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MLK Day Protesters Block Traffic on the Bay Bridge

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Lo_Fi

Member
How about human decency to let people get to work on time?

Or how about.... I don't know, protesting at a police station or a courthouse where the responsible parties congregate?

Literally one post above yours explains why that doesn't work. Take some time to read a few posts if you're going to make an argument.
 

The Kree

Banned
How about human decency to let people get to work on time?

Or how about.... I don't know, protesting at a police station or a courthouse where the responsible parties congregate?

Work tardiness Vs. vehicular manslaughter.

Decisions, decisions.

Oh yeah, they tried police station protests. Nobody cared. Didn't make national news, didn't make a NeoGAF thread. It was thoroughly ignored.

This seems to be getting attention though, so yay.
 
Or how about.... I don't know, protesting at a police station or a courthouse where the responsible parties congregate?
http://www.newsweek.com/minneapolis-mayor-end-encampment-4th-precinct-399452

Minneapolis's mayor on Monday called for protesters from the Black Lives Matter movement to end their 16-day encampment of a city police station, which has been occupied since Jamar Clark was killed by a police officer earlier this month.

Did you even know this happened throughout the end of November? I didn't until it was over.
 

kamspy

Member
There's a whole thread here for you to read. Do you think these are new thoughts instead of the exact same shit that's been refuted over and over all day?

How about the human decency to recognize that our fucking police are murdering citizens and getting away with it and almost everyone doesn't care? Really think about it, because I don't imagine it's sunk in to you that this is real fucking life.

So if one person comments about the retromingency of this protest,no one else can "+1" that viewpoint?

What magical piece of legislation are these people waiting for?

The only charity I donate to is the Innocence Project so I don't need your quips about how fucked up our justice system is. I just don't have the foggiest idea of how blocking a high traffic bridge is going to bring any good to their cause.

If it's for publicity, than I think it's idiotic. It's not like Joe Nine-to-Five is going to see this protest and instantly run his local police department demanding fair play.

It's just the wrong way to go about it and I think it actually worsens their position with the general public.
 
We have a black president, and this is still happening.

Well, good luck trying to overthrow the political order, because it won't happen. Most people don't want an actual revolution, and see that as an over-reaction. The movement hasn't gotten change through our system yet, and you want to overthrow the system, which would require even more support than working from within the system would provide? There really isn't any plausible scenario that change occurs due to revolution before it comes from within the system. The idea is so absurd I still think you are just using too narrow of a view of what the system is.
 
of course you do when you do not have to worry about police brutality. You probably want people to protest in their designated protest zones so you continue to ignore the problems this country has.

If being inconvenienced by people protesting to end police brutality makes you less sympathetic to their cause, then you probably didn't care about it all that much to begin with.
"Make sure you protest in a way that I can easily ignore and go about my day."
Would you be less annoyed if they were white?

If your response to "stop killing us!" is "I'd be on your side, but you slowed down my commute," then honestly who fucking needs you?
O come on! There's other methods of getting your point across that doesn't include making people late for shit. It's no different than the asshole Taxi drivers that were blocking traffic in Toronto and not even letting ambulances through. There is a serious problem with police brutality and racism, I get that. But blocking traffic isn't going to help, you're just gonna make people pissed off. Do a change.org petition, protest alongside the roads in areas that get grid-locked so lots of people see you, without you being the cause of it. Get celebrities and people with large platforms to help you spread the message. Don't delay a person's commute.
 

The Kree

Banned
I wonder if you two are confusing the method by which someone works within the system with working outside the system. You don't have to work quietly within the system, and in fact you do get better results by not doing so, to a certain point (there is such a thing a being too loud in many cases). But if you are working through the existing power structures and political order, then you are by definition working within the system. I hope you two don't seriously expect to be able to overthrow the current system through revolution. You can get the system changed by getting people to vote for/support candidates that support the change you want.

This kind of disruption doesn't bother me and revolution doesn't scare me. That's why I don't argue against either. And we know this does work because we've seen it work previously. They should be more aggressive, more disruptive, more disobedient, not less. I'm really OK with people working outside a broken system that refuses to work for them. The existing power structure is garbage, unworthy of any consideration that it refuses to reciprocate.
 
I wonder what it must feel like to know that an armed individual can force an interaction with you, be completely in charge of the scale and scope of that interaction, and that you can die at the end of it. The idea that folks are hung up on a traffic jam is pretty wild by comparison.

