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Protesting what. The officers were charged

Unpaywalled: https://archive.is/yiLUk

That's why it's the best kind of protest. It doesn't bring attention to an issue the media hasn't already decided to tell everyone about. It's doesn't demand any sort of a actual response from the government. But, in ten years, they can claim they "made a difference" as long as no one asks any follow up questions to nail down the timeline. It's win/win!

What do we want?

What's already happening!

When do we want it?

In a timely fashion as determined by the justice system!

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This is what I picture a protestor looking like

But the issue is bigger than just those arrested. It's the institution that they're protesting

Gee, it's almost as if there's some larger problem with policing in this country and this protest isn't only about 5 specific pigs that committed a murder. Come on, don't be obtuse.

“Jail all racist killer cops” lmaooooooo

Even though the killer cops were black in this case, the protesters are still pushing the claim that racism explains everything. It's true that black people get the short end from law enforcement, with higher arrest and killing rates, but the causes are more complex than "We're white and you're not so we can beat you up."

Cops mostly-correctly think they can kill people with impunity in general, and some of them are racist (yes, including black cops treating black civilians worse than white civilians)

What happened in Memphis was horrible and can’t happen again but the people pictured in this protest look like idiots. Are those just recycled signs?

Everyone in the picture is white

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"Party for Socialism and Liberation."

White commie weirdos who try to use every outrage to kickstart the Revolution.

Looks like the most astroturfed protest ever.

The back of their signs say “We Stand With Ukraine” or whatever the last “Current Thing” was. Total frauds. Take your pathetic signs to Shelby Forest in Memphis after dark, and see how it goes. That city is terrifying.

Black people are also responsible for 50% of violent crime in America. More white people are killed by cops than blacks.

What we need is a stronger justice system with more strict laws. So many people are out here committing crimes and all they get is a slap on the wrist. Enough is enough.

Race identifier has entered the thread

They're tankies, are probably cheering on the Ukraine Invasion.

Stricter laws are not associated with decreasing crime or murders.

Yes it is. Look at china and Singapore.

Look at all the southern “tough on crime” states, they all have the highest crime rates in the country.

This has been studied to death, stricter punishment does not lower crime rates.

Lol like where?

Look at Chicsgo, they have the most lenient punishment

I mean they have really draconian sentencing. China has no problem throwing people in concentration camps and Singapore still canes people.

What's your point?

Wonder if the cops shot them all like they did last time there was an anti cop protest in Boston?

> Lol like where?

Like I said, the south: https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/crime-rate-by-state

> Look at Chicsgo,

Oh shit, Fox News brain rot has set in.

Why look at Chicago? Its not even in the top 40 when it comes to crime rate by city.

Why isn’t Alabama being “tough on crime” stopping all the crime in Mobile, which is at the top of that list?

>they have the most lenient punishment

What “lenient punishment”? Be specific.

There is no point

What is a race identifier

I was downtown Friday night, and it was eerie af. There was barely anyone out, and the streets were filled with crews boarding up windows and stationed cops in riot gear with motorcycles & cruisers every couple blocks. There even was a pair of officers coming in to do a lap in the quiet, half empty bar I was in. Clearly there was the expectation of 2020-esque protest.

It made me question if I’ve gotten jaded or desensitized to these kinds of awful events. I felt like I wasn’t the person I thought I was, because I found myself thinking “they were fired, they were arrested, and this is just getting started.” I didn’t have that fire inside me that drives me to get out on the streets, ya know?

Now, the entire unit has been disbanded. Exactly what I’d called for during other protests of injustice. So while I’m very sad for the man and his family, still waiting to see what else unfolds, I still am not expecting to hit the streets tonight.

I guess I’m feeling a bit validated that there weren’t mass protests, and think that maybe there is nuance to these situations that is widely understood. It’s not just an outrage machine we were all running, like a lot of murdering-cop sympathizers make a narrative about.

I heard from a reliable source that receives city-wide emergency personnel alerts that as of Wednesday night BPD was organizing to counter a protest. Memphis PD basically warned all other PDs of major cities in advance.

The black face of white supremacy

What is this in reference to?

i was a little off put by the signs. this wasn't a race issue, this was a police brutality issue

personally, as a black woman, i think a vigil would have been more appropriate than a protest

Even on Saturday afternoon you could tell that BPD was gearing up for something big. They had metal barricades on almost every corner waiting to be deployed, and I saw a couple vans full of cops sitting around on side streets, plus cruisers everywhere. Makes you wonder how much overtime they charged sitting around waiting for something to happen…

These things cost a fortune in OT not even just Boston either we call in police from neighboring cities and pay their OT too

> What we need is a stronger justice system with more strict laws. So many people are out here committing crimes and all they get is a slap on the wrist. Enough is enough.

I suggest you take a look at our incarceration rate per capita and then think about whether or not the answer is "the solution is to put more people in prison".

All of those signs are distributed by The Party of Socialism and Liberation (logo on bottom)

Definitely don't look into their political views...

Definitely don't discover that they deny the Tiananmen Square massacre and the current Uygur genocide.... and that they support the North Korean regime.... and Mao...

Fuck pay walls for news.

Well that’s exactly it. They seem so far removed from the pulse that they had no idea people weren’t riled up. They really don’t understand.

If you had really heavy enforcement of laws you’d probably decrease the crime rate, the question is whether that’s appropriate in a liberal democracy.

That was the stated purpose of "broken windows policing," which played a big role in increasing our prison population to what it is today. Stricter enforcement does not lead to a reduction in crimes being committed, and can often have the opposite effect. This is because it reinforces structures of inequality and exacerbates symptoms of poverty.

