Black Business Owner in Minneapolis Pleads for Help After Life’s Work is Destroyed by Rioting Mob

[Rubee]

More to the point, how would one know if there is a problem it there is never any data collected on the subject.

I believe there’s data on incarceration rates and severity of sentencing comparing Black and White treatment in the American justice system. It does so for similar offences.

I remember during the democratic primary ex-NYC Mayor, Bloomberg, confessing on an audio as mayor, that they target Black and Brown people and that it happens all across the country.

 

[Rubee]

“I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots."

The statement of the American Bishops that someone quoted from in the other thread echoes Dr. King. I will not come here and post that violence should happen/continue; but neither can I act as if it all just came out an unreasonable black hole. It’s brimming over because there are many who feel they are genuinely at risk and the system will fail to protect them. People are not robots; if they have to live in fear and don’t see any sign of change, that fear will breed anger and frustration, and on a mass scale, that becomes riots.

 

[ImJustPro]

Wow, they sure showed that black white supremacist who’s boss!

 

[josie_L]

I’d say innocents are always to be defended, whether they are in the womb, minorities from racism or prejudice, or citizens and their property.

As soon as you begin to target the innocent, you lose the moral high ground, and your message goes down the toilet.

It is pure zealotry when one thinks the ends justify the means.

 

[Victoria33]

And this is perhaps one of the more tone deaf comments that could be offered amidst the pain experienced by black Americans.

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

Your statement towards me can easily be turned right back against what you said and how dare you! I set this thread up about a black business owner who lost his business, in turn, below are your statements:

I think it’s more than heartbreaking for mothers to worry that when their children leave home, the very people who are supposed to protect them might murder them instead. Again, I have no interest in condoning the violence. But what would I do were I a black parent? I think my anger might reasonably get the better of me.

This story is heartbreaking, or more accurately, it’s another heartbreaking story coming from all of this. I don’t condone the violence – but I understand it. People haven’t been heard for so long, and people keep dying at the hands of law enforcement that goes unchecked for so long – how anyone expects violence not to erupt from that sort of situation is beyond me. We don’t have to condone to recognize that desperation is behind much of this.

Just another story?? Well, maybe someone does not recognize the pain experienced by black Americans after all as they claim others don’t. . . .

Additionally, Larry Elder, African Americans btw, tweeted out:

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

So, there is a lot of heartbreak out there. Things happen all the time all around the world. If all one can do is say something personally repugnant to someone about this, maybe they don’t have much of an argument to begin with.

I am done with any argument where one party seems to only be making a point by insulting another.

 

[gracepoole]

You don’t seem to have understood anything I’ve said.

God bless.

 

[Maximus1]

Tell me, do you think it was sound policy for Trump to invite MAGA PROTESTERS to the same places these protesters are. I am wondering if we see a thread on that uninspiring tweet.
Do the buildings burn different when they arrive? Like a heavenly light or something?

 

[Dr_Meinheimer]

Newark, New Jersey was so bad it even drove away Daniel Larusso and his mother in 1984. If you can’t even keep the “Karate Kid” around, you’ve got trouble.

 

[Dr_Meinheimer]

Were I a black parent, I’d probably be more concerned about my child being killed over drugs or by another neighbor than I would the police, given the relative likelihood of each in urban areas like Baltimore or Philadelphia or Minneapolis.

That isn’t to say there shouldn’t be frustration, or that further steps need to be taken, but in the context of the safety of our children, police brutality is just a small blip on the radar.

I have

What does his political affiliation have to do with this?

“A riot is the language of the unheard.” Martin Luther King Jr. certainly wasn’t condoning violence – he was understanding its origins.

We have heard thus far the following:

A) The actual local protestors have been peaceful, and the burning/looting/pillaging has been done by agitators (I tend to believe this).

B) The local protestors have in fact been rioting, but their frustration is understandable given how this has been building. Cries of “what do you expect them to do when the system appears corrupt and rigged against them?” are heard.

If A is true, it seems like people are looking for ways to justify B, which didn’t even occur.

 

[Dr_Meinheimer]

I get that, however, where do we draw the line on when our frustration with something is justified, if not condoned?

I have asked before, is your attitude the same towards Scott Roeder, who murdered George Tiller? Or abortion clinic bombers like Eric Rudolph of Olympic bombing fame?

Or even the governments at various levels who continues to foist and normalize a host of sexual deviancies creating a world of confusion, lost faith, and sin that ensnares our children in a way it did not 50 years ago? Our moral decay and its promotion have been occurring since the Civil Rights era began, and our children pay for it. As a parent, the quickest way to enflame white hot seething anger is by jeopardizing my child.

Do we extend the same courtesy of understanding to those who are frustrated with these things that we do to those who are frustrated with the slow progress on race relations? I don’t recall the same sympathies on here (and I was here) posited when Roeder killed Tiller, man allowed to profit off of his evil deeds. Why?

I don’t condone the violence in any of the cases, obviously, but am curious where draw the line. I guarantee our sympathies do not extend to certain cases of frustration (likely because we don’t agree, see it as a big deal, or understand it).

 

[gracepoole]

We have heard thus far the following:

A) The actual local protestors have been peaceful, and the burning/looting/pillaging has been done by agitators (I tend to believe this).

B) The local protestors have in fact been rioting, but their frustration is understandable given how this has been building. Cries of “what do you expect them to do when the system appears corrupt and rigged against them?” are heard.

If A is true, it seems like people are looking for ways to justify B, which didn’t even occur.

