but most should be posted here.
This is personal, not news, but I had a conversation a few days ago about racism and the protests with my parents that lasted for over three hours. I talked about them recently if anyone wants more context on who they are. The short of it is that they are old white conservative Christians, but not in the acutely negative way that kind of characterization tends to connote, especially in online leftist spaces. They are principled, driven by compassion, and impressed me with how genuinely they wanted to understand the root causes driving these protests.
I did a lot of talking (as I'm sure everyone here can easily imagine), and they did a lot of sincere and earnest listening and honest questioning. It was very productive. Having to answer their questions helped me to better understand how to communicate these issues as well highlighted as the areas I need to learn more about. Similarly, being able to ask difficult questions to someone they trusted let them drop their guards and listen more openly.
My mom strongly values the voices of Christian leaders, so I found a list of faith-based books on social justice, many of which directly address racism. My hope is that we can read some of these together and continue the conversation.
I know this isn't anything big, but I wanted to share it here. These protests have opened my parents up to critically examining racism in this country in ways they hadn't been able or willing to before. It's insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but it means a lot to me.
John Piper is a very well-known pastor who has talked about racial reconciliation for decades now. If you want additional information, I'd highly recommend DesiringGod.org. Search "race" and other keywords to find resources.
Piper's message of salvation is inclusive to all peoples - tongue, tribe, nations - through Christ. There's an added bonus that he's from Minneapolis.
Thank you for this. I'll definitely look into his work.
That is huge.
President trump claims the 75 year old man who was shoved by Buffalo PD is a member of antifa and was "scanning police equipment".
Axios is collecting examples of Republican senators pretending they haven't seen it or otherwise avoiding commenting on it: GOP senators avoid discussing Trump's Buffalo protester tweet
Cuomo took shots at Trump over that today in his briefing.
Only one person was shot in the shooting here in Seattle, and that was very fortunately a minor wound to his arm.
I saw another video angle last night that made me think it could have been much worse.
Just to review, here he is tearing going around the corner a block away, driving aggressively / erratically, nearly hitting a pedestrian in the crosswalk and ignoring the makeshift roadblock that citizens had set up out of recycle bins.
In that angle, you can already see people chasing him, worried he's going to run his car into protesters.
The man who was shot in the arm, Daniel Gregory, was one of the ones chasing after him. He was reaching into the car when he was shot. I posted yesterday about why I don't believe his "I was lost, thought I was being carjacked, and feared for my life" story.
The thing that I saw last night that sends chills down my spine...he appears to have had a weapon malfunction after firing the first shot. There's video of him attempting to clear it, with some urgency, as he exits the car.
He showed up with 30+ rounds, and only fired one. That looks like it was due to a malfunction and not from lack of malicious intent on his part.
Yep. The guns are starting to come out. It's a vicious cycle. If it gets to the point where the cops can't handle it, and protesters feel like they need to be armed to march safely, we're going to end up in a very dark place where one single mistake can set off a chain reaction ending with a massacre.
If that does happen you'll get your gun law reforms by the end of the week. The gun nuts who want to start shooting will only hurt their own cause.
Biden, Democrats seek to shut down calls to defund police
Democrats want progressive energy, but not that sort of energy. More at 11.
What an empty and meaningless statement.
I'm so done with this "but what about the people in the middle?!" bullshit. If you believe in something, stake out your claim, even if it's way off "center". Maybe people will surprise you.
Local control of police funding seems pretty important? There is some federal funding but it's supplemental. A general principle should be that the local government decides whether to take it or not.
I don't see it getting in the way of whatever the Minneapolis city council decides to do?
Associated Press: Video evidence increasingly disproves police narratives
I'm surprised they didn't mention the most egregious self-pwn I have seen yet from a few days ago, where the Seattle Police Department in a tweet explaining why they broke their moratorium on using tear gas less than 24 hours after they put it in place claimed "Several officers injured due to improvised explosives", where they provided pics of the supposed "explosive" that was clearly just a smashed candle, that even had a sticker with "CANDLE" still clearly visible on it.
The replies to that tweet are bloody hilarious too. Some of my favs.
They seem to be talking specifically about videos taken by bystanders that contradict the official story the police release, which that doesn't really fit with. That's them... managing to undermine themselves with a photo. Definitely hilarious though.
Seems more of a surprising win for the protestors and major deescalation by the police to me.
They already have established armed guard rotations in the free zone from what I've heard.
I'm really disappointed they didn't name it the Capital Hill Autonomous District for the memes.
some humor related to this topic
Oops, this is a duplication of /u/suspended's post above.
We are watching an historic cultural transformation. U.S. General David Petraeus, writing for The Atlantic, is calling for renaming of America's most hallowed military institutions to eliminate veneration of the traitor Confederacy:
Top editors step down as newsrooms grapple with race issues - A slew of high-level resignations from top news editors over the past week shows how much pressure the current racial protests is putting on media companies to confront their own shortcomings on diversity and on covering race issues.
SF police chief "open" to defunding police department
From NY - The NY Senate has voted to abolish 50-A. Police disciplinary records will now be public.
There's going to be an absolute tsunami of records released relating to cases from 2016-present in NYC over this. I'll wager the records will do nothing but further inflame the situation when the public sees them.
Why Are the Police in Charge of Road Safety?
There's a case to be made for automating away police jobs, right there, though no one loves red light and speed cameras.
In my state, they have ruled that red light cameras are unenforceable. If you get a ticket from one, you can ignore it without penalty.
NY Police Union Boss: Stop Treating Police Like ‘Animals and Thugs’
The /r/PublicFreakout response video to that is genius, IMO:
https://v.redd.it/w56rwny74y351
That'd be a lot easier if, y'know, they didn't act like animals and thugs.
White Cop Punches Black Business Owner Who Reported Robbery of His Own Business
Philly Officer Accused of Striking Protester Cheered on Before Surrendering on Charges