That’s right, I’m finally going there. Strap your asses in.
When people ask me how I feel about “Black Lives Matter”, I usually ask them to clarify the question. Do they mean the organization called “Black Lives Matter”, or do they mean the sentiment, that black lives matter and racially-motivated police brutality is a problem in America that needs to be addressed?
If it’s the organization “Black Lives Matter”, I think it’s a fucking scam. That’s right white people of Twitter and Reddit, I said it. Here’s a tissue, dry your eyes and read on.
I can hear all the white liberal suburban assholes crying now and blindly calling me a racist. Perhaps then they’d care to explain why the “founders” of BLM used donations to buy a $6 million house. Perhaps they can explain to me why a top executive of the organization is under investigation for embezzling $10 million in donations. The people running this show are clearly crooks that are taking advantage of people who are actually campaigning for justice against crooked cops. They’ve basically hijacked a valid political movement for a valid cause, and are using it to profiteer. Ask any urban-dwelling black person how much of that donation money they’ve seen being put to work in their community and you’re liable to be laughed at (and then robbed at gunpoint, because what the fuck is your cracker ass doing in the ghetto?). The organization is a scam taking advantage of a current social movement, and it’s actually quite sickening.
Also, how come most people I see sporting BLM stickers and signs are white yuppies? I live in the middle of Philly, I should be seeing more black people sporting BLM gear. Instead I usually only see it when I have to go out to predominantly white neighborhoods, or near (predominantly white) college campuses. The biggest supporters of the BLM organization that I’ve ever met are rich white assholes. Enough with the virtue-signaling, guys. Black people aren’t stupid, they know you’re just doing it to look hip and progressive to your other rich white friends. By acting like you care about a cause that affects you in absolutely no way, you’re perpetuating a white savior complex, and are therefore racist.
I’m also confused as to why black people decided to tear up their own neighborhoods instead of going after the people actually responsible for the “institutionalized racism” that rich white liberals always complain about when trying to speak for poor black people. Looting your local Walmart makes you look like assholes. What you should have been smashing up and looting were places like City Hall or the mayor’s house. If a group of angry black people had dragged Philadelphia mayor Jim Kenney out into the street and beaten him to a pulp I’d have been cheering them on the whole time. Instead they always seem to target people and places that have little to nothing to do with their cause. I wonder why the politicians never seem to come under attack from angry mobs? They can’t arrest all of you, guys. Just saying.
As far as the sentiment behind the cause goes, I understand why black people are pissed about white cops killing unarmed black people. George Floyd was a criminal piece of shit and hardly worth rioting over, there’s no doubt about that. But there’s still absolutely no reason whatsoever that Derrick Chauvin needed to kneel on his neck for nine fucking minutes. I don’t care how hopped up Floyd was on whatever drug he was on, if Chauvin needed to kneel on his neck for nine whole minutes then Chauvin and his partner are weak little bitches who have no business being cops. How hard would it really have been to get Floyd to the ground, secure him in cuffs, then throw him in the back of your cruiser? Isn’t securing a perp that’s resisting arrest part of basic training in the academy?
Apologists will defend Chauvin by saying that being a cop is very stressful, and that Floyd already had a huge rap sheet to begin with. Both of these are true. Unfortunately for the apologists, neither of them excuse Chauvin’s lack of judgement and self-control. If you can’t handle the stress of being a cop, don’t be a fucking cop. If you’re so weak-willed that a guy hopped up on drugs gets the better of you and clouds your judgement to the point where you accidentally kill him by leaving your knee on his neck for nine minutes then you have no business enforcing the law. Someone who can’t control themselves has no business trying to control me. You knew the job was going to be stressful going in. If you can’t handle it, don’t sign up! Millions of police officers around the world go to work each day without killing or needlessly beating perps, if they can do it then so can you.
Yes, Floyd had a rap sheet a mile long and was probably better off not being on the streets. The thing is, that’s the court’s job to determine, not the police. You ain’t Judge Dredd, this ain’t Mega City One. It’s your job to arrest the guy, not beat him to a pulp or pointlessly execute him. It’s fucked up that the court system kept letting Floyd off easy (actually, recidivism is A LOT more complicated than this, but my thoughts on that could be an entire other article of its own), but again, you’re not the judge.
I’m not going to break down every single case of white cops killing black civilians, I’d be here all day (I also think the problem of overly aggressive cops killing unarmed civilians transcends race, but again, another article for another time). To sum it up quickly, there’s a lot of assholes on both sides, but one side should be exercising more control.
I feel like the police should be held to higher standards than average civilians. Those entrusted with the power to enforce the law should be the best of the best. That doesn’t just mean the fastest or physically strongest, it also means the brightest and most mentally stable. Sure, Joe Meathead can bench 355 for reps and run a six-minute mile, but that doesn’t mean he’s capable of handling the stress that comes with dealing with criminals and lunatics all day, or that he has the social skills to even know how to deal with these people in the first place. Police training needs to include more than physical skills. It needs to include mental health professional training. The fact is, police need to be better equipped to handle mentally ill people (which a good chunk of the criminals that they deal with on a daily basis are). Part of police training should involve working in a psych ward alongside trained mental health professionals, so officers can learn how to actually handle crazy people or junkies without having to do things like kneel on their necks for nine minutes.
It also doesn’t help that the average police training in the US lasts less than six months. Almost any idiot who can run, fire a gun, and lift weights can become qualified to enforce the law in under half a year. No fucking wonder so many assholes are making it through. Why is police training this short? This is something that should be two years, minimum. I have to study the law for seven years if I want to be a lawyer, why the fuck can some jerk-off earn the right to enforce the law after less than six months? I mean, I know there’s way more work and responsibility involved in being a lawyer, I’m not delusional or anything. But the disparity between how much training it takes to enforce the law compared to how much it takes to uphold the law just seems huge. We expect the best from our lawyers and judges, why the hell shouldn’t we expect the best from our LEOs?
Please don’t get me wrong, the point of this article isn’t to bash the men and women who put their lives on the line daily to keep us safe. I respect law enforcement, and I know the media and public can be unnecessarily hard on them quite often, especially after the George Floyd incident. I just feel that the people who are tasked with enforcing the law should be trained better and held to higher standards. And yes, with better training and higher standards should come higher pay.
The fact of the matter is, both sides of this issue are locked in a never-ending self-perpetuating cycle of conflict that is never going to end unless one side shows some restraint. Seeing as the police are supposed to be the professionals, it’s up to them to show that restraint when dealing with the public, be that public black, white, Hispanic, whatever. And for fuck’s sake, we need to hold the media accountable for fanning the flames of this conflict. Black community leaders need to also step it up and start dealing with the assholes in their own camp too. You guys aren’t stupid, you know that black on black crime is way more common than racially-motivated white-on-black crime, I’ve never met a black person who doesn’t realize this. Stop letting rich white assholes speak for you, stop letting them manipulate you into being their personal army, and stop trashing your own neighborhoods every single time the media tells you to be angry at something. You have every right to be angry, just make sure you take that anger out on the right target. There’s a reason that when the National Guard was called into Philly back in June of 2020, the only two places they were actually posted were City Hall and the mayor’s house, and not your neighborhoods.
Both sides can do better. LEOs and black people, AJnet is calling on you both to rise to the occasion, weed out the assholes in your own camps, and hold yourselves to higher standards. Get your fucking houses in order.
Note from editor: This article was meant to be part of another larger article scheduled for a later date. It took on a life of its own while being written, and we’ve opted to make it its own article due to the nature of the topic and its relevance to Black History Month.
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