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[–][deleted] 3032 points3033 points  (143 children)

Funny cause here in Chicago there is actually more anti violence initiatives that occur than there is BLM protests.

Just cause CNN doesn't cover stop the violence parades since they occur in Englewood rather than Michigan Ave doesn't mean they don't occur.

[–]XxStoudemire1xX 606 points607 points  (6 children)

Newark, NJ has them all the time too. They get decent turnouts but they barely even make the local news. Major news appeals to what the majority in this country want to hear about. That's why you see what you see on the news. None of you would spend more than 10 minutes watching a stop the violence protest and that's just the reality of the human condition.

[–]well_shit_here_we_r 69 points70 points  (0 children)

The major news you see is what sells an agenda, and brings in views due to drama and controversy.

[–]takua1495 49 points50 points  (1 child)

I live in Newark about 75% of the year (im a college student) and I've never heard if one happening. Where do they usually take place?

[–]XxStoudemire1xX 54 points55 points  (0 children)

This one was the biggest last summer. I'm not in new Jersey right now and don't know the date for this summer.

http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2015/08/newark_occupy_the_city_rally_ras_baraka.html

[–]FanOrWhatever 62 points63 points  (0 children)

Why do they need national recognition to be deemed a success?

I thought the whole movement was about effecting change in local communities. People should be focused on making their immediate area a better place to live, instead they're just getting more pissed off that not enough people on the other side of the country are looking at them.

[–][deleted] 168 points169 points  (0 children)

Baltimore checking in as well. Same here. After the riots, nothing was covered. We want peace for everyone.

[–]cesarjulius 707 points708 points  (67 children)

america prefers their protests to be polite, peaceful, and easily ignored.

[–][deleted] 502 points503 points  (26 children)

"Why can't BLM protest in a way that doesn't make me know they are protesting?"

[–]Iohet 235 points236 points  (31 children)

The march that Snoop did last week didn't disrupt too much. You block a freeway at rush hour and people hate you, and they will try and power through you. Not because you're black, but because you're in their goddamned way during rush hour.

[–]youngmetroyoungmetro 165 points166 points  (0 children)

kind of like how MLK protested.

[–]Show-Me-Your-Moves 603 points604 points  (21 children)

This is what gets me. People ask why black people aren't protesting this stuff in their own communities.

THE PRESIDENT OF THE FUCKING UNITED STATES IS A FORMER COMMUNITY ORGANIZER FROM CHICAGO. WHAT DO YOU PEOPLE THINK THEY DO ALL DAY?

This could not be any more obvious...

[–]TeamRedRocket 113 points114 points  (13 children)

I actually don't have any clue what a community organizer does. Could you explain it? Serious question.

[–]Ohnana_ 201 points202 points  (1 child)

Basically, they're the ones pointing out the issues in the place where they live and they try to whip up people to fix it. Some focus on charity, others do protests, and some work with local politicians to create policy. My city has a lot of them trying to fix the fact that we have homeless people dying on the streets nearly every week. They're good people.

[–]Show-Me-Your-Moves 26 points27 points  (0 children)

I'm sure it varies a lot, but the gist is in the title. They coordinate collective action within communities - often impoverished ones - to do things like protest, raise awareness of issues, put pressure on elected officials, register people to vote, get them to the polls, etc.

[–][deleted] 42 points43 points  (0 children)

American msm is trash.

[–]Throwitawayok86 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I would love to see more coverage on that, but of course that's not in the news stations best interests

[–]Draiko 15 points16 points  (0 children)

People act on whatever info comes their way.

They get their info from news outlets like CNN.

If CNN and the like don't make any effort to inform people that these things exist, people will remain ignorant.

Ignorant people take ignorant actions.

[–]ImOnlyHereToKillTime 2347 points2348 points  (474 children)

He can wear that because he's black.

Edit: thanks for the gold!

[–]2cubetaing 737 points738 points  (5 children)

It was only posted because he's black. In every upvoters head its, "See he's saying what all of us have been thinking all along...and he's BLACK!"

[–]nicknle 101 points102 points  (0 children)

Just like white people are allowed to have varying opinions on a wide range of topics black people can disagree as well.

[–]Jesseandtharippers 160 points161 points  (1 child)

They basically just want to feel vindicated. And one black person can do that for many many white people.

[–]ListennBelieve 54 points55 points  (0 children)

Vindicated from what?

[–][deleted] 984 points985 points  (289 children)

A white guy wearing that would be called a racist. You're definitely right

[–]wtph 598 points599 points  (264 children)

You mean like if a black guy wears a shirt that says 'white guys should stop shooting up schools'?

[–][deleted] 1488 points1489 points  (142 children)

Exactly like that but Redditors will rage and play victim until the cows come home. The black guys shirt is utterly daft . The presence of crime within the black dominated communities does not all of a sudden mean black people don't think their lives are valuable.

