Philando Castile
Yesterday yet another black man was shot and killed by a police officer in deeply troubling circumstances. Philando Castile was in his car, safety belt on, apparently reaching for his license, when the officer shot him during a traffic stop in a suburb of St. Paul Minnesota.
His girlfriend Diamond Reynolds, in the car with him, somehow maintained her composure enough to film the aftermath of the shooting, streaming it live to Facebook. (You can watch the footage here.)
Matt Forney — the internet-famous woman-hating white supremacist — has somehow convinced himself that it’s all an elaborate hoax. In a succession of Tweets, he lays out his case, such as it is. (Click on the screenshots to see the Tweets in context on Twitter.)
Forney — in several Tweets and in a post on his blog — sets forth a series of easily refutable “arguments” which in his mind prove his case. His first “argument” will give you a sense of Forney’s keen mind in action: `
She was never arrested; just detained. The cops threw her phone to the ground after detaining her. It was returned to her later. All of this is clear from watching the video.
I’m not going to bother with the rest of his arguments because, well, here’s the thing:
Philando Castile, a real person, is dead. He died in the hospital as a result of his wounds. Is the hospital that reported this part of the conspiracy? Did he volunteer to be killed in a random traffic stop in order to give BlackLivesMatter a new talking point? Did his girlfriend agree to go along with this bizarre plan?
The St. Anthony Police Department has acknowledged the shooting and Castile’s death and put the officer who shot Castile on leave. The St. Anthony Police Department is, in fact, a real police department, not a troupe of actors. Is the St. Anthony Police Department working in cahoots with BlackLivesMatter to make itself look bad? Is the officer who shot Castile — whom Reynolds has described as “Asian” — hoping that his actions will help BlackLivesMatter “slander” white men? Even though he apparently isn’t white?
The governor of Minnesota has asked the Justice Department to investigate. Is he part of the conspiracy too? Is the Justice Department?
I’ll stop here, but my basic point is this: There is a real world. Matt Forney clearly does not live in it.
It’s obviously impossible for a white guy living in England to understand what it’s like to be a black person living in the US; but one incident did give me a tiny insight.
I was putting together some material for a self defence seminar. One aspect was how to deal with the police in the aftermath of using force.
One of my (black) Amercian friends said he already had some stuff on that that I could use. He said it covered things like complying with orders, no sudden movements, keeping your hands in plain sight etc.
It says it all that there’s actually a huge amount of material dealing with that.
Ditto this. Fuck Cyberwulf, fuck Matt Forney, fuck violence.
msexceptiontotherule-That’s ok! We all feel like that from time. *hugs* Even though it is hard in times like these, it helps to think about the good that people do and how the world is a better place than it was a century ago, or even a few decades ago. Many parts of the the world have better healthcare, education employment, environmental awareness and have made significant technological advancements. The number of wars have decreased and the number of casualties have decreased steadily since the end of WW2. Global infant mortality has been on the decline since the 1960s, even in poorer countries. Mass shootings have been on the decline since the 1940’s. Many countries have also made great strides towards equality for women, LGBT people and people of colour thanks to feminism, LGBT and the civil rights (and similar movements for racial equality) movements . There is still a LOT of room for improvement, of course and things will NEVER be anywhere near perfect. But things are far from hopeless and things are improving, even though it is like 2 steps forward and 1 step back all the time. 😀
Anyway, have some cute kitty pics to cheer you up. 😀
That’s it, I can’t deal with the world any more, I’m going off to be a dragon. Living in a cave somewhere, away from humans.
Matt Forney is a complete psychopath, and I’m scared for anyone – especially women and black people – unfortunate enough to live near him.
Haaaa, @Lissa, he lives on the North Side of Chicago. Eep!
@Lissa
Matt Forney may or mayn’t have AntiSocial Personality Disorder or any other psychological or mood condition. However, conspiracy theorizing and being a racist are not necessary symptoms of such, and thus speculation as to his mental health is at best baseless and at worst marginalizing. Peruse the Comments Policy at your leisure. Thanks
@ Axe
You’re really well informed on UK politics (better than most UK peeps anyway). You familiar with the McPherson Report and the events leading to it? Be interested in your thoughts as to whether such an inquiry would be helpful in the US (I think you’re in the US; apologies if not)
You rang?
