Rolling Thread on Race 2020

that's Bloomberg tbh

https://blavity.com/a-black-georgia-man-going-for-a-run-was-followed-and-killed-by-two-white-men-who-thought-he-was-a-burglary-suspect

What’s so fucked about it, alongside everythingeverything else, is that there evidently needs to be minute-by-minute video of his assassination before there’s enough hackles raised to ... what? Eventually convene a grand jury?

fuck if there were no video they probably would have treated these guys like hero crime stoppers or some shit.

the contrast between this innocent man getting chased down and murdered because he "fit a description" of a burglar to the armed racist storming state capitals with no repercussions is fucking insane.

To me, this case speaks so baldly about the inequitable burdens of evidence required to achieve justice a racist system.

The injustice against Arbury, and the fact of innocence, is only made semi-credible when a (mostly white) audience has consumed videos of his violent and unprovoked murder. (Which, like, why?)

Meanwhile, the McMichaels father/son who hopped in a pickup truck to hunt him down during quarantine, wielding multiple weapons, weren't arrested due to an ostensible lack of probable cause, and are now entitled to a Grand Fucking Jury being convened to offer them all possible fairnesses.

Oh, and the lead BBC, USA Today, and Fox articles on the case have JOSEPH BIDEN as the photo at the top of their story.

fuck if there were no video they probably would have treated these guys like hero crime stoppers or some shit.

― (•̪●) (carne asada), Wednesday, May 6, 2020 11:09 AM (forty-six minutes ago)

they were; the atty general initially said it was a clear case of self-defense

that's horrifying.

fucking awful. RIP Ahmaud Arbery. and it's awful having no confidence that justice will be served.

infuriating:

The DA that charged this black woman for felony voter fraud and took her to trial TWICE is the same DA that chose NOT to arrest the McMichaels for murdering Ahmaud Arbery, despite seeing the video of his death. https://t.co/2cor4ezvEJ

— josie duffy rice (@jduffyrice) May 7, 2020

the DA is George Barnhill, why does nobody in the thread name him? He recused himself but damn.
https://georgiarecorder.com/2020/05/07/bookman-waycross-das-judgment-of-brunswick-shooting-video-insane/
https://georgiarecorder.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Barnhill-letter-Brunswick-shooting.pdf

what an absolute piece of shit.

https://www.runwithmaud.com

That's run by Shaun King, isn't it?

A friend of mine wrote this on FB, which is one of the best things I've read this week. (He's not big on paragraph breaks, jsyk.) It's infuriating but it connects and illuminates a lot of things.

https://www.facebook.com/muziqkal/posts/10108399157812305

NEW: 40 People Were Arrested on Social Distancing Violations. 35 Were Black.https://t.co/U7J9X1RNLr
Scoop by @AshleyAtTimes

— Cliff Levy (@cliffordlevy) May 7, 2020

That's run by Shaun King, isn't it?

― DJP, Thursday, May 7, 2020 12:19 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

oh, I hadn't realized that, can see that is the case from his twitter

I'm not finished reading this (it's lllllooooonnnnnggggg) but I'm sharing the link because it's fascinating.

The McMichaels have been arrested and charged with murder: https://www.ajc.com/news/local/father-son-charged-with-murder-brunswick-shooting/tWjmSXAeWlD2LKIN1dSmfK/

https://www.theroot.com/anti-lockdown-demonstrators-walk-into-north-carolina-su-1843390241

"trash people" is a pretty good evocation of that shitshow

Hope someone pushes them in front of an actual train

props for the joke at the end of that lol

omg lol

I hadn't watched the video, loooooooooooool

Since about a year before Trump was elected, I've been working (professionally) with a narrowing focus on DEI issues in public education. It's been a hard road, at times, but some of the work my team has been doing was finally starting to pay-off. And then came Covid, and then ... people got locked down with their own families, and most people got trapped in places where they found themselves surrounded by people who looked like them, reflected their values back to them, and shared class/race characteristics with them. Shared spaces / spaces where you can't choose your co-users were diminished, and will be re-defined at their eventual openings. And I can't help but think that this country's social and racial problems are going to take an enormous step backward because of the echo-chamber effect, and that NC shit is the first of many impending violences.

ffs

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/black-woman-shot-killed-after-kentucky-police-entered-her-home-n1205651

charging the boyfriend for attempted murder of the cop is extra fucked.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/oklahoma-delivery-man-blocked-homeowner-group-president-thinks-it-was-n1207221

wow!

https://abcnews.go.com/US/man-filmed-shooting-ahmaud-arbery-charged-murder/story?id=70820910

that's very confusing. so the guy who shot the video is also now an accomplice to the murder?

yeah, because he appeared to be aware of the pursuit from the beginning (since he was able to join the pursuit at a moment's notice, and was filming from the very beginning), and he purposefully recorded it to absolve his friends (the McMichaels) of the murder, cos he inexplicably thought it would.

he's as big a piece of garbage as they are.

jesus.

quite a day for amy cooper

Amy Cooper told NBC New York she overreacted during the incident, but said she felt threatened and did not know what was in the dog treats.

this, linked off one of the many tweets on the incident in question, bears a read:
https://sociology.yale.edu/sites/default/files/pages_from_sre-11_rev5_printer_files.pdf

fuck Amy Cooper and I hope she loses her job and goes to jail over this.

