Black Lives Matter Protests Roil Cities Across The US

[ellenrr]

Demonstrators protesting police shootings of black men confronted last-minute holiday shoppers and travelers in California and the Midwest this week, seeing the crowds as an opportunity to draw attention to their cause.

In Chicago on Thursday, more than 100 demonstrators marched down North Michigan Avenue, the city’s premier shopping corridor, and laid down on the street for a “die-in.” They also blocked access to some stores where Christmas Eve shoppers were hoping to wrap up their tardy gift-buying.

A day earlier, shoppers and travelers also encountered demonstrators in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Minneapolis.

On Wednesday afternoon, activists affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement shut down the southbound lanes of the 405 Freeway in Westchester for about 10 to 15 minutes, writing chalk messages on the pavement. Up to nine demonstrators were arrested.

“On one of the busiest travel days of the year, Black Lives Matter is calling for a halt on Christmas as usual in memorial of all of the loved ones we have lost and continue to lose this year to law enforcement violence without justice or recourse,” a statement from Black Lives Matter organizers said.


https://www.popularresistance.org/black-lives-matter-protests-roil-cities-across-the-us/

Emily Grossman, 36, was kept from getting an iPhone at the Apple Store. “I hate to put myself first, but this is BS,” she said.
Yeah, a-hole, yr i-phone is definitely more important than Black lives.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

1. Does Emily's shopping trip correlate to Black lives (or deaths)?

Were black lives saved because she couldn't get her iPhone? I'm not sure it made any murderous cops go all soft and teary-eyed.

[Scuba]

2. K&R Emily's concern for her fellow beings in contemptable.

[Igel]

4. The punchline is ridiculous.

"If you object to X, it's because you don't care about black lives."

"Black lives matter more than X."

Did you sell off your house or your car and all your possessions so you could travel to protest?

Well, then material things matter more to you than black lives.

Did you enjoy your time off instead of mobilize support for BLM?

Well, then your personal pleasure matters more to you than the black lives gunned down by racist cops.

There's no end to the moralizing. It's best, of course, to make the moralizing non-hypocritical and relevant to the people involved. Protesting the NOW headquarters to get them to stop abortion clinic bombings is pretty pointless, but it would be an instance of "free speech." Blocking the Cuban ambassador's motorcade to stop suicide attacks like in Paris would also be free speech--irrelevant to the point of lunacy, but certainly free. And there's always a possible grape boycott to draw attention to the feral cat population problem.

This kind of moralizing isn't a new thing. "Sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor" is the watchword for some--who, noneless, have possessions that they haven't sold. "But I need my stuff to help moralize."


Here's a question: In the last 18 months, has the number of unarmed black Americans killed by police increased or decreased compared to the figures from 2011-2013? We have high profile videos. But has the actual number, preferably as a percentage of that particular population group, increased, decreased, or held steady? Anecdata doesn't cut it. If we want change, we have to have a way of showing that there has or has not been change. Otherwise, we're saying "We want change!"--but let's not bother our beautiful minds about whether there's been any change. After all, if there has been, we can't moralize. At some point it's about the anger and the protests, not change, unless we're into zero tolerance.

You know, that zero tolerance attitude that so many rail against.

[Tipperary]

5. I wish it was possible to rec a post.

Well said.

[orpupilofnature57]

3. MSM gives and takes away, depending on media is a double edged sword, Exposure is useful until it

becomes an editorial harnessed by Misanthrope Sycophant Monsters to polarize and manipulate our views on the Misery of the world . Superficial needs and desires often eclipse true misery, depravation, and inequity only if a person lives totally in the main stream experience, aspiring to omnipotence while being totally removed from the pain of others, what a beast we're growing these days .

[pintobean]

6. "an opportunity to draw attention to their cause"

But, is it the right kind of attention? I don't see how screwing with people's lives increases support for a cause, especially at Christmas time.

[Facility Inspector]

7. This is what happens when you never tell children NO.

[Waldorf]

8. It's stuff like this that gets more people to hate the group than like it.

I agree with Emily, it's BS.