The Political Thread

[Professor Bear]

I'm sure being black doesn't help your chances against a notoriously right-wing and brutal police force who have been proven racist liars many times over by the press in the last few months, but Brown wasn't killed because of how he looked, he was killed because he didn't obey.  That cop would have murdered killed a white kid if he'd done the same.

[JPMaybe]

...but Brown wasn't killed because of how he looked, he was killed because he didn't obey.  That cop would have murdered killed a white kid if he'd done the same.

Maybe, maybe not.  We've only got said trigger-happy coward's word on that.  And the fact is that a black person in the US is far more likely to be in that situation in the first place, i.e. obey or face summary execution, than a white person.

[von Boom]

Darren Wilson wasn't acquitted. He wasn't even indicted. They decided there wasn't even a chargeable offence to begin with.

[Hawkmumbler]

Darren Wilson wasn't acquitted. He wasn't even indicted. They decided there wasn't even a chargeable offence to begin with.

That is correct. Sorry.

[Professor Bear]

When the prosecutor highlights inaccuracies in the witness testimonies but not in the testimony of Wilson, I think it's safe to say the fix is in.

[Theblazeuk]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/cleveland-police-shooting-boy-with-fake-gun-dies-after-being-shot-by-ohio-officer-9878700.html

A 12-year-old boy has been shot dead by police in the US as he played with a fake gun in a park.

Tamir Rice, who was black, died of his wounds yesterday in hospital after being shot twice in Cleveland, Ohio, on Saturday.

A member of the public had phoned police saying people in the playground were scared by someone brandishing what looked like a gun.

In a recording released by officials, the caller can be heard saying: "There's a guy with a pistol...you know, it's probably fake but he's pointing it at everybody.

"I don't know if it's real or not."

The 911 responder twice asked whether the boy was black or white before dispatching officers.

When police arrived at the Cudell Recreation Center park, they told Tamir to raise his hands, deputy police chief Ed Tomba said.

When he allegedly took the replica gun from his waistband, an officer fired twice despite the fact the suspected weapon was not pointed at them and no threats were made.

The SJS wouldn't stand for this.

[von Boom]

At this point, I wouldn't point my finger and go pew-pew in the US.

[Professor Bear]

That's kind of what 12 year old boys do.

[The Legendary Shark]

Devil's advocate time.
.
Let's say you want to increase the powers and equipment available to your police forces in order to tighten your grip on the country you control - how best to do that? The best way is to manipulate the people you want to control into *demanding* that you control them.
.
So you take a fatal police shooting - preferably involving a white officer and black victim (and note how these "racial killings" rarely involve Asians or Arabs, for example) - that has some ambiguity to it and then just let the media sensationalise it. Anger is stirred up amongst the people you want to control and, possibly with the aid of a few agents provocateur to kick-off the arson and looting, eventually you'll get some nice scary footage of a normal town looking like a war zone for rolling news. The people, through fear, demand protection and the velvet tyrant is only too happy to oblige with more and better armed stormcoppers.
.
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/new-evidence-supports-officers-account-of-shooting-in-ferguson/2014/10/22/cf38c7b4-5964-11e4-bd61-346aee66ba29_story.html
.
Rioting is precisely what our would-be tyrants want - like a police officer pushing for a fight so you can be arrested - they're winding us up, hoping we'll hit back hard enough (and spectacularly enough) to justify tightening their grip.
.
Morally, shouldn't the American people be protesting *every* police killing irrespective of the race of the victim? But no - just (or mainly) sensationalising the victims who happen to be from a certain race actually exacerbates racism and reinforces societal fractures. Divide and rule.
.
Oldest trick in the book.

[Theblazeuk]

Morally, shouldn't the American people be protesting *every* police killing irrespective of the race of the victim? But no - just (or mainly) sensationalising the victims who happen to be from a certain race actually exacerbates racism and reinforces societal fractures. Divide and rule

15% of the population but 1 in 3 'arrest-related deaths' are black. At a bare minimum; as I think has been previously mentioned on this thread, official statistics for police shootings are extremely unreliable in the states at every level of law enforcement. I recall particularly there is an absence of data on unlawful/unjustified shootings. And add to that most of the figures are second-hand as what data is kept by the US agencies is not particularly open to the public from all accounts. And never mind the cases like Zimmerman/Williams....

http://blogs.channel4.com/factcheck/factcheck-black-americans-killed-police/19423


http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/11/25/the-14-teens-killed-by-cops-since-michael-brown.html Is also interesting, if very sad reading.

My general impression is that a conscious attempt to foster these divisions and 'tighten your grip' is unnecessary at this point, it's all self-sustaining.

[The Legendary Shark]

Maybe you're right, I don't know, but the more people riot, the more weapons the police get, and the more weapons the police get, the more victims get shot, and the more victims get shot, the more people riot, and the more people riot, the more weapons the police get...
.
Authority can never have enough control and will always strive for more. It's very tempting to pour petrol everywhere when you're the one selling fire extinguishers, I guess.

[Professor Bear]

Call me old-fashioned if you will, but I am always far more worried when people don't riot when the state murders its citizens.

I fully support rioting - it's more than just a time when you can upgrade to a better television, it's a great pressure valve.  I mean, plenty of governments manage to see out their time in office without a riot, so if one blows up on your watch, probably best to let them get it out of their system or you end up with spree shooters or domestic terrorists.  Probably.  I don't know.

[ZenArcade]

Donno AA. Legitimate mass protest definitely....riots, you and I and probably a lot of others (after the riots in England) know what riot is and it aint nice. Z

[The Legendary Shark]

Yeah, I'd never say don't riot because it's a perfectly legitimate response to unchecked authority - but I think it must be a last resort because it so easily strengthens the velvet tyrant's hand. We have to be smarter than that.

[COMMANDO FORCES]

Are these the riots that attack Parliment, Downing Street, Constituency offices, Police Stations, etc... Or are they the ones that smash up & loot shops and burn lots of cars!