I-5 wrote:Nowhere did I indicate that I was worried about anything, but thanks for your concern. I was making the observation that people complained about them disrespecting the flag by kneeling during the anthem (which was suggested as a better alternative to sitting by Green Beret Nate Boyer), and now they're showing their display of unity for BLM in the space of time between the anthem and the game are STILL getting booed. I do find that funny, which begs the RHETORICAL question, when is the proper time to protest? It's just discourse, there is no right answer.
I do like Riv's suggestion of transitioning from protest to action....got any suggestions for the kinds of actions you're thinking of?
Yeah. I posted that a while back and I'll add more:
1 Better technology for the police for non-lethal capture. Jacob Blake in Wisconsin was tasered twice and it did nothing. What can a cop do once he's applied non-lethal force twice, ordered him to stand down at gun point with 2 other cops, tried to grab his shirt, and tried to physically apprehend him and he physically outmatched the cops? So they need better technology for non-lethal capture.
2. BLM has to show they aren't an organization that is solely there to attack cops and make it so a person of African descent can ignore them and do what they want. That is wrong. Look at Wisconsin which you haven't addressed yet. You tell me what is a police officer supposed to do when he has tried all nonlethal methods? Do you think it is right for BLM to attack that Wisconsin cop when he took all those measures to apprehend the man and he walked to his car ignoring them? Where is the line drawn for police officer's to use lethal force? I would say that Jacob Blake is at fault for this one unless I hear something different in the report. BLM protesting and burning down Kenosha for basically expecting the police officer to just wait for Blake to get what he planned to get from his car and do what he planned to do is wrong of the BLM protesters. Someone should be telling the BLM protesters they are wrong and if they can't maintain a reasoned approach to these occurrences, then how do we have a starting point for reform?
3. Rewrite the laws. Drug laws are stupid right now. Legalize marijuana nation wide. Use tort law to attack drug dealers. Drug crime punishment should be forced rehabilitation paid for by confiscating drug dealer money and possessions using Tort Law measuring damages of a rehab program for using their product. Drug dealers are essentially businesses who are selling a bad product to customers. Set up the law so that Tort Law allows the courts to pursue heavy damages to anyone accused of selling an addictive product that causes someone to be assigned to a forced rehabilitation program.
Get rid of stupid laws like selling loose cigarettes in front of stores in New York requiring a gang arrest.
4. Send flier with information out saying exactly what the police are authorized to do if you resist arrest and ensure people know to follow the police commands. A very common theme in these police killings is the person not complying with police arresting them. I would say the more common theme than race in these police killings is the individual not complying with and being very careful with the police. These dudes are not there to talk with you, hold your hand, or be kind to you. They are there to arrest you for something you may or may not be doing someone has called them about. If you are make their job hard, then you put yourself in danger.
Literally everyone I know regardless of race has been taught to comply with the police, so they can do their job. If you resist them or cause them trouble, then you might end up seriously hurt or dead. They are not there to martyr themselves dealing with your resistance.
5. On call counselors for the mentally ill. The police are not trained mental health counselors or at least most of them. They have deescalation techniques, but they aren't always going to work with a crazy person. Crazy people are unpredictable. You can't expect a cop to show patience and wait for a crazy person to hurt or kill them just to make sure they don't kill the wrong person. So maybe have some on call police counselors who are cops and counselors who can respond to mental health emergencies. Maybe this would help. Who knows. Sometimes crazy is crazy. My mother worked in a hospital with some insane combat veterans that only huge ass orderlies could keep in line because they could kill or rip apart normal people. I'm not sure what you can do when a huge, combat trained male has lost his mind and is a possible danger.\
6. One big thing would be call on the police for more personal accountability. Get rid of the problems in their midst or the racists. If a cop knows someone is a racist or a violent cop, call him out and get him out off the force. Cops have to hold each other up to high standards. Their job is hard. They deal with the worst of the human problems in the world. They don't need terrible people on the police force to make a problem worse before it starts.
Suffice it to say, I see this as more of a two way problem than one way. It's not just the cops. The real common denominator in these police killings is not race. Cops are not waking up in the morning, going to work, and taking bets on who bags the first black man for the week. The common denominator is either resisting arrest or incompetence. Resisting arrest puts the police in a tough situation to start out with because the lethal force decision making and the rough, physical altercation starts. The incompetence is when a police officer ratchets up a situation he didn't need to like that woodcarver in Seattle or the guy who drew his pistol instead of his taser in Fruitvale Station.
First order of business is making it clearly known that resisting arrest is not tolerated. It needs to stop. That will save the most amount of lives right there even though no one on the left wants to admit this because it doesn't fit their race based narrative. I'd bet you my entire life savings that not resisting arrest would cut the number of not just black men killed by police, but everyone killed by police by 75% or more. The number one event I've seen in nearly every one of these police and citizen incidents is the people resisting arrest putting the police in violent mode.