Civil Unrest Check-in Thread

crankwalk (Forum Supporter) said:

 

I'm honestly curious about these numbers. I have no idea the number of unarmed whites killed by any color cop. I don't hear about happening because it doesn't make the news but is it happening? No clue....

-Far more white people are shot by cops (not a useful number)

- Controlling for population, a larger percentage of black people are shot by cops (only somewhat relevant), those numbers can be found easily and are often quoted.

- Controlling for officer involvement in bad / poor neighborhoods (the actually useful number).... not a lot of study on this.  I did find one in a quick search:

I am not sure it's a direct answer to the question and I cannot see the extent (cannot access full article).  It indicates it's worse for blacks (can't say how much) but also that the neighborhood is a very relevant factor (how much, I cannot say). 

https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2018.304851

Results. Overall, police-related death rates were highest in neighborhoods with the greatest concentrations of low-income residents (vs high-income residents) and residents of color (vs non-Hispanic White residents). For non-Hispanic Blacks, however, the risk was greater in the quintile of neighborhoods with the highest concentration of non-Hispanic White residents than in certain neighborhoods with relatively higher concentrations of residents of color (the third and fourth quintiles).

Conclusions. Neighborhood context matters—beyond individual race/ethnicity—for understanding, preventing, and responding to the occurrence of police-related deaths.

In reply to aircooled :

You aren't wrong. Supposedly it was someone on the street recognized someone from a group that I won't even name, cause.....berkeley them, but you never know

Well I took my cool off period for the day but berkeley it here we go.

I don't mean that one cop is or isn't a racist. And that cops don't abuse their power towards people because they're racist. I'm stating the fact there is a over all major narrative going on feeding our country bullE36 M3 to outrage us and divide our country .

https://intelligence.house.gov/social-media-content/

Secondly have you sat down and talked with any black people? I've had a lot this past week. 90% of them admitted any interactions they've had with authorities they didn't feel discriminated against. The others felt like they were, but were not dragged from vehicles and beat. Maybe Texas really is just friendlier.

When I ask the question on where does racism come into play. It's 50/50. Several people admitted well that's what I saw on FB or the news. Others from hearing about racist acts and that's just how they feel. 
One thing every black person I talk to about this issue hates what's going on now. They see a bunch of pissed off white people trying to stand up for them but are doing the opposite and bringing them down. 

Most of my black relatives/friend I've shown these threads to think it's humorous all these white people know whats best for them. "They're all against racism and lives matter and all of y'all are still fighting!?!?

Except for the part I should die in a fire, they questioned the hate behind that one coming from a person against hate. But hey we're here to stand against violence. 
 

What no one talking about is how to make black lives better. Racism is one thing, but there's still other underling problems. You think the term "made it out the hood" is just something some people say? 
Who's standing up to correct the horrible inner city issues we have in this country? We're people are born into E36 M3 poverty and no way out. E36 M3ty education, E36 M3ty jobs, just unfortunately born into repeated cycle. 
Did you know Kevin Hart is starting a program to teaching financials and how to get ahead in life  to black people in these areas? 

E36 M3, Dr Rhonda Patrick released a study about why black people were more likely to catch the virus, and tips for prevention. But  was automatically called racist instead of actually listening to her data. Why, she's trying to help, but it retained to black people so it's racist right??

And we can go on with horrible things others go thru that no one talks about. 
Do you know how bad Jewish people are still treated to this day? Why don't we all hold every German person accountable for what their "race" has done. How about the other countries that treated them the same?

Our military and others  for ages have done some horrific acts. You think that rape scene from platoon is made up? How many civilians are caught up in atrocities of bombings. E36 M3s unfortunate, But that's not what the fb,news, twitter whatever fills your phone with so you don't care about those people. 

I did not come here pointing fingers, insulting and trying to start a fight. But it's what us people do. 

So what can we do? 
Anyone out there going to their local council meetings? Anyone actually paying attention to elections? Not presidential, but truly local. Do you know who's on your city board and whats their intentions? I am because that's where change can happen. 

We're all people, and are entitled to our own opinion.  But I'm berkeleying sick and tired of a narrative being pushed, people rallying behind it, and thinking screaming and yelling is going to fix a problem. 
Be active, get to know people, and actually find a way to make real changes. 

