The next "protests" will occur in the affluent neighborhoods. Some will be ready and able to defend their communities. Others will not. Which one are you?

Sad that violent and looting infiltrators ruined peaceful demonstrators image.

Any discussion becomes confusing as folks continue to use protestors and rioters/looters as one and the same.
They are not.

Protestors do not riot and loot.
Those who riot and loot do not protest. They could care less. They are activists/thugs bent on destruction.

Why there is not more aggressive measure taken against the rioters/looters remains a mystery......and the major cause of the problems.

Obviously burn baby burn is more newsworthy than peaceful protesting.

Pretty sure Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, Ted Kaczynski, Eric Robert Rudolph, Wade Michael Page, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Dylann Roof, James Thomas Hodgkinson, James Alex Fields, Robert Bowers, and Patrick Crusius are not Muslim.
Domestic terrorism in the United States - Wikipedia)

So this time by "Protests" you mean white nationalists marching thru affluent neighborhoods carrying their assault rifles to create fear, I for one will be prepared to defend my community from that ever happening.

Actually they got it from The Daily Beast which has a transcript of the conference call in which Birx made the comment. Not one of the fact check sites has refuted the comment.

No statistics - how dare you. Don't you know this site is only for people with Phd's in Statistics. We'll let it slide this time. For the future go to a site called Google. You'll be able to find statistics that suit whatever opinion you have. I'm sure you'll find - all protesters are rioters; no protesters are rioters; all rioters are lefty's; all rioters are righty's; no such thing as rioters, just misunderstood something or other.
Also, I was going to write something just like you wrote. How did you read my mind?"

It's a good thing that blacks are in law enforcement, but yet people of color somehow out number white people in prison. There's an old saying "To someone with a hammer everything looks like a nail" , we've allowed black people and people of color to become the nail for law enforcement and that needs to change. When police officers need to fill their quota for the week the easiest place is to head to the black neighborhood. In either neighborhood you'll find someone driving drunk, riding with their high beams on, loitering, jay walking. But going to the black neighborhood is much easier than going shaking down some white kids in an affluent neighborhood, less pushback from affluent whites, and because whites have been hypnotized to believe that blacks are inferior, inclined to criminal behavior, etc... ,probably from watching COPS and Live PD, we argue that it ok.

In 2017, blacks represented 12% of the U.S. adult population but 33% of the sentenced prison population. Whites accounted for 64% of adults but 30% of prisoners. And while Hispanics represented 16% of the adult population, they accounted for 23% of inmates.

Said the King of England to the Colonists in the 1700's

I think the majority of protesters are well intentioned. I also believe that there are anarchists who just want to overthrow the system, whatever that system might be.
I just saw pictures of the tearing down of the slave-traders statue in England. The people who did it were white guys. No blacks in sight. I blame anarchists in both countries. In fact I suspect that all countries have this small minority of people, who just want to insight chaos.

Research please. Tsarnaev brothers were raised Sunni Muslim.


The Brothers: The Road to an American Tragedy by Masha Gessen

Agreed, and in the US there are anarchists on both sides of the political spectrum, not just Antifa, although is seems to be the Fox News word of the day - wonder why, but also the KKK, Proud Boys, and Boogaloo. Boogaloo is a group often associated with far-right extremist ideology that wants to initiate a civil war. The Boogaloo movement, members of which are often referred to as Boogaloo boys or Boogaloo bois, is a loosely organized American far-right extremist movement. Members of the boogaloo movement say they are preparing for a coming second American Civil War, which they call the "boogaloo". The term is used by members of the group to refer to violent uprisings against the federal government or left-wing political opponents, often anticipated to follow government confiscation of firearms.

Well said! But when are we going to finally stand up and demand our rights? I am sick of always having tobepolitically correct I am sick of the sensational news instead of correct news, I want honesty!

You are correct, they were Muslim, my apologies. The rest are Christian.

What rights are you lacking that need to demanded?

Please explain this "oppression."

