The Aftermath of Friday Night’s Protest In Downtown Tucson

1. NO JUSTICE NO PEACE!

2. Now THIS action is needed:
   ORGANIZE to get everyone registered to vote.
   ORGANIZE to make sure every registered voter has transportation to the polls.
   ORGANIZE to promote voting BLUE.

3. Wait?! There are black people in Tucson. I thought I was the only one, been here a year and I have not seen anyone nonwhite or under 65, I ‘m so confused..

4. Treat them as the terrorists that they are. They will not destroy our country.

5. People destroying property are not protesters they are just hooligans

6. You would never know we are in the midst of a pandemic. Peaceful protests are appropriate. But looting and rioting are only contributing to the pain and damage caused by COVID19. However, the violent, self- centered hooligans, subversives and useful idiots don’t give a dam.

7. This is heart wrenching. Those small business owners did nothing to deserve this and now they have to pay the penalty for this.

8. Dee the price of doing business in ameriKKKa.

9. Photograph the rioters so they can be arrested. Let’s pledge rewards for help in making arrests. Bounties paid just like on animals.

10. So, I understand the right to Protesting and making a statement of equality and fairness to ALL. However how does destroying business help? We are coming out of a pandemic COVID-19, jobs are lost and now business are being destroyed the little jobs that are left. Thinking: this is just hurting the working class. I really don’t think destruction of property is helping the cause. Dr King SAID “”Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. Indeed it is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and enables the man who wields it.” Something else, most of those who are rioting are far left liberals, Not those “crazy conservatives. If you do the crime YOU should do the TIME! No matter your color, race, religion or party line everyone should be held accountable under the law.
    CALL ME CRAZY 🙂

11. Another white man explaining Dr. King to the rest of us.

12. Pittsburgh declares that riots were organized and planned by Antigua. White far left terrorists.

13. Why would Caribbean Island terrorists organise riots in Pittsburgh? The fear mongering sock-puppet troll who posted that comment needs to be locked up in the loony bin.

14. He’s an idiot, but I think he meant Antifa, not Antigua.

15. The Great Explainer:

    I knew what the idiot meant. I just find it hilarious that these buffoons are so commited to posting their fucknut conspiracy fantasies without paying attention to detail while commenting. It proves that they’re not even paying attention to detail when they choose the news sources they frequent. They are Losers with a capital L!

16. We’re drowning in our own hatred, stupidity and ignorance. After the formation and recommendations of all the various committees that have been formed to try to acheive social unity, and better police community relations since 1967………very little has actually been done to improve the relationships between groups of people. How can we still call this the United States of America? How can we ask minorities living in our country to enlist and fight for this Country..when many of those called to duty don’t even share the same rights as others? One really can’t be called a “liberal” unless they are to stand up for the equal rights of all citizens for education, housing, and employment. Short of EQUALITY; there is no liberalism. Its only a word to hide behind when we all can see with our own eyes every single day that too many people enjoy entitlements that others have never enjoyed. I’m not behind burning and rioting; but neither am I behind the status quoor calls for “normalization”. There is nothing normal about how our Country is governed and policed. Its time at long last for meaningful change in direction so that all people can feel safe in a free and secure Country.

17. Absolutely. Those are everyday run of the mill democrats burning, looting, and destroying the property of others. The hate America group has reared it’s ugly head. Again.

18. This is WRONG..!! This is NOT a protest. It is simply an excuse to damage property and be violent. The Tucson Police Department and the other businesses did nothing. They are innocent victims. I pray EVERYONE involved in criminal activity is prosecuted and has to pay large fines that is disbursed among those who are victims, including the Police Department.

19. Democrat Reform Needed
    It is both sides that are doing looting and damage. Minneapolis has already said that many of the people arrested for looting had links to White Supremacist Groups. Both political sides are trying to stir things up. Soros is allegedly funding Antifa travel to major cities. From a friend from Minneapolis it is being done to discredit Senator Klobachar in the hopes that Biden will pick Hillary instead. When she was a prosecutor she did not prosecute Derek Chauvin for past shooting of a suspect as well as his numerous community excessive force claims.

