Apparently, you have read a different interpretation of what happened. But
from what I've heard on podcasts and read in articles, these were peaceful
protestors and they were not surrounding cars and trying to stop them. Look
at that article again. Look at what the people in the cars did. And tell
me, if you were in a car and there was a crowd of protestors in your way,
would you run them over? Would you really feel that because you were
inconvenienced, you had a right to injure people? And what about the people
in the cars who shot people on the street? And why do you sound so angry at
these articles?
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Andy Baracco
Sent: Monday, September 28, 2020 7:02 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Hundreds of Vehicle Ramming Attacks Mark New
Norm in America's Civil Unrest
And in many of those instances, the rioters surrounded the vehicles and
would not let them depart. What were the drivers supposed to do. Often
there were small children in the car. The point where your rights end and
my rights begin is the point just before your fist touches my nose.
Andy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Miriam Vieni" <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, September 28, 2020 3:31 PM
Subject: [blind-democracy] Hundreds of Vehicle Ramming Attacks Mark New Norm
in America's Civil Unrest
Hundreds of Vehicle Ramming Attacks Mark New Norm in America's Civilcontested.
Unrest There were 104 separate incidents of drivers crashing into
protests between May 27, the date of the George Floyd killing, and
September 5, including
96
civilians and 8 police vehicles.
by Alan Macleod
September 28th, 2020
By Alan Macleod
Last week a black pickup truck plowed into a large crowd of
anti-racist demonstrators protesting the police killing of Breonna
Taylor in Hollywood.
Video of the incident shows the driver hit a young man, subsequently
accelerating over his body to escape a crowd converging on him. In
Seattle, a man in a black sedan car barreled into a large
demonstration protesting the killing of George Floyd. After he
stopped, he got out and shot a protestor at point blank range. The
crowd scattered in terror. The man calmly left the area. Meanwhile, in
Buffalo on Wednesday, a woman screaming racial slurs slammed her truck
into an anti-racist demonstration.
Incidents like these have become commonplace all over America.
Wherever there are protests over racial injustice, there often are
acts of violence against them. Indeed, according to Ari Weil, a
terrorism researcher at the University of Chicago's Project on
Security and Threats, there were 104 separate incidents of drivers
crashing into protests between May 27 (the date of the George Floyd
killing) and September 5, including 96 civilians and 8 police
vehicles. The motivations behind some of the incidents are unknown or
retired officers.
Vehicular based terror attacks have been common for many decades in
some parts of the world, but are only recently gaining a grizzly
popularity in the United States. Perhaps the most infamous incident
was the 2017 Charlottesville attack, where James Alex Fields Jr.
plowed through a crowd of anti-racist demonstrators, protesting the
far-right gathering happening in the Virginia town. Fields killed
activist Heather Heyer and injured 28 more. He was sentenced to two
life sentences plus an additional 419 years for his crimes.
Videos of these incidents have spread like wildfire among alt-right
and neo-Nazi circles, with many users on far-right forums encouraging
others to do the same. The hashtag "All Lives Splatter" continues to
be a popular one on social media like Instagram or Twitter.
Many of the actions against Black Lives Matter protesters seem to have
the tacit approval of local law enforcement. The driver of the
Hollywood truck was immediately detained but quickly released by the
police, a remarkable decision, given she was a suspect in what could
have been considered a major terror attack. And after shooting
protesters at point blank range in front of them, the Seattle attacker
calmly walked towards police lines, where officers protected him,
turning their backs on the armed killer, to shield him from unarmed
demonstrators. After the incident, Seattle Detective Mike Brown was
suspended from the department after sharing an "All Lives Splatter"
meme on his Facebook profile. The post features a truck driving over a
line fleeing protesters, with the text "get your ass off the road."
Meanwhile, Wisconsin police openly fraternized with Kenosha killer
Kyle Rittenhouse, telling the armed 17-year-old "we appreciate you
guys, we really do," before he went on his spree last month.
Police have also directly encouraged terror attacks on black protesters.
In
2016, St. Paul cop Sgt. Jeffrey Rothecker urged residents to run over
anyone demonstrating on Martin Luther King Day. "Keep traffic flowing
and don't slow down for any of these idiots who try and block the
street.run them over," he said. Rothecker was also a serial troll,
harassing social justice communities on Facebook. "F BLM" and "any
others that support what they are doing," he wrote.
A study of police officers' public Facebook accounts by Injustice
Watch found that 20 percent of officers had shared hate speech or
content glorifying extreme violence or murdering of protesters, such
as "All Lives Splatter." This figure rose to 40 percent for recently
Police have also rammed protesters themselves. In the immediate wake
of the George Floyd killings, there were multiple incidents of NYPD
cars plowing into protestors. Demonstrators in Brooklyn had placed a
yellow road barrier between themselves and a stationary police car. A
second police cruiser accelerates into the crowd, knocking multiple
people to the ground before fleeing. The first car follows suit,
driving into yet more people. Other videos show that this was not an
isolated incident.
While police appear unwilling or unable to prevent, and, in some
cases, even arrest perpetrators of crime against protestors, they
often overreact hysterically in the opposite direction. Earlier this
month, Texas police deployed SWAT forces, bomb robots, and a cavalcade
of police to arrest a woman and her dog. She had committed no crime,
nor was firmly suspected of any. However, decals on her vehicle read
"Black Lives Matter" and "fuck these racist police." State troopers
decided this "anti-law enforcement rhetoric" necessitated such a
response.
Meanwhile, when right-wing demonstrators are attacked, the justice
system responds quickly. Last week, a person of color drove through a
pro-Trump counter-protest, breaking the legs of one man. Unlike with
other cases, she was immediately apprehended and charged with
attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon.
Attacks like these against conservative movements are less common,
however.
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the
far-right has been responsible for over 90 percent of the terror
attacks of 2020, with religious extremists accountable for the bulk of
the rest. With a resurgent far-right and a police force that has shown
worrying signs of alignment with them, we are unlikely to have seen
the last vehicle attack this year.