Comments

1

Federal Police coming from a White Supremacist is a horrible idea. Obama could have proposed this with fewer people calming NIMBY

2

I'm still just so sad that Christopher Frizzelle has a platform to fight racism, and he has yet to say anything about #blacklivesmatter. Police violence is running rampant, and his deafening silence on the issue is a major problem. When? When will Christopher get the courage to finally speak out? Cops maced a little girl and, based on my complete unwillingness or obligation to check if Christopher Frizzelle said anything (including reading this very article), I am outraged at his complicity.

3

@2 I am in favor of Black Lives Matter. Because black lives matter, and this country often acts like they don't.

4

Translation of Joe Biden's comments. 'I've never really thought about what we could do to fight racism, because I've always just assumed I'd get the votes from African Americans without ever having to do anything for them.'

Joe Biden is a zero. The Democrats are zeros. They aren't going to do anything. This is all theater.

5

@4 - Yeah, itā€™s all theatre. So I suggest you vote for Trump so that youā€™ll at least have an experienced master of ceremonies to host the entertainment, since Biden is a zero.

5

Comrade Trump, after his progress report to Putin, was still not debunkered.

7

Whatever Biden does or doesn't do, it will be better than Trump hiding in the bunker telling governors to use military force against protesters. Trump has already quoted George Wallace (1968) "When the looting starts, the shooting starts" and spent lots of time at his cult rallies reminiscing about what was done to black people back in the day (and you know, how great that was, because then those people were just beaten or killed).

Trump shouting about how the MAGA crowd loves black people, all the while not saying one word to the nation about police brutality, black people being murdered, or the fact that COVID-19 is killing black and brown people more than any other demographic in the country is truly repugnant. Just like his "what have you got to lose schtick?" his words mean nothing when every action he takes shows greater and greater depraved indifference to life.

He has never done the job and in the last few weeks he has abdicated all responsibility entirely, but he is (in title only) the so-called president. Hiding in a bunker. Telling governors to use military force against protesters who have taken to the streets against police brutality.

Think about that.

He is counting 100% on the white people who are all in on maintaining white supremacist terrorism at all costs and by any means necessary (including destroying the country entirely - like an abuser "if I can't have things the way I want them, no one can have anything").

And the way the cops are retaliating nationwide, attacking and assaulting protesters, it is clear who they support.

The question is: will the rest of us wrestle this country from the white supremacist terrorists once and for all or will we all be sacrificed due to their inability to evolve (or die)?

8

Probably what he means is he needs help avoiding gaffes. The only way I see this working is if he employs someone to stand behind him while he is speaking monitoring his brain activity. As soon as misfiring synapses are detected it would be this person's job to throttle him.

9

When Jeff Sessions took over as USAG in 2017, he unraveled the whole system of consent decrees imposed on municipal police departments that had demonstrated problems with brutality and so forth.

The irony is that an crucial factor in police criminality is the lack of accountability which stems from protections (collective bargaining and civil service) created as progressive initiatives. Lefties are somewhat hoist on their own petards here and I'm a little surprised that people on the right are too dim to recognize this opportunity to rub it in.

Anyhow, the solution is going to be found somewhere around there, if its found at all. This Chauvin dude had been in trouble for brutality his whole career and he never got fired. Even when a city manages to be rid of one of these creeps, they just go to some other department and go back to indulging their savage kink. This is the pattern that we must end.

12

Arguably, specific promises on this is counter-productive.
Biden is running for president, while his party is trying to retake the Senate and keep the House. There is hardly a strong national consensus, even within the party, and many of the needed changes require legislation, which he won't control one way or the other.
Biden needs to help activate a broad spectrum of voters across all the winnable jurisdictions.

The best case is probably winning big with a vague platform, and then define the "clear mandate" based on what could actually get past the legislature we end up with.

13

Here is Biden's plan from his campaign website: https://joebiden.com/blackamerica/

14

Ah yes there is always a concern troll who brings up "black on black" crime (ignoring two very salient facts: why it exists and (more importantly) why it has absolutely NOTHING to do with cops killing black people).

White supremacist terrorism and its systemic violence against black people (and brown people and all other non-white people) from birth to death in this country is the root cause of all of the violence.

There are is also an immense amount of work being done in black communities to stop violence in those communities, but that is never acknowledged or discussed by white people because they simply do not care. Who gives a shit that black people are trying to stop black people from killing black people?

Most white people are killed by white people and there is never any hand wringing about white on white crime. In fact, white people who murder white people are simply regarded as anomalies and/or loners.

Why We Never Talk About Black-on-Black Crime: An Answer to White Americaā€™s Most Pressing Question

Both sociologists and criminologists agree that violent crime is a complex socioeconomic phenomenon. Generally speaking, research shows that poor people commit the most crime: According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, during the period from 2008 through 2012, ā€œpersons in poor households at or below the federal poverty level (FPL) (39.8 per 1,000) had more than double the rate of violent victimization as persons in high-income households (16.9 per 1,000) ... The overall pattern of poor persons having the highest rates of violent victimization was consistent for both whites and blacks.ā€

Knowing this, the small difference in crime rates can easily be explained by income disparity. Maybe the question should be why are such a large percentage of black people poor?

As a matter of fact, if we are going to derail a conversation about black lives to talk about black-on-black crime, there are a few other questions we should answer first:

Why is the rate of violence actually higher among poor, urban whites? Why donā€™t we ever discuss the economic impact of redlining and segregation on rates of violence?

