The left does seem to suck at messaging! I think a more accurate tag would’ve been “Black Lives Matter Too” - which I think would’ve been more understandable after seeing the frequency of questionable police shootings on camera at that time.
Also on that note “defund the police” instantly switches so many people off of what I think is a reasonable idea of spending less on getting the police military equipment, and more on mental health schemes/practitioners that help police departments who don’t seem to be fully equipped for mental health calls
There is definitely an irony in calling for the police to be "defunded" while partaking in violent riots and looting - actions that are more likely to make people feel unsafe, and therefore want more police activity.
The whole idea they had of replacing the police with "community projects" etc. seemed very detached from the reality they were creating.
There is also a problem with any messaging isolating any group as separate from the rest of society, as it creates an "othering" effect to that particular group of people. As an example - if we taught all children that they are not allowed to include Sikhs in jokes... would they ever see Sikhs as truly part of society? Or would they see them as some separate group and "different".
There is also doubt about if the police shootings etc are disproportionate. If you look at statistics you'll see that FBI data shows that for every 10,000 black Americans arrested for violent crime, 3 are killed, yet for every 10,000 white Americans arrested for violent crime, 4 are killed.
Also an American police officer is about 2.5 times more likely to be killed by a black person than to kill a black male.
This goes up to 18 times more likely if you discount armed black males killed.
In 2019 (FBI data again) black people made up 55.9% of known murder offenders whereas white people make up 44.1%. As black people make up 13.4% of the US population and total white population being 77% (incl. Hispanics and Latinos as data does). So divide 55.9/13.4 = 4.2 44.1/77 = 0.57.
4.2/0.57 = 7.4 times over representation of black people in murder offender statistics
This goes down to 39.6% for black people and 29.1% for white people if you include unknown offenders into the total. But as these are unknown you cannot include them. However the ratio will actually be higher due to percentage changes. 39.6/13.4 = 2.96 29.1/77 = 0.38
2.96/0.38 = 7.8
In recent years it seems to have become a trend to be "oppressed" and "protests" seem to become scapegoats for selfishness and looting. While many people for some reason support all this (perhaps out of fear of being called racist?) when if you actually look at figures you'll see they struggle to support the narrative (unless you bend them like the media does).
While I'm not saying systems are perfect... always remember that the media's job is not to inform us. It is to sell a story.
I also think tearing down statues is pointless. Those people in their age were deemed worthy of that honour. Why should we take it away due to the judgements of our times?
Bit of a ramble. But that's my two cents. Lots of people have already stated UK figures so didn't bother with those.
P.S. Remember! Nelson was missing an arm! So if you take his statue down... you're being ableist!
