dhodo
Well-Known Member
Seeing a lot of artists echoing this sentiment about the "blackout."
Black Lives Matter
- Thread starter gouis
- Start date
Indymisanthrope
Well-Known Member
I might be interested. When are you starting?
Yeah, I'm making that distinction, but only to the extent that I still think the institution is an inexorable force on the individual.
I saw a tweet yesterday (probably something that @GritNGlitter retweeted, all the good tweets in my feed are just tweets that she saw first) that it's great that white people are now willing to say that an institution is systemically racist, but none of their proposed solutions are systemic in nature. An institution is at risk if it's structured in a way so that racism can gain this much of a foothold in the first place.
❤
I have the book. But it took a few weeks to get - I think I ordered it about a month ago and got it last week. Would you be so kind as to see when you might be able to get your hands on the book?
MikeH
Well-Known Member
I have seen a lot of friends who work in the arts echo this sentiment as well. The "blackout" doesn't do much outside of virtue signaling. It lasts for a day. People need to be doing things that have longer lasting impact. Give more favorable terms to black artists. Stop stealing from their royalties. Hire more artists, businessmen, etc who are people of color to more positions of power and give representation in all aspects of the music business. Donate money to causes that fight injustice. Listen more.
Indymisanthrope
Well-Known Member
Yeah, physical copies appear to be on backorder at all the usual suspects, but I can do the Kindle version. If anybody else is interested, the Kindle list price is just $2.99.
MikeH
Well-Known Member
This is a depressing but good read:
How Do Cops Like Derek Chauvin Get To Keep Working? Police Unions Protect Them.
Police unions have become increasingly rightwing as a backlash to the Obama administration and Black Lives Matter — and that’s bad news for the cities they police.
www.buzzfeednews.com
Police Unions are a HUGE part of the problem with systemic racism in the police force.
Ethos99
Well-Known Member
To everyone posting black pictures supporting BLM, on FB, Instagram or twitter, please remove the hashtags.
www.cnn.com
Why posting a black image with the 'Black Lives Matter' hashtag could be doing more harm than good | CNN
It's Blackout Tuesday, a day promoted by activists to observe, mourn and bring about policy change in the wake of the death of George Floyd.
www.cnn.com
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The kindle version should work. There is a fair amount of journaling to do - so a notebook/diary type situation would be needed with the kindle.
I'll wait a few days to see if anyone else wants to join. But I'm anxious to get going. Monday at the latest.
Except it absolutely is not. People join police forces. They can also quit--which we don't see so-called "good cops" do very often, even when ordered to abuse the people they supposedly serve. No black person can just stop being black. Racism is 100% different than despising an institution.
I really thought we covered this decades ago when we agreed that just following orders wasn’t a defense. We shouldn’t need to wait for police to “feel free” to denounce their colleague. Good people need to stand up for what’s right, especially when it’s uncomfortable.
I mean, can you think of a way to divorce our systems--particularly law enforcement and the justice system--from the racism that underpins them without radically altering the country into something new?
I'm definitely for abolishing US police and policing. I'm not aware of the details of every police body in the world, but the "civilized" countries with even a whiff of colonialism probably need to abolish theirs too. I realize that it's a radical position, and it definitely requires a lot of other deconstruction and paradigm shifts, but it isn't impossible, and we certainly can't make progress without discussing the breadth of possibilities.
When we look at what police actually do and don't do, it becomes more and more apparent that they are not the essential body they want us to think they are. By law they are not required to protect people--even school resource officers are not required to engage with school shooters. They do not prevent crimes and they barely solve crimes. And even among the "solved" crimes we know many people (especially POC, especially indigenous and black folk) are railroaded and wrongly convicted. Or killed before they ever see a police station.
Policing is not broken, it is a system designed to oppress. I believe it is important to approach policing from a lens of abolition, because otherwise "reform" measures like training actually just expand police budgets and powers. Emergency mental health responders, for example, are not just better trained police, but a radical refocus on the well-being of individuals and not just convenience of the majority--it's a whole different concept of peace keeping.
After 5ish years, I think you know I'm not a pie-in-the-sky idealist. I am not all-or-nothing and I certainly vote pragmatically to reduce harm instead of letting perfect be the enemy of good. But I do believe we need to abolish the modern police force. As much of a non-starter as it was for me for decades (I have family members and dear friends in law enforcement roles across the country), I did change my mind. I recognize that we aren't likely to see progress in my lifetime, but I want to expose as many people to the possibility as I can.
I'm in. I often remain silent, too silent, on these matters as I don't know what my place is in the conversation, but I want to be a good and better advocate than I am. This sounds helpful. I bought the Kindle book and am ready to go when others are!
jaycee
Well-Known Member
The point at which ignorance becomes willful is the point at which you are complicit in the effects of that ignorance.
We are responsible for making ourselves aware of our own ignorance and addressing that ignorance. I'm not sure people who sign-up to be police officers could be unaware of the history of police violence, oppression, and promotion of that oppression in this country unless they are being willfully ignorant. I don't doubt that there are well-intentioned people who subscribe to the 'few bad apples' narratives and think they can fix things, but we there is extremely little evidence of those people aligning themselves against the institution.
