Minneapolis Social Injustice and Related

[BBB]

What's with the cars running protestors over?

On one side of the spectrum you have people protesting about their freedoms in the face of beaches being closed due to the virus (beach lives matter - WTF?) and yet people who protest (freedom of speech et al) get mowed down by cars. It's all a bit backwards. I hope the driver and their passengers get charged.

[BBB]

Holding delivers the finest spell with passionate soliloquy on race

[bcm119]

Two examples contrary to this sentiment...the cops walking down the street firing paint bags at people on their porch. The Buffalo cops who shoved an elderly guy to the ground and caused a skull fracture. The cops who regularly use chemical weapons banned by international convention from the battlefield to "disperse" protestors.

If the metric for "restraint" is they didn't set up the .50 call machine gun and just start mowing everyone down, it's time to recalibrate one's concept of "restraint."

The only thugs I've seen in the streets the last two months are the cops. Yanno, the lavishly equipped, thoroughly trained, decadently funded supposed keepers of the peace. Every police force looks like they could have rolled into Fallujah when the Marines there were knee deep in the shit, and why?

A lot of these cops are nasty, angry bullies who would mow down protesters exactly as you describe if they could get away with it. So in that sense, they have shown restraint; they just haven't shown the restraint that normal people would expect.

[jclay]

Step back and take a look at the whole forest. Look at the rates POC own businesses as opposed to white folk. Look at healthcare outcomes (including covid), look at life expectancy, education rates, family wealth, unemployment rates...zoom out.

There is a noticeable attempt to reframe this unrest as simply harming those already at the margins instead of looking at state violence against Black people and their communities. Reframing this unrest lets people (you included) disregard how we (you included) perpetuate racist systems and racialized outcomes.

“Beep beep, Richie, this is New York City
The X on the map where the pain keep hitting
Just us ducks here sitting
Where murderous chokehold cops still earnin’ a livin’
Funny how some say money don’t matter
That’s rich now, isn’t it, get it? Comedy
Try to sell a pack a smokes to get food
Get killed and it’s not an anamoly
But hey, it’s just money”

Exactly. Couldn't agree more.

That a large percentage of white folks can't seem to grok what 400 years (up to the present) of beyond despicable acts against POC have done, and why the outrage is being demonstrated in the streets (mildly, compared to what I'd expect from such a history), is astonishing. And tell me where the "All Lives Matter" movement has been for those 400 years? Take your blinders off.

And your other comments are right on the money. Bullseye.

[Corso]

And to the next person that tells me they hope I never need a cop-

I'll never rely on a cop again if you never rely on the working poor. Let's see who's life is easier.

Is there anything about this country that you do like?

You're one angry dude.

[chasea]

Is there anything about this country that you do like?

You're one angry dude.

I'm about as pissed off as any decent human is and should be under these circumstances. Emotionally, spiritually I'm in a good place. Never better.
I could see how you could read it as angry as you support a lot of the things I find hateful. Just evil, evil shit.
But me as a person? No I'm not angry.

You wouldn't like me when Im angry.

[jclay]

Is there anything about this country that you do like?

You're one angry dude.

That's nothing but a deflective response seasoned with a hint of disparagement, Corso. Rather than doing that you might consider approaching it in an intellectually honest fashion and address the payload of the statement, ask why someone might offer it, and maybe drill down in to the historical and current realities of it.

[Corso]

That's nothing but a deflective response seasoned with a hint of disparagement, Corso. Rather than doing that you might consider approaching it in an intellectually honest fashion and address the payload of the statement, ask why someone might offer it, and maybe drill down in to the historical and current realities of it.

John, is there anything YOU like about this country?

I'll post and ask what I choose, I choose not need to follow your suggested format.

Chasea is a big boy, he can answer for himself.

But thanks for your critique. Add a hint sarcasm to your list.

[mjbabcock]

Is there anything about this country that you do like?

You're one angry dude.

I liked Duckworth’s NYT editorial...

[chasea]

John, is there anything YOU like about this country?

I'll post and ask what I choose, I choose not need to follow your suggested format.

Chasea is a big boy, he can answer for himself.

But thanks for your critique. Add a hint sarcasm to your list.

I pay my taxes. I pay your social security. I donate to the ACLU and NAACP Legal Defense Fund. I march in the streets. I write Black Lives Matter on public property.

I don't do empty, performative gestures like list what I like about America to prove I'm a patriot. "I choose not need to follow your suggested format" (sic)

[vertical_doug]

I think the former Mayor of Minneapolis really hits home on this OpEd.

As Mayor of Minneapolis, I Saw How White Liberals Block Change
2020-07-09 20:55:52.434 GMT

By Betsy Hodges

(New York Times) -- But this revolutionary moment is inviting us to be a part
of the solution.

