I have all the feels when I read your articles, Stephen - shock, anger, sadness, guilt, and shame. It's uncomfortable feeling guilty and ashamed for the actions of other white people, but I look at it this way - it's a hell of a lot better to have those feels than the very real fear of getting shot that black people have to endure for themselves and their children every day. I am profoundly sorry that this is the reality of so many people and that black people pay the price for the gross ignorance and hatred of white "authority figures" with guns and those that protect them.
And yet the,at best,incompetent cop, at worst, racist motherfucker, doesn’t get punished. Fuck the Thin Blue Line.*I have deep misgivings about my punctuation here. I apologize in advance.
Open carry is still against the law in Illinois. So you have to have a CCL in order to be able to have a gun on your person. I think there are some exemptions for trained security guards.
No, that wasn’t the point at all but I suppose I could have said arm themselves in public. With the NRA and complicit politicians pushing right to carry and open carry laws all over the country anyone with a gun boner can walk around in public with a gun. The inevitable consequence is that people will get killed.
My late husband was the "black sheep" of a classic NW side Chicago cop family (his father, uncle, and two cousins are/were on the force) and to be perfectly honest my experiences with being related to four of them only *lowered* my opinion of police officers. Three of the four are pretty openly racist, and all four of them are some degree of asshole.
Late 80’s at the Busy Bee diner at North and Damen under the L station. Don’t look for it, it’s gone now but back then it was a good place to get breakfast. Many of chicago’s Finest used to dine there too. One Sunday morning I was eating breakfast next to a table of five or six cops in uniform having a laugh while drinking coffee and eating pancakes when a woman came in crying and clearly stressed out. She came up to the table and pleaded with the officers to do something bc her boyfriend was threatening to kill her. A couple of the ”peace” officers noticed that she was “brandishing” a knife. It looked like a butter knife she had grabbed off a table in the diner. I saw the officer closest to me put his hand on his gun. Oh shit this isn’t happening I thought, but one of the officers told her to put the knife down and she did. She cried some more for the police to do something. One of the cops seriously asked “did you call the police?” I could’ve done a spit take if my mouth was full of water. She said yes, cop says “they’ll be on their way then.” And they went back to eating breakfast as if nothing happened. The woman didn’t know what to do so she moved to a table a little further away and just sat and waited and cried.
"I'm not sure it's the police's "job" to shoot any black man they see with a gun, one who in this case was clearly identified as a security guard. I mean ... it's not right? You'd tell me if it was, wouldn't you?"
Yo, Tomi...
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I have all the feels when I read your articles, Stephen - shock, anger, sadness, guilt, and shame. It's uncomfortable feeling guilty and ashamed for the actions of other white people, but I look at it this way - it's a hell of a lot better to have those feels than the very real fear of getting shot that black people have to endure for themselves and their children every day. I am profoundly sorry that this is the reality of so many people and that black people pay the price for the gross ignorance and hatred of white "authority figures" with guns and those that protect them.
Yes. Officer Bubba doesn't need an armored riot vehicle.
I no longer feel safe with cops around. I feel the opposite.
Thank you for the Go Fund Me link. It's so very, very little, but at least it's something we can do to tell the family that the world sees and cares.
And yet the,at best,incompetent cop, at worst, racist motherfucker, doesn’t get punished. Fuck the Thin Blue Line.*I have deep misgivings about my punctuation here. I apologize in advance.
It’s shoot first, ask questions later if you’re a POC or look like you’re indigent. Restrain and detain if your’re white and wearing clean pants.
I guess they're kind of impoverished now...they can't do Russia's money laundering at this time, things are too hot.
Open carry is still against the law in Illinois. So you have to have a CCL in order to be able to have a gun on your person. I think there are some exemptions for trained security guards.
It improves your chances of getting on the force. Being an asshole gets you bonus points.
No, that wasn’t the point at all but I suppose I could have said arm themselves in public. With the NRA and complicit politicians pushing right to carry and open carry laws all over the country anyone with a gun boner can walk around in public with a gun. The inevitable consequence is that people will get killed.
My late husband was the "black sheep" of a classic NW side Chicago cop family (his father, uncle, and two cousins are/were on the force) and to be perfectly honest my experiences with being related to four of them only *lowered* my opinion of police officers. Three of the four are pretty openly racist, and all four of them are some degree of asshole.
They'll just say he was a thief because the kitten belonged to a little white girl.
Late 80’s at the Busy Bee diner at North and Damen under the L station. Don’t look for it, it’s gone now but back then it was a good place to get breakfast. Many of chicago’s Finest used to dine there too. One Sunday morning I was eating breakfast next to a table of five or six cops in uniform having a laugh while drinking coffee and eating pancakes when a woman came in crying and clearly stressed out. She came up to the table and pleaded with the officers to do something bc her boyfriend was threatening to kill her. A couple of the ”peace” officers noticed that she was “brandishing” a knife. It looked like a butter knife she had grabbed off a table in the diner. I saw the officer closest to me put his hand on his gun. Oh shit this isn’t happening I thought, but one of the officers told her to put the knife down and she did. She cried some more for the police to do something. One of the cops seriously asked “did you call the police?” I could’ve done a spit take if my mouth was full of water. She said yes, cop says “they’ll be on their way then.” And they went back to eating breakfast as if nothing happened. The woman didn’t know what to do so she moved to a table a little further away and just sat and waited and cried.
Chicago’s Finest
"I'm not sure it's the police's "job" to shoot any black man they see with a gun, one who in this case was clearly identified as a security guard. I mean ... it's not right? You'd tell me if it was, wouldn't you?"
It's not a bug. It's a feature.
The security guard was not staying in his own lane, obvs... <snarc>