This is a false dichotomy. @ThinkingSapien put their finger on it here:

Black Business Owner in Minneapolis Pleads for Help After Life’s Work is Destroyed by Rioting Mob World News

I’ve run into obstacles in previous discussions with trying to explain that “understanding” and “agreement” are not synonymous with each other. It can at time take many conversational transactions before the two are not conflated.

Additionally, it’s unclear what you mean by “which didn’t even occur.”

 

[Dr_Meinheimer]

I am hearing two messages, that’s all.

A) The protestors are rioting and taking out their frustration on a system they believe is rigged against them. We should at least try and understand why this is happening, and see they fel as though they have no where else to go.

B) The protestors are peaceful; the rioting and looting is being down by (sometimes) out of state hooligans looking to create chaos and further division.

 

[gracepoole]

I get that, however, where do we draw the line on when our frustration with something is justified, if not condoned?

I have asked before, is your attitude the same towards Scott Roeder, who murdered George Tiller? Or abortion clinic bombers like Eric Rudolph of Olympic bombing fame?

Or even the governments at various levels who continues to foist and normalize a host of sexual deviancies creating a world of confusion, lost faith, and sin that ensnares our children in a way it did not 50 years ago? Our moral decay and its promotion have been occurring since the Civil Rights era began, and our children pay for it. As a parent, the quickest way to enflame white hot seething anger is by jeopardizing my child.

Do we extend the same courtesy of understanding to those who are frustrated with these things that we do to those who are frustrated with the slow progress on race relations? I don’t recall the same sympathies on here (and I was here) posited when Roeder killed Tiller, man allowed to profit off of his evil deeds. Why?

I don’t condone the violence in any of the cases, obviously, but am curious where draw the line. I guarantee our sympathies do not extend to certain cases of frustration (likely because we don’t agree, see it as a big deal, or understand it).

I’m trying to understand your reasoning here. So you agree with the frustration felt and you are only upset that others haven’t extended their outrage to other incidents?

 

[gracepoole]

I am hearing two messages, that’s all.

A) The protestors are rioting and taking out their frustration on a system they believe is rigged against them. We should at least try and understand why this is happening, and see they fel as though they have no where else to go.

B) The protestors are peaceful; the rioting and looting is being down by (sometimes) out of state hooligans looking to create chaos and further division.

Again, this is a false dichotomy. These two concepts are not incompatible. As with any group, there are multiple views represented.

 

[Dr_Meinheimer]

I agree with the protests and things need to change. And I can see why years of frustration could boil over, even if the ends don’t justify the means.

I just think the understanding you expect to be extended in this case is not extended in others. If this were an issue that frustrated another group and the outcome was similar, would we be hearing the same message? I keep citing the example because it goes unaddressed, but did the Bishops, for example, talk about push a message of understanding when George Tiller was killed? I don’t recall hearing it.

Take a more recent example. We have had stay-at-home protests which were non-violent because people were furstrated with losing their businesses and seeing their livelihoods taken from them. Yet the tone of many on this board was not one of “what did you expect? Try and understand their frustration” but one that called them selfish. And they weren’t even violent. Why?

The need for us to be understanding when violence rears its head is inconsistent, and the same voices explaining the frustration of the black community are absent (it seems) when other groups’ frustration bubbles over. I suspect in both cases, it is because we tend to empathize with people we can understand or relate to.

 

[Dr_Meinheimer]

It has yet to be presented as multiple views by the same individual commentator. The message I have had heard it is “the actual protestors are peaceful; it is antifa and/or white nationalists” OR “what did you expect after years of frustration.”

I have yet to hear “the violence is a combination of fed up, otherwise peaceful Black Americans and outside agitators unconcerned with the plight of the black community.”

 

[StudentMI]

Tell me, do you think it was sound policy for Trump to invite MAGA PROTESTERS to the same places these protesters are. I am wondering if we see a thread on that uninspiring tweet.
Do the buildings burn different when they arrive? Like a heavenly light or something?

How does that address what I wrote?

 

[Maximus1]

It’s Trump’s job to address what you wrote. Who else?

 

[StudentMI]

It’s Trump’s job to address what you wrote. Who else?

I’m confused.

 

[Maximus1]

You see it through your eyes and interest. What you say isn’t relatable to the people in those streets. At least be pragmatic and see that.
How about this.
30 years ago in the Miami courthouse I accompanied a distinguished old and brilliant lawyer. My mentor.
On the third floor in Miami is the old library. It’s entranceway is tunnel shaped on the west side of the hall. There is a water fountain on the right and left but only the right one works. I asked him, why do they have that other fountain that doesn’t work. He told me, that’s the “old colored fountain.” No sign, nothing. I noticed the jury assembly room up the hall. The overflow poured out before the morning conveined and people made eye contact with me from the entranceway. The positions of things had not changed except now everyone drinks from the right.
I got to thinking what might it have been like when this fountain worked and IF I am black, with my fortunes tied to what would go on today in this building.
Those whites down the hall are my jury and THEY ARE MAKING SURE I DRINK FROM THE RIGHT FOUNTAIN.
Over time I started to think about how there weren’t riots.
I have been white my whole life and I know white people. I could easily imagine whites going postal in that circumstance if they were being observed by juror/ colored fountain monitors. I suggest the riot stems from that postal impulse for many. Seeing that man calling for his dead mom triggered it. ( It certainly triggered me) And questions trying to make things " tidy" are like the proverbial, blank in the wind.