The murder of George Floyd has sparked demonstrations across the United States. The response from the Trump administration has been hostile. The White House has threatened to use the Insurrection Act and mobilize the armed forces against the protesters. The argument has been that it is not directed at peaceful demonstrators, rather looters and members of Antifa. There is not a specific number of how many people are engaging in looting or crime. Antifa really is not an organized movement. It is a small association of anti-fascist leftists who demonstrate. Their numbers are not large enough to be a considerable security issue. The fixation on looters and Antifa are nothing more than excuses to use violence against protesters. The real danger is the military and law enforcement will be used to kill large groups of unarmed citizens on the orders of President Trump. So far the situation has not escalated to that degree. The United States was never a democratic society. The nation was built on the enslavement of African Americans, who were considered property. The working class has never had real representation. The US Constitution has been nothing more than an ignored document, becoming weaker every passing presidential administration. The obsession with security, terrorism, and militarization have culminated in the current crisis. Racial hatred is part of America's ideology, that few citizens are willing to admit. The land that white Americans call theirs once belonged to thriving Indian American civilizations. The US became a powerful nation through genocide, slavery, and avarice. The violent legacy has reached a critical point. The illusion of freedom, justice, and a stable republic has been exposed. The US could fall into a state of martial law and authoritarianism. Law enforcement plays an essential role in maintaining a power structure and regime. The nature of oppression in America is that violence and abuse is presented as a cause for good or public safety . The US government has never been interested in protecting the lives, well being, or rights of its citizens. The violence, police brutality, and murder will continued to be condoned by the state. Law enforcement is the instrument in which an abusive government can hold power.
Law enforcement is not about protecting the public or serving communities. Its real function is to ensure that a ruling elite can inflict violence upon the population when needed. The police in America evolved from slave patrols in the 18th and 19th centuries. This was not only designed to prevent the enslaved from escaping, rather to control every aspect of their life. Law enforcement was also used to crush strikes and labor disputes. The Haymarket Square incident in 1886 saw police violence directed at labor activists in Chicago. A bomb was thrown, which sparked a riot. Eight anarchists were charged, but it still remains a mystery who was actually responsible. When emancipation came and African Americans were no longer in bondage, a new system was created to restrict freedom. The Jim Crow laws were designed to segregate, control, and monitor the African American population. This would not have been possible without law enforcement using violence to enforce a racial caste system. During the civil rights movement activist not only had to worry about hate groups such as the Klu Klux Klan or the American Nazi Party. The biggest threat was law enforcement in both the south and north of America. Police were absent when white mobs attacked non-violent protesters. Police were sometimes members of the Klu Klux Klan. Law enforcement was not interested in stopping white supremacist vigilantes or terrorists. The main objective was ensuring the political and social status quo. Today, the police are doing repeating the same behavior.
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| Selma, Alabama during what would be known as bloody Sunday (1965). |
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| Police firing into the crowd during the Haymarket incident. |
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Police attack unarmed protesters during the George Floyd demonstrations.
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Journalists and reporters are no longer safe. There have been cases in which reporters have been arrested simply by covering the protests by police. No charges were given and there was no indication reporting was inciting a disturbance. Excuses are used as means of improving public image of a corrupt institution. The claim that it is only a few untrained or malevolent officers that are responsible for brutality and murder lacks cogency. At some point the majority have engaged in abusive or questionable behavior. The reason that they are more willing to do this to non-white citizens and the poor is because the ability to fight back is limited. Law enforcement tactics are different compared to the types used in the inner city or a suburb. The inner city is rigidly controlled and the residents of the suburbs are given the illusion of security. Law enforcement is a network of corruption protected by strong police unions including the courts. Any person who likes human rights, freedom, or justice would not support the police. Crime fighting is not their true function if it has gradually increased. Mass shootings, far-right extremist organizations, and hate crimes are on the rise, while law enforcement does not aggressively tackle these issues. Police officers may also be part of certain extremist groups. The exact number is not known, which further complicates the situation.Police will never side with the people. The attempts of some police departments to show solidarity with protesters is nothing more than calculated public relations stunts. Fundamentally, police departments will not change. The only way this can happen is through legislation from the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Democratic and Republican Party will take no such steps seeing as if there were mass insurrection nationwide, police and the National Guard would be deployed. The social and political conditions in America are rapidly deteriorating to a point in which there may be escalated civil unrest. Unrest gives justification for advocates of authoritarianism to impose limits on basic rights and undermine or eliminate the US Constitution. Since the protests began law enforcement has consistently violated the freedom of assembly and free press. Americans now are seeing the vicious nature of oppression documented in video and eye witness accounts.
