I have this exercise I go through when I don’t understand others’ behavior. First, I assume that I am not inherently better than them. Then, I consider what life experiences it might take for me to act similarly. Then, I think deeply about the life experiences that these people have had.
I have lived my life up to this point trying to make other people feel safe. I have never been in a fight, threatened violence, or shoplifted. But given a lifetime of cumulative disadvantage, racial/social injustice, community violence, toxic stress, and ongoing societal apathy - it’s hard to guarantee I wouldn’t be the first person lighting a match.
Look at these actions through the perspective of someone who has never felt safe, respected, understood, or equal. Then think about how we fix those underlying problems.
From a political perspective, this horrifies people who crave order. To get them to vote for Democrats in November, Trump meddling in Minnesota needs to lead to a greater level of disorder, so that Republicans are not seen as a viable solution to these problems. We need him to visibly fail in a way that is much more immediate and direct and visual than his failure on COVID-19. Arguably, this needs to get worse before it gets better.
This take is only half cooked on my part, but the list of people who want everything to burn being more like the center-establishment people on the forum is not that surprising. A tit-for-tat battle of Democrats vs. Republicans or Protesters vs. the Police is the status quo. Arresting, prosecuting, imprisoning, even executing the guilty cops is not systemic change.
Abolish the Police. At least abolish them as we know them now. The rules have to change for the “good” cops as well as the bad cops. Policing has to change and not just civilian oversight committees - they already have that.
MN Public Safety Commissioner: “I know people were upset about the murder of Floyd, but the people out there on Lake Street at 3 AM weren’t those people”
Don’t you think his job as a governor is to maintain law and order? Like, as a society you can’t have total anarchy. I’m not sure what else he is supposed to do or say.
How about we messed up by allowing a legal system to stand that makes it very difficult to arrest let alone convict cops who murder civilians. Here is the legislation I am proposing to the state assembly to correct that issue.
Police were out of control and murdering people. Declare emergency. Put police on unpaid leave. Organize citizen watch groups. Turn police stations into homeless shelters.
All the images I’ve seen have shown the majority of protestors wearing face coverings (albeit cloth masks for the most part), so maybe this will also be a case study in how effective cloth face coverings are.
Reporters pointing out that their sources said before noon yesterday that police would be abandoning 3rd precinct - confirming the source posted here (I forget who posted, sorry). Governor denying that was the plan.
