George Floyd / May 2020 USA Protests Megathread- Page 2

[ArtMan]

Posted: 5/30/20 at 9:06pm

double

Updated On: 5/30/20 at 09:06 PM

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 5/30/20 at 9:13pm

An interesting perspective: Their Minneapolis Restaurant Burned, but They Back the Protest

"Though a Bangladeshi family lost their business in the uproar over the death of George Floyd, they support demonstrators and helped medics treat them."

 

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 5/30/20 at 9:44pm

Many of those business owners BACK the protesters, actually.

Ruhel Islam. "let my building burn,” he said. “Justice needs to be served.”

On Friday afternoon, after the fire stopped smoldering and the family came together, he repeated his support for the protests that had closed his restaurant. “We can rebuild a building, but we cannot rebuild a human,” said Mr. Islam, 42. “The community is still here, and we can work together to rebuild.”

[Highland Guy]

Posted: 5/30/20 at 9:51pm

ArtMan said: "Well, tell that to all of the employees who are now out of a job because of the burned down Target. In addition to all of the other Target employees, temporarily out of a job, because Corporate closed them down. Or all of the other businesses that were burnt to the ground. Many were family owned businesses. Or the people who were planning to move into, ironically, affordable housing, when the apartment building was burned down. Is it fair, that all of these people now have to suffer?"

 

Is it fair that a Black man, a citizen of the United States, was slowly and brutally murdered (tortured, really) by a uniformed police officer for the alleged crime of trying to buy a pack of cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill?  Structures and jobs can be replaced.  Human lives cannot.

 

[ArtMan]

Posted: 5/30/20 at 9:55pm

By Monday morning, if not earlier, when he reevaluates his situation,  Mr. Islam will be asking how do I feed my family?  How are we going to pay the rent?  I read it was a FEW family owned businesses that backed the protestors.  It is actually irrelevant, because that is NOT the feelings of the MAJORITY of the victims.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 5/30/20 at 10:00pm

You wouldn't know. You don't live there and you haven't talked to all of them. If you have, feel free to correct me.

And no, you have no idea how he will feel on Monday, you aren't a mind reader. Pretty sure he will feel exactly the same. There are things more important than money. Shockingly. 

[ArtMan]

Posted: 5/30/20 at 10:03pm

Highland Guy said: "ArtMan said: "Well, tell that to all of the employees who are now out of a job because of the burned down Target. In addition to all of the other Target employees, temporarily out of a job, because Corporate closed them down. Or all of the other businesses that were burnt to the ground. Many were family owned businesses. Or the people who were planning to move into, ironically, affordable housing, when the apartment building was burned down. Is it fair, that all of these people now have to suffer?"



Is it fair that a Black man, a citizen of the United States, wasslowly and brutally murdered(tortured, really) by a uniformed police officer for the alleged crime of trying to buy a pack of cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill? Structures and jobs can be replaced. Human lives cannot.

"

Highland Guy, I normally agree with your posts. However.   "Structures and jobs can be replaced"  Really, in the middle of a pandemic?  You're really reaching now.

[ArtMan]

Posted: 5/30/20 at 10:05pm

Either have you.  And you aren't a mind reader either.  So you have no idea how he will feel on Monday.  Do you really think that the owner and employees of the Auto Zone, completely destroyed,  are saying I am so happy they burned down my livelihood.  I would go to Disneyworld, but unfortunately they, too, are closed.

Updated On: 5/30/20 at 10:05 PM

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 5/30/20 at 10:07pm

It is actually irrelevant, because that is NOT the feelings of the MAJORITY of the victims.

The victims are the black people who are (and have been) brutally, systematically murdered IN FRONT OF OUR EYES with little to no consequences. And those consequences are forced by public outrage. 

What we are seeing is an anger and fury that this CANNOT and MUST NOT be allowed to continue. It is a grappling with what this country is. It is so many things that must not be minimized or looked down on. 52 years later, we are right back in 1968 - and nothing has changed.

