1. “If George Floyd was white, would there be protests right now?” Um, no, Chad. But that’s because if he was white he wouldn’t be dead.
2. “There’s no need for these riots, they should just protest peacefully!” You don’t like when they kneel, you don’t like when they march – I don’t think they’re worried about what you’d prefer anymore.
3. “But they’re lighting stuff on fire! That’s just property destruction!” Yes. Yes, it is. It’s also separate from the protests so don’t get it twisted.
4. “This isn’t going to stop until the good guys are willing to use overwhelming force against the bad guys” @BuckSexton. Now I guess all that’s left is to decide which is which.
5. “President @realDonaldTrump says you can’t be #1 on Earth if you are #2 in space. America will not be #2 anywhere!” @TeamTrump. Well, America kind of looks like a shit storm right now so that #2 part isn’t looking so good…
6. “But ALL lives matter.” Yes, this one is really still out there. All lives matter? Cool. You’re ready to trade places with a black person then, right?
7. “For weeks they said you’ll literally die if you go outside but now they’ve got protests every night and you know what? Not a word about coronavirus. Not a word.” For Pete’s sake. One protest was over reopening bars and hair salons, the other is about black people dying in the streets and workplaces and their own freaking homes. And not for nothing but I’m seeing a lot of face coverings at these George Floyd protests.
8. “What? They ARE acting like thugs.” Nope. White nationalists get ‘very fine people’ as they march through Charlottesville with burning torches, black protestors get ‘thugs’ for refusing to back down. Your racist is showing.
9. “LAW & ORDER!” For the love, can someone just break his caps lock key or something?
10. That’s enough of that. Let’s end on a positive note. This is how you ally.
Riddle from the Middle 
I will comment on two of the points you made. Because the whole thing has made me angrier than I was before, and that was fairly red line.
3. “But they’re lighting stuff on fire! That’s just property destruction!” Yes. Yes, it is. It’s also separate from the protests so don’t get it twisted.” Actually here (Salt Lake City) the two overlapped. The ‘peaceful protest’ turned into a riot, with attendant burning of cars and a lot of people (of both races) seriously hurt.
6. ““But ALL lives matter.” Yes, this one is really still out there. All lives matter? Cool. You’re ready to trade places with a black person then, right?” Yep. I would. I’d really like to understand where the idea that any life matters more than any other comes from. No life matters more than anothers. It just doesn’t. In my respectful opinion.
Now another blogger, Ashleyleia of Mental Health At Home, said something to me on the post I wrote about that murder in where-ever it was (see I deliberately avoid watching the ‘news’. It’s depressing to the point that suicide is becoming increasingly tempting for me. A neighbor decided I should know. Eff if I know why.) Ashley presented me with a statistic that put it in perspective sort of. On a scale of 1-10 about respect for a race (ethnicity) she quoted that whites are 9, while blacks are 2. That’s startling. That’s disturbing.
I, being white, CAN’T see the black perspective then. Obviously. And I’ll reiterate that ALL LIVES MATTER. Save the convicted murderers and child molesters. Their lives were given away freely in my opinion.
I respect your opinion and viewpoint and this is YOUR blog. And I know we’ve disagreed about this subject matter before. Hope no offense was taken.
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Mild offense taken (but only because the viewpoint itself offends me, not because you’ve been aggressive in your comment). You are most assuredly the first white person who’s ever told me they’d be willing to trade places with a black person. Most of the people I’ve spoken with on this point acknowledge that day to day it’s dangerous to walk around in black skin, that black mamas worry their sons and husbands won’t come home, that black men worry even taking out their registration or lawfully carrying a licensed gun can get them shot. Black people are NOT saying their lives matter MORE, they’re saying their lives have forever been valued less (slavery, lynchings, police brutality and murder). We can’t claim “all” lives matter when one ethnicity experiences so much more violence. As my son put it, all lives don’t matter until black lives matter too.
Most of the coverage I’ve seen has shown peaceful, organized protests in the daytime with a shift at nightfall. There are still peaceful protestors out (they may be aggressive or loud but that’s their right) but Antifa and looters and who knows who else is folding in with them. It’s making it hard to process the violence and I don’t think we can assign blame for it on the people exercising first amendment rights.
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Yeah, sometimes I just have to exit the sites and play solitaire! Happy June! ❤️
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Mental health breaks are becoming more and more important these days.
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Thank you thank you thank you. What I posted today was one of the hardest to write. I’m glad I’m not the only one. Hugs, Mama.
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💛 This has been a brutal week. I spoke to my MIL this morning and she reminded me to keep my kids safe — doesn’t she understand there’s no such thing? Black and brown bodies aren’t safe in America, and even if I was standing right there with them they’d see my son as a large black man first.
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I know. I’m so sorry
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I hate the violence, I understand the reasons for the protests. Too bad those who live to stir up shit have to get involved – too bad the Trumpers will always follow the Trump’s lead and encourage the violence, the name-calling, the crap we’d all be better off without. I loved your post.
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Thank you, Carol. There’s been so much to grasp over the last week. Watching the literal assault on members of the press has been the most tangible example of Trump’s attitude bleeding down across behavior. Police actually SHOOTING reporters? Arresting them? Live on camera?? It’s mind boggling.
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Racism is alive and kicking.
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And sure hard to miss these days with it splashed live every day and night across tv and social media.
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Which is both a blessing and curse. We stay informed but it does gets you down.
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It’s time for leadership based on justice for all, not the circus that swirls around The Donald. Strength, not stupidity.
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Fingers crossed we can find that again.
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What we need right now is intelligent, compassionate leadership. I checked with Amazon, Target and WalMart, the shelves are bare.
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Good grief, if only we could track some of those down right now. It might save us from another week of cities being torn apart at the seams.
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It’s like in the UK. One rule for some, another rule for others. Things have improved slowly (far too slowly) but that has been reversed now. Trump and Johnson owe there success to many far right organisations. They have been allowed out of the bag and this is what happens. Suddenly good is demonised. Both leaders have to go before it’s too late.
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We’re just holding on by our fingernails until November and I have to say more than a few of us are concerned about what could happen in that moment. Will he use the coronavirus/civil unrest to try to delay the election? Will he force in person voting only? If he’s voted out of office (please, Jesus) will he attempt to invalidate the results & refuse to leave? Questions I never thought I’d be asking myself here.
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