What can I do? · 11:02pm Jun 5th, 2020
Though I realize much has been said already by so many of you here (and much more eloquently than I ever could) about all that has occurred the past several days (and years) I felt that I needed to say something. I was reluctant, feeling it wasn't my place to insert my opinion . Why would anyone care what I thought? What could I do, and would it make a difference?
But it does matter. Every voice matters, especially now.
Black lives matter. Equality matters. Justice and accountability matter. Because if our society excludes and diminishes one of us, who will be next? If we don't demand change now, then when will it happen?
What can I do? Speak out. Demand change. Support this effort in any positive way you can. This is what I must do. It is what we all must do.
Because if we do not stand together now, we will all fall separately eventually.
Black lives matter matters.
I apologize that this is not as well written as most of the other posts. I just didn't know what more I could say that hadn't already been said, except to ask that everyone support each other and this most important of causes.
Thanks for reading.
Thank you for posting. As you said, all voices are important. Eloquence doesn't matter, only support matters, in whatever way we're capable of providing it.
Good on you for speaking out, Olden.
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Thank you. I hope it does.
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Thanks, Carabas.
This is really beautiful
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Thank you. I appreciate you saying so.
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A lone voice can be hard to hear, but for each voice that joins it becomes more clear, until you have a chorus that none can ignore.
5278502
I've always thought this to be very true. One voice might be easy to ignore. Several million voices can change minds.
Hey, every voice counts, Olden. No matter what you say or how eloquently you may or may not say it, just saying something is important. You're not just another voice in the crowd. You're a voice in that crowd that's making their contribution so there can be a crowd at all.
5278517
Thank you, Dash. I just hope that it all makes a change for the better.
Well put. And you're right. All voices matter. Even if it's a tiny contribution, it's something.
5278553
Thank you. Put enough candles together and the light only gets brighter.
Well said I would say,
I think Black Lives Matter but I don't much care for #Blacklivesmatter
5278487
No prob
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vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/aceattorney/images/3/39/Objection!_HD.png
That's a contradiction. Unless you mean all lives matter, in which case you're correct but #blacklivesmatter doesn't imply only black lives matter, it means black lives matter too.
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vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/aceattorney/images/a/af/ZamvJ.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/185?cb=20140726143516
Not really an objection. Yes all lives matter, agree 100%, but you can think Black Lives matter while disliking what people in the Black Lives Matter group have done and said, from simple members to the leadership.
The Black Panthers had some agreeable end goals, but one can easily not like the group.
Edit: How come you get the big one? Why is mine so small T-T
5278774
You mean the riots? I can see where you're coming from, but whether or not you think those are justified, they don't represent everyone. A lot of people peacefully protest, or are simply voicing their opinion that black lives matter.
(yours is small because ur wrong)
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The riots and other things. I have seen the leader of BLM blame "Whiteness" for troubles and that people should reject their "Whiteness" if I remember correctly he said this to Steven Colbert.
Also, I have doubts that the majority is peaceful. I don't think a minority alone could cause the mayhem and destruction that I saw. Maybe not everyone goes there for riot, but they wind up rioting when the instigators do their thing and hand out bricks. To those people who detained and Antifa and handed him over to the police for laying bricks and smashing windows, I applaud them, they deserve respect. Everyone should have the right to protest as we have a voice as Americans.
In the past I certainly remember people of BLM asking for more than people feeling Black Lives Matter and an end to violence, I also remember others asking for reparations and other such things
I also just don't agree with how BLM approaches things, or a lot of race based groups for that matter. Race is a divisive thing that creates and US vs THEM mentality and situation. For change to be done there must be unification.
Edit: -_-
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You'd be surprised how much a minority can impact a groups' reputation. Take this very community for example. Most people are nice and good, but the few bad tends to make the general public have a negative opinion on the community as a whole.
If it's an us vs them mentality, why do people that aren't black join in protests?
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Wait, hold on, before I answer this were you talking about the first or second part of my first paragraph? As I was talking more about the destruction being caused in these riots not the reputation. I don't think a minority could cause this much property damage not reputation damage. Sorry if I was confusing there or am confusing here.
