With weeks of protests and riots, we are entering the phase of discussing what needs to change.

It is clear that the status quo isn’t good enough and the discontent of millions has been pretty strongly demonstrated.

Now that Black Lives Matters has gotten the ear of the world, they have allowed extremists to take over the messaging and are at risk of losing anything that may have been gained with recent actions.

The list of demands made by the Seattle BLM branch demonstrates just how disconnected from reality these activists are. In threatening continued riots if they don’t get this insane list of demands met, this is a form of violent extortion. These demands are ridiculous and impossible to meet and this won’t end well.

The issues are serious but its time for authorities to tell BLM to come back to the table when they are ready to act like grown ups. This list of demands is more akin to something from a child having a temper tantrum than from reasonable adults.

There is an element of people who simply like rioting for the sake of rioting and I suspect that these are the people who have stepped up to the plate with these demands. Nobody in their right mind would think that these are reasonable or that they could be accommodated in any short amount of time.

I will list a shortened version below.

The full demand set can be found here.

The Seattle Police Department and attached court system are beyond reform. We do not request reform, we demand abolition.

Yes indeed. They want immediate and full abolition of the police force and nothing less.

Not gonna happen kids

In the transitionary period between now and the dismantlement of the Seattle Police Department, we demand that the use of armed force be banned entirely. No guns, no batons, no riot shields, no chemical weapons,

In the imaginary world where the police force is disbanded, they demand that no other forms of law enforcement be allowed.

I am sure that the rape and robbery victims impacted by this will be thrilled.

We demand an end to the school-to-prison pipeline and the abolition of youth jails

I guess that 16 year old murderers are to be kept in daycare centers

We demand a retrial of all People in Color currently serving a prison sentence for violent crime, by a jury of their peers in their community.

That shouldn’t take long. New trials for thousands and all with juries of people of the same race. Not a bit unreasonable indeed.

We demand the abolition of imprisonment, generally speaking

You just can’t make this stuff up folks

We demand in replacement of the current criminal justice system the creation of restorative/transformative accountability programs as a replacement for imprisonment.

Time outs? Perhaps a little time standing in the corner? Maybe if serial killers had to do some community service they would stop their evil ways

We demand that the Seattle Police Department, between now and the time of its abolition in the near future, empty its “lost and found” and return property owned by denizens of the city.

Ahh. Many of the rioters were actually simply concerned about the pair of mittens that they left on a city bus

We demand that the funding previously used for Seattle Police be redirected into: A) Socialized Health and Medicine for the City of Seattle. B) Free public housing, because housing is a right, not a privilege. C) Public education, to decrease the average class size in city schools and increase teacher salary. D) Naturalization services for immigrants to the United States living here undocumented. (We demand they be called “undocumented” because no person is illegal.) E) General community development. Parks, etc.

I suspect that these folks are overestimating just how much money the police system gets by about a hundedfold

We demand the de-gentrification of Seattle, starting with rent control

Another way of saying: “We want our slums back!”

We demand the restoration of city funding for arts and culture to re-establish the once-rich local cultural identity of Seattle

Nothing ends race riots more effectively than a pretty, public art project

We demand free college for the people of the state of Washington

Money for nothin and your school for free

We demand the hospitals and care facilities of Seattle employ black doctors and nurses specifically to help care for black patients.

Racially segregated health care. Martin Luther King would be so proud of this advancement.

We demand the people of Seattle seek out and proudly support Black-owned businesses.

This should be easy to track and measure

There are a number of other broad and unrealistic demands.

If this is where the bar is set, don’t expect the riots to end any time soon.