Is your city rioting?

[QuarterMillionMan]

Long Beach The Pike shopping mall, GAP, Forever 21, other outlets being looted, no cops.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Von's & pharmacy in Santa Monica looted for 30 minutes and no cops. In Long Beach at an Urban Outfiiters frenzied, cops arrived and like cockroaches they scurried away. County wide curfew from 6:00 pm. Los Angeles county is very bad.

[mumof2]

This happening during occupy wall street. The police could not break up peaceful protests. Their workaround was to plant plain clothes officers in the crowd, and those undercover cops would start to vandalize things. At that point, police were then allowed to intervene and start arresting and clubbing people. This doesnt seem to be the case in this situation.

It happens in nearly all the protests over there they had a cop who said this is what they do....they also said that they have out of state cops come in and do the same thing...so yes i am inclined to believe what they say, and most of the looters and rioters are white supremists and out of towners...not the people that actually live in that state....

[docstudent]

I took a walk through my neighborhood and it was extremely disturbing. Some of the restaurants and shops that I frequent were badly damaged. However, I had a chat with another local resident and we were glad that it happened where it did. In the early 90s, LA experience a riot that impacted South LA. To this day, the area has not fully recovered from the devastation. We both concluded that it was horrific, but economically the establishments will be rebuilt and the area will return back to its grander. It’s was refreshing to see adults have open dialogue about the “root” and not lament on burned down businesses and broken windows. Economically vibrant communities will regroup because that’s how it always is and those less economically well off will suffer.

I’m not saying that my community is a utopia ...because it’s not! I had a random person ask me in my neighboring city of Beverly Hills-why are you jogging here? I know you don’t live in Beverly Hills...I was not at a loss for words, because stupid things like this happen on occasion. The lady that rushes to close her car door as I approach her in the parking lot of the grocery store (I had to say, no I don’t want your Honda Civic...the Mercedes next to you belongs to me). In these situations, my life was not in jeopardy, but they do remain part of how you construct and conceptualize race and black identity. Due to my life experiences, I‘m able to navigate these moments with ease and realize that I don’t have to explain why I exist in a space. I don’t allow incidents like that to go unaddressed
nor do I tolerate them in my workspace or within the dynamics of my family. I’ve called my father to the table when he makes off colored remarks that he’s oblivious about. That’s how you make spaces better for all people, it’s not that damn hard!

[kork13]

I'm temporarily in Phoenix, and just found out (by way of notification of an 8pm statewide curfew) that apparently there has been some protests, in some cases accompanied by vandalism, property destruction, and looting in the city/surrounding areas. Probably doesn't rise to the level of being called riots, but criminal & disturbing nonetheless.

[disneysteve]

I don't believe racism is a big problem, but I do believe its a money maker for a lot of news organizations, colleges, and politicians.

What a truly disgusting thing for someone to say. The fact that there are people who actually think and believe that is deeply disturbing.

[rennigade]

They have said over and over again whenpeople riot that it has been shown that people are paid to be destructive and I read a couple years ago that the police put undercover people in there to be destructive to make it look bad...and most go to other places and are destructive...its mostly not the people who are there...that is just the media hyping everything up

This happening during occupy wall street. The police could not break up peaceful protests. Their workaround was to plant plain clothes officers in the crowd, and those undercover cops would start to vandalize things. At that point, police were then allowed to intervene and start arresting and clubbing people. This doesnt seem to be the case in this situation.

[Fishindude77]

Here is something I read on another site that pretty well sums things up, in my opinion:

I believe most of those protestors can care less about George Floyd. I think many just want to feel as if they belong to some sort of social justice movement and others are just a bunch of animals looking to destroy property and steal.
We have the fake news, we now have FAKE OUTRAGE .
I don't believe racism is a big problem, but I do believe its a money maker for a lot of news organizations, colleges, and politicians.
I do believe many blacks dislike whites. There is racism everywhere and there always will be. But as I said, its not nearly as bad as the media purports it to be.
The black culture is self destructive and needs to be addressed by individual blacks and black leaders. Why isnt it? There is a lot of money to be made in the business of racism.

[amastewa93]

We live in Buckhead (Atlanta) and Friday night was pretty horrific. We could see fires and people looting from our apartment. Protests continued last night but a curfew is in place with 3,000 National Guard troops deployed across the state. It is a crazy time to be alive.

