What Can the Church do to Promote Anti-racism in America?

[Danzo]

10 minutes ago, smac97 said:

I think qualified immunity needs to be regulated by statute, not by common law (judge-made decisions).  It's a complex topic, and deserves some real attention.

Thanks,

-Smac

mostly it end up being a get out of jail free card for police. 

[smac97]

3 minutes ago, Danzo said:

mostly it end up being a get out of jail free card for police. 

It's also a bulwark against frivolous lawsuits.  If police constrain themselves, for fear of frivolous lawsuits, from doing their jobs effectively, society will suffer because of that.

Nevertheless, I think you raise a fair point.  Hence the need for qualified immunity to become codified.  Let's protect the good cops (a characterization I would attribute to the vast majority of law enforcement officers), but also put "bad apples" on notice that they will face real consequences personally if they violate the law.

Here's some interesting stuff on this topic.

Thanks,

-Smac

[Danzo]

One more thing that could go a long way towards helping out is to give our children in school a better legal education.

There is almost 0 legal education for school children today.  Even most college programs do not include any legal education in getting a degree. 

Having legal knowledge can go a long way toward helping people feel empowered and not threatened by the legal system.

A couple of years ago a police officer pulled me over for running a red light, I thought the light was yellow, he thought it was red.  If I didn't know about the system, I could have just given in to the police officer and had a negative experience. If I felt helpless I could have even been tempted to lash out at the officer. I could (and many people do) feel powerless.

Instead, because I have some knowledge of the legal system I smiled to the officer asked him to write me a ticket and told him that I had a car full of witnesses and I would let the Judge resolve our disagreement.  The police officer (probably sensing he might not have a good case)  smiled and gave me a warning and we both went on our way.  

Unfortunately most people aren't comfortable enough with the legal system and would have left that situation frustrated angry and powerless, with bad feelings toward the police. 

[Danzo]

3 minutes ago, smac97 said:

It's also a bulwark against frivolous lawsuits.  If police constrain themselves, for fear of frivolous lawsuits, from doing their jobs effectively, society will suffer because of that.

Nevertheless, I think you raise a fair point.  Hence the need for qualified immunity to become codified.  Let's protect the good cops (a characterization I would attribute to the vast majority of law enforcement officers), but also put "bad apples" on notice that they will face real consequences personally if they violate the law.

Here's some interesting stuff on this topic.

Thanks,

-Smac

In my experience,  police are nether better nor worse than the population at large.  They are generally good, but are also subject to temptations as well.  One of the temptations that afflict police (and all of us) is to cut corners and to cover our sins and mistakes and to exercise unrighteous dominion.  Unfortunately do to their position in society, they have the potential to do a lot damage if they succumb to these temptations. We will never be able to take the human out of the police officers, but we (and they) should be constantly reminded that with great power come great responsibility.  Qualified immunity acts to remove some of the responsibility and we are left with someone who has greater power but less responsibility.

[Duncan]

1 hour ago, smac97 said:

It happens all the time. 

It happens all the time.

We have all sorts of laws and oversight mechanisms in place to address police misconduct.  They were not created ex nihilo.  See, e.g., here.

What happened in Las Vegas?

What does Adam Lanza have to do with police misconduct or riots?

Moreover, what did the police do relative to Sandy Hook?  Well...

Police arrived at the school in 4 1/2 minutes, approximatey one minute before Adam Lanza killed himself.

The police put themselves into (what they reasonably thought was) harm's way.  Just like police do every day in our country.  

Have you ever notice how other first responders - like firefighters and EMTs - are pretty much always held in high regard?  Whereas police - also first responders - are sometimes categorically vilified?  Why is that?  My sense is that firefighters and EMTs are "fighting" threats that are objectively and always bad.  Firefighters fight fires, and EMTs fight injuries.  Nobody is on the side of the flames engulfing a house, or on the side of a bullet lodged in the shoulder of a teenager caught in a crossfire between rival gangs.

Ah, there's the rub.  Firefighters and EMTs don't fight gangs, do they?  That's the job of the police.  Police quell violence and lawbreaking by people.  That's a job that is considerably more complex and morally ambiguous/challenging than fighting a fire or treating an injured person.

Police are our front line troops.  They put themselves in harm's way for our sake.  Every day.  It's a difficult job.  And it must be very discouraging when some amongst their ranks screw up and all police officers are stereotyped and blamed for that misconduct.  Indiscriminately vilifying police is harmful and destructive.  Individual officers need to be held accountable, and sometimes an entire department needs that.  But broadly speaking, I am very grateful to the men and women in law enforcement.  They have a tough - and increasingly thankless - job.