BLM is not about you, specifically, as an individual, your ego, your routine, or what something like this does to your day. It definitely is not about you as a person who wasn't even affected by this traffic jam, but are just offended by the very idea of such a thing.

The aim of something like this is to disrupt, because people having to worry about dying on interaction with cops is not something we should be accepting as an overall society. Not this guy driving to work, or someone trying to pick up a kid or something, but as an overall people.

It's kind of weird when civil unrest over something as unjust as police violence causes folks to get mad at the protesters instead of the powers that made protest necessary.
 

Sibylus

Banned
/claps. Some of us whites are aware and want to change things. I've stopped talking to a lot of people because of my views. Not all us are bad...just the majority unfortunately.
Thanks, Alim. I'm looking for ways I can help but I'm not sure of anything yet other than signal-boosting right now.
 
What magical piece of legislation are these people waiting for?
You're almost getting it.

I just don't have the foggiest idea of how blocking a high traffic bridge is going to bring any good to their cause.

If it's for publicity, than I think it's idiotic. It's not like Joe Nine-to-Five is going to see this protest and instantly run his local police department demanding fair play.

It's just the wrong way to go about it and I think it actually worsens their position with the general public.
Can you find anywhere on blacklivesmatter.com or anywhere else where activists are talking about getting the general public to like them?

Sometimes it's important to recognize that you just haven't even tried to be knowledgeable about something, and then pay attention to what they're actually saying or trying to say instead of assuming.
 
O come on! There's other methods of getting your point across that doesn't include making people late for shit. It's no different than the asshole Taxi drivers that were blocking traffic in Toronto and not even letting ambulances through. There is a serious problem with police brutality and racism, I get that. But blocking traffic isn't going to help, you're just gonna make people pissed off. Do a change.org petition, protest alongside the roads in areas that get grid-locked so lots of people see you, without you being the cause of it. Get celebrities and people with large platforms to help you spread the message. Don't delay a person's commute.
Oh yes. The change.org petition. Why didnt anyone think of this!? If black people want change, they know what to do now! And yes. Taxi drivers protesting over Uber is EXACTLY like this.
 
There is a serious problem with police brutality and racism, I get that. But
This whole fucking thread and almost every white American.

Seriously, if there are better ideas, DO THEM. Or convince someone who will do it. No one is stopping you. No one is stopping change except you and everyone else who has the convenience of being able to just put this whole thing into the back of their mind and deal with it later. Or just admit you don't actually give a shit, if that's more accurate.
 

Dai101

Banned
BLM has really opened my eyes to just how little white people care. There is no real desire for change, no real hunger, and it took widespread protest like this to make that naked apathy so evident.

I wanted to believe we were better than this. We are not. We care more about tone we can tune out like television commercials, about polite concern we can disregard without a second thought, about feel-good MLK quotes that don't make us uncomfortable, about the "tradition" of confederate flags flying over government buildings, and about unimpeded traffic over bridges that don't interrupt our own private, curated existences than we care for all the lives of black men, women, and children destroyed by broken, racist systems.

We are a sick people, and no amount of tithing in our megachurches and our shopping centers, devil's advocacy, lip service, fuzzy feelings, and passivity will make us well. We stand motionless in the way and we are so passionate, so vocal to make sure everyone knows we're better than those ones who are throwing down black people and killing them, that we're not the bad ones. We wrap MLK's dream speech around us like a t-shirt, to conspicuously consume civil rights as though it were a part of our lives and important to us like our favorite sports, games, celebs, or electronic peripherals.

It's a lie. Black Lives Matter. But not to us.

That was BEAUTIFUL.



Personally speaking, someone I know lost their lives in police hands this year. It is currently still under investigation. (you can read about it here http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/special-police-alonzo-smith_us_56398a5fe4b0b24aee48180d) . He didnt have a mean bone in his body, and was hilarious when he talked about fashion, particularly his shoes.

I've been reading this thread, thinking of suggestions... I've realized there is nothing more that I want than the footage to be released. It has made me realize just how effective it really is.

Even more so, because of the recent footage released and the pressure to get body cams on police officers, we now have footage of his death, whether they want to or not.


I won't knock on protesting, or its effectiveness, I am just going to suggest continued use of releasing footage in addition to the other methods.

Sorry to hear that. Hopefully one day this isn't all lives matter regardless of the color of their skin.