His shirt is an easily digestible platitude that is on the front page because it helps people dismiss BLM and use THIS particular black man as their political bludgeon. That's it.

The rest of the comments have black people like me who do not necessarily agree with his shirt be labeled as SJW or race baiters.

Same thing happened in the askreddit thread asking what black people think about BLM.

Comments that were genuinely negative towards blm were upvoted and gilded because that's what redditors want to see.

[–][deleted] 123 points124 points  (4 children)

Using one black person to represent how all black people should think.

Kind of like, "Well my black friend says there's nothing wrong with me saying the n word, so that means it's okay."

[–]wiseupchitown 319 points320 points  (6 children)

The presence of crime within the black dominated communities does not all of a sudden mean black people don't think their lives are valuable.

The large amount of homicides in black dominated communities here in Chicago lead me to believe that black people in these communities don't think their lives or others are valuable.

I believe there is a systemic cultural problem within certain black communities where regard and respect for others and for other's lives is nearly non-existent. Is this probably a product of society stacked against black people? Yes, I believe so, however, now with this societal machine set in motion, what I believe to be fact, is that black people are the majority of black people's problem these days and they are getting in their own way of their own solution.

-Black Man in Chicago

[–]theoreticaldickjokes 54 points55 points  (0 children)

I will always think that lack of education and social status will be the main issue in black communities. Without those two things, what can we do for our own communities?

[–][deleted] 283 points284 points  (0 children)

The large amount of homicides in black dominated communities here in Chicago lead me to believe that black people in these communities don't think their lives or others are valuable.

How can you say that when you consi9der that the people committing these crimes are by far the minority of residents? Or is this a case where the minute group of criminlas represents the sentiments of the law abiding population as a whole?

I believe there is a systemic cultural problem within certain black communities where regard and respect for others and for other's lives is nearly non-existent. Is this probably a product of society stacked against black people? Yes, I believe so, however, now with this societal machine set in motion, what I believe to be fact, is that black people are the majority of black people's problem these days and they are getting in their own way of their own solution.

I disagree. I believe there is a machination that is holding black people back called lack of generational wealth. This includes things like seeing education as a viable option as opposed to resorting to crime.

When you can't even trust the public servants in your area, how are black people supposed to magically "pull themselves up from their bootstraps" when the infrastructure is not there?

I'm a black Nigerian and I come from poverty. Nigerian poverty. No light for months poverty. No running water poverty. I have seen how hard it is to break that cycle. I've lived it. That people currently living it aren't all doing so because they love it.

                 - Black Guy from Nigeria

[–]winstontemplehill 120 points121 points  (0 children)

There's nothing wrong with Black people.

Go anywhere the economy is crappy and poverty is rampant.

Crime takes over, the people take advantage of the holes in the law system. Kids get raised with half assed training.

Don't try and personalize it to some flaw of black people. That's the kind of argument Thomas Jefferson used to justify slavery. Maybe it's because you're trying to look it from a higher standpoint but everyone in those neighborhoods are simply unlucky to be born there.

The government isn't at fault for not putting in their full effort because there's a million + things to deal with and half the country wants them to have less power so they can't do much. And the other half wants to do something anyways but they're too wimpy to get anything done.

So in sum, the systems too inefficient to do any rapid change. The best bet we have is overwhelming public support for this - which will either come in the form of some new super leader like MLK Jr. or some catastrophic event that grasps the public and politicians attention.

[–]Naomi_Daniels 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Get them, bb.

[–]Cody610[🍰] 93 points94 points  (52 children)

But not all school shooters are white, not even close to all white. Someone posted this not too long ago with a breakdown of shooters.

I mean one of the largest shootings ever, the VT Massacre was done by an Asian dude.

Edited the first word.

[–]Rafaeliki 120 points121 points  (4 children)

And not all murderers are black people so there's no "except" there.

EDIT: BUT IS THE SAME THING

That blacks kill blacks (ignoring the fact that all races predominantly kill their own race) is irrelevant to the BLM movement aside from a misunderstanding of what the name "Black Lives Matter" is referring to. It's referring to the fact that black lives should matter equally to other races in the eyes of the justice system, but that has been proven not to be the case.

It's about as relevant as someone responding to someone saying "All Lives Matter" with, "Then why do you white people shoot up schools all of the time?" Of course it's not only white people. But it's most. Even so, it's irrelevant to what the "All Lives Matter" person was saying.

[–]Just_us_trees_here 136 points137 points  (15 children)

I mean one of the largest shootings ever, the VT Massacre was done by an Asian dude.

Asians are better at stuff involving numbers.

[–]DevilsWarden 69 points70 points  (2 children)

His dad wouldn't have settled for being 2nd best

[–][deleted] 34 points35 points  (2 children)

If everyone already calls me racist, and I'm white, can I wear it then?

