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.
http://66.media.tumblr.com/e8ac8febfcebeb4124874538424453b5/tumblr_o1eyox6IIU1u5mdgro2_400.gif
As a white person, can I ask, what is it with white people wanting to start race wars? Did I miss a memo or something? Why? I mean, I guess I know WHY but, like…why?
Also, has it been confirmed that the shooters were white then?
The police were circulating a picture of a person of interest who was black, open carrying and wearing a camo print tee shirt, but he turned out to have nothing to do with it.
They have actual suspects in custody now but there aren’t details about them yet other than apparently there are two men and one woman who aren’t cooperating. At least according to that Gawker post linked above which is updating as news comes in.
I’m reluctant to speculate on the race of the killers myself.
msexceptiontotherule
If I disagree, the human race does not deserve that. If catastrophic eruption of multiple super-volcanoes and a few dozen meteors destroy Earth, it would be a tragedy, not justice. The human race does not deserve to be exterminated because of the actions of a few aresholes. The world is full of people trying to make the world a better place. The Black Lives Matter movement is proof of that. That ‘nuke everything’ attitude is part of the problem. It shows a disregard for human life. Seeing the lives of fellow human beings as something that has little or no value makes committing acts of violence much easier. If people cared more about human life, most this shit wouldn’t happen.
“White then,” I say, half jesting, half exhausted.
Here’s more from the CNN coverage
So yeah, definitely a planned terrorism kind of thing.
“Dallas police chief David Brown said earlier that at least two snipers had shot at officers “from elevated positions”.
Brown said the snipers appeared to have positioned themselves on perches at downtown garages during an orchestrated attack and “planned to injure and kill as many law enforcement officers as they could”.
In the most recent news conference, Brown said police now believed four people – three in custody, one in a standoff with officers – could have coordinated the attack.
[…]
Brown said the suspect had told them:
The end is coming and he’s going to hurt and kill more of us – meaning law enforcement – and that there are bombs all over the place in this garage and in downtown.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2016/jul/07/dallas-protest-police-shooting-live
From the limited information available, sounds like an organised terror attack – and, if that “the end is coming” part is a direct quote, well, it sounds like the have some sort of apocalyptic beliefs? End of the world, race war, mass uprising? But it might be incorrect or out of context, of course.
I am reluctant to speculate about the race of the perpetrator, too. But it is more likely that it is someone unaffiliated with the Black Lives Matter Movement.
@Handsome Jack
No, it has not been confirmed.
One of the apprehended suspects did apparently rant about how he was going to “hurt and kill” more law enforcement, that he had planted bombs downtown, and that “the end is coming”.
In the latest press conference, the Police Chief said they would look into whether they had any connection with the rally planners. (Sigh.)
And the DallasPD Twitter also tweeted an image of a black man carrying an assault rifle during the protest as a “suspect” they needed help finding. The internet quickly found a video of him just mingling with the crowd immediately after the shooting. Turns out he was completely innocent (just guilty of following Texas’s ridiculous open carry policies at a bad time), but now his face is out there as a “suspect”.
Police also stopped two brothers on the highway — “Driver at traffic stop on 35&Kiest says he was just picking his brother up from bus station downtown when DPD chased them down.” They were released, and luckily for them, their faces weren’t plastered all over the internet.
EDIT: Oops, ninja’d.
@saphira
Dang! That is scary. I had something similar (but much less traumatic and much more quickly resolved) happen to me as well. Wrong ID, wrong address. I don’t know how they managed to mess up the address because I had painted a big number on the door that he’d had to knock on. But anyway, pointing to the number got it solved.
Did you get an apology?
I’ve been harassed by the police (I’m a white woman) in the US.
There is definitely, definitely – not denying or minimising it – a problem with US police and race. But there is a problem with policing culture in general and a problem with gun culture.
Philando Castile was carrying. His gun didn’t protect him. His gun plus rotten policing plus racism got him murdered. It’s true that white guys carry all the time and don’t get killed*, so his gun was only a part of the equation. But it is absolutely part of the problem.
British policing is by NO means perfect. Not at all. But the last time a cop knocked on my door in London he was a neighbourhood patrol, I knew him by his first name and he was letting me know that I had left a window down on my car. Because I’m American, it still made me nervous as fuck seeing a cop at my door.
____
*well, actually they do – but not at the same rate – https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/31/the-counted-police-killings-2015-young-black-men
Yep. Apocalyptic beliefs are very dangerous. This is what happens when ‘the human race is evil and must be exterminated’ attitudes are taken to the extreme. Misanthropy kills, just like misogyny and racism kills and is just as bad.
You know, here I am, someone who thinks the BLM movement is important, and all I can think about are the kids who no longer have a mom or dad after tonight.
And in other corners of the internet, the world’s worst people are once again absolutely giddy, patting each other on the back, and taking victory laps.
