[GTO]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyiPefY9GBQ

Several vehicles inside a Mercedes-Benz showroom in California's Oakland were vandalised and reportedly damaged when rioters broke in during clashes over the death of an unarmed American man of African origin at the hands of police in Minneapolis.

Demonstrations have spread to several cities in the United States after a cop was caught on tape with his knee on the neck of a man later identified as George Floyd. Floyd was pinned down by Derek Chauvin who has since been removed from the police force and has been charged with murder. Floyd had been arrested for allegedly using counterfeit money at a store to buy cigarettes on Monday evening. He could not be revived after being put into an ambulance.

Source

[ABHI_1512]

Heart breaking to see such beauties being vandalised but going by some videos coming from that part of the world, these incidents do not seem sporadic. In another video people are seen stopping cars and looting sports shoes and apparels. Basic human behaviour seems to be same everywhere, be it any country. One thing though stands out- the police there have shown immense restraint amidst the provocation and they actually have succeeded in quelling many protests.

[SmartCat]

This is more than just a race issue. Looting and vandalism is probably a sign of growing/widening inequality in the United States.

These trillion dollar stimulus packages, zero interest rates and unlimited quantitative easing is likely to even widen the gap. Of course, I'm not suggesting that above decisions were wrong under the circumstances (coronavirus lockdown).

But every action has a consequence - and now, because of the stimulus, the rich will "get access" to the money first through the banking system. It is then supposed to trickle down to the common folk, which does not always happen as planned. Money will flow into assets that rich typically hold -> luxury real estate, stocks, art, wine and vintage cars, thereby inflating its value further.

https://www.americanbanker.com/artic...ty-powell-says

[OrangeCar]

Crowds.. if become unruly can quickly lose their mind. Only substantially higher force (police / armed forces) can stop them.

I saw another video where a Louis Vuitton store was vandalized. Intent was clear. Loot high priced luxury goods in a group. Probability of getting caught, especially with Corona virus masks on faces, is low.

They probably burnt and vandalized the Mercedes showroom because it is more difficult to loot them than a Louis Vuitton purse. Car keys wouldn’t be there. And you cannot loot a car and get away without getting caught. License plates, insurance, etc. wont come by easily.

On the other side, I have also seen hundreds protesting peacefully too.

The thing is, USA is probably the best country in the world in terms of providing equal opportunities. Not perfect though. One can genuinely make a difference if she/he is smart, hard working and enterprising. SpaceX, Tesla, Apple, Starbucks, Netflix and many others cone from USA. Because it offers the best to anybody willing to move ahead. At the same time it has highest number of people in prison.

[GutsyGibbon]

Originally Posted by OrangeCar

The thing is, USA is probably the best country in the world in terms of providing equal opportunities. Not perfect though. One can genuinely make a difference if she/he is smart, hard working and enterprising.

I wish this was true. None of these opportunities exist in communities of color. Ever since abolishing slavery, every single tool to accumulate wealth, or be successful, has been denied for these communities. I can list the ones that I know, but you can probably get to better sources when you look up systemic racism in US communities of color. Trevor Noah and John Oliver have done several good summaries for our generation with little time to do traditional research (using books and such) on our own.

In the little time I have spent volunteering for an organization providing refurbished computers to black communities, I can say this much. The inequality is unbelievable for a person like me from India, who looked at US with rosy eyes. The first day I volunteered, it was in a public library. 100% of the people were black, and 90% were there only for the air conditioning. 10% to listen to music.

There are 0 black families in my neighborhood. Zero. Up until the 90s blacks were charged a higher interest rate to buy homes. (all things equal). Black and hispanic communities, have all the problems you can think of. Teen parents, substance abuse, violence, gangs, etc. imagine boys who have never seen the love of a dad. Dad is some kid who was 15, who had a fling and ran away/went to prison. A father figure is the local pimp, or a street gang leader.

Another day, I was shocked to learn that in their school, all the chargers/cables to the Mac books (provided during the Obama government) were eaten up by rats. We were giving them refurb computers when they already had unusable Mac books. What they need is a decent school with a safe storage space. That problem was way beyond my ability to solve. I am sure our computers will also get chewed up in a year.

