2020 Protests megathread

[fhtagn]

https://twitter.com/FOXNashville/status/1267570523632013312?s=19
https://twitter.com/Oregonian/status/1267282082532741121?s=19
https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1267306821947097088?s=19
Obviously those police officers are outliers, because many on this site claim that most/all cops are bad and evil 🤷‍♂️

These gestures are a step in the right direction, but why aren't we seeing officers openly commit to defunding and demilitarizing their departments? If they really want to be apart of solving this systemic problem, they wouldn't just be kneeling and saying a nice speech while minutes later deploy teargas and rubber bullets to these people (which is getting more clear that they've been using on violent and peaceful demonstrations).

>I want police to be more professional, better trained, and better able to screen out undesirable recruits
>Why haven't police committed to defunding themselves!?

Do people actually believe this tf

Police departments don't need military grade equipment to protect and serve their communities while other departments (especially housing, health services and education) need it more right now than ever. Kneeling and raising fists with protesters are just photo-ops if they aren't ready to fundamentally change themselves.

lolwut

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1267808120136511489

I'm waiting for the inevitable Trump tweet that merely consists of:

"DOMINATION!"

It is only then that Trump will finally have completely his transformation into a 1930s serial villain.

Or this dystopian alternate history.

I think we're actually somewhere between this one and this one.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Well, it's good to know that Trump can at least see something positive in the riots: The Cuomos were made look "bad".


https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1267811637811187712

[Dr Oz Lost Party!]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1267808120136511489

Psychopath.

[JA]

People keep beating around the bush. Want the broader solution to this crisis in twenty words or less?

Police have to be made to fear maintaining the status quo more than they fear change. Until or unless that happens, cops are going to behave as they've been behaving, and protests are going to continue to occur as they have. When/if cops are just as fearful (or more) of losing their jobs, pensions and families in the middle of the night due to their homes getting firebombed as they are fearful of somebody looking at them funny in the street while they are armed with surplus DOD gear, change will happen. Until then, social, political and cultural gravity will continue to apply here and the status quo will reign.

At the end of the day, policemen are just agents of the state. There are lots of ways that change can happen, even if cops disagree with it.

The power to change things lies within the hands of city council members and state legislators for the most part.

Make bill reforms so that policing is forced to be more gentle, bad policemen can be prosecuted and fired more easily, etc. There are tons of ways to change things that do not involve a revolution.

In fact, given Minneapolis is a 70%+ D city I wonder why the City council isn't passing or discussing ordinances that would fix the problems with policing in the city. Same for the Safe D states with protests like say, California or New York.

I’d be genuinely confused by the inaction of Democratic elected officials as well, if not for the fact that they’ve been complicit in these human rights abuses all along. They aren’t making sweeping changes because they don’t want to. Biden suggested cops aim for the legs instead of the heart for the same reason; they are part of the problem. Democrats have been in control of most major cities for decades now, yet it has resulted in only minor reforms at best. All of these seemingly unrelated repeated incidences of Democratic failure aren’t a series of coincidences.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but I do wonder whether the apparent progress being made on racism is only possible because elites no longer believe they need half as many white people on side as they used to. It's not as if AAs have gotten richer over the last few decades.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington on ABC's "Good Morning America":

Trump's message is "antithetical to the teachings of Jesus and to the God of justice"

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/02/washington-bishop-condemns-trump-message-295946

[Landslide Lyndon]

I guess Trump got his wall after all.

https://twitter.com/peterbakernyt/status/1267816637199073281

[WD]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1267808120136511489

Psychopath.

lmao what is with trump and “dOmINatIoN”

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1267808120136511489

Psychopath.

lmao what is with trump and “dOmINatIoN”

First he wanted to paint the wall black. Soon he'll be posing in dark leather. 

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

I guess Trump got his wall after all.

https://twitter.com/peterbakernyt/status/1267816637199073281

Calling some tilted black fencing a 'fortress' is very much in the coward Donald Trump's idiom.

[Intell]

I don't know about Minneapolis but generally voters in major cities have voted for the law-and-order candidates when crime issues come-up for mayoral elections and city-wide offices. This is ignoring the power that white-ethnic machines, through police unions have in democratic-party politics, especially at a ward-level, and these voters turnout more than black voters.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1267808120136511489

Psychopath.

lmao what is with trump and “dOmINatIoN”

First he wanted to paint the wall black. Soon he'll be posing in dark leather. 

Bondage and Domination - the core of "white nationalism" (aka American Nazis).

[Landslide Lyndon]

I don't know about Minneapolis but generally voters in major cities have voted for the law-and-order candidates when crime issues come-up for mayoral elections and city-wide offices. This is ignoring the power that white-ethnic machines, through police unions have in democratic-party politics, especially at a ward-level, and these voters turnout more than black voters.

No they haven't. There have been numerous progressive DAs elected the last 3-4 years who campaigned on decarceration and denounced the tough-on-crime policies of their predecessors.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

I don't know about Minneapolis but generally voters in major cities have voted for the law-and-order candidates when crime issues come-up for mayoral elections and city-wide offices. This is ignoring the power that white-ethnic machines, through police unions have in democratic-party politics, especially at a ward-level, and these voters turnout more than black voters.

Are you writing from 2004?

[GeorgiaModerate]

I guess Trump got his wall after all.

