George Floyd - America so f**ked up

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Here is a statement from Washington Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory
regarding the planned visit today from the president at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine:
I find it baffling and reprehensible that any Catholic facility would allow itself to
be so egregiously misused and manipulated in a fashion that violates our religious
principles, which call us to defend the rights of all people even those with whom
we might disagree. Saint Pope John Paul II was an ardent defender of the rights
and dignity of human beings. His legacy bears vivid witness to that truth. He
certainly would not condone the use of tear gas and other deterrents to silence,
scatter or intimidate them for a photo opportunity in front of a place of worship
and peace.
Archbishop Gregory will participate in an Online Dialogue with the Initiative on Catholic Social
Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University this Friday, June 5, from 12 noon - 1 p.m.
EDT to discuss “Racism in Our Streets and Structures - A Test of Faith, A Crisis for Our
Nation.”
More detailed information and registration for this Zoom discussion here:
catholicsocialthought.georgetown.edu/events/racism-in-our-streets-and-structures
On Sunday, May 31, Washington Archbishop Wilton Gregory released this statement on the
Memorial Day death of George Floyd:
In astonishment, we are seeing the reactions of people across the United States as they
express feelings of frustration, hurt, and anger in their cry for justice for George Floyd,
whom we painfully watched being suffocated in front of our eyes on video in
Minneapolis, Minnesota this past week.
Many of us remember similar incidents in our history that accompanied the Civil Rights
Movement, where we repeatedly saw Black Americans viciously brutalized by police on
television and in newspaper photos. Those historic moments helped to rouse our national
conscience to the African American experience in the United States and now, in 2020,
we tragically still see repeated incidents of police brutality against African Americans.
We find ourselves in this national moment again with the awakening of our conscience
by heartbreaking photos and video that clearly confirm that racism still endures in our
country. On television and in social media, we are observing an overflow of pain felt
acutely in the African American community and shared by too many other communities.

Views like this will sadly be called racist but we are not moving forward with the term 'racial' abuse. I have a feeling we will not move forward until we just call it abuse. However I think we have light years to go before we can 'come together' on this because of the narrow mindedness on both sides of the community. In fact I don't think black people will get the support they need from white people while it's always called 'racial' abuse. White people will just let the black people get on with it and the black people will just promote 'black lives matter'. We need to move away from black and white and just say 'us' to go forward as one society in my view.

Views like this will sadly be called racist but we are not moving forward with the term 'racial' abuse. I have a feeling we will not move forward until we just call it abuse. However I think we have light years to go before we can 'come together' on this because of the narrow mindedness on both sides of the community. In fact I don't think black people will get the support they need from white people while it's always called 'racial' abuse. White people will just let the black people get on with it and the black people will just promote 'black lives matter'. We need to move away from black and white and just say 'us' to go forward as one society in my view.

I think Oldie there has to be a massive shift in attitude to the point that we 'fight together' on abuse. As one example, standing in the Blackthorn and hearing chants of 'If Matty Taylor dies we'll have a party is abuse just as using the 'black' word. The former is allowed the latter isn't leading to divided communities. I disagree with 'Kick it Out' who just look after one section of society. Society needs the government to create laws to stop abuse to every one of us. Then we will all be in the same group and then we will have 'come together' truly as a society.

Sadly Al I can't see "All lives matter" catching on as a slogan. We can all come up with our own ideas as to why...

Can you imagine having "All Lives Matter" as an adopted strap line and then go and invade a country killing 100s of 1000s of locals over oil?
Or, a drone killing regardless of the infamous "collateral damage"?

Can you imagine.

The thing is Oldie continuing with this crusade against abuse which is only racial hasn't stopped 'invasions for oil' either has it. We need to think differently if we are going to see any change. We have allowed every little group to 'fight their corner' now there are so many corners it's difficult to walk around the room.

It's true that killing, evil and propaganda are not the sole rights of black or white people. To move on as in any conflict we need to stop blaming each other.

This line of argument keeps popping up.
It appears to run along the lines of
"Look at the black on black crime rate, yet they (black people) only shout that black lives matter when it appears to be a white on black issue"

First off the crime rate amongst Afro Americans is demonstrably higher in some areas than that amongst other ethnic groups.
But, in the main, it is not driven by racial prejudice..is it?
So is it driven by a much higher incidence of poverty, of lower educational standards, both in teaching and facilities provision, by a presumption of "hopelessness" given the racial prejudice endured by the parents? The resulting dive into substance abuse etc?
Ask yourself.

So the last thing we need is the authorities re-enforcing these fault lines by killing afro Americans or treating them generally as 2nd class citizens.

The thing is if you look carefully similar fault lines can be seen in the UK, although less pronounced along racial lines, but very much so along economic lines. If you doubt that look at the Covid19 death rate by by income band and geographic area.

All lives do indeed matter but, just like Animal Farm, some lives appear to matter more than others.