Political.

This article tries to present some measure of proportion when evaluating police misconduct (emphasis added) :

I agree with this sentiment.

Thanks,

-Smac

The Massacre in Las Vegas, that guy who went on a shooting spree from his window. If you're telling me that there are discussions about how to stop violence, shooting spree's, killing unarmed black men then another George Floyd happens then your discussions aren't effective. Police are not getting it. Looters too. What was the message the US President sent them?? The George Floyd's of the US seem to continually. If the laws and discussions about these issue are so effective why do these killings seem to continue? not just happen but continue? Why don't they put an end to it? The Police isn't a job you can't have a one bad person. I know some Police officers and they are great and they put themselves in harms's way, when they didn't cause the harm though

What was the harm that George Floyd posed? a fake 20$ bill? alledgedly, and 4 cops showed up for that? and now they caused the harm. We can go on on about unarmed men, black men who were killed for nothing by Police. Police shouldn't cause the harm for people.

I'd like to be convinced as to why the rest of us in the rest of the world should really care as to what the US does or has to say anymore

Did the US change gun laws after Sandy Hook? No, otherwise Las Vegas, Dylan Roof, and the list goes on and on, violence is acceptable in the US-these tragedies keep happening so whatever you're doing maybe just isn't good enough

if there was looting every day, 365 days a year, then your article would have a point. They had 17 or 18 fatal police shootings, the number I see is 223

heroes for doing what? as I say my few friends who are cops, nice people, but they don't cause harm

Edited June 2, 2020 by Duncan

[bsjkki]

49 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

At one point several days ago the protesters were caught and took refuge in a CNN building but there was also a police facility of some kind in the building.

Yeah, this is a ridiculous interpretation of what happened at the CNN headquarters in Atlanta. https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/cnn-center-heavily-vandalized-during-atlanta-protest-against-death-of-george-floyd.amp?__twitter_impression=true

[mnn727]

On 6/1/2020 at 10:29 AM, Meadowchik said:

Hopefully we can all agree that this is a moral issue significant enough for the Church of Jesus Christ to take a public interest.

Sorry, but no we can't. We are not an activist Church, what little we did do ended with Prop 8. 

Our mission is to:

1. Teach the gospel to the world
2. Strengthen members everywhere
3. Redeem the dead

Take the activism elsewhere.

[Danzo]

14 minutes ago, smac97 said:

It's also a bulwark against frivolous lawsuits.  

-Smac

Frivolous lawsuits, by their very definition are not allowed to proceed.

Its the non frivolous lawsuits that qualified immunity kills. 

[Storm Rider]

55 minutes ago, bluebell said:

I'm not sure what the bolded is supposed to mean.  Could you clarify?

The only reason that America went to war was to keep the southern states from seceding.  Abraham Lincoln famously stated that if he could have kept the Union together without freeing a single slave, he would have.  And while the civil war certainly may have made slavery illegal, Jim Crow laws proved that the south didn't actually lose that fight.  They were able to 'legally' keep African Americans in an inferior place in society, and even kill them with impunity, for another century (and in some backward communities it's still not over yet). 

It's embarrassing that every other European country managed to stop slavery without needing to go to war, but in no other country was the economic consequences for doing so high, and one thing the United States is good at is leading with our pocketbooks.

The bold part was a quote from your earlier comment except for the why at the end of the first sentence. It seemed like you were saying that American slavery was completely unique in world history and that is why it remains a focus.

Your second paragraph makes no sense. You are stating the war was to keep the south from seceding the Union. The problem is that South was seceding because the North was determined to end slavery. The South's entire economy was built on slavery and its end was seen as an end of their entire way of life. The rest is propaganda and has nothing to do with this being the only country that was so determined to end slavery they wee willing to sacrifice 700,000 lives. No other nation has ever done that. Now, you may say Americans of the time were stupid they could not just accept freedom for all; I choose to think that America was going through some horrible growing pains and addressing the errors of their forefathers. 

The Europeans were second class slavers. The real slave trade was the Arab slave trade and it has never stopped. Slavery remains acceptable within Islam and continues to be practiced in various forms. 

