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Originally Posted by Cin
I totally get where you are coming from. And I too have hopes and dreams for my country. I agree with what you are saying and the words to that song are meaningful. It is always best to keep a positive attitude.
However in some cases if you don't drag certain things out into the light they slither around in the dark and their power grows and grows. You can't defeat something you can't see. White supremacy is woven deeply into the fabric of the US. It's in our DNA. Systemic racism is the other side of that coin. There is a great deal invested in keeping this status quo. There always has been. A black Metro D.C. police officer who was on duty yesterday said in a public Facebook post that off-duty police officers and members of the military, who were among the rioters, flashed their badges and I.D. cards as they attempted to overrun the building. “If these people can storm the Capitol building with no regard to punishment, you have to wonder how much they abuse their powers when they put on their uniforms,” the officer wrote.
In a poll released by YouGov this morning, almost half of Republicans support the pro-Trump protesters who stormed the Capitol. A lot of these people who are Trump supporters are police, retired police, ex military. Which explains why over and over you hear witnesses of yesterday's debacle marvel how these terrorists were not at all afraid of the police. How can we expect any change when law enforcement is so invested in maintaining a white supremacist ideology unless we shine a light in the dark. How can we really change if we never even examine the truth of who we are because it makes us feel uncomfortable. You have to start from where you are at. Otherwise it's just more lies and God knows we have enough of those. It's better to look at the truth painful as it is because the truth has the potential to set you free.
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Thank you Cin. I totally agree with everything you say here. Of course it is important to continue to fight the good fight, deeply examine our flaws as individuals and a nation and a planet, and bring the dregs out into the light. There is some pain involved in doing so, but it's a good pain that accompanies healing ultimately. I was really just talking about how I _feel_ right now, in the spirit of what this thread is about.
That is interesting about the D.C. Metro police officer. I had not heard that viewpoint yet. It confirms what we already know, that many police officers and military personnel seem to have a sense of entitlement to one-sided violence. It also explains why some Capitol Police were opening doors for the protesters and taking selfies with them. I strongly hope that those cases that were captured by social media will be dealt with appropriately.