Baton Rouge shooting

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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/18/us/ba ... oting.html

"Three law enforcement officers were fatally shot and at least three others wounded in Baton Rouge, La., on Sunday, the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office said, less than two weeks after a black man was killed by the police there, sparking nightly protests.

A suspect had been killed, most likely by police gunfire, and two others, described as wearing all black, were being sought, a police spokesman, Cpl. L’Jean McKneely, said. “We do believe there is more than one suspect.”"





Hey, it looks like BLM protesters are getting their wish. How nice.

But that sort of rhetoric by Black Lives Matter activists isn't going on everywhere. In fact, most of their people have been calling for nonviolence from the very start. The only reason why that was showcased by the media is because that sort of hateful language brings in the viewers, but peaceful demonstrations are apparently just boring.

True, but that doesn't mean there isn't a strong anti-cop sentiment that is prevalent throughout the group. With the level of outrage they are producing, it's not a shock that some people decide to take it this far.

The outrage is not even justified. There is certainly police brutality, lack of police accountability, and other systemic issues, but these things affect everyone, not just black people. Yet they continue to use examples of what they call racist, unjustified killings of completely innocent people as the main reason for their protests, when the facts simply do not add up.

In the case of Michael Brown, the "gentle giant", he was seen on camera stealing cigars from a store, and slamming someone into a display on his way out. The struggle with the police started when he reached through the window of a police SUV, and shortly after he was shot and killed. It was determined after investigation that he was not surrendering, did not have his hands up when he was shot, and he was not shot in the back. So at the very least, it was a grey area. Maybe excessive force was used, but it certainly does not seem like the racial killing of an innocent man who was surrendering to police. However, that did not stop BLM and the media from portraying it as such.

In the case of the recent killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, we simply do not have all the facts yet. In the case of Alton Sterling, police were called by a man saying he was being threatened by another man believed to be Sterling, who was supposedly brandishing a handgun. He was also apparently struggling with the police and was going for his gun, which was in his pocket when he was shot. Is that all true? Maybe, maybe not. We just don't have all the facts yet. But once again, this does not stop BLM from painting it as racist cops who killed yet another innocent man.

In the case of Philando Castile, the officer radioed in, saying that he matched the description of a man who recently committed armed robbery, and proceeded to pull him over. Castile's girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, was in the passenger seat, and recorded the aftermath of the incident. Reynolds stated on the video that the officer "asked him for license and registration. He told him that it was in his wallet, but he had a pistol on him because he's licensed to carry." Reynolds told the officer: "You shot four bullets into him, sir. He was just getting his license and registration, sir." The officer screamed, "I told him not to reach for it! I told him to get his hands off it!" We don't have all the details, so it's hard to say what really happened at this point and whether or not it was justified.

BLM should NOT be using these killings as proof of racist cops. And yet they do, and they manufacture outrage. And now we have 8 dead cops, who were doing NOTHING wrong at the time of their death, and even more injured, as well as all manner bullying coming from protesters. So forgive me if I feel a little angry at the religion of peace that is Black Lives Matter.

Brown was a jock, so it goes with the territory that he was an a$$hole. Sterling and Castile are two very different stories. Sterling was being held down on the ground when shot, while Castile was complying with police orders when shot, which is more than enough reason for the rest of us to call bullsh*t on the cops. Remember, last year when a black man was asked to produce his ID at a gas station, the cop shot him when he was walking to get it from his vehicle. Had the security camera at the station not captured the incident - and if the black guy had died - I'm sure the cop would have claimed the shooting was only out of self defense. The fact is, blacks feel frightened and alienated from the police in a way that the rest of us don't, as the police automatically assume they are guilty of something. That's why Black Lives Matter outrage isn't manufactured, as it's only expressing pent up anger. And no, that doesn't justify shooting cops not at all connected to those shootings - but then again, Black Lives Matter activists have said as much.

People have pointed out that it's not hard to shoot a gun even if it's in your pocket. Sterling could have easily injured or killed one of the cops if he wasn't complying and was going for the gun. And with Castile, there is not much proof of anything as of yet. His girlfriend only recorded the aftermath.

Both investigations are ongoing. According to the logic of Black Lives Matter, these officers deserve no due process, because they committed the sin of killing a black man, even when it might have been justified. We don't know yet.

Plus, if they are found guilty, then they are bad cops and they will go to jail, as they should. It's not legal to kill a man without justification, regardless of their skin color or if the killer is a cop, so what is being protested exactly? Sometimes people do bad things, but that doesn't mean it's everyone else's fault. Hold the offenders themselves responsible, not every single cop.

Considering that so many black men have been killed without justification by a percentage of police, without said police officers being punished, I can understand why Black Lives Matter would jump the gun and demand justice. The only reason why cops are under scrutiny for this these days is because of the abundance of film from cell phones, security cameras, and police body cams.

I think that police body cams could basically eliminate this problem. The good cops have no problem with wearing them. It's hard to achieve such change, though, because a certain group of people want to paint all cops as racists and brutal monsters, when most of them are decent people. And I especially don't like the way they act like this only happens to black people, and they want to deny any other factors, like the black crime rate.

It's a complicated issue, and nothing can be accomplished until they stop with the misinformation, bully tactics and violent behavior, and start working with the police instead of against them.

^^^
In the Sterling incident, the police cams had conveniently fallen off prior to the confrontation...

And I'm sure that is being considered in the pending investigation. No conclusion should be drawn by anyone until all the facts are out. BLM is drawing a conclusion anyway, and that makes them utterly and completely wrong. End of story.

That doesn't preclude the right to be angry. American citizens, no matter their color, still have the right to speak their mind, regardless if an investigation is at its beginning, or at its end.

Yes, they have a right to be wrong. I'm not claiming that they should be arrested for their bad ideas, or that they have those bad ideas because of their skin color, I'm just pointing out that they are illogical and not considering all the facts. They see everything through the lens of race, just like the people they claim to be fighting against.

BLM might as well start selling t-shirts that read, "It's cuz I'm black, isn't it?"

If Black Lives Matter sees everything through the lens of race, it's only because the rest of America has seen them only for their race for their entire lives. There is no such thing as color blindness. Rather, we need to accept race and skin color as a fact of life, then get past the prejudice that too many of us have in regard to it.

I agree, I just think they are misguided.

Recently I learned that a lot of people will say things to black people such as, "When I see you, I don't see you black," or something similar, which is that concept of colorblindness. I never knew that was so common, but I have always thought that's completely stupid. It's simply a lie.

I suppose I'm probably unaware of the types of things many black people probably experience on a day-to-day basis, but I don't think the solution is to pity them, because that would imply we should feel bad for someone just because they're black. That, to me, seems to be a subtle form of racism.

And that's why I dislike SJWs so much. They're basically throwing the biggest pity party ever, and white cis males are not invited.

Yes, it is a lie to say one can't see another person's color.
I readily admit, I can't even begin to understand what black Americans have gone through for their entire lives, but I can empathize. Nor should we feel sorry for them, but should try to better understand their point perception in order to actually put away our prejudices both conscious and unconscious.

Then screw 'em. Who wants to hang out with a bunch of pretentious faux bohemians (that's what sort of phonies hipsters are) who are just as narrow minded as any right wing bigot?
For the record, real bohemians are cool.