Civil Protest, Policing, Moving Forward

[TAHAWK]

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler Thursday evening condemned the actions of rioters who attempted to set fire to a police precinct and blocked the exits while officers were inside.

“When you commit arson with an accelerant in an attempt to burn down a building that is occupied by people who you have intentionally trapped inside, you are not demonstrating, you are attempting to commit murder," Wheeler said in a news conference with Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell.

The front doors of the precinct were barricaded before the fire was started with more than 20 officers and civilian employees inside, police said, according to FOX 12.

Wednesday night’s violence in a residential neighborhood on the east side of the city began after a group of about 100 people gathered in a nearby park for a rally advertised on social media by the group Pacific Northwest Youth Liberation Front with the slogan “No cops. No prisons. Total abolition." The group then marched to the precinct.

At the same time, a larger peaceful group of Black Lives Matter protesters gathered downtown to give speeches. No police presence was necessary, Portland Police Bureau Capt. Tony Passadore said.

“Hurting people and trying to trap people in a building and burn them up, it’s just completely awful,” Portland Fire & Rescue Lt. Damon Simmons reiterated in the news conference, according to FOX 12.

Wheeler said the city anticipates “additional planned attacks on public buildings” in the coming days and said he was giving the police leeway to do what they needed to do to counter those plans as long as it can be done without threatening peaceful protesters.

On Wednesday, Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell said rioters aren’t forwarding the cause of racial injustice protesters. "Portlanders need to send a strong message that enough is enough," he said. “This movement is really powerful, but the violence has taken away from it.”

 

[TAHAWK]

Chicago looting triggers over 100 arrests, 13 officers hurt as mayor warns criminals: 'We are coming for you'

"We are not going to let our city be taken over by criminals and vigilantes,' Mayor Lightfoot said" after City taken over by criminals.

 

"CPD became aware of several social media posts encouraging looting downtown," [Police Superintendent]  Brown said, and the department dispatched roughly 400 officers to the region.

Brown also said a security guard and a civilian are now in critical condition at a local hospital after being hit with gunfire during the looting overnight, and he said that five guns in total have been recovered.

The unrest began Sunday afternoon after police responded to a report of a man with a gun in the city’s Englewood neighborhood. While being pursued by police, the man, who was on foot, “turned and fired shots” at officers before being struck himself and taken to a local hospital, Deputy Chief Delonda Tally told Fox 32 Chicago.

A crowd that had gathered at the scene then faced off against police and started hurling objects at officers after getting agitated over a false rumor that the suspect – who is 20-years-old – was a child, investigators add. Brown says the suspect previously has been arrested four times for charges including burglary, child endangerment and domestic battery.

 

 

NO PEACE, NO JUSTICE.

 

Edited August 10, 2020 by TAHAWK

[TAHAWK]

August 10, 2020

Black Lives Matter holds rally in Chicago to support those arrested after looting, unrest

“That is reparations,” a BLM organizer said. “Anything they wanted to take, they can take it because these businesses have insurance"

Black Lives Matter Chicago issued a statement obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times that read, “The mayor clearly has not learned anything since May, and she would be wise to understand that the people will keep rising up until the [Chicago Police Department] is abolished and our Black communities are fully invested in,” the group said in a statement.

[Troop75Eagle]

On 8/9/2020 at 5:13 PM, TAHAWK said:

Trapping people in a building and setting it on fires sounds like Bosnian war crimes.  But the Muslims being targeted were allowed to shoot back.

Yeah...all the people supporting the movement and it’s collective seem rather quiet on this issue.  Inevitably, I suppose once again it’s the stale, very disingenuous , and quite revolting claim that it was a few bad actors that shouldn’t reflect on the whole.  But maybe we should just refer to those as silly guys who got rambunctious.  Seems to me that war crimes, ethnic cleansing and genocides have similar behaviors.  
 

Clearly I do not and would not mean to even suggest cheapening the seriousness and magnitude those sorts of events.  Yet, when people are herded into barns or churches, the doors barred and the buildings fired...what should we call it?  If the police lined up protesters and executed them or packed them into barns and fired the buildings...well, I have little doubt as to the rhetoric that would echo for another 200 years.  Odd how it only seems to go one way to the same degree.
 

nothing justifies it no matter who they are. The action stands on its own and should be condemned and included in just the same continuous rhetoric no matter who did it.  Those who did it, their enablers and their associates must be branded with it.  To suggest otherwise demonstrates something sinister. 