[The Nehor]

1 hour ago, smac97 said:

A few more updates:

Video shows NYPD cop being attacked by several men in the Bronx

Law enforcement need our support.  And where an individual officer does something wrong, he needs to be held accountable.

White nationalist group posing as antifa called for violence on Twitter

White supremacists are stoking violence by pretending to be Antifa.  Because everyone knows Antifa is ironically names, and resorts to violence all the time.

Quite an indictment of both groups, eh?

Again, I ask those of you who are excusing/rationalizing/justifying/endorsing/condoning mob violence and looting to reconsider your position.

Thanks,

-Smac

Law enforcement does not get my support if they do not enforce the law. They should be held to a higher standard of behavior than the protesters who are, generally, a bunch of scared, passionate, and/or angry kids but too many are bending over backwards to defend and excuse police brutality. There are some amazing cops out there. I lauded the guy I am pretty sure was a cop who recovered rifles from protesters without confrontation. That guy was a pro. I have also seen police talk protesters down and seen compassion.

The thing that chills my blood are the horrifying comments cheering on police brutality I find all over social media and calling for even more. I keep having to remind myself that the people posting this do not represent the majority but the calls to gun everyone down are frightening. They seem to want fascism and extralegal executions as long as its boot is on someone else's neck. Also terrifying is that some of those comments we believe come from active duty police.

Antifa is not ironically named. They are a movement that opposes fascism. Most adherents do not claim to be peaceful. It is important to remember that Antifa is not an organization or even a group. It is a movement. Anyone can claim to be Antifa. There are no gatekeepers or leaders. My concern is that if the state goes after Antifa as they are more than toying with doing they are writing themselves a blank check to go after anyone because there is no way to know if someone is Antifa unless they self-identify. It is something like the War on Terror which had no specific target except the targets in this case will probably end up being mostly American citizens.

Another example of this kind of nebulous group is another faction believed to be trying to mix in with protesters. They are anti-police and racist so no one really likes them. They are trying to incite violence. There was some boasting by supposed members that they have "agents" in the police trying to escalate violence but I doubt that claim. It is easier to hold your nose at your racism and join a protest to stir up trouble than it would be to join a police department while hating the police. Fortunately they generally seem to be idiots. More then a few of the people suspected of identifying this way were way too blatant when they thought they were being clever.

Since I am on the subject let me share some of the conspiracy theories kicking around and these are not a response to smac or anyone in this thread.

There a ridiculous conspiracy theory that the "bail protesters out" funds and the food and water dropsites are proof of a nefarious organization backing up all these protests. Some government officials are pushing this one. I can say that those efforts developed organically through people wanting to help. I watched those bail out funds start from nothing. A lot of people were offering to match donations up to a certain dollar amount to get donations. That is what I did with my stimulus money. Gotta stimulate the economy. The food and water drops were a mess in terms of the volume deployed. Some areas had enough food that you would think they were setting up for an Occupy protest.

Another conspiracy theory is that the protests are largely made up of paid demonstrators. Not a chance. This conspiracy relies on one of two situations being true. Either there is a massive force of mercenary protesters for hire that have an ironclad veil of secrecy who are unemployed when they are not protesting (since calls for this kind of activism are not around all the time and definitely not in these numbers). The other is that they solicited and hired huge numbers of recruits without any social media activity showing up. In either case you have to have a bunch of young adults in on this with none of them breaking ranks and talking.

Another scam perpetuated by a few cities claims that most protesters were from ouside of the area they were protesting in. These perceptions were based on either outright guesses/lies or were disingenuous facts presented badly. Some protesters who were arrested and labeled outsiders were not from the city but were from a neighboring suburb which makes it really misleading to claim they were from out of town. There were some out of towners of course but all arrest demographics released with any detail that I have seen show that at least two-thirds were from the local area and most were much higher. There were a few people on permanent resident status or student visas who volunteered to help but the people I work with and most of the other people I know who are involved told them to stay out of the protests due to the risks of deportation.

I also should avoid giving the impression that the people I worked with on this constitute some kind of organizing authority. We organized data, got videos out, and basically most of our work was getting news out. No one was directing protesters. Occasionally someone would send a warning of something but we rarely had much advance notice. We did try to provide information to people who were tear gassed or try to get someone to pick up people who were wounded by rubber bullets (not generally rubber by the way). One reporter lost vision in her eye after being hit by a rubber bullet and some of the wounds out there are nasty. They are safer than conventional rounds but they are not safe. They are especially unsafe at close range.

