BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Helen
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 09:53 PM

A priority at the present time.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Helen
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 08:06 PM

Thanks Jeri. But I echo your comment: One white woman? Really?

To me as an Australian it is an embarrassment that one white Australian woman's life is valued more highly than all the non-white lives lost or destroyed over the decades and centuries. Not just in the US, but here as well.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 08:04 PM

"...that's why black lives matter at the present time..."

For the life of me I can't work out what this means...

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Jeri
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 08:00 PM

Helen: "Jeri, if this was aimed at me then I think you may have missed my point"

I did- my apology.

When somebody follows "black lives matter" with "all lives matter", what I'm hearing is "F.U. I'm just as important as a black person whom I personally couldn't care less about because he was black, who was just murdered by a cop". Or in other words, "I don't care about THEM".

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Helen
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 06:38 PM

Jeri, if this was aimed at me then I think you may have missed my point:

"Can we quit the "whataboutism" now?"

What I was trying to point out was that so many black people are killed or assaulted or incarcerated by police and little or no action is taken against the police officers, however when the roles are reversed suddenly the full force of "justice" is brought into play and the black police officer is charged and convicted within two short years. The whataboutism is, what about all of those injured or killed or incarcerated black people whose lives mean nothing to the people in power?

And if some people are saying, "All lives matter equally" then it is time to level out the imbalance and that's why black lives matter at the present time because the inequality between black and white people is huge and all of the elements contributing to this inequality need to be resolved as a matter of urgency.

Bring all people to an equal footing in terms of education, social situations, justice, health, and all of the contributing factors.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 06:25 PM

Saying All lives matter is being the child who insists on presents when it's someone else's birthday.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 06:21 PM

You're playing games and wasting your logical fallacies here, ABCD. To cut to the chase, you're pulling up shit excuses to try to diminish the circumstances as they are now, and like I said, blame the victim. Go away, if this is your position. You're not contributing to a discussion of what change is on the way. You're in the dark ages.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Mossback
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 06:14 PM

More irrelevancies.yet still, it probably deserves two - no wait!- THREE Confederate flags.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: An Buachaill Caol Dubh
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 06:05 PM

What? Not blaming any victims, but pointing out that those human beings enslaved years ago in the continent of Africa were enslaved by people of their own race. Slave Traders and Slave Owners saw these human beings as disposable economic units to be exploited and replaced. The same could be said of those Slave Dealers who supplied them. Differences in skin colour seem less important than similarity of attitude. Concepts of racial inferiority are normally related to later justifications based on some peoples' use of early work on genetics. I do prefer to be consistent, and would no more "blame" the ancestors of many black people in America for being enslaved than I would "blame" the ancestors of many white people in Australia for their having been transported. It's the Power Relationships that matter, though I appreciate that a derisory parrotting of "Blame the victim!" is convenient, and certainly more attuned to the spirit of the age.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Jeri
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 05:54 PM

I couldn't find comprehensive statistics, but police killed over 100 black people in 2015. One white Australian woman is bad too, but really.

Racism isn't the only problem, but it is one huge problem. I think cops are less likely to murder white people and get away with it. Noor was sentenced to 12 1/2 years in prison. Many of the murderers of unarmed blacks don't even get prosecuted, let alone convicted.

Can we quit the "whataboutism" now?

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 05:50 PM

that European traders were supplied with human beings by other people born in Africa,

Ah - I see you like to play Blame the Victim.

It won't wash. Peddle it someplace else.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Mossback
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 05:49 PM

And the first prize for totally irrelevant nonsense goes to:

An Buachaill Caol Dubh!

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: An Buachaill Caol Dubh
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 05:04 PM

The conflation of Slavery and what is now termed "Race" is unfortunate, but lucky for some. Since it is well attested* that European traders were supplied with human beings by other people born in Africa, it's remarkable that so many otherwise perceptive people are - I assume sincerely - content to concentrate on the relevant matter of "Race", while at the same time being deaf to those who emphasise the real, fundamental issue, that of Power. While the Aboriginal peoples in other colonized lands are - or were, in some cases - of a different racial group from those wielding power, the instance I have given of oppression, exploitation and not-infrequent slaughter of Scottish people cannot conveniently be attributed to "Racism". There are, naturally, plenty other examples.

