Black, Muslim Activists Protest White Man Being Shot

[Shiranu]

http://www.laweekly.com/news/an-unarmed-white-man-is-shot-by-a-cop-and-black-activists-rally-7216759

Over the last several months, the phrase "white lives matter" has been derided by many as a willfully obtuse (and usually racist) response to the Black Lives Matter movement, particularly in light of the disproportionate number of African-Americans shot by police.


But one group of mostly African-American civil rights leaders is stepping up to question a deputy's shooting of an unarmed, white, homeless man in Castaic â€" because it just might be the right thing to do.


"We can't only be advocates when black people are killed by police unjustly," says Najee Ali, founder of Project Islamic Hope.


Ali is organizing a coalition of civil rights groups, including Project Islamic Hope, the National Action Network and the L.A. Urban Policy Roundtable, which will call on state Attorney General Kamala Harris to launch an investigation of Tuesday's shooting.


"They shot this homeless man for nothing," Ali said of how witnesses have described the shooting. "He was unarmed and they killed him. I found out he was white later on. It doesn't matter to me."

Indeed, one witness told reporters the man, later identified as 51-year-old William Bowers, was shot without warning as he rode a bicycle, or perhaps immediately after he got off a bike.


The shooting happened about 9 p.m. Tuesday in the 31500 block of Castaic Road, Deputy Mike Barraza said.


"According to investigators, deputies attempted to stop the suspect after they recognized him from previous interactions and knew he was on probation for a narcotic violation," he said. "When the suspect fled on foot, deputies followed him and eventually made contact with him. It was at this time that a deputy-involved shooting occurred."


Bowers, struck by gunfire in the upper body, was declared dead at the scene, Barraza said.

This is not the first time I have posted this type of story, of BLM and similar movements protesting the death of white men to police. If the entire movement can be judged by it's fringe worst seeds, then does this not in itself prove that BLM "has" to be an entirely benevolent and non-divisive organization? After all if we can judge an entire group for the actions of it's "divisive" minority then it's only fair to judge it for it's inclusive majority.


As I have said, I have worked with BLM, as a "white-ish" participant, with more than one or two fully white people in the crowd several times. Not once were we, in a crowd of a thousand plus, harassed for being different. And if it was a divisive as you say, don't you think there would be more incidents of whites being harassed at BLM rallies? Simple statistics seem to suggest that to be the case. Or maybe the only people who think it's divisive are the people who sit on the side-lines and don't want to put their skin in "the game".

I only ask for consistency; we do not judge every liberal for Michael Moore, or all conservatives for O'Riley... nor all early civil right's for the violent wing of the Black Panthers or all anti-immigrants for Brevik. Though to have some historical consistency, just like today there WERE people who discredited the entire Black Civil Rights movement because of groups like the Black Panthers, who they thought were too disruptive or hateful.

[Blackleaf]

With this little amount of information, I'm not ready to jump the gun and say that the shooting was unjustified. Being unarmed doesn't mean the police aren't allowed to shoot you if you threaten them or someone else.

As for the "divisive minority," the problem is that they're not a minority from what I've seen. After Michael Brown was shot and people found out about the video surveillance of him robbing a convenience store, BLM people came and victimized the store owner again by trashing the place. Why? Not because he was speaking the truth, because he didn't even identify Michael Brown himself, fearing retaliation. People trashed his store because the truth that the video surveillance showed was inconvenient to the false narrative they were spreading of this poor, innocent, unarmed man who was murdered by a police officer.

There were people so angry about the so-called injustice that they formed angry mobs, destroying property, robbing stores, taunting police. Over 300 people were arrested in connection to those riots, and hundreds more deserved to be. And this wasn't even the only riot of its kind.

Micah Xavier Johnson opened fire on police officers, killing five and injuring others. BLM supporters praised his actions on social media. The Black Lives Matter movement is full of violent people who don't care about the truth.

[Shiranu]

The problem there is that the BLM has consistently disowned these type of people and their behaviour. It's like blaming the Canucks for the rioting in Vancouver a few years ago... it just doesn't make sense. You have people angry the Canucks lost, yes, but that doesn't make the Canucks responsible. You also have people who are just angry and use it for justification to take it out. Then you have people who just enjoy looting.

That is just with hockey, that sent one city (and let's be honest, it has happened to several cities in the last few years just over hockey. We could get even more damning and include other sports) into flames... yet we don't say, "Well, shit, clearly hockey promotes a violent ideology with the violence in it's game, so the teams themselves must be to blame!". It's just an easy excuse to discredit any movement that we don't like without actually discrediting anything.