If you care more about a Target than about George Floyd, well then, I have nothing to say.

Updated On: 5/30/20 at 10:07 PM

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 5/30/20 at 10:10pm

Is it fair that a Black man, a citizen of the United States, was slowly and brutally murdered(tortured, really) by a uniformed police officer for the alleged crime of trying to buy a pack of cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill? Structures and jobs can be replaced. Human lives cannot.

Well said, thank you.

[Highland Guy]

Posted: 5/30/20 at 10:25pm

ArtMan said: "Highland Guy, I normally agree with your posts. "

 

And I have appreciated your kind words to me in other threads.  These are difficult days for everyone.

 

[javero]

Posted: 5/30/20 at 10:32pm

Tag said: "Why is no one talking about these protests being the catalyst for the second Corona wave, as the 1918 Philly parade was?"

That was my first reaction as well.  Also, reports are coming in of the closure of all Covid-19 testing centers in Los Angeles over the weekend amid safety worries. There's so much more I could add.  But, time & experience have taught me to just let it breathe for a minute, no pun intended.  We'll get thru this.

 

 

[ArtMan]

Posted: 5/30/20 at 11:51pm

 

Sally Durant Plummer said

If you care more about a Target than aboutGeorge Floyd, well then, I have nothing to say."

If you think that I only care about a Target building then you are quite obtuse.  I care about the families who can't feed their children, clothe them and put a roof over their head, all because individuals violently decided to burn their livelihood and homes in the middle of a pandemic.   It isn't a Target, AutoZone, family restaurants that burned to the ground, that I care about.  It is the families that you consider collateral damage. You should be ashamed.  To answer your original question.  Although I am saddened by what happened to George Floyd.  I care about the families and especially the children more then about George Floyd.  And if you don't even seem bothered by the hardship that is ahead of them,I have nothing to say to you.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 5/31/20 at 12:30am

@ArtMan - As a man of color I understand where you are coming from. In some instances I am reading and seeing on the news that the looting is being done by individuals infiltrating the protests and using it an excuse to do what they are doing. Whatever the case may be I don't agree or condone the looting - - - it's unnecessary. When it gets to that point it ceases being a protest  - it becomes outright vandalism, chaos and anarchy. 

Those of you on this board who outright refused to have a conversation with him and jumped down his throat and accused him of caring more about a Target than a human life and think you're coming off as "woke", I have news for you: YOU'RE NOT. 

You"re coming off as something else entirely that I will not even post in this message because it will most definitely get me outright banned from this forum. 

 

Updated On: 5/31/20 at 12:30 AM

[ArtMan]

Posted: 5/31/20 at 12:44am

Carlos, Thanks for the kind words.  In the last 10 years, we've shared a lot of stories and a lot of laughs.  To my knowledge we have never had a disagreement about anything. On that I thank you.  We're do for a Carlos/Dame espanol interchange.  Hopefully full of reads.

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 5/31/20 at 1:01am

This is horrifying: African-American congresswoman pepper-sprayed during racism protest

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 5/31/20 at 1:18am

If you think that I only care about a Target building then you are quite obtuse.

I know that you care about more than just a Target building. But this is the same verbiage that gets thrown around over and over: "They could do more good if they were just peaceful...", "Martin Luther King Jr. would never have approved of these riots...", etc. And it leads nowhere. We just keep going around in circles debating the how and not the why.

Now, I'm not saying I agree with looting. I don't think it's right that owners have to put up signs saying "this is a black-owned business" to ask for mercy. I also don't like the video of the Target on Thursday where we can clearly see a bunch of white people just grabbing stuff off the rack and running. But I can't say I don't understand it.

And let's not ignore the fact that several government officials believe that much of the violence and looting is being perpetrated and driven by outside groups with other motives in an attempt to further deteriorate the situation.

