My personal belief, backed by continually mounting evidence, is that much of the "rioting" has been instigated by white supremacist groups and those with a mind toward trouble, perhaps including Antifa associates. I have no idea what the involvement of Antifa might be. I am not sure of the organization of Antifa, I am not a member, nor do I know anyone who is affiliated.
I am a member of Toastmasters International, this is really the only group that I pay dues to at this point in my life. I am on the roster and get regular communication from this organization on our organizational developments. We have by-laws, officers and an ordered method by which we conduct our meetings. I don't think that Antifa has any of these things, but again I am not a member. Perhaps they do have meeting dues and follow Robert's Rules of Order. (Caveat- I am in way authorized to speak on behalf of Toastmaster International.)
I am not okay with Antifa being blamed, if indeed they are being blamed unfairly. Nobody should be blamed unfairly for something they didn't do. However, since the protests are about racial injustice, and black people being killed by police officers and other white people who want to act like police officers, please indulge me to point out something that is glaringly obvious from where I sit.
Being blamed for something you didn't do is kind of step 1 in feeling, to a degree possibly, what it might be like to be black. I don't have the time or life space left to point out the number of ways in which black people have been unjustly blamed, but it's staggering.
Each incident in which an unarmed black person has been killed by police or police acting wypiple, has brought a peculiar method of blame to the person who has been killed. In many cases we are shown, not the professionally developed graduation photos of white perpetrators of crimes, but mug shots- if possible, from that one time that maybe the person was arrested. The logic train in these incidents is clear, they were arrested once, they were bad, of course they instigated the incident, they deserved to die.
If a mugshot from any point in the life of the black person who has been killed in an incident with police or police acting wypiple is unavailable, then they go to step 2, blame it on past or present history of drug use, usually marijuana. This explains it all, even if you were killed by an off-duty cop who busts into your own house and kills you for no reason and later gets a hug from a judge. He smoked marijuana, he was bad, it must have been his fault somehow, he deserved to die. Also I heard he might have stolen a chicken nugget from a white girl in the 1st grade.
Black people are expected to denounce the actions of other black people in order to be considered "safe black people." They are expected to denounce rioting, or to speak out against any form of violence perpetrated by other black people. Black people are expected to speak for other black people and the whole diverse population of black people who are always lumped together in the black community pile, when we discuss these things.
There is never a dissection of the voting patterns of blacks without college degrees. There is never analysis of the differences in what constitutes legislative priority for urban as opposed to suburban or rural black people. There is only one black community, all expected to speak for each other, as if that were even possible.
When a wypiple commits a mass school shooting, or becomes a serial killer, I am never asked to personally condemn these things. It is assumed, from the no shit Sherlock archives, that I am not the named person and therefore have nothing to do with the incident. Black people do not get the same pass.
I have never once heard the term white on white violence used in media, even though the vast majority of violent crimes perpetrated against white people are by other white people. Yet for black people, black on black violence is yet another excuse for being more heavily policed and then naturally, more heavily killed by the police.
Bringing up black on black violence in the light of police killings of black people is abjectly absurd. It has no bearing on the subject at all, even discussing the two issues together hints at an agenda, another excuse to justify why black people killed by police deserved their fate. Past arrest history, marijuana use, black on black violence, looking menacing, speaking with a tone, listening to loud music, being in the "wrong place at the wrong time," fitting a profile, looking at a white woman; all of these things have been used to justify why a black person deserved to die at the hands of police or police acting wypiple.
Here is the thing though. None of the above listed things justify being murdered. Let me draw for you an absurd illustration, hyperbole to point out the glaring inequity of the absurd situation. I frankly don't care if all black men except Leon committed crimes. This does not justify profiling, arresting and killing Leon. White people would not be okay if this logic were applied to us.
We love to quote MLK when he said, "not by the color of our skin but by the content of our character." Some of the same people quoting this are the same people who like to talk about "black on black crime" when providing softball excuses for the murderous actions of police and police acting wypiple. Yet, this makes no logical sense. You want to be judged by the content of your character, who the F doesn't. Yet are you, generic you person, giving that same grace to others? It is a question for self reflection that needs to be asked everyday.
So in conclusion, I don't know how much Antifa has to do with the "riots" in our present environment. I don't know why some people choose to focus on Antifa, particularly those who have said nothing else about the protests or the reasons for the protests. Perhaps it's a red herring or another defender of the virtue of white fragility. These are things that make me go hmm.
So if you, generic you person, have blamed or defended Antifa, I'm not going to draw conclusions as to why you choose to put your focus there. Quite frankly, I'm not terribly interested in the subject. There are enough people talking about it, ya'll don't need me. I think that being blamed for something you haven't done might even make you a better ally, just sayin. Now I'm just gonna sit back and drink my tea, discuss among yourselves.
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