A useful question, "cui bono", is generally relevant. Who benefits from people arguing among themselves, or fighting like savages, about one aspect of Power Relationships, without ever looking more broadly at "The Big Picture"? Another useful wee Latin tag is, "divide et impera", which could usefully be contrasted with, "E pluribus unum". Wasn't there an American politician more than a century ago who said, or wrote, something about your Slavery question being a form of "unfinished business" from your War of Independence? Eight score and so years ago a sort of "second round" was fought.
There used to be a slogan here about "Black and White unite and fight". But why should one agenda - important though it be - allow the real issue (Power) to be concealed?
Look --- distraction!


* "Travels in ... Africa" by Mungo Park, c.1800, is a reliable and detailed source to start with, though in the current environment I know he could be termed a "dead white male" and his works dismissed accordingly (and conveniently, for some).

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Helen
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 04:52 PM

A white Australian woman was shot by a police officer in 2017 who was charged in 2018 and convicted in 2019.

What's different to the George Floyd murder? The woman was white. The police officer was not white. There was an international uproar and the police officer was convicted.

Justine Damond

"On July 15, 2017, Justine Damond (née Ruszczyk) a 40-year-old Australian-American woman, was fatally shot by a 33-year-old Mohamed Noor, a Somali-American Minneapolis Police Department officer, after she had called 9-1-1 to report the possible assault of a woman in an alley behind her house. Occurring weeks after a high-profile manslaughter trial acquittal in the 2016 police shooting of Philando Castile, also in the Twin Cities metro area, the shooting exacerbated existing tensions and attracted national and international press.

"On March 20, 2018, Noor was charged with second-degree manslaughter and third-degree murder. Prosecutors later upgraded the charges against Noor to second-degree intentional murder. In April 2019, Noor was convicted of third-degree murder and manslaughter, but acquitted of intentional second-degree murder. In June 2019, Noor was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison. Damond's family brought a civil lawsuit against the City of Minneapolis alleging violation of Damond's civil rights, which the city settled for $US20 million, one of the largest-ever settlements in a suit involving a police killing."

Also, I read one of the many articles on Oz's ABC News site - www.abc.net.au - and a comment stood out to me. An indigenous Australian was commenting on the number of white people who were involved in the peaceful protests and said that if police started looking threatening towards the black people, some of the white people would move in front of them because they were confident that the police would be less likely to go for them. That is a heroic thing to do, IMO, but also a sad indictment of the way the world works at present.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 04:50 PM

And I third it.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 04:32 PM

Exactly right. I second that.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 04:27 PM

To state "all lives matter" is to be totally tone deaf in the environment in which the POINT of saying "Black Lives Matter" is to stop treating African Americans as second class citizens. It's saying 'I matter and I want that to be perfectly clear,' when, if you're white, it has always been a given that you got preferential treatment in the "who matters" department.

So, when you say "all lives matter," you're really saying "I matter more" and you are supporting the status quo.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: An Buachaill Caol Dubh
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 04:07 PM

The words by Walkabouts Verse are by no means irrelevant, especially the lines about "outnumbered". Neither is it "racist" to state that "all lives matter", although I prefer "all lives matter equally", for several reasons. It is a truly "inclusive" statement. Oh - and all kinds of statues of people once praised and now denigrated should be part of this context ( especially all those who increased Human suffering ), since "direct action" has yoked these issues together.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Donuel
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 02:50 PM

Stilly consistantly says what I feel I should be saying. Instead I go for the tongue in cheek thought interspersed with a few no nonsense outraged rants. The truth is she can tell the truth better. If I were you I would listen most carefully since she is probably the only adult in the room in the most steadfast fashion.

Personal experiences are welcome and offer interesting insights but for the best overview, you know where to go.
By the way there are certain threads where thread drift is more offensive than others.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 01:52 PM

Trump is claiming that the incident which sent the old man sprawling was a 'set-up' staged for the cameras
Where's Lee Harvey Oswald when you need him :-)
Jim

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 01:28 PM

"At this time, just about the most racist thing you can say is that "all lives matter." You really need to consider what you're typing before you post." - Oh yeah - says who??? Absolute bollocks.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Jeri
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 01:24 PM

Saying "black lives matter" is only objectionable to people who are afraid of black people.
It's about fear.
I don't mind "black lives matter", and I don't mind "black power", and those who do should go find a bunker to hide in...or at least stop advertising the fact they're cowards. We know. You can stop signalling it to us.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 12:46 PM

WAV, stop with the treacle. You're willfully ignoring the topic and are irrelevant to this conversation.

Protesters across US attacked by cars driven into crowds and men with guns.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 12:43 PM

You know what I’m going say Steve, SRS, etc. “Don’t...”

