SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Submitted via IRC for mecctro
After a night of violent protests, Milwaukee residents gathered Sunday evening to mourn an armed man shot to death by police and begin the healing process.
Family and friends of Sylville Smith, 23, held a candlelight vigil at the site of Saturday's shooting in a residential area of North Milwaukee.
The shooting triggered unrest in the city's north side Saturday night as protesters torched businesses and threw rocks at officers. Four officers were injured and 17 people were arrested, Mayor Tom Barrett said.
Tensions on Sunday gave way to calls for peace as activists gathered outside the affected businesses.
Smith's sister, Sherelle Smith, condemned violence carried out in her brother's name, saying the community needs those businesses.
Black Lives Shatter
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/14/us/milwaukee-violence-police-shooting/
(Score: 3, Insightful) by julian on Monday August 15 2016, @05:04PM
There's luck of course but our drug laws are, from the top to the bottom, deliberately racist through design and enforcement. Drug laws would be the single biggest, most efficacious, change we could make. If BLM had any sense they'd focus on that instead of this radical social justice overhaul of society which the majority of people will never go along with.
The civil rights movement of the 1960s succeeded because MLK et al realized they needed white people to be on board. Passion, even anger, are understandable. MLK was passionate. He wasn't out shooting at police, burning cars, demanding cash money reparations.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Thexalon on Monday August 15 2016, @07:53PM
Yeah, about that:
1. BLM largely does support ending the War on Drugs.
2. I'm trying to figure out why "cops shouldn't shoot black Americans for no good reason" is a "radical social justice overhaul of society which the majority of people will never go along with". I'll put it this way: If that's true, then it strongly suggests that BLM is long past due.
And neither are the vast majority of BLM activists. For example, the BLM folks in my city are talking about the need for community policing, external investigation of police shootings, punishment of officers who break the rules, better vetting of would-be officers (e.g. the cop who killed Tamir Rice had been fired from another department for being mentally unstable, and the Cleveland Police either didn't know that or ignored it), and improving job opportunities for black youth to keep them out of trouble in the first place.
Also, I think it's worth mentioning that just about everything that is being said about Black Lives Matter was said about Martin Luther King's various organizations.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 15 2016, @09:08PM
Except BLM incites violence the same way trump does towards Muslims.
How many police officers have been killed in retaliation in the last few weeks? How many buildings and cars were set on fire after MLK spoke to a crowd? How many cops did MLK's followers kill?
BLM should focus on why so many young black males are killing each other, if you put a stop to black on black crime, then the police won't be involved.
(Score: 2) by julian on Monday August 15 2016, @09:55PM
I actually support all the things you listed. But this latest conflagration in Wisconsin wasn't the result of a policeman shooting a black man for "no reason." He stole a gun, had it drawn, and refused to surrender to police. That's exactly the situation I would expect deadly force to be on the table. I do consider any loss of life to be a tragedy, and our society undoubtedly failed that young man as much as he failed himself.
Those other incidents you mentioned are more straightforward examples of criminal misconduct by police.
I recommend listening to Sam Harris's last podcast with Glenn Loury. [samharris.org] Some of the statistics they go over were rather surprising and illuminating.