Are they 'morally' corrupted? I would say yes but everyone here probably has a different morality so that judgement is difficult to make, but I think we can be much more clear about the term complicit.
Fuck the police or abolish the police are (to me) phrases that are about the institutions. The second in particular is important because it is specific to the oppression the police promote / enforce. Maybe we believe the individuals that comprise these institutions are morally redeemable and maybe we don't.
I don't think any of that particularly matters.
The institution is broken because it is the machinery of oppression. If our society wants to be equitable, we don't have an option other than to destroy that machinery. What we replace it with if anything is another discussion.
We are responsible for making ourselves aware of our own ignorance and addressing that ignorance. I'm not sure people who sign-up to be police officers could be unaware of the history of police violence, oppression, and promotion of that oppression in this country unless they are being willfully ignorant. I don't doubt that there are well-intentioned people who subscribe to the 'few bad apples' narratives and think they can fix things, but we there is extremely little evidence of those people aligning themselves against the institution.
Are they 'morally' corrupted? I would say yes but everyone here probably has a different morality so that judgement is difficult to make, but I think we can be much more clear about the term complicit.
Fuck the police or abolish the police are (to me) phrases that are about the institutions. The second in particular is important because it is specific to the oppression the police promote / enforce. Maybe we believe the individuals that comprise these institutions are morally redeemable and maybe we don't.
I don't think any of that particularly matters.
The institution is broken because it is the machinery of oppression. If our society wants to be equitable, we don't have an option other than to destroy that machinery. What we replace it with if anything is another discussion.
wokeupnew
Well-Known Member
no matter anyone's POV on the Police I think we should all be able to support this statment.
Also fuck the police
Dtknuckles
Well-Known Member
Useless piece of fruit!!!
Hi! Sorry, Mr. Glitter and I dug through our library for recommendations and talked about different orgs, and then we decided to get drunk and watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. instead of getting back online, hahaha.
Lucky for us, this morning we found out that our #1 recommendation for you, The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale, is free to download right now via that link.
Another excellent book for researching policing in general is Our Enemies In Blue: Police and Power in America by Kristian Williams. The majority of the book is about police in America, but it has an entire afterward about Making Police Obsolete.
Someone already linked to Critical Resistance, I believe. They have a ton of great resources regarding abolition of police and prisons and more. I particularly think folks in this thread might like this pdf comparing Reformists to Abolitionist positions in policing.
Accountability is a huge factor in preventing the culture of self-preservation you mention. People who are usurping power are obsessed with keeping it. We know police unions coordinate with government to avoid just about any accountability. Replacing policing with systems that allow people to function in community as we are evolved to do, with plenty of accountability can help prevent the grotesque system of power and abuse we currently have in place. There is no utopia. But the idea that people are inherently evil and must be policed comes a lot from Christian belief systems--the same ones used to justify colonialism, whiteness, genocide, manifest destiny.
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MikeH
Well-Known Member
What does this actually look like though? Genuinely curious...what do you replace it with? The militarization of police absolutely needs to be dissolved. But what goes in the place of police? Are there any examples of nations that have no police force whatsoever (if that is even what you are referring to?) EDIT: I think your above post recommending reading material may be the best bet at answering this question. Really appreciate you sharing those resources.
I've seen some interesting half measures proposed to try to move things in the right direction. Justin Amash is drafting a bill to allow people to sue individual police officers. Some people suggested that police officers will need to purchase insurance--someone on your police force fucks up, rates rise for everybody...I'd love to see cops get their guns taken away, but it wouldn't prevent tragedies like George Lloyd or Eric Garner. And when we do have shooting after shooting after shooting but people are more concerned about their right to bear arms than these lives lost, I don't know how proper gun legislation get passed. Outside of protesting and voting, what else can be done?
Speaking from personal experience, all the racist white kids in my suburban hometown ended up becoming cops. Most people do not tend to become cops to help their community--they do so for the power and lack of accountability. Yes, there are some good cops out there, but even they are constrained by the bad cops most of the time.
Dead C
Well-Known Member
I made a meme
Enaz Fox
Well-Known Member
I hope this fits here but if not, that's ok as well. Just needed to let my brain unwind.
I'm tired of hate being spewed constantly and bullets of any kind raining down. I'm tired of the senseless killings that never seem to end and the close minded people who never seem to change. Constantly my brain attempts to self correct but lately it's just been a jumbled mess of anxiety and fear. I have no idea what to do to as the world burns down around me but yet here I am...
Art has been my escape throughout this year (we all need to find one). Doodling is what I would refer to it as. Normally they are just designs, sometimes a character but almost always with nothing in mind when I start. Well today's doodle has a theme and I'm not sure that's going to change anytime soon... I haven't been able to get these most recent murders out of my head. Maybe it's because one hit so close to home that it just triggered something in me? Stay safe out there everyone.
Black Lives Matter