20. Has everybody read the initial autopsy?

21. Dehonkafacation in progress! No justice no peace!

22. Where’s Danehy? Where’s CW13? In these troubled times we need their keen counsel.

23. Where have you gone, CW and Danehy?
    Our city turns its lonely eyes to you.
    Woo, woo, woo.

24. Our mayor tried to inflict THE STRICTEST COVID regulations onto businesses (and the people) not even ONE WEEK AGO, yet she backs these riots, where hundreds of people are gathering. Weren’t these same people criticizing any selfish low-life who dared gather at bars recently? Apparently COVID doesn’t spread when you loot, destroy and cause chaos in the name of “justice.”

25. Does anybody remember the convicted criminals that were released from prison two months ago? Now it looks a lot like Cuomo forcing the infected into nursing homes causing deaths.

    They are to blame.

26. Just got this from a friend. I am not sure who organized or funded this, but we need to come to terms with what is going on here. This looks more like an invasion.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/CA35qKcgH2d/

27. I think the majority of Americans who seen the Minn police needlessly kill Floyd we’re appaled, and rightfully so. Peaceful Protest are exactly what Americans are supposed to do. However, looting,setting buildings and cars on fire,violence are not protests they are crimes. I believe prob 90% of the people really did come for peaceful protest, but there’s always that 10% who screw things up in everything. In these scenerios, there no doubt people who do not live any near those communities with riots, came for the sole purpise of causing destruction,and mayham. I think once again the Democrats are jumping on a tragedy to manipulate the black community to do their bidding. That’s the most sickening part of this, 90% were trying to get justice in a peaceful manner and 10% didn’t just ruin the message, they stole the show

28. Man buns and white, trashy women. Time for a change. Viva La Raza!

29. Dear Lord Juan pick a side and run with it. Man buns? Where?

30. I can understand groups of African Americans being sick and tired of decades of police brutality and injustice, their anger boiling over into burning and looting, but not a bunch of white kids In Tucson, who degrade a serious demand for justice and equality by play acting and a self centered celebration of destruction.

31. A moment of education. I’m a teacher. I’m wordy and I’m sad and I’m angry and I want to share some of what I’ve learned through my work as a white woman. Regarding the protests last Friday–small businesses are insured. When property is damaged, most of what is lost can be recovered. Though it might be hard to see the damage of some broken glass and smashed facades of buildings, especially in a city that feels small, that damage is tangible, tactile, physical. Broken glass is stuff. Broken beings are lives. Broken lives are what we are comparing the property damage to. A life or a door? Which is more important? How is it fair that though African Americans only make up 13% of this country that, as of stats taken 6 years ago, 34% of the people imprisoned in the U.S. are black? In Arizona, it’s WORSE. Arizona’s incarceration rate is higher than the average of the United States. As of 2010, 58% of the state was white and 35% of inmates were white. Meanwhile, 5% of the state was black and 12% of inmates were black. 41% of inmates were Latino (making up 30% of the state population) and 10% were indigenous peoples (making up 4% of the state population). This trend has only continued and I want to ask…how is that fair? And truly, are we proud of that? To be part of a state in a country that has the highest numbers of people of color in prisons in the world? What does that show about us? Only that our systems are broken. Centuries of exclusion from schools, from voting, from access to certain neighborhoods, from participation in local politics, from owning property, from marrying who you want, from speaking English to a certain degree (for immigrants and some native folks) have all led to why people of color and their neighborhoods, which still remain highly segregated in Tucson, have to now battle poverty at a higher rate than white folks. When someone has all that stacked against them, and the police are more frequently in their neighborhood, what should the result be– to throw people in jail for minor crimes? How many white folks did you know who smoked or sold marijuana or did other drugs at your high schools, like mine, in the Foothills and never got caught? Because of area code and race, police target people of color. Why? It’s not just broken systems; it’s also a mentality and message of hate. Ever heard, “That’s a dangerous neighborhood?” What does that mean, when we break it down? I ask for you to consider the phrases that you might have heard to describe humans and neighborhoods. “Dangerous, suspicious, scary.” These words are othering. They create separation between “us and them.” They create fear that is not real. And for many officers who are operating more like soldiers than peace keepers, especially white officers, they then go into reaction mode without pausing to see what is true and what is bias. I’m white. My ancestors are very white: English, Danish, Swedish. It takes work every day to see how racist tendencies still come up inside of my thinking. White folks have to reconsider what we have been told to believe our entire lives if anything is going to change, and that extends to white officers who need this kind of work desperately. Black folks and other people of color have tried so many ways to get our attention, to ask systems to change: kneeling during football games, writing letter after letter, getting black and brown faces elected into powerful, amazing positions in office, and still, we live in a country where a white police officer can kneel on a black man’s neck until he dies. George Floyd. Anger is appropriate. Vandalism is understood. I feel for small business owners. My parents are small business owners here. And I believe that the lives of humans are more important than the damage a business will experience during this time. People of all colors are risking their lives to be in groups to say enough is enough, and please, listen. Maybe protesting isn’t your way of doing the work. I see in some of these comments that people are concerned but want peaceful protests. Caring is important, but think about where real action lies. Donating, lifting up black voices, talking with white folks, and saying no. There are many ways that allyship can look. Talk to family, friends, organize white circles to discuss racism, work with people of color in education, immigration, social services, health, any variety of fields that can help create more opportunity. Do something, though. And don’t just do it this week; it has to be every day. It had to be years ago, but it can start today, and it can continue. Don’t you want to live in a country where every single person has the right to live, breathe, and be happy, to have access to education and water and food, to become the best they can be? To not be scared of the police who are supposed to protect all of us, to help us? If so, systems have to change, and white folks like you and me (to the white folks reading this), have an important role to play.

