Things NFL Players Could Do Than Kneeling

I originally wasn't going to waste energy on this episode of conservative political correctness however a tweet from Anarcho-Capitalist rapper Eric July got me thinking.

Eric July  @EricDJuly

2d

"It's not about disrespecting, it's about the injustice" The fact that you have to explain this at a massive level, shows it's not working

July is 100% correct here, the whole kneeling thing isn't working for what Kapernick and others are opposing. In general I've never felt that protesting accomplishes much of anything other than making oneself a target for government or political enemies. If Kapernick and other players really want to make an actual difference when it comes to government goon squad abuse here's what they should do.

1. Support Gun Rights and Self Defense

Athletes should know that they're a much higher target for crimes (both government and private) given their high public profiles and wealth. So arming themselves should really be a no-brainer. However it shouldn't be enough to be armed themselves they should go into neighborhoods and teach about gun rights and usage. There is a great guy named Maj Toure who runs the organization Black Guns Matter . Toure's organization is decided to introducing if not reintroducing gun rights to black neighborhoods. Athletes should absolutely be backing Toure's project and if not they should be doing something on their own.


2. Support Self and Community/Neighborhood Defense

Anarcho-Captialists know government security is a joke and harms people more than it helps. Not to mention that it has been ruled that government security has no obligation to protect you. So this is an area that should be promoted.

The Black Panthers while an awful left-socialist and racist group did three things right; they exercised their right to carry firearms, patrolled their neighborhoods and filmed cops. The result of this was that cops were significantly more "civil" when Black Panther patrols were around.

Also reaching out to organizations like CopBlock and Photography is Not A Crime is a must. Given that the media, no matter if it's the local or the national they are stenographers for the police. These two organizations are one of the best when it comes to documenting government security abuse. 

3. Stop caring on what the opposition thinks

Like communists, cop supporters cannot be reasoned with. There is no reason to attempt to win these people over they will always hate you even if you choose to lick the boots. Their criticisms only exist to distract you from the real problem, they have no interest in changing their line of thinking.


There is no guarantee that any of this will work or change anything but it's more productive than taking a knee.

The Libertarian Solution to Police Brutality?

Getting one's rights abused by the government is awful because in general, people tend to have little chance of getting restitution against their abusers. Government has more financial muscle (by stealing from everyone else) and it's various laws that give agents of said abuse sovereign immunity to prevent accountability. This along with the libertarian understanding of history are why many if not all view government as evil. One can argue that police brutality is one of the worse abuses of government given how much of a presence police have in the general populace.

Unlike conservatives (with very few exceptions) who think police brutality is a myth (or alternatively think certain groups of people deserve it from initial contact), libertarians of all stripes know that abuses from armed agents (along with their unions) of government are a serious problem that needs to be addressed. People that actually see that there is a problem want to know what can be done to stem the abuse and hold abusers accountable.

While filming police (tactics promoted by excellent organizations such as Copblock and Photography is Not a Crime) has increased attention to the issue and exposed lying cops, the actual accountability is far and few in between. Filming also comes with risks, with police confiscating recording devices and deleting the footage along with arresting them on bogus charges. Along with independent citizens filming there have been suggestions that having police wear body cameras would help stem abuse but so far the results are mixed. Some suggest to working within the system to remove bad laws that police use to harass people that cannot fight back. Within the system one has to attack and dismantle police unions (which for some reason anti-union conservatives won't attack) who are very responsible for the little to no punishment police receive when they infringe on the rights of the citizenry. Full and complete end of all victimless crime laws (drug, gun, etc) would also stem much of the harassment of lower income people.

With the continuing of militarization of police there must be a call to limit police interactions and government is not going to help with that. The solution is to use alternatives to relying on government agents. Those solutions would be the following:

1. Cell 411

Cell 411 is a free emergency management mobile service. Create your own personal network with friends and family that you trust in case anyone needs help. In addition it's useful for those who engage in protests and activism with it's option for live broadcasting. Think a more personal version of a neighborhood watch.

2. Asserting Your Right to Bare Arms

A common trope that police worshipers like use against their critics is that without them nobody would protect you. Never mind the fact that the Supreme Court has ruled otherwise. Libertarians believe gun rights are an absolute and that everyone has the right to defend themselves and carry arms. Banding together with other gun owners who distrust police to patrol neighborhoods with deter potential criminals who see that they'll get shot. In addition any potential police harassment will shine a light on the conservative lie that police won't confiscate arms.

