Blue Lives Matter

[Halldan1]

Equal time despite the fact that personally I am not in favor of any particular color noting their lives matter, as clearly all do.

That said, in deference to the many police officers past and present on this board I am posting this story/video. It will stay here as long as everyone responds in a respectful manner. Don't, or turn this tribute into a political/social football and I will transfer it to LOTS.

Blue Lives Matter releases video ‘standing up for officers’ nationwide
By Dean Balsamini

July 18, 2020 | 8:11am





The pro-police group Blues Lives Matter NYC has released a video “dedicated to all those who lost their lives protecting and serving.”

The compelling 2-minute, 12-second clip, “I Am,” is billed as “the first video of its kind standing up for officers throughout the nation and offering a response to the current anti law enforcement movement.”

The recording was posted July 4 on the Blue Lives Matter Facebook page — and presented in conjunction with Strike TV.

“This video provides a stark contrast to the current anti-law enforcement movement that ignores the faces of every human being who is a law enforcement officer,” Strike TV director Matthew Matossian told The Post.

Blue Lives Matter founder Joseph Imperatrice, an NYPD sergeant, said the officers in the video “are of all ranks and from all over the nation.”

Freeport Texas Police Chief Raymond Garivey told The Post “law enforcement is facing difficult times” following the killing of George Floyd and subsequent protests and he did the video to support “those who proudly wear the uniform and truly have a passion for the job, which includes treating people fairly.”

Garivey told The Post he’s “saddened” that all law enforcers are being branded as “bad officers for the actions of a few” and “I encourage the good cops to keep pushing forward.”

Said Imperatrice: “What is most special are the families of our lost heroes who took part to make this video really come to life. This video gives them some sense that their loved one is not forgotten through all the chaos. … Officers are human, they hurt, they bleed, they cry and laugh like everyone else. Yet they are demonized. This video gives a first hand account of the raw emotion these special people are dealing with.”

Leanne Simonsen, 45, whose husband, Detective Brian Simonsen, was killed during a botched Queens robbery on Feb. 12, 2019, said she was on board with the project because “I think we need to show that police are humans too. They have family and friends who need them and love them very much.

“I never want my husband’s sacrifice forgotten along with all my fellow line-of-duty families. The video was beautifully done and it meant the world to me to represent my husband.”

 

[General_Tso]

Life off the ship has asked for their post back.

 

[Halldan1]

Respect is more than just a thread posted on an particular site.

 

[Bobbie Solo]

Dan you say equal time as if the overwhelming number of posts here on the political/current events issues threads arent dominated by the same group of police backers/excuse makers literally every single day.

 

[setoniansource]

As the son of a police officer I’ve learned how to separate the rhetoric of the hateful people on both sides and focus on the important and real messages both sides are looking to get across. There are bad cops, there needs to be reform but there are good cops that every day that wake up to risk their lives to enforce our laws and want nothing than to create a better community and come home to their families safe and sound every day.

Nothing will be accomplished in this country until both sides come together to respect each other and strive for the greater good.

And just like any white person will never fully understand the racism that exists in this country even as many of us try to address the problems in meaningful ways, until you’ve been a police officer or grew up in a police officers home you will never know the stress and difficulties that life entails.

as with almost every societal issue in this country today, everyone needs to stop being so closed minded and thinking that one side is right and the other side is wrong.

 

[Joe045]

Support the men and women in Blue! Thanks Dan for sharing. #BlueLivesMatter

 

[papacheesy2]

LOL "Don't turn this highly political post into a political issue, plz"

 

[shu09]

LOL "Don't turn this highly political post into a political issue, plz"

It's not a political post. It's a post about honoring people who have lost their lives.

 

[Halldan1]

LOL "Don't turn this highly political post into a political issue, plz"

It's only political if the reader decides to focus on that aspect. My purpose was to honor ALL lives, not just black ones. white ones, or any specific group.

It's up to you and everyone else to understand, or maybe by your response not understand that until given an explanation.

 

[papacheesy2]

It's only political if the reader decides to focus on that aspect. My purpose was to horror ALL lives, not just black ones. white one,s or any specific group.

It's up to you and everyone else to understand, or maybe by your response not understand that until given an explanation.

I don't believe in Blue Lives Matter. It's too narrow. If you ask me, ALL jobs matter, not just police ones.

 

[Halldan1]

Of course all lives matter. Didn't I post that above in the beginning of this thread?

We have had so many black lives matter posts that I thought despite my individual feelings that this tribute to the police deserved as I noted equal time.

 

[CucamongaPirate]

Thank you Dan for posting this.

 

[ceballoj]

Dont you guys have another board for this? I thought this was a SH hoops board?

