#BLM blocking marathon finish

I have lived through the hatred of both sides of the BLM movement in the last year, sometimes on the front line.  Every discussion I've seen regarding the issue has melted down into ridiculousness from each side.  From the view in my seat it can't be discussed rationally by anyone.

For the first time in a nearly 30 year career I just want to walk away from it all.

I read your post and was sitting here wondering what a state fair has to do with the Bureau of Land Management?  Did somebody's have their pigs on federal land without permission, huh?  Then I saw the article.  Ohhhh, *that* BLM.  LOL.

I thought the same thing.  I guess its a good thing that it doesn't register with us.

I always think of LB whenever I see the #BLM folks being thugs.

The irony of #BLM is they want people to not be bigots and racists, yet they're one of the most bigoted and racist organizations I've ever seen.

ummmm what?

ummmm what?  you don't think it is?  wow

If I created a group called White Lives Matter and promoted the killing of black police officers, you wouldn't consider me racist?

Joe Evans #AllLivesMatter Denounce #BlacklivesMatter

I got stranded at an airport this year with my daughters coming home from a fishing trip in the Gulf.  We ended up in Atlanta with no real option for getting home when we needed to.  There were about 20 of us trying to get back to St. Louis and the airline put us up in a hotel.  I hadn't talked to any of the other folks because I was just trying to get my girls down for the night.....they were wiped out from the stress of not knowing how we were going to get home......the way only 15 year old twin sisters can when they don't have their luggage and whatever it is that 15 year old girls believe they just CAN'T live without.

I ended up deciding that we would rent a car and drive home.  It meant we would beat the next best option home by at least 24 hours. 

So I'm standing there at the rental counter and standing there also is this young black kid, maybe 25, so half my age plus some, trying to decide if he wants to pay for a rental car and make the trip.  I asked him what he was going to do and he was pretty much lost.  He had to get home, but he said he had been up all night on the floor at the airport and didn't know if he could make a 10 hour drive without getting some sleep....plus he hadn't counted on an extra 300.00 that they wanted for a one way rental.  The one way for me was going to be 80.00 since I have a pretty good hook up with Enterprise.  After a few more minutes I offered for him to ride back with us, we'd split the car, the gas, and the driving.(I'd watched him in the airport and at various counters, the way a 30 year cop watches everything, and wasn't worried in the least, he was a good kid)  He looked at me like I had two heads.  I could tell he was sizing me up and trying to figure out what my angle was......I'm not a little guy.  I asked him his name, introduced myself, and called my daughters over to meet him.  I could instantly tell that meeting them and realizing I just needed to get home too softened him up.  We decided that we'd make the trip together.

I guess we had been on the road about 3 hours or so and I switched the radio over to CNN or some news station because I wanted to get a handle on what was happening in Baltimore.  The Freddy Grey case was all wound up and there had been riots, protests, etc.  I was already trying to figure out which of my guys I as going to send back to the Ferguson area when the folks in St. Louis decided to ramp up their protests in support of Baltimore.  It's been a constant for my group for over a year....and they're tired of it.

The kid says, "man, this is crazy stuff, but I'm down with the protests".  He says, "what do you think about all of this stuff?"  Oh..............great.  One of my kids was asleep but I could see the wide eyed look on the other one in the rearview mirror. 

So I tell him what I think.  I tell him that I think the protestors have some great points about some of the issues they have with law enforcement and the justice system.  I think mandatory sentencing for crack cocaine is ridiculous.  I think that poor people getting warrant after warrant piles on them so that they end up spending weeks or months in jail for a speeding ticket is barbaric.  I think a lot of things can be done better and I do think that black people are targeted in both high crime neighborhoods and wealthy white neighborhoods.  I think black people who just want to live their lives without bothering anyone bear the burden of black crime that we see on TV in a way that white people who just want to mind their own business would NEVER have to with regard to white crime.  I tell him that it's  tricky thing for cops to try to figure out and they get it wrong sometimes...

He says, "man, that's right, I hate cops."  Oh..........great.

He tells me about all of the times he's been harassed by the Police, how he's an IT guy with a good income who lives in an upscale part of St. Louis and gets stopped constantly.  He says he's only been in St. Louis for a few years and can't wait to leave.  He says it's one of the most racially divided places he's even been to.  He's got a point about that. He goes on about a few other points that "prove" his point and some of them are good and some not so much, at least in my mind.  Of course, pretty soon he asks me what I do.  Oh.......I knew this was coming.

"I'm a cop".  His exact words......"get the f**K out of here".....and then looks back over his shoulder at my daughter, then at me, then says, "Man, sorry about that".  Good kid.

For 5 hours we hash it out....and my daughters get involved as well......It's SO good.  He's passionate about getting me to see his side and I'm passionate about getting him to see it from my point of view.  He eventually says he doesn't really hate all cops, and I tell him that I just hate people who hurt other people.  He tells me that he understands how I can feel about some of the protestors and I tell him that I understand how he must feel getting stopped because he's black (yeah, that happens).  I also make it clear that I would not hesitate to kill anyone who tried to stop me from going home to see my family at the end of my day.....and how I hope and pray that I can get out of my line of work without that happening. I also make it clear that I wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone who was trying to hurt him and keep him from going home at the end of his day.  It's powerful to him, and to me,  as we sit in a car with my kids.

In the end we decide that it'd be great if people could just sit down with each other and decide to work toward making some progress with our understanding of each other, and not stay wrapped up in our own experiences, opinions, and understanding, that these things could get worked out.  Of course it's much more complicated than that, but it would be a start.  We also decide that the people who seem to have the biggest voice and the biggest sound bites probably need to shut up and leave it to people who just want to live their lives without hating anyone.  We are, after all, the majority.  I think that gets lost in all the black/white rhetoric.

I don't think Michael and I solved any problems on that trip........but I bet people like us could.  I think most of us could. 

Thanks for your detailed response, LB.  I really respect your opinion on these issues.

I agree with your assessment of the current state of the criminal justice system.  And I agree with many of the points being brought up by the BLM protesters.  However, the BLM tactics, like the blocking the marathon finish and inciting riots, do such a disservice to their cause.  I'm for an overhaul of the CJ system, including a pivot away from the failed war on drugs, which is one of the primary reasons I support Rand Paul.  Other than Bernie Sanders, there are no other candidates who care anything about criminal justice reform (which may be the only agreement I have with Sanders).  

The academic works covering the racial inequality in the eyes of the law are tough to argue against.  It's not about being tough on crime but being just on crime.  I wish BLM movement and those fighting against the system could find a voice to take their concerns to the mainstream in a way that doesn't marginalize the message by the way the message is presented.

OK, that's just ridiculous.  An idiot being a thug in the street is a thug period and it has nothing to do with race.  When I watch the #BLM folks rioting in the streets, burning cars and businesses it is absolutely appropriate to call them thugs because that's exactly what they are.  Obviously not all #BLM folks are thugs and as LB pointed out there are legitimate complaints that minorities have against their treatment, but it doesn't excuse thug behavior.