The Snopes article in no way supports your claim that “the star-shaped badges that the military arm of white people wear are derived from the star badges the slave catchers used to wear.” It doesn’t discuss the derivation of badges at all.
The quote from the journal talks about “a legally sanctioned law enforcement system” and “a forerunner of modern American law enforcement.” These things are of course true–but you’re implying, if I understand you, that slave-catching was “the legally sanctioned law enforcement system” in the pre-Civil-War US, and that it is “the forerunner of modern American law enforcement.” That minor change makes these things not true.
Yeah, the two look similar. You know what else looks similar? British army badges from the 1600s. Note the large number of stars in this collection. The use of badges to indicate governmental authority to use violence to enforce government edicts is far older than either modern US policing or 19th-century slave-catching. The fact that a symbol is used by both does not indicate a direct cause-and-effect relationship.
Shodan’s an idiot, and octopus is an idiot, and on the larger point, that we have a white supremacist society in which white folks are tremendously advantaged relative to nonwhite folks, you’re 100% right. But you’re offering a lot of shitty arguments in favor of this correct proposition, and I ask you to reflect on whether your objectives would be better served by offering fewer arguments but making sure each one was well-researched and well-founded.
By this logic, MLK Jr. and other black Civil Rights protesters should have left the country. If that’s what you believe, then this reflects very poorly on you.
Your logic is accurate but I don’t think that link shows what you said it shows. All I see is a big collection of military cap badges, none of which is star shaped (as far as I can see).
In any case, it’s also true that many/most city police badges are shields, with stars being mostly reserved for county sheriffs. This would have made an interesting question for Cecil, the origin of the use of stars for U.S. law enforcement badges.
OP does not own the thread, and the discussion can proceed without or around him. Let’s not assume that because one person cannot successfully make a case that there is no case to be made. I think it’s clear to anyone with eyes in their head that this thread is highlighting a genuine problem, not only that people of color are routinely treated worse than white people, but that many white people are unable to or refuse to acknowledge it.
Dude, tone it down. D-Odds is actually on your side. He even acknowledged that the event might be racist, he was just offering an alternative explanation. Racism in America is a huge deal, and needs to be addressed, but frankly the take no prisoners, all whites are the enemy, racism is the explanation for everything attitude you are promoting in this thread is not helpful.
You are acting as the embodiment of every straw-man race warrior stereotype that the right uses to portray BLM and other civil rights movements and reverse-racist and unhinged from reality. If I was a bit more conspiratorially minded I might suspect that you were actually a plant from Russia or the white power movement tasked with discrediting the minority rights movement.
Shodan may be a right wing troglodyte but he’s not a KKK grand dragon, and saying he is downplays the evils of the KKK organization. Similarly protraying every event in which something bad happens to a black person as an example of racism dilutes the message from real important examples or legitimate racial disparity. I’m sure you mean well but the way you are posting you are bcoming more part of the problem rather than part of the solution.
Really? I’m counting five stars on the fourth and fifth rows (second and third, if you just count full rows), with a scattering of others on other rows.
The military, at that time, could serve as a domestic law enforcement agency (although of course there were vast differences–I recognize this as a simplification). They used badges to denote their membership in this organization, and some of them were metal stars. It seems far likelier to me that both slavecatchers and modern police date from this British tradition than that slavecatchers invented the metallic-star-badge-denoting-governmental-authority-to-use-force independently, and that modern police agencies can trace their metal star badges back to the slavecatchers.
MLK was a brave man. He was probably much braver than me. I’m not ashamed to admit that if I had faced the hostility that MLK faced that I might not have had the stomach to risk the lives of myself or my family.
Anyways, a nicer area isn’t necessarily a different country. It could just be one of the progressive utopian areas of the country or even Canada. I was in Canada. It’s real nice. I’d live in Vancouver.
None of which say that the military/sheriffs’ badge is based on the slave patrol badge. Just that slave patrols existed. Which is a no-brainer.
If you wish to believe that they’re the origin, that’s your choice, I suppose. On the other hand, I dug up a shitload of other star-shaped military and chivalry orders that – well, see for yourself. (You might have to scroll down for some of them)
And then there’s whole shitload of badges from the Soviet Union. (Those Russkies really like their stars)
So tell us again how military stars came from slave-catching unit stars? The ONLY one I could find that would have any kind of significance was the Service Star. And it was created for the Belgian Congo, not the U.S.
Oh, and as a Girl Scout, I think some of our badges might have been stars.
(I’m not about to pay four bucks to get access to the 2nd – I’m guessing it’s pretty much the same thing?)
I’m unconvinced of Shodan’s racism. I believe he thinks the OP is a troll and he is whiling away his time poking at the guy. Give him a little more time, and Huey will accuse him of being Trump.
Yeah, but does Vancouver want you? I highly doubt it.
Racism is indeed a huge fucking problem in this country. The OP, however, is also a huge fucking jagoff, and I have no intention of taking the guy seriously. He seems more like a conspiracy theorist than someone who’s genuinely interested in improving race relations here in the U.S*. He’s starting to remind me of sovereign citizens/freemen on the land who come up all that bullshit about fringe on flags. I’m not about to pay four bucks to get access to his second cite – I’m guessing it’s pretty much the same thing?
Either that or he’s just some troll trying to stir things up? He’s amusing, whatever he is.
*I also want to state that I’m not one of those people who think black people should be all nicey-nice and “please, can we have our rights now?” Just that this dude is coo coo for cocoa pops.
I don’t think he’s a troll; I think he’s a nut. Sooner or later he’s going to blow up and start using homophobic or anti-transgender slurs or ranting about the Jews or something - i.e. hate speech in the Pit sense of the term - and get banned. Or he will get tired of me laughing at him and everybody else saying “OK there’s racism but you are still a buffoon” and go away on his own.
I’m amusing myself at his expense in the meantime. It’s a slow day at work, and I got pretty much everything done except my status report. So here I am.
Aw, c’mon! She has AUTISM! Plus her dad is PUERTO RICAN! It was TRIGGERING! How dare people suggest it was about RACE???
Christ almighty. If you’re gonna call the cops on a black person over some trivial bullshit, and they pull out the camera, pro-tip, folks: back the fuck down, or yer gonna go viral.
But is Obama not half white? Even one drop of evil whitey blood is enough to make someone…um…order child molestation? I’m not sure what the accusation was but I’m damn sure it was right!
6 year old sexually abused in Trump concentration camp; the child was forced to sign a statement confirming that she understood it was her responsibility to stay away from her abuser. Black kids try on hats. Store owner calls cops.
Not just a typo. I was online when you posted, and before you edited it said, as I recall, “Conservatives and white folks will blame the children”. I’m surprised that you felt the need to change it, given your overall message here. If you claim that all conservatives have this view, why shy away from the generalization to all of the “white folks”?
