Read on Twitter
Iv seen an ugly, ugly side to the BLM movement. Of course dont condone racism, but didn't really pay much attention to BLM in truth. That is until it landed on my doorstep. For a few days last week we were afraid to go for a walk. Videos surfacing of gangs attacking innocent.....
...People walking down the street. Gangs of youths storming a shopping centre. Videos of a mass brawl outside a petrol station. Videos of Garda (irish police) helicopters patrolling the area. This was all right outside my front door. Wal ka mile in either direction and I'm......
....bang in the middle of it. It was frightening. Especially in recent times when you're told to stay within your locality, a locality Iv lived in for 5 years yet was suddenly afraid of. Now I'm aware racism is everywhere, and sadly I reckon always will be. But I wasnt aware.....
....just how close to home the problem was. Its a multicultural area. You see kids of all backgrounds walking to school together and playing football in the fields. I thought we were doing alright. My own next door neighbours of African descent, and lovely people. (And no,....
...thats not a "i cant be racist i have a black friend") . But the fallout from the #GeorgeNkencho shooting has turned all that on its head.I took to Twitter to find out what was going on. Were these videos made to look worse? Surely there isn't that much hate in these streets...
.... I was even more shocked at the out pouring of hate I found here. Guess I should of known better than to turn to Twitter for comfort. Alot of mistruths have been posted about George. Stories circulating about past convictions, out on bail having attacked his girlfriend....
...with a hammer no less. Reports of serious mental health issues with George. I chose to believe what I knew to be true. What I had seen on the multiple videos circulating as to what happened. The bare facts are this. George went to a local shop, armed with a large knife....
....where a member of staff was seriously injured. Hospitalised. The police came and he effectivetely took an escort to his home, where repeated attempts were made by the gardai to reprimand him peacefully. After the use of pepper spray and tasers George still refused to....
...To surrender and sadly was gunned down after lunging at one of the cops with the knife. Thats all we know for sure. As of yet we have no official reports from the cops, only what we've seen from camera phone footage. Now back to the reports of his character. This is where.....
... I took issue. Straight away we were reading about what a nasty character he was. Reports of a colorful record with the gardai. All of which were swiftly extinguished. And without proper proof rightly so. But then we were met with sources claiming mental health issues...
... again nothing but sources claiming this to be the case. However despite these claims having the same or similar sources, were deemed fact. His actions that day being justified due to them. Again, there is no official evidence of any claims of his character or past. ...
...so I took to twitter to question why we were automatically to assume all negative reports regarding George were to be dismissed, but we were to believe this wasnt him due to a mental issue. An issue with, as of.rogjt now at least, as much proof and truth behind it as his....
..."32 previous convictions". I wasnt happy to see MH being used this way for a number of reasons. I have people close to me that work in this sector. Iv heard plenty of stories of how difficult and sad it is. How serious and crushing it is for the people close to people that...
....suffer with it. I didnt think it right that without proper confirmation that this man had indeed suffered some form of breakdown or had a history that MH was used almost as a scapegoat. At least not until we knew for sure. Upon trying to portray that view the backlash....
... I have received is frightening. What would you call berating someone for their opinions based on their skin colour ? I tired to reason with these people to be called a racist and white supremacist. The anti white irish narrative I have discovered is shocking...
...and something I wasnt aware existed. Like I said I look out my window and see kids of all backgrounds mixing freely (well, pre covid of course). This has really really saddened me. Why cant we all just get along? Sorry for the rant.
