Black lives matter vs. Trump and his followers

There's just been a lot going on, with our coronavirus social distancing and then an event, a rather small event as far as abuse of blacks and police brutality goes (Rodney King anyone, Watts riots?*). This thing has been going on for decades, and I don't even know what the solution would be. But the reason this blew up so fast was the video, and social media.

It could have been a protest, nationwide, left to mayors to handle. The states also have national guard units.

But Trump could not leave it alone. Using the special situation of Washington DC not being a state and screaming "LAW AND ORDER" in his tweets, he had Bill Barr bring in special troops.

From various federal agencies in uniforms suitable for riots, they had no credentials, no names, no insignia. As Rachel Maddow pointed out, we must be able to identify which law enforcement unit abused us. It is a right that goes beyond local law, but you would sue your city.

On top of this, assorted false actors stepped in to make a bigger mess. The looters and rioters may have been city folk, but outsiders did interfere. But they were not so called "antifa," which in fact does not even exist. People protesting against white supremacists were simply labeled that, but they are not in any way organized.

So how do these things organize then? We have social media, where people can announce their peaceful or other protests ahead of time. Then people appear. I would certainly be mad if I saw George Floyd executed in a phone video clip, and if I were black I probably would have been out there.

As far as social media goes, be critical. Certainly this time the video showed the truth, but in general, things like a guy running a Youtube channel are not reliable. Some of those guys get paid for spreading fake stories.

I have protested Trump, climate change, our rights etc. many times. But it was probably best I did not go out. Even in our small city there was looting, damage and people injured. I did not want to be the 70-year old man that the police in Buffalo knocked over. Our mayor, though aware of the black community and normally in tune with how things are, did not realize she caused a bit more anger and damage by imposing a curfew on a Friday night. Our police were able to handle the situation as far as manpower, so no curfew was going to be needed. And it would not have stopped people being outside.

So, what can be done? Not much, federally. Congress cannot require states to retrain their police, it's a state matter. They can withhold federal funding for other things, until the states reform. Bail is an outdated system, and poor people that might not get any jail time for their more minor crimes may sit in jail until their case comes up. I believe some bigger cities have scrapped this for the duration of our coronavirus pandemic. Jails full of people is not going to help us.

*Watts riots:
(WIKI)
On August 11, 1965, Marquette Frye, an African-American motorist on parole for robbery, was pulled over for reckless driving. A minor roadside argument broke out, which then escalated into a fight with police.[2] Community members reported that the police had hurt a pregnant woman, and six days of civil unrest followed.[3] Nearly 14,000 members of the California Army National Guard [4] helped suppress the disturbance, which resulted in 34 deaths[5] and over $40 million in property damage.[6] It was the city's worst unrest until the Rodney King riots of 1992.