Well one part is that some of non blacks that are there to start riots and cause destruction, mainly the Antifa whites.
secondly Because
media.giphy.com/media/uNgUzhakqXkyI/giphy.gif
Joking aside, precious few things are absolute. Yeah there will be people who come there anyway, but it is still harder for a message on race to reach others when compared to a cause/message that encompasses many others under a much more common theme. Instead of it being about a police officer who killed a black person, instead make it about a officer of authority, who took the life of a civilian who was posing no threat or danger (not a word on the skin color) don't say it was a black person as that marks him for a race, say a fellow American had his life taken from him by someone who had made a sacred oath to serve and protect the people of this nation, and broke that oath in the most heinous way possible. I guarantee, you say something like that, many many more people will fall under the banner and march because that doesn't say "it's a Black problem." That says "it is OUR problem, our problem as Americans."
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The first part. And I think a minority can cause that much damage. And even if I don't necessarily agree with rioting, I think it's justified considering peaceful protesting for decades hasn't worked or hasn't worked fast enough.
But being a black problem is an American problem, whether they agree with that or not. And it's because it's likely him being black was part of why he died that it's brought up as a black problem. Like the Matthew Sheppard incident, where a gay man was killed, and after that gay rights were made, and change happened. It leaves more of an impact when discriminatory crimes are treated as such.
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Gonna do this part by part, for the first paragraph.
It's more than just a minority, unless Colbert just got a random guy, this guy was either a leader or high profile member of the movement, they weren't just a nobody, these are people that the normal members follow, this person has big say in the movement.
There is a possibility you are correct, but I just really don't see all of this, these fires, this damage, this looting all being done by a minority. It was so pathetically laughable when CNN (I believe it was them) said it was a mostly peaceful protest while there was a building ablaze behind them, that was some Onion or Mad Magazine level satire that was brought to life.
Lastly. Who are these riots hurting?? You think this somehow helps Black People? This is destroying their communities, what of that Black Firefighter who had a dream of opening his sports bar who had his safe and money stolen by these greedy opportunistic dregs of humanity?? (yes I am using harsh language, and likely will more, know none of these harshness is directed at you, but I'm gonna hope you can agree these people are evil.) This is not sticking it to the man or anything, you know what this does? It makes people hate them to the core, it makes them want the military to restore peace and in some cases, step on their heads because they have done nothing but destroy the property of innocent civilians.
No, rioting is not an effective means of doing this, violence begets violence, and when they hurt civilians in their violence, they begin to be outnumbered and people will lose sympathy, to the point where absolute Dishonored Level chaos ensues, people would have no qualms with the military ending this, and the message would be drowned it. What angers and disappoints me most, is this could have been a unifying thing. The officer who did this deed and those who watched were arrested and has charges placed on them. The justice system is doing its work and giving them their rights within the law and due process. What is left to do these protests about?? They said they would work on reform unless I am mistaken? Democrat, Conservative, Pro-Police, Anti-Police, all agreed this was horrendous, this SHOULD have been a unifying thing as all parties felt they were guilty as soon as they saw the video. No suspension, they lost their jobs instantly, that never happens until due process is completed, the gavel may as well have already been hit and the sentence delivered. The fact protests happened at all is ridiculous in my eyes, and now they are hijacked by Antifa and other agitators.
Second part.
Being Black is an American problem? I am not sure if I understand you 100% there, I have kinda two vague ideas what you mean, one I agree with, the other I do not. Would you be so kind as to clarify?
Also, this doesn't take away from what I said. Going on the idea I agree with you just for the sake of this response, it may be, but making it about race makes it harder to get people unified. Let's say, in this instance, there is a problem with law enforcement, and black people, focusing on that makes it harder to get something done, make it as I had said, just about the police taking an innocent life, and more people would be unified, they would work to get reform done, and reforming to stop these horrible instances for All People, will in turn help the issue with Black People.
Maybe the issue with Police and Black people is but a symptom of the greater problem or a separate problem of its own, the fact still remains tackling the greater problem will in turn help remedy the problem the Black Community faces.
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It's still possible for it to have been a mostly peaceful protest, with just a few people causing the fire. And it's not the riots by themselves that people think are helping. It's the wake up call it's meant to give the country. Yes, nowadays on a case by case basis police are arrested for things like this, but the BLM is trying to ensure it stops happening. I don't know the details, but the riots are almost definitely because of an overall problem, and the murder was the straw that broke the camels' back. And if people want the military to step in to stop the riots, they're entirely missing the point. It's Trump who wants this, and that is definitely not a good sign that it's a positive thing. Actually, from most things I've heard, people don't want the military involved.