Anyway… No, I hadn’t heard. But. From a quick bit of research, I notice some differences that may make such an endeavor incompatible
1)The Met patrols Greater London (not the city). That’s 8m, ~1/8 of the UK and ~1/7 of England. The NYPD patrols NYC (5 burroughs). Again 8m but ~2/5 of the State and only ~1/40 of the total country. The St Anthony Police (Falcon Heights) ‘serve’ much fewer. An investigation into any single department won’t reach as far here
2)London is the capital and cultural heart of the UK, meaning there’s a vested interest in the Home Secretary ordering such a report. Our Attorney General has occasionally gone after Ferguson, for example. But that’s a suburb of St Louis. Over there, ya know? We don’t have a London
3)We have a federal system. The states and municipalities mainly handle policing. It would take a massive burst of political will to get Washington to put its foot down. And even then, at what point does it become an unconstitutional overreach
4)Speaking of the Constitution, the CJA 2003 allows for double jeopardy. Amendment V states:
That just isn’t gonna fly here
Now, there’s some stuff in the report that’s more than worth looking into, both on a moral/ethical level and as far as things that conceivably, actually happen. But, I’ll not hold my breath…
If there’s anything more specific you wanna ask about, I’ll see what I can do. And thanks for the distraction 🙂
Cheers Axecalidanger; I knew you’d have something interesting to say.
I’m just musing really. Obviously the UK and US situations are pretty different places. Just wondered if there might be something in the McPherson idea. The main thing it did here was provoke a bit of a national conversation. I’m not sure how much good it did; I’m not really the person to judge. Our big thing was just finally acknowledging the elephant in the room that there was a problem with racism in the police system. Prior to McPherson the standard view was the ‘few bad apples’ thesis. McPherson introduced (or perhaps highlighted) that ‘institutional racism’ was a thing.
The nearest we’ve had to events like Dallas was the murder of a policeman called Keith Blakelock. Quite a few parallels actually. That might have been the jumping off point for the national conversation we needed, but the central issues got sidetracked for various reasons.
Of course in the US you at least seem to have seen the elephant in the room; it’s how to deal with it that’s the issue there it seems. No simple answers I suspect.
Okay, so this guy believes that a protest group has enough money to hire actors, make a stage, get props, and film these shootings perfectly? All just to spite people like him? Special snowflake much?
Oh wait…white supremacist. Of course he is.
@Alan Robertsafe (teehee)
Well, ain’t that nice…
The police brutality/racism conversation has been going on since Rodney King. We don’t need more conversation. There have been times when the government drags the populace into the future. This needs to be 1 of those times, I’m afraid
The complexity of solutions ain’t the issue. Nobody’s confused. Everybody knows what to do, it’s just, for a troubling number of people, the thing to do is nothing. And, unfortunately, a disproportionate number of them are in state governments and Congress. Honestly, so long as the Republicans are a national presence (they seem to be done presidentially, next is the Senate), I don’t expect much
The thing is, we don’t need to fix the police. Not all in 1 go anyway. Once the defenses are broken, even with something small, the next 1 will be easier. Every state that got marriage equality made the ball roll a little faster. We just need a little push. And, no, I don’t know what that push would look like…
@MissEB47
Thanks for the kitties! With all the negative stuff that’s (always) been happening (but I’ve become increasingly aware of), it’s hard to pull out of a downward emotional spiral – but adorable fuzzy creatures always help. 🙂
@Alan, @Axecalibur
Law enforcement is a stressful occupation. I think that it might be a positive change if officers were required to regularly see a counselor to check in on the stress/psychological stuff and if there’s an issue, the officer will be referred to a professional who can help them work through it if possible…kind of/sort of but not exactly like how healthcare workers like nurses and doctors with substance abuse problems can get help and keep their job? Recognizing that there’s problem and creating a path for dealing with it that doesn’t automatically mean losing ones job and being barred from working that job anywhere else – though in some instances that will ultimately be appropriate – plus adding in changes in training (which needs to be ongoing; teachers have to complete additional training on a regular basis to keep their credentials valid, why not law enforcement?) and you’d have a good start to improving the profession for the benefit of the public and the officers.
@ msexception
I would agree with everything you say there; that’s something that would be very helpful.
Of course I can see a few potential problems. Firstly, even if there were assurances that there would be no career consequences, I can still see how people might be reluctant to be perceived as not fully coping. That also ties in with the general thing of not wanting to be seen as ‘weak’. You know your feminism so I don’t need to ‘splain to you about how members of a macho profession might view therapists.
