Reports:
Lately there has been an ever increasing tension growing between those who support police accountability and those who seemingly wish to prevent it.
Wild claims that Cop Block has been making calls for violence, praising death and plotting attacks on police and their families have been surfacing through multiple sources on social media and the web.
These are unfounded claims. There are however, some people who leave hateful comments on some of the posts which Cop Block makes. These comments however, are not representative and are not supported by the peaceful Cop Block movement.
On CopBlock.org their nonviolent stance is declared quite firmly:
Those of us who write for and are responsible for CopBlock.org affirm that violence is not condoned except in the defense of self or others – while we recognize the rights of other individuals to use the CopBlock name, we do not recognize those that do not affirm and live by that statement.
In July, Yahoo! News put out a hit piece equating filming cops with mass murder. They mentioned a post made to CopBlock’s Facebook page in reference to the shootings in Las Vegas:
“The good news is, there are two less police in the world,” read an entry on the Facebook page for CopBlock.org.
What they did not mention is that the person who made that post was quickly banned from posting and removed as a contributor.
The reason that this cause has so much support is because it is peaceful. The moment that people begin enacting violence or even praising it, is the moment all this momentum grinds to a halt.
Holding the police accountable is popular like never before; which is why the movement has garnished so much attention. Unfortunately and predictably, much of this attention is not positive.
Today two separate Facebook groups basically planned a cyber attack on the Cop Block Facebook page. Their goal, to shut it down by reporting the page as hate speech or a page that promotes violence.
National Police Wives Association was one of these groups and Police Blotter was the other. These two pages have since been shut down for unknown reasons, most likely because they were flooded with comments from people who refused to be censored.
On top of this attempt to overrun Facebook’s reporting mechanism, the groups started a petition on whitehouse.gov to “Officially label and classify any variation of “CopBlock.Org” members as Domestic Terrorists with DHS.” Citing that:
CopBlock.Org and its affiliates on social media are often applauding and encouraging violence towards law enforcement officers and their families. At times, they are even directly causing said violence in their communities, and then supporting each other online or in person for their illegal activities. I believe that many people who are active in this organization are committing terroristic acts by inspiring, inciting, or taking parts in acts that are designed to take human lives in cold blood for political gain. The statements made by this organization and its affiliates should be taken very seriously by local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, and proper action should be taken to combat this. I believe the US DHS and FBI should monitor and investigate this Organization.
I guess you can claim that people are “directly causing said violence in their communities” by filming the police. However, the ones filming only find themselves on the receiving end of “said violence,” initiated by police who wish not to be held accountable.
Apparently the ridiculousness of these frivolous claims and the labeling of good people as domestic terrorists is overt as their petition is hardly gaining ground.
This attack on free speech by the communities of those who are so familiar with swearing an oath to uphold free speech, is disheartening.
The Free Thought Project and Cop Block alike are just as quick to point out the selfless acts heroism and stewardship as we are to expose the corruption and brutality.
Why do the police support organizations seemingly lack this ability to see the bad with the good?
Malcolm X once said, “You’re not to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it.”
A certain level of egocentrism vis-à-vis blind patriotism, must be present within a group who can wholly deny the level of brutality, corruption, and militarization that has been exposed in so many police departments over the past several decades.
It is not American nor in the interest of liberty to have a domestic standing army to police a supposed free people. At what point will it get bad enough for these folks to see the bad?
Officer Darren Wilson stands accused of killing an unarmed man in Ferguson Missourri, yet he has not been proven guilty nor innocent in a court of law. Despite knowing all the facts, groups, like the ones who tried to censor free speech by shutting down Cop Block, donated over $400,000 to this man; all of this on the sheer assumption of innocence because he is a police officer. Nothing is wrong with raising money for a man, but doing it simply because he wears a badge shows a level of disregard.
This assumption of integrity despite massive evidence to the contrary is not healthy. No, not “all cops are bad.” But the entire system upholds an immoral and unethical code of prosecuting people for victimless crimes though the state’s war on drugs. To unquestioningly support such a vile attack on personal freedom, despite the majority of Americans opposing it, is akin to the 6 year old boy putting his fingers in his ears and screaming “la la la I can’t hear you.”
Why is it that we cannot admit that there is a problem? Why not seek to remove the corrupt individuals from the government instead of protecting them? Why not admit that the drug war is a complete failure and it ruins innocent lives?
What do these groups think of other organizations such as LEAP, which is made up of cops, admitting they made a mistake?
What do they think of Police Chief Mike Koval of Madison, Wisconsin who called the enforcement of marijuana laws an “abject failure,” last week?
Only through openly discussing opposing views will society ever come together and work out their problems. Imagine for a moment that the National Police Wives Association and Police Blotter were successful in shutting down the largest police accountability network on facebook. Imagine if they were able to shut down everyone who they disagreed with.
While that scenario is highly unlikely, the end result would be analogous to that of Communist Russia or Nazi Germany. The only good speech would be speech that supports the rapacious status quo.
This would be a nightmare for us all.
So while Cop Block is not perfect, like we all are not perfect, you do not hear them petitioning the government to have those who disagree with them silenced and labeled as domestic terrorists. Nor do you see cyber attacks on social media carried out in the name of those who hold police accountable. Cop Block only asks that police be held to the same standards as everyone else.
Maybe one day NPWA, Police Blotter and anyone else who would try and silence good people, will come to understand that corruption is corruption regardless of who commits it or whether or not they wear a uniform.