Minneapolis PD Suspect Dies On Video While Handcuffed. FBI Investigating.

[RevolverRob]

Wife and I managed to get an AmazonPrime order in for some groceries from a near'ish Whole Foods. We had to drive over to pick them up. As we neared the only police substation in the area, we had four cruisers surrounding us, each occupied at least twice by police. We're stopped...~2.5 blocks from the substation at a traffic light.

Pow-Pow...Pow-Pow-Pow......Pow-Pow-Pow-Pow-Pow

Off go the pistol shots. We had an unmarked cruiser directly in front of it, officer leans out his open window and looks in the direction of the shots. Two cruisers are to our left, cops lean out there and look, a cruiser behind is, another cop looks out...Light turns green...and all the cops just lean back into their cars and keep driving. Shots continued going off, and a different gun joined the mix, as we drove on over the next 2.5 blocks. The cops just drove on man, no one turned, no one even bothered - not their monkeys, not their circus.

That is where we are at in this city right now. When 8 cops think, "Nah, we don't give a shit if two people are shooting. Fuck it." - You know apathy has reached a new low.

___

Note, I'm not saying the cops should have done anything. I don't know what they should/could have done. But I know the apathy was there and it told me a lot about who was coming to help me if I needed help...

[DC_P]

And then there are those who think that while its wrong when white people do it, it's perfectly okay if a minority does it.

I thought it was funny (still do) when Eddie Murphy said what he did at around :30, but would have been offended if Nick Nolte made a similar speech in Vroman's. I never thought I was a racist, but now I'm not so sure...

[DDTSGM]

How easy do you think it is for a white person vs. a black person to answer "yes" to all these questions?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time..........

......My children are given texts and classes which implicitly support our kind of family unit and do not turn them against my choice of domestic partnership.

I will feel welcomed and "normal" in the usual walks of public life, institutional and social.
----------------------------------------
From an essay by Peggy McIntosh

If you want to be with members of “your own group” based on race, then you are a racist.

You put a lot done, and I’m on a phone, but most of what you wrote are either non issues in reality or people looking at issues via race instead of life is just difficult for us all.

I did get acuased if racism once. The irony being the person calling me a racist was the only one engaging in racism. The person was treated professionally by me and now I think of how sad that person must be. A real pathetic way to live life.

My minority wife would look down on most of the questions posed in your post.

peterb - I think you get it. Newbie - I wonder if education and socioeconomic upbringing impacts your wife's view?

I know for me, understanding how it felt to be a minority, didn't take long. During the first REFORGER I went on, myself and another pathfinder had been assigned to help an artillery unit prepare their tubes for sling load into a forward position. We got snowed in with them, for two days nothing flew. They were USARNG out of Maryland (IIRC) and made room for us in a GP large tent. All black. These folks went out of their way to be good hosts to us two white boys out of Kansas. Nonetheless, every time I left the tent and came back, folks would look to see who was coming into the tent (as they usually do). If they resumed a conversation, they were talking about me, if they laughed, they were laughing about me. I wasn't alone, I was with another pathfinder from my unit, and everyone in that tent was human, just like me, but I had never felt so alone.

We talked about the experience after we got back to the unit and Dave's feelings were pretty much in-sync with mine. It was an experience that impacted me deeply, and it helped me to capable of more empathy later in life when we foster-cared for black kids.

[Joe in PNG]

Note, I'm not saying the cops should have done anything. I don't know what they should/could have done. But I know the apathy was there and it told me a lot about who was coming to help me if I needed help...

Herr Brugger and Mr. Thomet?

[DC_P]

for folks who want to shoot someone (not here really, but quite a few on the Internetz), if you have some kind of legal, self-defense plan -

Simple - move to Polk County FL

POLK COUNTY, Fla. — Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd is getting some blow-back for a comment he made during a news address he delivered Monday night on a curfew in Lakeland and what he recommends happen to looters that venture into residential neighborhoods with mischief in mind.

“I would tell them, if you value your life, you probably shouldn’t do that in Polk County,” Judd said in a conference broadcast on the department’s Facebook page as he stood beside Lakeland Police Chief Ruben Garcia and religious leaders.

“Because the people of Polk County like guns, they have guns, I encourage them to own guns, and they’re going to be inside their homes tonight with their guns loaded,” Judd said. “And if you try to break into their homes tonight and try to steal, to set fires, I’m highly recommending they blow you back out of the house with their guns.”

