Me: Sometimes people don’t have access to the LA Times so I thought I would post that here.

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Op-Ed: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Don’t understand the protests? What you’re seeing is people pushed to the edge

KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-05-30/dont-understand-the-protests-what-youre-seeing-is-people-pushed-to-the-edge

What was your first reaction when you saw the video of the white cop kneeling on George Floyd’s neck while Floyd croaked, “I can’t breathe”?

If you’re white, you probably muttered a horrified, “Oh, my God” while shaking your head at the cruel injustice. If you’re black, you probably leapt to your feet, cursed, maybe threw something (certainly wanted to throw something), while shouting, “Not @#$%! again!” Then you remember the two white vigilantes accused of murdering Ahmaud Arbery as he jogged through their neighborhood in February, and how if it wasn’t for that video emerging a few weeks ago, they would have gotten away with it. And how those Minneapolis cops claimed Floyd was resisting arrest but a store’s video showed he wasn’t. And how the cop on Floyd’s neck wasn’t an enraged redneck stereotype, but a sworn officer who looked calm and entitled and devoid of pity: the banality of evil incarnate.

Maybe you also are thinking about the Karen in Central Park who called 911 claiming the black man who asked her to put a leash on her dog was threatening her. Or the black Yale University grad student napping in the common room of her dorm who was reported by a white student. Because you realize it’s not just a supposed “black criminal” who is targeted, it’s the whole spectrum of black faces from Yonkers to Yale.

You start to wonder if it should be all black people who wear body cams, not the cops.

What do you see when you see angry black protesters amassing outside police stations with raised fists? If you’re white, you may be thinking, “They certainly aren’t social distancing.” Then you notice the black faces looting Target and you think, “Well, that just hurts their cause.” Then you see the police station on fire and you wag a finger saying, “That’s putting the cause backward.”

You’re not wrong — but you’re not right, either. The black community is used to the institutional racism inherent in education, the justice system and jobs. And even though we do all the conventional things to raise public and political awareness — write articulate and insightful pieces in the Atlantic, explain the continued devastation on CNN, support candidates who promise change — the needle hardly budges.

But COVID-19 has been slamming the consequences of all that home as we die at a significantly higher rate than whites, are the first to lose our jobs, and watch helplessly as Republicans try to keep us from voting. Just as the slimy underbelly of institutional racism is being exposed, it feels like hunting season is open on blacks. If there was any doubt, President Trump’s recent tweets confirm the national zeitgeist as he calls protesters “thugs” and looters fair game to be shot.

Yes, protests often are used as an excuse for some to take advantage, just as when fans celebrating a hometown sports team championship burn cars and destroy storefronts. I don’t want to see stores looted or even buildings burn. But African Americans have been living in a burning building for many years, choking on the smoke as the flames burn closer and closer. Racism in America is like dust in the air. It seems invisible — even if you’re choking on it — until you let the sun in. Then you see it’s everywhere. As long as we keep shining that light, we have a chance of cleaning it wherever it lands. But we have to stay vigilant, because it’s always still in the air.

So, maybe the black community’s main concern right now isn’t whether protesters are standing three or six feet apart or whether a few desperate souls steal some T-shirts or even set a police station on fire, but whether their sons, husbands, brothers and fathers will be murdered by cops or wannabe cops just for going on a walk, a jog, a drive. Or whether being black means sheltering at home for the rest of their lives because the racism virus infecting the country is more deadly than COVID-19.

What you should see when you see black protesters in the age of Trump and coronavirus is people pushed to the edge, not because they want bars and nail salons open, but because they want to live. To breathe.

Worst of all, is that we are expected to justify our outraged behavior every time the cauldron bubbles over. Almost 70 years ago, Langston Hughes asked in his poem “Harlem”: “What happens to a dream deferred? /… Maybe it sags / like a heavy load. / Or does it explode?”

Fifty years ago, Marvin Gaye sang in “Inner City Blues”: “Make me wanna holler / The way they do my life.” And today, despite the impassioned speeches of well-meaning leaders, white and black, they want to silence our voice, steal our breath.

So what you see when you see black protesters depends on whether you’re living in that burning building or watching it on TV with a bowl of corn chips in your lap waiting for “NCIS” to start.

What I want to see is not a rush to judgment, but a rush to justice.

Ex-FBI official slams Bill Barr for ignoring the right-wing ‘Boogaloo Bois’ infiltrating protests

link https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/ex-fbi-official-slams-bill-barr-for-ignoring-the-right-wing-boogaloo-bois-infiltrating-protests/

Attorney General Bill Barr was slammed by the former assistant director for counterintelligence at the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Saturday for misleading Americans about the source of violence at the protests over the killing of George Floyd while in police custody.

“There’s evidence developing, Brian, that the organization we’re seeing of the most violent protesters is coming from a couple of disturbing places,” both, by the way, there’s disparate in terms in being from the right or the left. here’s what those who monitor these groups and sites are seeing.

“We’re seeing a far-right group, one group for example known as the Boogaloo Bois, who on their private Facebook page and social media outlets are calling for violence, calling for people to show up,” Frank Figliuzzi told MSNBC’s Brian Williams.

