# Police attack voter march in North Carolina **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 31, 2020, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-attack-voter-march-in-north-carolina/924432 "2020-10-31T20:35:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2020, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-attack-voter-march-in-north-carolina/924432/41 "2020-11-01T15:20:44Z")
yes some lived there. But many were from other areas. They have been protesting there for a long while mainly because of the confederate statue. As I mentioned above the only statues still standing are in small towns in NC. A lot of them are at courthouses in the county seat like Graham. If the Dems take control of NC after Tues it’s pretty certain they will allow towns to take them down or move them to a cemetery, museum, etc ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2020, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-attack-voter-march-in-north-carolina/924432/42 "2020-11-01T17:46:01Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > This reply to me was much clearer than the one I replied to, IMHO. Fair enough. _However, since I am not the only poster who has misunderstood your posts, I think it would be good for you to also look at your posts and see if you can be more clear._ People are angry, and they strike out at any post that isnt 100% in agreement. They dont take time to read and understand. if we have a GD about how evil the Nazis were, and someone posted _“Yes, atrocities, evil, bad things, and the SS strutting around in their bright red uniforms…”_ and I posted _“Nope, SS uniforms were black, not red.”_ most of the posters would jump on me for being a nazi sympathizer. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2020, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-attack-voter-march-in-north-carolina/924432/43 "2020-11-01T18:32:57Z")
> [@DinoR](#): > > Sure the police could simply do nothing about the violation of the law. If that is the universal answer it becomes problematic for society as a whole The police “do nothing about the violation of the law” all the time. It’s only troubling because such instances clearly favor the white male ascendancy. The police are _not_ required either by law or by society to stamp down all violations of the law, and when they do it in the case of a peaceful exercise of free speech that involves no brandishing of weapons, messages of hate, or threats of violence, that’s what’s troubling. Red-faced White guys with guns get to do whatever the fuck they want by the cops, including murder. That’s what is troubling. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2020, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-attack-voter-march-in-north-carolina/924432/44 "2020-11-01T18:39:19Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > What is in question is whether they blocked a road or not, and whether they had a permit to let them do so. And even illegal blocking of a road does not justify an “any means necessary” response. We know what’s happening here cops let white fun-toting fascists do whatever the fuck they want because they perceive them as being in the same side. They clamp down on progressives because it’s what they have done for centuries. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2020, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-attack-voter-march-in-north-carolina/924432/45 "2020-11-01T19:23:21Z")
> [@DinoR](#): > > Would you suspend the benefit of the doubt in the legal system Ever since 1877, cops have proven over and over again that they don’t deserve the benefit of the doubt when it comes to suppressing people demonstrating for their rights, whether it’s equal rights or civil rights or labor rights. Cops have reverted to rioting themselves to suppress progressives. They’re proving that they will give fascists all kinds of leeway but will brutally suppress people demonstrating for legitimate causes in a a daily basis today. You’re equivocating. It’s supremely dishonest and requires a deliberate blindness to reality. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2020, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-attack-voter-march-in-north-carolina/924432/46 "2020-11-01T19:45:08Z")
First, for the sake of accuracy, it was pepper spray, not tear gas that was used. Also, while the Graham city spokesperson officers aimed the pepper spray at the ground, a photograph taken by a reporter shows police spraying pepper spray into the air, according to the linked article. Even aside from the effects of pepper spray in the air vs. on the ground, this matters. I’ve had too many friends who were/are cops to distrust all officers, but there’s reason to suspect the Graham police department’s veracity and motives. Back in July, the police chief “inadvertently” shared a politically-loaded, disturbing anti-BLM rant on the department’s Facebook page. If you’ve ever shared anything on Facebook, you know it’s almost impossible to inadvertently share something; it IS possible to share it with the wrong group. What’s troubling here is not just that he shared this disturbing rant on the department’s FB page but that he believed in it enough to share it at all. And departmental attitudes tend to reflect leadership. The City of Graham has a problem. It’s refused to remove a Confederate statue. Its chief of police publicly shared a histrionic anti-BLM post. It pepper-sprayed peaceful protestors and lied about how. