"Use their privilege"? So, what this tells me, is that someone decided to put a bunch of innocent bystanders in danger to protect their protest, and that the bystanders were mostly whites and the protesters were not. I feel the circumstance behind it is tragic, but to hide behind innocent bystanders and convince them to defy law enforcement for them is cowardly. And if the colors were reversed? I'd still feel the same way.

In our city (Portland, OR) we've seen some of the worst of it - but what I saw last night and the night before was the police marching WITH the protesters - the true protesters - and hauling off the rest. Some are there to loot and "get theirs" the true protesters are not. We're dealing with curfew too, but seeing the police truly come alongside and support the movement has done more than any arrest or police action can do.

White privilege does not mean you have a great life, it means you can bird watch and the police won’t be called on you, you can go jogging and you won’t be hunted down like an animal, you can have a gathering in the park and you won’t have the police called on you. White privilege means you can sleep peacefully in your bed and your door won’t get kicked in and you killed in your sleep. It means when you deal with the police you don’t have to worry if you are the next number in the body count.

Yes we all have the right to arm ourselves, but the majority of the government would have heart attacks if the black community armed themselves and decided to defend themselves as they see fit.

Racist? Honeychile, I'm of Jewish descent. We know racism. I ain't it. So, what i saw in that article, were serious blacks protesting, silly white people getting involved, and the police were agreeing with the protesters? Then...what was the problem? Why the line at all? But that's not what the article described. It's easily forgotten that the police are people too. Sometimes they too get fed up with stupid. They feel the balance must be kept, if at least in their own minds.

It's not racism, it's training, that causes the issues where people get the bejeezus beaten out of them. They're taught to watch for certain modes of dress, behavior, and speech patterns and consider them suspicious, such as wearing a hoodie because they hide the face, and baggy pants because they might hide a weapon. Averting the eyes, acting nervous and stupidly running away when they walk up to you, are also considered such. It's what they're taught, not how they are as a person.

I've got a friend who is white who had the cops called on him for parking his suburban attack vehicle near a public boat ramp across the street from some random old woman's house, and went off into Escambia Bay on his kayak. He was gone for an hour and a half, she made that officer sit there and wait for him to come back, and by the time he did? She had went off on some errand somewhere. So, it's not just blacks getting harassed because they're entertaining themselves publicly.

And just to be clear - I respect ALL law enforcement officer - they do an extremely difficult job - except the few who who seem to still be blinded by color/income disparity. Law enforcement can be positive even in the worst situations - if they choose to be, if they are trained to be. Good point about the training Dalamar, right on the mark.