[Troop75Eagle]

5 hours ago, TAHAWK said:

August 10, 2020

Black Lives Matter holds rally in Chicago to support those arrested after looting, unrest

“That is reparations,” a BLM organizer said. “Anything they wanted to take, they can take it because these businesses have insurance"

Black Lives Matter Chicago issued a statement obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times that read, “The mayor clearly has not learned anything since May, and she would be wise to understand that the people will keep rising up until the [Chicago Police Department] is abolished and our Black communities are fully invested in,” the group said in a statement.

This is a repugnant argument on its face as we know.  The very idea that businesses can afford it so I’ll get my share mocks rule of law and a binding social contract against chaos.  Some, of course, will inevitable and smugly point out that the social co tract has not been met.  That may be true in many general instances, but that is why legislative bodies, advocacy and the courts are there.  
 

That is why education, self improvement, focus and cooperative attitudes have enabled so many other groups to rise in the continued face of discrimination and persecution.  Since violence and theft are personal crimes revoked and punished by every society since the dawn of humanity the establishment of laws to preserve the collective whole have a solid and lasting purpose.  Somehow, a vague notion of injustice in various aspects of American life seems to truncate personal crimes on unknown persons...especially if they have something you want.  Lawlessness is part of no social contract anymore than advocating rape, murder and arson.  I’m actually surprised his speech hadn’t landed him in jail.  Not all violent speech is protected.

besides the philosophical part, I am fairly confident that Many insurance policies specifically exclude civil disturbance and riots.  So wiping out life savings and inventory I suppose justifies the vague sense of justice for a few beneficiaries unless they are sharing the loot among hundreds.  Once again, the specific violence rhetoric and actions, such as trying to burn officers trapped in a building, will undoubtedly be denounced and attributed to a few bad apples not representing the group as a whole.  Funny though...the instances keep coming.

 

[Navybone]

6 hours ago, TAHAWK said:

August 10, 2020

Black Lives Matter holds rally in Chicago to support those arrested after looting, unrest

“That is reparations,” a BLM organizer said. “Anything they wanted to take, they can take it because these businesses have insurance"

Black Lives Matter Chicago issued a statement obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times that read, “The mayor clearly has not learned anything since May, and she would be wise to understand that the people will keep rising up until the [Chicago Police Department] is abolished and our Black communities are fully invested in,” the group said in a statement.

Interesting - I read the actual Sun-Times article, and it attributes the quote to Ariel Atkins, 29, who is not identified as a BLM organizer   Where it is attributed to a BLM organizer is, The Sun, the Washington Times, the NY Post  which are all "strongly biased toward conservative causes" based on Media Bias/Fact Check. 

And she obviously does not understand how reality works and is a fantasy land about how reparations work. 

Edited August 11, 2020 by Navybone

[yknot]

8 minutes ago, Navybone said:

Interesting - I read the actual Sun-Times article, and it attributes the quote to Ariel Atkins, 29, who is not identified as a BLM organizer   Where it is attributed to a BLM organizer is, The Sun, the Washington Times, the NY Post  which are all "strongly biased toward conservative causes" based on Media Bias/Fact Check. 

And she obviously does not understand how reality works and is a fantasy land about how reparations work. 

Strictly speaking, it's not fantasy. I have friends who were Rhodesian, now Zimbabwean. Some live here, a few are still attempting to live in Zimbabwe or have moved to South Africa. Google what happened there. That is a model that some activists use when they talk about reparations. It might seem unlikely here but six months ago I would never have been able to envision what's going on in our cities today. Who knows what another six months will bring. 

[TAHAWK]

8 hours ago, Navybone said:

Interesting - I read the actual Sun-Times article, and it attributes the quote to Ariel Atkins, 29, who is not identified as a BLM organizer   Where it is attributed to a BLM organizer is, The Sun, the Washington Times, the NY Post  which are all "strongly biased toward conservative causes" based on Media Bias/Fact Check. 

And she obviously does not understand how reality works and is a fantasy land about how reparations work. 

 That is concerning.  Biased sources are a curse. 