3. Creating private defense/security companies

The private sector has a significantly better track record than the government (parasite) sector and security is no different. When Detroit went bankrupt many of the government "services" were cut back including the police. In enter Threat Management founded by Dale Brown a private security firm that does the same thing government police do but without violating the rights of people. For more information on Brown here are some interviews with Copblock, Tom Woods and Jeff Berwick.
3. Avoiding the police and Blue Lives Matter when possible

Defense attorney's make their case (Part 1 and Part 2) that one should never talk to police. This should also should apply to people who apart of Blue Lives Matter. Not wanting to associate myself with cops and conservatives are one of the reasons why I personally am not a member of any gun groups. Statists don't like being challenged and sometimes may get violent (either directly or indirectly) when they are. De-associating one self from open authoritarians of all political stripes who may or may not make use of Swatting when these types of people hear of your views can help with preserving your own personal liberty.

Part of the reason for using alternative solutions to government is to deny government revenue. This is why I view protesting as pointless and ineffective. This may different depending on the state but in my state of New York, police are paid overtime when out covering protest gatherings. As we libertarians know, a cop's "paycheck" is in reality a welfare check so by protesting people are in fact increasing the tax (read stolen) money given to the parasite class. Not to mention that government will always try to infiltrate these protests with agitators to get them to turn violent in order to justify more liberty crackdowns.

I'm not going to sit here and say these solutions will put the government monopoly out to pasture overnight. However it's been long overdue to get people to realize that individuals must provide their own self defense.

Does the Black Lives Matter Movement hurt the Police Accountability Movement?

Police are out of control; the militarization that has gone on since the beginning of the drug war, the complete lack of accountability and their blatant and sometimes open hatred and disregard for the civil liberties of the citizens they claim to protect to name a few. Those who think that this doesn't exist are the same who said "If you're not doing anything bad then you have nothing to be afraid of" when the PATRIOT Act was passed. Whether you're in the camp of Robert Higgs who believes there is no such thing as a good cop or the camp of Radley Balko who believes that there are good cops, the overall issue is that domestic policing in the US is a problem that needs to be fixed.

I'm a open supporter of police accountability sites such as Copblock and Photography is Not a Crime. These are two of the best sites out there when it comes to exposing police misconduct no matter who the victim of said misconduct is. In addition they both highlight police officers who cross the thin blue line who get punished by the same corrupt system that they are exposing. Obviously like any group they have their own share of criticism from both those within the movement and it's enemies.

One group within the police accountability movement that I believe is hurting the movement and giving more talking points to government defenders (collectively known as Blue Lives Matter or like some Anarcho-Capitalists say Blue Lives Murder) is the Black Lives Matter movement. The movement that spawned after the death of Michael Brown and trial of Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. When it started on it's face it had a legitimize set of grievances that appealed to the police accountability movement. However this is before the riots in Ferguson and Baltimore and most recently the movement assault on libertarian activist Adam Kokesh. Assault on innocent businesses and innocent people is wrong as is also collective judgement and punishment. Nobody has the right to assault another outside of self defense despite what some on the left and right think it's wrong. More evidence seems to emerge every so often that Black Lives Matter has devolved like most liberal movements into just being against anyone who isn't liberal and unfortunately a racial competent is involved too.

Not only do assaults on innocent people hurt the police accountability movement, their gun control stances hurt it too. Despite US Supreme Court rulings that haven shown that police forces do not have an obligation to protect individuals just enforce laws, government defenders continue to use the argument that any reforms such as actual accountability will prevent the police from protecting you. One of the solutions that should be included in any police reform proposal should be unrestricted civilian access to firearms. To quote Freedoms Phoenix owner Earnest Handcock "The second amendment is for everyone" Gun control laws only hurt innocent people and embolden those who want to commit acts of violence against peaceful people. As the old saying goes; "An armed society is a peaceful one".

With these acts I personally see no reason why any libertarian anarcho-capitalist could in good principal support the Black Lives Matter movement as a whole nor it's faces of the movement such as Cassandra Fairbanks (who many libertarians rightly and openly dislike). Support for the Black Lives Matter movement only give police statists more ammo to use against us which will undo much of the work the police accountability movement has done.