THREAD: I grew up as the eldest daughter of a city cop in Akron, OH in the 1970s. Dad was also OH National Guard, although post- Kent State shootings. He had been in the Army in Vietnam. As a white girl in OH in the 1970s with a cop for a dad, there was a lot that sheltered me.
It took decades before I could really grapple with the supremacist patterns that pervade most US police and sheriff departments. If you're raised thinking that only criminals get the attention of cops, you REALLY DON'T SEE the problems.
BUT GOOD GRIEF our law enforcement agencies have been brutal for all of history. We NEED TO ACKNOWLEDGE THIS and then we need to MASSIVELY DISMANTLE this.
I don't know how my Dad would feel watching the current state of the country. I'm kind of glad he missed this.
I don't know how my Dad would feel watching the current state of the country. I'm kind of glad he missed this.
But here's what I witnessed on videos in the past several days:
Law Enforcement shifting from local LEOs to heavy military presence.
Firing pepper bullets and rubber bullets directly at the press as well as protesters.
Firing paint canisters at people in their own homes.
Law Enforcement shifting from local LEOs to heavy military presence.
Firing pepper bullets and rubber bullets directly at the press as well as protesters.
Firing paint canisters at people in their own homes.
Pulling down the masks of protesters to pepper spray their faces.
Driving up to a medical treatment station and destroying gallons of milk, confiscating flats of water.
Attacking an elderly man with a cane standing curbside and pushing him over with a riot shield.
Driving up to a medical treatment station and destroying gallons of milk, confiscating flats of water.
Attacking an elderly man with a cane standing curbside and pushing him over with a riot shield.
Stopping a car, slashing tires, forcibly opening the doors, smashing the driver's window, using a taser on the passenger and driver, dragging them from the car, using force to arrest them.
Pressing SUVs into a crowd, forcibly knocking people over with their vehicles.
Pressing SUVs into a crowd, forcibly knocking people over with their vehicles.
ESCALATION. I'm seeing TONS OF ESCALATION being done by law enforcement (police, sheriffs, national guard, and whomever else has been called in).
Who keeps pushing for more violence? The LEOs who are supposed to be trained to deescalate.
Who keeps pushing for more violence? The LEOs who are supposed to be trained to deescalate.
Who's been inciting more violence? The Federal Government.
Who's been inflicting more violence? The local, state, and federal law enforcement.
WE CANNOT ALLOW THIS.
And I have no idea where to even start to dismantle this.
Who's been inflicting more violence? The local, state, and federal law enforcement.
WE CANNOT ALLOW THIS.
And I have no idea where to even start to dismantle this.
