• johnfear
    +4

    I appreciate your pointing that out, but this has always been my argument. During the civil war and previous, there were white people and other races than black hung for treasonous acts and for theft for attempting to assist slaves.

    I like the reddit comment you posted, but I think we all end up losing site of an end game of equality.

    Not to sound like a jerk, but ranting and raving about how different things are and how "all lives matter" vs "black lives matter" doesn't get us anywhere. Not that that is what you personally are doing, but that further divides things. That supports extremism on both sides. How is supporting the ends of the spectrum going to help keep the balance?

    • AdelleChattre
      +7

      False dilemma. Pick your battles, yes, but first pick your enemies. You can relate to this killing, and these and so very many other killings, around your humanism. You can't expect to tell other people they can only relate to this moment, and so many other moments in their lives, solely on the terms you feel most comfortable with, and then expect them to abide by your pronouncement. Of course civil rights are human rights. Not every struggle, however, is yours to define. Wish racism away, if you like. Waving it away like a Jedi mind-trick won't work, not with the people you're addressing but certainly not with Texas state troopers.

    • johnfear
      +2
      @AdelleChattre -

      Still giving you my up-vote and agreeing you can't wish racism away. But, in the kindest words possible, you're doing it wrong.

      So is anyone holding Sandra Bland up as some sort of jedi-mind-trick.

      Publicizing the horrible nature of her death does what? Raises awareness that cops are bad? Or that racism still exists?

      The only real thing that that publicizing her death will accomplish is to: widen the schism, torture her family with the constant reminder, and line the pockets of some fat, old white dudes who turn it into a grand conspiracy. She, nor I, nor you, nor anyone else will benefit from the level of attention that it is receiving and the manner in which it is being received. Nothing will change. Except we will live knowing there was nothing we could do for her.

    • septimine
      +4

      I think police are so brutal now because of racism. That's the other reason blacklivesmatter is the most important part here. Cops have gotten away with a lot precisely because most of the violence has been aimed at black with whites not caring precisely because the victims were black. Until black lives matter, the cops have no reason to fear. They know they've gotten away with that for decades with few investigations and prosecutions, so they're not thinking about trying not to shoot.

    • AdelleChattre
      +4
      @johnfear -

      Very much doubt that the Bland family is being tortured by, as you suggest, publicity. Very much doubt, also, your bizarre suggestion that popular outrage about her murder is chiefly going to benefit old, white conspiracists. I'm not getting you, here, except an impression that you feel so helpless that you'd rather we not speak about her death at all.

    • johnfear
      +2
      @AdelleChattre -

      I don't feel helpless.

      Trust me, the things her family will go through for the next 90 days and then for years to come are worse than anyone can imagine. They may not feel it now. But, they will.

      I didn't say conspiracists. I said old and white. They mostly will line their pockets on the backs of the click-baiting and all of the media coverage that is to come. It's an old game. The technology may change, but in the end, it's still the same money heading the same directions. The media and the conglomerates make a lot off of death. It's really sad, and really true.