Hawkeyes Past, Present, Future Share Feelings on Racial Injustice

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RobHowe

RobHowe

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Death of George Floyd sparks responses in Iowa sports community:

LINK

*Posting story for people to see what some Hawkeyes are saying. This is not an open invitation to start debating whether or not you think there are racial issues in this country. I'll see where the conversation goes, if anywhere, to determine if I leave the thread open.
 
RobHowe said:
Death of George Floyd sparks responses in Iowa sports community:

LINK

*Posting story for people to see what some Hawkeyes are saying. This is not an open invitation to start debating whether or not you think there are racial issues in this country. I'll see where the conversation goes, if anywhere, to determine if I leave the thread open.
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Living in Orlando, I saw Casey Anthony get charged with 1st-degree murder. No video, for a while no body, and no "for certain" actual cause of death. Thus, I am confused as to why only 3rd-degree murder and 2nd-degree manslaughter. Oh, and over a supposed $20 counterfeit bill? And he had numerous disciplinary/procedural issues previous to this. F*^k it, Minneapolis can keep burning for all I care. Except, businesses and people who had nothing to do with it are suffering now, as well.

Between this, the riots, and the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, I can only sit dumbstruck with the question we all probably ask all too often: WTF is wrong with some of the people in our country and on this planet?
 
The cop that did this is a complete idiot and had 18 prior complaints filed against him. Why was he even on the police force with that many issues? Based on the video it should be a slam dunk murder case unless the Minneapolis D.A.s continue to let this guy get away. I'd also file charges against the other officers that were there and did nothing. The good cops in that police force need to start culling out the bad ones.
 
I’m so frustrated by all this. All of it. From the piece of shit cop to burning my city for 2 days.
The cop is a piece of shit.
Some form is racism in America continues to exist.
America isn’t nearly as bad of place as it was before in regards to racism.
Protesting is acceptable
Rioting is not. Looting is actually worse.
Now everyone has gone back to their corners, so there won’t be a constructive, forward moment.
This country is dying for a leader, a hero.
We need a USA! type moment something fierce.
Don’t discount being locked down for 2.5 months in the equation for the rioting.
Cooler heads need to prevail.
 
Cops on a power trip is a huge issue. Makes sense too since you have to kinda want power over people if you want to be a cop.
 
The vast majority of cops are good cops and good people. But it only takes a few to taint the whole bunch and those who are willing to exploit those few for their own ends. It’s sad and destructive on both sides.

Where are the supervisors who assign this guy to this patrol? It’s hard to fathom they had no clue what type of guy he was. He should never been allowed to be on this patrol.

Last, I read that the ME ruled out asphyxiation as the cause of death, and before this cop stuck his knee on the poor men’s neck Mr. Floyd was complaining of not being able to breathe. Not condoning what this cop did in any way, but it’s possible these facts were considered in what crime to charge the cop with. It’s a sad situation for this country on about 100 different levels.
 
No one should be surprised that when we’ve spent the last generation militarizing what is supposed to be our country’s citizen police force, that this is the end result. And that’s not an indictment of cops at all...it’s an indictment of human nature. When you give any group of people that much power in the form of firepower and couple that with a complete lack of accountability...these incidents are the end result.
 
Hawk1960 said:
The cop that did this is a complete idiot and had 18 prior complaints filed against him. Why was he even on the police force with that many issues? Based on the video it should be a slam dunk murder case unless the Minneapolis D.A.s continue to let this guy get away. I'd also file charges against the other officers that were there and did nothing. The good cops in that police force need to start culling out the bad ones.
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All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.
The thing to remember is from the virus to this, they want us to be divided.
 
Idiot cop went way too far and someone is dead. He should and will be held accountable. And the others that stood by and heard this man beg for his life should too. Riots in Des Moines and destroying a tire shop is unacceptable. Those rioters should be arrested. Damn tire shop in Des Moines Iowa needs to pay for what happened in MSP?? In this crazy world all of these people are SUPPOSED to wear masks!
 
Look at how Faith Ekakatie was treated in downtown Iowa City a few years ago...

I've posted about how my bi-ricial son was forced to show his ID when I was pulled over for passing a state trooper near Monticello while going the speed limit. He also nearly got expelled from high school when falsely accused by the principal of taking another student's wallet in the locker room. The principal, even after gathering facts that contradicted the story, pressed on full speed ahead with a report full of falsified information that he then submitted to the police. When my wife and I got called into the station when we were supposed to be on our way to a weekend in Door County we quickly sifted through that ruse.

One of the students that have bad information was a star basketball player. He got into trouble with drug possession before his college freshman season even started. Perhaps our holy and righteous principal, who is now at Platteville, should have been watching that kid more closely instead of telling my wife and I and the social workers that my kid didn't belong at his school.

Now my youngest is taking excessive rap for blowing up mailboxes with firecrackers, has had to pay restitution fees, help buy and install new mailboxes, the whole she-bang. He was involved, but minimally so.

