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from the "All-lives-matter."-President-Obama dept.
Snipers in Dallas: [5] Cops Dead; [6] More Cops Wounded
The Atlantic reports:
Two gunmen shot eleven police officers in Dallas, Texas [at 8:58 PM July 7], killing at least four of them.
[...] At a Thursday night press conference, Dallas Police Department Chief David Brown said [...] officers had one of the suspects "cornered", but did not offer further details.
"Tonight, it appears that two snipers shot ten police officers from elevated positions during the protest/rally", Brown said in an initial statement. "Three officers are deceased, two are in surgery, and three are in critical condition. An intensive search for suspect is currently underway." The police department later said an eleventh officer had also been injured and a fourth officer had been killed.
[...] The shootings occurred during a protest against police killings earlier this week in Louisiana and Minnesota. Hundreds rallied in downtown Dallas, near the corner of Main Street and Lamar Street. Local news footage captured what sounds like several gunshots being fired, and the crowd scattering.
[...] No motive has yet been established and it's unclear whether the shooting was related to the protest.
The New York Times just broke the story about the latest in the police killings of black men. It seems the tide has been turned. [Five] Dallas police officers were killed tonight at a protest in that city over these shootings.
I am not surprised, nor am I particularly shocked. No doubt there will be more to come on this topic as the evening progresses. Hopefully something good comes out of this, but I am inclined to doubt it.
takyon: Some more details: One suspect was killed by an explosion intentionally caused by a police robot. He reportedly told a negotiator that he was upset about Black Lives Matter, the recent police shootings, and wanted to kill white people, especially police officers. He said he was not affiliated with any groups and acted alone. Other suspects have been arrested, and a "person of interest" (often identified as a suspect by the news media) was arrested early in the night after he was photographed with his unloaded AR-15. He handed his weapon to an officer shortly after the shootings, and later turned himself into the police for questioning.
President Obama spoke about the shootings shortly after arriving in Poland for a NATO conference. In part, he mentioned that, "When people say 'black lives matter,' that doesn't mean blue lives don't matter, it just means all lives matter — but right now the big concern is the fact that the data shows black folks are more vulnerable to these kinds of incidents [...] This isn't a matter of us comparing the value of lives. This is recognizing that there is a particular burden that is being placed on a group of our fellow citizens. And we should care about that. And we can't dismiss it. We can't dismiss it."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 08 2016, @03:58PM
Sorry, it's just racism. The police need to be reigned in for everyone. Fight for accountability and justice for all instead of perpetuating racism.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Zz9zZ on Friday July 08 2016, @04:19PM
It is not racism because they aren't saying any other lives don't matter. The gp's point is quite valid, and when it comes to mobilizing people it is sometimes necessary to be a bit myopic. All that said, there are undoubtedly some people who join BLM and are racist, wanting to kill white people. There was some disturbing video I saw of a "professor" claiming that the only way forward was to kill all white people. It shows that there are extremes on both sides, but don't fall into the trap of making overly broad assumptions.
~Tilting at windmills~
(Score: 3, Troll) by edIII on Friday July 08 2016, @09:30PM
While not explicitly racist, it is stupid and divisive. Cops are killing innocent people regardless of race. The original civil rights movement was inclusive with people of all races marching. Why should I feel included to join their movement? Why should I feel that they would even accept a non-black person in their movement? Do they think I feel safe being white any more than they do being black WRT officers conduct? I don't feel safe and I don't feel that I have a movement to join either as I'm not black, therefore my life isn't being fought for. That pisses me off because Kelly Thomas was brutally murdered and deserves their support.
This guy said he was upset about Black Lives Matters, and then said he specifically wanted to kill white people. While I know the BLM movement doesn't stand for that, I'm still forced to wonder if the movement was called 'All Lives Matters' or 'Cops Are Murdering Us' would this guy have specifically gone after white cops?
The name and the movement itself is divisive. While the causes of their movement are laudable, and their genesis understandable, their divisiveness is not.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by Zz9zZ on Friday July 08 2016, @11:59PM
Totally agree, definitely a double edged sword. I would like the name to be All Lives Matter, and at this point it probably would be better for their cause, but they would also probably have lost / never gained a lot of their user base with All Lives Matter. Wouldn't have much changed the more extreme members in any case. Perhaps now would be a GREAT time for them to make the change :)
~Tilting at windmills~
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 09 2016, @06:33AM
But that would put BLM in uncomfortable company of people who were disgusted by Ruby Ridge or Waco.
Can't cross the streams.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday July 08 2016, @08:26PM
Is it racist to point out that blacks commit crimes several times more often than any other ethnic group in the US? Damn you, you racist facts!
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Friday July 08 2016, @10:02PM
Is it foolish to conflate socio-economic status with a racial propensity for violence? Of course it is.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday July 09 2016, @02:23AM
Did I say it was racial? It's not. It's cultural. Black culture in the US is as self-destructive as it is possible for a culture to be without outright passing everyone poisoned kool-aid.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 09 2016, @03:14PM
I wonder if there might be any reason for their culture to be different. Something in their past? Maybe something in the present where they are treated differently by society. No, being targeted by the cops and killed on a daily basis isn't it, thats just a symptom.
Why do poor repressed people have a different culture to the privileged elite? I guess we will never know.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday July 10 2016, @10:36AM
It most definitely is a symptom. It didn't exist during the entire latter half of the last century until we started approaching 2k. Similarly that is precisely when black culture decided that black fathers should abandon their children, drug dealing was a glamorous occupation to be sought after, and that the world owed them something.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 10 2016, @11:35AM
LOLOL Try just a little further back in history... :)
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday July 10 2016, @12:19PM
Irrelevant. The cause of "further back in history" is gone. Today black people are treated like criminals because so many of them are criminals.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 14 2016, @12:11AM
Because as we all know, anything that is further back in history than your own birth cannot have any affect on you.
You sound like one of those people who claims they never benefited at all from society, did everything on their own.
People born into poor families must just be what God wanted for them. Lucky he had better things planned for you...
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday July 14 2016, @10:31AM
Nothing that happened before you were born does have any bearing on your life except in the "well, isn't that interesting" sense. And, sweety, I was born into a poor family. Then I watched my father take us from foodstamps to comfortably middle-class and back down to the upper end of poor and back up to quite well off. And I learned from that that your position in society is really entirely up to you. If you have valuable skills and market yourself well, you will not be poor for long except by choice. If you don't, well, that's a choice as well.
Let's put it in a simpler way though. If you think your car should be nicer than your house, your stupid ass is always going to be poor. And you deserve to be.
Not being poor is as simple as looking around, seeing what well off people do for a living, learning that skill, and getting that job. It's not instant but it is all but guaranteed to work.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday July 09 2016, @07:23PM
Is it racist to point out that blacks commit crimes several times more often than any other ethnic group in the US?
Yes, it is, because it is always done without understanding and with racist intent.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday July 10 2016, @10:28AM
Interesting that you can read minds from so far away. You must teach the rest of us this power.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Funny) by aristarchus on Sunday July 10 2016, @10:47AM
First, you must live through more than two millennia, then it becomes rather easy to spot the racist intents, whether from Greeks thinking they are better than Barbarians, Romans thinking they were better than Greeks, Jews thinking they are better than everyone, Egyptians thinking they are gods, Bush family members and the Clintons, Chotaws thinking they are better than Creeks and Cherokee. It never ends, really, and is rather tiring. I am sorry, Mighty Buzzard, you are too young to be able to learn this. Come back in a thousand years, or after several reincarnations.