“We’re seeing evidence in the protests that right-wing dangerous militia groups are there. We’ve seen flags and symbols that come from both Boogaloo Bois and dangerous militia groups,” he warned. “On the far-left, we’re seeing some evidence developing of global anarchists showing up.”

“So we’re seeing a strange alignment occurring by some groups who are anti-government on the right and therefore anti-police because they think the police are too oppressive to them, aligning themselves with people like Black Lives Matter and saying, ‘hey, we’re one because we both don’t like the police,’ but I’m here to tell you they are not one, their intention is to destroy government and the system of justice, as opposed to calling for justice within the system.”

“What do we do about it?” Williams asked.

“Well, ordinarily we’d rely on our system and mechanisms and rule of law, but here’s two things significant that happened today that caused me to be deeply troubled about the summer ahead. The attorney general, William Barr held a press conference where he chose selectively just the intelligence that indicates there’s far-left agitators within the protest groups,” Figliuzzi noted.

AG Barr: it appears the violence is planned, organized, and driven by anarchic and left extremist groups, far left extremist groups using Antifa like tactics… it is a federal crime to cross state lines or to use interstate facilities to incite or participate in violent rioting

“He politicized intelligence. We shouldn’t be surprised by it, but we should be disturbed that the whole truth is not getting out about all the groups that pose a threat because that goes toward whether or not law enforcement will take effective action against all groups that are violent and be allowed to take such action,” he explained.

“And then the second thing that should disturb us today is within the last hour, the president of the United States has tweeted he wants to use the unlimited power of the military with regard to these protests. Well, let me remind our viewers that we have laws in the United States that prevent the military from turning into law enforcement on the streets of America,” he reminded.

“Yet we see a direction of where this is headed: politicizing the intelligence so that only the far-left becomes the bad folks here, and then a president who seems inclined to use the military on our streets,” Figliuzzi warned.

Chief ⁦@ArtAcevedo⁩ & Exec Asst Chief ⁦@TroyFinner⁩ marched for 3+hrs this evening with hundreds of community members who gathered at Emancipation Park and marched downtown to exercise their first amendment rights for #GeorgeFloyd #RelationalPolicing #hounews pic.twitter.com/AGkG88g4EH

— Houston Police (@houstonpolice) May 31, 2020

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After failing to appropriate the Black People's Party, entitled white kids appropriated our fight yesterday, and made it dirty.

Then they left us to deal with the police violence they stoked.

Listen to the Black Woman desperately begging them to stop.pic.twitter.com/uYaVS4QKQr

— Selena Adera (@Selena_Adera) May 30, 2020

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InvaderRam wrote:

i wanna say this too. i’m watching local news coverage right now.

they are careful to emphasize that MOST of the protesters today and this whole week really have been peaceful. they are careful to point out that it is only a minority of the people out there who are causing a majority of the destruction we’re seeing now. and i’m sure it’s the same all over the country.

i don’t know how the national coverage is portraying it.

Okay point taken!

waterfield wrote:

I’m watching store after store, after store in areas all over So Cal that are being either on fire or being looted from inexpensive to the elegant stores in Beverly Hills. I have not seen anything like this since Rodney King. This is not democracy. This is anarchy. During the day it was not like this. It was peaceful and impressive.

Yeah as I said that’s one part of the story. But you’re acting like it’s the whole story and it just simply is not.

There’s also police violence and escalation. All over the country. Is your news broadcast showing that too?

There’s also peaceful protest. All over the country. Is your news broadcast showing that too?

Some of that police violence is against peaceful protest. Seeing that on tv?

There are also all sorts of instances where police are handling protest fine and in some cases even joining the protests. That on your tv?

I keep saying the same thing–this entire issue cannot be reduced to one simple narrative. That will remain true, I mean…it’s just going to remain true! You can repeat all you want that all your tv shows you is destruction of property. And yes, okay, that’s what your tv is showing you. What is NOT true is that that’s the only thing happening.

….

Amazing scene unfolding in Flint, Twp, Michigan. Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson has joined protesters in a peaceful march. Read More: https://t.co/4ioyUnymNv @MichStatePolice @GovWhitmer pic.twitter.com/nMCVuXQ0TZ

— Mid-Michigan NOW (@midmichigannow) May 31, 2020

InvaderRam wrote:

yeah. and the people responsible are in the minority. most people are peacefully demonstrating.

Looks like we’re marching on 3rd street from The Grove towards Beverly Center. This is a peaceful protest. #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/SOssjUZW9q

— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) May 30, 2020

Hey @louisvillemayor don’t we need a new police chief?

pic.twitter.com/vu10K2s9EI

— Christopher Bishop (@ChrisBishopL1C4) May 30, 2020

Here’s a protest in Minneapolis that hasn’t made the news cycle or been shared a million times on your news feed for shock value. Amen and amen!pic.twitter.com/qivVEzoMVC

— John Mason (@LivingGodsTruth) May 30, 2020

FEDERAL COURT HOUSE: Andre Taylor’s group just landed at their final speaking stop. No violence or problems. #GeorgeFloydProtests #seattleprotest #Seattle #GeorgeFloyd pic.twitter.com/AVUTgU3K35

— Jonathan Choe Journalist KOMO News (@choeshow) May 31, 2020