Did Mexico pay for it?

[GeneralMacArthur]

I’d be genuinely confused by the inaction of Democratic elected officials as well, if not for the fact that they’ve been complicit in these human rights abuses all along. They aren’t making sweeping changes because they don’t want to. Biden suggested cops aim for the legs instead of the heart for the same reason; they are part of the problem. Democrats have been in control of most major cities for decades now, yet it has resulted in only minor reforms at best. All of these seemingly unrelated repeated incidences of Democratic failure aren’t a series of coincidences.

The fact that you're using that out-of-context Biden quote to mislead people is deplorable.  But I want to address the "these are in Democratic cities" talking point.

Do we think the unofficial position of the Democratic Party is to condone or support these kinds of police actions?  If not, then what's the purpose of calling this out?  Virtually every city in America is controlled by Democratic politicians at the local level.  Does that mean everything bad that ever happens in a city is the Democrats' fault, and if they ever say they want to make cities better they're lying hypocrites?

The more local your politics gets, the less it will be based on broad policies and the more it will be based on local relationships.  This is especially true of the police.  Police are key to enforcing virtually every municipal policy and have the agency to screw up your agenda big time.  They wield enormous political strength and are extremely difficult to tangle with due to their powerful unions.  If a Democratic mayor tries to ride into office on a white horse and rebuild the entire police department from scratch, they're going to run smack into a brick wall.

So in practice, even though most Democrats are on the same page about police and criminal justice reform, you have to find these compromise positions where reform happens slowly while the administration simultaneously defends the police and plays nice with them.  I've seen this happen in real time in Seattle.  Progress never happens overnight.  But it does happen.  If you want to see a police department where progress doesn't happen, go visit some deep-red areas of the deep south.  I promise you black folks are treated a lot worse there than in Minneapolis.

Furthermore, when you're talking about this kind of extremely challenging progress, leadership ultimately has to come from the national level.  A local mayor will run into a brick wall if they go to war with their police department.  But the president has the power to overcome that obstacle.  Again, we saw this in Seattle -- after a fatal police shooting in 2010, the Obama administration cracked down on our police department and forced them to take all sorts of actions to do better in the future.  And it's worked!

Look, the Democrats want this to change.  But you don't just get a magic wand the day you're sworn into office.  Police reform is one of the most difficult challenges in America and will only come from a combination of two things:
A) Having sufficient political power to win the fight
B) Having sufficient motivation to pursue the fight

All the peaceful protests, all the activists, all the outrages of the last five years have worked wonders for (B).  The Democratic Party is very motivated to solve this problem.  But we don't have the political power to do it right now.  We have a president who would probably pardon Derek Chauvin if he could get away with it.  We have a Senate that proudly stonewalls any sort of progress.  We have a rigged court system that lets corruption and racism run rampant in our society and works hand-in-hand with the police unions to get bad cops the break.  Imagine if these protests were happening in 2009, when Democrats controlled the presidency, the senate, and half of the courts.

[T'Chenka]

This is the legacy of the Unarmed Modern Left: it can't hold authoritarians to account for s[inks]t. MLK and Gandhi tactics are worthless in 21st century America.

A lot of the modern left is authoritarian itself, but they don't believe in gun ownership.

This isn't true. Most of the left don't want the general public or cops to have access to military style assault weapons. None cares if you have a shotgun or a bandgun. Or a squirt gun for that matter.

Your post about cops and weapons is true, but that's only only one aspect of authoritarianism. I'm jealous that you haven't yet been exposed to some of the leftist police state cringe, most of it from third wave feminists and college kids.

[ProudModerate2]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1267808120136511489

Psychopath.

Is it just me, or did he just "thank" himself in that Tweet?

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

https://twitter.com/willsommer/status/1267588350552276994?s=20

Who's been shooting tear gas, the Secret Service or the D.C. police force?

[Landslide Lyndon]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1267808120136511489

Psychopath.

Is it just me, or did he just "thank" himself in that Tweet?

He is just so needy.

[SevenEleven]

This is the legacy of the Unarmed Modern Left: it can't hold authoritarians to account for s[inks]t. MLK and Gandhi tactics are worthless in 21st century America.

A lot of the modern left is authoritarian itself, but they don't believe in gun ownership.

This isn't true. Most of the left don't want the general public or cops to have access to military style assault weapons. None cares if you have a shotgun or a bandgun. Or a squirt gun for that matter.

Your post about cops and weapons is true, but that's only only one aspect of authoritarianism. I'm jealous that you haven't yet been exposed to some of the leftist police state cringe, most of it from third wave feminists and college kids.

It's generally not a good idea to base any broad opinions on a small but vocal minority of diseducated losers.

[lfromnj]

https://twitter.com/davidhogg111/status/1267616830316822531

Ok Mr.Hogg the Trumpists will overthrow Trump and let Pelosi be president and let you take away their guns.
Truly a brilliant solution.

[T'Chenka]

https://twitter.com/davidhogg111/status/1267616830316822531

Ok mr Hogg the Trumpists will overthrow trump and let pelosi be president and let you take away their guns.
Truly a brilliant solution.

This but unironically

[Penn_Quaker_Girl]

https://mobile.twitter.com/TimAlberta/status/1267844885727633408

Well gee whiz, thanks Senator Sasse!