The United States justifies oppression and the elimination of dissent by saying it is for public safety. Since the 9/11 attacks of 2001, American society has become more fixated on security and militarization. The creation of ICE, which continues to abuse detained immigrants with little resistance from congress or the senate. The Patriot Act and National Defense Authorization Act has given the government too much power to violate the rights of American citizens. The only reason oppression remains in place is by a network of police, intelligence, and federal agencies. The FBI and CIA have been known to spy on a number of protest movements. The NSA continues to monitor US citizens with no criminal record. This phenomenon has been referred to as the deep state. It is not what Trumpist Republicans think it is. Their view is that there is a liberal or globalist conspiracy orchestrating all opposition to them. The military industrial complex and the neoconservative political faction are managers of the deep state. The Trump administration has allied with this political faction and the results are now being seen in domestic policy. President Trump who threatened to use force on protesters by means of the Insurrection Act, who have no problem murdering them if necessary. The president could be calculating how to induce a military coup with some generals who are loyal to him. Seeing as genuine leftist opposition is weak or non-existent the task would be simple. The response to anti- lockdown protests was different, because it consisted of groups supportive of the administration. Christian fundamentalists, anti-vaccine advocates, and far-right conspiracy theorists were the groups active. President Trump has barriers stopping him from inflicting violence, however supporters can be mobilized. The most violent of these are white nationalists and second amendment advocates who would be willing to attack protesters. President Trump stated that "when the looting starts the shooting starts" in a Twitter post. He vowed to defend second amendment rights, which was a subtle message to supporters to arm themselves. The Bible photo stunt in which protesters were forcibly removed from the area was a message to the Christian fundamentalists. Fight against social and political change. Instigating enough anger among these groups make them soldiers in a possible war. The fear is that if Trump loses the presidency, these supporters will be involved in post-election violence.
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| Attorney William Barr may have ordered the forced removal of protesters for the photo op. |
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| Trump won the presidency by appealing to white America's racism and frustration over the economy. |
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| The anti-lockdown protesters were never attacked by the police. |
This is common in certain African and Asian countries. Power transition at times is not always accepted. Conservatives have been mostly supportive of Trump's actions so far, with few opposing voices. Silence has become nothing more than a nod of approval. The United States has operated under some form oppression during its 200 year history. From slavery, segregation, and networks of reservations use to intern the original inhabitants, liberty was nothing more than a fantasy. During the 1930s some Americans even adopted fascism as a political solution. The American Nazi Party and the Silver Legion of America were the two most notable fascist organizations in the United States. When war broke out in 1941 these organizations membership declined and disbanded. The call for law and order is coded language for establishing a white nationalist regime under an authoritarian political system. Such a model would resemble Apartheid South Africa. The changing demographics of the US make whites more willing to accept far-right extremist leaders. Anyone who is not white or shares their ideology is deemed an enemy. African Americans, Muslims, and immigrants have become targets. The corporate and business elite also have significant investment in oppression. This is related to private prisons. The United States continues to imprison a significant number of people for non-violent drug related offenses. The war on drugs gave birth to the prison industrial complex and targeted African Americans at a time, when segregation was disappearing. The decriminalization of certain drugs such a marijuana can reverse this. The problem is that the prison industrial complex has expanded to include immigrant detainment and roles in fighting terrorism. The US continues to build more prisons not to combat crime, but for the sake of profit and to subjugate the population. When economic and social conditions become more unbearable there will be revolts. Having a network of prisons makes it easier to stop demonstrations, uprisings, or deposing the establishment. President Trump by attempting to designate Antifa as a terrorist organization is setting a path to criminalizing any form of disagreement with the government as criminal. The radical left he claims is a threat to security. The network of prisons, police, and government are the biggest threat to the well being of people living in the United States.
