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Just Asking
Jun. 26th, 2020 09:02 amThe media always report the story as "party-goers attack police", but isn't it usually the case that the police make the first move?
Yes, it was a street party and the authorities hadn't authorised it, but isn't it sometimes smarter to let Demos have its way- especially if Demos is feeling in need of letting off steam- as, for example, after three months of lockdown.
Did the police approach humbly?
Did the ask nicely?
Or did they rock up in force, in dehumanising riot gear, in their power vehicles? Did they shout and give orders?
And did it not occur to whoever was in charge that having agents of the state crack down on a largely black crowd might be ill-advised in the present climate?
One of the dispersed party-goers told a reporter that he hadn't noticed the police wading into the largely Caucasian crowds on the beach at Bournemouth.
Channel 4 juxtaposed the story of the street party with the story about the two black women whom the police didn't go looking for when they were reported missing and how- when they were found dead- the two policemen who were charged with guarding the crime scene took selfies of themselves with the bodies.
People are beginning to ask whether we actually need a police force. I'm one of them.
Yes, it was a street party and the authorities hadn't authorised it, but isn't it sometimes smarter to let Demos have its way- especially if Demos is feeling in need of letting off steam- as, for example, after three months of lockdown.
Did the police approach humbly?
Did the ask nicely?
Or did they rock up in force, in dehumanising riot gear, in their power vehicles? Did they shout and give orders?
And did it not occur to whoever was in charge that having agents of the state crack down on a largely black crowd might be ill-advised in the present climate?
One of the dispersed party-goers told a reporter that he hadn't noticed the police wading into the largely Caucasian crowds on the beach at Bournemouth.
Channel 4 juxtaposed the story of the street party with the story about the two black women whom the police didn't go looking for when they were reported missing and how- when they were found dead- the two policemen who were charged with guarding the crime scene took selfies of themselves with the bodies.
People are beginning to ask whether we actually need a police force. I'm one of them.