Headline correction: Human Turdburger Makes Actual Shit Fall Out of His Face Hole Because His Mommy Didn’t Hug Him Enough
@Alan
Dudes (and the ladies of law enforcement) need to get over it. (said with a touch of tongue in cheek) Nobody is perfect and it’s a stressful job – each day they go in to work the thought that it could be their last day alive is in the back of their mind somewhere kicking around…that would get to anyone after a while! If counseling were made a requirement of the job like doing your paperwork and doing your weapon/firearm test/certify, one might not really like it but has to do it to remain employed. Typically when an officer has been involved in a ‘good shoot’ where they had to discharge their weapon and kill someone who was a legit danger to them or others they have to go see a counselor…Suspect Dashti, Mehrdad (1990 – took 33 people hostage at a bar near the UC Berkeley campus for seven hours, armed with a MAC 10 handgun, a semiautomatic handgun, and a revolver. At the end of the hostage situation, Dashti killed one hostage and wounded seven other people.) Or the North Hollywood California shootout in 1997 where the 2 heavily armed and armored bank robbers injured 11 police and 7 civilians as they attempted to flee the scene…that incident was particularly unique at the time because the LAPD officers who initially responded weren’t equipped with the firepower that would stop the two individuals with illegally modified weapons, home-made body armor that protected from shotguns and .38 or 9mm rounds so until SWAT came with more firepower the wounded couldn’t be evacuated, some officers ‘borrowed’ automatic weapons from a nearby gun store after realizing they couldn’t get close enough to do much with their own weapons while they were under heavy fire from the suspects; the 1980 Norco shootout (five men armed with shotguns, an AR-15, an HK91, an HK93, handguns, and an improvised explosive device robbed the Norco branch of Security Pacific Bank. Two of the five perpetrators and one sheriff’s deputy were killed, 9 other law enforcement officers were injured, and gunfire damaged at least 30 police cars and one police helicopter.)…in order to return to duty, going to a mental health professional and being cleared to do so had to occur. It might seem un-macho, but going to talk to a counselor even when you haven’t gone through an incident where armed suspects with automatic weapons are firing at you while all you have is your handgun should be presented by department leadership as being completely normal and ‘well you gotta do it regardless…’ and follow through on making sure the officers are doing it as required.
The thing that’s somewhat funny in this whole tragic affair is that Philando Castile might have had more in common with Forney than he did with BLM; his Twitter feed reveals somewhat “alt-right” leanings.
” each day they go in to work the thought that it could be their last day alive is in the back of their mind somewhere kicking around…that would get to anyone after a while!”
This notion that just going to work could be life-ending is literally true for everyone.
@msexception
Yes 😃
@ msexception
You ever read any of Dave Grossman’s stuff? He writes a lot about how different police forces deal with this sort of thing. He’s a big fan of compulsory counselling for the reasons you suggest. His thesis is that a lot of guys would actually appreciate the counselling but either don’t realise it or, more commonly, don’t like to admit it. So by making it a compulsory procedure guys can say to their mates in the locker room “Oh, gotta go see that shrink now” and laugh about it. Then they can express their feelings confidentially.
He’s also a believer that people in macho professions should be encouraged to open up just to each other. He often tells a story about an experienced cop telling gung-ho rookies to come back to him when they can answer the riddle: “what do they taste like?” (the answer being ‘tears’)
@regeya
And every time you get in the car to drive to the store you might never make it home – you might get hit by a big rig going 80 MPH and be pushed off the overpass down an embankment to a ravine where your car explodes with you in it unconscious or already dead and nobody can get to you in time. Law enforcement occupations are by and large going to involve frequent ongoing contact with criminals – if you were to argue that being the night shift clerk at a gas station/convenience store in a high crime metropolitan area is a job with significant stress over the potential danger to ones life, you might sort of almost have a point here.
@Alan
No, I have not, I’ll have to check his stuff out…do a google or whatever the kids call it these days. 😛 His reasoning (that they either don’t realize or don’t like to admit) simply makes sense – I have family who are former law enforcement, my brother works in corrections (he’s the guy who runs the control room computer at the facility; watches the monitors, moving inmates around has to be through certain doors and gates which are operated from the control room, or an incident requiring the tactical response team occurs he’s the one issuing the call up alert…etc. ) – they don’t have to tell me specifically they feel or felt stress from the job, you hear it in what they do say, sense it….I also know that some things have to be presented to them as a requirement or it won’t happen (like my SIL and getting my brother to eat salads to keep him from having a high cholesterol no fiber/greenery related medical disaster. :P)
And military personnel returning from deployment in Iraq/Afghanistan (unsurprisingly enlistments somewhat increased after 9/11) have also been encouraged to open up with each other, keep an eye out for signs of depression and/or indications the individual may be considering suicide…Though being in the military is a little different because they’re sent overseas to fight (usually).
@ msexception
The British Army has always been seen as a bit quirky as, whenever possible, it always brings returning troops home by ship rather than aeroplane.
Thats a deliberate choice though. It’s to provide extra time where troops who’ve served together can just unwind and speak of their experiences to each other. It’s almost like decompression in a way.
It does seem to be effective. There’s a much lower incidence of psychological problems compared to forces who have the approach of one minute you’re in combat and literally the next day you’re back home worrying about utility bills.
I’m way late to the commentary, but I would not be at all saddened should Matt Forney decide to fake his own death just as effectively as the ‘faked death’ of Philando Castile.
Thought you might like to know that good ol’ horny Forney is currently on heavy rotation at Redice. If you have a disqus account no doubt he would love to hear from you! 🙂