Democrats have largely led big and midsize cities for much of the past
half-century. Yet the gaps in socioeconomic outcomes between white people and
people of color are by several measures at their worst in the richest, bluest
cities of the United States.

How could this be? Because high-profile cultural conservatives ask this
question so disingenuously, white liberals have generally brushed aside this
reality rather than grappled with its urgency. There’s now a danger that this
sidestepping will continue, even after a national evaluation of racism since
the brutal police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

As the mayor of Minneapolis from 2014 to 2018, as a Minneapolis City Council
member from 2006 until 2014 and as a white Democrat, I can say this: White
liberals, despite believing we are saying and doing the right things, have
resisted the systemic changes our cities have needed for decades. We have
mostly settled for illusions of change, like testing pilot programs and
funding volunteer opportunities.

These efforts make us feel better about racism, but fundamentally change
little for the communities of color whose disadvantages often come from the
hoarding of advantage by mostly white neighborhoods.

In Minneapolis, the white liberals I represented as a Council member and mayor
were very supportive of summer jobs programs that benefited young people of
color. I also saw them fight every proposal to fundamentally change how we
provide education to those same young people. They applauded restoring funding
for the rental assistance hotline. They also signed petitions and brought
lawsuits against sweeping reform to zoning laws that would promote housing
affordability and integration.

Nowhere is this dynamic of preserving white comfort at the expense of others
more visible than in policing. Whether we know it or not, white liberal people
in blue cities implicitly ask police officers to politely stand guard in
predominantly white parts of town (where the downside of bad policing is
usually inconvenience) and to aggressively patrol the parts of town where
people of color live — where the consequences of bad policing are fear,
violent abuse, mass incarceration and, far too often, death.

Underlying these requests are the flawed beliefs that aggressive patrolling of
Black communities provides a wall of protection around white people and our
property.

Police officers understand the dynamic well. We give them lethal tools and a
lot of leeway to keep our parts of town safe (a mandate implicitly understood
to be “safe from people of color.”) That leeway attracts people who want to
misuse it.

Minneapolis historically has some of the worst racial disparities in the
country. When I was mayor, despite changes like instituting body cameras and
investing more in training, policing outcomes for people of color never
improved as much as I hoped. The disparities in arrest rates and use of force,
for instance, remained glaringly high.

On Nov. 15, 2015, during my term as mayor, two Minneapolis police officers
shot and killed Jamar Clark, an unarmed Black man. An 18-day encampment set up
by protesters surrounding the grounds of the Fourth Police Precinct house
followed.

But instead of greatly increasing police presence and needlessly arresting
people for blocking the street or for having tents on public property, I
decided to let the protests and encampment continue while we negotiated with
protesters toward a more peaceful conclusion.

Minneapolis police officers, who were worried about the precinct house’s being
taken over and burned down (as the Third Precinct station was during last
month’s uprising), guarded the building and found themselves frustrated by
what they saw as conflicting orders.

“They’ve got fires in the street!”

“They’re out there smoking weed. We can smell it in here.”

“They spray-painted the precinct!”

Acts that they would have arrested people for under normal circumstances. I
heard complaints like this at every shift change I attended, shepherded inside
by a security vehicle. Before long, I knew that if I didn’t explain to the
officers what exactly I was asking of them, we had little hope of safely and
effectively saving the city from widespread unrest.

“Look,” I told them. “You know what will happen if I let you go out there and
just arrest people. There will be riots.” I told them I wanted them to get
home safely at the end of their shifts and to give us time to find a peaceful
resolution.

I remember clearly one officer, a middle-aged white man, who is now a sergeant
with the department, looking me dead in the eye and cursing me out in front of
the entire room. I needed to take a walk in their shoes, he said, peppering
his insults with profanity, so that I could “know what that’s like.” He
complained of protesters’ “calling us names, getting in our faces” and
throwing objects at officers. And “you’re letting them,” he said.

The not fully said bottom line of his message was clear: White liberals like
me ask the police to do our dirty work — dealing with the racial and economic
inequities our policies create. Normally, we turn a blind eye to the harsh
methods that many of them use to achieve our goal of order, pretend that isn’t
what we’ve done and then act surprised when their tough-guy behavior goes
viral and gets renewed scrutiny.

Whatever else you want to say about police officers, they know — whether they
articulate it neatly or not — that we are asking them to step into a breach
left by our bad policies. The creation of more-just systems won’t guarantee
the prevention of atrocities. But the status quo in cities, created by white
liberals, invites brutal policing.

Last month, a veto-proof majority of the Minneapolis City Council voted to
alter the city’s charter to disband the Police Department. The Council has
since heard calls from residents, including many Black residents, to have
“broad community input and a deliberate process before the charter change is
put to voters.”