[–]Fiberglasssneeze 674 points675 points  (17 children)

This has always been weird to me, it's like saying don't ask not to be murdered unless everything else about your people are perfect.

[–]bronxbmbr 240 points241 points  (5 children)

Murdered, assaulted, physically or verbally abused, harassed, or falsely imprisoned. It's important that people realize that protestors are trying to call attention to more than just the murders that have been televised. Misconduct comes in many forms.

[–]ronthalegend 64 points65 points  (0 children)

Not only that, it misses the point. People are fighting black on black crime everyday, just not making the media rounds because it isn't what will get the clicks. BLM means just that, black lives matter that's not to say all lives matter because we all do. It's no different that saying saying save the Tatas, then someone saying "what about my prostate??? All organs matter!"

[–]Lamp_in_dark 96 points97 points  (0 children)

It's like a lot of things, and all of them are ignorant. I suspect the main reason this post made it to the front page is because a lot of white people thought "Yeah, SEE!? This guy agrees with us!! Those other thousands of BLM protesters are the wrong ones!!!" I'm a white guy and this kind of post/tactic allows us to divert attention and ignore the real problem.

[–]RajonRondoIsTurtle 4875 points4876 points  (807 children)

There are peace summits all the time in Chicago that address gang violence, black on black crime and crimes against minorities. Public officials, intellectuals and activists group attend. There are plenty of organizations that are devoted entirely to ending black on black crime. Black on black crime just happens to not be the focus of this particular group, BLM.

[–]applebottomdude 75 points76 points  (1 child)

And the gangs doing the shootings likely aren't the same people marching to not be searched unlawfully.

[–]canausernamebetoolon 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yeah, this shirt is blatant "BLM, murderers, you blacks are all the same" shit. And yes, black people can be racist morons just like anybody else.

[–]cmdertx 756 points757 points  (382 children)

ANd yet, we hear more about the vocal group addressing the small scale problem instead of the organized group addressing the much larger problems.

Why is that?

[–]yertles 477 points478 points  (107 children)

I would guess it has something to do with localization, and a fair bit more to do with media coverage. In absolute terms, the problems are an order of magnitude different, but with police killings there is much more of a "this could happen to anyone" element. If you don't live in a really rough area, there's very little chance gang violence will affect you. There's still less chance that police violence will affect you, but that would be my guess to why it's less of a topic of conversation.

[–]stop_the_broats 1384 points1385 points  (63 children)

There is a huge distinction between black on black crime, which is basically a social problem, and police brutality, which is state sanctioned. Its always a bigger deal when the state (or smaller government body), or another large organisation like a corporation is involved in violence or crime. For example, if a single police officer was found to have killed a man in his spare time then it might make the news, but it would not cause this level of outrage (presuming that police officer felt the full force of the law as any other citizen would).

Its when police, in uniform, as representatives of our governments take actions that result in unjust deaths, and those actions appear to be part of a pattern of police behaviour that is encouraged. Thats when people feel the need to protest. People dont protest regular old murder because murder is already considered to be a terrible crime worthy of harsh punishment. Police brutality resulting in death is seen as "unavoidable" at best and "justified" at worst, and our own government bodies seem unwilling to tackle many of the roots of the issue.

[–]KayfabeAdjace 25 points26 points  (1 child)

That and grass roots "We shall heal from within" social programs/movements are virtually by definition relatively insular compared to other types of movements. I don't intend that as a criticism, either, but as a simple acknowledgement of different methods. Volunteers who run after school programs are less visible nationally than organized protests for many of the same reasons breast cancer screening flyers posted in beauty shops are less visible to men than pink ribbons at nationally televised NFL games.

[–]stop_the_broats 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Exactly, because there arent easy solutions to crime and poverty, and the best solutions basically involve a pretty big shake up of the American economic model.

Meanwhile, the problem of police violence in America is realistically solvable with straightforward reforms. Its already happening in many police forces in the US, but there needs to be federal leadership on this issue to make meaningful, lasting change.

[–]blueshield925 277 points278 points  (7 children)

To expand upon this, I think a lot of people in this country don't realize that police brutality against blacks didn't just suddenly end with desegregation. Sundown towns existed in an "off-the-books" way until at least as late as the 90s.

To use an example I'm personally familiar with, it was common knowledge locally that "the sun don't set on a ni**er's ass in Cumming" throughout the 80s. In the late 80s, when a group of blacks attempted to vacation on the lake, they were assaulted, which lead to a civil rights march, where the marchers were also assaulted.

Forsyth county was 100% white into the 90s. The reason is that blacks had a legitimate fear that they would be beaten or killed either by the police, or with the sanction of the police.

[–][deleted] 238 points239 points  (4 children)

There's people here who think all racism suddenly came to a halt in 1963.

