What's going on in Baltimore tonight has nothing to do with police brutality. I bet of you asked 95% of the rioters how Freddie died they wouldn't have a clue. They would just say "I'm angry! Hands up don't shoot! I can't breath!"
Violent Protests in Baltimore
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What's going on in Baltimore tonight has nothing to do with police brutality. I bet of you asked 95% of the rioters how Freddie died they wouldn't have a clue. They would just say "I'm angry! Hands up don't shoot! I can't breath!"
Oh, I'm pretty sure that every black man, young or old, is well aware of police brutality. Claiming otherwise is simply a display of ignorance.
I have condemned police brutality before here. In another thread.
http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=267493&page=3
These are people who likely interact with the Baltimore PD quite a bit. They don't have to know the particulars to know that yet another black man was mistreated/died while in their custody.
Much of this could've been averted if the years of complaints had been listened to.
Are they well aware that young black men are 8 times more likely to commit murder than young white men?
Not to the extent that you're damning all of this. Which is worse: property destruction or police killing people?
I can't believe that anyone that cares for the least among us would condone what is happening where I was just standing an hour ago. Is there police brutality going on in our cities? Absolutely. Have the police been militarized since 9/11, threatening everyone's civil liberties? Absolutely. Is the public going to beg for such militarization in response to what they are seeing tonight? Absolutely. And if they don't? Will gangs of looters take advantage of their absence? Absolutely.
And who will suffer the most under such conditions? The rich? Are you serious? The weakest, the poorest, the people that can't fend for themselves will suffer the most, just as they always do.
Only by organizing those same people with the goal of political change will they be protected, because then they will be engaged, attentive to the protection of their rights, instead of staying home on election day - to the tune of 85 - 90% of their number not voting.
And who will suffer the most under such conditions? The rich? Are you serious? The weakest, the poorest, the people that can't fend for themselves will suffer the most, just as they always do.
Only by organizing those same people with the goal of political change will they be protected, because then they will be engaged, attentive to the protection of their rights, instead of staying home on election day - to the tune of 85 - 90% of their number not voting.
The police militarization was spawned by the war on drugs, not 9/11.
Which means due process, guaranteed in the Fifth Amendment, should be ignored?
The weak and helpless will always suffer and continue to suffer because of the powerful and strong of this world.
Claiming political organization will change anything is ludicrous when minorities have been organizing politically in the face of state sanctioned violence for much of the 19th and 20th and 21st centuries of American history. The simple fact is elite politics, money and state sponsored violence beats grassroots politics and vote canvasing anytime.
Absolutely not. I have many issues with the way police conduct business these days, but when one segment of society commits the majority of violent crime it shouldn't come as a surprise that that same segment is killed by police at a higher rate.
Those are two very different statements. It's true that the protesters don't know how Freddie Gray's neck was broken. They may be jumping to conclusions on that one.
It's like Ferguson. Darren Wilson was within his rights to shoot Michael Brown, but that doesn't mean the police were innocent. They created the situation that led to disaffected people believing they were being violently oppressed and had no other way to be heard. Brown's death was the spark, not the powder keg.
Even if Gray's death was not a result of police brutality — and for all we know at this point, it wasn't — the riots still are.
Then why even bring it up?
The police didn't create the problem. Police brutality is merely a symptom of a larger problem. Those problems being mainly government policies that have encouraged the poor to have children out of wedlock. 70% of black children are raised in fatherless households. The war on drugs which has led to the militarization of police has only exacerbated the problem.
It's truly none of your business where I live, and I am under no obligation to inform you of an ongoing current event. I will help you do your own research though. You can also seek out information from Dennis. He has already justified all of the violent behavior in Baltimore. Here is something to get you started though...
