Saturday, May 30, 2020

Justice for George Floyd!

#JusticeForGeorge
#SayHisName


2 comments:

  1. The murder of George Floyd, a poor black man, by a brutal police force, unfortunately, is a part of American history. It has been going on ever since extreme social inequality is the main definition of the racial divide in the USA. Over 1,000 black men were lynched (hung from trees) by Vigilante Justice and White Hate up until the 1960's, this is no different. The fact that every event can be recorded and immediately known via the web makes police brutality all the more intolerable. Unfortunately, it is difficult to immediately arrest a group of police officers for murder under the American Legal System -- official charges against law enforcement officials may take several days to come together. But what is concerning me are the images coming out of American cities, and the role that bad actors are having in delegitimizing some very needed protests. Scenes of lootings of stores, attackings of small business owners, and setting fire to government buildings are only going to benefit Donald Trump in the end. Fear is perhaps the main determinant in determining who someone will vote for. When rioters say things like "we are coming for the suburbs next" in front of burning buildings, the term "law and order" sticks out as something just about every voter would want. If African Americans give up on the current system and turn out in low numbers this November, and if affluent woman in the suburbs (soccer moms), a key demographic who Democrats won in 2018 in massive numbers to sweep the House, vote Republican for "law and order" and more police, Trump will win reelection. The State of Minnesota itself, a state which almost always votes Democratic in modern times, and now is considered a possible Trump pickup, goes Republican in November, these riots will be to blame. I have read that extremists on the far left and far right, and bots from foreign countries, were promoting violence this past week in what should have been mostly peaceful demonstrations. My fear is that the Republicans will win this year, just as Law and Order propelled them into Victory in 1968 (Nixon), 1988 (George Bush #1- the infamous Willie Horton ad, one of the most racist ads ever to run in an election campaign), and 2004 (George Bush #2, who won Ohio by running against "Gay Marriage" and winning urban inner city evangelicals who simply could not accept the concept of equality).

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  2. wow, thanks Eddi for your comment, very interesting and instructive, thanks!!

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