If we are going to discuss the number of black people killed by blacks, should we discuss the number of white people murdered, raped and assaulted by fellow whites? Will this conversation include a debate about how blacks are arrested, incarcerated and sentenced for longer periods than whites for committing the same crimes?

Are you willing to detour into a brief explanation of why schools with large percentages of blacks are underfunded even though they have the same tax base and incomes? Do you have time to talk about the wage gap? Unemployment disparities?

All of these factors contribute to crime rates. So if you want to have a conversation about black-on-black crime, you should be careful, because, like most conversations about race, it will end up back in the same place:

White supremacy.

ā€˜Black-On-Black Crimeā€™ Is A Myth, And Hereā€™s Why

Whenever black people try to talk about police brutality, it is inevitable that a white person will come in and say, ā€œBut what about black-on-black crime?ā€ ā€” as if members of a community killing each other negates the fact that police officers are killing unarmed members of the communities theyā€™re paid to serve and protect. One has nothing to do with the other.

The real threat in this country has always been white men who are a product of the white supremacist patriarchy that we are still operating under, so why donā€™t yā€™all channel that misplaced worry into collecting your people? That would make us all safer.

https://www.scarymommy.com/black-on-black-crime-is-myth/

Why ā€œblack-on-black crimeā€ isnā€™t a valid argument against criticizing police brutality

Black people care just as much about racial disparities in policing as they do violence within their communities. And violence within their communities is too often tied to structural inequalities that racist policing perpetuates.

Violence within black communities and the overpolicing of black people are linked. But if an honest conversation is going to be had about either topic, especially in light of the latest officer-involved fatal shootings of black people, it needs to based on the fact that "black-on-black crime" is not simply black people's making.

https://www.vox.com/2016/7/12/12152772/rudy-giuliani-black-on-black-crime-police

15

I'm just going to copy/paste my comment on Slog AM: "Reparations are extraordinarily unpopular with voters, even Democratic voters. Whatever the merits of the concept, it would be politically irresponsible for Biden to say he supports reparations."

17

ā€œHereā€™s what we (you) should doā€ or ā€œhelp me figure out what we can do togetherā€. Which is better? Geez, if Biden had laid out some concrete plans, youā€™d complain that he didnā€™t listen to the community or accuse him of whitesplaining. I think this so absolutely refreshing for a leader to say ā€œI donā€™t have all the answers, I need your helpā€.

This quibbling about Biden is like the US complaining about the USSR in 1943. THERE ARE BIGGER WARS TO BE WON.

18

Actually, I think his acknowledgment that he doesn't know all the answers is a good move. He's owning up to the fact that he's an old white guy, and he's open to help from people effected by racism. In my view, that's far better than an old white guy claiming to have all the answers and being the white knight to end racism. If he selects a black VP, and surrounds himself with people of color who are smart on civil rights, he'll do far better than if he tries to champion civil rights issues on his own from atop his white horse.

19

If you rewatch the video of George Floyd's horrific execution on that Minneapolis street curb, look closely in the lower left under the front cop car and down the sidewalk and you see a stream of pee. Yeah, that's Floyd's pee.

That heartbreaking detail just about cements the justified retribution of having the Milwaukee police precinct burned down.

I get it. I wouldn't light the match, but I get it.

20

CF: When I asked where Joe Biden was, I didn't mean where was he.

I thought all the Marx Brothers were dead.

You were implying he was absent from current events, got called out, and then retconned an entire new article. Good for you I guess.

Look man, I voted for Warren too. I support her stance on reparations, but it's just not going to happen (even with her as president), and you're being extremely disingenuous and obtuse in your non-sequitur criticism of Biden.

You remember when Obama was president and the Democrats controlled both the House and Senate? They couldn't even pass a legitimate universal healthcare bill because of infighting and caving to pressure from the Republican screams of socialism.

21

"I meant where is he on the subject of reparations"
I'm pretty sure he is left of Trumps position, even if it is only 3 nanometers left, it is still left.
And I'd guess that 3 nanometers is about as far as he can go if he wants to be elected
"What exactly he plans to do about institutional racism sounds... um... murky?"
You do have a point there, On the other hand Trump was very clear with: "there were good people on both sides" (except for the part where he didn't really mean both sides and the side he meant wasn't the one you want. )
If one decides one doesn't like having to chose the lesser of two evils and just throws their vote away, one runs the risk of getting the greater of the two evils. Even though less evil is still evil, less is less, I mean maybe? I seem to remember it used to be?
"We have always been at war with eastasia"

On the other hand Trump seems to be fine with taking drugs for unapproved uses and he did fire Sessions, even if the reason was that Sessions was reluctant to break laws rather than being too strict with stupid laws. But either way Sessions is gone and he was no friend of the stoners. I don't know about Barr, but I suspect he has bigger fish to fry, such as destroying the constitution.

22

You want reparations? Go to Volunteer Cemetery and take a look at some of the the 300,000+ Union soldiers that died to preserve the Union and end slavery. There's your reparations. They're the only ones you're gonna get.

23

Just think of where we could be today, if we had taken a man of Joe's integrity and for 8 years made him Vice President, not just to a great President, but to a great BLACK PRESIDENT! Of course we would have needed to do this over 10 years ago for it to have made any difference now but with a little forethought, we wouldn't be in the shitshow we are living through now!
For those who believe there will be a real difference whether the Idiot Who Daily Confirms Himself As Such remains or is replaced by the Guy Who Doesn't Know What Day It Is, you are living the definition of Insanity. Nothing will change until the money is drained out of politics. Or to be put simply - WE'RE ALL FUCKED!

Proceed accordingly.

25

@24 You don't get reparations either. Well, maybe some putrid German sausage.


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