How is this even possible? police ONLY arrest person's of color or minorities

Yes, protestors and rioters are the same. Anyone observing a crime that does not report it, is an accessory to the crime. Just like how those three other COPS are going to be charged for watching their fellow officer commit an unlawful act.
I have not seen any mention of comparing pandemic violations to committing a murder. Did someone suggest that they were the same?

On the other hand, what rights are minorities "lacking" that need to be demanded?

And ALL COPs are bad because one is bad, right?

Interesting. Did you have symptoms or did you just want to see if you were infected for that period of time? I have been curious as to why anyone would get tested unless they had a specific reason, such as a requirement before entering a work place, etc.

I do not know what the facts regarding the context of those stats are, and I am not sure anyone really does. IF there truly is a racial bias in arrests/convictions/sentencing, it should be addressed. I am not ruling out that there is bias, but stats on percentages do not necessarily mean bias. However, are you suggesting that we should make sure that our prison population is set up to match the population, regardless of the ratios of crime commission? It SEEMS like when objective rules are made for sentencing, they are criticized because they would affect persons of color more harshly. But the rules should be set up independently, rationally and based on the impacts of the crime to society etc, then just applied blindly, and let the numbers fall where they may.

The Black Lives Matter protests are for Civil Rights. Civil rights, guarantees of equal social opportunities and equal protection under the law, regardless of race, religion, or other personal characteristics. It's clear that black people and people of color are unfairly discriminated against, targeted, incarcerated, and/or killed. If you believe that people of color are inferior to white people, less educated, poor workers, more inclined to violence, need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, are sucking on the governments welfare tit, are drug dealers and pimps, then you are part of the problem perpetuating the oppression of equal rights of black people and people of color.

Black people and people of color are human beings who unfortunately get targeted by law enforcement more often than white folks because of systemic racism.

Why I got tested
 

Because of multiple posts on this site, including the one I responded to, to the effect that testing was not available in The Villages. I got tested so I could share my experience and the facts that I learned in the process.

Do you have any facts to support your claims of targeting? Numbers do NOT indicate intent or bias. They are an indicator to delve further into the situation, but unless the context is fully analyzed, it is not possible to tell if race was even A factor much less THE factor for the difference.

IF due to whatever, societal factors, people of color committed more of certain crimes than other races, would it be acceptable to you to incarcerate them at an equal rate to the commission rate?

Here is a statement I can support 100%... We as as society need to address the fact that the number of people of color in the prison population is hugely disproportionate to their population.

A statement I cannot get behind without any proof to support it is..."Black people and people of color ... get targeted by law enforcement more often than white folks because of systemic racism

Some people believe its a "Nature" problem - Blacks are just inferior, naturally inclined to violence, etc..., I believe its a "Nurture" problem, our society is forcing these people to become this way. Forcing them both physically and mentally. It wasn't that long ago that our country was segregated, and the perception, and maybe the reality, black education was behind that of whites. As such why should we hire an uneducated black person for any technical well paying job, and in many places the laws were such preventing black people from getting advanced education so as a society we were preventing black people from advancing (I'd recommend the movie Hidden Figures). Many will say, oh that was a long time ago, we don't have those problems today, laws have been put in place to prevent racism, etc... - trust me, I've seen it first hand, racism is alive and thriving, people who practice it know how to try and not get caught at doing it. I've only been in The Villages for a few months, however its been my observation that the racial make-up of the Villages does not match that of the rest of the country. There are, as far as I can tell, very few people of color that live in The Villages. Has there been any research as to why that is? Some might say its too expensive to live in the Villages and blacks can't afford it (racist thinking), some might think its too hot in Florida and blacks don't like the heat (more racist thinking), some might say blacks don't play golf or like to swim (again racist). I don't know the answer, only what I observe, but it would be a great case study.

Votes? Afraid of being called a racist?

If the protesters that weren't wearing mask was putting people at risk can not the said of the police? Does two wrongs make anybody right?

ALL you can do IS all you CAN do!!!

