I’m a white dude, but I’m getting very worried about how things are going. Should I start to scrub everything off the internet of mine? Should I also start to cover my tattoos? Seems they’re targeting people for random ass tattoos and that has me worried. What other things should I be doing to prep?
Fight back, if someone nearby is getting vanned by ‘police’ step in the way and demand THEIR papers and charges, grab videos, photos, plate numbers and anything else of note and hell if you can follow them to wherever they go so people don’t just vanish.
I understand the sentiment here, but how are you any more capable of handling the situation than the people they’re ‘vanning’?
I’m a white dude as well and I’m struggling like OP. Everyone is saying fight back and to be safe, but there’s really serious risk involved here that people are quick to ignore in writing.
All I see day after day is more and more police abuse and especially in protests where it counts. The other day, someone people in the comments were suggesting the bullet/stab-proof vests were expected fair, even for civilians.
My friends that I know are against our current state of affairs, but feel that peaceful protest has so far been ineffective. And I’ve never been a criminal before and would be terrified to start now.
I admit it’s been engrained in me, but I couldn’t bring myself to acts of vandalism either. I’m just not that type of person. And I think if there was a way to contribute by doing art or programming, or something similarly creative in a way that feels more impactful than peaceful protest, a lot more people would be more willing to put something in.
My entire life, I’ve focused on creative skill sets and I bet many that oppose Trump feel the same. I wish I had some sort of way to go out and actually see something directly change as a result of what I did rather than holding a sign up with some slogan that people might honk a horn at.
It all just feels wrong when the opposition literally wants to hurt us and all we want to do is keep our distance.
I don’t have a solid answer to that, but the recent PhD a candidate that got swiped as I gather was in the middle of a crowded space. If a hand ful of people showed up, and other emboldened by those first few joined in, pretty soon those handful of thugs would be surrounded and you can bet that there wouldn’t be a missing person out there. They have guns and handcuffs, but the people number in the millions and can overwhelm by sheer force of numbers.
I still recall the image of the police HQ in Minneapolis taken over during the Floyd protests. People went directly into the lion’s den and claimed their place. It can happen again, somewhere out there a spark is just waiting to be lit.