I really wish more people would take the advice of Dr King and judge people by the content of their character, regardless of the color of their skin. 
 

I'm tired of being branded a racist by people who have never met me, just because I'm whiter than a sheet of paper. 
 

I'm also done with the old, tired trope that only white people can be racist. 
 

And finally, I'm tired of the news media and government officials who willingly fan these flames without repercussion. 
 

Burning down the neighborhood is not going to get you the change you want. 
 

Ghandi changed the course of an empire without lifting a finger in violence...

Recon1342 said:

Ghandi changed the course of an empire without lifting a finger in violence...

Plenty of other Indian nationalists were doing a good job on the violence front for centuries. The real fact was that after WWII, England didn't have the will nor the manpower to keep India subjugated if they went into revolt- and the threat of revolt was always there.


 

Eleven pages later, I never thought I'd have to type in all caps but THIS IS A CHECK-IN THREAD.

If you want to get political, START YOUR OWN THREAD.

This was created as a place for GRMers to let other GRMers know if they're safe or in danger. That's it.

I know how political threads go down on this forum and I wish to have no part in it. There are places to voice your political opinions (I'm using Instagram to voice mine) but this thread isn't one of them.

If you can't contain yourselves to the topic of this thread, I will not hesitate to ask the mod team politely to lock this thread.

It pains me as a 21-year-old to ask y'all for civility. So please, for the sake of you and me and everyone on this forum, please stay civil and on-topic in this thread.

Thank you.

In reply to G_Body_Man (Forum Supporter) :

You dont get it, you're from the land of poutine and syrup. America is a total E36 M3show right now and every single red blooded american is either on the verge of, or has already, lost their collective E36 M3 for one reason or another. The world is watching america like america watched the tiger king. Stay tuned, I've heard rumors there is hurricane season and a presidential election in the upcoming episodes, and you just know the writers have some legit bonkers stuff in store  for us.

In reply to gearheadmb :

Just the other day, Toronto Police allegedly pushed a BIPOC individual off their balcony to their death. Black people in Toronto are 20x more likely to be shot by police than white people. Believe me, I'm as angry as some of you guys are. I'm just saying that this particular thread isn't the place to voice that anger.

My wife's aunt called me today worried about us. Had to break it to her that we live 30 miles from DC on the other side of Andrews fully isolated by a whole county. Wife and I work in DC, but live far enough out there's a farm across the road from my neighborhood. Haven't been inside the beltway since the 'Rona caught it's stride. 

That said I have a friend who lives by the office who had a rough night last night between flashbangs and helicopters.

gearheadmb said:The world is watching america like america watched the tiger king.

And that was BEFORE 2020 happened.

As far as the protests affecting my daily life, they're not. Too far out to be bothered or messed with. They (along with C19 and work stress) have definitely taken their toll on mentally. The big D is rearing it's ugly head. Finding motivation to get out of bed and not hide is tough. Then there's the guilt that I don't have it bad and there are many many more people in much worse positions and I'm here all in my own head stuck. 

So yeah. Here. intact as ever. mental wreck as always. tired of the bs. 

I live in the outskirts of a small town in south central PA. Yesterday, even our "town" of ~5000 people (~15000 in the mailing area) had protests downtown with signage. No real craziness, just free speech. 

If only:

 - more people could promote their interests this way, nonviolently
 - more communication & reconciliation could be accomplished without violence or the threat of violence

(update: and now seeing a few pics from updated Facebook posts, some NSFW speech that wouldn't make it past the filters here... but still FREE SPEECH.)

Apparently the same people that screwed up the Spokane protest planned on being in Couer d Alene yesterday during that protest.

So a hundred people showed up armed to the teeth to dissuade such tomfoolery......and nothing bad happened.

I don't care what side of the fence you are on there but when you have a 100 heavily armed people and the result is no violence vs people armed with bricks and lots of violence... it has to make you think a little

G_Body_Man (Forum Supporter) said:

 

This was created as a place for GRMers to let other GRMers know if they're safe or in danger. That's it.

 

No one listens.   It has been posted multiple times, and and it is ignored..  

Last night in Oak Lawn, Illinois was better than Monday night, which was better than Sunday night, which was the fear of the unknown more than anything.  

