Mastodawn

AJ Hondo Jan 28, 2023

Citizens! *Puts on steel toed boots* I urge you to remain calm at this moment! *loads rubber bullets into launcher* violence is not the answer! *Hangs night stick from belt* We grieve with your community! *Pulls reflective visor down on helmet* Peace is what this moment calls for *climbs into tank* The great MLK Jr said and I quote: I love police, and they are our friends! *diesel engine roars* So obey, comply, and remember we are in this together! *Tear gas launcher slowly points towards crowd*

Are we ready to talk about how police dressing in riot gear and acting, well, like cops, makes crowds more likely to riot? No? OK then. Proceed.

https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/06/01/why-so-many-police-are-handling-the-protests-wrong

Why So Many Police Are Handling the Protests Wrong

Disproportionate use of force can turn a peaceful protest violent, research shows.

The Marshall Project

Thierna Jan 27, 2023

@mekkaokereke "Researchers have spent 50 years studying the way crowds of protesters and crowds of police behave—and what happens when the two interact. ... disproportionate #PoliceForce is one of the things that can make a peaceful protest not so peaceful. But if we know that (and have known that for decades), why are #police still doing it? "

https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/06/01/why-so-many-police-are-handling-the-protests-wrong

#MissedQuoteBoost

Why So Many Police Are Handling the Protests Wrong

Disproportionate use of force can turn a peaceful protest violent, research shows.

The Marshall Project

Rachel Jan 27, 2023

@thierna @mekkaokereke "why do the fascists who were established for the sole purpose of maintaining white supremacy and protecting the bourgeoisie keep acting like fascist white supremacists uwu"

Annhattan Jan 27, 2023

@thierna @mekkaokereke “There’s this failed mindset of ‘if we show force, we’ll deter criminal or unruly activity.’ Show me where that’s worked,” said Scott Thomson, Camden, NJ former police chief.

“That's the primal response…adrenaline starts to pump, temperature rises & you want to go one step higher. But what we need to know as professionals is that there are times, if we go one step higher, we are forcing them to go one step higher.”

Tracy Jan 28, 2023

@thierna @mekkaokereke
Turning it violent may be what they are looking for...an excuse for the police to use their weapons.
Just a thought 🤔

Tracy Jan 28, 2023

@thierna @mekkaokereke Bullies always try to escalate a situation...
and we know that bullies gravitate to positions of great power & control over people.
This is not to say that all cops are bullies, sociopaths, psychopaths, & abusers,
but a GOOD MANY ARE.
And then there is the 'blue code of silence' so others just may not intervene to de-escalate the situation.

Tracy Jan 28, 2023

@thierna @mekkaokereke ...which is why it is said that remaining "neutral" is being complicit with the aggressor, never the victim.

Lily Star Jan 27, 2023

@mekkaokereke #AbolishThePolice

MozzieBytes 𓆤 ☸️ 😷Jan 27, 2023

@mekkaokereke while they make laws making it illegal to protest or comment against authority. Guess I'm on a list now

Cyber Yuki Jan 28, 2023

@MozzieBytes @mekkaokereke Exactly. If your fate is the same whether you speak against cops or smash their heads with a club, which one are the oppressed more likely to choose? The answer is obvious. In for a penny, in for a pound.

2xfo Jan 27, 2023

@mekkaokereke
While reading this I remembered that I hugged a police horse once. The officer was commanding it to trample me but it liked me better, I think.

2xfo Jan 27, 2023

@mekkaokereke
I got out of there and then she pepper sprayed her horse 😓

a.Albi Jan 27, 2023

@RnDanger
That's just... Cartoonishly horrible.

2xfo Jan 27, 2023

@albinanigans @mekkaokereke
I think she was attempting to do "crowd control" but her method involved leaning forward to release a crowd-sized pepper cloud inches from her horse's nose. She was probably scared and using tools that didn't make sense in the situation, as cops will do.

syn Jan 27, 2023

@mekkaokereke "the beatings will continue until morale improves"

Rachel Rawlings Jan 27, 2023

@mekkaokereke Kettling, shield beating, having "that guy" who's too loose with the pepper spray or the baton right up front, are all calculated to induce a fight or flight response in the protestors, who are then prevented from fleeing. Panic and riot are easy to manufacture.

This Old Hiker Jan 27, 2023

@mekkaokereke There's acting like cops, and there's acting like an overfed version of Seal Team 6 invading Osama Bin Laden's safe house. Post 9/11 militarization of police has added greatly to the problems with US policing.

That's Mr Badger to you 🏳️‍🌈Jan 27, 2023

I was once stopped by a local cop and asked why I curled my lip when I passed him in the street. I told him because of behaviour like stopping people in the street because they don't like you

dragonfrog Jan 27, 2023

@mekkaokereke This piece is IMO both too charitable and also in a weird way too hard on police.