[mumof2]

I feel bad for his wife and family. They're likely suffering fallout from this as well. I will say that I HIGHLY doubt this is the guy's first rodeo when it comes to abuse of police powers, just the first time he killed someone. There's a pretty clear pattern of cops that abuse their powers will do so, and do so regularly unless forced to stop. And the police tend to protect their own (and not the community) to a fault, and do not engage in meaningful discipline, training, etc. for these "bad apple" cops. I also don't think this was race motivated, as far as real racism is concerned. He likely has abused his power against other ethnicities in the past, including his own.

But, I would say that he probably is more aggressive towards blacks than he would be towards other races, indicating prejudice. Part of this is human nature, blacks do commit a disproportionately large amount of crimes on a per capita basis. Perhaps in an ideal world, everyone would get treated the same, but in reality a 90 year old granny isn't going to be treated the same as a 30 year old black man, even if both are suspected of similar crimes. On a traffic stop, a 20 year old asian college student isn't getting the same treatment as a MS13 gangbanger covered head to toes in tattoos.

Can i ask what "real racism" is...this was a racist crime..it is not in human nature to be prejudice against others it is something that is taught....and many more POC are a lot worse off when it comes to schooling and job prospects...and they are stopped and harrassed a lot more...so until things change in america when it comes to the poor-rich areas where people can get the same education and the same opportunities then people will change and I know a lot of doctors who are covered in tattoos so that has nothing to do with anything

[mumof2]

The biggest (and only) point I will make is that riots & chaos are NEVER justified. Protests very well may be. But at the point a protest devolves into violence, rioting, much less days on end of vandalism, destruction, looting, injury/killing, and so on, any shred of justifiable indignation is totally lost. They aren't bringing attention to any cause or injustice. They're taking advantage of chaos & destroying their own community, putting their neighbors & friends in fear & danger.

Corn18 is completely right -- MLK is an American hero because he understood how to effect dramatic change, and how to change the hearts/minds of an entire nation & culture, without resorting to mindless, stupid violence.

I don't have any tolerance for rioting, regardless of the underlying issue. I hope the governor & local authorities shut it down rapidly.

They have said over and over again whenpeople riot that it has been shown that people are paid to be destructive and I read a couple years ago that the police put undercover people in there to be destructive to make it look bad...and most go to other places and are destructive...its mostly not the people who are there...that is just the media hyping everything up

[mumof2]

I don't believe this Minneapolis incident had anything to do with racism.
You don't get pinned down and man handled by police unless you are resisting arrest and being a problem.

Was the cop too rough? For sure, but that does not make this racism. That A-hole cop probably would have treated any other arrest resisting white, asian, hispanic, etc. person the same way.

I'm sorry but he wasn't resisting arrest they showed that he didn't and he had his knee on his throat for over 8 minutes..it was plain and simple murder and yes it was racism they wouldn't do that to a white person that has been shown over and over again

[~bs]

Actually my friends tell me that on social media that majority of comments they see are people justifying the riots as a wake up to systemic racism and deserve to be able to express themselves due to being oppressed after all these years. And these comments are from people I know personally who are not associated with white supremacy groups or criminals.

Yeah. like i said earlier. The covid situation is stirring A LOT of unrest. This event was just the spark that set it off. They're basically using this as an excuse to lash out for ANY perceived societal injustice, whether justified or not.

[~bs]

If you are a law abiding citizen, remember it is your RIGHT to bear arms and protect yourself and your family. Remember, the police exist to enforce laws, not to protect you. In any case, in this type of civil disturbance, they won't be able to respond to a criminal assaulting in time. Only the very wealthy can afford to have body guards protecting them. There is nothing rational about a riot, people that otherwise wouldn't hurt others individually can and WILL when in mob mentality. There is no rioting in my city, but I am glad for the protection that my guns afford me.

[QuarterMillionMan]

News crews entered some of the looted businesses, graffiti every where, bare shelves, glass all over. The news helicopter said cars are driving around looking for easy looting so police pulling over those cars. No more fires. Smaller crowds. Helicopter said never seen so many blue & red flashing lights before. It is 11:20 pm now in Los Angeles and seems like things quieted down a lot.