Are You Showing Support for Black Lives Matter in Second Life?

[Aethelwine]

Yesterday I saw a compilation video of Police kneeling, putting their shields down in solidarity with the protestors. I wish I could find it again to post. It gives a different perspective to the one dominating, and a positive aspect to the events that is under reported.

Edited June 3, 2020 by Aethelwine

[kali Wylder]

2 minutes ago, Aethelwine said:

Yesterday I saw a compilation video of Police kneeling, putting their shields down in solidarity with the protestors. I wish I could find it again to post. It gives a different perspective to the one dominating, and a positive aspect to the events that is under reported.

I saw that too.  I think it was on my FB feed, so will be impossible to find again... but it was a positive sign, made me glad.

[Dano Seale]

18 minutes ago, Lyssa Greymoon said:

In case I didn't make my point yesterday about "all lives matter" being a garbage phrase no one should use anymore clear enough, there you go.

Proof positive God is a woman?
 

[Scylla Rhiadra]

Just now, kali Wylder said:

I saw that too.  I think it was on my FB feed, so will be impossible to find again... but it was a positive sign, made me glad.

There have been many such instances, although there has also been the suggestion that some of these are staged, and that the police have turned around after the photo op and attacked the protesters. But check out the remarks of the Houston Chief of Police, for instance.

I may be being hugely over-optimistic here, but I want to believe that there is some sign that at least some law enforcement officers are beginning to "get it." Some cracks in the "law and order" facade, maybe, as police begin to understand that, not only are these the people they are sworn to serve, but that they themselves are part of the same community. So, maybe the tiny beginnings of a culture shift?

[Dano Seale]

6 minutes ago, Aethelwine said:

Yesterday I saw a compilation video of Police kneeling, putting their shields down in solidarity with the protestors.

The one I saw of officers kneeling with their shields down, showed the protestors walking to them clapping and cheering....then the cops charged them! Guess they were just tired maybe?

[Aethelwine]

1 minute ago, Dano Seale said:

The one I saw of officers kneeling with their shields down, showed the protestors walking to them clapping and cheering....then the cops charged them! Guess they were just tired maybe?

I saw that one too, but not the one I was thinking of.

[Beth Macbain]

44 minutes ago, Jordan Whitt said:

Over 108,000 Americans have DIED from this virus.  Elderly people, young people, vulnerable people - black, white, hispanic, asian, gay, straight... it doesn't discriminate.

Except it does. You didn't include the stats showing that a disproportionate number of black people are both contracting and dying of COVID.

[Selene Gregoire]

9 minutes ago, kali Wylder said:

I saw that too.  I think it was on my FB feed, so will be impossible to find again... but it was a positive sign, made me glad.

 

13 minutes ago, Aethelwine said:

Yesterday I saw a compilation video of Police kneeling, putting their shields down in solidarity with the protestors. I wish I could find it again to post. It gives a different perspective to the one dominating, and a positive aspect to the events that is under reported.

 This one?

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/police-officers-kneel-and-march-in-solidarity-with-protesters/

[Coffee Pancake]

Pose for the press, load up the chemical weapons.

[Aethelwine]

10 minutes ago, Selene Gregoire said:

 

 This one?

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/police-officers-kneel-and-march-in-solidarity-with-protesters/

Similar, not exactly the same, but probably the same examples.

Thank you for posting

[Waiomao]

There are a bunch of BLM shirts in the SL Book Club this morning. Hope to see same in RL.

[kiramanell]

25 minutes ago, Beth Macbain said:

Except it does. You didn't include the stats showing that a disproportionate number of black people are both contracting and dying of COVID.

 

Reminds me a bit of Nancy Pelosi (who I think is great, btw), answering questions to the press, saying words akin to 'All lives matter to me', when asked by reporters about the death of that poor black man. I didn't blame her for that, because, in her context, it's just the kind of broad, blanket statement you need to make as a politician. Still, one needs to be careful with what one says. Like 'Covid-19 affects all of us alike, indiscriminately.' That may sound ueber politically correct, but simply isn't factual.

[LittleMe Jewell]

Charges against the officer that knelt on his neck are being upgraded to 2nd degree murder and the other 3 officers are being charged with 'aiding and abetting 2nd degree murder':

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/500949-chauvins-charges-upped-to-second-degree-murder-three-other-officers

[Sylvia Tamalyn]

https://www.vox.com/2020/6/3/21279481/3-cops-george-floyd-second-degree-murder-derek-chauvin-thao-kueng-lane?fbclid=IwAR2GLl3COHUTejDvlShDEsZXj4OoNGnIlb9KlcEvKuJk2BOHkzo4738Ud7o 

ETA: Jinx, Lil!

Edited June 3, 2020 by Sylvia Tamalyn

[Selene Gregoire]

52 minutes ago, Aethelwine said:

Similar, not exactly the same, but probably the same examples.

Thank you for posting

You're welcome. I found it by googling "police kneeling in support".

[Sylvia Tamalyn]

A sign of hope: A 14 year old girl organized a protest in Claremore, Oklahoma yesterday. Redneck Central, you might say (and I can say that since I live in the state). The local police were supportive, and the protest was peaceful. 

https://www.claremoreprogress.com/news/this-is-what-community-looks-like-teen-activist-leads-peaceful-protest-through-claremore/article_6ced327c-a53d-11ea-aebb-4b56bdc88774.html

[Beth Macbain]

LMPD had a press conference last night before the protests started and answered unedited, unfiltered questions from the media. Since the firing of the chief of police the day before yesterday, there is already a tangible difference in the police. The press conference was brutally transparent. They answered some pretty pointed and harsh questions. They explained why the previous several nights of protests had been shut down like they were with tear gas and pepper bullets. They had surveillance video and pictures that they shared of the people in the crowds who had weapons, including guns, and IEDs. These people were not part of the protests. The people around them had no idea that they were standing next to someone with a backpack full of mason jars filled with lighter fluid and hammers. Pickup trucks parked on side streets with their beds full of bricks.  

