I apologize for not making my reply clear – I was speaking to the question from @GKUnion specifically about the burning of the precinct house in Minneapolis, not “no law enforcement officers were harmed” in general.
I think Mr. Floyd was murdered. I think Mr. Underwood (I’m sorry, I don’t know his title) was murdered. I think the police personnel at the burned precinct house in Minneapolis survived.
I don’t understand why Black Lives Matter thought Blue Lives Matter or All Lives Matter was some sort of affront to them. Wouldn’t all good people support all of these ?
The victim in last night’s events was our cities. They are already reeling from enormous costs associated with the pandemic and loss of revenue from commercial and sales taxes, not to mention the increase in poverty and hunger of their citizens. Now this, which cost hundreds of millions of dollars more which cities do not have. Expect massive layoffs of city employees, and services, next year, and flight for those able to do so. At least we all know we can work from home now, and do not have to return to them.
There is a lot more that can be done and I hope more folks will join you in trying to do it.
As it relates to cc, need based scholarships help, but so do organizations that try to guide students along for more than just money. We parents who have been on here know enough to use the internet to find answers to questions. Some parents don’t know what questions to ask. Many of the kids on need based scholarships feel out of place at some of the schools where peers might jet off to England for a short break or simply go out and buy a new computer when they feel theirs is outdated. Organizations that help with these sorts of things are quite useful (Questbridge is one).
How about with younger kids… do ours merely play with socio-economic peers? Can we politely have them make friends with others from their classes or playground buddies? Can we read to all of them? Share books? Toys? Get together with parents just for fun? Can we assist with Big Brother/Big Sister and similar?
As our kids make more peers, they can have an influence. Once when my lad was at a friend’s house he looked in the fridge and saw practically nothing there. It really impacted him. His friend’s parents worked, but low wages and probably some bad decision making hurt their finances. Should his friend have to go hungry? They walked to the store together and he bought them some things (he was in high school at the time). His friend protested and was met with a “pay it forward someday when you can” answer that sufficed. Often afterward he would pay for his friend’s opportunity to join the peer group in movies or similar. They’ve long since distanced, but I doubt any of the experiences were forgotten.
Learning styles matter.
Knowing what happens to the human brain when young kids are stressed matters. Folks can take some time to use google and read up on some of the latest studies. How we approach things (like discipline and other interactions) can change outcomes.
Knowing about culture in neighborhoods can matter. The same lad worked at a Sheriff’s Camp for at risk kids one summer from college. He found he couldn’t do it afterward. His kids spent a week learning some things we take for granted (being polite to each other was one of the things) and enjoyed themselves enough to be in tears when they had to leave. He told one, “You’re great at math - do well in school,” only to be met with the response, “Dude, in your world you can do that. In mine if I’m great at school I’ll get shot.” Not long afterward there was a city shooting of a straight A student who never bothered anyone and the press was mystified (not the same kid). It hit home to me. How do we fix that? I don’t have answers. I wish I did.
The kids who overcome some of these things need to be commended more than they are. Too many don’t.
And race doesn’t matter. There are good, bad, and ugly people in every race, every gender, every socio-economic class, every profession and in every country on the planet.
But more work on underlying factors such as these can help try to change the world from both sides.
@Midwest67 - which general suburban area are you in? I’ve read of some minimal damage in the western suburbs, and my brother hasn’t mentioned anything in his northern suburbs. I did read that they closed Yorktown and Oakbrook malls as a precaution.
ps Sorry for rambling. I work in high school because I like helping kids become all they can be, making any difference I can, and I got carried away.
pps Changing styles can work. There are very few students I don’t get along with, including those usually labeled before I ever see them. Those who stick to the old styles of handling them aren’t doing anyone any favors. Understanding what’s going on produces the best results.
ppps And even then, sometimes you just don’t “win.” (sigh) But at least you know you tried.
@TatinG –
ALM was a retort aimed always as a contradiction to BLM. And it reflects a basic, sometime willful, misunderstanding. If someone says “Black Lives Matter” and you reply ALL Lives Matter, you are arguing with what the person said, but incorrectly. Because the clear intent of BLM is that Black Lives Matter, TOO. But replying that ALL lives matter, clearly is replying as if the intent was ONLY Black Lives Matter, when we all know, that’s not the intent of the phrase (and if you want to argue that no, you didn’t know that, well, now you do.)