I'm saying the bad stuff that happens to black people is a problem with all of America, and people should want to help out whether it's treated as a black problem or an all Americans problem. And the thing is, I don't think treating it as an all lives matter problem helps deal with racism really. Also the opposite is true. Dealing with racism helps the ALM movement. You don't really hear about police officers murdering white people for no reason after all.
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I highly doubt it, and then the rest of the people are just sitting by and letting it happen if they do.
Wake up call? Really? You think these riots are making people see them as people who are in a plight? No, they see them as people who are a blight. when I see BLM people yelling at a white woman to get on her knees and ask for forgiveness, yeah, that's totally going to fix things. They don't even have a set idea on HOW to fix the problem, they have infighting because some want police reform, and others want ABOLISH THE POLICE! Yeah, that is NO solution.
No. People riot, because they want MONEY! The rioters who rob and loot everything from shoes to TVs to cheescake. (yeah, I wish I was joking, they stole a cheesecake) These people probably don't even know George Floyd's name, they don't give a shit about him, they're EVIL! Remember Ferguson? People came from outside into Ferguson, to RIOT, and LOOT. They are opportunists, don't think for a moment this is happening because they care, they do this as an excuse.
No, it is not Trump who wants this, it is the Democrats, who support these riots and kowtow to them, when they condemned the entirely peaceful protests for reopening the country. It is the Democrats and the leftists, who keep bailing these disgusting rioters out of jail so they can riot more. It is these Democrats, who have betrayed the people, all the people, by keeping lockdown going and saying those who were against it had no right to protest, but saying those who destroy the nation with violence are free to do so. Yeah, Trump doesn't want this, the Dems do.
I have seen things to suggest otherwise, certainly civilians don't want these godless rioters destroying more of their property.
EVERYONE, wanted accountability for this, there was no need for these riots and protests. if everyone just kept their blood down, there would have been discussion, I truly believe so, but they have buried the narrative, and common ground has been lost, these rioters have doomed any chance for rallying all of America, and it's a true shame.
Oh it is, BUT, it does not change the fact it is HARDER to get people united on a race issue than an American issue. How? How does treating it as EVERYONE'S problem not help Black People? Are Black People not part of EVERYONE?
No, no it does not. Treating a small part has minimal to no effect on the core issue. Same as putting a cold/hot to treat the fever does not help cure the flu, that's treating a symptom and not the disease itself.
You're right, you don't here about that, despite more Whites getting killed than Blacks by police, you never have the White community up in arms like this, but a Black person dies and it's nonstop coverage.
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I don't see them as a blight, so clearly not everyone agrees with you. And there's always going to be conflicting thoughts no matter what kind of organization.
So I suppose you can just read the minds of the protesters and you know they don't want to support the BLM movement?
I mean it's Trump who wants to use military force, and him being the one who wants it is a bad sign. Also what does wanting to keep the lockdown going have anything to do with this? That's good to stop the flow of coronavirus.
First: godless doesn't equal bad. Second: I also have experience otherwise.
They haven't doomed all chances. Like I said, people still support the BLM movement, and whether or not they agree with the riots, they agree with the gist of it at the least.
The thing is that when it's not treated as a black problem, there's no social reform for black people. Different but similar things such as the Matthew Sheppard story prove this. He was a gay man who was murdered for that his sexuality, and protests that broke out helped build gay rights because it was treated as an LGBTQ+ related issue.
Do more white people die? Where's your proof?
5280869
Maybe because YOU haven't had your home or business vandalized or robbed. That might have something to do with it.
Okay. I am truly trying my best to be respectful, I may get snappy writing this part. I Let's say for a moment, there people in KKK robes who came to homes and businesses at least where some were owned by Black People, others just random people, broke in, looted the place, and vandalized it. Would you say they think Black Lives Matter? NO! So why when Black People and White Antifa do THE EXACT SAME THING!! Do you somehow think they feel Black Lives Matter? I don't need to read minds, I have more than two brain cells and common sense, that is all it would take to realize they do this for their own selfish gain.