(but of course the latter won't happen)

2020, where a white person can consciously and confidently weaponize the racial politics of "I felt threatened" while *knowing they are being recorded* and know the worst that will happen is they're given a 10 day timeout from their job and a scolding from the cops.

her apology is much better than many. i don't see a single 'if'

'I sincerely and humbly apologize to everyone, especially to that man, his family.

'It was unacceptable and I humbly and fully apologize to everyone who's seen that video, everyone that's been offended…everyone who thinks of me in a lower light and I understand why they do.

'When I think about the police, I'm such a blessed person. I've come to realize especially today that I think of [the police] as a protection agency, and unfortunately, this has caused me to realize that there are so many people in this country that don't have that luxury.'

It's horrible that without thinking she just knows how much of a threat it is to him to say she'll call the cops and mention his race. Not "I'm calling the cops" but "I'm calling the cops and telling them you're a black man and we both know how that story might end for you"

In reading about this, I found a white-presenting Twitter socialist proudly and triumphantly telling a right-wing troll that she found Never Trumpers more reprehensible than pro-Trumpers, which I think tells you almost everything you need to know about race in 2020

Also, the number of white people saying "and did you see how she treated that dog? man I hope the dog is okay, I'm really concerned about it"

I've been seeing some bulltshit spin this morning that essentially boils down to "she was a woman alone in Central Park, of course she would feel threatened".

I'm having trouble taking her apology seriously. Any VEEP at a major firm like she is is trained at work in the art of writing apologies, right down to what phrasing to use, what to exclude/include. The fact that her apology seemed more genuine is likely due to her years of experience crafting apology letters to clients.

But to acknowledge you are intentionally weaponizing your white privilege in an attempt to blackmail the other party into doing what you say...all while YOU KNOW YOU'RE BEING filmed...is not only racist af, but it's basically a death threat.

She purposefully included "African American" in the descriptor she claimed she would use on the 911 call, knowing the other party would interpret that as the possibility he'd be shot by police.

She's sorry cos she doesn't want to lose her cushy job or be "@"ed on Twitter

it would be cool if there was a reasonable expectation she'd actually be charged with false reporting, which last I checked is a crime, so people would feel less compelled to crowdsource some strange form of justice online

As I told a friend last night, people won't stop weaponizing 911 until they actually are hit with a major penalty for doing so.

True, a Veep who doesn't want her career destroyed might take pause before doing it again, but the average person who does this doesn't have a great job (or a job at all), or might be self-employed. Not gonna deter people like them.

Jail time might not phase some, but the average person we've seen do this doesn't seem like they could last 5 minutes in a cell.

Really wish she'd serve time. Even a weekend in jail

Totally agree with all that, I was just struck by the disconnect in the reprehensible behavior that was filmed and the self-awareness and consideration her apology seems to demonstrate. Not that her apology does much good to anybody but herself at this point

that video has become THE meme for gen z rn

My god, I wasn't prepared for the impact of the Twisted Tea on dude's melon. Epic af.

Glad this fuck took a few more to the head afterwards.

“I called my wife soon as I got in the car,” he said. “By the time I got in the car and started moving and backed out and got on the road, I’m telling my wife, ‘I hit a guy in the face with a can.’ She’s like, ‘I know. I’m watching it.’ The lady had 5,000 views by the time I drove two blocks home.”

Gen Z? Lol everyone I know is posting memes about it, but Twisted Tea is also very popular with aging punks, so that might explain it.

also baltimore's new comptroller

Happy New Year's Eve!! You made it through the year! Keep it up, by staying home. I mean it! pic.twitter.com/g0GW9MBMy2

— Comptroller Bill (@BillforBmore) December 31, 2020

It’s funny because I feel like there was a moment maybe in the Odd Future era where young millennial whites where just gonna push through and start using that word in a friendly manner. I wonder if this dude came up in that era or is just the regular, timeless asshole

*were

dude lol

I guess young millennial whites like getting beat?

or is just the regular, timeless asshole

the vid makes it clear he's an asshole start to finish

And a big weenie

Loled at how he looked shook before he weakly came at Tea-K.O. after he got hit with the tea.

At the tail end of the video he smiles slightly to himself, as if to tell himself, "I fought a black man and I'm able to walk away - that was so badass of me" when the truth is the black guy could have pulped him, but decided to let his pitiful ass off easy.

It was very much full of “I think I can beat Mike Tyson” energy

props to the beater for recovering and giving a great workmanlike performance after dropping the tea in the beginning

I was wondering if that was an intentional feint or not.

Refusing to consider that prolapsed sphincter’s insane, drunken, racist psychodrama is how I try to maintain any feelings of dignity.

But still the soprano “OKAY!! OKAY!!?!” is p next level.

Didnt look ok bud.