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TEACHERS. LAWYERS. MOTHERS. JOURNALISTS. MEDICS. VETERANS.
 
The equivalent of Federal SWAT teams have been tear-gassing and “arresting” them, even breaking international standards for WAR by destroying medical supplies used to combat their unlawful use of chemical weapons.
 
Before anyone goes on about all the terrible things protesters (and people using the protests as an excuse) have done bad things: THIS IS HAPPENING WHEN PROTESTS ARE PEACEFUL. For what? Breaking a curfew? Because other protesters got physical the day before? Because they are “worried” about some building being vandalized? Have people so obsessed with “Law and Order” to support this lost their minds and all human compassion?
 
But let’s be real. Some fight back physically, AS THEY SHOULD. But instead of GUNS (which they have every right and cause to arm themselves with) they are throwing water bottles and using fireworks and laser pointers against people wearing and using the most advanced military-grade tactical gear in history. THINK ABOUT THIS. Some municipalities and law enforcement agencies have hyper-escalated many peaceful or mostly peaceful protests into military maneuvers that can only end in violence, and the protesters have the courage and moral high ground to do it anyway.
 
Now think about how many times we’ve seen police beat and abuse people who were already fully controlled and begging to stop. Do you really think people shouldn’t run or fight back when they see this coming? But people can’t assume (and only hope) that their interaction with the police won’t end in them being a tragic hashtag. There’s no excuse for killing a cop at a traffic stop out of such fear, right? So why does ANYONE defend TRAINED police using violence against groups of people on the grounds someone there MAY be a suspect in something that hasn’t even happened yet?
 
THIS IS EVEN WORSE: Protesting for reform that will protect citizens and restore trust is OFFENSIVE to some people. They can’t wrap their brains around it. Police can do no wrong except those “tiny” instances. The protesters are all violent “thug” rioters. There is outright BIGOTED HATE against all of them. Even TEACHERS, LAWYERS, MOTHERS, JOURNALISTS, MEDICS, VETERANS.
 
Being pro-reform does NOT make you anti-cop. But being ANTI-REFORM is a huge, ignorant stain on your decency as a human being. And buying into conspiracies about protesters is why so many acts of violence have been done by OTHER CITIZENS against them. Even if someone IS anti-police, that’s their freedom of thought and speech. But being anti-REFORM is spitting on the REAL American Flag, not the black one with the thin blue line. The more people can’t accept there’s an issue to resolve and not “squash” with federal forces, the less reform will be addressed, and more violence there will be — especially if the heavy hand of the law cannot be properly pocketed at a time it makes the most sense.