zlacker

>>novia+(OP)
Am I the only one that gets the feeling these riots have nothing to do with George Floyd at this point and are just a massive boiling over of tension from Coronavirus lockdown orders?

>>war102+63
I think that and the resulting unemployment boom certainly contributes, but you seem to miss the obvious point here - that the Black and Brown people of US have other objective reasons to protest about, too.

>>phoe-k+m3
> that the Black and Brown people of US have other objective reasons to protest about, too.

Speaking as a brown person, I am seeing a lot of white people in masks burning down and looting the livelihoods of black and brown business owners. I think I remember having read about something like this having happened before in history.

>>RcouF1+w5
Many of those white people arrested for said looting have been tied back to white supremacists groups who seem to be trying to discredit the protestors.

This is all happening fast so I can't say this is the best source, but: https://www.courthousenews.com/minnesota-officials-link-arre...

>>adjkan+N8
> Signs of any organized effort or even participation in the violence were relatively rare. “I have not seen any clear evidence that white supremacists or militiamen are masking up and going out to burn and loot,” said Howard Graves, a research analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center who tracks white supremacist and other anti-government extremist groups.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/us/george-floyd-protests-...

>>DarthG+eb
White supremacists or militiamen (that can be specifically identified as such) no, but there seem to be a suspiciously high number of videos showing masked up young white kids who are cleary instigating destruction, and encouraging others to do so.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/law-enfo...

How true is all this? We'll likely never know, but it seems odd that the media and FBI seem to have very little interest in this very plausible scenario.

>>mister+Mc
In my experience, "masked young white kids who instigate destruction" have been a constant presence at protests for quite a while now, and the same debate about their motivations occurs every single time.

I don't doubt that in some cases, provocateurs and false flag actors exist, but there's definitely a not insubstantial amount of anarchist-leaning folks who are acting genuinely.

The important thing to consider, in my mind, is whether your attention should be focused on a relatively small amount of property damage and looting, or the many, many examples of physical violence against people committed by police. Property damage is almost always a distraction, and is often intentionally used as one.