http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/2015/04/27/baltimore-riot-scene/26490163/
http://www.wjla.com/articles/2015/0...e-mall-met-by-police-in-riot-gear-113555.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...d-11e4-8abc-d6aa3bad79dd_story.html?tid=sm_fb
http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/28910378/officers-injured-baltimore-protests
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/right-a...ral-protests-turn-violent-in-baltimore-again/
http://pix11.com/2015/04/27/marylan...y-activates-national-guard-to-help-with-riot/
http://fox43.com/2015/04/27/state-o...ryland-after-baltimore-protests-turn-violent/
http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/27/us/baltimore-unrest/index.html?sr=fb042715baltimore1015pVODtopVideo
You are right. Elite politics, money and state sponsored violence does beat grassroots politics and vote canvasing. But I would contend that political organization in the face of state sanctioned violence, such as happened during WWI, the Great Depression and the Civil Rights Movement, was effective. It gained rights for organized labor, to undo the legal basis for Jim Crow, and to expand a broad recognition of First Amendment rights. It was certainly a hell of a lot more effective than doing nothing. And for the poor and disadvantaged, better than a state of chaos, where might will make right and they will be left truly powerless.
^ Police are brutal because poor people have children out of wedlock? That's so ridiculous and illogical that I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
When I was 11, the Terribleness of King/Kennedy was going on. My hometown was a stereotypical "Blacks on the East Side Whites on the West Side" kind of place. There were natural bluffs overlooking the river dividing the two, and we could easily see all of the East Side. below. There were senseless incursions of every kind, back and forth. Schools (I was seriously assaulted in the halls of my school) shops, cars, YMCA; you name it, it was a place of unspent rage.
The Founding Fathers, in their infinite White Wisdom, simply raised the bridges spanning the river, and let the East Side burn and be looted and worse. I remember being with my parents and many other people from the West Side. standing on the bluffs, watching the fires and being able to hear the shouting and glass breaking from across the water. It affected me profoundly, although I did not realize it at that time. All I knew is that the bridges were up to protect us. Us. Them. We?
I see such violence and death here in the Middle East, in images and reports, every day. People displaced, their every meager possesion taken from them. Children alone. Elderly dying. One side murdering the other, and the other returning the favor, in kind. And I remember being on the Bluffs.
Baltimore is a further symptom of an (incurable?) disease. "Both" sides are correct and justified, and "both" sides are utterly wrong and guilty of terrible things. Unfortunately, I have to agree with those of you who scribe versions of "that is how it is here", and how the Country was built.
But, will there be a point at which we get past these acts to solve our problems? Will there be Leadership and Structure such that dialog and reason rule the day? Will we continue to focus on our differences to divide us, or will we celelbrate our diversity and make room for it in our culture and country? Remember, that also is how our country was built. People from everywhere. Coming here for promise and a better life. Not a TV thiefed from a store front in the middle of a violent protest. Not for social justice goals and objectives that are not at all clear, and misapplied, at best.
If you have read this far, I thank you. If not, I will not be disappointed or surprised.
I weep openly.
The Founding Fathers, in their infinite White Wisdom, simply raised the bridges spanning the river, and let the East Side burn and be looted and worse. I remember being with my parents and many other people from the West Side. standing on the bluffs, watching the fires and being able to hear the shouting and glass breaking from across the water. It affected me profoundly, although I did not realize it at that time. All I knew is that the bridges were up to protect us. Us. Them. We?
I see such violence and death here in the Middle East, in images and reports, every day. People displaced, their every meager possesion taken from them. Children alone. Elderly dying. One side murdering the other, and the other returning the favor, in kind. And I remember being on the Bluffs.
Baltimore is a further symptom of an (incurable?) disease. "Both" sides are correct and justified, and "both" sides are utterly wrong and guilty of terrible things. Unfortunately, I have to agree with those of you who scribe versions of "that is how it is here", and how the Country was built.
But, will there be a point at which we get past these acts to solve our problems? Will there be Leadership and Structure such that dialog and reason rule the day? Will we continue to focus on our differences to divide us, or will we celelbrate our diversity and make room for it in our culture and country? Remember, that also is how our country was built. People from everywhere. Coming here for promise and a better life. Not a TV thiefed from a store front in the middle of a violent protest. Not for social justice goals and objectives that are not at all clear, and misapplied, at best.
If you have read this far, I thank you. If not, I will not be disappointed or surprised.
I weep openly.
Like I said before, I don't think excessive force by police is ever justified. I don't understand your logic. The destruction of innocent people's property is not justice for Freddie Gray. Nor is beating and hospitalizing a cameraman.
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