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Uan aa Boa wrote:

While this is certainly true, every officer who has picked up a batton, a riot shield or a tear gas canister is in my view an accessory to and an enabler of racism. There are personal choices here and the "just doing my job" defence was dealt with at Nuremberg. Yes, the officers involved have kids to feed and bills to pay and this constrains them. These are the good intentions with which the road to hell is paved. When peaceful protestors are being tear gassed to clear the way for a presidential photo opportunity the police are not neutral arbiters or protectors of the people, they are oppressors who have failed the moral challenge to say "I won't do this."

As you said above, however, they may need to feed their families, or else they may have other reasons. My point is, once you actually understanding their view and their choices, then we can say whatever we’d like to then. My problem is that everyone’s been making blanket statements, when in reality, they all have different reasons (or lack thereof), and so by saying, “oh, I hate you protestors” or “I hate you police”, you are simply inspiring more hate while solving nothing. Don’t get me wrong, Uan aa Boa, I am not accusing anyone here of this, but I am fed up with the portrayal of this. Not all protestors are burning police cars in the streets, and likewise not all policemen are corrupt racists. But when we portray this as such, we are simply spreading hatred blindly.

I agree that simply saying “It’s my job” is not enough for the police, but by claiming that that is the mentality of the police is false, as not all police are like this. Same thing with Trump and others, claiming that the protestors have gone too far, when most of them are just protesting peacefully and calmly. When either side brings violence and hatred to the table, they are causing harm, as you do not know the other person’s thought process. When they’re burning things or throwing Molotovs at police simply because they are police, or when the police spread tear gas and shoot rubber bullets at a crowd simply for practicing civil disobedience, they are simply spreading violence and hatred, without ever fully understanding the views of the individual humans whom they are attacking.

To me, it’s perfectly fine for you to feel that all policemen who try to stop the protestors are keeping the racism in our country. However, what we can’t be doing is be spreading violence, nor should we be making blanket statements. We should go on a case by case basis, and we never should let our views lead us to stooping to the level of the racists. This is ever as much a propaganda war as it is a street war, and when you just make blanket statements or use violent tactics, it’s simply hurting the cause of equality and justice, which can and does exist within the hearts of people on both sides.