Orange man bad. Orange man bad. That is what it says in great volumes about you when you say because trump wants something it's bad. I have no respect for an NPC, you don't have to agree with everything Trump has done, but thinking whatever he wants is bad, proves you have Trump Derangement Syndrome. I hear Trump likes water, better avoid it then.
Do....do you read? I'm sorry, do you really read?? Or think, about what I say before you respond? This is really straining me mentally, okay...I will try and explain, THE HYPOCRISY to you...Ready? You got your thinking cap on? Hope so.
Democrats. CONDEMNED protesting lockdown, because they felt it would spread the virus. They SUPPORTED, these protests and riots, even though, NO ONE is social distancing. All these people around each other would VERY MUCH SPREAD THE VIRUS!! But Dems in their ultimate hypocrisy, magically kept their mouths SHUT about the danger of spreading the virus in order to kowtow to these protesters, because reasons. P.S new data suggests that lockdown MADE THINGS WORSE! As more cases came from home, and those who kept the lockdown going on suffered much worse (Looking at you Andrew Cuomo and Bill de blasio)
Trump wants this nation to succeed, these riots are a danger to the nation, and the police do not have enough force to keep the peace, so the military comes in next. What kind of leader stands by and lets people destroy the cities of his nation?? I shitty leader, people want this to stop.
godless is just a word I tend to use. Fine, I'll use the word EVIL
https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2020/06/02/58-of-voters-support-using-military-to-help-police-control-protests-poll-finds/#262b5d422417
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/52-americans-support-deploying-military-control-violent-protests/story?id=71097167
https://americanpriority.com/news/silent-majority-poll-shows-american-voters-support-use-of-military-national-guard-in-riots/
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/voters-approve-of-trumps-handling-of-protests-and-back-using-national-guard-poll
People see more of destructive riots than they do a message of standing against racism.
People believe Black Lives Matter, but the more BLM goes what it does the less they support the group. A lot more could have been done and would have if BLM wasn't BLM
The irony in this, is you proved my point perfectly. This was treated as an LGBT issue, and it only helped people IN THAT ONE GROUP. You explained it perfectly, thanks for this, I didn't even know about this. If this was made an issue of encompassing ALL PEOPLE, LGBT, Black, and American issues in general would have been improved.
Here's this one for the last 4 years categorized by year and race.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/585152/people-shot-to-death-by-us-police-by-race/
5280978
I definitely wouldn't like that, but that wouldn't make me think black people are a blight.
But it's a direct response to the racist killing of a black man.
It's just that all of his political decisions that I've heard I've disagreed with, and many people too, but really I was just making a joke. Yeah, just because he said it doesn't mean it's wrong, but regardless of who said it, using military force to stop it is really not a good response. It's missing the point of it, and just making people more upset.
Well I'm not saying rioting is a good way to prevent coronavirus, I'm saying protesting against lockdown also doesn't prevent that. Also, of course more cases are gonna come from home when most people are staying at home. That's like saying there's a higher chance of getting married when you're wearing white shoes when you wear white shoes almost every day. By the way, what do you mean the hypocritical democrats? Do you just mean anyone that supports voting, cause I'm pretty sure that's most people.
But the overall goal (I can't speak about people on the individual level) is to get the government to pay attention and crack down on racism, and if instead of trying to kill anyone who is tired of stuff like this happening, Trump and his government can do just that. Worked with the 1992 L.A. Riots, even if it was somewhat different circumstances.
Well we shall see whether more could've been done or if it will be done.
No. It really wouldn't have. If it wasn't treated as an LGBTQ+ issue, it likely wouldn't have done anything. Murders are already looked down upon in general, but it's the fact that it was discriminating that was a problem. Do random murders of people not in minorities cause big social change for people of all different races and sexuality? I don't think so. Either way, the two would've probably been sent to jail for life, but if his sexuality wasn't made a big deal of, that would've been that and the world would've moved on. It probably wouldn't have even been big in the news. The thing is, discrimination is mostly a problem for people of minorities, and that's why those kinds of crimes are treated as an issue related to their identity.
And there's also 5x as many white people as black people, and the very same page said more black shootings are fatal, so thank you for proving my point.
5282369
Not Black people, these damn rioters! Just because some rioters happen to be black doesn't mean hating them makes you hate black people as a whole. Surely you don't think all Black People can be categorized by one group now do you? Why, that would make you Racist.