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 12:35 PM

At this time, just about the most racist thing you can say is that "all lives matter." You really need to consider what you're typing before you post.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 12:29 PM

The BlackLivesMatter slogan is borderline racist - all lives matter, including NATIVE Americans, who did not ask to be invaded by imperialists & their slaves, nor economic/CAPITALIST immigrants; my poem, from WalkaboutsVerse, on "Land Rights"

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 12:28 PM

This thread had the potential to discuss the forward-thinking government changes that will shift budgets away from police and toward community services, so police responding to a "disturbed person" call don't need to shoot him or her, instead, a social worker or psychiatric professional can respond and get them help (one example only). Youth-at-risk programs can be set up to give teens something interesting to do on those weekend late-nights (basketball, in particular) to keep them out of trouble. And so the arsenals of warfare equipment are sent back to the military and police learn neighborhood policing, walking through neighborhoods and getting to know the people they are protecting.

Those of you shouting from your soap boxes about decades-old "black power" movements and whatever the drivel is that WAV is spouting, are living in ignorance of what the last two weeks have been about, and apparently have no interest in acknowledging that while everyone was stuck in COVID-19 lockdown, they had the luxury to pay attention to the news of George Floyd's death and respond appropriately. With protest. Enough police violence is enough, and their over-response with the militaristic postures and tear gas and rubber bullets and flashbangs and more were illustrating WHY they should no longer be tolerated or trusted to "protect" the communities they putatively serve. A side issue are the white nationalist looters trying to turn it all into the mess that they in fact managed to create for a while, but their gig is up, they've been outed, and now they're probably back hiding at their cabins in the woods, surrounded by their AK-47s. (And it may occur to some of you that the white nationalists look an awful lot like many of those police. There's a reason for that.)

Get out of your comfort zone, read the news from reputable sources, turn off any of Rupert Murdoch's television or radio stations.

Trump is toast, and now what rational people need to fear is how he will strike out until he is actually escorted out of the White House. Why wait till January? I think they need to take him by surprise with the 25th Amendment because he is clearly unable and unwilling to do the job of President. He's the hotspot the racist political hurricane is feeding on right now.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Donuel
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 11:58 AM

you
offer hearts and flowers Mrrzy?

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 08:37 AM

I am heartwarmed that this has blossomed into a global thing.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 04:19 AM

If Trump is reelected in November, things will only get worse. If Biden comes to office and there's a majority of Democrats in both houses, there's hope. But right now, we're in deep trouble and just trying to hold out until November. Whatever we do now, will push Trump to respond with a vengeance to please his "base." But if we do nothing, we'll let Trump do his dirty work AND lose the election. Our only hope is that election.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 02:45 AM

Someone posted this on Facebook this morning - new to me, but it tends to underline what's taking place at present
Jim

Nate Morris
Shared with Public
Ninety-seven years ago today, the first bombs ever dropped on American soil were dropped on the Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Ok.
Greenwood - the most preeminent Black community in the United States at the time - was home to 10,000 residents and contained scores of Black-owned businesses, hotels, restaurants, law offices, doctors offices, movie theaters and more. Following an incident between a young Black man and a white woman in a downtown elevator, many of the nearly 3,200 Klan members in Tulsa and countless more white vigilantes armed themselves with firearms and marched North to Greenwood.
They opened fire in the streets, set businesses and homes ablaze and dropped napalm-style bombs from fertilizer planes flying overhead.
With the help of the national guard and the local police force, they arrested nearly 6,000 black residents and forced them into temporary internment camps in the Brady Theater (now a popular Tulsa music venue) while their thriving community was systematically leveled. Many of those imprisoned were starved, beaten and killed in the same space the city hosts jubilant concerts in today.
In just a few short days, Greenwood was completely destroyed and nearly every single one of its 10,000 residents were left homeless. While the official death toll from the Americans Red Cross at the time caps the loss of life at 300, some researchers estimate that the true number could rival that of Pearl Harbor and the September 11th attacks.
The Tulsa Race Massacre (NOT “riot”) was one of the greatest terror attacks in the history of this country, and yet it is so frequently missing from the pages of our history books. When it is mentioned, it is given the false label of “riot” - implying that, somehow, the Black community of Greenwood was complicit in the attack.
This is what whitewashed history does - it allows us to choose not to face the true horrors of our past, thereby absolving us of responsibility to rectifying it.
If you live in Tulsa, I would encourage you to engage in the events happening tonight and tomorrow at Reconciliation park in downtown - and to attend the Police Accountability Forum from 9-2 on Saturday at the 36th St. North Events center.
Regardless of where you live - it’s incumbent upon us (especially white people - who benefit from the same system that allowed this attack to occur, protected its perpetrators from legal action, precluded it’s victims from receiving compensation, and swept it from view of the masses for generations) to seek out the stories that have been purposefully hidden or misrepresented in order to continue perpetuating false, placated narratives of our country’s true past.
Once we know - we need to act.
Share your knowledge of our past with others.
Learn about implicit biases and check your own consistently.
Look at current events through a lens of systemic racism and call it out.
Support Black owned businesses and businesses run by other communities of color - use your money as a tool to help right centuries of wrongdoings.
Support organizations like the Greenwood Cultural Center who fight to preserve this history and restore the community of Greenwood.
The story of Greenwood is not an isolated one.
We have so much work to do as a country to undo a history of violence and oppression against communities of color — and it all starts with knowing.
To learn more about Greenwood and Black Wall Street today, I would encourage you to follow The Black Wall Street Times on Facebook, Twitter (@BlackWallStTime), or online at www.theblackwallsttimes.com.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jun 20 - 01:11 AM