But even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then.  Even CNN - last year.

The NBC outlet in Chicago calls her a BLM organizer.  Listen:  https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/black-lives-matter-holds-rally-supporting-individuals-arrested-in-chicago-looting-monday/2320365/    Is NBC "strongly biased toward conservative causes."  Not that I have noticed.  

 

Black Lives Matters Chicago, on its FaceBook site, calls her "our own." Is BLM Chicago  "strongly biased towards conservative causes" ? 

Black Lives Matter Chicago:  October 23, 2019 : 

Our own Ariel Atkins speaking to the need to FREEZE police budget !
With Chicago Teachers Union & United Working Families

 

 

 Oh there's more = lots more.

This from Insight Into Diversity - not a notable conservative outlet:

On Aug. 1, hundreds of students from various Chicago universities and colleges joined together for a protest to demand their schools divest from the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and reform their own campus police forces.

The protest, Solidarity Street: Abolish CPD Block Party, was organized by Chicago students and activists to draw attention to issues of racism surrounding campus policing. Protestors also made speeches demanding universities stop cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, redirect police funding into mental health support and healthcare resources for students, and lower tuition and housing costs if classes are held online in the fall.

According to The Daily Northwestern, a student publication not known for conservatism, students from all the major schools in the Chicago area attended, including the University of Chicago, DePaul University, Northwestern University, University of Illinois at Chicago, Loyola University Chicago, Columbia College Chicago, Roosevelt University, and Northeastern Illinois University.

The crowd of student protestors met at Millennium Park, where they were addressed by Tynetta Muhammad, a student at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a member of Black Youth Project 100, a national organization that describes itself as being comprised of “Black youth activists creating justice and freedom for all Black people.”

Muhammad was joined by other speakers, including Ariel Atkins from Black Lives Matter Chicago, who spoke about her own experience with police brutality when protesting against the CPD. Atkins stated that at previous protests she attended, she was tear gassed and watched police beat fellow protestors.

 

 

Ariel Atkins represented Black Lives Matter Chicago at a rally of Parole Illinois, demanding defunding of the Cook County Sheriff's Department and closing the jail.  And here she is:

"Black Lives Matter Chicago activist blasted Lightfoot for caring, she said, more about police funding and luxury developers than improving impoverished schools.

'That’s not my mayor! That’s not my gay, black woman leader!' Atkins said. 'We need to shut this jail down, we need to shut these prisons down. .... And we need to get that witch out of office because she’s not for us.'"

Not especially conservative.

 

People's' World, the organ of the Communist Party:

"Ariel Atkins, an active member of both the Black Lives Matters-Chicago chapter and the Chicago Alliance, was present at Monday’s protest and said that there were lots of emotions from local residents who felt as though their voices were not being centered. “People were frustrated,” said Atkins. “This is a community of black folks that are not often heard, so when a hundred-something people show up that have never set foot in these places, it creates a lot of tension.”

But perhaps even Communists have gone "conservative" in the face of the current events.  Stalin would certainly never have tolerated the mass rioting and looting.

Want more?   Please ask.  

 

Edited August 12, 2020 by TAHAWK

[TAHAWK]

Black Lives Matter Statement - Chicago Chapter

"'The mayor clearly has not learned anything since May, and she would be wise to understand that the people will keep rising up until the [Chicago Police Department] is abolished and our Black communities are fully invested in,' the group said in a statement."

 

 

[TAHAWK]

[TAHAWK]

Angela Davis, activists reignited the intergenerational fight for Black lives at NAARPR conference

One of the speakers at the conference, Ariel Atkins, 28, a lead organizer for Black Lives Matter Chicago, recalled her first encounter with Chapman and CAARPR. It happened about three years ago following the election of President Donald Trump. She was among several young organizers invited to attend CAARPR meetings. 

From TheTribe

[Troop75Eagle]

18 hours ago, Navybone said:

Interesting - I read the actual Sun-Times article, and it attributes the quote to Ariel Atkins, 29, who is not identified as a BLM organizer   Where it is attributed to a BLM organizer is, The Sun, the Washington Times, the NY Post  which are all "strongly biased toward conservative causes" based on Media Bias/Fact Check. 

And she obviously does not understand how reality works and is a fantasy land about how reparations work. 

