Opinion: Portland's protests were supposed to be about black lives. Now, they're white spectacle"

[DallasNE]

27. There Is No Question But What The Goon Squads Changed Everything

The disease has spread to all police departments. Some of the meager gains won in the May protests seem to have been given back. We have a different opponent using hardball tactics at the drop of a hat. Enter Naked Athena. For one day she stopped the goons in their tracks. Obviously, that is a one trick pony - but don't knock it. But one thing I do strongly agree with. The movement has been knocked off of their message and that has to get refocused. Mom's has grown out of necessity but they have not been strong advocates for putting out the BLM message so that needs to be corrected. But those are powerful images of women being snagged by police. The image of the police dragging away a terrified white woman desperately reaching back to grab onto anything to keep her from meeting her certain fate is an extremely powerful message. BLM needs to be sympathetic before pointing out how that is a nearly everyday occurrence in the black community - perhaps with some of the rough ways cops treat black women routinely. We're all in this together so quibbling about who gets the credit is a sure way to sour the common bond that has emerged.

Saturday night in Omaha a mostly while group of 118 protesters gathered by the WW I memorial at Turner Park & Farnam. The theme was BLM issues, including justice for a young unarmed black man that was gunned down in cold blood by a known racist white bar owner in Omaha. Unknown to this group an armada of 20 police vehicles were waiting in a Mutual of Omaha parking lot and when the protesters moved out and headed east on Farnam St. the police headed out too. When the protesters proceeded across a bridge over the Interstate highway below, which was 3 blocks from where they assembled, the police moved in on both ends of the bridge, trapping the protesters on the bridge. The police immediately tackled the protest leader, shot him with pepper pellets of some kind, from short range and body-slammed him on the concrete, causing a bloody nose. All 118 were booked and because the police computers suddenly failed it took about 7 hours before they could be released. Everybody knows what this is all about. Trump paved the way for excessive use of force and the protest group has called for the defunding of the police. So time for the pokice to let them know who is calling the shots. Yes, we are essentially back to square one and that is just how Trump wants it. So time to get all factions working from the same playbook. This is too important to allow some quibbling over credit to sidetrack the effort. Naked Athena opened the door for Moms. Let's be thankful for that.