The Official WTF Thread

[cardinalkarp]

not to mention a 9 year old little girl was killed in ferguson while doing homework on her bed and someone (or more than one) shot bullets through her house at close range.


no protest though for that one....



http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/f ... -1.2331544

I posted this on my facebook page today. Thought it might help clear some things up for you.

With the recent police shooting of the 18 year old black male on Page and the terrible shooting death of the 9 year old girl near the same area happening earlier this week, I have noticed lots of the usual ugliness that has been so pervasive the last year.
Lots of people are using the tragic death of the 9 year old to belittle the ‪#‎BlackLivesMatter‬ movement, saying things like “Why aren’t you protesting for HER instead??? Until blacks stop shooting blacks, your BLM movement means nothing and will fall on deaf ears!”
For these people, I’d like to clear something up.
These two events are completely different. It is disingenuous to use one to belittle the other. Of course the murder of this beautiful little girl is senseless, tragic and horrific.
We protest police abuse, corruption and systemic institutional racism because the oppressed need the voice of the unoppressed to make the oppression stop. Without us, the oppression just continues unchecked.
When it comes to black on black crime, or any violent crime for that matter, the way to stop it is through social change. Violent crime exists because people are desperate and hopeless. They feel completely disenfranchised. They feel powerless to end their own suffering. So they resort to crime and violence. Does it make it right? Of course not. But if you can put yourself in their situation, even for a moment, you can begin to see why they might resort to crime. I have two young kids. If they were starving and I had no other means to feed them, I think I’d be capable of a lot of things too. Would I shoot someone? Probably not, but I don’t know for sure until I have actually been in that situation. So, as outsiders, how do we help stop it? We enact social change. We fight for better education. We try to teach job skills. We build a stronger social safety net. We offer any kind of support we can, including sympathy and tears of sorrow for the senseless loss of life – like that sweet little girl. But do you think that in their time of suffering, the families that lose their loved ones to violence want to see a bunch of BLM activists on the street chanting and holding signs? I’m guessing not. I think it would come across insensitive and patronizing at the very least.
So, you anti-BLM folks can just stop it with the bull [expletive].
Thanks.

Sure, I can completely understand not protesting the "Black Lives Matter" movement out on the streets for the little girl as it could come across as insensitive....although, I'm not sure you've done anything to convince me that not protesting the murder of an innocent little girl, and instead protest the killing of an armed man, which happened to run and point a weapon at the police is a better choice in which to put their focus.

Justified or not in that instance, the black community has ZERO reason to trust the judicial system and police. They have suffered abuse after abuse after abuse. Tell me why they shouldn't be alarmed that another young black man was killed when the very same day a white man threatened AND assaulted police and was taken into custody instead of being shot immediately. Tell me why they should trust the system any more??? It is VERY broken and if something isn't done VERY SOON, we're going to have another civil war on our hands.

I think you're lumping "black community" into a group they might not want to be lumped into....what makes you think everyone in the black community doesn't trust the police force and judicial system?

While I'll agree, some of what I see the police doing these days I do have to question if it was the best thing to do.....BUT, much of what is portrayed in the media is ONLY these cases and done to incite situations like we see now.

This white man you speak of...did he have a gun?...did he point it at the officers??....because if so I would fully expect him to be shot as well (and he likely would have been). Black or white, if you run from the police after pointing a weapon at them...guess what, good chance you'll wind up dead.

But the protesting for dangerous armed criminals that happen to be killed after doing dangerous criminal acts needs to stop. It's not doing any good for either side.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crim ... 5482d.html

I like to read the article if STLToday wasn't such a POS website. But just seeing the article title, I wouldn't have blamed the cops one iota if they would've killed him.

[GeddyWrox]

not to mention a 9 year old little girl was killed in ferguson while doing homework on her bed and someone (or more than one) shot bullets through her house at close range.


no protest though for that one....



http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/f ... -1.2331544

I posted this on my facebook page today. Thought it might help clear some things up for you.