They're not using the wrong tool to achieve their goals, despite decades of evidence it doesn't work, because they're incompetent.

They're using exactly the right tool, honed to perfection over decades, to achieve their goals, because they're malevolent.

Wraithe Jan 28, 2023

@mekkaokereke and that’s not counting the times they simply start the riot themselves.
The police riots of 2020 really made that pretty clear in my personal opinion.

TheJen Jan 28, 2023

Sorry to keep commenting, but I have direct experience with this. It was exactly this way in Portland during the George Floyd protests.

It was not us who were rioting. Standing still in a line with arms linked chanting slogans is not rioting.

It was them. Every time.

WndlB Jan 28, 2023

@JenWojcik Guess who got the party started in Minneapolis at the Autozone across from the Third Precinct? #UmbrellaMan

TheJen Jan 28, 2023

Zeke Jan 28, 2023

@wndlb @JenWojcik pretty sure that dude's identity is still unsubstantiated

Brent, in a jar Jan 28, 2023

@JenWojcik @mekkaokereke Portland was among the worst I saw during that period (and the unmarked vans snatching citizen from the street, WTF?!?), but I also remember a very ugly Boston Police Riot and really there was just so much to choose from. Remember that old man knocked down by the Buffalo police? Think I recently saw, no charges or discipline for those servants of the people. Kyle, the killer in Kenosha, got high fives from the police etc etc

TheJen Jan 28, 2023

@BrentInMasto @mekkaokereke

Yeah, I was "unarrested" by my companions. They tried it, but I'm slippery. And yes to ALLLLL of that.

Faye Loves Godzilla Jan 28, 2023

@JenWojcik @mekkaokereke

my only gripe about PDX protests was the keyboard warrior men who kept telling women to go outside at night while sitting at home sending love/hate Tweets to Andy Ngo.

TheJen Jan 28, 2023

@Fayedray @mekkaokereke

Well, they succeeded in their efforts.

Paul Cantrell Jan 28, 2023

@mekkaokereke My house is within earshot of the 3rd precinct, the epicenter of the riots that followed the murder of George Floyd. I’m telling you: it was a police riot. It was 100% the cops who instigated the violence, the cops who relentlessly escalated it, the cops who pushed it utterly out of control.

And it was purposeful. They were sending Minneapolis a message about firing Chauvin so quickly: “Oh, you want to mess with us? Watch what we do to your city.“

WndlB Jan 28, 2023

@inthehands Well that, and a well-liquored crowd just looking for trouble of any kind they could make. #UmbrellaMan, and the guy who put up posts of himself handing out firebombs, and aspiring looters. First time I’ve ever seen a melted stoplight.

Paul Cantrell Jan 28, 2023

@wndlb Yeah, after everything went to hell, there were people showing up ranging from organized crime to frat boys who think getting drunk and stealing street signs is a good time.

It wasn’t like that at first, of course. Something people don’t understand: larger protests are generally •safer•. When you have a march full of grandparents and little kids, people keep each other safe, keep each other mentally in one piece. 1/2

Paul Cantrell Jan 28, 2023

@wndlb That’s why the cops unleashed all that tear gas: not just hurt protesters, but to send most people home. Cops make the situation too dangerous for most people to say, create a much smaller, much more dangerous crowd, and then they have a situation they can push to the point of exploding. 2/2

okanogen VerminEnemyFromWithin Jan 28, 2023

@inthehands @mekkaokereke
Ok, but in St. Paul it was outside suburban White Supremacists coming in to burn the city and murder protestors. I saw them driving in. They carpooled from malls outside the 694 loop.

Paul Cantrell Jan 28, 2023

@Okanogen Oh, I am not saying the police are the only people who were violent. I’m saying the police are the ones who made it a riot in the first place. I addressed a similar comment here: https://hachyderm.io/@inthehands/109765174553463365

Paul Cantrell (@[email protected])

@[email protected] Yeah, after everything went to hell, there were people showing up ranging from organized crime to frat boys who think getting drunk and stealing street signs is a good time. It wasn’t like that at first, of course. Something people don’t understand: larger protests are generally •safer•. When you have a march full of grandparents and little kids, people keep each other safe, keep each other mentally in one piece. 1/2

Hachyderm.io

okanogen VerminEnemyFromWithin Jan 28, 2023

@inthehands
As a much older, browner Mac alum, I'm not going to light you up, but instead ask you to review your comments on that thread and consider the privilege it takes to make them.
Thousands of small minority businesses lost everything on Lake and University Aves and it wasn't the cops burning them out.
White Supremacy doesn't end or start with cops. They are a symptom, an element.

