George Floyd, Minneapolis, and Beyond

Scott Hardie | May 31, 2020
What are your thoughts on the death of George Floyd and the spreading protests since?

Erik Bates | May 31, 2020
[hidden by request]

Scott Hardie | June 1, 2020
"I'm angry, and I'm sad, and I'm scared" sums it up for me too. As much as I worry that this is the start of a long summer of civil unrest (2020 is feeling more and more like 1968, and not just because of the SpaceX launch), I worry even more that these protests will amount to absolutely nothing and police will go right on killing civilians with impunity. There are some things that police and government can't really fix (racist fear of black violence that's baked into American culture), but there is one big problem that actually can and should be fixed (intractable police unions that defend scum like Derek Chauvin and aggressively resist even the slightest baby steps towards reform), and I don't see any substantial change happening with those problems in the way.

I am utterly sick and tired of hearing complaints that the protesters are causing property damage or that they aren't protesting the "right way." People are dying; what do you care if a Target gets smashed up? It's the same as the kerfuffle over Colin Kaepernick; if you're more bothered that athletes are kneeling during the national anthem than you are that black men are routinely murdered by police, then your priorities are deeply screwed up. And don't blame the looting on the protests; the looters aren't protesters, they're just opportunistic assholes mixing in with the crowd.

Scott Hardie | June 1, 2020
Here's a common-sense idea for reform.

Samir Mehta | June 1, 2020
[hidden by request]

Scott Hardie | June 6, 2020
One problem that I wonder if anybody but the police can fix is the blue-code culture in which cops support each other against all pressure from outsiders, justified or unjustified, to the point of ostracizing any officer who doesn't show complete fealty to "cop culture." It's a huge problem, and another intractable obstacle in the way of progress.

Scott Hardie | June 12, 2020
I confess some guilt over not saying or doing more during this movement. This is huge, and hugely important, and I've let myself be distracted by stuff going on in my professional and personal life rather than pay closer attention or take action. The videos of cops violently attacking peaceful protesters has also been difficult to stomach, as has watching some of my friends online mock the movement and post jokes about the victims of police brutality, so I've found it easy to tune out. And I'm not a big believer in slacktivism like changing one's avatar to a black square for a day; that helps nobody when real action is needed. I just now made a donation to The Bail Project, since that's something I could do at least.

I have a few other thoughts on this that I'll probably split off into separate discussions. The last thing that I want to add here is that if you haven't seen John Oliver's assessment of the situation, it's well worth your time.