I do agree with you squarely on one point you raise despite any disagreements on perspective or history.  And this doesn’t distract or lessen anyone else here for trying to get at the substance of the matter.  Bias does play a role in reporting.  It always has.  The ability of people to play games, cut and paste selectively, and fabricate in a thousand different ways simultaneously.  Information overload and confusion is a problem.  
 

The site Bias check is vital.  It’s vital since they seem to get things right a great majority of the time and it’s important to have people do it.  in a polarized climate, we’re sort of reluctantly reliant on people to clear the smoke better than the average person.  I tend to stick to the Reuter’s, AP, NBC, BBC and PBS.  But there is so much info and stories that they can cover it all.  There is no doubt a reluctance and inability to get Involved in the myriads of local instances individuals bring to the table and that makes it at more difficult to verify the facts.  
 

people gravitate, by nature, to the most exciting and even outrageous stories even if they know the sites are dubious.  Unfortunately, the Verifiable facts of reporting get lost in sensation and it becomes clear that the human desire for a great story Eclipse complex issues and mundane but accurate writing.  There is not enough time in the day to sort through or we’d go insane.  Bias check is definitely a big help.  I’ve had my understandings on a few things clear up because of them and others who took the time to check.  
 

i

[Troop75Eagle]

A lesson for every young person in scouts and beyond is how to think.  Not what to think, but how to take in information and evaluate it using critical thinking.  Logic, reasoning, careful scrutinizing and weighing a host of factors is a good habit and a lifelong skill.  The older I get, the more I don’t like or agree with some of the conclusions and am forced to reevaluate.  Sometimes I arrive at a new understanding, sometimes I’m not convinced.  But it’s a skill well worth making sure scouts, at least, Have as a basis for coming to well reasoned conclusions and choices. How they choose to apply and reconcile them to their powerful drivers them is another matter entirely. 

[walk in the woods]

21 hours ago, Navybone said:

Interesting - I read the actual Sun-Times article, and it attributes the quote to Ariel Atkins, 29, who is not identified as a BLM organizer   Where it is attributed to a BLM organizer is, The Sun, the Washington Times, the NY Post  which are all "strongly biased toward conservative causes" based on Media Bias/Fact Check. 

And she obviously does not understand how reality works and is a fantasy land about how reparations work. 

Well, here it is from NBC Chicago then.  The organizer went on to say:

Black Lives Matter Chicago organized the rally after overnight unrest throughout the city, with police saying that more than 100 individuals were taken into custody for a variety of offenses, including looting.

“That is reparations,” Atkins said. “Anything they wanted to take, they can take it because these businesses have insurance.”

Additional thought: The Sun-Times is strongly biased towards liberal causes....

Edited August 12, 2020 by walk in the woods
Added link, then one additional thought

[Troop75Eagle]

41 minutes ago, walk in the woods said:

Well, here it is from NBC Chicago then.  The organizer went on to say:

Black Lives Matter Chicago organized the rally after overnight unrest throughout the city, with police saying that more than 100 individuals were taken into custody for a variety of offenses, including looting.

“That is reparations,” Atkins said. “Anything they wanted to take, they can take it because these businesses have insurance.”

Additional thought: The Sun-Times is strongly biased towards liberal causes....

It should go without saying that any claims left, right or center of an entitlement to ‘redistribute assets’ from any source for any reason without due process is a non-starter.  Do actually do such things is yo invite the grim reaper - always especially delighted to have help -come and settle matters.  As we know, Advocating such positions is inciting violence and chaos which is not tolerated at all.  
 

it is, in my view, incumbent upon those who are associated With , a part of or claiming to be part of an organization  that espouses such views to suppress them, denounce them, expel those who do advocate such views and report them to police.  The same organization should roundly condemn and report and suppress those advocating those actions at least as aggressively as they advocate the true objectives of their cause.

 

this requires action on their part not just words and statements.  If they don’t, then they are identified with those violent elements by passive assent.  At such a point, it will not matter what they say in protest, the lack of action-real action-will carry the day.  If police are arrested, denounced and prosecuted for their conduct-as they are- then law abiding citizens should expect NO less from those demanding change.  Historical inequality and bad treatment won’t matter in the face of violence and the public call to violence.