Riots in Missouri - Part 2

[SuperFerret]

So, I'm the only one that gets annoyed when there are parades and stuff too?

I'm not one to protest, I personally feel like there would be better uses of my time in such cases, but if you want to express yourself like that, go for it. It's just the locations of these protests that are baffling. If you're protesting in Albany, NY about something that happened in Ferguson, Missouri, you're protesting to the wrong people.

 

[BatmanVSuperman]

No of course not. But you don't deny that your ancestry possessed those wrong views.

I had nothing to do with the genocide against Native Americans in America, but I understand it's my responsibility to not allow those same mistakes to rear their ugly heads again. Just because I'm not force marching them from their lands, doesn't mean I shouldn't recognize my responsibility to not further their oppression by supporting laws that oppress them.

Many times (not saying you) when people make that "i had nothing to do with it" argument, it's a way of distancing themselves from having responsibility for something else. As if this if first time they've become aware of the problem, so the past doesn't count.

There are some people who actually think pretty much all white people had slaves during that period. John Hope Franklin From Slavery to Freedom, McGraw-Hill

Less than 5% of the whites in the South owned slaves. Fully 3/4's of the white people of the South had neither slaves nor an immediate economic interest in the maintenance of slavery or the plantation system.

 

[chaseter]

All white people are inherent racists that have a gold pedestal. That's already been decided in here by some. That could be a good multiracial marketing slogan.

 

[Victarion]

And once again, how is standing in the middle of the street and accomplishing nothing but pissing off a bunch of motorists, supposed to do anything productive to change any of that?

That isn't accomplishing anything except being annoying and making people less sympathetic to whatever you're talking about.

So step down off your soapbox and try actually doing something constructive to fight social injustice instead of standing in the middle of the street or doing a "die-in" in a store and basically accomplishing nothing except A) disrupting the lives of people who had nothing to do with what you're angry about, and B) getting yourself on camera.

I saw some pics of protestors taking up Rahm Emanuel's office. Laying around, solidarity for Mike and all. That's where they should take their die-ins: to the offices of the people who can actually bring about the changes they're looking for.

 

[The Question]

So, I'm the only one that gets annoyed when there are parades and stuff too?

I'm not one to protest, I personally feel like there would be better uses of my time in such cases, but if you want to express yourself like that, go for it. It's just the locations of these protests that are baffling. If you're protesting in Albany, NY about something that happened in Ferguson, Missouri, you're protesting to the wrong people.

The thing is, it isn't just happening in Furgeson. The events in Furgeson are one example of a wider trend which can be seen in almost every community in America, and that's what's being protested.

 

[BatmanVSuperman]

The protests aren't even making sense now.

 

[The Question]

The protests aren't even making sense now.

That photo is from three years ago.

 

[SuperT]

It's just the locations of these protests that are baffling. If you're protesting in Albany, NY about something that happened in Ferguson, Missouri, you're protesting to the wrong people.

Uh, these issues affect everyone, they don't all occur in their own separate vacuums. Just because an issue happened in Missouri doesn't mean people in New York, California etc. aren't moved or affected by it. Also doesn't mean that same situation can't or won't happen in your state, city or neighborhood in the future. It's a nationwide situation that everyone should care about and take issue with.

Protests, marches etc. happen for a reason. They happen because it forces people who typically wouldn't bat an eyelash or care about injustices that don't directly affect them to face the issue head on. That's the problem with the country now - the majority is so damn scared or just wants to brush racial issues and inequality under the rug and move on because it makes them feel uncomfortable. It makes them question and second guess a system that they've consistently benefitted from for hundreds of years while others have been squashed and oppressed by that very same power structure.

And once again, you have the privilege of not having to care about these issues. So you can turn off the tv and go about your life like normal - I and most other African-American people who are affected by it don't have that same privilege. We have to explain to our children and grandchildren etc. the ramifications of these actions. How is that so hard to see and understand why people are protesting?

 

[BatmanVSuperman]

That photo is from three years ago.

and?

 

[Kar]

and?

And its relevancy to the Ferguson protests is...?

