Black Lives Matter protesters intentionally blocking an ambulance
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Family with sick child was stuck on bridge during BLM Rally.
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Black Lives Matter Activist Hijacks Orlando Shooting Vigil, Complains About White Attendees
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The BlackLivesMatter 'movement' is nothing but a joke. I can understand what they're trying to aim for, but this is not the way to do it, if anything, you're making the 'BLM movement' a complete joke and people are going to want to hate you for doing the shitty things that they've done already.

Yeh Black Lives Matter is a fucking joke.  I understand what they are trying to achieve, but the way they go about it just is not conducive to making any progress.  I think they are racist themselves (anti-racism = racism) and are just a destructive force.  Call me a modern racist, but I think they feel entitled to much more than they should be.  The BLM Toronto movement is even worse; if BLM is a cancer, then BLM Toronto is pancreatic cancer. They consist of loud, arrogant fucks - one of my friends was harrased by a BLM TO supporter while he was just walking the streets.  They think they are above everyone and every other prejudice/discriminated group (They were invited to the Toronto Pride parade and disrupted it, making demands - one of which was exclusion of police http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/black-lives-matter-toronto-pride-parade-1.3663659), and at the end of the day I will never take anything they say serious and may or may not wish they all die and drop off the face of the earth.

I think this thread needs to be changed so that there is a clear direction of conversation. As it is right now I feel this post could easily become filled with arguments and hate speech. 

clear direction of conversation.

The idea behind this thread is to discuss the BLM movement and how ridiculous it is, as it should be a movement that people can get behind!

As it is right now I feel this post could easily become filled with arguments and hate speech.

I don't blame people for showing their hatred against the BLM movement, as they have put people's lives in danger, hijacked a vigil, disrupted a Pride Parade and have killed Police Officers in the name of BLM. These people make the BLM movement look like a complete joke and they aren't going to get anywhere nor any support with the current way they're doing things.

anything that is against another group of people I am against, instead of Black Lives matter, why cant we have all lives matter.  This is what is wrong with the world, people grouping together, hating on another group, whether it be for their religion, colour or belief.  Why cant we all just get along.

instead of Black Lives matter, why cant we have all lives matter.

While I agree with this statement, the issue is that people will get offended by saying #AllLivesMatter.  People, specifically supporters of BLM, think that all lives matter is a way to brush off the whole idea of BLM

#alllivesmatter!

I do agree that AllLivesMatter should be a thing, but if you look at it from a perspective of a black person, it's easy to see "white privilege" everywhere you go. I don't think that everyone in the BLM movement is against other type of lifes, but instead they're trying to bring attention and 'justice' to black lives. However, it seems that the media and social networking sites, are just focusing on the terrible parts of the BLM movement, which can be seen in the videos above.

It's said that the War on Drugs actually targets the poor and minorities, but that's a whole other topic.

Anyway, it's a huge issue around the world.

• If you're a muslim in Japan, the Japanese Government is allowed to gather surveillance on you
• If you're black and from a rough part of town, it's automatically assumed that you're in some kind of gang or up to no good.
• If you're black, you're exposed to a ton of racism, especially online, being called a monkey, nigger, go back home, etc etc.
• Racial profiling if you apply for a job. (I don't know how much of an issue this is, but it's a fact, having a Mexican name, or anything that's not 'the norm' can exempt you from receiving a job as the employer will take a look and just assume that you're bad egg or that they don't want you).

I guess the list could go on, which is a sad truth, and I don't see this changing in my lifetime. People are far too ignorant, and with the media spreading Islamophobia and showing the bad parts of the BlackLivesMatter movement, people are going to be afraid of Muslims and black people, assuming all of them are terrorists or up to no good. It's really easy to get worried about terrorism and assume or be frightened by a muslim if you're already a biased person against these people, especially when there has been 4 terrorist attacks in Germany alone in the last week.

Sorry, having trouble trying to explain myself, but I hope you can understand from the above what I'm trying to say here.

These videos bring up some good points
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The BLM movement is toxic. Even if as a whole they began to push their activism in a more respectable manner, it still will only be more detrimental than beneficial to their cause. People who accuse those preaching "all lives matter" of being racists are idiots. It doesn't matter what light you're painting a race in - be it positive or negative - as soon as you separate people by the color of their skin, you perpetuate racism.

Morgan Freeman said it quite plainly in response to being asked "how do we stop racism?"

"Stop talking about it."

It's a great point, but unfortunately, it's something that's far easier said than done, especially with everything going on in the world.

I don't exactly understand all of the harsh criticisms of Black Lives Matter, especially in some of the earlier posts. The movement is geared toward prejudice of police officers in the US and recently had their flames fanned with more black civilians being shot by officers. Here's my take...