....My God...you really don't read. It. Is. An. Excuse. They don't care. They are using it as an excuse.
Oh Yes, because a Black Man was killed, we should rob civilians including other Black Men, that equals equality obviously!
The Black Police Officer that lost his life, oh yes, his life mattered SO MUCH to these people!!
Yeah, fuck that, that is bullshit
Honest to goodness I feel partially inclined to ask to discuss this with you, as we both may learn something.
Sad thing is some people don't joke like that and really believe that way. I suppose though I owe you a sorry for it then
Friend. When rioters kill a Black Police Officer, don't you think that ruins the point? When your point was that Black Lives Matter, and then you take a Black Life so carelessly and cruelly, you have lost your message then and there. They lost their message long ago, when the first lives started being taken, now to prevent further death, they need to be stopped. People are more upset, at the rioters
Technically, now with the studies, keeping up lockdown increases Coronavirus, so protesting it to get it removed could help out.
What??? What are you talking about? Like....really? What? I am legitimately asking this, how am I confusing you? Am I just not making my points clear somehow??
By Hypocritical Democrats, I mean the Democrat Politicians that condemned and tried preventing protests on lockdown, claiming it would spread COVID, when they never condemned them riots and protests for Floyd. They never said, "Don't protest it will spread COVID" They just smiled and nodded, like hypocrites.
What the claimed goal is, not what is being worked at as evidence by their willingness to kill people who are Black or otherwise.
Do you have any idea how much the individual Black Person hated those riots??? They had their property DESTROYED! They wanted Police and National Guard to come and restore order! The Roof Koreans came about because of this, IT SOLVED NOTHING!
Kinda hard without a crystal ball. Can't look at what could have been.
No. What makes a difference is making a spectacle of things. You see how many White People were killed in those statistics? Now, when was the last time you saw major news coverage of a white person killed by police?? Please name it for me, because I can't think of one. What makes a difference is the attention it gets from Media, control the Media, control the mind. If these killings were made so public, with disturbing footage like what we saw with Floyd, it doesn't matter what his skin color was, people would be outraged! Viewing it, is a lot different than hearing about it, the coverage makes the difference, not if it is a minority.
That's a poor way of looking at it. It counts per million people, yes as a MINORITY of the nation they have the most dead if you measure it by how many people there are, but that's a deceptive way of looking at it.
With that logic, if there was 10x as many white people as Black in the nation, and for every 8 White People killed 1 Black person was killed, there would still be more fatalities for Blacks should one use that method of measurement.
Despite being a minority, from the years of 1980 to 2008 Blacks committed nearly 8x as many homicides as Whites did, so being a minority didn't stop them from holding the strong majority there.
Mind you, this is Bureau of Justice Statistics.
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I know I'm gonna sound like I don't have counterarguments if I do this, but I really don't see either of us budging on this matter and we're just bloating this comment section by continuing to endlessly debate, so I say we just agree to disagree. The big issue I had with what you said in the first place is the BLM doesn't matter, and since I figured out it's not because you're racist, I'm relatively ok with your opinion, even if I disagree with most of it.
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Well I concur, quite frankly while we are bloating this comments section, it actually makes the blog a "trending blog" I believe by how FIM gathers data due to all the comments, some people may like that, other not, some likely don't care, one way or another I concur.
While it does give a slight feel of a lack of counterarguments, I would not really dwell on it as some form of triumph, and so I am perfectly fine with a debate equivalent to "Peace with Honor". I don't debate for some primal desire of victory, but to ebb my way closer to the truth in a labyrinth of lies and biases from both sides of the spectrum. I value talking to people from the other side because if I just stayed among those who think like me, I would undoubtedly succumb to the blissful siren songs of confirmation bias.
The end goal of debate in my eyes is a form of Hegelian Dialectic, a thesis is presented and an antithesis is brought up, the two sides conflict and through conflict synthesis is achieved, and both sides are made better for it, learning faults in their beliefs and changing accordingly and steps toward the truth is made.
I find it a perfectly respectable conclusion, I never force another person to debate.
I will say as a final note, if you would at least do this for me, watch this video and perhaps a few more of this man Anthony Brian Logan. You may not agree with him on all points, or even many, but I always say it never hurts to give people a chance.
https://www.youtube.com/user/aloge/videos