With the recent police shooting of the 18 year old black male on Page and the terrible shooting death of the 9 year old girl near the same area happening earlier this week, I have noticed lots of the usual ugliness that has been so pervasive the last year.
Lots of people are using the tragic death of the 9 year old to belittle the ‪#‎BlackLivesMatter‬ movement, saying things like “Why aren’t you protesting for HER instead??? Until blacks stop shooting blacks, your BLM movement means nothing and will fall on deaf ears!”
For these people, I’d like to clear something up.
These two events are completely different. It is disingenuous to use one to belittle the other. Of course the murder of this beautiful little girl is senseless, tragic and horrific.
We protest police abuse, corruption and systemic institutional racism because the oppressed need the voice of the unoppressed to make the oppression stop. Without us, the oppression just continues unchecked.
When it comes to black on black crime, or any violent crime for that matter, the way to stop it is through social change. Violent crime exists because people are desperate and hopeless. They feel completely disenfranchised. They feel powerless to end their own suffering. So they resort to crime and violence. Does it make it right? Of course not. But if you can put yourself in their situation, even for a moment, you can begin to see why they might resort to crime. I have two young kids. If they were starving and I had no other means to feed them, I think I’d be capable of a lot of things too. Would I shoot someone? Probably not, but I don’t know for sure until I have actually been in that situation. So, as outsiders, how do we help stop it? We enact social change. We fight for better education. We try to teach job skills. We build a stronger social safety net. We offer any kind of support we can, including sympathy and tears of sorrow for the senseless loss of life – like that sweet little girl. But do you think that in their time of suffering, the families that lose their loved ones to violence want to see a bunch of BLM activists on the street chanting and holding signs? I’m guessing not. I think it would come across insensitive and patronizing at the very least.
So, you anti-BLM folks can just stop it with the bull [expletive].
Thanks.

Sure, I can completely understand not protesting the "Black Lives Matter" movement out on the streets for the little girl as it could come across as insensitive....although, I'm not sure you've done anything to convince me that not protesting the murder of an innocent little girl, and instead protest the killing of an armed man, which happened to run and point a weapon at the police is a better choice in which to put their focus.

Justified or not in that instance, the black community has ZERO reason to trust the judicial system and police. They have suffered abuse after abuse after abuse. Tell me why they shouldn't be alarmed that another young black man was killed when the very same day a white man threatened AND assaulted police and was taken into custody instead of being shot immediately. Tell me why they should trust the system any more??? It is VERY broken and if something isn't done VERY SOON, we're going to have another civil war on our hands.

I think you're lumping "black community" into a group they might not want to be lumped into....what makes you think everyone in the black community doesn't trust the police force and judicial system?

While I'll agree, some of what I see the police doing these days I do have to question if it was the best thing to do.....BUT, much of what is portrayed in the media is ONLY these cases and done to incite situations like we see now.

This white man you speak of...did he have a gun?...did he point it at the officers??....because if so I would fully expect him to be shot as well (and he likely would have been). Black or white, if you run from the police after pointing a weapon at them...guess what, good chance you'll wind up dead.

But the protesting for dangerous armed criminals that happen to be killed after doing dangerous criminal acts needs to stop. It's not doing any good for either side.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crim ... 5482d.html

I like to read the article if STLToday wasn't such a POS website. But just seeing the article title, I wouldn't have blamed the cops one iota if they would've killed him.

But they DIDN'T. That's the point. While the black community was mourning another lost 18 year old -- regardless of whether he was shot justifiably or not -- a white man does the same thing and lives. It happens over and over. This is why there is no trust. This is why there is so much anger.

Instead of being sanctimonious and righteous, telling them that they're protesting the wrong things, how about we just start listening to what they are trying to say????

[cardinalkarp]

It's not the protesting that bothers me, its the looting and rioting that I'm sick and tired of.....by doing that, whatever point is trying to be made is lost on me.

