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CPT Jack Durish
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I don't think that BLM represents the "black community" any more than Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson. If I believed that they did, I might become an enemy of the "black community". First, I don't accept that there is a monolithic black community any more than there is a monolithic white community. However, I know that there are many whites who believe in a monolithic black community. They're called bigots. They think and act on the basis of prejudgments about what blacks are and what they think and do as blacks. Sadly, there are blacks (especially in the BLM) who have precisely the same prejudices against what they perceive to be a monolithic white community. Thus, I sometimes find myself painted with the same brush as bigots and I resent that treatment. Luckily I understand it. Other whites become angry and their sympathy for their black neighbors is diminished. In other words, treat a person like an enemy and they become an enemy...
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SSG Warren Swan
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My response is directed towards both sides of this, BLM cannot go around vandalizing effigies meant to show support to police who might not have had anything to do with what they're complaining about. It takes credibility away from the protesters, and only makes the public more incensed against them. What are you complaining about if the local PD IS doing all it can to do the right things to keep the peace? Doing all they can to make justice an equal things regardless of race or social economic status? Now cops cannot have it both ways either. You cannot go around on a power trip demanding that the populace supports you for a profession that you chose to do, while you continually do wrong against the same populace. Michael Brown had a "tribute" to him in Ferguson. It was "taken down" by the police. What message are you sending? What message are you sending to the populace when they do a crime to you, they're looking at an instant long bid, life sentence, and in some states death? But the police who have been proven in court to have killed (murdered) people get slaps on the hand in comparison to the civilian populace. The idea that a job title, badge, or anything else makes your life worth more than mine is ignorant, stupid, and only leads to trouble. The proven notion that "Professional Courtesy" and "The Thin Blue Line" trumps equality between the Police and the Policed is also wrong. No civilian can use "I feared for my life" or any of the other catch all standard cop comments when they do wrong and get away with it. It's an instant get out of jail free card for crooked police, and before anyone says it's not, look at the cases from the last two years where the use of force was questioned and see what the police themselves said, or the police union said.
I love cops more than the average person maybe. I'm harder on them maybe because I was an MP. But I'm also Black, and some of the ignorance portrayed on that side needs to stop also. If one can fear for their life and take another, then it should be allowed both ways. There in that statement is an inherent flaw; civilians cannot be afraid for their lives when it comes to the police. But by the Supreme Court, cops are under NO obligation to protect me or anyone on this site. They are to protect the law, and we're a sideshow that maybe gets the benefit of them protecting the law while protecting us.
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PO2 Mark Saffell
PO2 Mark Saffell
8 y
SSG Warren Swan You are correct and I agree they shouldn't have taken it down the way it was done. It was a trigger point I guess for both sides. And the justice for all goes deeper than what you talk about. Its true police have more than you and I. But look at the rich. Look at HRC. Hell think of OJ. Those people have enough money to make things go away while you and I wonder how we are going to stretch that dollar a little more.

I saw an interesting survey though. The police have gotten so hammered in the media. All the good cops have been lumped together with the bad ones to the point NONE of them feel safe doing there jobs and have backed away and are letting people get what they asked for. More crime. I guess that's one of those Careful what you ask for, you just might get it.
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SSG Warren Swan
SSG Warren Swan
8 y
PO2 Mark Saffell - HRC equals Reagan in my book. Both KNOW they were wrong as hell, but JUST so happened to have the fall guy available. In Clintons case, an entire IT dept's worth of fall guys. Dumb asses. OJ = money at the time. He blew through some serious cash to make the "dream team", and they in turn made some people famous, yet ended the careers of everyone in that courtroom. Separate but equal unless you have money.
I remember reading that in regards to NYC and B-more doing that. Bad idea, but I get it. They're not there to protect you, just the laws. Funny how things work when you least want them to.
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CPT Jack Durish
CPT Jack Durish
8 y
PO2 Mark Saffell - You beat me to it. I too agreed with almost everything SSG Warren Swan commented, but the "tribute" to a thug just didn't fly for me either. I believe that such a "tribute" is a form of hate speech used to incite the mob and disrupt the community. Other than that, I would argue with SSG Swan that the police need to rein in their bad elements. There's a rule from Equity law that applies: He who seeks equity (fairness) must do equity. I think that says it all.
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SSG Warren Swan
SSG Warren Swan
8 y
CPT Jack Durish - I don't see a tribute that the locals make a form of "hate speech". There was nothing in it that mentioned the police, regardless of what was coming out of the mouths of the locals. Now for the local PD to come in and trash it would make it a flash point, and they got what they asked for. Two wrongs don't make a right, and in this case, had they just let it stand, let the grieving process do it's thing, and allow the facts to flow openly, MAYBE things wouldn't have happened the way they did. MAYBE. What happened with the Brown tribute was wrong, just the same way what is happening with this police tribute. No one wants to talk, everyone is firm in their beliefs, and no one wants to be the "grown up" and have the hard conversation. All it would take is ONE from each side to talk, but it's easier to hate than it'll ever be to love.
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SSG(P) Casualty Operations Ncoic
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This group has no credibility with me or many who I know share my beliefs. Until they admit that black on black violence is the REAL cause of higher than normal homicide rates on blacks, they will have no credibility with me or anyone else who does some cursory digging into the subject.

Are American police more militaristic and "Us vs Them" than decades prior? Of course. Do they abuse their authority and power more than decades prior? Yes. However, they are NOT the cause of high murder rates among the black community.

Anyone who would deny others the right to free speech and opinions, has even less credibility in their own movements.
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SSG UH-60 Helicopter Repairer
SSG (Join to see)
8 y
They may not impress you but Blacks Lives Mattet was created because the ones killing was the ones served to protect and there target was Blacks, Everyone agree against them until the Police murder their family, I bet they views change real quick, I don't condone hating Cops because i have family that is Police .
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