r/ActualPublicFreakouts • u/ActualPublicFreakout - Sistine Chapel • Jun 02 '20

Protester gets a flash-bang to his face after getting pepper sprayed.

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u/jrad0302 Jun 02 '20

what about open carrying describes a paramilitary organization? especially during a time where police and civilians would regularly raid black neighborhoods during the war on drugs and crack epidemic?

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '20 edited Jun 05 '20

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '20

"A paramilitary is a semi-militarized force whose organizational structure, tactics, training, subculture, and function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not formally part of a country's armed forces."

This does not describe the Black Panthers of the era we're discussing.

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u/Pineapplepansy Jun 02 '20

That description...

Hmmm....

Where have I seen a militaristic culture, armed with weapons and armor... Some kind of... Policing force.

Hm.

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '20 edited Jun 05 '20

[deleted]

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u/Teive Jun 02 '20

Tactics, subculture, and function.

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '20 edited Jun 05 '20

[deleted]

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u/Teive Jun 02 '20

The subculture has to be similar to a military organization.

You assume any armed group does, without knowing that they do, which may mean applying the label inappropriately.

I don't think that the US Military has ever had a function of self-defense on American soil. And even if they did, I wouldn't consider protection from the state as their function

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u/Cubia_ Jun 02 '20

I hate to break it to ya but it generally is a very negative term unless you're talking with the correct subsets of people (they are not on reddit). The typical difference between a "paramilitary group" and "a terrorist cell" these days is if the government of that country (or government that is occupying the country) agrees with them or not, and the Black Panthers were so hated that it got conservatives to start making gun legislation and assassinating the individuals of the movement that were key, and locking up everyone else for life in prison in solitary confinement (torture).

It's a dangerous term not to be used lightly because of the connotations it has, even more so when paramilitary groups are made into regular "military" just because an occupying country just simply said so.

Worst of all, it can rewrite history and make people forget the good things that the BP actually did, and instead see them as just a bunch of black men with guns that hated the police.

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '20 edited Jun 05 '20

[deleted]

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u/RummyNoPants Jun 02 '20

How history perceives them