Whatever the result, a sustainable transformation of policing will require
that white people of means disinvest in the comfort of our status quo.

It will require support of policy changes that cities led by white liberals
are currently using the blunt instrument of policing to address. It will mean
organizing for structural changes that wealthy and middle-class whites have
long feared — like creating school systems that truly give all children a
chance, providing health care for everyone that isn’t tied to employment,
reconfiguring police unions and instituting public safety protocols that don’t
simply prioritize protecting white property and lives.

On the other side of these different choices is a better world for everyone,
including us. For generations, white people have been trading genuine
connectedness in the human family for the poor substitute of property values
and perceived superiority. Some may think we have a lot to lose. But racial
equity wouldn’t be a loss for us. It would be a reclamation of our humanity.

White people, we are capable of accepting the invitation this moment has given
us. If we find ways to make our actions match our beliefs this time around,
the country will be far better off, and so will we.

Betsy Hodges was the mayor of Minneapolis from 2014 to 2018.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor.
We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are
some tips. And here’s our email: letters@nytimes.com.

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion)
and Instagram.

Click Here to see the story as it appeared on the New York Times website.

Copyright 2020 The New York Times Company

-0- Jul/09/2020 20:55 GMT

[vertical_doug]

I'll post Tammy Duckworth's OpEd since it is definitely worth reading:

Tammy Duckworth: Tucker Carlson Doesn’t Know What Patriotism Is
2020-07-09 21:41:33.328 GMT

By Tammy Duckworth

(New York Times) -- Neither does President Trump.

A little over 240 years ago, two of my ancestors put on the uniform of George
Washington’s Continental Army and marched into battle, willing to die if it
meant bringing their fledgling nation inches closer to independence. Centuries
later, in 1992, I followed in their footsteps and joined the Army.

Even knowing how my tour in Iraq would turn out, even knowing that I’d lose
both my legs in a battlefield just north of Baghdad in late 2004, I would do
it all over again. Because if there’s anything that my ancestors’ service
taught me, it’s the importance of protecting our founding values, including
every American’s right to speak out. In a nation born out of an act of
protest, there is nothing more patriotic than standing up for what you believe
in, even if it goes against those in power.

Our founders’ refusal to blindly follow their leader was what I was reflecting
on this Fourth of July weekend, when some on the far right started attacking
me for suggesting that all Americans should be heard, even those whose
opinions differ from our own. Led by the Fox News host Tucker Carlson and
egged on by President Trump, they began questioning my love for the country I
went to war to protect, using words I never actually said and ascribing a
position to me that I do not actually hold.

Mr. Carlson disingenuously claimed that because I expressed an openness to “a
national dialogue” about our founders’ complex legacies, people like me
“actually hate America.” One night later, he claimed that I called George
Washington a traitor even though I had unambiguously answered no when asked
whether anyone could justify saying that he was. Then he argued that changes
to monuments of our founders “deserve a debate,” which, somehow, was different
and more acceptable to him than the “national dialogue” that led him to
question my patriotism just 24 hours earlier.

Setting aside the fact that the right wing’s right to lie about me is one of
the rights I fought to defend, let me be clear: I don’t want George
Washington’s statue to be pulled down any more than I want the Purple Heart
that he established to be ripped off my chest. I never said that I did.

But while I would risk my own safety to protect a statue of his from harm,
I’ll fight to my last breath to defend every American’s freedom to have his or
her own opinion about Washington’s flawed history. What some on the other side
don’t seem to understand is that we can honor our founders while acknowledging
their serious faults, including the undeniable fact that many of them enslaved
Black Americans.

Because while we have never been a perfect union, we have always sought to be
a more perfect union — and in order to do so, we cannot whitewash our missteps
and mistakes. We must learn from them instead.

But what I actually said isn’t the reason Mr. Carlson and Mr. Trump are
questioning my patriotism, nor is it why they’re using the same racist insults
against me that have been slung my way time and again in years past, though
they have never worked on me.

They’re doing it because they’re desperate for America’s attention to be on
anything other than Donald Trump’s failure to lead our nation, and because
they think that Mr. Trump’s electoral prospects will be better if they can
turn us against one another. Their goal isn’t to make — or keep — America
great. It’s to keep Mr. Trump in power, whatever the cost.

It’s better for Mr. Trump to have you focused on whether an Asian-American
woman is sufficiently American than to have you mourning the 130,000 Americans
killed by a virus he claimed would disappear in February. It’s better for his
campaign to distract Americans with whether a combat veteran is sufficiently
patriotic than for people to recall that this failed commander in chief has
still apparently done nothing about reports of Russia putting bounties on the
heads of American troops in Afghanistan.