On a YouTube video if you look under the video you'll find a place to click "share" and it will pop-up a box with the shortened URL.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Donuel
Date: 08 Jun 20 - 11:39 PM

+Here is the hard work I speak of. ONE

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Helen
Date: 08 Jun 20 - 11:17 PM

Kimberly Jones How Can We Win?

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Neil D
Date: 08 Jun 20 - 11:01 PM

I no longer know how to make links to Youtube videos because I can't find the URLs. So I strongly urge all here to go to Youtube and search: kimberly jones how can we win? It's over six minutes of history you weren't taught in schools and the last minute and a half are especially powerful. You will hear her using the F-word, but if that's the part that causes you offence, then your priorities are skewed.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Jun 20 - 10:14 PM

https://www.motherjones.com/anti-racism-police-protest/2020/06/videos-show-cops-slashing-car-tires-at-protests-in-minneapolis/

Update, 6/8/20: The Star Tribune has identified the officers puncturing tires as state troopers and deputies from the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office. The officers strategically deflated the tires to “stop behaviors such as vehicles driving dangerously and at high speeds in and around protesters and law enforcement,” said Minnesota Department of Public Safety spokesperson Bruce Gordon. The troopers reportedly targeted cars that “contained items used to cause harm during violent protests” such as rocks and concrete. The Anoka County Sheriff’s Lt. Andy Knotz said deputies were following directions from the state-led Multiagency Command Center.

After long nights of tear gas and rubber bullets, some protesters, news crews, and medics in Minneapolis last weekend found themselves stranded: The tires of their cars had been slashed.

In a city upended by protests about police brutality after the death of George Floyd, many assumed protesters were to blame. But videos reveal a different culprit: the police.

In the videos, officers puncture tires in a K-Mart parking lot on May 30 and a highway overpass on May 31. Both areas briefly turned into police staging grounds near protest hot spots.

The officers appear to be state troopers or county police, though it’s not clear from the videos. Neither the Minnesota State Patrol nor the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office responded to requests from Mother Jones. The Minneapolis Police Department and Minnesota National Guard denied involvement.

The gray car in the video above was the rental car of Luke Mogelson, a New Yorker writer who typically covers war zones and is now stationed in Minneapolis to write about the protests. As the protest on Sunday evening turned hairy, with law enforcement tear-gassing peaceful groups soon after curfew, Mogelson went to check on his car, showing his press pass to officers along the way. (Media were exempt from the curfew.) One officer took a picture of his press pass and said he would “radio it up the chain so everyone knew that car belonged to the press,” said Mogelson. When he came back later that evening to retrieve his car, officers informed him that the tires were punctured. “They were laughing,” Mogelson recalled. “They had grins on their faces.”

Mogelson was among many journalists who came back to flat tires after the protests.

Follow the link for the rest of the story.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Donuel
Date: 08 Jun 20 - 09:37 PM

It will become an eternal symbol in the issue of racism, police abuse and police reform. The hard work is ahead.
As you know I am a strong believer in lasting symbols.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 08 Jun 20 - 09:32 PM

Raheem Sterling made some useful points about the representation of BAME footballers in the hierarchy of football. But maybe those in those positions rose there through their ability to do the job.
You cannot justify having quotas in every job at every level.