But we also have to look at what this is: this is not JUST about George Floyd or (at least) four police officers blatantly suffocating a man in broad daylight. This is so many people - kids, parents, innocent humans - who have had their lives taken. And a system that is so abhorrent that it assists those who wish to cause harm. This is years, and decades, and centuries of abuse and murder. And THAT'S what all this is about. And it's not right that people are being hurt from the destruction - but the law is doing nothing. It's also not right that apparently ICE showed up in LA this evening in hopes to find any undocumented people protesting It's not right that the president is stoking the fury of the nation.

It's just not right. And that's what all of this is about.

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 5/31/20 at 1:53am

So now they’ve set the historic Nashville courthouse on fire. I don’t get it. I don’t see how this sends a message besides a message of fear. You can’t fight anger with anger. You burn a building, they kill someone. It’s an endless cycle. I don’t get how we can resolve this but destroying people’s properties isn’t the way. If they were setting a police station on fire - I get it. But someone’s personal business?

[dented146]

Posted: 5/31/20 at 2:02am

The notion that peaceful protests don't work is not correct. Historically, they are the only ones that have worked. The only reason there are black owned businesses to be destroyed is because of men like Martin Luther King.  

Clearly, blacks are still the victims of racism and murder but I would be curious to hear from blacks on this board whether they believe that the injustices they face today equal what their parents and grandparents faced in the 60's. 

To me, Floyd's murder is not a justification for hundreds of people around the country to act in a criminal manner. And I suspect it's counterproductive in achieving equality and fairness.

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 5/31/20 at 2:19am

Stonewall wasn’t peaceful.

The March to Selma wasn’t peaceful.

Egypt in 2012-2013 wasn’t peaceful.

The list goes on. And these riots, whatever one’s opinion of them may be, are a legitimate form of protest.

Updated On: 5/31/20 at 02:19 AM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/31/20 at 2:51am

"Clearly, blacks are still the victims of racism and murder but"

Does anybody else just shut down and retroactively disbelieve everything that came before the "but" and then not read anything that comes after?

 

[Impossible2]

Posted: 5/31/20 at 7:58am

FindingNamo said: ""Clearly, blacks are still the victims of racism and murder but"

Does anybody else just shut down and retroactively disbelieve everything that came before the "but" and then not read anything that comes after?

"

No, because until right wing nut job Dr Phil changed the meaning of the word 'but' and meaningful discussion went out the window in favour of stop thinking and lose your ****, 'but' was a word that meant 'I agree with you and I have some more valuable talking points I'd like to add to the conversation'...

But continue, I'm sure the other screaming heads will agree with you.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 5/31/20 at 9:05am

dented146 said: 


Clearly, blacks are still the victims of racism and murder but I would be curious to hear from blacks on this board whether they believe that the injustices they face today equal what their parents and grandparents faced in the 60's.
 

That you had the audacity to even type that is maddening. You have GOT to be kidding....SMDH
 

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 5/31/20 at 9:21am

We have the right to protest. We do NOT have the right to destroy private property. We do NOT have the right to destroy people's livelihoods.

This is not the path to be taken to get our voices heard and change to take place.

Many of these protests are taking place in neighborhoods where the majority are people of color. Black owned businesses are being destroyed, Latino businesses are being destroyed, etc. How does this even help our fellow brothers? If the coronavirus didn't put these folks out of business then this endless looting did and that to me is unacceptable!!

Protest is one thing deliberate destruction is another...

[Kad]

Posted: 5/31/20 at 9:55am

Impossible2 said: "FindingNamo said: ""Clearly, blacks are still the victims of racism and murder but"

Does anybody else just shut down and retroactively disbelieve everything that came before the "but" and then not read anything that comes after?

"

No, because until right wing nut job Dr Phil changed the meaning of the word 'but' and meaningful discussionwent out the window in favour of stop thinking and lose your ****, 'but' wasa word that meant 'I agree with you andI have some more valuable talking points I'd like to add to theconversation'...

But continue, I'm sure the other screaming heads will agree with you." 
 

“But” has never meant that. It’s always been a conjunction used to present an exception or contrast. I’d like to think you’d know that, but here we are. 

Updated On: 5/31/20 at 09:55 AM