I assume this is OK even though they were blocking traffic.
I assume the Boston Tea Party was okay
(I think maybe they just forgot to buy the tea)
As previously stated, BLM as an organization does NOT support threatening the police, destroying property, attacking white people, etc. What the media does is try to attach whatever happens to the organization as if it asked those people to do those things. If you are at a peaceful protest (like Standing Rock) and someone decides to throw a bottle at the police, do you leave and never come back? Do you stop protesting? Do you roll over and let the pipeline continue because some idiot did something during the protest that you disagree with? If that's the case, all the company would have to do is pay one person to throw a bottle and it would all be over.
There has been a smear campaign against BLM from the beginning for the simple fact that people don't like the message. They associate whatever individual actions they can find or whatever tiny group they can find to destroy the reputation of thousands. And that's exactly what racists do. Since the protest started I've heard more whites than ever, outspoken about black on black crime. Relevance?!?! None. THAT is NOT okay. Talking about how black people are intellectually inferior is NOT okay. Talking about how black people need to first clean up our own neighborhoods is NOT okay. Guess what? Collateral damage is NOT okay. Threatening to kill a terrorist's entire family on the campaign trail is NOT okay. Trying to spin the message of BLM as if they're saying white lives don't matter is NOT okay. Protesting BLM by saying All lives matter when you kill people all over the world and destroy families over marijuana is NOT okay. Killing a child because you think he has a gun is NOT okay. Stalking a black kid wearing a hoodie against the advice of the police is NOT okay. Getting away with killing him is NOT okay. Killing a black man in front of a 4 yr old is NOT okay, simply because he told you he had a gun is NOT okay.
Bottom line? There's a lot of "stuff" that's NOT okay. You don't have to apologize for every white person, nor does BLM have to apologize and somehow prevent every individual black person who is reacting to all of the things that are NOT okay that they know about and you that you "don't have to understand". Maybe if you did understand they wouldn't feel like no one is listening and no one cares; therefore the only solution is violence and bloodshed. People think that terrorists are created when we accidentally kill civilians (just like they do). And that may be true. We also create more terrorists when we talk about killing or discriminating against Muslims. But primarily these issues exist because we do not listen and we do not understand. And because our presence impacts their lives, out of frustration and fear, they will attack. What do we do? We call them terrorists and blame everything on them. We blame THEIR actions. We use their actions to JUSTIFY our response.
And in doing so we become their terrorists just as they become ours. And they use our actions to justify their response.
Pigs in a blanket? If you don't care why they feel so enraged against the police, THAT'S WHY they are so enraged in the first place. Many people only care and are only concerned when it's happening to THEM; when it affects THEM. They care when it's THEIR KID being told they can't sit here. We had a lady become a hero in this country for the simple fact that she refused to give up her seat to a white person. We can all agree that wrong is wrong and denying someone a seat period is wrong. There's no question about this. But the larger issue is how do we change it? It's NOT okay to say "Your people were systematically abused for 400 years but one of you stepped on my shoe once". I hate to break it to you, but there is NO equivalency. None.
Currently there are 9 kids at my house (biologically I only have 2). They're constantly telling on each other; as kids do. But if I never cared why one kid did something to another or what caused it or what the other said or did first, it would be pure chaos and everyone would be upset and unhappy. I'm not excusing any wrong doing, but I am saying it is important to understand the cause so you can treat it and stop blaming the victim for everything they do and everything they become as a result. You think that little 4 yr old who saw her mother's fiance get shot right in front of her is going to grow up to have a perfectly healthy view of the police? Do you think she wont be scared (and scarred) for life? Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. We are reacting to each other and that gets people emotionally heated. Expecting BLM to somehow control the emotions and actions of every person that comes to a protest is not realistic.
Mace Windu didn't represent the Jedi Council when he was about to strike down Sidious. He had just watched Sidious kill several Jedi and he knew what he was capable of. Anakin, because HE was emotional, ascribed this action/behavior to the Jedi as a whole and turned against them. But did the council discuss murdering Palpatine if they had the opportunity? No. Do you think BLM sat down in a council and conspired to start riots and provoke the police with hateful rhetoric? Do you really think that's what happened?
When it's the police people defend them saying "oh well its just a few bad apples."
When it's BLM these same people say "its the movement". Do you see the hypocrisy? Do you see the double standard? You don't "need" to understand but if you wanted to understand you would understand that is RACISM. Racism is part of our criminal justice system. It's a part of the laws. It's a part of the culture of the police. We have ex-police officers that tell us this. We have at least one ex-police officer who is white, telling us how minorities are targeted. We have "Stop & Frisk" which was ruled UNCONSTITUTIONAL because it unfairly targeted black and Hispanic young men. How many cops carried this out? But it's not happening to you so you don't need to understand. You don't need to feel any outrage or do go out of your way to make any kind of difference. Let's just sit here and meditate racism away and black people should just go away and suffer in silence. After all, its only a few bad apples against a rotten bunch.
) are more likely to succeed and not land one behind bars.