And to repeat, that is just with hockey... now imagine a situation where poorer, undereducated minorities who feel disenfranchised and oppressed are watching as they get murdered left and right. I think we as Americans should be counting our damn blessings that African Americans aren't as violent towards us as they have every right to be.

It's a boiling pot situation, and this is the peaceful solution at work. If you hate BLM because it's too radical, then you should jump on board with it because it will only get worse if the legitimate concerns they have are not addressed. If you dislike the fringe groups that are violent, and they are... numbers don't lie... then fine, join BLM in disowning them. But in attacking BLM, you are saying that the peaceful solution to a very volatile situation is too radical for you. And as JFK said...

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.

BLM is just a tick on that bar.

[Shiranu]

BLM supporters praised his actions on social media. The Black Lives Matter movement is full of violent people who don't care about the truth.

http://www.nytimes.com/live/police-shooting-in-baton-rouge/black-lives-matter-leader-calls-for-peace/

http://blacklivesmatter.com/the-black-lives-matter-network-advocates-for-dignity-justice-and-respect/

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/dallas-shooting-black-lives-matter-leaders-respond/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/07/17/shooting-police-is-not-a-civil-rights-tactic-activists-condemn-killing-of-officers/

https://www.buzzfeed.com/rosebuchanan/black-lives-matter-leaders-condemn-violence-in-dallas?utm_term=.dgLA14Y0B#.udloD956E

https://www.colorlines.com/articles/black-lives-matter-leaders-respond-dallas-police-shooting

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/black-lives-matter-doesnt-kill-cops_us_578e843ae4b0f529aa07427a

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/07/08/movement-against-police-violence-condemns-violence-against-police

http://time.com/4400330/st-paul-protests-philando-castile-black-lives-matter/

Sure, you had people support violence. You also had atheists who support Brevik because they hate Muslims. Does that mean that the atheist movement is therefor full of violent people who don't care about rationality but rather violence?


Again, not sure how many BLM rallies you have been to, but to call them, "...full of violent people..." does not make any statistical sense, both from personal experience and from the sheer number of it; how many BLM supporters and rallies are there? How many of them fall into chaos into how many that don't?


Don't condemn people for not caring about the truth when you ignore the simple statistics yourself.

With this little amount of information, I'm not ready to jump the gun and say that the shooting was unjustified. Being unarmed doesn't mean the police aren't allowed to shoot you if you threaten them or someone else.

In the rest of the civilized world, it would certainly be unjustified. Shooting is an absolute last resort. The fact that "BLM leaders" (which isn't even really a thing, since it's not an organization but a loosely tied confederation of thousands of groups with one shared core-issue) instantly came out in support of a white man is addressing the fact that BLM is not some racial-exclusive group that just want's black superiority.

[drunkenshoe]

BLM supporters praised his actions on social media. The Black Lives Matter movement is full of violent people who don't care about the truth.

You know what, this is so ironically dark, it makes one wonder about how the perspective of American society get shaped.

Bush is a war criminal. Everyone knows for SURE that his decisions and actions resulted the death of millions of innocent people for nothing. What we are saying about him and his administration can be said about a lot of American president and administrations, about the American people who voted-supported them, who got-get paid to travel to the other side of the word to commit atrocties and mass murder. They are NOT just praised in every media channel, they are also awarded, rewarded, proud heroes.

So America is full of violent people who don't care about the truth?

[Baruch]

Absolutely ... we are bloodthirsty, just like Turks ;-)  Just because your people don't have the means to act worldwide on your demonic possession but the US can ... cry me a river.  It is tragic, and in a good world, none of this shit would happen.  But we are not in a good world.  I am trying to better appreciate the Zoroastrians, and how a Zoroastrian Persia should have wiped the desert clear of Arabs and Turks.  Could have happened that way ... but all those harem intrigues sucked all the manliness out of them ... and their Arab and Turk successors.  Gotta keep your bitches under control!

Turned out the Presidents since Eisenhower (note he didn't support the attempted takeover of the Suez by Britain, France and Israel) are all dicks (and not just Nixon).  Obama is a war criminal too ... no wonder he didn't want to prosecute his predecessor ... he was planning on doing the same thing.  So stop being so naïve about history and American bull-shit self advertising.  Think like a Native American or Black American ... they know the truth, and that things haven't really changed.

You want justice?  Don't hold your breath.  You are either strong enough to take what belongs to you, and maybe more than what belongs to you (same as the ghazis, right?).  At times the Ottomons had a good thing going, in the bloodthirsty male department.  Darwin-wise, the Byzantines deserved what they got ... because they lost.  If they had more mojo, they would be drinking Ottomon blood from Ottomon skulls.  And we could have Muslim boys kidnapped into becoming Christian Janissaries ;-)

OP - yes, some people are descent enough to not want protestors or cops shot.  And that potentially fatal action by the police should be restrained to when it is really necessary.  But that isn't a movement, that is a conscience.