Paul Cantrell Jan 28, 2023

@Okanogen I’m sorry. I think something I wrote there must have been really ill-phrased. Let me be clear:

A •lot• of people, not just police, were violent. I have no kind feelings, none, for the people who burned down business, many of which I love, several of whose owners I know personally. (Ruhel catered my wedding!) I am miserable about the places I’ll never be able to go again, and the people whose lives the destruction turned upside-down. I do •not• mean to absolve anyone who caused that.

okanogen VerminEnemyFromWithin Jan 28, 2023

It's all good. I also had friends who lost everything. The small family drugstore across from my old house (and low income apartments above) was burned down by what I'm sure were White Supremacists coming down Snelling from Cambridge or wherever.

Paul Cantrell Jan 28, 2023

@Okanogen Yeah. We still do not have a clear picture of how specific buildings burned, and probably never will. Nobody will ever face the music for it. I am bitter about that in ways I cannot put in words.

I know there were straight-up Nazis in my neighborhood taking advantage of the chaos — and specifically targeting minority businesses far from the protests.

I know there were people who just thought it would be fun make something burn, without any thought for the lives they were wrecking.

Paul Cantrell Jan 28, 2023

@Okanogen My comments about it being a “police riot” do not mean “•nobody• but police is responsible.” Rather, I mean that police are responsible •too•: they knew they were creating the conditions to summon all these forces of chaotic evil. It was intentional. And if anyone doubts the intent…police forced back firefighters (both official and volunteer) who tried to save burning buildings. Those are the thoughts behind my OP. Hope that clarifies; sorry again I was unclear!

Dan Jan 28, 2023

@mekkaokereke it says something when the USA really could learn many lessons from our police over here in the UK (who are far from perfect as recent news too clearly shows)

But it seems the correct tactic is to have the riot gear in a van a little distance behind the police along the line they can retreat if it does turn violent....

Then be there in numbers in normal gear with no weapons drawn and an attitude of "we are here to FACILITATE peaceful protest"

Dan Jan 28, 2023

@mekkaokereke in other words the police allow the protesters to make a noise to March and do all the things that are normal in a peaceful protest but make it clear that looting and damage isn't going to be tolerated. If they do have to arrest somone it needs to be targeted directly and in clear response to somone going beyond what is acceptable. You were told this was unacceptable. You did it anyway hence arrest.... Importantly this MUST NOT change the attitude towards anyone else

@mekkaokereke the problem is:

The average law-abiding citizen does not have legal access to effective means of self-defense.

Neither physically nor legally...

And that is the problem: #Accountability only works with #Consequences and those are kinda absent in many scenarios...

@mekkaokereke #cops ain't made accountable - neither on the streets nor in court rooms!

And that makes them into the brutal gang number one!
https://hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/109759629339645267

mekka okereke :verified: (@[email protected])

Citizens! *Puts on steel toed boots* I urge you to remain calm at this moment! *loads rubber bullets into launcher* violence is not the answer! *Hangs night stick from belt* We grieve with your community! *Pulls reflective visor down on helmet* Peace is what this moment calls for *climbs into tank* The great MLK Jr said and I quote: I love police, and they are our friends! *diesel engine roars* So obey, comply, and remember we are in this together! *Tear gas launcher slowly points towards crowd*

Hachyderm.io

Tofu Golem Jan 27, 2023

@mekkaokereke
Disband the police. Defunding them is no longer enough because those government murder-thugs are beyond redemption.

TheJen Jan 27, 2023

Having been shot at, gassed, pepper sprayed, and nearly arrested in Portland, by cops and federal agents, while exercising my right as a citizen to protest...

All cops are bastards.
Policing in its current form needs to die.
Defund all of it.

Ornwen Jan 27, 2023

@mekkaokereke This is spot on.

PirateRo Jan 27, 2023

@mekkaokereke watch their actions, not their words.

It's Just Jenn 🏳️‍⚧️Jan 28, 2023

@mekkaokereke Would I be out of line if I said that cops are just the tools of fascists and are indeed all bastards?

Tolu Oloruntoba Jan 28, 2023

@mekkaokereke unfortunately, this is poetry.

RNsassy Jan 28, 2023

@tolu @mekkaokereke It sadly is.

Half Cocked Law Jan 28, 2023

@mekkaokereke Well, you have to admire the progress. Sixty years ago, Bull Connor wasn't smart enough to hide his face. Cops today know better.

JohnW Jan 28, 2023

@mekkaokereke After hearing the news these past few days I haven't been posting a lot. It's just hard to find the words.

We seem to be dissolving into chaos.

Arclight Jan 28, 2023

@mekkaokereke "BEATINGS WILL CONTINUE."

VHasch Jan 28, 2023

Ever get the feeling we're being manipulated? Like all the time?