What has reduced crime is building a stronger social safety net so those who find themselves in desperate situations can get support from the state instead of other illegal alternatives.

a vigil does nothing to protest police brutality. anger needs an outlet. police brutality is often a race issue

wow you’re either replying in bad faith or a complete fucking moron

you're completely missing the point of what i said

I don’t believe I did.

1. Police brutality is often linked to racism. Black people are disproportionately victims of police brutality and over policing. The officers being black, killing a black person does not invalidate racism.

2. The officers were fired sure, but not everything is good and settled. This should never have happened, and they (police) should not be saying “that was fun!” after taking turns beating Tyrie Nichols to death. Firing them does not solve the systemic violence and injustice caused by police. This is why we protest.

i never stated anything about the cops and victim being black invalidating racism.

now, assuming you're a grown adult with reading comprehension skills, i will not spell out my personal opinion to you after it has been clearly stated above.

“this wasn't a race issue, this was a police brutality issue”

your opinion is clear. you don’t think it’s a race/racism issue. only a police brutality issue. I disagree.

“i think a vigil would have been more appropriate than a protest”

also disagree. what did I misunderstand?

disagree all you want lol. my opinion on a couple of signs shouldn't have you this flustered.

I’m flustered? seems like you’re projecting

I mean harsher sentencing too. If you arrest someone for a minor crime and destroy their life, and then shortly let them out yeah you're going to have more problems.

I'm just saying if you went really draconian and locked up long-term anyone that commits a serious crime you would probably have lower crime rates, at the cost of liberty

>What has reduced crime is building a stronger social safety net so those who find themselves in desperate situations can get support from the state instead of other illegal alternatives

This is true but it doesn't address the people that commit crime for reasons other than addressing their own survival needs, which is most crime.

Harsher sentences do not reduce crime. This has been shown in multiple studies, and is easily searchable. Here is just one of many studies showing this.

Stricter policing does not reduce crime, and often makes it worse.

What is the mechanism for locking up a criminal for life increasing crime rates?

A place like Singapore with really draconian sentencing and enforcement has pretty low crime rates.

When the Boston riot police opened fire on a bunch of silent protests in 2020?

What??? How many people they kill and how am i just hearing about this?

The US has an incarceration rate 3x that of Singapore. We're already more draconian than your example.

We incarcerate people and then let them back out without reintegrating them well. Singapore just executes a lot of people. Singapore is definitely a more draconian legal system.

And yet they're still demonstrably better than the mainstream American political parties.

Sad state of affairs in this country.

I agree that our 2 party system absolutely sucks. I think that the difference between the DNC and the GOP is so insignificant that it isn't even worth talking about.

But I strongly disagree that The Party for Socialism and Liberation the answer. Far-left authoritarian communism is never the answer and to say that it is "demonstrably better" is demonstrably false.

this didn't happen. i was at the 2020 protests, nobody was shot

PSL is much less authoritarian left than the society we live under today being authoritarian right. The thing is, you've accepted authoritarian right in your heart more because it's what you're used to, so you see it as being better. The change to authoritarian left is a much greater thought experiment, which makes you very uncomfortable.

Also, for all you liberals buying into this man's crap, he's self described as being redpilled and he's also probably an anarcho-capitalist (hanging around in their subreddit). Stop falling for these far right-wingers crap. He's not someone who has genuine concern, he's just another far-right asshole.

It amazes me how the police can operate well in preventing violence to our economic infrastructures and yet police can’t seem to grasp preventative interventions for people-vs-people violence.

Then again, prepping for the most violent situations is how police end up killing people so I guess this is more of the same…

Protesting is a privilege for the well informed, those who have time, those who can transport themselves, and those who have the means to organize.

Black on black racism is possible. You can be black and hate yourself for being black so you take it out on others.

You ever see Attack on Titan? “I’m a good Eldian! I’m not like those OTHER Eldians!” is the logic.

All of our policies and laws are based on the racist foundations of our country so yeah it does all get traced back.

Lol did you seriously go back a year into my comments so you could formulate a silly ad hominem? What a freak

What we want is this for not to happen at all ya thick headed dork. What we want is to not continue the racist ideas that infect the bedrock foundations of our laws and policies that allow this injustice.

Tyre Nicholas’s death should never have happened. He should never have had to call out for his mother as he died. He should never have been beat up. He should never have felt like he needed to run away from police.

Do you know what an ad hominem is? Don't use words and phrases you don't know! It makes you look like an idiot!

And do you deny anything?

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They are not white attributes. No human being is bestowed special powers because of their race. You don’t magically become a well informed being because your skin is a certain color.

There are however inequities perpetuated by our failing governments that happen to benefit white people disproportionally due to a history of slavery and religious justifications of that slavery which allowed our infrastructure to expel certain types of people from said benefits. After centuries of such practices it’s no question why there is a massive equity gap.

One disproportionate fact is the way black Americans are brutalized by the criminal legal system. That is what these protests are about. Not that we don’t respond to these problems (which credit to the US, with every decade it cares a bit more). It’s just that these such problems shouldn’t exist. At all.

>police can operate well in preventing violence to our economic infrastructures and yet police can’t seem to grasp preventative interventions for people-vs-people violence.

Because that's their only real function: keep private property safe, directly proportional to how expensive it is. They guard money. Humans, they're apathetic to at best, if not outright antagonistic.

Ehhh police guard the law and the law isn't about justice, it's about criminality and "legal rights" which are rules that keep the rich, rich. So yeah! I actually would agree in an intersectional way.