Abolish the Police? Those Who Survived the Chaos in Seattle Aren’t So Sure

By artappraiser on Sun, 08/09/2020 - 4:40am |

What is it like when a city abandons a neighborhood and the police vanish? Business owners describe a harrowing experience of calling for help and being left all alone.

“They barricaded us all in here,” said Mr. Khan, a coffee shop owner. “And they were sitting in lawn chairs with guns.” Abolish the Police? Those Who Survived Chaos in Seattle Aren’t So Sure . ⁦@NellieBowles⁩ goes there and writes excellent story https://t.co/vH6MJqz7ul
— Michael Powell (@powellnyt) August 8, 2020

URL:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/07/us/defund-police-seattle-protests.html

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The Onion:

Minneapolis Announces Plan To Replace Police Officers With Thousands Of Heavily Armed Social Workers https://t.co/PmEwCMQYHb pic.twitter.com/Dc9OGdFiTR
— The Onion (@TheOnion) August 6, 2020

by artappraiser on Sun, 08/09/2020 - 4:43am

Meanwhile, here's reality in Minneapolis:

NEW: What do you do when the police mistreat you but your neighborhood also has high crime? It’s a dilemma tugging at many residents on Minneapolis’s predominantly Black North Side, who fear the police, but also fear what might happen if they’re defunded. https://t.co/OikhtFCsZS
— John Eligon (@jeligon) August 4, 2020

by artappraiser on Sun, 08/09/2020 - 4:49am

Except from Nellie Bowes' piece on Seattle:

When a tall man in a trench coat and hiking boots walked over to question Mr. Khan, the man spread his coat open, revealing several pistols on harnesses around his chest and waist. He presented a badge on a lanyard that read “Black Lives Matter Community Patrol.”

Rick Hearns displays two handguns while
patrolling Capitol Hill as a private security guard.
His badge reads “Black Lives Matter Community
Patrol.” Credit: Grant Hindsley for NYTimes.
His name is Rick Hearns and he identified himself as a longtime security guard and mover who is now a Black Lives Matter community guard, in charge of several others. Local merchants pay for his protection, he said as he handed out his business card. (Mr. Khan said he and his neighbors are now paying thousands of dollars a month for protection from Iconic Global, a Washington State-based private security contractor.)

Mr. Hearns has had bad experiences with the police in his own life. He says he wants police reform, but he was appalled by the violent tactics and rhetoric he witnessed during the occupation.

He blamed the destruction and looting on “opportunists,” but also said that much of the damage on Capitol Hill came from a distinct contingent of violent, armed white activists. “It’s antifa,” he said. “They don’t want to see the progress we’ve made. They want chaos.”

Many of the business owners on Capitol Hill agreed: Much of the violence they saw and the intimidation of their patrons came from a group these business owners identified as antifa, which they distinguished from the Black Lives Matter movement. “The idea of taking up the Black movement and turning it into a white occupation, it’s white privilege in its finest definition,” Mr. Khan said. “And that’s what they did.”

Antifa, which stands for anti-fascist, is a radical, leaderless leftist political movement that uses armed, violent protest as a method to create what supporters say is a more just and equitable country. They have a strong presence in the Pacific Northwest, including the current protests in Portland.

by artappraiser on Sun, 08/09/2020 - 5:58am

More I think of it, other than the election of Donald Trump to the presidency, which is almost certainly the dumbest American thing that has happened in my lifetime, CHAZ/CHOP being allowed to happen for a month is up there as one of the absolute dumbest things I can imagine. https://t.co/83v5uBmg3a
— Thomas Chatterton Williams (@thomaschattwill) August 8, 2020

by artappraiser on Sun, 08/09/2020 - 7:22am

This driver is a black woman, she just wants to be able to drive on the bridge, protesters detain her, she gets angry and uses the n word, the white women protesters are the angriest in return at her:

"I'm about to shoot this n****r," said an angry driver four times tonight on the Key Bridge between DC and Virginia after being blocked by #DefundThePolice protesters.

During the argument, I saw no gun.

She spit at the crowd, who threw two water bottles at her as she drove off. pic.twitter.com/q9rvtfhn6u
— Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) August 9, 2020

the They/Them Collective in D.C., Saturday "Fuck the Police" protest in D.C.

As noted earlier, watch the livestream for the full context of every shot.

Here's the full HD summary of tonight's "Fuck the Police" march in DC. As always, all footage available to license.https://t.co/01WGrwSThV
— Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) August 9, 2020

by artappraiser on Sun, 08/09/2020 - 6:20am

in the second video, the protesters are doing a mild variation of Khmer Rouge re-education camps as, using a megaphone, they accost diners at restaurant tables on the street and ask them to verify their allegiance to black people with a chant

Edit to add: forced solidarity at first dinner out for the first time in months, that will really get the old economy going again, eh?

by artappraiser on Sun, 08/09/2020 - 6:54am

65,881 have signed a petition to remove the Santa Monica, CA Police Chief immediately. Not because of what might initially presume. BECAUSE SHE DID NOT PROTECT THEIR CITY AND THEIR PROPERTY FROM PROTESTERS, allows rampant vagrancy and they are also experiencing a record # of burglaries and other crimes.

(Google: Population Santa Monica Total Population:87,610)

by artappraiser on Sun, 08/09/2020 - 6:39am

Progressives think that cutting the salaries of public servants will improve services now? https://t.co/ZrdZDhi81U
— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) August 10, 2020

by artappraiser on Sun, 08/09/2020 - 9:27pm

Abolish the Police? Those Who Survived the Chaos in Seattle Aren’t So Sure

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