[smac97]

4 minutes ago, Danzo said:

Frivolous lawsuits, by their very definition are not allowed to proceed.

You'd be surprised, I think, at how long a frivolous lawsuit can last.  And how much it can cost.

4 minutes ago, Danzo said:

Its the non frivolous lawsuits that qualified immunity kills. 

Again, I agree that qualified immunity needs attention.  

Thanks,

-Smac

[The Nehor]

14 minutes ago, bsjkki said:

Yeah, this is a ridiculous interpretation of what happened at the CNN headquarters in Atlanta. https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/cnn-center-heavily-vandalized-during-atlanta-protest-against-death-of-george-floyd.amp?__twitter_impression=true

I agree. That linked report is a ridiculous interpretation of what happened. I watched it. The idea that the police were trying to prevent further damage is a joke. They trapped the protesters there. It was very methodical.

Edited June 2, 2020 by The Nehor

[Scott Lloyd]

1 hour ago, Meadowchik said:

I've been careful band have tried to steer toward appropriate discussion.

Nemesis earlier stated that he allowed the thread to stay open and emphasized the need to dialogue to be nonpartisan.

 

 

Well, he probably should review your recent anti-Trump sniping. 

[bsjkki]

6 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

I agree. That Fox News report is a ridiculous interpretation of what happened. I watched it.

Local station. So you watched this. 

https://m.facebook.com/watch/?v=290764145415605&_rdr

And this. 

 

Edited June 2, 2020 by bsjkki

[The Nehor]

11 minutes ago, mnn727 said:

Sorry, but no we can't. We are not an activist Church, what little we did do ended with Prop 8. 

Our mission is to:

1. Teach the gospel to the world
2. Strengthen members everywhere
3. Redeem the dead

Take the activism elsewhere.

I agree. The Church should not be taking sides except on the broad issues. Racism bad. Looting bad. Vandalism bad. Killing people bad.

[The Nehor]

2 minutes ago, bsjkki said:

Local station. So you watched this. 

https://m.facebook.com/watch/?v=290764145415605&_rdr

I don't know if I saw that exact footage but I did see those events. Just possibly from a different camera angle.

[bsjkki]

2 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

I don't know if I saw that exact footage but I did see those events. Just possibly from a different camera angle.

Will you believe CNN’s version of events? 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/05/29/us/cnn-center-vandalized-protest-atlanta-destroyed/index.html?espv=1

 

“Around 7:40 p.m., protesters could be seen destroying Atlanta Police Department vehicles parked in front of CNN.

Protesters entered the CNN Center and destroyed the interior of the building at about 9 p.m. ET. One man was seen breaking glass inside the center with a skateboard.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, during a news conference Friday night, spoke directly to the protesters: "You have defaced the CNN building. Ted Turner started CNN in Atlanta, 40 years ago because he believed in who we are as a city."

Edited June 2, 2020 by bsjkki

[Duncan]

Just now, The Nehor said:

I agree. The Church should not be taking sides except on the broad issues. Racism bad. Looting bad. Vandalism bad. Killing people bad.

There is an EQ President in our Stake right now, who is old enough to have sustained the 1978 Revelation on the Priesthood going to all worthy males, he thinks it was wrong to do that. I don't what went wrong with him but how can we as a Stake help him to see that Black men are humans too, children of God like everyone else. The messages i'm sure he's received over the years that God loves Black men just as much as anyone, he didn't get. So, hopefully this will wake him up,guess we'll see

[Danzo]

14 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

Law enforcement does not get my support if they do not enforce the law. They should be held to a higher standard of behavior than the protesters who are, generally, a bunch of scared, passionate, and/or angry kids but too many are bending over backwards to defend and excuse police brutality. There are some amazing cops out there. I lauded the guy I am pretty sure was a cop who recovered rifles from protesters without confrontation. That guy was a pro. I have also seen police talk protesters down and seen compassion.

The thing that chills my blood are the horrifying comments cheering on police brutality I find all over social media and calling for even more. I keep having to remind myself that the people posting this do not represent the majority but the calls to gun everyone down are frightening. They seem to want fascism and extralegal executions as long as its boot is on someone else's neck. Also terrifying is that some of those comments we believe come from active duty police.

