The Uncomfortable Reason Why it Came to This in Dallas Yesterday

[Brickbat]

I know, I know -- Red State. But if even Red State is saying this...

http://www.redstate.com/leon_h_wolf/2016/07/08/uncomfortable-reason-came-dallas-yesterday/

And here is the important point and the point I have been trying to make with this excessively wordy post. The most important safety valve to prevent violence like we saw in Dallas last night is the belief that when officers do go off the rails, the legal system will punish them accordingly. If minority communities (and everyone else, for that matter) believed that, resort to reprisal killings would be either non existent or far less frequent.

But they don't, and there's good reason for that. And that is because a huge, overwhelming segment of America does not really give a damn what cops do in the course of maintaining order because they assume (probably correctly) that abuse at the hands of police will never happen to them. As long as the cops keep people away from my door, they have my blessing handling "the thugs" in whatever way they see fit.

[HassleCat]

1. And the cops sell this to the public.

"We re the thin blue line between you and 'them.'"

[Yallow]

14. What If The Cops Are The "Them" We Are Supposed To Be Afraid Of

The blue line may have killed those 5 policemen.....

[Nevernose]

2. An unexpectedly good article

From what is usually a garbage source. I'll bet editorial pulls it within the day.

[Brickbat]

5. Yeah, I know certain links make people unhappy, but I think it's important to find common

ground wherever we can.

[1StrongBlackMan]

22. LOL ...

An unexpectedly good article From what is usually a garbage source.

Thereby, proving that the cause, the effect AND the solution are known.

This is encourage ... without a doubt!

[BronxBoy]

3. Any other links to this besides Redstates? n/t

[Nevernose]

4. It's a Redstate original

And well worth the read. It's like we found a unicorn.

[Patiod]

8. And not all of the comments are knee-jerk Obama-bashing

Some actually support the premise of the article and/or decry Trump-approved racism within the Republican Party. Again with the unicorns.

(Although I was reassured that I hadn't teleported to some alternative universe when I saw someone blaming it all on Loretta Lynch)

[forgotmylogin]

13. Even FR sort of lines up on the AZ incident mostly

I took a peek over there and the first 200 or so posts were all "Wow, that cop sure screwed up by killing a compliant legal gun-owning citizen with a job...who did everything right by disclosing he had a CW."

Their main discussion was whether to have paperwork ready when a cop pulls you over in a traffic stop, or to keep hands on the steering wheel and only move when directed so as not to appear to be readying a weapon or scrambling to hide drugs.

At about 300 posts the unreasonables started kicking in to defend the Man with "Well, we didn't see on the video what happened before and this guy's facebook was taken down because he was a former crip...etc etc etc." But the consensus was pretty reasonable that this guy didn't deserve to be shot.

[seabeyond]

6. Boundaries. There has to be boundaries in our society. The police force did not give boundaries

to the officer allowing this to escalate to this point. I agree. And that is the higher ups responsibility. The lives of cops depend on their bosses to run a tight ship. It behooves them. It doesnt help the police, being able to get away with everything. It hurts them. The higher ups owe this to their officers they bring in, train, and supervise. Boundaries.

[JayhawkSD]

7. I didn't read the whole article...

I mean, Red State... But the two paragraphs replicated above do make a very good point.

The legal system is not working at all, in fact. It is not punishing anyone other than the working class, and the eventual outcome of that is a violent uprising of the working class against those who have been oppressing them.

Obama says that he "speaks for every single American" when he says that he is horrified. He has been living in the bubble of the White House to long to be able to "speak for every single American." He has no idea what the working class is enduring or feeling, and I'm pretty sure the black working class is a lot less horrified than he is.

[Nevernose]

9. It's honestly worth the read

Redstate did an excellent job of laying out -- and defending -- BLM's position, as well as explaining the context of the Dallas shooting.

I still can't figure out how it managed to get on Redstate. It's like it was headed for Jezebel and got lost.

[Brickbat]

10. The managing editor wrote it! I may need to go lie down.

[Kelvin Mace]

11. The police have license to kill

without consequence.

As long as they kill the "right" people.

[hollowdweller]

33. If you are a cop, or a soldier, or a politican, or a rich person you can now do nearly anything

in the US and get off. Usually the only reason you'd get in trouble is if somebody richer or in a higher position of authority wants you to get in trouble.

In so many ways the US is becoming more like a dysfunctional third world country. Our political system is getting to the point to where they try to "take out" the other party by any means, instead of just trying to legislatively defeat them. We have "royal families" and "peasants".

I think is see spasms of violence and the political process as people reacting to this.

[LarryNM]

35. The nation becomes a private club and most aren't part of it

Privilege has power and power to the privileged and their protectors.

[raven mad]

12. There are too many uneducated folks out there who buy into the fear thing.

Think about it. Giving cops, soldiers, heck, even security guards the power, then trying to terrify the general public when no fear is warranted or is even logical. And then, there's always "WHERE were the cops?"

That's not me.

Great post, K&R.

[jalan48]

15. According to Dallas police the suspect was mad at white people.

“He said he was upset about the recent police shootings,” Brown said during a Friday morning news conference. “The suspect said he was upset at white people. The suspect stated he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers.”-MSN

So if it's ok to kill all cops because some are racist can the same be said about killing white people in general?

[seabeyond]

16. "So if it's ok to kill all cops" Where has anyone suggested it is ok to kill cops?