How about human decency to let people get to work on time?

Or how about.... I don't know, protesting at a police station or a courthouse where the responsible parties congregate?

tumblr_n0depkItFa1syvo5io1_500.gif
 
O come on! There's other methods of getting your point across that doesn't include making people late for shit. It's no different than the asshole Taxi drivers that were blocking traffic in Toronto and not even letting ambulances through. There is a serious problem with police brutality and racism, I get that. But blocking traffic isn't going to help, you're just gonna make people pissed off. Do a change.org petition, protest alongside the roads in areas that get grid-locked so lots of people see you, without you being the cause of it. Get celebrities and people with large platforms to help you spread the message. Don't delay a person's commute.


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tumblr_inline_o0l5tjdOJG1sbsy7m_500.gif
 

PopeReal

Member
I continue to be fascinated by my fellow Americans concern for proper traffic flow and order. This is why I was asking the questions I did last night. I just wonder what it is that gets people worked up over just the though of being late. So far I respect the more honest complaints of "I have things to do" than the fairy tale make believe "what if a dying kid on fire gets stuck on the bridge despite there being hospitals on both sides of the river and other routes to take".

But still, why is just the thought of being late so aggravating to some of you? I honestly want to know. Unless I missed it no one has actually posted that was delayed because of this. If there is I would love to hear what they say. But for the rest of you, you weren't delayed or inconvenienced in any way by this protest but it is obvious it still ruffles your feathers. Why?

And why do you feel that protests need to have your approval? Do the civil rights movement protests not bother you because they were in the past and therefore are not annoying? What is it that makes you ignore history when it shows that protests that accomplish things have been disruptive?
 
26 pages of the same fucking run around, the same fucking lack of empathy.

How long before this ouroboros is put down? It's ludicrous that people are going to such great lengths to essentially say: "black people should only protest on my time, my place, and under my eye"

Good christ.
 
This whole fucking thread and almost every white American.

Seriously, if there are better ideas, DO THEM. Or convince someone who will do it. No one is stopping you. No one is stopping change except you and everyone else who has the convenience of being able to just put this whole thing into the back of their mind and deal with it later. Or just admit you don't actually give a shit, if that's more accurate.
He said to the non-white poster...
Blocking traffic isn't gonna help, it's gonna infuriate people that already angry enough at the commute.
 

Sibylus

Banned
That was BEAUTIFUL.
Thank you, Dai :)

O come on! There's other methods of getting your point across that doesn't include making people late for shit. It's no different than the asshole Taxi drivers that were blocking traffic in Toronto and not even letting ambulances through. There is a serious problem with police brutality and racism, I get that. But blocking traffic isn't going to help, you're just gonna make people pissed off. Do a change.org petition, protest alongside the roads in areas that get grid-locked so lots of people see you, without you being the cause of it. Get celebrities and people with large platforms to help you spread the message. Don't delay a person's commute.
Do nothing to interfere with the average white person's delusion that everything is fine and there is nothing to see here.
 

The Kree

Banned
He said to the non-white poster...
Blocking traffic isn't gonna help, it's gonna infuriate people that already angry enough at the commute.

Being angry at a commute is not equal to being angry at police brutality. One of these is a bigger problem than the other. That's life. Some shit matters more than other shit.

Stay angrier at the commute than the injustice, if that's your bag. Nobody's stopping you from feeling what you feel.
 
He said to the non-white poster...
Blocking traffic isn't gonna help, it's gonna infuriate people that already angry enough at the commute.
"White" being the one thing you isolated out of that says a lot, especially when I never even used it to describe you, just the company you keep.

Find me anywhere on the Internet where these activists have ever said they care about the general public's feelings on them. Do you even know what they actually want, or are you just assuming? Have you done the research? They don't hide who they are.

What America are you in where black people aren't just thought of negatively by most of America anyway?
 
How about human decency to let people get to work on time?

Or how about.... I don't know, protesting at a police station or a courthouse where the responsible parties congregate?

Then we'd have people talking about all the hypothetical lives lost because the police weren't able to operate on time due to protesters!
 
A lot of people don't have that frame of reference. That you being pulled over by the police for a whatever reason might end up with you dying. And I am glad they never have to worry about that, and I hope to enjoy the same comforts.

But the problem comes when they instant chastise anyone that doesn't have those luxuries. Then wonder why the oppressed people didn't seek their approval and permission to stand up.

