That’s not really what I mean by “not listening”.
Can you tell me what exactly else needs to be done, legally, in society, that hasn’t already been done and isn’t just overreach? The civil unrest is largely due to people either not understanding their own situation and lashing out or just tired of the message that’s been hammered into them for over a decade straight, depending on which side you’re talking about. Not gonna bother addressing covid 'cause that’s a whole special topic (an exception, not the rule), though, as this is unproductive.
Black people are asking for way more than reform and ARE treated fairly, legally. I’m starting to wonder what exactly people think reform actually IS, 'cause whenever I see someone expand on their ideas, it ends up being absolute nonsense. Meanwhile, there are no laws in the books that allow for someone to be treated differently based on their race, so I don’t really get that part. You can find exceptions that exist where injustices have occurred, but that is not the same thing at all. As for the gestures, the whole thing is bread and circuses for quick political points coupled with cash grabs, because what’s being asked for is unreasonable at best.
I don’t exactly understand what conversations are being treated as “uncomfortable” on a wide-scale. If by “uncomfortable”, you mean that there are injustices in the US, there are injustices everywhere. Every injustice can’t be just painted with the same massive brush to try and cover it all; you just create some major overreach and cause MORE problems down the road. The best you can do without overreach is set up laws to assure equality (not equity), and enforce those laws where necessary (this is a case-by-case basis). If you’re talking statistically, the discomfort I see tends to be whenever someone is told to self-reflect. A LOT of statistical injustices are multifacted in their reason for occurring, but mostly a product of their own making. It’s the root of the problem, and addressing the symptoms does nothing to actually fix the issue. But when it comes time to take any kind of personal responsibility, then I start to see discomfort.
With the specific case of BLM, the whole kickoff this go around was from a specific injustice, and one that was, to be quite honest, swiftly dealt with (all of the cops were arrested). But that wasn’t enough (I don’t think anything would have been enough, really), so a heavier handed touch was attempted to appease (overcharge). Now, due to this heavy handedness, the people responsible might have a chance to walk away (had they stuck with reasonable charges, it’d have been open and shut). This got even worse when it was realized they got what they wanted (the specific injustice). They believed they had power (in a way, they did), so it was capitalized on to ride the wave with even bigger demands, crazier logic. We went from a single injustice to attacking a perceived systemic problem based on statistics. But those statistics are multifaceted and can’t even BEGIN to be laid at the feet of police first and foremost. They and the patterns that show are a symptom. The root problem is within. Between home life, family unit, culture, peer expected behavior… these are all things that contribute to the issues at hand just as much as any “systemic” police problem, and they’re all things that have to be addressed within.
But this makes people uncomfortable to talk about.
I get the perception, and there are a lot of bad eggs in the various police forces, and I can recognize a number of problems that COULD be addressed (though none of the true solutions are being taken seriously in favor of hot takes, quick fixes, and misnomers to score political points). It just won’t do anything long term. Until the issues addressed at home are handled, it’ll just prolong the cycle, and the last thing we need is to prolong this shit further, as the longer it goes on, the more divided we become. We’re already on the brink of a race war as it is.