[jalan48]

18. The suspect. That's why he opened fire like he did.

Perhaps you think he had identified the cops he killed as racist prior to killing them. How do you decide which cops to kill?

[seabeyond]

20. I read you comment incorrectly. My bad.

[jalan48]

21. Not a problem.

It's a difficult situation. I don't know what the answer is but I fear escalating violence will only make it worse, especially for the black community.

[1StrongBlackMan]

24. The "answer" is in the article ...

and the article reflects what the historically affected communities have been saying ... forever.

[jalan48]

25. I don't doubt the validity of the reasons. However, I don't agree with the killing of innocent cops.

[seabeyond]

26. No one does. Which was my original point. NO ONE agrees with murdering cops. So, no however

is needed.

[jalan48]

27. Good to hear-thank you.

[1StrongBlackMan]

29. I agree ...

I can't get with the killing of innocents, be they cops or broken tail-light drivers, or even the extra-judicial killing of someone "caught in the act" ... but those listening will hopefully (eventually) realize, addressing the reasons IS the damned answer.

[jalan48]

31. I agree with you on this. A national dialogue needs to happen now.

[Brickbat]

17. Saying "I think I understand why X happened" does not mean "I agree with X" or "I'm glad X happened"

or "Now Y should happen." That's just lazy.

[jalan48]

19. Thanks for the clarification.

[Skittles]

40. it's pretty fucking close

if you killed my brother, I would not be out trying to kill yours.....THAT is COWARDICE

[cally]

23. It's what I was thinking this morning but more eloquent

I feared violence against police when jury after jury did not hold police accountable for murdering black men and women. We as a society must take action against killing and abusing our citizens by our law enforcers. We have to stop pretending that it doesn't happen because it doesn't happen to me.

I'm terrified that more killings and more violence will continue until we address the inequalities in our society and the lack of justice.

And just to clarify, I am NOT condoning nor agreeing with violence against law enforcement. I abhor violence.

[1StrongBlackMan]

28. In the 4 minutes I could stand of Morning Joe this morning ...

there was a panel that was discussing just this. I wasn't watching the show ... I was cleaning up the kitchen; but, I recognized Rev. Al's voice. There was another African-American panelist who said, the reprisal violence against police "is a conversation occurring in Black barbershops and salons, across the nation", and I suspect the conversation will only intensify, as the focus is placed on the effected; rather than, what everyone knows is the cause ... the injustice.

[OnlyTheGood]

37. The juries were largely following the judge's instructions on the law and how

to apply it. The problem may be as much the laws themselves as the jury system.

Just a thought.

[awoke_in_2003]

39. I'm surprised

this hasn't happened more often. The AA community has put up with a lot of shit.

[IronLionZion]

30. As long as some DUers don't see color, and don't see a problem

they can continue to reap the benefits while other types of people die.

[1StrongBlackMan]

34. Are you saying ALL lives don't matter!!! ...

Just kidding!

But ... I've noticed that for SOME DUers/progressives (and most conservatives), it must be about them, even when the issue at hand doesn't impact them (except for, maybe, vicariously or in a pedestrian way) ... and/but, when that which others have been experiencing affects them, directly; then, it becomes ALL about them, and they expect that the remedy address their condition, first ... even if the remedy does little/nothing for the historically affected groups.

Color-blindness facilitates that operating style.

[pansypoo53219]

32. back to walking the beat instead of patrols. protect, not invade the community. shit. end red lines.

ghettos are bad. make them better. symptom from the beginning of tinkle down. Chicago is the result of reagan shit.

[Liberal_in_LA]

36. "And here's the most important part: when they do so, they never or almost never face punishment."

[BronxBoy]

38. Thanks

I went to link and read

Good read

[passiveporcupine]

41. And what you are not saying here needs to be said as well

As long as the cops keep people away from my door, they have my blessing handling "the thugs" in whatever way they see fit.

as long as the cops keep the black people away from my door, they have my blessing.

If police were doing this routinely to white people, like they are to blacks, it would be an issue they would address...but they don't have to, because it is not white people being targeted.

[Bohunk68]

42. Today, a close friend shared on facebook what she feared most, as a mother.

Mind you, this is rural Upstate NY. She is very black. Her husband is white. She is well loved and respected by many, including myself. She wrote that her eldest son plays paintball and that he is quite good at repairing the units. She has felt she had to warn him not to carry one in the front yard, because of who may see him with it and how they may react. You heard that mother, our neighbor, her anguish in her plea. If I knew how to bring it here, I would.

[sufrommich]

43. That's a pretty brave statement from Red State.

I did a double take when I saw where it came from.

[AgadorSparticus]

44. So. Very. True.

[Arizona Roadrunner]

45. Some questions for police unions and local governments

As a person who has had some college level police training courses and who has been a negotiator between local governmental units, one big question needs to be asked to the police unions. How do you deal with members who are "bad cops"? Also, local governments must be much more aware of today's training that is much more "militaristic" in basis than "community service" in format and content. Also, local governments need to be asked if they are going to have this high end armament around, how much can they afford to do the training for the use of this "stuff"? example: If you are going to have a semi-automatic and/or automatic weapon in your arsenal with the training you can afford, how would you feel if your wife was in the bank when it was being held up and your officers were outside with said weapons?

[Brickbat]

46. These are excellent questions and I hope you follow up with the departments in your area.

Campaign Zero can help.

[Ruby the Liberal]

47. Great article

He made some really salient points. Thanks for posting it.