To think that the looters should be ashamed of themselves

[clipclop5]

I think that the protests are fully justified, and support them, but imo looting is ridiculous. Using the horrific death of someone as an excuse to steal?? This is not what George Floyd would have wanted. Probably quite the opposite.

Thug has no racist undertones about black people in the UK.

It comes from the Indian word thugee, we adopted a lot of Indian words or variations of them into English. How other countries use words is up to them. I suppose you could argue it's racist against Indians if anything.

This is a massive sidetrack.

I've seen other words that Americans have said you can't use that eg fag for cigarette. Agree treat it as a foreign language and move on.

The people most often described as thugs that I can remember are white football hooligans.

Ah FFS @mrsBtheparker, I see you have already used "All Lives Matter" on another thread. Are you really that obtuse or are you consciously racist?

I'd rather be an apologist for thieves than an apologist for racially motivated murder by someone acting on behalf of the state.

It's not a either/or situation.

As incomprehensible as it seems to be to some on the thread, it's possible to be opposed to two different things at the same time.

The killing of George Floyd was wrong. The looting was also wrong.

There, I managed to hold both opinions at the same time and my head hasn't exploded.

So you think that peaceful protests are the way to resolve the centuries old issue of systematic racism through the fabric of USA society?

You know the suffragettes committed arson etc? They were seen as terrorists.

Every single black person knows what "thug"means. Every black protest is filled with "thugs" despite police often agitating and inciting violence.

Maybe Americans under a certain age interpret thug in a certain way but this does mean everyone else does.

The word thug in the UK just means someone loutish or a bully. It has nothing whatsoever to do with race and as someone who is from the UK, I'm tired of my language being policed by Americans in this way. Please stop Americanising everything or expecting everyone else to know every aspect of American current affairs and news. Or lumping together UK history and politics with the USA

Bending the knee, or whatever it's called, is an example. Hardly anyone here in the UK knows what it means or why it's a thing. Why should we?

The people who actually live in the neighbourhood know what's up and don't want it, why not listen to them, why should they be held under siege? Desiree Barnes who worked for Obama said it best in this video
m.youtube.com/watch?v=X2gykbeq5rU

'Bending the knee, or whatever it's called, is an example. Hardly anyone here in the UK knows what it means or why it's a thing'

This bit is not true. The American sportsman who started doing it before matches got loads of shit and it was news around the world. A bunch of footballers did it before training the other day and it was on the BBC news.

I agree about Americans not policing our language it really gets in my tits. But the above is not really true.

There is a really good teen book
THUG
About this very issue , how a (Black girl ) teenager deals with her friends getting killed by the police and the aftermath

Google it

You know when the who 'Karen' debate come up and posters say it is not the fault of black women that middle class white men have appropriated 'Karen' to mean something different from how it was originally intended and therefore they're perfectly within their rights to continue to use it in its original form?

It's the same with thug. It is not the fault of the British that Americans have changed the meaning of 'thug' to have racist connotation over there when here is it still entirely to do with the actions of an individual. Therefore the British can continue to use 'thug' in its original form on a British site.

Yeah I don't get it.

I don't go to the USA and tell people off for saying fanny in front of children ()... I think it means bum over there.

This is a massive distraction. It happens all the time on here since more USA users joined. It's out of order. And they never seen to 'get it'. Which I find baffling. It's a different language.

It happens all the time on here since more USA users joined

Yes it does and on other forums

"Black Face" is another cause of confusion

In the USA its seen as offensive, and with good historical reasons.

In the UK its associated with Morris Dancing and old folk traditions that have nothing to do with race, but has its history in agricultural labourers fighting oppression by mocking landowners, the enclosure of the commons and laws against night time poaching. Or to do with coal mining or maybe a mixture of the two.

Do we have to stop this labouring class folk tradition because someone 3,000 miles away in a different country, with a different history, might be offended by it?

I think it's really interesting on the threads around this issue that the voting is not reflective or the comments.

