Tag: BLM

Staying silent

Social media: I know that certain aspects of social media make having conversations hard. Twitter is especially bad given the character limits; it is difficult to say thing more that “I am for it….I am against it.”

Take massive protests: we still have COVID-19. Yes, studies have not detected post protest spikes in cities that have had these BUT there were some effects: the protesters were a small part of the population and, ironically, the protests encouraged many more people to really stay home. So, the “no spike” data does NOT mean that large gatherings are safe, as some claim.

And I wonder how effective it is hearing about protest after protest.

Yes, you hear “what about MLK and the Civil Rights movement?” Those were different times, in a different situation (legalized segregation), different media presence AND they were part of a well organized effort (with economic boycotts, highly intelligent legal action, etc.)

It does appear that there is some drop in support for BLM..could be regression to the mean. I don’t see how more protests will help though things like athlete strikes appear to be popular.

But I digress…going back to social media: it goes something like this:

Someone: “Big BLM protest…good right?”

Me: “no…COVID is still real”

Response: But they are protesting racism!

Me: “I don’t approve of looting and rioting”

Response: “So you are ok with cops just shooting black suspects?”

Me: “I think black people are unfairly profiled by law enforcement”

Trumpster response: “So, you are ok with criminals going free? I’m not so I am supporting Trump”

Conversations are increasingly hard to have so more and more I just give heart reacts to goat photos.

I can say that it appears that Trump WANTS protests and is agitating for them to become more violent.

What Black Lives Matter means to me

No, this is not a valid statistical study. But watch:

By the way, they had the wrong guy. Yes, this is a different police force..but..

And listen to a conservative Republican:

So, what does Black Lives Matter mean to me?

It does not mean that I embrace “critical race theory”, Marxism or other theories that a BLM website might have or that others might espose.
It does not mean that I approve of everything that someone with BLM chants at a protest.
It does not mean that I approve of rioting or looting.
It does not mean that I approve of things like this:

It does not mean that I deny that there are Black criminals.
It does not mean that I think that some who are arrested behave badly or foolishly.
It does not mean that I dislike the police. I like the police, in general.

It means that I think, statistically speaking, Black people are treated worse that non-black people in the same situation and I think that is unjust.

Let’s have a more fair, more just society. Let every citizen be judged by their own actions.

And, it sure appears that Black lives are not as valued by society as non-black lives.

Why many of us say “Black Lives Matter”

I am reminded of this passage from The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin:

Yes, this was mid 19’th century and yes, you could go on about how this book was about Huckleberry’s redemption (to help Jim escape slavery). But the passage is clear: at one point in our nation’s history, a Black life didn’t count as much as a White life.

And that brings us to our present time: here, a black guy was shot to death by police in Atlanta. Video and story is here.

The call was for someone who was asleep in his car in a drive through line at a hamburger store.

Yes, he was drunk. Yes, he should have been arrested for drunk driving; no problem there.
But when police got him out of the car, he resisted arrest (again, not in doubt; it is in the video).
Yes, he got in a fight with the officers, took the taser of one of them and started to RUN AWAY.
Yes, he aimed the taser at an officer while running away.
And he was shot dead.

And to my point: yes, “Black Lives Matter”, even when the person is behaving very badly.

The person who was shot and killed wasn’t putting anyone in danger. He had been unarmed and now had a taser. He really wasn’t threatening anyone else. Yes, I am sure that the police officers were angry. I would have been too. Yes, the guy who got shot was a complete idiot.

But he was still a human being and did nothing to warrant summary execution.

Jail? Yes. Trial? Yes. Getting roughed up in the process of being arrested? It might have been necessary.

Executed? NO.

So to those who say “All lives matter:” True, but in the US, we never had to make it a point that white lives matter.

Downswing again?

Yesterday: 5.25 mile walk in 1:21:50 (15:36 pace) and it was painful at the end; didn’t stretch enough. I might try something more gentle before this morning’s weight workout. I am feeling a bit “out of sorts”; aches, pains, etc, but we’ll see how it goes.

In terms of social stuff: our country is so polarized and, well, even human decency is becoming a partisan issue. Here is how “they” are “owning us”: (and yes, these are grown adult men, not immature kids)

On a happier note: B and I maintained social distance and then “saw the athletes off” as they walked in a BLM demonstration:

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Anxious times for many reasons…