Y'all are really stretching to create a narrative that George Floyd is being held up as a herald for the black community and some kind of outstanding citizen.

Justice for Floyd directly relates to his death by police.

The GoFundMe, according to its own description: "This fund is established to cover funeral and burial expenses, mental and grief counseling, lodging and travel for all court proceedings, and to assist our family in the days to come as we continue to seek justice for George. A portion of these funds will also go to the Estate of George Floyd for the benefit and care of his children and their educational fund". You'll note a complete lack of any language that describes George in any way or attempts to paint him as an X, Y, or Z type of person.

The bolded makes absolutely no sense. The protests are about the killing of black people by police...and George was a black person killed by police? Of course it makes sense to use his face and name in the current protests.

This post was edited by Handcuffs on Jun 6 2020 03:18pm

What spurred the protests was his murder shown on video. He represents in death what these protesters feel is a serious problem in America. I don't know why crimes he committed 10+ years ago would be relevant.

This happens all the time though... it's why our criminal justice system works the way it does, and why we have so many people in prison. People believe that those who have committed crimes are subhuman. Even those who have paid for their crimes, and rejoined society, and apparently have shown some level of rehabilitation, will have those crimes thrown in their face if they end up getting murdered by an agent of the state.

Instead of just coming out and saying what is truly in their hearts, the right-winger has to hide behind strawmen. It's just cover, when what they really feel when they see the story, is "fuck it, he was a criminal anyway".

I honestly wholeheartedly believe someone who robbed a pregnant woman by holding a gun to her unborn baby was less than human.

icepeon was just upset the woman that george floyd held a gun at ended up giving birth to the baby. icepeon hates all women, even his own mother for giving birth to him

But that's the point: the narrative which is currently being spun by the demonstrators and by the political left is that this is not just about generic brutality and lack of accountability by the police, it is about systemic racism.
It purports that there is still large-scale racism in the United States today, and that cases of the police unfairly targetting blacks, using unjustified violence against blacks and even killing them in cold blood and getting away with it (where they wouldnt if the victim was white) are exemplary of this racism.

And for this kind of debate, it is absolutely crucial to get a correct picture about the extend of racialized abuse by the police versus generic abuse aimed at persons of all races. This kind of debate about systemic racism (as opposed to "just" police violence in general) absolutely hinges on whether instances of the police targetting blacks or using violence against them were justifed or not. If you're pushing this kind of debate, rallying behind a depraved criminal is not a smart idea.

I'll raise you.
Icemage only cares about abortion if it's a woman doing it via doctor.

See my reply to Handcuffs above.

Protests against police violence and lacking accountability are absolutely justified, and in this context, the murder of George Floyd is a clean example. But when these protests are embedded into a larger narrative about systemic racism, which is what's currently happening, then his backstory does indeed make him unsuited as the symbol of these protests.

I dont see the problem with differentiating between "he totally didnt deserve to be killed by the police" and "due to his vast history of criminal and scummy behavior, he should not be glorified or lionized". Holding these two opinions at once is not a contradiction.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Jun 6 2020 03:41pm

Yes...and all of that is very different than "glorifying and lionizing" him.

Only if you buy into the frequent narrative that police murdering black people is somehow less objectionable when the victims had a criminal history.

My guess is this trend of deflecting/victim blaming has been the historical norm when black people were lynched or killed by the state.

those are recounts from his friends...what do you expect?