The current wave of state violence, should be no surprise considering the US government has a long history of abuse. For decades the power of the executive branch has been immensely expanded. The repercussions of this have been that the US has adopted a law enforcement mentality in foreign affairs. It presents itself as a global enforcer of order smashing any country that dares to object. Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Somalia, and Yemen have been subject to aggression by the United States. If the US government is willing to do that to other nations, the violence by police would be an inevitable consequence. US leaders are more interested in the expansion of political and police power, rather than the protection of basic human rights. Significant police reform has not progressed since Baltimore or Ferguson incidents. The rise of the imperial presidency, violation of human rights, and police brutality shows that the US government is at war with its own people. American power on the international stage has faced a decline. Economic and domestic strains, make the elite more fearful about a mass movement against them. To cover their criminal acts and repression scapegoats must be designated to distract the population. China and Russia fill this function as the justification for the expansion of executive power and the global policing role. Both conservative and centre-left political figures blame these two countries for America's challenges. Susan Rice suggested when appearing on MSNBC that Russia may attempt to manipulate the protests or possibly infiltrate them. Evidence of foreign interference in the George Floyd does not exist. The demonstrations are indigenous and a natural reaction to racism . Without an imagined existential threat, the US could no longer make an excuse for the military industrial complex and a world policing role. The conservative and liberal political factions have embraced the world policing role since the collapse of the Soviet Union. No matter which party the state of permanent warfare continues. During periods of war the populace is more likely to accept reduction in freedoms or more policing for the idea of feeling safe. The presidency has been able to declare war with formal declarations from congress, enabling government abuse. The global policing policy has been applied to domestic affairs.
The majority of American still hold on to the notion that law enforcement is a positive force in society. The facts demonstrate that it is a representation of a corrupt and decaying system. Their sole function exists to enable a power structure to inflict violence against people who protest or object to government policy. The police are present to enforce a racial hierarchy that has been present since America's founding. Simultaneously, the political status quo must be maintained. The act of protest or dissent is condemned by law enforcement as a disturbance or criminal act. There is an open hostility directed at activists or anyone who openly criticizes police practices. If there is to be fascist or totalitarian regime established in America the police will be a major part of its success. The United States may be getting close to a coup or civil war. The infiltration of hate groups and white nationalists into the military as well as police has been known for sometime. Under a president that is sympathetic to their beliefs a coup and suspension of the US Constitution could be possible. The United States now faces it greatest test. The republic has become fragile under racism, corporate greed, and a national security state. The question remains can such ills be defeated. Under current leadership they cannot. As the conservative movement becomes more extreme and the power of the executive branch grows, sociopolitical problems are exacerbated. The only solution is an ambitious restructuring of various American institutions. If the White House, congress, and senate are not willing to do this demonstrations will not remain peaceful. Unconventional participation is used when other methods such as voting, working on political campaigns, or making donations have become ineffective. The Democratic and Republican Party are dependent on corporate donors, which means dramatic change cannot happen under such a financial condition. If law enforcement is not restrained or regulated people will begin to revolt. To prevent cycles of violence there needs to be federal oversight of police departments across the country. The freedom of assembly and press must be protected from law enforcement repression. If nothing is done, then the US may cease being a functioning nation-state.