32. Kristen, let’s start with your comment about vandalism.” They have insurance.”Just who do you thinks subsidizes the loss to the insurance company. All of us join the victim list by paying higher rates.

    Two nights ago in DC a Korean mans grocery store was broken into and looted. He has worked for years to try to be successful and now has closed. Somebody has taken everything from him. He may not want to live in fear with his family in that neighborhood, but may not be able to afford to do it.

    I know there are people that believe that everyone in prison is innocent. We call most of them prisoners for something they have done after having had their day in court. And no I’m sorry vandalism is not an answer. It drives resentment and mistrust and hatred. Everyone is trying to get ahead but criminals of all colors try to tear them down.

    This is not my words but the headline from the Wall Street Journal

    The Myth of Systemic Police Racism
    Hold officers accountable who use excessive force. But there’s no evidence of widespread racial bias.

    This is even more interesting

    “White officers do not kill black suspects at a higher rate compared with nonwhite officers,” concludes a research team led by Charles Menifield, dean of the School of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University–Newark. “The killing of black suspects is a police problem, not a white police problem.”

    So while everybody talks in vague generalizations nothing really changes.

    here is an eye opener

    In 2019 according to Statista police killed 370 white people, while only 235 were black. Some could argue percentages but the numbers tell us more about activities than percentages.

    I understand your frustration and anger but some of your thinking will not solve the very problems you highlight.

33. I hear what you’re saying and see the statistics, and I have some thoughts. The question around looting and destruction of property has come up with me and other folks in conversation a lot lately. Why is there destruction to businesses, in particular those owned by black folks and other folks of color? And yet, what I come back to is that everyone is upset, angry, and sad. And, the destruction and violence is also making more people pay attention! Hence, us having this conversation.

    Also, there is evidence that political agitators, potentially white anarchist groups, have actually been the ones predominantly responsible for more of the violence towards businesses. It makes sense to me. To discredit the power of these protests, if the conversation goes towards the destruction of property rather than the destruction of lives, it’s a lot easier for non BIPOC (black and indigenous people of color) folks to talk about, condemn, and deal with what’s happening rather than diving into the messiness, layers, and difficulty of seeing the white supremacy that lives in the structures of our system. I have done more reading and I know now that not all businesses are insured, and that I had made that generalization before. There’s an article I was reading where a black business owner in Minneapolis had his shop destroyed and yet, when asked about whether he would rebuild or not… “He said he thought about the loss he had faced as a business owner compared with the loss of the Floyd family. “So when you equate the life to the money, which one is greater?” he said. “I can make some money again, I can start another business, but you can’t start George Floyd’s life back over. It’s ended.” (NYT, Please I Don’t Have Insurance, Businesses Plead with Protesters).

    I don’t believe everyone in prison is innocent. I do believe prisons need to function as a way to reform, reeducate, rehabilitate and heal the human beings who are in this country who make mistakes. And it’s true that if you’re a person of color, because of where policing happens and how it happens, you are more likely, multiple times more likely, to be caught doing something illegal and prosecuted with more severe consequences than if you’re white. There are also many of all races, but predominantly black and brown people, who are still in jail for nonviolent crimes, like selling marijuana, that is now legal in many states. Prisons make money when bodies are inside. Police make money when arrests are made. Quotas. Humans treated like numbers and products to make money off of. It’s disgusting.

