Words which are innocent on their face may acquire hidden meanings. At face value, no one would dispute that “all lives matter” — at least no one with a shred of decency. No reasonable person wants police killed, or white people killed.
However, some people want black people killed, or at least don’t mind it. And the phrase “all lives matter” has been hijacked by those people, who’ve turned it into a coded way of expressing opposition to “black lives matter.”
This was made explicit by a counter-protester in Franklin, New Jersey, on Wednesday, June 10, 2020, who snarled, “blacks lives matter to no one. All lives matter. All lives matter. Police lives matter. God bless the police. God bless the police. You dumbass protesters,” as his companions mocked George Floyd by staging an 83-second-long reenactment of his death.
How can anyone interpret “all lives matter” in this context as anything other than “black lives don’t matter”? Having been adopted as a rallying cry by those who oppose decent treatment of black people, the phrase “all lives matter” has become tainted, and no longer conveys what it seems to say, but something ugly, indecent, and racist.
Read story here and/or watch the video below of the New Jersey counter-protesters’ disgusting behavior.
Note: there have been repercussions for two of these individuals; one, a state corrections officer, has been suspended pending investigation, and the other, a FedEx driver, was fired from his job as a result of this incident.
In this United States thought crime is not illegal nor should it be. Individuals may have racist thoughts, they may even espouse their racism. They can join others with similar thoughts. Individuals all lives matter or no lives matter. Yes there are nihilists out there and schizophrenics. We do not jail or put schizophrenics into jail or institutions merely for thought, we do jail them for crimes they commit.
The state of course should be in the all lives matter camp. It cannot be for or against black lives. It does make it difficult to deal with institutional racism. Which may in some situations be more about urbane life and poverty than race. Still laws enacted to keep some people of minority status can be dealt with, but it is difficult for politicians to allow all citizens in prison or jail to vote and such right is not lost on conviction of a crime. Telling the public it is ok for women or blacks to own guns can still finish a politicians career in a nation awash with firearms.
It is of course unthinkable for our politicians to remind the mob the 4 officers remain at this time innocent. That the remain innocent until proven guilty and they will have their day in court, and it may well be a jury will fail to find all or some guilty. It does seem the mob really wants horses and nooses in spite of the current anti lynching bill and it seems the mob would really like to take justice in its hands. That the mob may react badly when the lawyers defend the defendants and call Mr Floyd a felon and worse. How will the mob react id the cops are found to be innocent…ohhh that would not happen in many third world nations and any where thought can convict.
You are mistaken; convicted felons lose their voting rights. These rights can be restored, but at present no state allows prison inmates to vote. Where rights are restored, it’s after they’re released as part of their reintegration into society.
America is not a lynch mob, and the presumption of innocence is intact. Are you listening to the protesters? They’re calling for “justice.” How does this make them a “mob”?
You can argue an acquittal might set off rioting, but that’s speculation, and it’s pointless to bring it up before it happens. It has no bearing on the legal proceedings to come.
Mr. Floyd was, in fact, an ex-felon; he did time in Texas for armed robbery. But he paid his debt to society, and his background wasn’t a license to kill him. His rap sheet is not a legal excuse for the officers’ actions. Police are never authorized to carry out extrajudicial killings. “Street justice” is illegal.
Prosecutors don’t have to prove a racist motivation; the crime, if one was committed, consists of the actions that caused his death. The issue at trial will be whether the officers were legally justified to use force in the manner they did.