Black lives remain expendable. By Eugene Robinson

[sinkingfeeling]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/black-lives-remain-expendable/2020/05/28/8d8d3fa2-a111-11ea-b5c9-570a91917d8d_story.html

Do you want to prevent the kind of rioting, looting and arson we have seen in Minneapolis this week? Then stop police officers and racist vigilantes from killing black men, like George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery. Stop treating African Americans like human trash and start treating us like citizens.

I condemn riots, destruction, property theft and all manner of senseless violence. But I understand the feeling that animates these spasms. When I watch the video of officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck, choking the life out of him and ignoring his cries of distress, I want to throw something. When I see the video of Gregory and Travis McMichael accosting and shooting Arbery, I want to throw something else. I can’t help but think of my own two sons and how, for either of them, a routine encounter with police — or a run-in with self-appointed sheriffs — could be fatal. I want to scream.

I feel this way even though I have status in this society, an income that allows me to live comfortably and a megaphone — in the form of this column and my television appearances — with which to make my complaints and opinions heard. I wonder how I’d feel if I lacked these things, if I were powerless and voiceless. I wonder where my frustration and rage would find their outlet.

[Rhiannon12866]

1. K&R for Eugene Robinson

[handmade34]

2. ...

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore-- And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over-- like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.

...Or does it explode?

Langston Hughes

[jaxexpat]

8. Very apropos.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

3. We have to fix this, somehow.

[irisblue]

4. Kick

[malaise]

5. I know you don't care about me

[Solly Mack]

6. K&R

[DIVINEprividence]

7. Minnesota needs to criminally charge these police officers

It would go a long way toward diffusing this. Not sure why this hasn’t happened. Seems like a no brainer. This is murder. Police brutality always ends in rebellion and chaos. These meatheads thinks they are enforcing “order” with a heavy hand but in fact disorder is created. Now it is out of control and a bad scene. I get that they have to stop the looting and violence but never forget this is a result of police brutality that happens all the time. This one just happened to get taped. Every police force that wants a peaceful community needs to have good relations and trust with the community they are supposed to serve. It isn’t rocket science. This is another example of the Trump effect causing division, racism and destruction everywhere.

[Scarsdale]

9. Sad state of affairs.

There were white people breaking windows, too. tRump supporters are itching for trouble. Their "leader" is losing, and he is desperate. Over 100,000 people dead because he neglected to do his job, and he wants more death. I can not imagine how black folks must feel every time their young people go out in public, wondering if they will come back. It is long past time for true equal rights in this country. We need people like Eugene Robinson speaking loudly about the injustice. We used to set examples for the world. Now, we still do only they are bad examples with a failed president and an administration who has no idea how to do their jobs. What will Jared Kushner do about THIS? Stephen Miller is enjoying this, it is fitting in with his Nazi playbook perfectly. A race war would suit that wimp just fine.

[lark]

10. Tangerine Traitor Tot and Toad made sure there was no arrest.

They want the distraction from our increasing deaths, especially in the South. The AG even said there was supposed to be a big announcement but it's been postponed - but didn't say by whom because she's obviously a trumper. Showering them with praise before she said a thing about the family just shows how disgusting this person is and how much their fingers are on the scale.

[brer cat]

11. K&R

[fishwax]

12. K&R -- BLM