I don't need to try hard to support these protesters. First, a miniscule number of people broke into places like pharmacies (might be where some of the testing results were kept), retail stores, FOOD stores-- most of these stores would have supplied them with things they might have felt jypt out of in their lives. Without using the words that would "qualify" what you really mean to say, it sounds like ALL the protesters did this looting. Instead, I might have said, "I'm really trying hard to stay neutral and support the protesters because of those who looted in the crowd," or something like that. I think more of us would feel comfortable with that insight.

Second, a lot of these protesters are millennial people. As a totally separate generation from us, they seem to think and react in many ways differently from us. If you have had children, you might have realized early on that they were not becoming "just like me".

So, bottom line... I can support your feelings because I "think" you didn't mean to paint all protesters with the same brush. Am I wrong? :icon_wink:

I used to be able to watch the news. Can't anymore. Distorted thinking, needless destruction, excuses, chaos. My brain can't tolerate it. Feel sick, turn it off, feel better.

Apparently, Pelosi feels that "taking a knee" might help. But, when the officer did it, instead of praising him, he will be incarcerated for the rest of his life. One just can't win with everyone. Just being facetious. I agree, you cannot fix stupid. Apparently some feel that throwing money at the problem can glue anything back together again.

Confusing. So, are you saying that we should only arrest proportionate to the amount of color in a populated area? Or, are you suggesting that white criminals are given more breaks than black criminals? I apologize for not seeing how someone can accuse racial bias based on actual and existing crimes committed by anyone, based solely on the quantity of color incarcerated. By that reasoning, since there is approximately 51% female population in the U.S. there should be equal amount of females incarcerated. But, there is only about 10% females in prison. That should indicate that law enforcement is sexually biased against males, right? Yes, once again I am being facetious. But, the argument that in today's law enforcement that there is overwhelming racism in upholding the law, is ludicrous in my opinion.

I have seen and heard the word "systemic" quite a bit lately. It is being used improperly in my opinion.
White (and males of color) males are being targeted by law enforcement more often than females, therefore according to the above analogy, there is systemic sexism against males. Female population is a little over half the country, therefore if we do not have half the prison population females then there is a problem with systemic sexism. Or whatever fancy word you wish to call it.

It's time for the military to step in. Now they are taking over areas! This whole thing went bad very fast. These activist groups saw a way in and went full speed ahead and these stupid young kids are so gullible. What happened to Floyd was disgraceful. No one is denying that. Why isn't there big hype over that retired officer who was killed protecting a friends store? He was a respected law abiding citizen who contributed to society. Why aren't they televising his funeral and memorial service. It's just sickening.
This November, I hope EVERYONE gets out there and makes the right decision because this county is going to hell.

Bottom line is that us males commit crimes and get caught much more than females.

However from what I read females are working to close the gap.

Black males make up roughly 6% of the population, yet commit over 50% of the murders in the US.

How quickly the people who want to dismantle or defund the police departments forget 9/11. It was the police and firemen who ran towards death, not the politicians, protesters/rioters but the news media vilifies the police and glorifies the protesters. What a topsy-turvy world we live in.

When police officers need to fill their quota for the week the easiest place is to head to the black neighborhood.

I don't think you've asked any Police officers about this. :ohdear:

Blaming Others Won't Solve The Problem
 

Sir, don't you understand that many of your statements only harden conservative views and give them great ammunition to attack liberal beliefs like "our society is forcing these people to become this way. Forcing them both physically and mentally." Society is NOT the biggest problem. It is the breakdown of the Black family unit. Too many children are being raised by one parent or none. This leads to lack of education- too many high school dropouts, not enough higher education. Lack of education leads to lack of good paying jobs. Lack of good jobs leads to criminal activity. Too many young girls having babies before they are 20, which dooms them to a life of poverty. Too many involved in drugs. This is NOT society's fault. Unless we recognize these are THE real issues keeping minorities down, we can not solve them. Tearing down a Confederate statue is maybe number 25 on the list of things we should be spending our time on. Here is one small step- how about every Black Lives Matters member and every Black church member become a mentor so each at-risk child in kindergarten has someone who will stay with them through high school graduation and either then get them into a technical school or college. Bingo- better education, better jobs, better life.