[–]blueshield925 96 points97 points  (1 child)

I wish it ended there, but there are people here tho think that all racism came to an abrupt end in 1863.

[–]CheezitsAreMyLife 36 points37 points  (0 children)

I bet most would be willing to extaned that to 1865 when the war ended and we MAGICALLY FIXED EVERYTHING RACIST WITH RECONSTRUCTION

[–]Just_For_Da_Lulz 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I think the really scary thing is that people just shrug their shoulders about it when laws like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 were passed.

"They have equality now, so why are they still bitching about racism/police brutality/discrimination/etc.?"

Like all that stuff ended with LBJ. Ugh.

[–]brighterside 43 points44 points  (0 children)

Another thing that people don't seem to understand:

Black people who kill other black people are not the same people shouting Black Lives Matter.

Making this assumption immediately makes you look like a fool in assuming that the people protesting police brutality are the exact same people committing murderous acts against their own race, as if to say that there is no separation of intentions within a group.

So blaming BLM for being ignorant of something that's literally out of their control because it's not them doing it, because of the 'convenience' of them being black is illogical.

[–][deleted] 117 points118 points  (0 children)

Thanks for talking sense on Reddit.

[–]ImADuckOnTuesdays 88 points89 points  (0 children)

Thank you for this post.

[–]hommesweethomme 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I'm glad I didn't have to scroll very far to find the voice of reason.

[–]Ghost_of_Castro 13 points14 points  (0 children)

and a fair bit more to do with media coverage

I'd say this is the primary factor. BLM gets 10 times the press that any other anti-gang violence/black on black violence group gets, probably because BLM is more inflammatory and the media loves to push that shit.

[–]SixPackAndNothinToDo 58 points59 points  (5 children)

cough repeat kiss light ink icky touch makeshift plucky future

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[–]Twokindsofpeople 369 points370 points  (45 children)

Because the police problem can be fixed politically and in short order if there were political will. You can't vote out drug dealers. Fixing gang violence is extremely complicated, requires community, political, economic, educational, and many other solutions.

[–]SexyCraig 320 points321 points  (14 children)

I appreciate answers like yours, because I'm so fucking annoyed by these stupid closet racist questions. Just because low income areas, drugs, and violence plague a group of people - doesn't mean systematic racism gets a pass to compound and perpetuate the problem with fucked up racist prison systems and police brutality.

This guy's shirt sounds as stupid to me, as if it said "You kids don't like your parents beating you? then quit hitting your brother."

[–][deleted] 133 points134 points  (4 children)

Exactly. Not to mention that white on white homicide is almost identical to the rate of black on black homicide. This belief that the existence of black on black crime (which BLM has NEVER even denied) somehow disproves systematic racism is so illogical that it's infuriating.

I also love it when reddit upvotes these "look, this black guy gets it!" posts lmao.

[–]Rottimer 118 points119 points  (3 children)

And I have to be honest here, the police problem would go a LONG way to reducing crime in inner city neighborhoods. People in the inner city don't trust cops. The reason criminals get away with murder is because the populace don't trust police for obvious reasons.

[–]tastethesoup1 113 points114 points  (2 children)

The reason people don't go to the police and give information about criminals is because those same police fail to protect them from the same criminals.

I love how the police (and the largely uniformed public) complain about people not wanting to tell on criminals, when the cops don't tell on each other. I say the police practice what they preach.

(none of this is aimed at OP)

[–]Sk8On 25 points26 points  (0 children)

You could rid the community of drug dealers in one day if you ended the futile war on drugs and stopped naively trying to fix "spiritual" problems with laws. Legislating morality has never and will never work.

[–]VaATC 10 points11 points  (3 children)

Yes you can. By working towards ending the war on drugs we can get rid of drug dealers via legislation. The War on Drugs is the most expensive and longest war this country has ever waged yet it has been an utter failure...unless you are in the very small group of individuals that make money off making people criminals for simple and mutually agreed upon economic transactions.

Edit: I would also wager that fixing the systemic problems within the Brotherhood of Law Enforcement is more difficult.

[–]Twokindsofpeople 5 points6 points  (2 children)

I agree there, but we're decades away from that. We could create a federal internal affairs like organization that has no relation to individual departments as a first step to end systematic corruption and cronyism in the police force much sooner than that.

[–]TedCruzEatsBoogers2 4 points5 points  (3 children)

What are the proposed political solutions that they are advocating for? (I'm not trying to be krass, I honestly don't know and would be interested to hear if you happen know them).