    I saw that article in the WSJ. And then there are counter articles like “There’s Overwhelming Evidence the Criminal Justice System is Racist: Here’s the Proof” by the Washington Post. There are multiple takes on all sides– it’s one of the reasons why statistics and articles can be so illuminating, and so dividing. Depending on our political views, we may only read the articles from publications we trust.

    What I’ve found as one of the best ways to learn is to listen to people of color, to read books, to read first hand testimony and think for myself does this feel, look, sound right? Fair? Just? I teach students with primary resources; we can do the same as adults always learning. The more books I read by people of color, the more videos I listen to, the more friends and students and neighbors of color I have, the more I can better understand and support my BIPOC students in my classes and the more I see that human connection with people of different races, ethnicities, religions, genders, sexual orientations, abilities and so on is vitally important for growing, learning, and unlearning.

34. Very thoughtful response Kristen. If nothing else we must take what we have learned from this tragedy and find something positive to focus on. You are right about listening to each other.

    One of my biggest concerns is the violent gangs that appeared at protests and attacked everybody and everything. Why hasn’t the media embedded themselves and found some answers? These criminals are released and they know nothing about them. The non violent protesters have been discredited and there is no accountability. And worse yet the criminals will be back because they have not been punished.

    Let’s just treat each other the way we want to be treated.

    Galatians 5:14 l
    For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

35. I do want to add another note because tragedy really sat with me in a funky way. When I see tragedy, I think of hurt, pain, death, destructions, heartbreak, loss. And I think the tragedy is that for so long, so many people in this country, black folks as well as Latinx, indigenous, Asian folks, as well as disabled, houseless, trans, queer, gay, lesbian folks, as well as working class folks and immigrants, have come to this land that promises so much– the American Dream– only to find that yes, while growth is possible, it is not easy. There are so many barriers actively put in place to keep many people from succeeding. And racism, sexism, classism, transphobia, all of these things play a part in this system. That, to me, is the greatest tragedy.

    I do believe we have to listen, to ourselves and to others, and learn how to ask questions.

    I have seen complications with the media. For example, if the media arrives at protests and gets people on film who do not want to be on film, they could be jeopardized. If they’re an immigrant, for example, and their legal status depends on not “protesting the government” and they also deeply believe in the rights of black folks in this country, they might risk their own immigration status to protest, and filming could put them at jeopardy of their road to citizenship just because they are standing up for people whose rights they are fighting for. Also, there’s a lot of skepticism around the media- how are they telling the story? Which story? And whose voices are telling it? For example, I was in a call today sponsored by Move On and the moderator said that it is just as important, if not more so, to center this time on black brilliance, creativity, and joy. We cannot just focus on the struggles and death; we have to focus on black life and rebuilding. Hence, why I have problems with folks just focusing on the violence of the protest rather than the movements that are happening, the change that is being called for, and that has been called for as far back as 1919, according to documented riot commission reports, and long before that. Back to when black folks were brought here against their will as slaves.

    I do think we have to live in a society where there are consequences for criminal offenses, of course. Consequences should not be what they are, as I’ve explained before, with the current prison and mass incarceration system that we have. If there are gangs, as you have noted, arriving to incite violence, again, I think that it is an unfortunate aspect of this time that violence creates more violence, but when police who are being protested against for their brutality respond with brutality, of course people will continue to be upset. How can the cycle break? Also, there’s a really powerful book called “Tattoos on the Heart ” by Greg Boyle, a Catholic priest.

    I’m assuming you’re a Christian from your citing of Galatians. I too grew up in the church. This book really helped me understand how the term gangs is so much more complex than how the media, white folks, and many folks tend to use it. A gang is also a brotherhood, a safety net, a family. There are layers and layers of power, fear, and community that are wrapped up in gangs. I have seen students of mine get recruited into gangs; I’ve seen deaths in communities I’ve taught from gang violence. I do not believe in many, many aspects of what gang members perpetuate and yet, this book, written by a white priest about his life’s work in Los Angeles, was truly insightful. I offer that in case it serves.

36. I spoke with a woman today that immigrated legally from Mexico and she said the rioters are destroying this country. She is going back to Mexico and staying there. That is so sad. We are better than this.

Comments are closed.