 

[HALL85]

Thanks for posting Dan. The vast majority of LEO’s join the force to do good and protect and serve. They see some of the very worst things of society every day and sadly, many become casualties of the job. The video was a sober reminder of many who have lost their lives recently while just doing their job.

@setoniansource said it quite well. We will get nowhere without understanding and respecting all sides.

 

[JoePeppitone2012]

Blue lives have always mattered and still do.

It's the black lives we have to worry about these days. A lot of people don't care about them including police officers which is a problem

 

[SHUHoopsFan]

A lot of people don't care about them including police officers which is a problem

I just don't believe Americans at their core are bad people. Sadly there are those that are trash in this country. They come in all colors and they don't care about other people of all colors. Those people exist as cops, lawyers, doctors, garbage men, accountants, engineers, mail carriers, limo drivers, etc. I believe some cops are trash. I believe some lawyers are trash. And so on. But I also believe the overwhelming majority of people are good people. Why such hatred of cops and not lawyers and other professions that have people in them that have such hatred. Truth is 99% of cops are good people, same with lawyers and the other professions. Trash is trash. You put your knee on someone, you're trash in my book. You throw a frozen water bottle at someone for no other reason other than their profession, you're trash in my book.

 

[Pirate19001]

A blue life isn’t a thing. Nobody is born a cop. It’s a profession that you choose to take part in fully aware of the risk. It’s not comparable to the BLM movement which is there to combat systemic racism. You can opt out of being a cop

 

[Seton75]

Of course blue lives matter.

 

[DIMEDISHA13]

A blue life isn’t a thing. Nobody is born a cop. It’s a profession that you choose to take part in fully aware of the risk. It’s not comparable to the BLM movement which is there to combat systemic racism. You can opt out of being a cop

Absolutely, BLM was born out of black people dying needlessly for minor infractions or for no unlawful infractions at all!
By all means, I think if a cop’s life is in imminent danger, he or she has every right to defend themselves.
But a woman sleeping in her bed in Louisville or a massage therapist walking home from shopping in Colorado and many other cases didn’t pose as a threat other than the perceived dangerousness of being a black person just doesn’t pull at my compassion for the Blue Lives Movement the same as the BLM does.

 

[Piratz]

Officers are being trashed relentlessly as a whole. It’s just as wrong as casting any group as one thing. It’s ridiculous. They are just as outraged by rogue officers.

The BLM movement began to highlight a particular issue. It wasn’t to suggest other lives didn’t matter. But was that ever even really worked on? Did we ever really get into policing and if/where reform may be been needed? Idk. Feels like it went bonkers with politics instead of a discussion on a core issue where there could be sensible discussion (what else is new).

 

[anon_ezos2e9wn1ob0]

And the killing of unarmed people is down significantly since 2015. Reforms or retraining were obviously working. But let's tear down the whole system, have crime run out of control, harm people of color who live in fear of low lifes in their communities all to appease some organization whose main goal is to kill the nuclear family and make whites subservient in society. BLM is a bad organization.

 

[doctorcb12]

I think sometimes the overall mission of black lives matter can be misconstrued and we have seen that by people infiltrating the peaceful protests and turning them violent. However the overall mission is not to say that any one race is more important than another, but one of the main goals is that they want police officers to be held accountable for their actions. Too many times they have gotten away with killing numerous unarmed minorities and I would hope that we could all agree that this is unacceptable and needs to stop. This is a human rights issue. I support police offers(I have many people in my family who are in the force in NJ) and thankful they are making sacrifices to protect us, but lets ask ourselves how many times has someone hurt/killed an officer and gotten off without a punishment? Probably not too often. So just like we would want someone to held be accountable for harming a police officer, they should be held to the same standard when they make bad decisions on the job. No one is perfect just like when doctors/lawyers etc make mistakes, but there are still consequences.

 

[mbraue]

Blue lives have always mattered and still do.

It's the black lives we have to worry about these days. A lot of people don't care about them including police officers which is a problem

That’s the whole point, which many intelligent people seem to not get.

 

[anon_ezos2e9wn1ob0]

That’s the whole point, which many intelligent people seem to not get.

And by people you mean blacks? The ones who murder each other at an astronomical rate compared to the incredibly rare time a cop shoots someone without cause.

 

[TrueBlue1989]

Blue lives have always mattered and still do.

It's the black lives we have to worry about these days. A lot of people don't care about them including police officers which is a problem

The vast majority of of murders of blacks is from others blacks, cops represent a small minority.

The real systematic racism in the US is a hugely disproportionate black abortion rate; in fact, more black babies are aborted in NYC than are born. This is disgraceful and scandalous and yet it is never discussed. Abortion mills are foisted upon innner-cities and their murderous procedures actively promoted.

