I don't get it, man

I wrote up something much more rambly last night, but I decided to sleep on it. That was a good plan; I've been feeling a lot better today.

So let's keep this simple.

I know I'm not the best at this whole words thing (shoutouts to Soon™), and I know I don't have the widest reach, but the fact that this is something that needs to be said is pretty disheartening. I also don't like mixing horsewords with politics. I think it's important for people to have an escape, somewhere where they don't have to think about the troubles of the world. It can be a helpful way to cope.

But at the same time, some things are important enough to be said anyway.

---

I just don't understand how you can have a subdued suspect in your custody, who is facedown on the ground, and think to yourself, "You know what I need to do? I need to kneel on this guy's neck for about nine minutes."

I don't understand how you can be this guy's partner, watch him do this, and think to yourself, "Yep, this is totally fine."

I don't understand how the police, who are supposed to be at protests in order to protect the protesters from bad actors, have become the bad actors themselves in many situations.

And while I understand how easy it is to conflate the looters with the protesters, please don't. There might be some overlap, but from all the poking around I've done, most protesters are pretty keen to kick out those sorts of bad actors from the protest. They aren’t the same, and don’t let the bad actors muddy the value the protests bring.

And perhaps most of all, I don't understand how the pigment of someone's skin is somehow indicative of their worth as a human being. 

---

That's about all I got. If you're looking for something more eloquent, Impossible Numbers ended his blog with a pretty comprehensive list of blogs on the subject. Feel free to take your pick (including Impossible Numbers's own blog).

EDIT: I can't imagine there are going to be too many latecomers to my blog, but for those of you that got here after this edit, you should absolutely read Chris's blog on the subject. Chris has once again outdone himself.

Comments

[monsterlord18]

all i know... is that humans are just evil.

[Lofty Withers]

Thanks for lending your voice.

[Carabas]

[Dafaddah]

Here’s Trevor Noah, bringing the perspective of someone who actually grew up under Apartheid. He makes a very valid point about how people’s feelings are driven by how their expectations of society are not being met, and more specifically of how those in authority have failed to uphold their part of the “social contract”.