1) I will NEVER agree that saying "black lives matter" is racist because it specifically talks about 1 race. That is exactly the point. There is no question that all lives matter. Period. It never was a question. The point of the BLM movement and their name is to specify that black lives matter TOO. The statistics on prejudice of police toward black Americans is astonishing and to say that prejudice and racism is gone would be ignorant - it's still there. This group is meant to and was named to encourage that the African American race matters just as much as the white Americans. Black Lives Matter isn't excluding other lives from mattering, it's emphasizing the injustice and prejudice toward their race and saying that they matter just as much.

2) Like Mini said, the media really only says bad things about the movement for 1 reason only - it sells. It's the complaint that you hear people say all of the time: "Why is the news always so negative?" Negativity, violence, destruction, etc. sells. You don't hear about the peaceful protests the movement orchestrates because there's no story in saying that there was a BLM protest that went well. Another reason you mainly hear negative connotations toward the movement is because of the bad, radicalized seeds within the movement that take it too far. The shooting of the Dallas police officers was not condoned by BLM nor does the shooter stand for the group. One bad seed in a group of people does not portray what the entire group is about.

In conclusion, I agree that BLM has some merit for sure. Do I agree with how a lot of these people protest? No. Their chants? No. But they're bringing light to an obvious problem going on in the black community today. There are going to be bad seeds in every group (the same goes for the police who do shoot unarmed black people or show prejudice while on the job - it doesn't mean ALL cops are this way), it happens, but don't let those taint what the movement is about.

I believe we need to stop disavowing and criticizing a group standing for a cause and realize the problem is that there's even a cause that they need to stand for.

The thing that gets me most about the BLM movement is that it unfairly attributes most (and in some cases, all) of statistical difference when it comes to black vs. white incarceration and murder to a police (or even white) bias against them. I think a different story is painted when one looks at the facts.

       1. Despite making up only 13% of the American population, blacks committed half of all homicides in the United States between 1980 and 2008.

       2. It would take police 40 years (at recent rates) to kill as many black men as have died at the hands of other black men in 2012 alone.

       3. In black vs white violent attacks, 84.5% of the time the attacker is black.

       4. Less than 400 people a year are killed by cops, last year 43% of them were white and 25% were black.

If black lives really mattered to these groups, why do we never hear about what's really killing them?

The thing that gets me most about the BLM movement is that it unfairly attributes most (and in some cases, all) of statistical difference when it comes to black vs. white incarceration and murder to a police (or even white) bias against them. I think a different story is painted when one looks at the facts.

       1. Despite making up only 13% of the American population, blacks committed half of all homicides in the United States between 1980 and 2008.

       2. It would take police 40 years (at recent rates) to kill as many black men as have died at the hands of other black men in 2012 alone.

       3. In black vs white violent attacks, 84.5% of the time the attacker is black.

       4. Less than 400 people a year are killed by cops, last year 43% of them were white and 25% were black.

If black lives really mattered to these groups, why do we never hear about what's really killing them?

Black Lives Matter's focus is on racial disparity in the criminal justice system. The reason that statistics regarding black vs. white crime or black vs. black crime (the argument made most to retort the group focusing on Chicago where, I'm going to assume, the major number of homicides committed by blacks is skewed due to this area with gangs) are not as big of a focus of the group is for one main reason - these crimes are committed by every day people, gangs, criminals, etc. Black Lives Matter is focusing on the treatment of blacks in regards to police officers.

Throwing out stats regarding how most blacks are killed or how much crime they commit doesn't do anything to prove the movement is bogus. Black Lives Matter believes, as we all should, police should be raised to a higher standard than the typical gangbanger committing the crimes. Just because most black people aren't killed by cops or by white people doesn't mean that those trained to de-escalate situations, trained to handle high pressure situations, and trained to protect the community shouldn't be held to a higher standard by the community on actions they take. They're trained specifically for these situations whereas the typical criminal isn't. They're trained to protect the community whereas the typical criminal isn't.

From the Bureau of Justice Statistics:

◾An estimated 26.4 million persons age 16 or older indicated that their most recent contact with the police in 2011 was as a driver pulled over in a traffic stop. These drivers represented 12% of the nation's 212 million drivers.
◾A greater percentage of male drivers (12%) than female drivers (8%) were stopped by police during 2011. A higher percentage of black drivers (13%) than white (10%) and Hispanic (10%) drivers were stopped by police during 2011.
◾Stopped drivers reported speeding as the most common reason for being pulled over in 2011.
◾Approximately 80% of drivers pulled over by police in 2011 felt they had been stopped for a legitimate reason. In 2011, about 68% of black drivers believed police had a legitimate reason for stopping them compared to 84% of white and 74% of Hispanic drivers.
◾In 2011, about 3% of traffic stops led to a search of the driver, the vehicle, or both. Police were more likely to search male drivers (4%) than female drivers (2%).
◾A lower percentage of white drivers stopped by police in 2011 were searched (2%) than black (6%) or Hispanic (7%) drivers.