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2020, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-attack-voter-march-in-north-carolina/924432/47 "2020-11-01T19:51:08Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > yes some lived there. But many were from other areas. They have been protesting there for a long while mainly because of the confederate statue. Since they were marching to vote, and the law says you have to vote at the polls designated for your place of residence, it’s highly unlikely “many” were from other areas. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2020, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-attack-voter-march-in-north-carolina/924432/48 "2020-11-01T21:05:27Z")
Meanwhile I was out at a polling site yesterday morning. A gaggle of half a dozen chuckleheads in camo, with pistols at their belts, decided to show up and mill around in the street right across from the entrance. A cop went over and chatted with them and shook their hands. Benefit of the doubt? Yeah, no. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2020, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-attack-voter-march-in-north-carolina/924432/49 "2020-11-01T21:14:06Z")
I mean, what is the fucking point? What’s House of Pain gonna do? Flex on voters? ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2020, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-attack-voter-march-in-north-carolina/924432/50 "2020-11-01T21:15:27Z")
they are going to march in Graham on Tuesday. I assume cops will be there so we will see what happens. Should be less people because it’s a weekday but more students might show up. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-attack-voter-march-in-north-carolina/924432/51 "2020-11-02T03:11:54Z")
> [@DinoR](#): > > Sure the police could simply do nothing about the violation of the law. The police only gets to use violence when the protesters do. “A clear and present danger to the public safety”- there was none. The protesters blocked traffic- that is a traffic violation. Fine the organizers, give jaywalking tickets out to any protestors you can. So, not “nothing” a measured approach, how dangerous is the sitrep? No danger there. Then- no violence. No teargas, no nightsticks, not even pepper spray. Civil suit perhaps, fines, citations. That is the measured response to a non-violent protest that violates a few traffic laws. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-attack-voter-march-in-north-carolina/924432/52 "2020-11-02T03:45:42Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > The police only gets to use violence when the protesters do. Indeed-and even that falls under “necessary but not sufficient”. The sufficiency for using violence against a crowd involving children is much higher than individual protestors using violence. * * * As I said before, there’s no benefit of the doubt left for these gangsters. The Alamance cops have a [history](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/10/north-carolina-election-march-attack.html): > [@](#): > > Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson, who has held the position for almost 18 years, has a record defined by racism and intimidation. As the 2004 general election approached, Johnson [announced](https://gould.usc.edu/students/journals/rlsj/issues/assets/docs/issue_17/05_North_Carolina_Macro.pdf) that he would send deputies to the homes of all new registrants with a Hispanic-sounding name to investigate whether they were citizens. He [claimed](https://www.newspapers.com/clip/62283551/) that undocumented people were registering to vote at local Division of Motor Vehicles offices with falsified documents. (The Justice Department sent [election monitors](https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/2016/11/04/poll-monitors-lawyers-will-available-nc-election/93280494/) to Alamance in 2004, 2008, and 2012.) > > Johnson has a history of making incredibly racist statements about immigrants—including [egregious, nonsensical claims](https://www.newspapers.com/clip/62284148/) that it’s socially acceptable to sexually assault underage girls in Mexico. The sheriff has been vehement about incarcerating “criminal immigrants,” or “[taco eaters](https://www.charlotteobserver.com/latest-news/article213148634.html),” who are coming into the country to “[victimize our children, our citizens, with drugs, murders, rapes, robberies, you name it](https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article233086147.html).” In early 2019, he told the Alamance County Board of Commissioners that undocumented “criminals” were “raping our citizens in many, many ways.” ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-attack-voter-march-in-north-carolina/924432/53 "2020-11-02T17:51:50Z")
best outcome would be for Dems to take over NC legislature and get rid of all these monuments. That is possible but we will know Tues night. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-attack-voter-march-in-north-carolina/924432.md?page=2)