Raheem Sterling: “There’s something like 500 players in the Premier League and a third of them are black and we have no representation of us in the hierarchy, no representation of us in the coaching staffs. There’s not a lot of faces that we can relate to and have conversations with.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Helen
Date: 08 Jun 20 - 09:26 PM

Will the death of George Floyd at the hands of white police officer Derek Chauvin mark a
turning point in the US?

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Jun 20 - 09:16 PM

If I might just be indulged for one more minute, here's the estimable John Crace in the Guardian:

"And yet you couldn’t miss the faint whiff of hypocrisy on both sides of the house. Almost all those who were appalled by Edward Colston being dumped in the river had cheered when the statue of Saddam Hussein had been torn down."

John did miss a trick, of course, by forgetting to put the word "appalled" in speech marks...

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Jun 20 - 07:15 PM

I thought that Raheem Sterling was very impressive on Newsnight. A nice contrast with the horrendous smirker Priti-they-called-me-Paki-in-the-playground-so-I'll-take-no-lectures-from-you, you-black-woman-MP-Patel. Tens of thousands of nearly-all-peaceful demonstrators turned out this weekend. Both the detestable Patel and the even more detestable Johnson chose to come out and criticise the tiny minority whose frustrations came to the fore. Anything to divert from the shit that they've dropped on poorer communities for a decade, and which now exposes them for what they are as we see how much more vulnerable to Coronavirus black people are.

My friend Blair Peach was bludgeoned to death by a policeman forty-one years ago as he was making his way home from a demonstration opposing racism. Kevin Whately, a student from Warwick University, was bludgeoned to death on my birthday in 1974 in Red Lion Square during a protest against the fascist National Front. It was the first demo he'd ever been on. In neither case has anyone been brought to justice. The identity of Blair's killer has been known for decades. We're bloody sick of this stuff and I for one fully support and fully understand the protests about the murder by a policeman of George Floyd. I've hardly touched on this have I, with just those three examples. So I really don't want to hear the rank hypocrisy of the harrumphers who bemoan the abuse and the deserved, and long-overdue, demise of the cheap, shitty statue of a man who connived in the mass murder and the mass misery of black people.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 08 Jun 20 - 06:23 PM

"BLM is a Marxist organisation that wants to overthrow all we hold dear. Don’t buy into this equalities and racism crap, it’s a cover."


Bonzo approved amendment to slogan - "Affluent Black Conservative Lives Matter"

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Donuel
Date: 08 Jun 20 - 03:30 PM

Racism is a multifaceted problem beyond who or what makes life matter.
It is also an INCREDIBLE amount of energy. E=MC2
America was built by black lives from the ground up especially in the south. When energy is restrained and constrained it will EXPLODE.
It doesn't take an Einstein or a genius to see white fear, fragility and domination at work. Doing the right thing has taken dozens if not thousands of years because we're not as smart as we think we are.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 08 Jun 20 - 02:36 PM

HERE

Jim

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Rusty Dobro
Date: 08 Jun 20 - 01:39 PM

In around 1970, when the Australian government were actively seeking UK immigrants, I went to an official government presentation in Kent. The main feature was a film which depicted all the tempting attractions of the Aussie lifestyle - sunshine, beaches, surfing, sports, barbies and the like. I was ready to sign on the dotted line. Then the mood changed, and the film proudly showed a camp for aboriginal Australians. Behind the wire fences, the camera showed a clearly dispirited group of people.The men were propped up against the hut walls, and clutching beer bottles, while the children were playing aimlessly in the dust, but the main impression I retain after 50 years is of the flies settled round their eyes and mouths, with none even finding the energy to brush them away.
This was an official film promoting the country, remember, and the commentary made it quite clear that this was an achievement to be admired.

So, I didn’t sign up, and I can’t help wondering if less than one lifetime has been enough to eradicate this way of thinking.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Jun 20 - 01:10 PM

That's enough, Bonzo.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Jeri
Date: 08 Jun 20 - 12:41 PM

Anybody mind if I swear NOW?

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 08 Jun 20 - 12:26 PM

BLM is a Marxist organisation that wants to overthrow all we hold dear. Don’t buy into this equalities and racism crap, it’s a cover.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Jun 20 - 11:51 AM

It seems to me that the UK has so many CCTV cameras around that a decade ago or so when looters were part of a mix of rioters officials were able to tell them apart and make charges that stick.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Lives Matter - change on the way?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 08 Jun 20 - 11:47 AM

Yes - those people who were rioting! Of course I am not referring to the decent people who were there and you know it!!