A couple days later from the rough night in Boston, some of the smaller cities in MA have been seeing protests, vigils, and unfortunately, more damage.

My wife's hometown Quincy had a vigil with some speakers yesterday. It was as peaceful as you can get, with lots of families in attendance. Watching the footage was moving, since there has been a lot of pent-up anger/hate in the city due to minority populations moving in over the past 15 years. They put all of that aside and took steps to make things better. Overnight, things stayed calm as well.

In Brockton, a city that's notorious around here for being a really rough area, things were very peaceful all day, and then some moron shot fireworks at the police at night. You can guess what happened after that. The mayor met with protest leaders this morning and they seem to be working together, since neither one wanted anything bad to happen, so at least some good may come of that.

Tonight, Plymouth is due for a protest at the waterfront and in the downtown area. A good friend of mine's GF has an awesome craft beer shop right in the path, and he's worried it's going to get destroyed. I really hope it doesn't; I really hope nothing gets destroyed. That area has come such a long way and is one of my favorite local spots. Hope everything is peaceful tonight.

Justjim75 said:

400+ rioters that came in on buses met at the Chevron across the street from me a bit ago, 2 hours after my cop friend came by to borrow ammo and extra mags.  That should tell you 2 things:

E36 M3 is about to get real and I'm pretty well armed

Jesus. How'd that play out? Where are you located?

Wife and I went to a second protest yesterday in Roland Park, a wealthy part of Baltimore.  Everyone met up with signs and flooded the sidewalks and median of the streets (no one blocked the actual streets) for nearly 1/4 mile in each direction from a big intersection.  There had to have been a few thousand people there.  At 5:21pm we all took a knee for 9 minutes, roughly as long as the cop knelt on George Floyd's neck.  At 5:30 it was scheduled to end and everyone just peacefully go home, but all the college students started chanting and marching down the streets.  We marched probably 2 miles total before we turned back from the crowd (The wife wasn't wearing the best walking shoes).  A lot of people continued marching in the direction of city hall, although it was a few miles away.  Not sure how far they went.  The entire thing remained peaceful.  Two takeaways from this:

1. As all the drivers passing by were honking in support, there was a young black woman honking with one hand, with her fist raised out her opened car window.  She had tears streaming down her face because she was so overwhelmed by the show of support from a large rich white community.  It was really touching to see and choked me up a bit.  I had my camera and wanted to take a picture - it would have been incredible.  But it felt wrong, that moment was hers to hold and remember, not mine to post on social media and get likes.

2.  The tone of this was very different from Monday night's protest.  This was in a rich white neighborhood, so the people protesting were showing support but you could tell nearly all of them had never experienced any of these issues we're talking about.  There wasn't really much genuine anger or understanding.  There was a lot of school kids (~high school/early college age and a few middle schoolers) that would lead a chant for a minute and then giggle to their friends like they did the coolest thing ever.  And I'm very glad they're out there showing their support, but it was very very different from the night before, where you had young black men from the streets of Baltimore that had dealt with this all their lives.  People that grew up in the systemic racism that Subscriber-unavailable mentioned.  People with genuine anger because they have to live their lives in fear of corrupt police - reminder that a few years or so ago the justice department did an investigation of the Baltimore police department and ended up writing a 168 page report of all the civil rights atrocities they found.

Anyways, we stayed safe.  We were very careful and wore masks and didn't touch anyone at either protest, but we both are kinda stuffy today - it's probably due to our window unit A/C blowing on us all night, but we're going to self quarantine for a bit anyways and if any symptoms keep up then we'll go get tested.

I'm just amazed very recently people were being called covidiots for not social distancing, spring breakers were called murderers,  small business owners were being arrested for trying to make a living, people were being accused of valuing profit over lives, 40 million plus out of work,  people being told to "wear a berkeleying mask and stay home", etc.,  and now look where we are.  Now  businesses being destroyed, theft, assault, murder, etc. Those same people passing judgement are now throwing social distancing etc out the window.  Absolutely crazy.  

Anyway,  my area is quiet.  Nothing going on and don't really expect that to change.   Nashville has some issues early on,  but it has settled down.

