Okay, right up front we’re gonna acknowledge this man is not in his right mind. We don’t know what’s up with him and it’s none of our business anyway, but that’s not really the point.
Here’s the point.
Did this guy just advance on a police officer, swinging some sort of weapon and shouting, “You’re gonna die!”? Did he just invade that cop’s space while threatening him? Did he actually strike that police officer’s arm?! To which the officer responded by…calmly talking him down?
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see where I’m going with this.
A police office shot and killed Botham Jean while he was sitting on his own couch eating ice cream. Another officer shot and killed Atatiana Jefferson while she played a video game with her nephew. Those officers were so terrified of black and brown bodies they murdered nonviolent adults inside their own homes.
Which makes this scene mind boggling. A highly agitated, unpredictable, aggressive, and armed man verbally and physically attacking the police – who’s still standing upright at the end of the video.
Except mind boggling? It’s really not. This is America. This is white privilege.
This is why they kneel.
This video and your words are a perfect summary and indictment of what’s going wrong in our country regarding issues of race. It baffles me and it horrifies me to see what is happening. How do we stop it? What is the tipping point? No answers, sadly.
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Seeing it is the first step. The next is shining a light on it, speaking up – shouting, really. It’s obscene to say but I don’t think we have a shot at turning the tide until hordes of white people rise up and join the black and brown voices in fury.
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So utterly awful
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Honestly not sure how black and brown people aren’t burning it all down. This level of brutal disregard is appalling.
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Deep deep sigh. What a mess. In our country I strongly suspect this institutional racism exists. Here it’s reflected in things like the proportions of stop searches and prosecutions. But the big difference is our policing is still largely without guns. At the very least the person on the wrong end gets a second chance. In your country the person getting the second chance is the police officer.
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This perfectly sums up the power dynamic & how guns here make it life or death. I do believe the racism exists in other countries – the U.S. didn’t invent the wheel – but the culture of violence raises the stakes. 😦
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This makes my blood boil. Things need to change and soon.
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It’s scary. We’re seeing exactly how dangerous the world is just because of skin color. Can’t deny, can’t ignore.
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Definitely can’t and should NOT!
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