 

[Kar]

And once again, you have the privilege of not having to care about these issues. So you can turn off the tv and go about your life like normal - I and most other African-American people who are affected by it don't have that same privilege. How is that so hard to see and understand why people are protesting?

I just don't get what is so hard to comprehend. First its "why are these animals rioting?" (which I admit is bad, no argument there) now its "why are they blocking roads protesting?" Even if you don't see this as a black/minority vs white issue there is CLEARLY an issue with police brutality which is what a great portion of these protests are about. Don't knock people for trying to speak up.

 

[The Question]

If you think that people are arrogant for making the statement that people being brutalized by police who are then not held accountable is more important than you getting to work on time, I think you're the one who's being arrogant.

 

[Schlosser85]

If you think that people are arrogant for making the statement that people being brutalized by police who are then not held accountable is more important than you getting to work on time, I think you're the one who's being arrogant.

And neither you nor anyone else has answered the repeated question: how is making a traffic disruption out of yourself and just pissing off a bunch of impatient motorists (because let's be real, that's what the result is), supposed to enact social change?

People pissed at you for making them late to work are not going to be sympathetic to you.

The protesters need to come up with some better method.

 

[Kar]

The protesters need to come up with some better method.

Like? I'm interested in hearing your suggestion that will get people to listen us/them and make changes.

 

[Kar]

Justice Department's Autopsy of Mike Brown Released

 

[The Question]

And neither you nor anyone else has answered the repeated question: how is making a traffic disruption out of yourself and just pissing off a bunch of impatient motorists (because let's be real, that's what the result is), supposed to enact social change?

People pissed at you for making them late to work are not going to be sympathetic to you.

The protesters need to come up with some better method.

The methods that don't piss people off haven't worked. Protesting is about drawing attention to social issues and making them impossible to ignore. The marches and the die ins accomplish that.

It's the same basic methodology that Martin Luther King Jr. used. All of his direct actions were about disrupting daily life to draw attention to issues. The bus boycotts hurt businesses, the marches blocked traffic, the sit ins were the same thing as the die-ins, just less theatrical.

It's impossible to enact social change in a way that is universally convenient. Inevitably, shaking things up requires a disruption of day to day activities.

 

[Feenix]

It seems all this will do is reinforce stereotypes.

The thing is, the media and the internet have never been more powerful than they are now. MLK needed to disrupt lives to make a statement because that was the only way word would get out. The protests today are being documented nation wide on every news channel. Personally, I think that will get the job done. There is no need to be disruptive.

 

[Kar]

It seems all this will do is reinforce stereotypes.

That black people like to protest?

 

[Feenix]

That black people like to protest?

I was referring more to the rioting/looting.

 

[Kar]

I was referring more to the rioting/looting.

I assumed you meant the protests since the rioting has stopped a long time ago. My mistake.

 

[chaseter]

And once again, you have the privilege of not having to care about these issues. So you can turn off the tv and go about your life like normal - I and most other African-American people who are affected by it don't have that same privilege. We have to explain to our children and grandchildren etc. the ramifications of these actions. How is that so hard to see and understand why people are protesting?

This is how hate breeds hate. You create a self fulfilling prophecy for your kids by telling them how the system is created against them by their white oppressors. Such is bigotry. Please don't write children's books.

 

[The Question]

This is how hate breeds hate. You create a self fulfilling prophecy for your kids by telling them how the system is created against them by their white oppressors. Such is bigotry. Please don't write children's books.

So racism is the fault of minorities?

I really don't follow you. How is telling children that the system is stacked against them due to racism a self fulfilling prophecy? How does them understanding the inherent disadvantages in the system bring them into existence?

 

[SuperT]

This is how hate breeds hate. You create a self fulfilling prophecy for your kids by telling them how the system is created against them by their white oppressors. Such is bigotry. Please don't write children's books.

So now you're blaming us for racism? Got it.

How is it bigotry telling my possible future children the reality of the situation here within our country? Telling them that doesn't mean they are going to hate white people nor is that the point, but I certainly don't want them blindly going about thinking our system is full and equal in regards to minorities because that would be a bald face lie.

 

[chaseter]

Who is us?

 

[The Question]

Who is us?

Not-white people.