What do you get?

No, I give a damn. I give a damn for people whose livelihoods have been ruined by rioters and looters who may or may not give two shits about Floyd.

I go to one of my favorite restaurants where I meet friends and acquaintances but worry when the store has to close early and worry if these people will be able to make ends meet when they can't work.

As for former officer Derek, he's been fired and brought up on charges which is what I'd expect to happen when one person directly or indirectly leads to the death of another person. What I'm still wondering is why are people still protesting?

First of all, there were three other officers present who still haven't been charged.

Second, this isn't about one incident. It is about the broken system in which these incidents are both inevitable and common. Further, many different cities are channeling their own anger and sadness in relation to other unjust deaths at the hands of police, such as the death of Breonna Taylor in Louisville.

The fact that you even felt the need to ask that question shows tremendous ignorance from one of the loudest voices on these forums speaking against these protests.

Why can't you understand that I support protesting? I am not against it? Why are you arguing for the sake of arguing? I am telling you my position.
The world is standing behind the black lives matter cause, something I actually support.

What I don't support is the unnecessary death and destruction of innocent people, property and the environment and that should be ridiculed and condemned, it's 2020 for christ sake, people need to act their age, not their shoe size.

So no. I am not rewriting history, I am not against history and I am not against protesting, I am not against black lives matter, you are arguing for the sake of arguing and trying to drive a false narrative by inserting false statements to paint me in a certain way, which is illogical.

Correct. I don't give a shit about the US Constitutions in a United States Political thread, because it has no bearing on me, it has nothing to do with me.

I do however support individual causes/movements/rights for American citizens to stand by it.

You are quoting, but not understanding.
Other people have seen my point/perspective in the correct fashion and despite repeated attempts to expand and elaborate on my points, you ignore those and run with whatever you believe.

Which is why I have politely asked for you to go back in this thread and read those posts within their intended context, arguing for the sake of arguing isn't getting you anywhere.

I never said I did know what it's like to be black or poc in America? I'm not American, I have never lived in America.
And you are making a straw man argument which is a logical fallacy.

I support African Americans, I support people of Colour, I support Womens Rights, I support LGBTQI rights, stop making this out to be something it isn't, I'm not a right-wing conservative.

Doesn't matter what country you are from. You take your uniform off, you still have expectations to follow, it's part of a social license.

Fantastic. Problem Solved!

No. You are twisting them to drive a certain narrative and not reading when those points are elaborated upon.

Generalizing is bad. It doesn't matter what the underlying identifier is.

Racism is just as bad as calling every single police officer mindless brutes who target and kill African Americans.
What happens there is that officers are then often the target of brutality and threats, that's not cool, they are meant to protect and serve the community.
That doesn't mean racism is okay, far from it, that's equally as bad and also needs to be condemned.

The targets may be different, the wording may be different, but attacking any demographic is not acceptable rhetoric expected from any civilized nation. (Then again, the US seems to be far from civilized if the last few months is any metric.)

And I have agreed that racism and prejudice based on profession have differences, again, I absolutely agreed with you there prior, so I don't know why you need to keep arguing this?

I have literally stood between walls of fire and people fleeing to safety.
I have scaled down several hundred meter cliffs on a piece of rope to rescue someone who has fallen down.
I have traveled out to sea to pluck a dead body out of the water.
I have worked the hydraulic tools to cut a family out of a car whilst shielding a child from the horrific images.
I have searched through collapsed buildings to find trapped persons.
I have gone into oxygen-depleted atmospheres in side complexes and dragged unconscious bodies out.

So yes I think highly of myself, I have earned that right, confidence is a requirement in what I do.

Nope. You are misconstruing my statements if you think I am not Pro-African American, again a failure of you reading my statements within their intended context.

I am supporter of protesting. I am a supporter of Black Lives Matter.

I am not a supporter of unnecessary violence which these riots are demonstrating.
People all around the world are standing in solidarity and doing peaceful protests, this is fantastic, this is what should happen.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-01/george-floyd-death-us-protests-global-reaction/12306012

Having people killed in retaliation of George Floyd is not okay. - 5 People died according to this article.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/01/us/george-floyd-unrest-toll.html

Buildings are being set on fire and burnt down:
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/george-floyd-protests-minneapolis-restaurant-owner-let-my-building-burn-2020-5

Vehicles are being set on fire:
https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2020/6/2/21278646/chicago-protest-joker-mask-george-floyd-police-timothy-odonnell

Officers being shot and run over by vehicles:
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/02/us/us-protests-tuesday-george-floyd/index.html

Businesses are having all their items stolen/looted:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/31/george-floyd-protesters-condemn-opportunistic-looting-violence

https://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/us-protests-woman-who-looted-cheesecake-becomes-internet-hero/news-story/a8989fa8b5fcc68540514125fc9c983d

I am not okay with any of this, no one should be.