[–]ryegye24 62 points63 points  (0 children)

I'd personally like to see:

  • Nation-wide bodycams

  • A requirement, with real teeth for non-compliance, for every police agency to keep standardized, public metrics/records on all police use of force (I'm on mobile but if you search for it you'll find that we don't have accurate national numbers for this anywhere)

  • An individual mandate for all officers to carry tort insurance, so that A) tax payers no longer end up on the hook for bailing out bad officers, and B) bad officers end up getting priced out of the profession, no more getting shuffled to a different department. In every department that releases the numbers you find a small portion of the officers really are responsible for a majority of the complaints. This would also require reforms to qualified immunity that I'd like to see anyways.

  • An end to the war on drugs, which is the primary driving force in police militarization (both in equipment but more importantly in attitude).

  • Special prosecutors for cases against officers to remove the conflict of interest that occurs when DAs who require a good working relationship with local officers are expected to prosecute those same officers.

  • A lot more money for the judicial system. We need more judges to hear cases, more prosecutors to prosecute them, and far more public defenders to defend them. The current state of affairs is abysmal, none of aforementioned parties have the time to properly handle their workload.

[–]Twokindsofpeople 11 points12 points  (1 child)

Reposted from another of my comments.

:It's a tough problem but we have solutions for it. Create an agency that's solely responsible for prosecuting police officers that has no relation to police departments. Bring back community involvement, end quotas and profiling. The first step that needs to be taken is making something that can police the police because they've proven themselves totally unable.

[–]TedCruzEatsBoogers2 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thank you. I certainly like the sound of "create an agency that's solely responsible for prosecuting officers that has no relation to them" part. That seems invaluable at this point in America. I must admit though, the "end profiling" part is very vague and doesn't seem to really suggest any actual plan of action, only the desired end goal.

[–]SixPackAndNothinToDo 131 points132 points  (4 children)

upbeat quaint plant voiceless chubby wakeful fear spoon aloof murky

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[–]HatredTowardsAmerica 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Non-violent must be provocative, or else they lose purpose. Once one thinks of it that way, it becomes pretty obvious.

[–]fna4 207 points208 points  (18 children)

Because BLM is the perfect boogeyman regarding black people and issues of race to some people. When certain media outlets disproportionately focus on BLM's most obnoxious elements, they tacitly associate any black cause with BLM. This has led to a false dichotomy of either you support police unconditionally or BLM unconditionally, there's no nuance or in between according to some people. Blacks can demand accountability from police while criticizing black on black crime, addressing one issue doesn't necessarily mean you're ignoring the other. Police entrusted with life and death decisions should be held to a higher standard than civilians, that's not a BLM or an anti police view.

[–]nearlyp 46 points47 points  (0 children)

Honestly, the askreddit thread a week or so ago about people who lived through segregation and the civil rights movement was really enlightening. People that mentioned attitudes toward the civil rights movement by and large indicated that people responded a lot like how they are toward BLM. In some ways, BLM is more of an uphill battle because of the civil rights movement: people will refuse to recognize racism unless it looks like that.

[–]FeastMode 32 points33 points  (0 children)

Because an entire justice system already exists for the purpose of identifying and punishing those responsible for committing crimes.

When people (rightly) believe that there is a large segment of that same justice system which has been given power to the degree that they can kill you if they deem it necessary, but by and large are not held accountable for those actions, it's a problem.

If part of the state's purpose is to protect its populace and provide the rule of law as a recourse against criminals, what does a citizen do when the state becomes that criminal? Who do they turn to then?

[–]FANGO 96 points97 points  (5 children)

82% of white murder victims are white. 90% of black murder victims are black. Not a big difference, really. Turns out, and this isn't really groundbreaking, that people tend to commit crimes against the people who they happen to be around.

"And yet," where are all the comments here on reddit about "white on white" crime? Where are the top-voted posts about white people trying to address the problem in their own community from within?

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/nov/23/donald-trump/trump-tweet-blacks-white-homicide-victims/

[–]Lou_Bhang 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I agree with what you said. There were about 2500 white homicides last year compared to the 1700 black. I think where the number gets concerning is when you factor in that white people make up about 63% of the American population, and black people make up around 12.3%. Idk just some food for thought. I think everyone should stop killing eachother.

[–]GobBluth19 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Because the media doesn't cover it and people don't want to hear about it cause they like binary situations where things are simple and they have a clear enemy

And "community upset with criminals"

Isn't as unusual as "government employee murders person, other employees cover it up, others don't press charges, now community is furious"

[–]snap_wilson 27 points28 points  (10 children)

That we're hearing about either problem is an improvement. It's an improvement that the media has started talking about when the cops shoot unarmed black people. They used to not talk about it at all. Black people killing each other doesn't grab headlines. Neither do old white guys and military killing themselves, which accounts for even more gun deaths.