Quote from: Only Lilly on July 25, 2016, 18:14:26

instead of Black Lives matter, why cant we have all lives matter.

While I agree with this statement, the issue is that people will get offended by saying #AllLivesMatter.  People, specifically supporters of BLM, think that all lives matter is a way to brush off the whole idea of BLM

I disagree that is the reason - http://fusion.net/story/170591/the-next-time-someone-says-all-lives-matter-show-them-these-5-paragraphs/.  Obviously all lives matter but black lives are more at risk and they shouldn't be.

(click to show/hide)

Quote from: Teknolla G on July 26, 2016, 17:00:46

The thing that gets me most about the BLM movement is that it unfairly attributes most (and in some cases, all) of statistical difference when it comes to black vs. white incarceration and murder to a police (or even white) bias against them. I think a different story is painted when one looks at the facts.

       1. Despite making up only 13% of the American population, blacks committed half of all homicides in the United States between 1980 and 2008.

       2. It would take police 40 years (at recent rates) to kill as many black men as have died at the hands of other black men in 2012 alone.

       3. In black vs white violent attacks, 84.5% of the time the attacker is black.

       4. Less than 400 people a year are killed by cops, last year 43% of them were white and 25% were black.

If black lives really mattered to these groups, why do we never hear about what's really killing them?

Black Lives Matter's focus is on racial disparity in the criminal justice system. The reason that statistics regarding black vs. white crime or black vs. black crime (the argument made most to retort the group focusing on Chicago where, I'm going to assume, the major number of homicides committed by blacks is skewed due to this area with gangs) are not as big of a focus of the group is for one main reason - these crimes are committed by every day people, gangs, criminals, etc. Black Lives Matter is focusing on the treatment of blacks in regards to police officers.

Throwing out stats regarding how most blacks are killed or how much crime they commit doesn't do anything to prove the movement is bogus. Black Lives Matter believes, as we all should, police should be raised to a higher standard than the typical gangbanger committing the crimes. Just because most black people aren't killed by cops or by white people doesn't mean that those trained to de-escalate situations, trained to handle high pressure situations, and trained to protect the community shouldn't be held to a higher standard by the community on actions they take. They're trained specifically for these situations whereas the typical criminal isn't. They're trained to protect the community whereas the typical criminal isn't.

From the Bureau of Justice Statistics:

◾An estimated 26.4 million persons age 16 or older indicated that their most recent contact with the police in 2011 was as a driver pulled over in a traffic stop. These drivers represented 12% of the nation's 212 million drivers.
◾A greater percentage of male drivers (12%) than female drivers (8%) were stopped by police during 2011. A higher percentage of black drivers (13%) than white (10%) and Hispanic (10%) drivers were stopped by police during 2011.
◾Stopped drivers reported speeding as the most common reason for being pulled over in 2011.
◾Approximately 80% of drivers pulled over by police in 2011 felt they had been stopped for a legitimate reason. In 2011, about 68% of black drivers believed police had a legitimate reason for stopping them compared to 84% of white and 74% of Hispanic drivers.
◾In 2011, about 3% of traffic stops led to a search of the driver, the vehicle, or both. Police were more likely to search male drivers (4%) than female drivers (2%).
◾A lower percentage of white drivers stopped by police in 2011 were searched (2%) than black (6%) or Hispanic (7%) drivers.

You reiterating that BLM focuses on police brutality is just furthering my point. I get that's their focus. That's the problem. It's like blowing out a candle when your house is burning down. Law enforcement homicides account for 2.5% of black murder between 2009 and 2012. Data suggests that a little over 12% of those were unarmed civilians (which is not synonymous with unjustified - that's objective and statistically unobservable). That translates into about 14 unarmed black males  killed per year by police. Compare that to say, the 2,369 killed in motor vehicle accidents or the 2,532 by suicide. It doesn't prove that the BLM movement is bogus, but perhaps misdirected.

It's easy to judge law enforcement officials after the fact, but could you do any better? This video gives an insightful view on this matter.


In response to your batch of statistics - while of course it's evident that police pull over blacks more often (and the civilians possibly have different attitudes towards the occurrences), it by no means addresses whether or not the police actually had legitimate cause or if the stops ended in any charges being laid. Take a look at crime statistics overall and it starts to become apparent that maybe the disparity in your stats is justified.