Donald Trump....

CasaNegron said:
I agree that private prisons are a problem but if I had to make a single demand it would be to end the drug war. Keep it simple and make it about a single issue. Unfortunately the protesters rarely ask for anything concrete and do not know how to concentrate efforts to apply political pressure. All they will get is lip service until the next video comes out. Its a game and black Americans are not even on the board.

Decriminalization would help all poor people, no matter the color.
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That is my main problem with what's going on at the moment. It's chaos. They need a spokesperson or spokespeople to issue demands. Personally, I think if there is a proven problem with racism in a particular police force, community leaders/politicians should be able to state they have no confidence in that force to police the community... it would be labelled a racist organisation, people would be dissuaded from joining and those working for it would be asked to examine their conscience as to whether they want to continue working there, civilians would be told they don't need to cooperate over certain crimes. It would be up to that police force to convince they're doing everything they can to sort out the problem before confidence is restored. Sounds extreme, but how many decades of racist violence has there been? Nothing looks to be improving via the ballot box.
 
Johnny Vodka said:
That is my main problem with what's going on at the moment. It's chaos. They need a spokesperson or spokespeople to issue demands.
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This isn't a centralized movement with a clearly delineated hierarchy. The primary demand (for the past 30+ years) has been "Police need stop killing people of color". The basic expectation for equal treatment regardless of skin color shouldn't need to be articulated beyond this. This practice hasn't stopped and the protests and riots are a direct result of there being NO other alternative as people are still being murdered by cops.

Personally, I think if there is a proven problem with racism in a particular police force, community leaders/politicians should be able to state they have no confidence in that force to police the community... it would be labelled a racist organisation, people would be dissuaded from joining and those working for it would be asked to examine their conscience as to whether they want to continue working there, civilians would be told they don't need to cooperate over certain crimes.
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And what if large swaths of the country are already SPECTACULARLY racist? So much so that politicians, leaders, etc. are all complacent or overtly supporting their behavior? What then? It's the federal governments job to ensure that corrupt police practices are held accountable and corrected. Unfortunately this hasn't proven to be an effective oversight or deterrent, and with the current admin. it's unlikely they ever would.

It would be up to that police force to convince they're doing everything they can to sort out the problem before confidence is restored. Sounds extreme, but how many decades of racist violence has there been? Nothing looks to be improving via the ballot box.
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Racism in policing goes much deeper than just a few bad apples. This is a systematic and ingrained problem that has been allowed to propagate for decades. It has really become a problem over the past 20 years when the police mindset changed from "protect and serve" to "us vs. them". There is a HUGE problem within police forces to protect shitty cops no matter what. This code was broken in the 70s over drugs, and hopefully it's overcome today.

This isn't a solution that can be voted in or out. The laws regarding how much legal action can be taken against police who use force need to be changed immediately. Anyone abusing their power needs to be immediately removed from serviced and prosecuted as a civilian to the full extent and with maximum penalties applied.
 
Tourist said:
if ever you write about your adventures Antonio, would be really interested to read them!
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Oh bloody hell thanks, but I wouldn’t want to bore you to death mate ?

I struggle to write a birthday card, I think I’d need a lot of coaching to write a book.

However it’s definitely something I’d like to do. But only for my family, so I can leave something for my daughters to read about me when I’m gone. They are quite oblivious to what I’ve done, which I prefer at the moment.
 
Johnny Vodka said:
Whataboutery. ;) I think many people are aware that really nasty shit goes on in many African countries. Does that mean that we should just forget about systemic racism in the U.S.? Like it or not, as I said previously, we have more of a link with the U.S., this is the story that's been filling the news for the last few days, so people are going to notice and comment more on what goes on there.
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Alright stop bombarding me with your whatboutery waffle ;)

It’s flew over your head in your rush to signal the virtue ?

What these places have in common, is leaders that will never make any attempt at reform.

Trump is not man enough to deliver any kind of social equality in the US. Why? Because he neither understands it nor cares about it.
 
Johnny Vodka said:
Trump definitely doesn't have the ability to unite America, so I have no idea how things will improve. Anything he does is likely just to stoke further resentment and inflame the situation. A civil war is a possible outcome of all this IMO. (Few would have believed 6 months ago that we'd be in the middle of a global pandemic right now, would they?)
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I don’t recall a time when I’ve seen the US more fragmented or divided.

Seams like not much has improved in race relations since the civil unrest in 1960s.

I seen that Trump is declaring Antifa a terrorist organisation now?

Yep, that will help calm things down.
 
AntonioGeordio said:
Oh bloody hell thanks, but I wouldn’t want to bore you to death mate ?

I struggle to write a birthday card, I think I’d need a lot of coaching to write a book.

However it’s definitely something I’d like to do. But only for my family, so I can leave something for my daughters to read about me when I’m gone. They are quite oblivious to what I’ve done, which I prefer at the moment.
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Iraq, ibiza, I'm sure you've got some stories worth telling!
 
Tourist said:
I work in the news industry. There is no meaningful "press" anymore..... Newspapers are on their knees around the world.

Everyone gets their news online from their source of choice using their filters of choice.

the point is - people absorb what they choose to.

so people gravitate to others with the same opinions, which is human nature.

what it means though is that hashtags won't reach the people that actually need to see them
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Yup, that where I'm at. It's a real bugbear of my missus that I pretty much won't engage with political discussion anymore, my only political act is that I vote. But there is little point in my singing into the choir on my Facebook. What about the vaguely accidentally racist posts from that girl I know in Australia? She likes and respects me, right? I could change her attitude right? What difference would that make? This needs huge systematic change, any posturing I do, unless I'm willing to commit my life to it, is purely about me. It's like climate change - I recycle of course, but unless we stop chasing growth and millions of flights a year, I'm changing nothing.

For me it's also about how likely the mass people who have views that need changing are to listen. With both Trump and Johnson, their supporters literally engage in Orwell's doublethink. They are told things that they can see are clearly not true, and they say they believe them. What chance is there that my hashtag is going to change that.

I'm not without hope - they're are people who make real sacrifice to effect substantial change, maybe one day their time will come, but it won't be from Tracy in accounts posting MLK's 'I have a dream' on Twitter.
 
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Buckley said:
It's an admirable sentiment, and I don't think I'm better than anyone else for not prescribing, but mass solidarity online changes nothing
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It can make a difference to some people, like my friend I referred to earlier. Put it this way, this website posting on social media about it was extremely important to her.. It does help if people can take it offline too - learning, sharing, voting (at the ballot or with their wallet, if there's a way to make a difference there), calling out racism if they see it (not everyone is confident enough to get involved with real life situations, though). Turn it on its head and think what mass silence might indicate...
 
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