[GeddyWrox]

That's fine. But if we keep making up excuses as to why we shouldn't listen, or why it isn't our problem, it's just going to keep getting worse.

[wart57]

I don't know what I could have or would have been able to make of my life had my community constantly told me everyone was against me and I have no hope of ever achieving anything because of the color of my skin.

[Vidor]

not to mention a 9 year old little girl was killed in ferguson while doing homework on her bed and someone (or more than one) shot bullets through her house at close range.


no protest though for that one....



http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/f ... -1.2331544

Well, there was at least 1 dude who thought something should be done.

http://fox2now.com/2015/08/20/stand-up- ... uson-girl/

Come now, guys, you don't have to pretend you care about the dead little girl.

[cardsfansince82]

I don't know what I could have or would have been able to make of my life had my community constantly told me everyone was against me and I have no hope of ever achieving anything because of the color of my skin.

Slavery ended 150 years ago, amirite? Black people have totally gotten a fair shake since then. It's all in their heads.

As long as we continue to view minorities as some separate segment of society to be marginalized in general and disproportionately targeted by law enforcement, things are never getting better. We are all americans. We live in the richest country on earth and still have large swaths of the population living in poverty while a handful of individuals get obscenely wealthy. You would be amazed at what having a living wage readily available through legitimate means can do for someone.

[wart57]

I don't know what I could have or would have been able to make of my life had my community constantly told me everyone was against me and I have no hope of ever achieving anything because of the color of my skin.

Slavery ended 150 years ago, amirite? Black people have totally gotten a fair shake since then. It's all in their heads.

As long as we continue to view minorities as some separate segment of society to be marginalized in general and disproportionately targeted by law enforcement, things are never getting better. We are all americans. We live in the richest country on earth and still have large swaths of the population living in poverty while a handful of individuals get obscenely wealthy. You would be amazed at what having a living wage readily available through legitimate means can do for someone.

I never said blacks have gotten a fair shake since then. But in the last 50 years or so, there have been program after program designed to give the black community more and better access to higher education, I still think there is not enough importance put on education in The U.S. More money needs to be put in to inner city schools and schools in general. Education is the only way we can end this cycle of violence and poverty.
But also, hard work needs to be praised too. I had to work 3 jobs to pay for College. Not many people of any ethnicity are willing to put in the work and time I did to get an education, nor are they willing to put in the 60 to 80 hr work weeks I routinely did when I was working my way up in my career.
If you want to get somewhere in life, you have to work for it, don't expect someone to come in and give you a high paying job just because you were born, you have to put in the time and effort to get there.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

That's fine. But if we keep making up excuses as to why we shouldn't listen, or why it isn't our problem, it's just going to keep getting worse.

What is being said?

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

That's fine. But if we keep making up excuses as to why we shouldn't listen, or why it isn't our problem, it's just going to keep getting worse.

What is being said?

I'll answer my own question. After looking around for an easy answer on google, I had to go to their website, and even that didn't have a clear cut mission statement or message. But, in the article of how they formed after the Trayvon Martin shooting, I did find this which I'm guess is their message.

When we say Black Lives Matter, we are broadening the conversation around state violence to include all of the ways in which Black people are intentionally left powerless at the hands of the state. We are talking about the ways in which Black lives are deprived of our basic human rights and dignity. How Black poverty and genocide is state violence. How 2.8 million Black people are locked in cages in this country is state violence. How Black women bearing the burden of a relentless assault on our children and our families is state violence. How Black queer and trans folks bear a unique burden from a hetero-patriarchal society that disposes of us like garbage and simultaneously fetishizes us and profits off of us, and that is state violence. How 500,000 Black people in the US are undocumented immigrants and relegated to the shadows. How Black girls are used as negotiating chips during times of conflict and war. How Black folks living with disabilities and different abilities bear the burden of state sponsored Darwinian experiments that attempt to squeeze us into boxes of normality defined by white supremacy, and that is state violence.

http://blacklivesmatter.com/about/