This is very out of character of the BLM movement, they are usually very peaceful.
And it looks very much as though the police were doing their serve the public function. One report, in The Guardian I think, has one BLM protestor saying that a cop pulled him and others out of the way when they heard the first shots fired, then the cop went towards the apparent danger area.
Far too early to speculate about whether the cops were the only target all along, or were targeted in the way that some terrorists make an initial attack and then go for the emergency and security people who respond.
@Jack
Yes, you may 🙂
If it fails, you’re an idiot. If it works, you’re a genius… Does it work tho? Cos, going back the past few hundred years of history, white people starting race wars usually works out for y’all. What’s the white people, race war scoreboard lookin like at this point? Like, outside of a slight hiccup with the Ottomans, that’s a damn good record
I mean, the last war everybody’s cool with was WWII. Most people agree the Nazis were worth fighting, right? Unfortunately for the racistly inclined, the Nazis were white guys. Now we’re in the Mideast, killing brown people per yoozh, but everyone hates it. Racists are, to say the least, more than a tad confused
‘Remember when we carved up Africa and called our conquest of the darker Asians the East India Trading Company? Remember the Opium War and the Crusades? Pepperidge Farm remembers.’
Race wars used to be just, like, on the regular. Some people still need their ‘good old days’ fix. Even if those ‘good old days’ were before toilets and refrigeration
ETA: Sorry for the rambling and the coping humor 🙂
@Axecalibur
If I may add to that the Vietnam war also the prerequisite for deconstructing the idea that the white man was the natural lord and conqueror and everything is hunky dory. Same thing happened in middle east and everyone hates it. Now there’s this global trade and internet where you can’t outwardly conquer or else everyone will kill your economy and everyone would know about it.
The racists no longer have a defined race war that ultimately benefits them. Instigation of individuals is met with outcry and prosecution rather than the silent approval of society. More and more people are of mixed race, gender and such and are met with general acceptance rather than shame/mockery much to the dismay of the racists.
Even those in position of power are less able to be outwardly racist and instead have to use covert language in order to appeal to the racist voting base, or be blatant enough to make everyone else wary of their agenda.
Plus what I see in the good old days view is the same thing of their own “individual exceptionalism” in all manosphere and other forms of misogyny/misanthropy/bigotry, even though THEY specifically aren’t the ones who are the lords and conquerors, they believe that to be theirs by birthright.
It’s incredibly repetitive on how recyclable this framing device is used in all forms of discrimination, especially when reading through articles on this site.
This is becoming some kind of a powder keg, and some people try to send sparks to the wick. I do not know if there is something/one behind that (i am not keen on conspiracy theories), it looks more like pure opportunism, brought out by persons with extreme views and ways of thinking who maybe expect some kind of snowball effect.
Hope this will never work.
I can’t wrap my mind around the idea that hate crimes and related evils are hoaxes and conspiracies, especially when someone actually dies.
Also, I’ve been thinking. All lgbt+ people were, are, and could be victims of police violence. So both groups, which are not inherently separate in the first place, really ought to be on this solidarity thing. White queer people in particular, and we need to recognize we still have problems with the police. #LGBTLivesMatter, #QPOCLivesMatter.
That sniper story is just as horrible as all thoses random black killed, maimed, or injustly imprisoned. That’s unbelievably fucked up, and it look like the beginning of a violence escalation.
I would not want to be a black man in Dallas. That won’t improve anything :/
@cyberwulf : so that cops feel even more justified in killing people just in case, so that Trump feel validated in the eye of “on-the-fence” people, and so that the black live matter movement have trouble.
Good job ! Thoses guys have made the clusterfuck even worse !
@Oogly
Can always count on you for the Vietnam knowledge drop ?! And everything else is spot on too
@Cyberwulf
Hmm, interesting… Did I say ‘interesting’? Sorry, I misspoke. I meant to say ‘shut the fuck up’
Cyberwulf and GeorgeSJWBush are banned. Cyberwulf had a history of problematic comments; GeorgeSJWBush was an obvious troll.
Please email me if anyone else makes similar comments, and they will be banned too. Vigilante “justice” isn’t justice.
I’ll open a new thread to discuss the Dallas shootings.
@David Futrelle
Dang it I just missed the other gotcha troll.
But on a more serious note I hope that when more reliable sources come out we can all have a nuanced discussion on the events that transpired.
I *also* have to convince a group of white frenchmen that there is a scandal behind the various black killing that launched #BlackLiveMatter.
“Justice did its work, they should not complain, beside punishing thoses policers would only make the family more mad”
I need a drink.
I promised I would celebrate the day Cyberwulf finally got banned. Now I feel like it’s not a good time to celebrate anything. Maybe tomorrow.
@MissEB47
Forgive me, sometimes things just seem so…hopeless and pointless.