But....
 
Northside Hawk said:
Now my youngest is taking excessive rap for blowing up mailboxes with firecrackers, has had to pay restitution fees, help buy and install new mailboxes, the whole she-bang. He was involved, but minimally so.
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I've been arrested 3 times for shit I participated in solely by hanging out with dumbasses. Don't minimize your kid's involvement. There are probably tens of thousands of people in prison who were "minimally involved" in conspiracies to distribute narcotics or in the commission of a crime that led to them being charged with felony murder. Bring the wrath of God down on the kid and don't let him hang around shitbirds. I have a buddy who had to get a GED because he let some buddies make dry ice bombs in his truck during a football game (he was actually in the stands at the time) and he got charged with terrorism and bounced from school. And that was in the '90's before the zero tolerance nonsense started, but that dude still has that decades old terrorism charge on his record and he says it has made for quite a few interesting job interviews (none of which went well).
 
A longtime friend of mine, Eddie Moore Jr., who earned his PHD at Iowa, began an important non-profit for understanding a systematic problem in our country that leads to what we saw with George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and countless others.

If you choose to check it out, I think it's a great resource.

LINK
 
Anyone who thinks what happened in MNPLS is an isolated incident and couldn't happen in your community is not paying attention. This is indeed systemic and there is need for significant reform of police culture throughout our entire country. Police departments have become macho-oriented fraternities, where they 'have each other's backs' whether right or wrong -- that's why OF COURSE you have other officers standing by and doing nothing. I'm a strong supporter of unions, but police unions are the worst -- never admitting when an officer is clearly wrong. Equally unfortunate is that modern police chiefs often say the right things, but when meaningful reforms such as establishing a local Citizen Review Committee is suggested, they claim it's 'not necessary'.
 
okeefe4prez said:
I've been arrested 3 times for shit I participated in solely by hanging out with dumbasses. Don't minimize your kid's involvement. There are probably tens of thousands of people in prison who were "minimally involved" in conspiracies to distribute narcotics or in the commission of a crime that led to them being charged with felony murder. Bring the wrath of God down on the kid and don't let him hang around shitbirds. I have a buddy who had to get a GED because he let some buddies make dry ice bombs in his truck during a football game (he was actually in the stands at the time) and he got charged with terrorism and bounced from school. And that was in the '90's before the zero tolerance nonsense started, but that dude still has that decades old terrorism charge on his record and he says it has made for quite a few interesting job interviews (none of which went well).
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Oh he has been duly punished on our end. It has definitely opened his eyes about guilt by association. As parents we can discuss it with our teenage children until we are blue in the face, but most have to learn about it the hard way.

Could you imagine how our teenage years would have panned out with Life 360 and other social media apps? Most of us would have been grounded for life.

All three of our children know to call us if at anytime they don't feel right about any situation when hanging out with their friends. I have driven up to Platteville at four in the morning to pick up my daughter at a party. I found out later that a fight broke out at this party shortly after I got her out of there.
 
Rob, this is a very brave thread to start, but I give you credit for doing so.

The officer involved here obviously is a despicable person, and should be held accountable just like any other citizen. Looking at it, I think premeditated murder might be a reach, but at the very least it was reckless manslaughter. And, I agree that the officers who stood idly by should be charged as accomplices. As stated above, the vast majority of police officers are solid people. It's too bad that the minority like this dominate the headlines.

Those that are using this situation to justify violent protests and looting likewise are despicable, and also should be held accountable.

Not surprisingly, there seems to be two extremes here: Those that condone violence against minorities and feel comfortable, if not pleased in a sick way, at these kinds of situations, and those that react under the assumption that every instance of a person of color being hurt or killed by law enforcement is solely the result of racism.

Each situation is unique and needs to be examined as such. This case certainly screams racism on some level. On the flip side, a reasonable argument could be made that the woman killed in Louisville due to cops breaking into the wrong apartment would have been killed regardless of her skin color.

Sad times to say the least.
 
Im glad former athletes are using their voices. Good for them. They can have very powerful influence.

As for the police, there are bad apples just like in every industry. The thing that bothers me is the post 9/11 militarization of police depts, and the tactics police are using all across the country. There are countless stories of the police shooting at the press, shooting at people on their front porch after saying "Light them up", a video of a police officer pushing down an elderly man with a cane using his riot shield, etc. Imagine what some of them do off camera that no one sees?

This isnt just Minneapolis, this is everywhere. We need to reform our system of policing. And we need to protect all citizens. Black people have sucha deplorable situation that most of us really have no idea how bad it is.

I hope all athletes step up and lead this nation for reform. Its obvious people miss sports, what if all athletes struck until reform happened? Would that change the world? Wasnt there a movie about that and nuclear weapons? That was a great movie.

EDIT: The movie was Amazing Grace and Chuck. Awesome movie and for rent on Prime.
 
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