That tells me the silent majority agree with the OP, but they keep quiet to avoid the hatred that would be thrown at them and accusations of racism that are hurled unless a pre-agreed mantra is followed to the letter.

Only those confident they hold the moral high ground sufficiently to 'name and shame' have the confidence to post.

Think about the meaning of that when election times come. It's anonymous, and that's why you get Brexit and Trump.

Those of you thinking these riots shows how much Trump is hated, need to remember the numbers: rioters are a tiny percentage of the population. Those cheering from on from twitter a bigger percentage, but still a minority, The majority are watching and thinking:
This is fucking insane and outrageous.

The majority are also outraged about the police brutality that's been seen. It's possible to outraged by both, and not be a racist or a violent rioter. It really is.

We really don't need to get into the language thing.

We had the black and white minstrels which was obviously grim. I have never seen a Morris dancer in real life!

Can we drop the language thing and get back to the op?

@BabyItsAWildWorld

I think it's really interesting on the threads around this issue that the voting is not reflective or the comments.

That tells me the silent majority agree with the OP, but they keep quiet to avoid the hatred that would be thrown at them and accusations of racism that are hurled unless a pre-agreed mantra is followed to the letter.

Only those confident they hold the moral high ground sufficiently to 'name and shame' have the confidence to post.

Think about the meaning of that when election times come. It's anonymous, and that's why you get Brexit and Trump.

Those of you thinking these riots shows how much Trump is hated, need to remember the numbers: rioters are a tiny percentage of the population. Those cheering from on from twitter a bigger percentage, but still a minority, The majority are watching and thinking:
This is fucking insane and outrageous.

The majority are also outraged about the police brutality that's been seen. It's possible to outraged by both, and not be a racist or a violent rioter. It really is.

@BabyItsAWildWorld This post deserves a medal

@BabyItsAWildWorld

Great post. The Antifa thugs who are instrumental in the looting and rioting are going to help Trump get reelected. A retired black police chief has been killed trying to defend his buddy's business against looters and black neighbourhoods are being destroyed, whilst Brits thousands of miles away are virtue signalling by posting apologist garbage.in support of these thugs and criminals. As correctly described by Obama in 2015.

The reasons behind the looting are complex

I disagree. The reason people loot is because they are scummy thieves. They are doing it because they want to get things form free and think they can get away with it.

It's got nothing to do with protesting. They could protest in a million different ways without actually stealing other peoples property.

They are low lives. If they were high ranking white politicians who were fiddling their expenses I would say exactly the same thing. Thieves are thieves however you dress it up.

(*I know there are some circumstances where theft is ok ie a desperate parent who can't get any help stealing food for a child etc)

I live in a majority African-American area in the US and there have been many protests over the past week. My family's participated in some.

But, there hasn't been any looting and only some minor damage one night, which was soon stopped. That suggests to me that people who genuinely want to change the status quo don't view looting as a way to initiate change. Looting distracts from the important message that things need to change, IMO.

What is your take on the suffragettes in the UK committing arson and disrupting major sporting events, out of interest.

They were considered terrorists at the time.

That was in response to AWW.

A retired black police chief has been killed trying to defend his buddy's business against looters...

The man who was shot?

Whose dying moments were also filmed and are just as disturbing and distressing to watch. Both horrific.

thugs and criminals

Yes and I would also include the policeman/men who killed Floyd in that description

What is your take on the suffragettes in the UK committing arson and disrupting major sporting events, out of interest

The suffragettes weren’t doing it to get free stuff for themselves and were only doing it to raise the awareness of their protest. The people who are looting are doing it for purely for themselves out of greed. They are clearly very different things.

Of course looting is wrong. It goes without saying and the looters will be dealt with accordingly.
But it’s not a concern of mine, the looting will be dealt with. My concern, and our concern should be inequality and injustice.

Aww so it's only the looting you have a problem with, not the burning off police stations and cars etc. Have I got that right?

Destruction of property is ok but you draw the line at looting. Got it.