I wish they'd put that video on their YouTube page, but they didn't. In all those pics and video, they were all white except one black kid with a Molotov cocktail. The white people they showed were dressed in camouflage, with actual gas masks... and Hawaiian shirts. 

Outside our courthouse - 

A tweet with a quick shot of a newscast with the armed Hawaiian shirt agitators: Boogaloo Bois.

Boogaloo Bois are NOT antifa. As a matter of fact, they are the opposite. These are far right extremists who believe in doing what they can to accelerate a race war - like handing bricks to angry, but peaceful, young black men. Or shooting off fireworks in the middle of a crowd to mimic gunfire (or actual gunfire as well), or just smashing windows with those hammers because they know that the pearl-clutching all lives matter Karens are going to blame the black people. 

The mayor this morning has announced the first steps for a national search for a new police chief. He also finally took the time to explain why he can't just fire the three officers that killed Breonna Taylor, which he should have done days ago, and I suspect didn't because the crappy police chief and the FOP pressured him not to. He has released all the video they have so far of the shooting of David McAtee a couple of nights ago - even though it doesn't paint the police and National Guard in a very good light. 

I think I lost my point here... OH! Yeah, changes are happening in Louisville. The protests are forcing these changes by not allowing these deaths (and oh-so-many beatings) to go ignored. 

It's not been pretty. Change of this sort never is. There is a butt load of pain and anguish that has to be healed. Our police department  and the mayor have a lot of work to do to gain the trust of the people of Louisville - and not just the black community. I lost my faith and respect in them the first couple nights of protests. I understand that they were under the direction of a really awful chief who has now been fired, but... no, I still don't trust them as a whole right now. 

The protests are succeeding at what they need to do in my city, and that is bring about some drastic changes that have been needed for decades and decades. Looks like they're working in Minneapolis, too. Los Angeles has got to fire it's police chief, but the mayor is dragging his feet. I don't even know what to say about New York and the NYPD other than the entire force needs to be fired and replaced. 

I'm seeing change on the horizon, and I'm hopeful. I'm also a white chick so really, at the end of the day, I don't know anything about police brutality and racism.

Hopeful, cautious, and ready to listen to what the black community needs me to do to support them.

 

 

[Sylvia Tamalyn]

Oops, I forgot to mention in my post above, but Betty Shelby, the cop who killed Terence Crutcher, works for the sheriff's office in Claremore. (Just to give you a better idea of the usual climate there.)

Edited June 3, 2020 by Sylvia Tamalyn

[Selene Gregoire]

23 minutes ago, Sylvia Tamalyn said:

A sign of hope: A 14 year old girl organized a protest in Claremore, Oklahoma yesterday. Redneck Central, you might say (and I can say that since I live in the state). The local police were supportive, and the protest was peaceful. 

https://www.claremoreprogress.com/news/this-is-what-community-looks-like-teen-activist-leads-peaceful-protest-through-claremore/article_6ced327c-a53d-11ea-aebb-4b56bdc88774.html

My daughter lives in OK. She's a horse nut and yes she got it from me. She was almost born on horseback. Almost.

[Selene Gregoire]

https://www.chicoer.com/2020/06/02/police-using-rubber-bullets-on-protesters-that-can-kill-blind-or-maim-for-life/

https://wsvn.com/news/local/fort-lauderdale-woman-speaks-out-after-being-struck-in-the-face-by-rubber-bullet/

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/family-calls-for-removal-of-officer-for-shooting-rubber-bullet-at-womans-face-in-la-mesa/2338554/

https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/la-mesa-protest-grandmother-shot-in-the-head-with-rubber-bullet/509-fc24d616-5de8-439d-acf0-7ef2d09c84e8

[Gatogateau]

In case anyone wants more info, this looked like a good start:

https://www.purewow.com/books/books-about-white-privilege

[Gatogateau]

1 hour ago, Beth Macbain said:

Boogaloo Bois are NOT antifa. As a matter of fact, they are the opposite. These are far right extremists who believe in doing what they can to accelerate a race war - like handing bricks to angry, but peaceful, young black men. 

So if Cheeto is anti-antifa, does that make him pro-fa?

 

The answer is yes, of course... taking pages out of playbooks from the likes of Hungary’s Orban to India’s Modi to Brazil’s Bolsonaro and Turkish President Erdogan, in moves like shooting rubber bullets, using flash-bang and chemical irritants against an "inconveniently" placed group of a peaceful protest in order to make a photo op of him awkwardly holding "a" (not his) Bible. And thank all the gods for the Bishop who publicly tore him a new one, several times, for doing that in association with one of her churchs. 

Edited June 3, 2020 by Gatogateau

[Luna Bliss]

Obama is hosting a Town Hall to speak to the issues, in 20 minutes:

https://www.c-span.org/

[Gatogateau]

I posted this in the RAWr thread, but in case anyone was wondering, here are the freebies from Petite Morte we've spoken about here. (Free group gift, available to non-group members.)

 

[Beth Macbain]

Leaving this here for anyone who wants to watch.