I recall driving at night, hearing someone on the rerun of "Think Outloud"
anguishing over Finnicum's demise. I wondered, "How many children died in
Aleppo today? How more were maimed for life? How many thousands were made
homeless, likely forever?" Who cares about Finnicum? And what a
self-absorbed exercise to do so.
On Fri, Mar 11, 2016 at 3:02 PM, Margaret Stephens <mlstep@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Someone -- who I do not know-- wrote in this forum:
"Back in January,* right after* Lavoy Finicum chose to have himself killed
(by law enforcement by repeatedly flouting their commands and reaching for
a loaded handgun), I wrote to this listserv about wanting to see and hear
the other shoe dropping. I had written that I was not,so early on in the
game, swallowing, as fact, the verbal accounts of law enforcement Or those
apprehended by them, of how the incident went down. I thought to do so in
the climate of rampant police shootings in this country was to be overly
credulous.
A couple responders opined in a way that seemed to suggest that this stance
of wait and see skepticism was not warranted; one even replied: "To me this
is not a major issue". I guess I'm not really surprised, more just sort of
amazed----salesmen everywhere must love these folks."
I was the person who "even replied" --- "This is not a major issue to me."
Let me try to clarify, since this has been repeated a couple of times by
the same person.
What I meant is that I am quite sure that if the "occupiers" were people
of color, that they would not have gotten a handshake from any sheriff, nor
would their illegal trespass have lasted a day, nor would certain locals
have provided them with food, support, etc. There would likely have been
MANY fatalities at the hand of law enforcement.
Given the initial video of Finicum's demise, in light of his and the
others' continuous, ignorant, arrogant, male and white-privileged taunting
of First Nations peoples, of their wish to turn over our shared and
cherished public lands to rapacious capitalist exploitation, of dismissing
all the hard work and efforts of all of us to protect all our relations
and the land and habitat they need to survive etc. I do not feel the need
to follow each and every detail of this incredibly arrogant man's demise
--- though I truly wish that no one had died. He was asking for it, he
asked for it many times. I did find the video of Shawna Cox a further
enlightenment, which only serves to support the fact that Finicum basically
asked to be shot. He had choices and he chose to be killed. I really
don't appreciate the shot from "John Smith" or Tom or whoever he is about
my comment without asking for an explanation; I was enjoying this forum
that seemed to previously have respect for others' position and thoughts.
What *are *MAJOR issues for me are the treatment of people of color at
the hands of law enforcement in their daily lives, the protection of
wildlife and their habitat, and our public lands, but .... the second by
second details of the death of an arrogant, armed white supremacist who
cared nothing for others' rights and asked to be shot does not,,,,as much.
