Here's what I've come up with, in no particular order: I've been going back and forth on what makes all of this feel so different this time around (and it's not just me even Ta-Nehisi Coates says he is feeling some hope). They didn’t move from that point to BLM because of burning buildings. Charles Barkley is on CNN right now, and he pointed out that just two weeks ago the NFL was bribing teams to hire black coaches by offering an extra draft pick to those who do. Looting shopping districts didn’t move the NFL to announce Black Lives Matter, seeing the groundswell of support across all their target markets moved them. Seeing the violence used by police against protestors has moved more people to join those protests. While what Fury Resurrected and karaddin wrote are powerful and resonate as true, I don’t think the violence during protests has moved people as much as the ruthless and heartless violence in the murder video. It has really driven home to many Americans that we aren't talking about a few "bad apples", this is a system of violence without accountability. Not that videos didn't exist before, but they weren't all over the news every day for a week.
I actually think the reason these protests are having more impact that most others is the omnipresent videos of police beating, brutalizing, gassing, and (in the case of Floyd) murdering innocent people. They maintain an alarming amount of control over hundreds of millions of people. They definitely support the type of culture our police forces continue to develop and reinforce. They didn't invent racism but they definitely benefit from and encourage it. It includes the support of any and all things that ensure we are focused on each other and not the man behind the curtain. That includes the almost constant stream of manipulation we are subjected to from the moment we first draw breath. Pure opportunists aside, is it really indiscriminate? These corporations are headed by the people who support and encourage much of the strife in the world. And not just because of unjust police violence. Not to mention the obvious fact the more you encourage that behavior the more likely it is people get hurt. Not like it's cutting-edge or anything, there've been anarchists around for a very long time. I applaud those that burned down the precinct - but because there was a direct reason for it. I'm going to expand the statement in the following paraphrase, but just a bit, to say you're suggesting every time a minority is murdered "let's burn a location of a multi billion dollar corporation every time," right? K.forgetting the logistics of that, why? Collective responsibility is something to emphasize, yes, but the actual implications of this sound like you're the Joker.
I don't have much problem with the principle, but the first graph here makes no sense. Let’s burn a location of a multi billion dollar corporation every time one of or native or trans sisters gets murdered, too.Īs long as people exist who have fewer protections and less recourse than property, attacking property will be a valid form of protest and you cannot convince me otherwise.