 

[doctorcb12]

That argument never makes sense to me because if you look at FBI data the overwhelming majority of white people are killed by other white people. Murder is wrong period no matter your race. Black on black crime has historically been used to discredit the positive efforts of the black community. Cops harassing or harming minorities it’s not something rare. This has been going on for decades but only recently have these actions been brought to the public’s attention.

 

[TrueBlue1989]

That argument never makes sense to me because if you look at FBI data the overwhelming majority of white people are killed by other white people. Murder is wrong period no matter your race. Black on black crime has historically been used to discredit the positive efforts of the black community. Cops harassing or harming minorities it’s not something rare. This has been going on for decades but only recently have these actions been brought to the public’s attention.

More blacks are killed in Chicago alone each year each year than all blacks killed in the entire US by cops. If black lives truly mattered, why isn’t the focus proportional? The answer is that this is politics in an election year. Let’s see what happens on Nov 4th.

 

[Pirate64]

o 1995. A cabby taking us to O’Hare gets us lost in a very tough neighborhood. Pulls over tries to figure out where he is. Black cop stops by ; “ Folks, you don’t want to be here - I will get you on your way “ Puts us and luggage in the squad car - heads toward the airport. My wife and I in back seat.
15 minutes later on the highway, he turns siren on full, scared hell out of us, and pulls over an empty cab and puts us and luggage in it. Says to cabby, “ take care of these folks” . Grateful handshakes and thanks from us. We were safe and made our flight.- because of that Black cop in blue that Chicago Sunday morning long ago.
Bet there are lots of “ good cop” stories out there.

 

[PiratePride]

That argument never makes sense to me because if you look at FBI data the overwhelming majority of white people are killed by other white people. Murder is wrong period no matter your race. Black on black crime has historically been used to discredit the positive efforts of the black community. Cops harassing or harming minorities it’s not something rare. This has been going on for decades but only recently have these actions been brought to the public’s attention.

You are missing the point of the post that I think you are responding to.
The simple truth is that a very small number of unarmed black men have been killed by police.( and some of them had a large part to play in the fatal shooting. ) The number doesn't support the premise that police are out to kill black men. A simple logical conclusion.... but I think that logic has already been condemned as being racist. I expect to be canceled at any moment.

 

[doctorcb12]

I don’t think you should be canceled. I see where you are coming from but those numbers seem low as these instances of cops making poor decisions have only recently been brought to life due to social media and cell phones. People have been speaking/experiencing abuse by officers for decades, but now it’s hard to disprove when it’s open for everyone to see. Police officers are not going to openly turn themselves in. Officers did not simply decide from 2012 onward they were going to abuse minorities this is a culture within the department that has carried on for generations. I feel sorry for good cops because I do believe they are out there but they don’t feel empowered to speak out as many similar colleagues have lost their job for seemingly betraying their colleagues.

 

[Bobbie Solo]

o 1995. A cabby taking us to O’Hare gets us lost in a very tough neighborhood. Pulls over tries to figure out where he is. Black cop stops by ; “ Folks, you don’t want to be here - I will get you on your way “ Puts us and luggage in the squad car - heads toward the airport. My wife and I in back seat.
15 minutes later on the highway, he turns siren on full, scared hell out of us, and pulls over an empty cab and puts us and luggage in it. Says to cabby, “ take care of these folks” . Grateful handshakes and thanks from us. We were safe and made our flight.- because of that Black cop in blue that Chicago Sunday morning long ago.
Bet there are lots of “ good cop” stories out there.

Maybe third time will be a charm?

Also this didn't happen.

 

[lloyde dobler]

Maybe third time will be a charm?

Also this didn't happen.

Are you calling Pirate64 a liar?

 

[mbraue]

That’s the whole point, which many intelligent people seem to not get.

And by people you mean blacks? The ones who murder each other at an astronomical rate compared to the incredibly rare time a cop shoots someone without cause.

And by people you mean blacks? The ones who murder each other at an astronomical rate compared to the incredibly rare time a cop shoots someone

And by people you mean blacks? The ones who murder each other at an astronomical rate compared to the incredibly rare time a cop shoots someone without cause.

https://www.cleveland.com/entertain...-make-you-racist-just-extremely-ignorant.html

 

[mbraue]

Blue lives have always mattered and still do.

It's the black lives we have to worry about these days. A lot of people don't care about them including police officers which is a problem

https://www.cleveland.com/entertain...-make-you-racist-just-extremely-ignorant.html

 

[Bobbie Solo]

A blue life isn’t a thing. Nobody is born a cop. It’s a profession that you choose to take part in fully aware of the risk. It’s not comparable to the BLM movement which is there to combat systemic racism. You can opt out of being a cop

It's supposed to be "protect & serve", right? Instead what we see at an alarming rate nationwide is "I have been trained on a systemic level to be absolutely terrified, or pretend to be absolutely terrified, for my life in almost every scenario where I interact with minorities so I end up escalating the situation to some ugly end result."