Bit of a false assumption that I don't know what the protests mean? Pretty evident everyone knows what they mean.
And I don't doubt they have "cause" to be upset.

But there is certainly a right way and a wrong way to go about things.

Also... Freedom of Speech doesn't entitle you to say whatever you desire without repercussion, there is a ton of restrictions.

I have condemned the actions of the officers in the first instance, not sure how many times or how many different ways I need to say it?

As for the rapes, probably a misunderstanding on my behalf from news outlets.
https://burgeronreport.com/washington-police-arrest-more-than-300-people-for-violating-curfew-burgeron-report/

But I wouldn't be surprised if a few cases have occurred during a crime-free-for-all, time will tell on that front.

You are making a logical leap that you are not justifying:

1) Racism is bad and harmful

2) "calling every single police officer mindless brutes who target and kill African Americans" is bad and harmful

3) These two things are equal (Or "just as bad").

The first point is self-evident. The second point you have explained. The third you have failed to justify. Just because two things are both bad doesn't mean they are equally bad. Racism in often manifested as systematic discrimination and mistreatment of underprivileged groups. Throwing damaging accusations at all police officers is not systematic, it rarely manifests in discrimination and it is targeting a group with inherent power.

These two things are not equal. Yes, they may both sometimes lead to negative outcomes, however, they are not equal.

Further, speaking for myself (though everything I've seen from tsogud makes it seem like we are on the same page), as a point of clarification, I am not making these claims about all police officers. I am making no judgement about the individuals. I am making claims about the system. The system is flawed in such a way that injustice and abuse are both inevitable and common. This may result in some generalizations about the policing system, however, it is not an indictment of "all cops", which creates a further level of abstraction from the logic you are trying to put forward to make it not really compute.

When it directly results in violence and death, I don't care what excuse people use, condemn it, that is the point I am making.

Being African American is not an excuse to destroy life or property.
Being a police officer is not an excuse to destroy life or property.

That is my point and all there is to my point, yet it seems many disagree with that and believe the violence, death and destruction to be more than acceptable? I just don't get that logic, I am intrinsically trained to protect life, property and the environment regardless.

"there were three other officers present who still haven't been charged"

>They didn't have their knees on Floyd's neck did they?

"Second, this isn't about one incident. It is about the broken system in which these incidents are both inevitable and common."

>What are your suggested fixes?

"The fact that you even felt the need to ask that question shows tremendous ignorance from one of the loudest voices on these forums speaking against these protests."

>Speaking against violent protests in particular that lash out at completely innocent parties.

"People have been having their lives ruined for decades with unjust profiling, planted evidence, unfair judicial representation/bail/sentences, beatings and deaths...."

>And I don't think I could find anyone who would defend these acts. The act of lashing out at innocent parties however I fear isn't equally condemned.

Yes, feel free to condemn generalizations, however, do not generalize by saying that calling all cops pigs or murderers is just as bad as racism. Choose your words more carefully if you don't truly stand behind these statements, and if you do stand by these statements, defend them, as you have thus far failed to do so.

And I'll say it again, but this isn't about what is right or wrong or what is "acceptable". When a systemic injustice is carried out for generations, this is an inevitability, and it is the government's responsibility to provide justice and fix the broken system to ensure that this doesn't happen. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr:

"in a real sense our nation’s summers of riots are caused by our nation’s winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention"

I demand that the system provides the justice that is long overdue, and until it does, I will not use my privilege to beat back the oppressed who can't take the injustice any more. I may not agree with it, but my efforts are better spent elsewhere.

1) If I rob a bank with my friends and one of them shoots a man, I can be charged for murder. As officers, their inaction should be criminal, and if it isn't, that is simply more evidence that the system needs reform now.

2) I've already provided a detailed link including many reforms, and explained why this question in itself is flawed.

3) There is a big difference between "not defending" something, and actively condemning it, and an even bigger gap between fighting for change. Fact is, this system exists, and there are many people who stand in the way of progress in one way or another.

You are one of them.

I disagree with this assertion.

I do not condone the injustice that has occurred for generations. False equivalency.

And I have already stated prior in this thread that there needs to be systemic changes in the American justice and political system to rectify these intrinsic structural issues from top to bottom because it is fundamentally wrong and damaging to certain demographics.

I am not beating back the oppressed. Again. False equivalency.

I am disagreeing with the idea that burning buildings, vehicles, death and destruction is somehow justified, it's never justified, regardless of who you are, what you believe in, your race, gender, sexuality or profession.

It's an unacceptable reaction, that is all there is to it.

Protest by all means, take the fight through legislation and the legal system. - But taking life, destroying property, ravaging the environment is not an okay response to anything, ever.

Perhaps I expect to much of a country that supports the death penalty and has the worlds highest incarceration rates though? But I believe society can be better than this the world over.