Antifa is not ironically named. They are a movement that opposes fascism. Most adherents do not claim to be peaceful. It is important to remember that Antifa is not an organization or even a group. It is a movement. Anyone can claim to be Antifa. There are no gatekeepers or leaders. My concern is that if the state goes after Antifa as they are more than toying with doing they are writing themselves a blank check to go after anyone because there is no way to know if someone is Antifa unless they self-identify. It is something like the War on Terror which had no specific target except the targets in this case will probably end up being mostly American citizens.

Another example of this kind of nebulous group is another faction believed to be trying to mix in with protesters. They are anti-police and racist so no one really likes them. They are trying to incite violence. There was some boasting by supposed members that they have "agents" in the police trying to escalate violence but I doubt that claim. It is easier to hold your nose at your racism and join a protest to stir up trouble than it would be to join a police department while hating the police. Fortunately they generally seem to be idiots. More then a few of the people suspected of identifying this way were way too blatant when they thought they were being clever.

Since I am on the subject let me share some of the conspiracy theories kicking around and these are not a response to smac or anyone in this thread.

There a ridiculous conspiracy theory that the "bail protesters out" funds and the food and water dropsites are proof of a nefarious organization backing up all these protests. Some government officials are pushing this one. I can say that those efforts developed organically through people wanting to help. I watched those bail out funds start from nothing. A lot of people were offering to match donations up to a certain dollar amount to get donations. That is what I did with my stimulus money. Gotta stimulate the economy. The food and water drops were a mess in terms of the volume deployed. Some areas had enough food that you would think they were setting up for an Occupy protest.

Another conspiracy theory is that the protests are largely made up of paid demonstrators. Not a chance. This conspiracy relies on one of two situations being true. Either there is a massive force of mercenary protesters for hire that have an ironclad veil of secrecy who are unemployed when they are not protesting (since calls for this kind of activism are not around all the time and definitely not in these numbers). The other is that they solicited and hired huge numbers of recruits without any social media activity showing up. In either case you have to have a bunch of young adults in on this with none of them breaking ranks and talking.

Another scam perpetuated by a few cities claims that most protesters were from ouside of the area they were protesting in. These perceptions were based on either outright guesses/lies or were disingenuous facts presented badly. Some protesters who were arrested and labeled outsiders were not from the city but were from a neighboring suburb which makes it really misleading to claim they were from out of town. There were some out of towners of course but all arrest demographics released with any detail that I have seen show that at least two-thirds were from the local area and most were much higher. There were a few people on permanent resident status or student visas who volunteered to help but the people I work with and most of the other people I know who are involved told them to stay out of the protests due to the risks of deportation.

I also should avoid giving the impression that the people I worked with on this constitute some kind of organizing authority. We organized data, got videos out, and basically most of our work was getting news out. No one was directing protesters. Occasionally someone would send a warning of something but we rarely had much advance notice. We did try to provide information to people who were tear gassed or try to get someone to pick up people who were wounded by rubber bullets (not generally rubber by the way). One reporter lost vision in her eye after being hit by a rubber bullet and some of the wounds out there are nasty. They are safer than conventional rounds but they are not safe. They are especially unsafe at close range.

One thing you might be careful with is in assuming that people who don't agree with you believe or participate in wacky theories.

For the record I believe that police are given too much power and police laws need to change.  I believe that what happened in Minnesota was evidence of much of what is wrong with police departments in american and that the criminal justice system is in bad need of reform.

However, I think the protests are stupid and probably counter productive. There are much better and effective ways to address the problem. 

 

Edited June 2, 2020 by Danzo

[Scott Lloyd]

7 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

.

Antifa is not ironically named. They are a movement that opposes fascism. Most adherents do not claim to be peaceful. It is important to remember that Antifa is not an organization or even a group. It is a movement. Anyone can claim to be Antifa. There are no gatekeepers or leaders. My concern is that if the state goes after Antifa as they are more than toying with doing they are writing themselves a blank check to go after anyone because there is no way to know if someone is Antifa unless they self-identify. It is something like the War on Terror which had no specific target except the targets in this case will probably end up being mostly American citizens.

 

What’s this?

In a conversation with me in the last day or so, you compared antifa to leprechauns — as much as to say they are fictional. Now you are lecturing us on what they are and aren’t, as though you were the definitive expert on them. 

[rodheadlee]

1 hour ago, The Nehor said:

Will you pay for my flight? I would really like to go to California right now. Some time in the ocean would be wonderful right now.

Yeah sure.

[The Nehor]

9 minutes ago, Scott Lloyd said:

What’s this?