Mr. Trump and his team have made the political calculation that, no matter
what, they can’t let Americans remember that so many of his decisions suggest
that he cares more about lining his pockets and bolstering his political
prospects than he does about protecting our troops or our nation.

They should know, though, that attacks from self-serving, insecure men who
can’t tell the difference between true patriotism and hateful nationalism will
never diminish my love for this country — or my willingness to sacrifice for
it so they don’t have to. These titanium legs don’t buckle.

The hateful vision for America parroted by Mr. Trump and Mr. Carlson will not
win. Their relentless efforts to drive wedges between us will not work
forever. We are too resilient a nation, too diverse a people, to let them.

In his farewell address, George Washington not only recognized his own
imperfections, he also urged Americans to “guard against the impostures of
pretended patriotism” and be wary of excessive partisanship. In the
generations since, too many patriots, including many in my own family, have
sacrificed too much to let our guard down now.

So when Tucker Carlson questions the patriotism of those willing to sacrifice
for his freedom, or when Donald Trump promotes those smears — after having
threatened to veto a pay raise for our troops to try to ensure the military
continues honoring Confederate traitors who took up arms against our Union —
remember Washington’s words.

Remember that part of what has always made America not just great but good is
that every American has the right to question those in charge. Anyone claiming
to stand up for “patriotic” values should recognize that, because, without it,
the country these impostor patriots claim to love so much would not exist.

Our nation deserves leaders mature and secure enough not to race-bait or
swift-boat anyone who dares disagree with them. After these past four years,
and especially after these past four months, it’s clearer than ever that we
must choose public servants who will focus on the serious issues facing our
country — from the spread of the coronavirus to systemic racism to foreign
adversaries threatening our troops’ lives — rather than cynical bullies who
use schoolyard tactics to distract from their own shortcomings.

So while I would put on my old uniform and go to war all over again to protect
the right of Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump to say offensive things on TV and
Twitter, I will also spend every moment I can from now until November fighting
to elect leaders who would rather do good for their country than do well for
themselves.

Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) is a Democratic senator from Illinois.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor.
We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are
some tips. And here’s our email: letters@nytimes.com.

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion)
and Instagram.

Click Here to see the story as it appeared on the New York Times website.

Copyright 2020 The New York Times Company

-0- Jul/09/2020 21:41 GMT

[ron l edmiston]

--- i read all this shit...
hey.., the local military recruiter is looking for bad-asses full of hate...

ronnie.., no longer care to hate or be a bad-ass

[Corso]

I pay my taxes. I pay your social security. I donate to the ACLU and NAACP Legal Defense Fund. I march in the streets. I write Black Lives Matter on public property.

I don't do empty, performative gestures like list what I like about America to prove I'm a patriot. "I choose not need to follow your suggested format" (sic)

Well said.

I'll leave it at that.

[mjbabcock]

I'll post Tammy Duckworth's OpEd since it is definitely worth reading:

It is worth repeating.

“ They should know, though, that attacks from self-serving, insecure men who
can’t tell the difference between true patriotism and hateful nationalism will
never diminish my love for this country — or my willingness to sacrifice for
it so they don’t have to. These titanium legs don’t buckle.”

[guido]

Is there anything about this country that you do like?

You're one angry dude.

Keep it friendly Corso.

[bcm119]

No one asked me but...

90% of what I love about this country is it's physical geography.

The rest is a biased personal affinity for the place I was born and have lived my entire life in.

The only uniquely American value I love is the original intent for the country to be a new beginning for anyone from anywhere.

[ides1056]

What I love about this country largely comes from songs I learned growing up in the '60's when I sang in a school glee club and a church choir. That's where my ideals and beliefs were formed. They have been shaped by my education, which was predicated on becoming aware of my prejudice and working past it because it was limiting and the primary purpose of education is to expand one's horizons. Twenty-seven years living in New York City took this a big step further. I am far from done learning at 63 years old.

But I knew the minute that useless human being entered the race we were in for a very shitty time. My hope is that something better comes of this because time is running out.

[ides1056]

Having just read the news, before which I wondered what the fool had done Friday night.

You have to go back to Nelson Rockefeller to find a more explicit response to the American people.

Vice President Rockefeller gives the middle finger, 1976 - Rare Historical Photos

[thollandpe]

Well worth the 15 minutes to watch, in my opinion. We have to de-militarize the police.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/inves...lice-blinding/

Every one of these instances is an egregious abuse of “less lethal” weaponry. Most are obviously headshots taken at close range. In one instance the provocation is a 59-year-old woman tossing a can, an empty aluminum drink can, in the direction of police who are 30 yards away. She’s then hit with a beanbag between the eyes, which lodges in her skull.

Shot in the head for littering.

Eight people blinded. Eight lies as to why.