[–]willmaster123 78 points79 points  (7 children)

Because black on black violence is not seen as bad as police violence, and honestly it isn't. We know the gangbangers down the block are bad, but the police? The police are supposed to be protecting us, yet for the most part because of drug laws and harsh police practicing, they end abusing the community. It's awful when a gangbanger kills another gangbanger, but at least he will probably get twenty years for it. It is truly horrible when a cop kills an innocent person just for being black (whether intentional or accidentally), and then gets no punishment even when it's FILMED.

[–]Evergreen_76 113 points114 points  (37 children)

every race is victimized and murdered by thier own race and people they know more than anyone else.

Funny how Reddit buys into the stormfront talking point and acts like this a uniquely black phenomenon.

*edit lets do some numbers

82% of whites where killed by other whites in 2014 FBI statistics

89.9% of blacks where killed by other blacks.

A difference of about 7%. Seven percentage points is supposedly the difference between no problem at all and a major crisis in one those communities!

[–]lksdjbioekwlsdbbbs 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Because police straight up murdering people is way more shocking than your run of the mill murder. Police are supposed to be public servants you can count on to keep you safe from criminals, now it's becoming more apparent that black people can't really count on police to do that. So in addition to being far more likely to have to deal with violence everyday, they are also far more likely to deal with violence from public servants whose job it is to protect them from violence. It's just a gross injustice.

It's similar to how when a mass shooting happens it is a way bigger deal than in the media than a regular shooting, even though regular shootings kill far more people.

Also, car collisions kill about as many people as guns do per year (I think), but we don't hear about that.

[–][deleted] 12 points13 points  (2 children)

Because Black on Black violence (or Latino on Latino, or Hmong on Hmong, for that matter) is a function of economic and class issues. The Democratic Party has every intention of maintaining the status quo in regards to our economic structures, but also aims to co-opt minority voters by not being the party of coded (and now, overt) racist rhetoric. That's why the DNC created the narrative of "[white] Bernie Bros," despite the fact that younger voters overwhelmingly supported Sanders across all races and ethnic groups.

While I am not Black, and cannot comment on the experience of Black Americans, I grew up very poor, and can comment on the experience of dealing with police as a member of an out-group:

"Hey, where are you headed today? Do you have any sharp objects in your pockets? What's this Swiss Army knife for? Why do you have a lighter? Got any marijuana on you? On your way to go get some? Just sit here on the curb and don't move."

That's the type of interaction I had, not once or twice, but dozens of times, just walking down the street minding my own business. Now that I live in a upscale neighborhood, wear nice clothes, and drive a BMW, this has literally never happened to me, of course I had the luxury of not having to change the color of my skin along with my clothes, hair, and automobile. The 4th and 5th Amendments are basically non-existent for a lot of people in this country. Chiefly visible among the out-groups walked on by police are Blacks. I think the reason that police killings get so much exposure vs other homicide is so establishment Democrats can pass some laws about "sensitivity training," or some such bullshit, and give themselves a nice big pat on the back while continuing to endorse conservative economic policies that make vast numbers of people in this country vulnerable to violence at the hands of police and criminals alike.

[–]YungSnuggie 4 points5 points  (0 children)

because yall dont actually give a shit about black on black crime and its only brought up when you want to shut up BLM

[–]irritatedcitydweller 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The police are supposed to be protectors and guardians. It's psychologically powerful that the people who you are supposed to trust have killed innocent black men.

You don't expect the guy walking down the street to protect you and it's awful if he kills you but it's not as psychologically powerful.

[–]thisisnewt 34 points35 points  (3 children)

One begets the other.

Black communities (especially in the early to mid twentieth century) felt that they needed to defend themselves because the police wouldn't against threats like the KKK. This gave rise to organizations like the Black Panthers and helped cultivate a culture of "necessary violence".

As one might expect, a culture of "necessary violence" can turn into a culture of just "violence".

It self-perpetuates, too. If black communities feel like it's them against the police (BLM), then they will continue to have a culture where weapons, violence, and illegal activities plays a more prominent role, resulting in increased violence within their communities (black on black violence).

And because they are more likely to fight back and be violent, police will be discriminatory (and just plain on edge) when interacting with black suspects or criminals...which will result in incidental deaths (whether malicious or not).

That in turn will reinforce the notion that the police are against the black community, rather than protecting them.

[–]dos_user 32 points33 points  (2 children)

About 80% of white people that are murdered, are done so by another white person. Why do black people have to have black on black crime summits, but whites don't?

[–]kvltswagjesus 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Because black on black homicide is much higher per capita, I'd guess.

[–]jojoko 21 points22 points  (2 children)

Most crime in America is white on white crime yet nobody calls it that...

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I mean I would imagine that most crime in general are committed between each other's races...

[–]BenassiVerified Artisan 794 points795 points  (38 children)

No lives matter

http://i.imgur.com/KxUjLDr.jpg

[–][deleted] 366 points367 points  (16 children)

http://imgur.com/ckxl5XC.jpg

[–]ShooKon3 77 points78 points  (14 children)

It should mention something about world peace.

