Originally posted by Dr. Strangelove
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I grew up in the 60s, experienced every bit of the Black Panthers, the Weathermen, all of it. The Black Panthers did have some of the same core philosophies of the BLM movement (expose police brutality against blacks) but in the early days, they were not at all about cop killing and when they trended to that line, got more violent in the mid to late 70s, they were stopped dead in their tracks by the FBI who waged an effective campaign in the press exposing the Black Panther leadership as thugs, extortionists and drug dealers. As time passed, their philosophies were rejected by moderate mainstream blacks championing the Civil Rights movement and the organization vanished by the end of the 80s.
Anti-war activism fueled the Weathermen. They weren't at all about Civil Rights or rectifying perceived injustices directed at blacks. They just wanted to over-throw the government and they planted bombs wherever they could, lit fires wherever they could thinking they could achieve that end. Stupid.
The current activism is entirely different. It is a sick blend of seeking redress for perceived grievances involving violence inflicted on blacks by the police mixed with the gun violence that is permeating our culture. That wasn't present in the 60s.
And, frankly, what I have said in this singular post says nothing about the fact that the perceived grievances about which activists are focusing today - state violence directed at blacks - is based on questionable characterizations of it by the police. I don't think that was the case in the 60s when the Klan was prominently active in the South and racism was strongly embedded in white culture there. Legitimate grievances abounded.
I think there is somewhere in this discussion where we can find that most of us agree that if those blacks who were injured or killed by police had acted responsibly by obeying the orders of officers trying to carry out their duties, had not resisted arrests, had not try to fight with or flee from police authority, there would have been less death and injury. See the Chris Rock video on how not to get your ass kicked by the police.
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