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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsUnsanitized: Social Unrest When There's Nothing to Lose
Theres a reason that Spike Lee set Do the Right Thing on the hottest day of the year in Brooklyn. The pressure from the heat simmered through the community and created sparks that ignited existing tensions. There was a triggering event, which led to a police chokehold and the death of Radio Raheem, and the destruction of Sals Pizzeria. The weather was the backdrop as events played out. That was 1989 and it couldnt be more relevant right now.
The death of George Floyd is obviously unforgivable on its own terms. There doesnt need to be any context. Unreformed police murder in communities of color has been part of America since well before I was born. I have nothing to comment on about lootersat least eight people sent me this Onion headline, Protestors Criticized For Looting Businesses Without Forming Private Equity Firm First. (I guess my reputation precedes me.) I cant say anything about the burning of the 3rd police precinct. And I have a lot to say about the great misfortune of having Donald J. Trump in a leadership position during this moment, but most of it would be curse words.
Decades of disinvestment and routinized brutality and structural racism created these conditions. The officer who killed George Floyd had enough history of violence alone to contribute mightily to this rage. (And yes, Amy Klobuchar declined to prosecute him and many others for these crimes.)
But you cannot separate this outpouring of anger from two months of death, economic collapse, and the disproportionate pain raining down right now on communities of color.
Read more: https://prospect.org/coronavirus/unsanitized-social-unrest-when-nothing-to-lose-george-floyd/
(American Prospect)
7wo7rees
(5,128 posts)Kitchari
(2,168 posts)2naSalit
(86,775 posts)I had a feeling months ago that we would come to this, I just didn't know how or what the "heat wave" part would be, turns out it's a pandemic. The racism has always been there, as Joe Biden said, it doesn't go away, it only hides.
Solly Mack
(90,785 posts)KG
(28,752 posts)3Hotdogs
(12,406 posts)Lonestarblue
(10,063 posts)What I found so utterly horrifying was the calm, almost bored, look on Chauvins face as he murdered a black man in full view of the public and other officers who did absolutely nothing to stop him. Had even one officer pushed him aside, George Floyd might be alive today. I dont know this kind of person, but I suspect that we have many of them. They are soulless.
And they are among the millions who will pick up their guns and go on rampages when Donald Trump loses in November.