As you said we have record number of people in prisons, and prisons are private - for profit corporations. If George Floyd was not killed while he tried to buy groceries using a fake $20 bill, he would be rotting in the prison for years. While white collar criminals who do huge crimes get a pass. In 2009 there were many white people who took huge mortgage loans in the names of their dogs, they were all written off. (source: American Greed on CNBC) Then bankers who made these loans are also fine.

Also, if there was no viral video of George Floyd, we would not have heard about any of this. If there is any silver lining to the Trump presidency, he is parading and showcasing the American garbage, for the world to see.

[BZ25]

Vandalism isn't going to get these protesters anywhere. It is only going to alienate the law enforcement officials. That said, racism in the country has been ignored long enough. America is said to be the land of dreams, but it's becoming the land of nightmares.

Before feminism & me too came racial discrimination, which has never received it's fair share of limelight, unlike the first two. Our obsession to see 'white' as beauty & 'dark' as disgusting has completely ruined our society. It's not like racism does not exist in India. Being a dark skinned individual living in the Northern part of the Subcontinent, I too have faced it in school. In newspapers, in the matrimonial section, many include the word 'fair' along with beautiful when describing the candidate for a bride, hence forming an incorrect correlation between the two words.

In the USA, African-Americans still face racism. The criminal class in the country are seen as consisting of them only, which is not true. Many of them continue to live in their own clusters of neighborhoods. Yes, protesting against racial discrimination is great, but by literally rioting and damaging the dealership of someone who may have started it with his own hard earned money is wrong.

Protests can only do so much. The change has to come from within. All countries suffer from racial discrimination issues, it's people & the government refuse to acknowledge it. When will human beings realise, that except for a difference in melanin levels in the skin (which makes up our skin colour) that we are the same?

That being said, I hope, these protests last, as protests on such matters usually fade away. Rest in peace George Floyd.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by GutsyGibbon

I wish this was true. None of these opportunities exist in communities of color. Ever since abolishing slavery, every single tool to accumulate wealth, or be successful, has been denied for these communities.

+1 to this.

And there are more - even if a black individual makes his/her way out of the poor(er) setups, gets educated and moves into the higher stratas, there is systematic discrimination happening at every level - work, living, education and in general.

Relatives of mine who have been living in an affluent Chicago (north) area say blacks (and Hispanics) aren't allowed to buy apartments/plots in those areas. The discouragement is done via several means - none of them illegal. This has been in practice since the 90s when they moved there. I stayed there for 2 months; never saw a single black/hispanic family living in any of the societies. When I asked them why, they say it's quite prevalent across the city. Indians and Chinese/Asians have been given this bypass so we don't get to see such levels.

The areas/localities that have a higher black population get secondary treatment in government capabilities, directly and indirectly - roads and sidewalks are in (relatively) bad condition; a larger % of the houses are in diplated condition; shops are boarded up; you can make the difference very clearly when you pass through such an area. This I could observe across Chicago, and several cities on the east coast(Pennsylvania, Virginia, NC, Georgia). I'm sure bhpians in other cities would be able to reflect the same.

Overall the frustration of last two-three months is also coming out in these protests. Unfortunately, it's the same strata that is going to get impacted more going ahead. The virus is still not done; so all the folks attending these protests are at serious risk, rather, I'd say guaranteed of infection for sure.

[2000rpm]

Lets stop criticizing Americans and lets focus on our own country for discrimination. The only difference between an American minority and an Indian Minority is that the Indian Minority guy knows that no one will stand-up for him / her.

What happened in US is very common across the country. UP, Haryana, Bihar, Rajasthan and even Maharashtra & Gujarat.

In India, racism is given added edge by classism add some flavour of Gender.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

The areas/localities that have a higher black population get secondary treatment in government capabilities, directly and indirectly - roads and sidewalks are in (relatively) bad condition; a larger % of the houses are in diplated condition; shops are boarded up; you can make the difference very clearly when you pass through such an area.

So true. It is very difficult to explain this to folks who have never walked or driven by such innercity streets. I still recall an incidence when I lived in Passaic county (NJ) in the mid 90s. While coming back home from somewhere, I missed a turn and ended up driving through Paterson NJ. There was some pedestrian traffic on the streets. But the way the streets looked, and the way pedestrians looked at us, my wife was quietly screaming (in whispers) to get the hell out of there ASAP. It was scary even within the relative safety of the moving car. That vibe can't be put into words. It was only 5 miles from our apartment, which looked like a very different country. But I driven through lots of poor areas within India, I simply don't get that vibe.

