1/ Some further thoughts and musings in case I haven't pissed enough people off already... To everyone who's bitching about the cops not being charged:

The wheels of justice turn slowly. There will be an investigation and plenty of protocols that need to be followed. That's how

2/ it works in civilized society. Yes, I think the cops should be prosecuted for murder, and yes, I realize there's video and plenty of evidence. But we're not going to just lynch cops in the street like a bunch of fucking animals. And yes, I realize that is essentially

3/ what happened to that poor man, but I'm confident the cops responsible will see the inside of a prison sooner than later. There's been plenty of high profile unjustified shootings lately where the officers were successfully prosecuted and received serious prison time, which as

4/ you can imagine, is no picnic for a cop. Just google "texas cop convicted murder" and you'll find several cases just from the last few years in that state alone where bad cops got the justice they deserved, but it didn't happen overnight. That's just not how it works. It can

5/ take weeks or months for an indictment/charges to come down when a cop is involved. That needs to change, too, but everyone deserves due process, whether it's a bank robber, a terrorist, or a cop. Police unions are a big part of the problem and need to be eliminated or

6/ completely overhauled. But again, none of the stuff happening right now is going to change that. Society is progressing, regardless. No one is ever happy about the timeline, but cops being charged with murder was extremely rare 20 or more years ago, and it only ever happened

7/ when it was something extremely egregious with tons of evidence backing it up. In recent years we've seen a shift towards prosecuting more and more cops (even in light of constantly falling crime rates nationwide), which is great, and speaks to that. The system is still

8/ broken, but slowly fixing itself in several ways. Departments are constantly introducing better training, better protocols and rules, etc. And please don't throw any shitty, out of context stats at me about how rare it is for police to be convicted of murder. The vast

9/ majority of shootings are clear cut examples of justified use of deadly force (someone pulls a gun/shoots at a cop, has a gun on a hostage, etc). Yes, plenty slip through the cracks. Philando Castile comes to mind. It was a bad shoot and the cop got off clean in the end. That

10/ was also in Minnesota, and there were also violent riots in the aftermath of it (which Obama condemned), and yet here we are again; another black man murdered by police in the same state. How is that not proof positive for you that people acting like this brings zero change?

11/ And for those of you who are sympathetic to people who are rioting, looting, and destroying their own communities, telling me -how it actually is- when it comes to oppression, poverty, systematic racism, etc, I've got some news for you...

Yes, I'm a straight white guy. And I

12/ acknowledge and accept all of the privilege and benefits that comes with that. But I've also lived a good chunk of my life under the poverty line. Have you? Fintwit is full of all kinds of different backgrounds and I've gotten to know many of your personal stories over the

13/ years, and I'm grateful for that. But most of you come from middle or upper class families, went to good colleges, come from good families, never went hungry, never went without your basic needs being met, etc. Most of you are on the outside looking in, and you should be

14/ grateful for that (if you aren't already) but more aware of that position. When I was growing up the idea of any private schooling was laughable. Budget for school clothes and shoes every year was $100. I always thought we were middle class, since even though my home life and

15/ childhood wasn't a picnic, let alone healthy, my basic needs were met and there was always food on the table. But as I got older I realized that much of my parent's success was a charade, that we lived in one of the worst parts of town, and that I never had access to many of

16/ the resources and benefits that my more well-off (truly middle and upper class) friends had. Once I graduated high school I was told it was time to move out and be on my own, and so it went. I had started working full time at 16 out of necessity and never really stopped, so

17/ the transition to the real world wasn't too difficult and I did well for a couple years until the GFC hit, and then I found myself trapped in the vicious cycle of poverty. Bouncing between jobs and layoffs, living check to check, etc. And as soon as you think you're getting

18/ to a better, more stable place, you always seem to get hobbled by minor emergencies that lead to serious financial crises and setbacks, like clockwork. Suddenly you're faced with choices like paying your car insurance, putting gas in the tank, or eating. I've had to live out

19/ of my car, crash on friends couches, steal food, etc. It was a rough period, but one thing I gleaned from it was how people are marginalized, and while systemic racism certainly exists, your socioeconomic placement has a hell of a lot to do with it. If you live in the hood

20/ the cops are generally going to treat you like shit, regardless, as they generally associate poverty with being a criminal. Try driving a beat up car into a rich white neighborhood. The cops will be there in two minutes tossing your shit no matter what your skin color is. Or

21/ try living in the hood and calling the cops. 9 out of 10 times they'll show up and treat you like you're already a criminal, like you're the one who did something wrong. That said, I still realize that I'm better off than a POC in that situation, but I'm also not totally

22/ clueless about how shit works, and my lived experiences with society and police are usually dramatically different from those who are in finance/markets/etc and have never experienced poverty. I'm still no rich man, but much better off these days and endlessly grateful for

23/ it. But when things were bad, I've had guns pulled on me (by both cops and criminals), witnessed someone get brutally shot to death, had to shower at a truck stop, been mugged and left unconscious on the street with my pockets turned out, etc. You carry that stuff with you

24/ for the rest of your life. So yeah, I don't think I qualify as the typical rich white person who has no clue what it's like to experience injustice (whether it's through the legal system or just society in general) and the outrage that comes with it. And if I thought that

25/ rioting/looting/blocking off highways was effective in changing things instead of just making the impoverished and oppressed look bad, I would be all for it. Sometimes you do have to break some eggs, but they need to be the right eggs. History gives us many examples.

26/ Towards the end of the civil right movement, there was a period with some of the worst riots and civil unrest the country had ever seen. But that's not what got the Civil Rights Act passed, it was people being more politically and socially conscious and voting for those they

27/ knew would bring that change. Kennedy was pushing hard for it, and even after he was killed, Johnson carried the torch and signed the bill. If you're not voting locally and federally for politicians who are still trying to carry that torch, you're part of the problem. That's

28/ not meant in the spirit of partisan or single issue voting, but knowing who is paying what kind of attention to which issues is important. Voting for pols that refuse to address these issues is a big part of the problem, and thinking that rioting is somehow going to be

29/ more effective than community organizing and political activism is an even bigger problem. If you disagree, post any consistent example where throwing a social temper tantrum, destroying local communities, rioting, violence, etc, brought about a positive lasting change, and

30/ I'll shut up.

The end.