Protests Riots and Black Lives Matter

[Stan-and-Jan0]

I am quite beside myself with disgust and disappointment that Airbnb would enter the fray of political turmoil by supporting an organization who's stated mission is not only a lie but as they demonstrate daily, the protests and ensuing riots one has to know that it's not about racial equality. I will get into a long diatribe here but I'll just say that every time I see BLM box on the website with a donate button, I have to wonder if anyone at Airbnb actually knows what BLM stands for and what their true mission is. Look at what's happening in Seattle right now. It's really quite disheartening.

Very little respect left for this company.

[Yadira22]

@Sally221 That’s a great observation but institutional racism also exists outside of the USA.

I am not a Black person (am a lighter skinned Latina), my experience may be “less” (because of my skin colour), I am still very much affected by it but this does not take away from the fact that Black lives matter. 

Imagine, it took a 9 minute video of George Floyd being murdered- held down/restrained and with the knee of a full grown man to his neck, filmed in three different angles, with protesting in all 50 states and over 15 countries as to get people to challenge police brutality to black people, let alone acknowledge it’s existence. Before this, I did not know my Black American friends all had a “process/plan in place” for when they get pulled over- privilege is not even having to think of this as necessary because my skin was never the “issue”. Heck I never even asked them, as this whole idea was outlandish to me but because I do not experience or see it personally this does not mean it does not exist for another person. 

It’s been over 100 days since Breonna Taylor was killed at her home, while she was sleeping and still no arrests, this happened whilst she was working as an essential worker during a global pandemic. She was only 26 years old when she was murdered, and her killers are still free in society, only one of 4 (I believe) has been fired and none indicted. This is not a single incident, this is one similar to so MANY!

Truth be told, no matter how much we may read or study these matters, experiencing it will not be possible at least for me as I am not Black and with respect to the origins of this movement, I do not live in the USA. In this thread, we have collectively expressed our opinion on the matter but not once have we even outwardly asked the Black members of this community to contribute by sharing their experiences, let alone ask how they are doing.  

Dear Fellow human,

If possible please share your stories, as to help let others know how prevalent this is- thanks. 

Sending everyone so much love and peace. Stay safe. 

[Juan63]

@Yadira22 Simple question, name a specific institution that's racist, and give me the specific action that was taken that's racist? Let's stop generalizing and start getting specific. 

[Patricia55]

@Juan63 

Simple answer: google it.
Let's stop pretending racism doesn't exist, ffs.

[Juan63]

@Patricia55  Lazy response and not an answer. Patricia, no one said racism doesn’t exist.

[Patricia55]

@Juan63I agree, it was a lazy response to your lazy question.

Google is free.

[James1]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-black-pastor-was-arrested-simply-for-defending-himself-on-...

[Juan63]

@Patricia55  If it's so easy, answer the question. You don't know, simple as that.

[Sally221]

Police unions,  which protect and enable abuses by police including  targeting people of color, harassing people of color, using excessive force on people of color including killing people of color.Prison guard unions, who lobby hard for draconian laws that keep prisons crammed full of people of color.The republican party- crafting laws that target people of color (crack vs. powder being the most glaring example) and gerrymander voting districts, close polling places, refuse to spend money on better voting oversight and then claim that mail in ballots are rife with fraud (in blue states, Utah is strictly mail in but, no worries over that) in a new version of voter suppression. Banks such as Bank of America & Wells Fargo that red-line neighborhoods where people of color live, in the case of Wells Fargo, secretly open extra  accounts  that have exorbitant fees on predominantly customers who are people of color &  make those people jump through extra hoops when applying for loans. Major corporations who are more willing to hire people with identical qualifications who appear to be "white" rather than people of color (Yadira has the link to one of those studies if you cared to look)

[Melodie-And-John0]

"Police unions,  which protect and enable abuses by police including  targeting people of color, harassing people of color, using excessive force on people of color including killing people of color.Prison guard unions, who lobby hard for draconian laws that keep prisons crammed full of people of color",

Absolutely valid in my home state @Sally221,  Im going to forward this on to one of the greatest supporters of union "problem" fixing your talking about in NY, Our Democrat Governor Andy "Another" Coumo who has lain in the same beds with the unions that refuse to prosecute the worms in our great big apple known as the Empire State.  Actually, I'm pretty sure NY and California put more folks in jail and prison then the next 10 states combined.  That really speaks poorly of arguably the two most progressive states in the Union, add Ohio as a third leg and a few other union bastions as the fourth and you have a horse that cant run much less walk or breath. 

Do you suggest we fire the big bosses in these states as a warning to the rest of the nation to get your crap together, if so, I will join you in that quest!  Stay well, JR 

[Sally221]

California and New York have much larger populations than most states, you could combine the  populations of 21 states in the center of the country to equal that of California's 40 million. A better comparison would be percentage of population incarcerated.

We both come from more or less "purple"  states that mimic the nation in a way- rural areas being much "redder" & urban areas much "bluer". California has had an equal number of Republican & Democratic governors in my lifetime and has, in past years, passed some of the most poorly written & draconian laws-. the 3 strikes law was meant to take the most violent criminals off the streets but instead simply swelled the prison population. As I mentioned, the prison guards unions are robust and wealthy and have a vested interest in keeping up incarceration rates.

California sent both Devin Nunes and Nancy Pelosi to the House of reps, don't forget. There is nothing inherently wrong with collective bargaining, as so many  unions have been dismantled or dissolved  we have seen  wages  for most folks remain stagnant no matter how the economy is booming. It's the power of those police unions, the opacity and the toxic culture that is dangerous.

It is harder to prosecute a rogue cop when the many previous transgressions he may have committed are shielded by union power. It is far easier to get rid of an incompetent teacher than a dangerous cop & and a cop who is fired can stroll over to a nearby city and get hired without much problem.

 So many of the people currently in prison are there on drug charges, police & prison guard unions vehemently deplore any move toward decriminalizing possession of small amounts of drugs, meanwhile, diversion & drug rehab programs scramble for funding, how much could we save as a society if we changed how we dealt with addiction?

Why do we charge adolescents as adults when science has confirmed what every parent of a young adult has always known intuitively, a 21 year old, let alone a17 year old, is not a grown person. Their higher brain function is literally still under construction.Stupid impulsive acts by stupid impulsive kids, especially in a country where being found unfit to take care of one's finances doesn't mean one can't have a fire arm, shouldn't mean putting a person on prison for the rest of their life, without even the possibility of parole.

This is both far from the original posting about black lives matter and yet a facet of how we got to this point.