Gov Cumo said it best: Violence obscures the righteousness of the message

[still_one]

[onetexan]

1. I agree w gov. CUOMO. We should speak out but not respond with violence.

[gratuitous]

2. ANYTHING the folks who don't want to hear the message obscures the message

If it's violence, that's their excuse for not listening. If it's taking a knee during the national anthem, that's their excuse. People who don't want to hear the message always have an excuse. Jesus called it two thousand years ago: Luke 7:33-35.

[Blasphemer]

4. +1 nt

[StarfishSaver]

5. Thank you

[still_one]

12. For what? Is the looting being done in George Floyd's name? I don't think so

https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2020/05/31/protester-calls-out-looting-follow-death-of-george-floyd-sot-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/george-floyd-death-protests-minneapolis/

[demosincebirth]

23. Looters and hoodlums just wait for peaceful protests to take place.

[still_one]

8. I am sure those mom and pop businesses who were hanging by a thread, and

those people who will be out of work because the business where they worked is burned to the ground, sure feel they deserved what they got coming

[gratuitous]

13. And who busted the first window?

Was it those demonstrating against George Floyd's murder, or some folks who came to stir up trouble? Because there is a lot of video evidence running around that it was undercover cop provocateurs and white supremacists. Make sure you're holding the right folks responsible for creating the breakdowns.

[still_one]

14. All good points

https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2020/05/31/protester-calls-out-looting-follow-death-of-george-floyd-sot-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/george-floyd-death-protests-minneapolis/

but the problem is the focus gets lost

[Caliman73]

15. Well one of them in Minneapolis had something to say about it.

His business was burned to the ground and he said, "Let my business burn, we need justice".

I am not getting why people are having such a difficult time understanding the situation.

I haven't seen anyone who is a serious person, cheering on the destruction that is taking place. What I have seen is people in rage, hurt, feeling voiceless and powerless, doing things irrationally to express those feelings.

I have also seen people taking advantage of a tense and difficult situation, trying to provoke and stoke up racial animus AND trying to blame Black people for their own abuse and for that irrational expression.

I have not seen people saying that people whose businesses were destroyed, "had it coming".

People want to see the violence end. No one wants people to burn down their own communities.

We also need to stop watching from the sidelines, scolding people and judging them, especially for experiences that many of us have not had in this society. Saying that it isn't "politically expedient" or "it doesn't help ... message"

If they don't react, then good, they can just keep killing them. If they protest peacefully, they find a way to dismiss them of fuck with them. If they protest violently, well then they are just animals and need to be put down. There is NO way in this society that Black and Brown people can express their anger and need for justice, that isn't going to be criticized by the people who want them to just shut the fuck up and stay in their place.

They need justice and it is up to those of us with more privilege and power to help them achieve it. It isn't up to them to "ask nicely, in a way that we approve of".

[still_one]

16. .......................................

https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2020/05/31/protester-calls-out-looting-follow-death-of-george-floyd-sot-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/george-floyd-death-protests-minneapolis/

I am sure that one person represents all the businesses

[Caliman73]

19. There seem to be two different conversations happening.

Looting and some of the property destruction are definitely not part of the protest and I will say again, no one is saying that they are positive things.

It is good that protesters like the gentleman from the story and people like Killer Mike are trying to work from within the communities to quell the situation and call out the bad actors.

When people feel heard or they have expressed their rage, then the protests will end and the rebuilding can begin.

Like I said and will keep saying. People like us who are removed from the situation, who don't live in fear of police killing us daily, who are watching and judging, and telling people how they should be protesting or expressing themselves, that is what is irritating me.

I can see how violence is not "tactically" a good thing. How it "reinforces" stereotypes. How it "might give Trump something to run on"

I have also been close enough to situations with authority figures abusing their power, to know that getting "no justice" made me want to wreck things, though I have never been so powerless and held down to think that it was the only way I could express that rage. That is MY privilege, so I am not judging people with less privilege and power than myself.

[StarfishSaver]

22. Beautifully said!

[cayugafalls]

17. They absolutely did not deserve to be looted and burned out.

It is a sad and disturbing reality that it has happened. A lot of the violence has been spurred on by outside instigators that have inflamed the angry youth and caused them to lash out at objects.

For decades they have had boots to the neck and bullets to the heart and they are tired and angry as well they should be. They are afraid when they walk to school, afraid when they walk home, afraid when they get pulled over...living afraid all the time that some white racist is going to end their life today.

These are just buildings and stuff, material things, and while I feel for the owners and people whose lives will be disrupted, I can understand the anger and frustration that leads to lashing out when coerced or manipulated by instigators.

I am not condoning the actions of the rioters. I am just trying to add perspective.

400 years...nothing has changed and the cockroaches have come out of the darkness and set their sights on Americas people of color and differing sexual orientation.

[still_one]

18. I know you are not, none of us here are, and I believe most of us here want

justice, not only for George Lloyd, but for all the African Americans who have not be treated fairly

[cayugafalls]

20. We need justice for the LGBTQ community as well.

My son is deathly afraid of this country and the racist and homophobic people that inhabit it. He is angry and stands with all the protesters. While he does not approve of the violence and looting he understands it.

I know it clouds the message and so does my son, but last night when I was talking to him and he told me that he and his friends were so angry and afraid that they might die at any minute because someone does not like the color of their skin or their orientation, his voice was shaking and there were tears in his eyes.

Like that man who so eloquently said in the video you posted, "We just want to walk down the street not afraid..." I get it.

Thank you for your reply...

[still_one]

21. Everyone, but the focus right now is on the what happened to George Lloyd,

and BLM.

Of course we must fight against racism and bigotry in all forums

[Voltaire2]

24. Yup.

[cayugafalls]

3. Can you hear us Now?

I heard that shouted from a building while watching a live stream...

Just saying.

[rockfordfile]

7. All looters will be arrested

[still_one]

9. Unfortunately, I don't think they will be, and the mom and pop business which

were already struggling to survive from the Covid crisis, are probably gone.

[cayugafalls]

10. I doubt it...you might be right, but a lot of looting took place with no police around.

A lot.

For two nights the police were virtually absent in Minneapolis. Not sure how you would arrest people who did the looting if you never saw them do it. Sure there might be cameras and such, but lots of masks and facial recognition is not all it has cracked up to be, especially if you are trying to identify people who have never been arrested before.

I am not condoning it, I am just pointing out what I saw.

[rockfordfile]

6. I agree

[Sugarcoated]

11. Hurts the cause

and it makes me very sad.

[manhattan123]

25. MLK quote from 1968...

“Every time a riot develops, it helps George Wallace.”

[malaise]

26. Violence against Americans has been the message for

400 years