No one ever says I was for women receiving equal pay, but

No one ever says I was for gay marriage, but

No one ever says I was for income equality, but


Only when the issues are black issues does the Tone Policing Storm Troopers appear/

BLM has really opened my eyes to just how little white people care. There is no real desire for change, no real hunger, and it took widespread protest like this to make that naked apathy so evident.

I wanted to believe we were better than this. We are not. We care more about tone we can tune out like television commercials, about polite concern we can disregard without a second thought, about feel-good MLK quotes that don't make us uncomfortable, about the "tradition" of confederate flags flying over government buildings, and about unimpeded traffic over bridges that don't interrupt our own private, curated existences than we care for all the lives of black men, women, and children destroyed by broken, racist systems.

We are a sick people, and no amount of tithing in our megachurches and our shopping centers, devil's advocacy, lip service, fuzzy feelings, and passivity will make us well. We stand motionless in the way and we are so passionate, so vocal to make sure everyone knows we're better than those ones who are throwing down black people and killing them, that we're not the bad ones. We wrap MLK's dream speech around us like a t-shirt, to conspicuously consume civil rights as though it were a part of our lives and important to us like our favorite sports, games, celebs, or electronic peripherals.

It's a lie. Black Lives Matter. But not to us.

Taken together, these two posts are the highlight of the thread to me. I'm watching people going around and around on this shit, advocating for situations that don't exist, for over 25 fucking pages now. It's depressing and pathetic, and a perfect example of why this shit will NEVER CHANGE.

And even knowing that, I support BLM, because the fact that it gets some of you so riled up is a bit of catharsis to your apathy of the plight black lives in favor of "approved disruption methods".
 
For everyone like "this won't bring support to their cause," note that getting support from the general public isn't anywhere on here:

“In a courageous display of solidarity and the spirit of MLK, Black.Seed, a Black, queer liberation collective, has shut down the Bay Bridge as a show of resistance to a system that continue to oppress Black, Queer, Brown, Indigenous and other marginalized people throughout the Bay Area,” the Anti Police-Terror Project posted on their website Monday.

The protesters had several demands. They called for the repurposing of city policing funds toward affordable housing; the resignation of Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf; and the immediate termination of San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr, Oakland Police Chief Sean Whent and the Bay Area officers involved in eight controversial police shootings within the past two years.

One of the victims, Mario Woods, was shot by police in early December after officers reported Woods refused to drop a kitchen knife he was carrying. Cell-phone video footage of the shooting angered many protesters who say Woods was not acting aggressively.

Yuvette Henderson, another one of the eight victims, was killed by police officers in Oakland who suspected her of shoplifting. Ms. Henderson was armed with a pistol, but a civil-rights complaint alleges that she never raised the weapon to police.

“The inconvenience you may have experienced today on the bridge – imagine what it’s like to have your life and your well-being continuously inconvenienced as a black person,” Mia Birdson, a Black.Seed member, told NBC New York.
Seriously, examine what you're just assuming and what you actually know. Do the research.
 
For everyone like "this won't bring support to their cause," note that getting support from the general public isn't anywhere on here:

Seriously, examine what you're just assuming and what you actually know. Do the research.

Thanks for sharing. Even if it is glanced over by empty eyes. I knew Raiden was wrong about you.
 
O come on! There's other methods of getting your point across that doesn't include making people late for shit. It's no different than the asshole Taxi drivers that were blocking traffic in Toronto and not even letting ambulances through. There is a serious problem with police brutality and racism, I get that. But blocking traffic isn't going to help, you're just gonna make people pissed off. Do a change.org petition, protest alongside the roads in areas that get grid-locked so lots of people see you, without you being the cause of it. Get celebrities and people with large platforms to help you spread the message. Don't delay a person's commute.

lmao change.org, you almost had me.
 
What confuses me is why people are offended that protesters are breaking the rules. The rules, as they are in place, are designed to shove certain people out of the way and keep them in a position where they can't improve their situation and others don't notice those systematic problems.

Whining that they ought to play by these rules is nonsensical, because it's arguing that their voice and message conform to rules designed to stifle that voice and hush those messages. Why would they follow the very rules they're protesting?
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
Glad there are people still marching for civil justice and protesting civil injustice in these sorts of ways, it brings attention to the cause one way or another.

People need to be forced to see what they might otherwise avert their eyes to because its easier and more convenient as well
 
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