Question About The Riots.......

[CJD]

(06-01-2020, 03:14 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: Martin Luther King Jr., 1967


We should condemn violence, but we need to also condemn the conditions that led to it. If you did not voice your concern until Target was on fire, you're missing the point and you're choosing the tranquility of the status quo over justice for all.

When someone has spent decades trying to express themselves, only to be ignored, they find ways to make ourselves seen and heard. When we lash out in anger, we do not think clearly, but it is driven by that desperation that comes from being ignored. At some point, the only conclusion is that the entire system is against you.

As you voice your own anger with the rioting, are you voicing your support with peaceful protests? When Kap kneeled, did you scoff and call him names? A man had a silent protest, and he was vilified for it. Why do you think some people skip past peaceful and decide to burn things? If you were one of the people who attacked Kap, you conditioned people to believe that peaceful protest won't ever work.

There are many burning and looting. Some do it because they're desperate. Some do not care and want to steal. Some are bad faith actors, trying to make the movement look bad. Some just  want to express their anger and do not care about the cause.

Regardless their reasons, there are even more, tens of thousands across cities, peacefully protesting. Looking for a dialogue. Trying to mend what is broken. Some of those peaceful protestors are being rammed with cars. Drive by pepper spray. Shot with rubber bullets. Journalists assaulted by police. Did you speak up and support them when that happened?

If you continue to just attack the riots and ignore the protests, especially refusing to accept the need for a dialogue or failing to condemn the conditions many peacefully protestors are being met with, you do not care about healing. You care about your position not being threatened or inconvenienced. You want blissful ignorance and the status quo.

I couldn't agree more with this if I tried.