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In response to
"Hey there. I get pretty upset by non-violent protestors being hurt. I have no problem with protests and I think for the most part - may have been "
by
JenBro
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understood. a few thoughts just based on personal experience..
Posted by
colin (aka colinski)
Jul 22 '20, 09:40
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i would LOVE to see change without what's happening, i'm 100% with you on that. protesters have PTSD from going out, we have had to work through a lot of fear and trauma from being in crowds attacked by police and watching it happen to fellow protesters.
i think what's difficult to see is what's happening in each location - it started as a protest for George Floyd, against police brutality, against targeting Black people at massively disproportionate levels, but each location has turned to it's own fight.
in my county, we have a lack of transparency and racist policing. nobody is protesting here with the exception of a few marches, so we're attacking it with FOIA requests, pressure on the county manager and supervisors, and with elected officials. we elected in a progressive sheriff, a Black woman, who has done good things. we have a great prosecutor and the county has revived the role of police investigator (not ideal, but still, progress). the county is listening, the police know they're under scrutiny and are more willing to come to the table.
contrast that with richmond city - the mayor lied about taking action, the police chief lied about tear gassing a crowd with no provocation and then had to walk it back when TONS of evidence was presented. the prosecutor has announced that she will not be charging anybody for any of their actions, she will not release names, and has cleared the police of wrongdoing. she at the same time is refusing to drop charges against hundreds of protesters kettled and rounded up during curfew and felony charges of inciting a riot on a woman who was pulled out of a crowd that was protesting at the police station. current demands are dismissal of police that attacked protesters, dropping charges, asking for the mental health alert to be put in place (and was promised 2 years ago after the police killing of a man having a mental health crisis), and asking for a citizen review board. no progress, no response. these demands have been well documented, agreed upon by organizers, and well defined. city knows exactly what protesters want and are even entertaining it. they're trying to score cheap political points by removing statues, which nobody asked for (protesters just removed a few of them to help out the city :) )
the other thing that's been telling is that the instant the new police chief (the 2nd new police chief, the interim was a monster - calling his police troops, talking about taking back the city, etc), all police action and interactions stopped. since then the only incident was at a protest about upcoming evictions. a leader tried to enter the courthouse, which he is allowed to do, to sit in the courtroom for the eviction hearings. he was tackled, pepper sprayed by police, and they police there attempted to bar the doors. a window was broken by a protester. even though violence isn't really what we want, that broken window helped get a TON of attention for the evictions and mobilize a lot of citizens.
it's not a popular opinion, but violence has it's place - fighting back against cops or feds who are beating protesters who are protesting police brutality is right. it's violent, but right. here, some people took advantage of the unrest and burned out the headquarters of a white supremacists group, destroying confederate artifacts. that was also right, in my opinion. it's not for everybody, but going out and getting tear gassed does prove a point - that we are not compliant to forces. it reminds the police that there are far more of us then there are of them.. their power is given, not some right they have.
TL;DR - i hate violence too, but there's a time and place where enough is enough, the system isn't working.
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