Down

[miss_ljv]

So fucking upset at George Floyd's murder.

His murderer, Derek Chauvin, lives in my suburb, and is married to one of the agents who works at Re/Max with Courtney. We're all tied so closely with terrible people. Racism is everywhere, and we are all complicit. Chauvin has been involved in SEVERAL shootings, and not once held accountable. It was only a matter of time before he killed someone in cold blood. Tou Thao also has a history of aligning himself with white supremacy, not seeing how he is a pawn and will be no more valued than the people he harms for the "cause."

I didn't join in the protests yesterday, mostly because we were in a tornado warning with a huge storm so I assumed it was bad weather everywhere and thought efforts were dispersed.

I fired off a bunch of contacts demanding justice. Most news outlets are supportive of Floyd, but the video is being shared EVERYWHERE and it's so inappropriate to do. Trauma porn is not okay. Devaluing black bodies is not okay.

I didn't really sleep last night, so I called in today to get a few hours. 

Comments

[ragnarok-08.livejournal.com]

Good god, it's all just absolutely wretched and awful :(

[miss-ljv.livejournal.com]

Truly. So angry.

[tigersinacage.livejournal.com]

I am devastated that this keeps happening. We as a country should be better.

[miss-ljv.livejournal.com]

We need to replace the whole police force system with one that wasn't literally founded on racism and oppression.

[kurikuribebi]

I wrote a loooooong post about this and then deleted it. The entire situation is so sickening and for the first time in a long time I wish I were actually stateside to stand with friends and just pop off on the situation. Enough really is enough.

[miss-ljv.livejournal.com]

Yes! Now is the time to pop off.

Words are so worthless at this point. What else can we say? I feel dumb even writing a post but you have to say SOMEthing. Especially when it’s in your own community. Again.

[kurikuribebi]

That's the overall feeling, really. What else can we say that we haven't already said? A lot of my feelings aren't even towards the actual officers, but more on people in general. If it were my community, you'd see me on the streets, without a doubt.

[brittdreams.livejournal.com]

I wish you hadn't deleted it. I can't even write about it because it feels like something I've already written about so many times, to no avail.

[kurikuribebi]

It's definitely a hard topic to discuss, with a lot of controversial points and opinions. LJ is where I kind of come to to organize my thoughts on things and clear my head, or to log in something I don't want to forget. But there is absolutely nothing about this topic that has me feeling like I need to organize my thoughts -- there is no confusion about how I feel, where I place the blame and what I feel needs to be done. There's no way I'd actually forget something like this. I'd only be reiterating what so many people have said.

[brittdreams.livejournal.com]

Yes, it sometimes people need to hear the same thing a zillion times before it clicked, plus weirdly there are still people who haven’t heard about these things, probably because they don’t want to.

[kurikuribebi]

There are a lot of people who are hearing, but not listening, if that makes sense.

[brittdreams.livejournal.com]

It does. That's always been the case.

[brittdreams.livejournal.com]

It’s awful. And also exceedingly common.

[miss-ljv.livejournal.com]

It pisses me off that people don’t think it’s that common?? Without the video?? Fuck everyone, honestly. It happens so often that I know there’s no point to words. Another black loss of life in my own community by the corrupt police. Our governor condemns the murder, says people have the right to protest, then allows the police to tear gas unarmed protestors. Tonight they called in the national guard. I hate them all. I’m working out my work schedule to manage going to the protests.

[belleweather.livejournal.com]

I don't know if Frey/Walz were allowing the police to do anything. My read on this (and the neighborhood's read on it, pretty much) is that the Police escalated the violence as retribution against the community for protesting and Frey/Walz/etc for firing the officers who were responsible for the first time.

[brittdreams.livejournal.com]

That would not be a surprise at all.

[miss-ljv.livejournal.com]

Right, I should have been more clear - that Walz has been unable to control the police force. If your "protect and serves" are neither serving nor protecting.......... gotta do something.

[brittdreams.livejournal.com]

If you go to the protests, stay safe.

[kensmind.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting that link. I'm still waiting to see if charges will be laid, and if so, what charges.

[miss-ljv.livejournal.com]

More importantly, what judge gets assigned and will they be acquitted just like with Philando Castile - another clear and away murder filmed and the officer gets nothing - a payout even (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/philando-castile-case-ex-officer-involved-fatal-shooting-gets-48-n781636)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am absolutely boggled at all the insane protections and money given to police officers when they are violent assholes.

[belleweather.livejournal.com]

We're about 9 blocks away from the riots/protests/fires/etc. on the south side right now. I spent the majority of the evening listening to military helicopters and tear gas grenades go off a few blocks away. I got all this fancy training about what to do in civil unrest for my job overseas, and did not ever dream that I'd be using it in my little commune of a neighborhood. This shit has to stop, our police force is broken, and there has to be something we can do about it.

[miss-ljv.livejournal.com]

That's awful, I'm sorry you have to utilize those tactics here. I have so many friends posting about hearing the tear gas and helicopters and it's like, Oh so this is where we are at as a country and a state. We need to upheave the whole police force. A system built on controlling black people from the start seems like the wrong culture to disseminate and teach. Time for a new system.

[imogen-blue.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen the video. It's not something I feel we should be watching. I'm glad people stopped and tried to help and filmed what happened though. It was very brave of them. The cops could have easily turned on them.

It's so sad that people have to protest to get what they should be rightfully given. Respect and Care and Protection.

[meringues.livejournal.com]

It's just so goddamn awful that this just keeps on happening and not many efforts to change seem to be made where it counts. So upset to keep hearing news like these that I don't even know how to put my thoughts into words.

[leucocrystal]

Late reply, but man is it scary when someone like this ends up being not that far from your immediate circle, I can't even imagine.

I've been to one protest so far, and I'm planning on attending at least one more — it's mostly the heat, which I'm especially vulnerable to, keeping me home since then — and emailing and sharing resources and spreading info to those only relying on the news (which conveniently shows none of the police escalation and violence, and is driving me insane), but it still never feels like enough. We're at an extreme tipping point here, and potentially on the precipice of real and positive change, but what will we have to suffer through to get it? It's frightening to think about, but still absolutely necessary.