Is your city rioting?

[QuarterMillionMan]

In Los Angeles the rioting is no where near the scale of Minneapolis' rioting but very scary nonetheless. How bad is it in your city?

[~bs]

nobody rioting. people far more upset about the inept handling of the covid situation than a murderous cop in a land far far away

[docstudent]

When the faraway land is another city, you now there is a level of disconnectedness in our nation. Both issues are equal in value, but one might be slightly more demonstrative than the other. The virus can research and and a vaccine can be identified, while the other has been has been researched for over 400 and no one has came close to finding a cure. The city of Minneapolis is graphically far from me, but ethically the situation is so close to me. I wish others saw it that way, but I digress....the victim is an extension of our humanity...that should be so close to all of us.

[docstudent]

*I meant the virus can be researched and a vaccine can be identified (its 3AM, please forgive me, lol)

[corn18]

Goofy kids from the hood seemed compelled to destroy some windows last night. Nothing major. I much prefer MLKs approach to today's violence. MLK got more done through peaceful protests than this violence will ever accomplish.

[disneysteve]

I don't watch the local news so I don't know if there have been protests in the city, though I would assume so.

The ever-present racism in this country is deeply disturbing. People who aren't disturbed by it or think it doesn't affect them or think it only occurs in a far away land are all part of the problem. Having elected officials who actively encourage division and violence makes the problem even worse, though it was certainly present long before that.

I just don't know what it will take to have people stop judging others based solely on the color of their skin or country of origin or sexual orientation or gender or any other natural trait they happen to possess. Judge people based on their character, their actions, their words, their behavior - not what they look like or where they came from or who they love. Judge them on things that they can control, not things that they can't.

[Fishindude77]

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.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Minnesota Gov Walz said these are highly organized urban warfare professional criminals. One person impersonated a cop and murdered another. One group blocked a delivery truck in order to steal its contents. All of the people arrested on Friday night in Minneapolis were from out of state. Anarchist infiltrated the city and over powered law enforcement. These are very bad people and we cannot let them win.

[kork13]

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.

[disneysteve]

The biggest (and only) point I will make is that riots & chaos are NEVER justified. Protests very well may be.

I agree.

However, I would also point out that blacks don't have the same right to peaceful protest as whites in this country. Can anyone honestly say that a mob of heavily armed black protestors would have been allowed to enter the Michigan state capital building without incident in the same way that the white mob was? That would have been a disaster.

Racism is a huge problem in this country whether people admit it or not.

[~bs]

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.

[Scallywag]

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.

Blacks are also more likely to be poor and from deprived backgrounds than people of other races. Poverty leads to crime and a criminal record keeps you poor - it's a vicious self-feeding loop.

I hope there is justice for George Floyd as this is highly likely not the first time that that cop has physically abused a suspect in the process of an arrest or while in custody. A 3rd degree murder & man slaughter charge is simply a slap on his wrist.

[cypher1]

These last few days have been a roller coaster for me. I grew up in St. Paul, and my buddy's auto shop in midway is like a 2nd home to me. On Thursday I watched the footage, but then my friend told me around 2pm someone caused an accident in front, and got out of their car and started shooting at the shop before running away. Luckily no one was hit. They still wouldn't close (which I still don't understand), so I went down there and stayed with them just in case rioters came back.

By the time we left after 6PM, furniture store next to us just started on fire. The Napa less than block away was his main parts account, was torched, no way to recover. Most the other shops around him already looted. He was pretty upset, thinking his garage is going to be torched next. Luckily his was the only intact overnight. All the others are destroyed or burned.

A family business of almost 40yrs to the community survived. But none of the others did, and most came from minority owned businesses as well. My friend was telling me about the local barbershop next door that paid a large amount to update for Phase 2 of opening up, but now emptied out. He call the owner not to go there, as its too painful to witness what rioters did to it.

I'm just angry at how selfish people are, justifying the destruction of local communities, that did NOTHING to deserve this. What that police officer did to George Floyd was UNACCEPTABLE. I don't see how anyone can justify his actions. I understand everyone is furious, and demand justice. I realize the destruction isn't the work or result of peaceful protesters, but a group of opportunists willing to exploit sensitive circumstances. But to anyone who supports or justifies what these rioters are doing, you may think differently when they're in your local neighborhood doing the same damage. Until then, its pretty easy to criticize from a screen and keyboard.

[corn18]

[Singuy]

These last few days have been a roller coaster for me. I grew up in St. Paul, and my buddy's auto shop in midway is like a 2nd home to me. On Thursday I watched the footage, but then my friend told me around 2pm someone caused an accident in front, and got out of their car and started shooting at the shop before running away. Luckily no one was hit. They still wouldn't close (which I still don't understand), so I went down there and stayed with them just in case rioters came back.

By the time we left after 6PM, furniture store next to us just started on fire. The Napa less than block away was his main parts account, was torched, no way to recover. Most the other shops around him already looted. He was pretty upset, thinking his garage is going to be torched next. Luckily his was the only intact overnight. All the others are destroyed or burned.

A family business of almost 40yrs to the community survived. But none of the others did, and most came from minority owned businesses as well. My friend was telling me about the local barbershop next door that paid a large amount to update for Phase 2 of opening up, but now emptied out. He call the owner not to go there, as its too painful to witness what rioters did to it.

I'm just angry at how selfish people are, justifying the destruction of local communities, that did NOTHING to deserve this. What that police officer did to George Floyd was UNACCEPTABLE. I don't see how anyone can justify his actions. I understand everyone is furious, and demand justice. I realize the destruction isn't the work or result of peaceful protesters, but a group of opportunists willing to exploit sensitive circumstances. But to anyone who supports or justifies what these rioters are doing, you may think differently when they're in your local neighborhood doing the same damage. Until then, its pretty easy to criticize from a screen and keyboard.

So why are business owners not defending their property? Thought most Americans have plenty of guns laying around.