Blue Lives of course Matter, but the difference is that BLUE is a chosen uniform, while BLACK is an indelible identity. One chooses a uniform and the perceptions that may come with it, but one comes into the world with a visage that is one’s identity. The occupation of police brings a recognition of and assent to possible hazard that is chosen. The fact of being black comes with no such assent.
That is why objections to these variations of the Lives Matter label are not readily interchangeable.
Sadly, I think POC wouldn’t feel included in All Lives Matter, and I can’t say I’d blame them.
Here’s the disconnect for you. What black people are saying is Black Lives Matter Too!..as a group they have been marginalized by this society and just want to be treated as an equal like everyone else. Of course they know all lives matter, they just want to be part of that group…
Understand now?
For those who say that violence won’t help: sometimes, it actually does. Our country wasn’t founded because some nice mannerly people sat down and had tea with King George or protested silently and made him listen. It was founded by violence after years of oppression and injustice, in which he didn’t listen to less violent forms of rebellion.
Even I understand the kind of rage that makes a person want to smash things.
Is everyone smashing and looting doing so for the noble reason of wanting to right racial wrongs? Of course not. But for some people, this feels like war, the last option, and in war, a few people will always do atrocious things.
Will PM you
As others have pointed out, ALM and Blue Lives Matter were started as counter-protests to BLM. They’re certainly worthy causes if taken standalone and not as an objection to BLM.
I had this same conversation with my father. A comparison to breast cancer and Susan G. Komen (SGK) is apt, I think. You wouldn’t go protest an SGK fund-raising walkathon by holding up a sign saying “All cancer matters”, and you wouldn’t denigrate SGK supporters by saying they don’t care about other cancers. SGK supporters care about breast cancer because it’s important to them for whatever reason. If you support liver cancer, go support liver cancer but don’t try to take away from breast cancer supporters.
Same with ALM. If you are anti police brutality, then absolutely 100% you should protest it and seek change. If you support police, then support the police. Neither cause requires tearing down BLM to do so,
Not everyone knows all lives matter. The people spray painting pigs on police cars or storming police precincts don’t believe blue lives matter, even when some of those blue lives belong to POC.
Please keep your war in your neighborhood, @massmomm. The rest of us are just trying to peacefully coexist.
I bet you would feel at least slightly differently about this “just war” if it was your small business that was looted and burned, and your insurance excluded terrorism and riots.
I saw lots of clips of police pepper-spraying, shooting rubber bullets and beanbags, and shoving people who were not engaged in anything destructive or violent, including numerous media folks. I also saw people engaged in looting and destruction with apparently no police in sight. I saw protest organizers trying to stop the destruction of buildings and looting and obviously distressed by those doing the harm. There’s a disconnect here and I wonder who benefits.
@massmomm is just trying to explain the rage that is felt by many.
I agree with that there is much sympathy, empathy and agreement with the peaceful demonstrators. That there are outside instigators as well as those in the demonstrators that are taking things further to destruction , damage and dangerous where most people draw the line. But it’s not a line. It’s infiltration within the demonstrators as well as the police. Shameful actions happened, and I don’t think it’s just one category or group responsible. So anyone wanting to find a clear target to blame, it ain’t there.
The destruction is causing animosity that can hurt the very issues that are being protested. Also provides an excuse for those issues. The direct destructive acts themselves are hurting innocent people as well.
For now, all is peaceful here. A good thing as any destruction of businesses here is going to hurt those who can afford it the least.
@my3girls , I haven’t been watching the coverage everywhere. Was this happening after curfew in a city that had a curfew (in which case I might not object), or at some other time?
There are more citizens with cell phones than there are police, so that explains why there is video of looters without police present. That’s kind of the point, the looters wait for the police to be distracted by the crowd, then they go to where the police aren’t. We sure don’t have enough police here to have every store in the county guarded. I hope police are able to use the cell phone video to arrest the looters.
The Fed Ex truck driver in St. Louis who drove away when rioters jumped on his cab and pointed guns at him through the passenger window will not be charged, it appears, for the death of the looter he didn’t see that was on his truck and got dragged under his wheels. A gun in your face probably focuses your mind on the path of escape.
I don’t understand how the police can be so cavalier about rubber bullets. A woman was killed by one during “crowd control” after the Red Sox won the World Series many years ago. They can do real damage. Now there’s a journalist who is blind in one eye from a rubber bullet.