Another golden oldie is "disrespecting me is the worst crime a civilian can commit b/c I was bullied in HS/have little man complex/get off on treating people like dirt/am racist, so now I'm gonna show them who is boss."

We all know these mindsets are true for tons of cops. Do they all end up in death of the civilian? Of course not, but it's all part of the current police state mindset that we're striving (and succeeding) to change with the BLM movement.

Regardless, we don't pay cops to go home safe at night. We pay you to make sure WEEEEE go home safe at night. If that makes you gasp, then maybe you shouldn't be a cop. No, you def. shouldn't be a cop. We need cops that are willing to accept alot more risk than they do now, not blow people away at the slightest hint. We need cops that should be DE-escalating EVERY situation until they are left no choice but to use a weapon. Anyone who tells you that is the case now is being extremely disingenuous. But bad faith arguments have been the name of the game from the bootlicker set since Floyd was murdered, so why would it stop now?

Now they can continue with their impossible to prove "but but but 99% of cops" nonsense. Or trying to convince people that the Blue Lives/All Lives Matter disgustingness is a genuine, healthy & necessary movement right now, and not why it was made rallying cry in the first place...which was bluntly just meant to be a dismissive %#&$ YOU to us in the BLM movement.

 

[Bobbie Solo]

Are you calling Pirate64 a liar?

More like embellisher/foggy memory.

 

[Bobbie Solo]

https://www.cleveland.com/entertain...-make-you-racist-just-extremely-ignorant.html

it almost certainly makes you racist too if you're aware of what you're doing:

https://setonhall.forums.rivals.com/threads/what-do-you-think.47374/page-2#post-724681

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/10/us/a...orge-floyd-black-lives-matter-trnd/index.html

 

[Bobbie Solo]

The BLM movement began to highlight a particular issue. It wasn’t to suggest other lives didn’t matter. But was that ever even really worked on? Did we ever really get into policing and if/where reform may be been needed? Idk.

::Biden voice:: Come on man! ::end Biden voice:: You're better than this...you're one of the best posters here. It's early, but there's been a massive international movement towards reforming our corrupt police state & those that aid & abet them since the Floyd murder. This is all easily searchable. There is way, way more to come. Biden winning in November will help this, as having the DoJ back in Dem hands will return some actual federal oversight to our out of control police, but most of the movement so far has been from us at the grassroots level. Very much activist driven...people powered (and not astroturf like the Tea Party, Blue Lives Matter, etc). It's been great to see, and the only positive to come out of this horrific time we've been living through.

This one is over a month old, but a great summation to at least that point:

https://thehill.com/changing-americ...-black-lives-matter-protests-have-achieved-so

here's a recent article about the start of some changes in PA. Small stuff, pretty obvious & not nearly radical enough for my liking, but I'll take it:

https://www.mcall.com/news/police/m...0200719-6bocu54omnhlpohit4glit6gw4-story.html

Here's one about the spike in citizen review boards that we will see everywhere in the future. And as long as they have more teeth than most current ones have, these will be fantastic:

https://www.courthousenews.com/demand-for-citizen-police-review-boards-spreads-across-us/

I'm sure you heard about the NYPD budget getting trimmed by $1 billion and that money being distributed to other, more needed programs around the city. Great news. The mayor of course botched this like he botches almost everything & it should go farther & be more transparent, but it's still better than the status quo. NYPD budget is $6 BILLION. Disgusting bloat.

I can link you to more, drilled down, specific stuff if you want. This post is long enough for now though.

 

[DIMEDISHA13]

Officers are being trashed relentlessly as a whole. It’s just as wrong as casting any group as one thing. It’s ridiculous. They are just as outraged by rogue officers.

The BLM movement began to highlight a particular issue. It wasn’t to suggest other lives didn’t matter. But was that ever even really worked on? Did we ever really get into policing and if/where reform may be been needed? Idk. Feels like it went bonkers with politics instead of a discussion on a core issue where there could be sensible discussion (what else is new).

I wouldn’t be too quick to think “good cops” are outraged about these rogue cops behaving badly. I think that is the problem too. The public doesn’t see much outcry from cops about these bad apples. Two of the cops I know despise BLM, when in reality they should be pissed off at these rogue cops.

 

[lloyde dobler]

More like embellisher/foggy memory.

That’s a pretty rough thing to say about someone you don’t know but has a different viewpoint than you.

For the record, I don’t know him either. It’s a shame that for all the talk about the need for diversity in our society, diversity of opinion gets trashed so often... no matter what side you are on.