Cotton said:

Those same people passing judgement are now throwing social distancing etc out the window.  Absolutely crazy.  

 

I am not seeing this at all. I'm seeing the same people on facebook and other social media continue to call for social distancing and mask wearing. And I do not see anyone condoning the riots.  

mtn (Forum Supporter) said:

Cotton said:

Those same people passing judgement are now throwing social distancing etc out the window.  Absolutely crazy.  

 

I am not seeing this at all. I'm seeing the same people on facebook and other social media continue to call for social distancing and mask wearing. And I do not see anyone condoning the riots.  

We are definitely seeing things completely different then.  It's almost like Covid is over.  Still curious to see what shakes out in a few weeks.

mtn (Forum Supporter) said:

Cotton said:

Those same people passing judgement are now throwing social distancing etc out the window.  Absolutely crazy.  

 

I am not seeing this at all. I'm seeing the same people on facebook and other social media continue to call for social distancing and mask wearing. And I do not see anyone condoning the riots.  

I saw a lot of masks at both the peaceful protests and at the downtown riots here in Dallas. Do the masks protect them from the tear gas too? 

Snowdoggie said:

mtn (Forum Supporter) said:

Cotton said:

Those same people passing judgement are now throwing social distancing etc out the window.  Absolutely crazy.  
 

I am not seeing this at all. I'm seeing the same people on facebook and other social media continue to call for social distancing and mask wearing. And I do not see anyone condoning the riots.  

I saw a lot of masks at both the peaceful protests and at the downtown riots here in Dallas. Do the masks protect them from the tear gas too? 

I doubt it, but it definitely makes it harder to be identified. 

mtn (Forum Supporter) said:

Snowdoggie said:

mtn (Forum Supporter) said:

Cotton said:

Those same people passing judgement are now throwing social distancing etc out the window.  Absolutely crazy.  
 

I am not seeing this at all. I'm seeing the same people on facebook and other social media continue to call for social distancing and mask wearing. And I do not see anyone condoning the riots.  

I saw a lot of masks at both the peaceful protests and at the downtown riots here in Dallas. Do the masks protect them from the tear gas too? 

I doubt it, but it definitely makes it harder to be identified. 

Especially in this area where the police put cameras on every street corner. It looks like they had looters who didn't start with the marchers at the park, but later showed up right behind them when they passed Neiman Marcus so they could smash, grab and run. Probably co-ordinated the whole thing on their phones.  

There was a peaceful protest about 3/4 mile from our place.  They were out for 2 hours and dispersed when they said they would and even cleaned up after themselves.  My wife didn't know they were protesting and drove to the intersection, and they let her through no problem.  Some of the stores boarded their windows up before hand.  Otherwise its really quiet out here.  Stockton had some looting.

My wife's cousin lives in San Leandro.  They live behind a dodge dealership that had 50+ cars stolen from them including every hellcat they had.  Mercedes of Oakland had cars set on fire in their showroom.  Where I work in Hayward/Union City was quiet.  There's a curfew out there now.

Be careful out there yall.  I got an email from work detailing how the county EMS system operated during the weekend.  Friday night had the largest crowds (thy estimate 7000) and the rioting was mainly in downtown Oakland.  Saturday had 1/10th of the crowd from Friday, however there was more violence/looting and it spread to Everyville and Alaemda.  Sunday was the worst for Alameda county with widespread looting.  Reports of gunmen around local hospitals.  They pulled all EMS support off the street and had them post at HQ, fire stations and a satellite hub to respond to calls.  Normally they would post at different locations through the county.  Crews are now allowed to wear ballistic vests under their work uniforms.

Masks can help against tear gas 'cause most of that is a dust. Real problem is you need a good soap to emulsify it to remove it, 1:1 milk of magnesia and water keeps it down when you're sprayed but doesn't fix it.

Like mtn my protest organizers call for continued mask use and to basically not be foolish- we're good about it partially due to the surveillance. To be frank, after being in a couple protests now I feel like the looting is overblown for attention- the only time my city had looting or riots was Saturday (a 20-something was shot trying to disarm someone waving a pistol at a crowd), and since then there's just been constant protest especially now that my governor said the phrase "My problem with you people" to local black leaders. 

Some of our police are protesting with us in uniform.