George Floyd - America so f**ked up

Over here you make a conscious decision about how to react when arrested, kick off you know your going to get hurt, same over there kick off you know your going to get hurt or shot.
One thing often overlooked is here or any other country,  certain areas are dealt with in differing ways, if one section society reacts say angrily or violently when stopped then the cops are going to deal with it in a certain way, whether its right or not

I doubt they would strike if it were to damage their careers or bank balance. Easy to be righteous at someone else’s expense. Look at Hamilton, he didn’t once think about putting the cause ahead of his personal F1 title ambitions. It’s not about the money to me, I don’t pay their wages but I see at least one team owner is angry with their actions. I can’t stand pompous multi millionaire athletes and right on celebrities telling the rest of the world how to live their lives and what they should be thinking.

I find your arrogant left wing assumptions pathetic too. You know nothing about me. If money was that important to me I wouldn’t have taken a 25% pay cut earlier this year purely to put life ahead of money and work. Now f**k off. 

Agree, and we are back to Trump.

The adult conversation needs to start at the top, but he is too busy patting himself on the back for restoring law and order rather than, trying to tackle the cause

No it won't suddenly change, but someone has to start it and/or pick up on stuff Obama was trying to talk about

In my experience of living their and working with people from the Afro American community, the people from that community of my age group are very conservative, Christian and self disciplined. It is the people born in the 80s who have foresaken that and given up. Not universally but they do grab the headlines.

It's bit like the debate from 1968, do you follow the radical path of Malcolm X (shot and killed) or the pacifist path of MLK (shot and killed).

Since that period nothing like enough has changed in society there to correct the racial fault lines. The police actions there are just a manifestation of those fault lines.
Obama was a sign of hope, perhaps mostly by bringing affordable health care to those who could not pay private sector premiums. But in treading a fine line between the hopes of the poorer elements in society and the entrenched reactionary forces in the establishment he now stands accused of not doing enough by both sides.

Now we have an absolute in the White House fanning the flames of hatred and division for the sole purpose of gaining power.
It's worse than Barry Goldwater in 1964, worse than George Wallace, worse than Nixon, worse than Reagan.

That's some feat.

So as much as I might believe the destruction of property, the violence, is counter productive and actually plays into the hands of the quite vile reactionary right wing led by Trump, I do understand the absolute frustration they must feel, the protesters.
Hopefully they will garner together their organisation to get the vote out and dump this idiot.
Install the interim President in Biden and set up the progressive wing of the Democratic Party to take control and start to right the wrongs so evident in American Society.

Late edit
For example...the Dam liar

flip.it/BZRLGF

That is true, but the degree to which religious practice permeates all sections of society belies that to a degree.
To witness the Afro American community congregate in their Sunday finest us a sight to behold

I speak as a committed atheist.

What does he know? He’s not a white middle classed liberal thousands of miles away.

Nobody is denying the pressure the police force are under in these situations, I don't think anyone is saying that every person who puts on the police uniform is a violent racist.
In terms of common ground I couldn't agree more, but Trump has no intention of reciprocating, quite the opposite.
Given his constant lying and misrepresentation it is important to keep calling him out.

To the State Senator from Tennessee.
I am not familiar with him but it's a classic.
This stood out for me, from his speech

"“I am one of those individuals who walked in back doors because the law said I had to. I’m one of those individuals who rode on the back of the bus on the back seats that were not cushioned because the law said I had to,” he said."

It's the classic play by the rules and things will change speech. The classic MLK Vs Malcolm X debate.

Well senator well done, you can now ride on the front of a bus and go into a restaurant. But that was 1968. In the years and events since can you really say the strategy was successful?

Sure the white establishment will sing your praises, hold you up as a beacon of Afro American moderation.

Meanwhile in Baltimore, for example, 100% of inner city kids qualify for free school meals, because of their low incomes. Nationwide I believe the total is 27,000,000. Yes million. In the world's richest economy, one where just today one of its leading companies has a capital value of $1.6T.
That's trillion.

Take a look at the demographic breakdown by ethnicity in Baltimore
62.5% Black / African American.

But here lies the rub.
The protesters on the streets are not uniformly Afro/Americans.
Plenty, a lot, of young white people equally object to what's going on.
But of course they are just anarchists, looking for trouble.
According to Trump.

Really

The feedback I get from the campus at the University of North Carolina is that tensions are simmering there as well. Not least by the discontent over the way the pandemic has been handled, not least by the fact that they were called back to Uni, contracted to lodgings for the educational year only to be told a week after arriving all courses will be online. Something that could be done at home. Average rent is $750 a month. Now for nothing.
Imagine you scrimped and saved, your kid got the grades. Now you are ripped off to that degree. This affects all ethnic groups, but poorer groups disproportionately.


If they protest what are the authorities going to do, send in the police to beat them up?
Maybe shoot a couple?

Ok
So tried to put that State Senator's speech in context, in my last post