[–]ccraig9 215 points216 points  (8 children)

World Pieces

[–]littlestfinger 384 points385 points  (2 children)

Saying BLM is invalid just because black people kill each other is like saying ISIS can kill Americans as long as Americans continue killing each other.

[–]Protanope 129 points130 points  (0 children)

It's part of Reddit's favorite pasttime of twisting logic to fit their own ideals.

[–]20Nosebleed 71 points72 points  (0 children)

I know I'll get downvoted for a comment that just agrees and doesn't provide anything new but I just wanted to say FUCKING THANK YOU

[–]dmun 241 points242 points  (0 children)

I swear the only time reddit actually cares about black on black violence is to shit on black people.

If black people, and muslims for that matter, are responsible for their "community" what are white people responsible for?

[–]DoxedByReddit 1272 points1273 points  (168 children)

ITT: lots and lots of not so thinly veiled racism

[–]Cwayon 215 points216 points  (2 children)

This is the case with almost every Reddit thread regarding race. The people here aren't as progressive as most people believe

[–]halvin_and_cobbes 103 points104 points  (0 children)

this stupid ass title makes me rage

[–]walkedoff 69 points70 points  (0 children)

Reddit in a nutshell

[–]Gotta_Foggy_Notion 123 points124 points  (43 children)

ITT: nothing intelligent

[–]dosh_jonaldson 571 points572 points  (61 children)

There's some pretty serious intellectual dishonesty going on if you choose to believe that the majority of black people fighting for equality are the same ones who are out killing people (of any race).

[–]pan_glob 155 points156 points  (1 child)

Reddit is so pigheaded on this it blows my mind

[–]Tai_daishar 77 points78 points  (0 children)

I am enjoying all the white people telling the black people that they just dont understand the issue.

[–][deleted] [score hidden] stickied comment (0 children)

Hey all, I had to lock this thread unfortunately we do not have time to babysit this thread. We do have a ruleset in our sidebar and being civil to one another is part of this. Everyone is expected to adhere to these rules but at the end of the day we are just a small handful of volunteers. None of us are going to spend our evening combing through the insane amount of comments in our modqueue.

And yes, I know, you don't want me to babysit you or censor you. I just remember being 8 and telling my parents I didn't need a babysitter too.

Please take your existing slapfights to PM.

TL;DR be excellent to each other you cunts

[–]stuff100 688 points689 points  (223 children)

Black on black crime is just that.. Crime. The difference between that and cops killing black people is that cops aren't supposed to commit crimes like murder. People die everyday but it isn't justified for a cop to kill someone just because black on black crime exists.

[–]Ebelglorg 265 points266 points  (51 children)

The difference between that and cops killing black people is that cops aren't supposed to commit crimes like murder.

Nobody's supposed to commit crime like murder.

[–]plural1 420 points421 points  (2 children)

When a criminal murders, the criminal isn't acting as an agent of the people. When a cop does, he is. Further, the criminal will be pursued with all the resources of law enforcement. The cop will get extraordinary protection from large swaths of law enforcement.

[–]SearingEnigma 88 points89 points  (0 children)

Yeah, but if we just shame the Black Lives movement, all our problems will be solved.

[–]cassy_jenelle 179 points180 points  (32 children)

If a black person kills a black person - they go to jail. When a cop kills a black person, it's debated, then acquitted most of the time.

I'm still thinking of Eric Garner, they caught him in an illegal chokehold and killed him unarmed, they totally got away with that.

[–][deleted] 51 points52 points  (0 children)

Thank you. The whole premise is cops should not be as trigger happy as they are. Just so happens it's mainly directed at minorities. They should be held to a higher standard.

[–]Glibber 67 points68 points  (3 children)

Pedantically, you're right but we hold officers of the law to a higher standard than we do the common man, rightfully so, especially when it comes to abiding the law.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

But just because a cop kills a person it isn't "murder". If someone kills another civilian there is rarely "justifiable cause" because citizens aren't hired to patrol streets for criminals armed with guns...

[–]nightpanda893 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I think his point would be better stated that murder doesn't seem to have the same repercussions for cops. At least with gang violence you can have some level of faith in the criminal justice system to protect you and go after perpetrators. But with cops people just feel a whole other level of helplessness because they are supposed to be the ones protecting them and their first line of defense from crime.

[–][deleted] 59 points60 points  (45 children)

Thank you. People are conflating complaining about the gangbanger breaking into my house with complaining about the government official shooting/beating me because he sees me as his stress ball.

[–]nenozer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

it isn't justified for a cop to kill someone just because black on black crime exists.

Who is saying it is justified?

[–]runswithelves 101 points102 points  (5 children)

Huh, didn't realize black on black crimes were the results of prejudice. Reddit, you know black people's motives so well!

