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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Police Take the Side of White Vigilantes
Who are the cops for? Over the last week, all across the country, in ways large and small, theyve shown us.
In Philadelphia on Monday night, the cops made it fairly explicit on whose behalf they police the streets. As they unleashed tear gas on unarmed protesters marching on Interstate 676, getting caught on camera spraying gas directly into the faces of harmless, seated demonstrators, across town they Link to tweet
" target="_blank">allowed an actual roving mob of men armed with baseball bats and other improvised weapons to violate curfew and move about with impunity. Or something more than impunity: an endorsement. Residents reported attempting to get the police to arrest or disperse the would-be vigilantes and being mocked and dismissed.
We dont take sides, Philadelphias police commissioner said the next day. Our mission is to always protect all persons. That is what she is supposed to say. But the untruth of that claim is well documented. Over and over again, cops take sides. They do so in broad daylight and at night, on cell phonecaptured video and behind mysteriously nonfunctioning body cameras.
In Chicago last weekend, a man in tactical gear with a long gun Link to tweet
" target="_blank">brandished it menacingly at protesters. Open carry of firearms is illegal in Illinois. The police had a quick chat with him and sent him on his way unmolested. As police departments have everywhere else, this one gassed and beat unarmed demonstrators who were protesting police violence. We dont tolerate police misconductever, the mayor said. But they do. They have tolerated it among Chicago police officers for 100 years.
What would lead a police departmentnot a few misbehaving officers but every officer on the street, in this instanceto dismiss a heavily armed man as no threat (to either their own safety or the safety of the community) in one case, while, in another, viewing an unarmed local activist as so much of a threat that multiple cops decided to surround and Link to tweet
" target="_blank">brutally beat him with batons?
The incidents in Chicago and Philadelphia are evidence that American police across the country share a coherent ideology. Armed white boys dont code as a threat to them; anarchists and angry black people do (even if the protesters are the ones at least attempting to engage in constitutionally protected behavior, while the roving white gangs are flagrantly violating the law). That disconnect, the galling image of watching the law so obviously tossed aside under certain circumstances, highlights a fundamental truth about whats happening across the United States. The police are not using brutality to enforce the law. Theyre using the law to enforce something else: a particular social order that is, to them, worth fighting for.
more: https://newrepublic.com/article/157981/police-take-side-white-vigilantes
still_one
(91,965 posts)apprehend him
Yes, there is something rotten in the police force in Kenosha
Anyone who doesn't think that if trump wins a second term we will not become a police state, isn't paying attention
chowder66
(9,011 posts)his hip towards the back (getting it out of the way), hands back up. The trucks roll right past him, the cruisers don't seem to care either. He was just walking around while people were shouting he's the shooter, he shot people!!
It is very disturbing to say the least.
This is in the main video where he shoots the protestors which I didn't know at the time. I thought I was just going to see him walking by cop cars.
rampartc
(5,265 posts)"you can always tell what side the police are on by which direction they are all facing."
aquamarina
(1,865 posts)We must demand nothing less.
Nululu
(833 posts)In Portland White Supremecists like the Proud Boys came, brandished guns and left. Police did nothing to them but attacked peaceful protesters later.
Humanist_Activist
(7,670 posts)That sanction needs to be revoked.
radius777
(3,624 posts)nothing more than a RW militia... which is why they are so quick to kill non-whites and liberals.
The police unions have to be broken to solve this issue, and qualified and politically neutral people hired who will serve the entire community and not simply racist white America.
crickets
(25,896 posts)Gothmog
(144,005 posts)BeckyDem
(8,361 posts)Response to tenderfoot (Original post)
BeckyDem This message was self-deleted by its author.
maxrandb
(15,192 posts)You asked
What would lead a police departmentnot a few misbehaving officers but every officer on the street, in this instanceto dismiss a heavily armed man as no threat (to either their own safety or the safety of the community) in one case, while, in another, viewing an unarmed local activist as so much of a threat that multiple cops decided to surround and brutally beat him with batons?
The ones with the guns AREN'T THREATENING THEIR POWER