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When I talk to some of my white relatives or friends, they don& #39;t even see racism or police brutality as being systemic at all. It& #39;s not real to them because they don& #39;t see it. Now compare that to the 3 generations of black men in this video, who are in so much pain & frustration https://twitter.com/AntonioFrench/status/1266960975124717568">https://twitter.com/AntonioFr...
In order to accept that racism is an illness of our society, particularly the justice system, we have to try to empathize with black folks. I can& #39;t imagine trying to look one of these 3 people in the eye and telling them that systemic police brutality isn& #39;t real.
I can& #39;t imagine, from my white perspective - trying to tell them that their reality that they experience is bogus, or a non-issue, or liberal propaganda. Racism shouldn& #39;t be a political issue and yet it is for people, despite there being oppressors from both political parties.
The difference is that a lot of Republicans are fairly open about their bigotry and authoritarianism. On the other hand, Democrats like Joe Biden do great damage to minority communities all the while acting like they& #39;re the only hope and feeling entitled to their votes.
So if more conservative white people could divorce the issue of race from politics, we could truly hold politicians accountable & move in the right direction. Of course, some whites are just racist, but IMO many are too easily influenced by right wing denials of systemic racism.
Similarly, too many people of color become automatically aligned with the Democrats. Establishment Democrats deserve more scrutiny. That& #39;s why I generally support the more progressive Democrats as well as the more libertarian conservatives like Justin Amash or Rand Paul.
I know there& #39;s a big difference between those two sides, but they both seem to agree on important issues like justice system reform and civil liberties. Third party candidates like Jesse Ventura are usually also great on those issues. The point is that we deserve better.
We need to demand more from our politicians. Election reform is also crucial. Then we can reform the "justice" system and begin to institute civilian review boards and end systemic racism. Obviously it& #39;s more complicated than that, but it& #39;s the logical first step.
Maybe I& #39;m wrong, but we need a political revolution by tearing down the old ways and ousting the incompetent and corrupt politicians. No easy task, but if elected officials won& #39;t fight for change then they aren& #39;t worthy of serving us. Third parties need a seat at the table too.
I made this thread way too long, but this video made me emotional - then it made me think. He told the 16 year old he hopes his generation can find a better way to solve this problem. We have to make the government and police work for us rather than against us.
I said "us" because police brutality is a multi-racial issue, even though African Americans face the most injustice both on the streets and in the courts. What& #39;s important is that we are all treated equally and that our human rights are not violated by law enforcement/govt.
Imagine if there were 3 or 4 or even 5 major political parties. And then imagine if they tackled racism and injustice in a bi-partisan manner. People like Trump and Biden could be contained as a fringe minority or could be retired entirely from public service.
Racism will always exist but if our elected officials can cross party lines to set a new standard for police, we can chip away at a long tradition of American oppression. If we hold our politicians accountable, we can hold our cops accountable. Then our cities wont be destroyed.
