This is a good thing. That we live in a country where past experience made me and lots of other people wonder if that was possible is not so good. The system worked this time but it far too frequently fails.
Is the Chauvin verdict an outlier? The police department for once didn’t go Blue Wall but hung him out to dry (which was the right call); does that mean after this it’s back to normal or is the first crack in the dam? I’ve no idea.
Certainly Republicans are hoping to get back to giving cops a bank check, hence the slew of bills cracking down on protesters. Particularly telling is the Kentucky bill making it illegal to address police with “‘offensive or derisive” words or gestures that would have “a direct tendency to provoke a violent response.'” If you’re arrested under the bill you must be held in jail 48 hours, which is not mandatory for accused murderers or rapists. In Minnesota, a proposed bill would deny protesters student loans and other forms of aid.
I’m quite sure all these bills will be applied discriminately when Republicans have any say so. BLM protests are protests; Oath Keepers and other right-wing extremists will be labeled something else. Running over protesters who are a good Trump voters will be treated as a crime, running over BLM will be justice.
Over at Gateway Pundit, the Chauvin verdict has commenters seething about uppity blacks and oppressed white people. White supremacist misogynist Tucker Carlson insists Chauvin didn’t kill George Floyd (which is not out of character for Carlson), proving once again that the judge who said nobody should believe Carlson was spot on. Dave Daubenmire weighs in on what he sees as the big issues in policing: women shouldn’t be cops. Lots of other right-wingers chime in on how unjust the verdict is.
Oh Carlson also claims that Rep. Ted Lieu confessed that replacement theory — the idea immigrants are going to take over and marginalize white America — is true.
Fred Clark on how white evangelical theology supports racism.
How do we change the police for the future? Much good discussion in this LGM thread including what sort of jobs should be turned over to social workers, mental-health professionals (or if police should be restructured to include specialists like that). Related, here’s what I think is good news: The Manhattan DA says his office will no longer prosecute prostitution. And AG Merrick Garland says the DOJ will be looking into Minneapolis policing practices.
Abolishing ICE, the agency younger than CSI Miami, seems like an excellent idea.
Texas’ newest voting restrictions don’t even figleaf the racism: they specifically target urban counties with large populations and not rural counties.
A final thought: one of the standard complaints when cops get punished for killing someone is that they’ll hold back — do you want them to hesitate when lives are at stake? Well, yes; when someone’s helpless or an unarmed teenager is standing there, I think they should be hesitating, at least a little.
Fraser Sherman's Blog 