[Blackleaf]

I don't give a pass to Muslims when the peaceful ones claim that ISIS and other violent Muslims do not represent them, and I won't give a pass to BLM when a self-appointed leader claims that the hundreds of rioters or violent people do not represent them. They absolutely do represent them. If you're a peaceful member of either, good for you, but you cannot appeal to the No True Scottsman fallacy and claim that the extremists of your group don't count.

Even the peaceful members are spreading lies. "Hands up, don't shoot?" No credible eyewitnesses said that Michael Brown had his hands up when he was shot. Black people are more likely to be killed by police because of their skin color? Nope. Research has shown that cops tend to be more likely to use deadly force against white people, most likely because they don't want to be accused of racism.

Are blacks more likely to receive harsher sentences? Yes. Does the war on drugs hurt black people more than any other demographic? Yes. They should talk about those issues, and not the fictional ones the media helps to create.

I also find it funny that a few BLM activists would protest an unarmed white man being shot. It's almost like they're saying that...All Lives Matter. Hmm. But like I said, I'm not impressed because they are assuming the police to be at fault for killing a white man. If a man is punching and kicking you, and you have a gun to defend yourself with, you absolutely have the right to use that gun. I don't know if the cop was being attacked by the man or not, but I'm not going to assume that the police were wrong just because the man didn't have a weapon.

[Shiranu]

I also find it funny that a few BLM activists would protest an unarmed white man being shot. It's almost like they're saying that...All Lives Matter.

It's almost like they've always been saying that... All Lives Matter (because Black Lives Matter [Too]). Really not sure how people are to extrapolate from Black Lives Matter that there is an implication White Lives Don't Matter.

Followed directly by, "I am not impressed by them assuming things about the situation, but I am going to assume the situation the guy probably was asking to get shot."

Well then.

[Hijiri Byakuren]

ALM vs BLM, oh we goin' there today. Again.


Fair and balanced (like Fox News).

[Shiranu]

ALM vs BLM, oh we goin' there today. Again.


Fair and balanced (like Fox News).

Maybe if people acted like BLM & ALM were true it wouldn't come up so often.

[Cocoa Beware]

With this little amount of information, I'm not ready to jump the gun and say that the shooting was unjustified. Being unarmed doesn't mean the police aren't allowed to shoot you if you threaten them or someone else.

In cases like these I have learned to wait, if possible, for the police to give their side of the story. Race should be immaterial.

[Nonsensei]

I don't give a pass to Muslims when the peaceful ones claim that ISIS and other violent Muslims do not represent them, and I won't give a pass to BLM when a self-appointed leader claims that the hundreds of rioters or violent people do not represent them. They absolutely do represent them. If you're a peaceful member of either, good for you, but you cannot appeal to the No True Scottsman fallacy and claim that the extremists of your group don't count.

Do you give a pass to men when a few of them tweet rape threats to feminists on Twitter? Of course you do. You know inherently that such things do not represent men as a whole and its just some jackasses being jackasses.

All you are saying here is that you get it wrong in two ways. Muslims are not responsible for the actions of extremist Muslims. They deserve that pass. BLM as a whole is not defined by individual posts by self proclaimed BLM members approving or disapproving of anything. You don't define an entire population of people by the actions of a few individuals. This is super simple stuff.

[drunkenshoe]

I don't give a pass to Muslims when the peaceful ones claim that ISIS and other violent Muslims do not represent them, and I won't give a pass to BLM when a self-appointed leader claims that the hundreds of rioters or violent people do not represent them. They absolutely do represent them.

This is bullshit, you know that right? Both part of the sentence is two different bullshit unrelated to each other.

You are a Christian and you are also white. Do White Christian Supremacists commiting murder represent you?

[Cavebear]

All lives matter.  But when policemen shoot black children for waving a toy around, kill a black guy for rough driving, kill a black guy for possessing a legal weapon, kill a black man trying to surrender, THAT is when it becomes "Black Lives Matter".

When it becomes a crime to be "Lawful But Black", that is when "Black Lives Matter".  When black people are killed for carrying a weapon LAWFUL IN THAT STATE, that is when "Black Lives Matter".

We can't have a nation where people can be killed because a policeman is "concerned" or "afraid".  There HAVE to be other ways to deal with that. 

*I* am afraid of the police and I'm an old white guy!

This has to stop...