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

Lets stop criticizing Americans and lets focus on our own country for discrimination.

You want us to criticize only India all the time? We do that a lot in all the Corona threads in the last few months. This is a break, allow us to comment on another country for a day before getting back to criticizing India.

[Miyata]

Vandalism anywhere in a massive waste. There was also a video I received from colleagues in the US where an old lady was beaten up by some vandals while she was trying to protect her business / shop from getting vandalized - was a very horrible video...unimaginable that people think they can just do whatever they want and be unconcerned of consequences.

Additionally, with the economy down, businesses grounded, and goods not moving - there is also possibility of insurance fraud. One never knows how the disguise of protest / unrest is being used as a cover for variety of nefarious activities as well.

Discrimination does exist in every country / society and is unlikely to ever go away, some localities can give one the creeps. North Philadelphia, for instance, is one. In India too there are regions (communally sensitive) where folks have reported getting the creeps when driving through those regions late night.

On some levels, most countries are pretty much the same but Japan does stand out to me as very intriguing.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by Samurai

So true. It is very difficult to explain this to folks who have never walked or driven by such innercity streets. I still recall an incidence when I lived in Passaic county (NJ) in the mid 90s. While coming back home from somewhere, I missed a turn and ended up driving through Paterson NJ.

Yup, this is something a lot of people do not realize. Everything in America is extremely capitalistic. Whether you will die of a disease or not, whether your kid will go to a good public school or not, whether your roads and sidewalks be fixed....
So every city has to fend for itself. Often cities which have poorer people cannot make enough in taxes, which leads to a vicious cycle of poor areas getting poorer.
The quality of the inner city roads, the sidewalks and the general upkeep of the city depends on how much tax the citizens can pay.
Sometimes this happens at state level, and such states are called flyover states.

The riots and vandalism will have a cascading effect. Recently a police officer from Oakland remarked that they are underfunded as they are a poorer part of the silicon valley, and covid really hurt them hard. Due to these riots many businesses may not be able to stay open, and many will move out, and this problem will be amplified.
Think of this like a reverse gentrification

BTW, in 1992 during LA riots there was large scale destruction of propery. At that point, "Rooftop Koreans" defended their businesses succesfully.

They are back now, this time with vapes and LED lights

Originally Posted by Miyata

Additionally, with the economy down, businesses grounded, and goods not moving - there is also possibility of insurance fraud. .

Most insurance does not cover riots, esp if you live in an area which can have riots. In America Insurance is only affordable if you live in an area where the said activity is not possible. Eg, you want flood insurance. Go live in an area where the flood likelihood is once in 500 years. 1/10 years? No go

[Miyata]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Most insurance does not cover riots,

Did a quick search (admittedly not a very thorough one) - "Riots, civil commotion and vandalism generally covered by insurance"

Rioting, civil commotion, and vandalism are also covered perils under virtually all business owners and commercial insurance property policies ― both named perils and “all risk” policies. Damage to windows, doors, light fixtures and other items that are part of a building should be covered under the building property coverage included in the policy

In yet another news, the contact tracing app seems to be put to some use in tracing protesters - "Minnesota is now using contact tracing to track protestors, as demonstrations escalate"

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by Miyata

Did a quick search (admittedly not a very thorough one) - "Riots, civil commotion and vandalism generally covered by insurance"

There are two parts to it. Property damage and loss ofgoods.
Property damage as well as goods inside are de facto coverage for riots

However, in case of most small businesses, while damage to building is covered, goods inside are often not insured, due to prohibitive cost. Even when they are insured, your premiums go up when it happens.
Its not really a de facto coverage

[Samurai]

The following Instagram post describes the training every black family must give to their kids to stay safe while dealing cops.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CAtRsHjJ...thYxWu91_YbSlQ

[interest]

I think we have completely gone into a different discussion from the original post. I see observations and feelings about whether US provides equal opportunity or not, perceived racial/religious discrimination in US/India, exercise of free choice about preference for skin colour and how some people view it as a wrong type of preference etc. Given that these issues are highly controversial and emotive, there is potential for these discussions to take an ugly turn. Not sure if this should be the forum for such discussions. Happy to be take back my comment if our policy allows and encourages such discussions but when I opened this thread, I was hoping to see examples of other similar instances of vandalism and how they can be/are being controlled in different parts by authorities without a full blown violent crack-down.