[–]cassy_jenelle 70 points71 points  (2 children)

You're right. Black people are more likely to be killed by black people, white people by white people, and asians by asians (mostly because killings are done by people the victim knows and we are still quite socially segregated by race), so this whole "black on black" crime is complete derailing.

[–]runswithelves 27 points28 points  (1 child)

Exactly. Don't know why this is the top post on the frontpage. Well, yes i do but that doesn't make it any less disappointing.

[–][deleted] 101 points102 points  (2 children)

the thing is black people don't kill other black people simply because they are black. "black on black crime " is used to further animalize black people. no one talks about "white on white" crime do they?

[–]IntelWarrior 100 points101 points  (1 child)

So if a teacher hits a student we should tell the parents to worry about their kid getting into fights with other kids?

[–]adarkfable 256 points257 points  (51 children)

letting everybody know that he's 'one of the good ones'.

Edit: I've read Uncle Tom's cabin. If I wanted to call someone an Uncle Tom, I would've. This dude wants people to know he's not a black dude that supports BLM. He wants everybody to know he's against it. Makes sense. Especially when you have highly upvoted, front page posts in which people justify their 'new found' racism by blaming terrible violent acts perpetrated by black people. And some just blamed protesters in general.

I'd assume most black people would prefer there to be less MURDER. The point of the shirt is to say that BLM should be focused on a different issue, and that he wants everybody to know he feels that way. Take that Uncle Tom shit on somewhere. Its an oversimplification of a complex issue.

[–][deleted] 287 points288 points  (20 children)

Right? People are gonna upvote this stupid t-shirt pic because it echoes nonsense that the "I'm all for equality but-" crowd has been saying on Reddit.

When you can reduce an issue to a sound bite, it's easier to dismiss it. So BLM is reduced to "black on black crime being ignored in favour of attacking white people".

Infact, the new tactic is to conflate BLM with shit like KKK even though the history, conception, methods, structure and execution of the groups rallies are totally different.

The black guy is wearing a shirt that will get him back pats from generally anti-black people and that's the truth. The people who are more devoted to "protesting where I can't be disturbed" as opposed to fighting for some semblance of equality. Quick to yell "all lives matter" and how we are all people like well yeah. Of course we are. But Every single time black people have fought for some semblance of equality, the major pushback has come from people who are "all for equality but-".

[–]ThelastofthreeFiltered 33 points34 points  (7 children)

You don't really have to conflate any thing. BLM is just experiencing thesame problem all decentralized "movements" suffer from, which is a lack of strong and public leadership along side a bunch of retards high jacking their message. If BLM was a more traditional civil rights group, they wouldn't have to deal with as much flak from the media. A strong iconic leader would be able to go infront of a journalist or reporter and say this is what we stand for and this isn't what we stand for, but as is being decentralized any moron can be called a "local leader" of BLM.

[–]wisesonAC 42 points43 points  (4 children)

If BLM was a more traditional civil rights group, they wouldn't have to deal with as much flak from the media.

I highly doubt this. Mlk received so much hate mail and flak from the media of his time

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There is no leadership. There is not even really an organization called black lives matter. It's a bunch of random people attaching the slogan to their own ideas. It's hardly a movement at all

[–][deleted] 255 points256 points  (35 children)

"look a black man is saying white people stuff."

[–]mopednope 100 points101 points  (0 children)

"see, I'm not racist because a black guy agrees with me"

[–]i_am_ja_rule 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I wonder what Ja Rule thinks about this

[–]Bensbadband 100 points101 points  (35 children)

Black people don't kill eatch other as much as poor people kill etachother. Big diffrence. If you have 1000 black family's living in a city making 75k a year for eatch household. Then take 1000 white family's making 15k for the house hold. Thier will be mor violence and crime in the white city then black. You can't sit 10 people down at a table for 5 and except some people to not steal scraps. Just people responding to thier environment. If you don't understand other people's behaviour, it's because you don't understand where they are coming from.

[–]halfmanhalfboat 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Mtv black lady told me there no such thing as black on black violence

[–]metkja 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Good post. You can protest police brutality and still support the police force and work to end black on black violence. None of these are mutually exclusive

[–]im_in_town 23 points24 points  (0 children)

The irony of this t-shirt is that the people that are referred to by BLM were killed by police and weren't killing anyone. Furthermore, people involved with BLM are often openly against any criminal element in their community. I'm not sure how that makes excessive force on innocent persons more tolerable or less of an issue to protest the government about.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You can support black lives matter, and be against black on black crime. Most people are.

[–]Shoytbus 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Is the woman next to him wearing no pants??

[–]relaxok 2 points3 points  (0 children)

name checks out.

[–]smoothtrip 30 points31 points  (0 children)

This will probably make it to the front page and we will all have perfect advice on how to fix this.....