@doschicos I definitely wasn’t defending the behavior of the group in Fishtown - just reporting. I believe they were looking to incite violence.
I was born and raised in Philly, living there for 30 years, living in many areas.
In West Philly the Shoprite was looted. The neighborhood fought hard to have a grocery in the area. Assessing the damage the people were angry - at both their own community for the destruction and the police for taking 15 hours! to come to the location.
Four St. Louis police officers were shot last night. Just standing there, shot from the crowd. And no one in the crowd was shot by police.
There was a large peaceful protest in St. Louis. The protesters occupied the interstate for a while, but not until police officers made sure traffic was stopped and it was safe for them. Then they moved on, the protesters went home, and the riots started. A 7-11 in a vast food desert was looted and burned.
And the earnest caring coiffed national network commentators are spending the morning mis-quoting and twisting the words of political leaders whom they detest and cherry-picking facts to report. Hey lady, we saw it live, we know what happened. Another day in America.
Thanks for clarifying, @Leigh22. I chimed in to provide what I feel is important context. These guys are no heroes.
There is video footage of Philly cops posing for group photos with the Fishtown vigilante “Philbillies” and some of their group brandishing AK-47s and bragging about it while filming. Some of this footage from yesterday is several hours past the 6pm curfew. This becomes part of the problem and speaks to the double standard and systemic issues, biases, and prejudices.
Protesters surrounding occupied police vehicles, smashing the windows - not ok. Completely ridiculous that anyone would defend such behavior.
Protesters running onto highways, like 676 during the day, will get tear gassed - this is not the peaceful protest people are claiming. Protesters on roadways compounds the potential for injury and death for all involved.
And the stereotyping of “middle class whites” is just sad.
If you think about it, we don’t have press just gossip, broadcast gossip. Democracy is in. danger not because of politicians but because of media.
Nah, it’s also in danger because of politicians.
A Las Vegas police officer was shot in the back of the head last night. He is on life support. Happened during the protests on the Strip.
Will the nation mourn? Will there be marches for him? Will this be a short story in the papers and be forgotten?
A sad sad day. Enough of these protests. They create an atmosphere of violence and lawlessness. Unintentionally, perhaps. But that is what is happening.
Decent “middle class whites” don’t act like vigilantes with an aim to incite violence, cursing and attacking on the streets. I see no posts stereotyping “middle class whites”.
Decent law enforcement doesn’t gas and shoot rubber bullets at people stuck between an embankment/steep hill and a blockade. If the desire was to prevent such behavior, better to deny access to start than attack trapped people with limited ability to disperse when attacked.
First - I am totally in support of peaceful protest. Have a daughter who wants to lead the charge and is encouraging all her friends to write letters to the newspapers and local politicians, Has even offered to research who and where for them.
2nd - What happened in Minneapolis was appalling! There are definitely some bad apples and they need to be identified and removed immediately (before this happens again).
3rd - The main culprit was arrested and will receive justice - hopefully a long sentence for a murder conviction (Hopefully- will be a real problem if that doesn’t happen). The three police bystanders, I feel, should also be arrested and face serious jail time. Not a lawyer, don’t know the intricacies regarding accomplices, just standing there (like everyone else including the person who took the video). I wouldn’t expect others to jump in as there were four police officers on site. I would expect the other three to do something.
4th - That’s where this should end, but it doesn’t. Crime was committed, officer was arrested. No need for an overhaul of our justice system.
5th - The protests are fine. The riots are sickening events filled with opportunists who could care less about the underlying issues. They just want there’s! In Tampa, the unrest took place in a retail area on the border of a lower income part of town. This is where many from that community actually shop. They essentially burned a strip plaza to the ground (the anchor completely lost and several stores with major damage - not just windows). Ridiculous!
6th - No data here, just my sense of things. If the media reported all the events where cops were killed in the line of duty there would be a news report EVERY DAY, EVERY YEAR. Not saying I don’t care what happened in MN because I DO. It ALL has to stop.
Thank goodness for Journalism. It would be scary to think where we would be without it.
If this latest murder was the only instance, I’d agree but it is far from it. Just arresting the officers in this instance won’t bring about the much needed changes to resolve systemic issues.
Not sure, but I think we had a calm night last night.
Nah, you are doomed if you depend on politicians for your survival. Media is supposed to be a watch dog of politicians and you want politicians to help you out? That is oxymoron.
@doschicos my niece was at that protest. She said it was fine, police were letting it go on, just observing and then she said it changed rapidly. It was a very large crowd and a faction of it started running for the highway. She said many protesters were telling them not to do it.
I felt a post above was extremely preachy and referred to “middle class whites” a multitude of times as somehow being unable to grasp that racism exists. But as has been pointed out on many other threads, many cc folks are very confused about what constitutes the middle class.
Rambling thoughts as I wake up to another day of destruction.
NYC is being destroyed while our Mayor and Governor watch it happen.
I am all for peaceful protests and could not even watch what those cops did to Mr. FLoyd, but this is not about George Floyd. The protests have been hijacked by rioters and looters.
Just when I thought we were seeing the light with COVID-19, now this!
How are we going to recover and heal as a country?
The media is throwing more gas on the fire. Do they care at all about our country?
Is there anything that unites us anymore? The politicians are like children, they are NOT leaders!
I pray for peace.
It’s interesting that when people talk about changing systemic issues in the police departments nobody is discussing the union situation that prevents substantial change and reform. Much like the teacher’s unions prevent firing the bad apple teachers, police unions prevent firing bad apple police. No way to reform a system when the union prevents personnel change.
I would like to also add that the Mayor of Philly not immediately removing the Rizzo statue is just confusing.
This IS what happens without Journalism. We don’t have real journalism anymore.
Real journalism feeds you the boring old information you really need to make well informed decisions. People don’t watch real journalism because it’s boring.
What we have now is click-bait whose only purpose is to draw views for advertisement. They are inciting rage for profit. This is on the left and right. They don’t want perspective or context. They want views at any cost, and the easiest way to do that is to sell outrage.
I’m all in favor of free press and broad media coverage. But the national network reporting is appallingly bad. When I watch an event live, then watch the reporting that twists and distorts what I just saw and heard, I don’t trust anything that network reports about things I didn’t see or hear.
I watch networks and follow feeds of organizations I don’t like to see what others are seeing to help me understand what others are seeing. If you don’t follow people you dislike and disagree with you don’t know what’s going on. Now I don’t follow Antifa or Boogaloo, but try to keep an open mind otherwise.
Why would you try to shut down the opinion and experience of others you don’t agree with?
I certainly appreciate and understand the post.