In a conversation with me in the last day or so, you compared antifa to leprechauns — as much as to say they are fictional. Now you are lecturing us on what they are and aren’t, as though you were the definitive expert on them. 

No I compared Antifa apologists to leprechaun apologists in the sense that they both exist but their obsession is pretty much about nothing. You can apologize for people claiming to be Antifa but you can't apologize for Antifa in general because there is no Antifa in general.

What is with the attempts at gotcha posts from you lately?

[CV75]

Jumping in, probably irrelevantly at this point, but all of the credible government communications that I have seen that call for systemic change first call for people to stay positive, authentic and kind; learning from and connect with each other; seek to build inclusivity and equity into all that we do; seek help from helpline, professional, family, friends, trusted colleagues, and spiritual leaders as appropriate. Even non-Church organizations recognize that the beginning of systemic change begins with personal and internal change, which I think is a key Gospel principle.

[bsjkki]

This is actually not a bad summary of who antifa is. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifa_(United_States)

"The antifa (/ænˈtiːfə, ˈæntiˌfɑː/)^[1] movement in the United States is a militant, predominantly left-wing, anti-fascist political activist movement^[7][12] that comprises autonomous activist groups that aim to achieve their political objectives through the use of direct action rather than through policy reform.^[13][14][15] Activists engage in varied protest tactics, including digital activism, property damage and physical violence, and harassment against those whom they identify as fascist, racist, or on the far-right.^[23]"

^...Antifa is not an interconnected or unified organization but rather a movement without a hierarchical leadership structure, comprising multiple autonomous groups and individuals.^[17][39][43] Activists typically organize protests via social media and through websites.^[44] Some activists have built peer-to-peer networks, or use encrypted-texting services like Signal.^[45] Chauncey Devega of Salon described antifa as an organizing strategy, not a group of people.^[46] The antifa movement has grown since the 2016 United States presidential election. as of August 2017, approximately 200 groups existed, of varying sizes and levels of activity.^[47]

^...Antifa activists often use the black bloc tactic in which people dress all in black and cover their faces in order to thwart surveillance and create a sense of equality and solidarity among participants.^[65] Antifa activists wear masks to hide their "identity from protestors on the other side (who might dox people they disagree with) or from police and cameras" and for philosophical reasons, such as the beliefs that "hierarchies are bad and that remaining anonymous helps keep one's ego in check".^[66] Joseph Bernstein from BuzzFeed News says antifa activists also wear masks because "they fear retribution from the far right and the cops, whom they believe are sympathetic if not outright supportive to fascists".^[67]

...Antifa groups, along with black bloc activists, were among those who protested the 2016 election of Donald Trump.^[40][63] They also participated in the February 2017 Berkeley protests against alt-right^[68][69][70] speaker Milo Yiannopoulos, where they gained mainstream attention,^[44] with media reporting them "throwing Molotov cocktails and smashing windows"^[8] and causing $100,000 worth of damage.^[71]

In April 2017, two groups described as "anti-fascist/anarchist", including the socialist/environmentalist Direct Action Alliance, threatened to disrupt the 82nd Avenue of Roses Parade in Portland, Oregon, after hearing that the Multnomah County Republican Party would participate. The parade organizers also received an anonymous email, reading: "You have seen how much power we have downtown and that the police cannot stop us from shutting down roads so please consider your decision wisely". The two groups denied having anything to do with the email. The parade was ultimately canceled by the organizers due to safety concerns.^[72][73]

On June 15, 2017, some antifa groups joined protestors at Evergreen State College to oppose the far-right group Patriot Prayer's event. Patriot Prayer was supporting biology professor Bret Weinstein who became the central figure in a controversy after he criticized changes to one of the college's events. In addition to peaceful antifa activists who held up a "community love" sign, USA Today reported that one slashed the tires of far-right activist Joey Gibson and another was wrestled to the ground by Patriot Prayer activists after being seen with a knife.^[74]

 

[CV75]

Jumping in [oops, twice -- is that a double bounce?], probably irrelevantly at this point, but all of the credible government communications that I have seen that call for systemic change first call for people to stay positive, authentic and kind; learning from and connect with each other; seek to build inclusivity and equity into all that we do; seek help from helpline, professional, family, friends, trusted colleagues, and spiritual leaders as appropriate. Even non-Church organizations recognize that the beginning of systemic change begins with personal and internal change, which I think is a key Gospel principle.

Edited June 2, 2020 by CV75