Full Story on Police One

[0ddl0t]

Do you think ethnocentricity is learned behavior or instinctive?

My family all have whippets with about half being brindle and the other half black. Two are siblings, but of opposite coloring. They all get along fine with each other, but they still show a clear preference for dogs with the same coloring. That preference even carries over into furry dog toys and sweaters/jackets.

[RevolverRob]

Herr Brugger and Mr. Thomet?

Moses had my back.

John Moses Browning and his merry band of .45 caliber Federal friends. A lot of them. I haven't left the house with less than 3-spare mags in more than a week.

___

I do have to get Herr Sig and Mr. Sauer to deliver unto me their Shootin' Rattler, since my old Rattlin' Gattlin' Shooter is worn smooth out.

Edit: Maybe I should call the Rattler - Crotalus horridus atricaudatus (the scientific name for the sub-species of timber rattlesnake that is the canebrake rattlesnake).

[Baldanders]

The Klan doesn't march in my county because they fear black folks with guns.

I can't see looting here, ever. Looters would be shot. Probably by black folks.

[DDTSGM]

I tend to agree, but there is a large subset who want their ideas implemented because, primarily, they think it will result in a better world for themselves.

Precisely, the Bloomberg’s Schumer’s Pelosi’s of the country want this exactly for that reason.. The question is, do the people who vote for them support their ideology? I don’t think so, but they’re willing to accept that as long as it prevents a total takeover (in their minds) by the right.. Just like us on the opposite side,

I voted for Trump only because I saw how horrible Hillary was/is.. The problem here is this country is so horribly divided, I’m not sure if it can be fixed.. Frankly, both parties need to go, as neither stand for anything except enriching themselves.

The idea of a government that operates on the idea of “by the people, for the people “ went out a long, long, time ago.. We now have a government that operates on the idea of “Hooray for me, and fuck you” and now that they’re allowed to accept campaign donations from foreign entities, billionaires, in literally any amount, getting elected has become a spending contest, and with a few notable exceptions, (like Hillary in 2016) generally speaking,whoever spends the most wins..and there’s the rub..because the winner is now beholden to the wealthy donators who gave him the money to run on..they now own him..and he’ll do as he’s told.. An overhaul is very badly needed.. Unless some major changes are made, and made soon, the future of this country may be Balkanization..

Yes, the Citizens United finding, to me, is evidence of a politicized court, and is what finally sold our government to the highest bidder.

[TheNewbie]

peterb - I think you get it. Newbie - I wonder if education and socioeconomic upbringing impacts your wife's view?

I know for me, understanding how it felt to be a minority, didn't take long. During the first REFORGER I went on, myself and another pathfinder had been assigned to help an artillery unit prepare their tubes for sling load into a forward position. We got snowed in with them, for two days nothing flew. They were USARNG out of Maryland (IIRC) and made room for us in a GP large tent. All black. These folks went out of their way to be good hosts to us two white boys out of Kansas. Nonetheless, every time I left the tent and came back, folks would look to see who was coming into the tent (as they usually do). If they resumed a conversation, they were talking about me, if they laughed, they were laughing about me. I wasn't alone, I was with another pathfinder from my unit, and everyone in that tent was human, just like me, but I had never felt so alone.

We talked about the experience after we got back to the unit and Dave's feelings were pretty much in-sync with mine. It was an experience that impacted me deeply, and it helped me to capable of more empathy later in life when we foster-cared for black kids.

I’m not saying there is no racism, double takes, different treatment. Just that in America, if you let it hold you back, it’s most likely your fault.

My grandfather was always a Republican. That included when he was a poor farmer in the Great Depression. In his small democrat white southern town in the 50s/60s,he was a prominent member of the community. His worker was a black man who would share the families dinning table.

I was raised in basically an all white southern town, but was taught race doesn’t matter by my father.

As an adult, most of the men who have shaped my thinking are minorities, and often not white.

I have engaged in with a multitude of different people in a multitude of different settings. My connection with Hispanic community in my area is strong, and was that way before I met my brown wife.

In Mexico, I have spent time in a variety of location, among different income groups.

Yes my background has an impact on my thinking, and I am thankful for it.

As embarrassing as it is to admit, I even have a college degree. Yet I still believe I think clearly on the issue.