About an hour ago, the news said the injured officers number rose to 15, with now 2 officers in the hospital.
I am not defending the conclusions that were jumped to, I was just pointing out that there are always bad apples in large groups of people. Lately though, the finger pointing and race baiting has gone way out of hand. I say wait until more information is released when the independent investigation is progressing smoothly.
http://abc7.com/news/video-angry-baltimore-mom-beats-son-suspected-of-rioting/684791/ Look at that. A mom finds her son rioting via live CNN and beats him, also live on CNN.
There is a statistic on how many African Americans are killed by police . It use to be one killed every 23 hours, as of last year, this year it is every 8 hours. This is a gross statistic and something needs to be done by the government to change this. On the other hand the rioters aren't helping. If MLK were alive today he would be ashamed of what Is going on. They are destroying their own community by rioting, there are definitely more peaceful ways to come about this. But I understand their anger.
you are a very naive person if you think that's true why are we bringing up topics like this on a minecraft gaming site though? this is only going to bring about turmoil in the community. politics, religion, hot button topics like this should be avoided so we all don't end up arguing.
I'm sorry, but police brutality is an overrated thing. The police are usually VERY reasonable. The small percentage that do bad things are well, bad. Not the bulk though. The media LOVES a good story. If Martin was alive today? Oh, he would eventually be the Pope under a reunited Christianity. (sarcasm) Whites are killed more than blacks by the police. Heck, do we ever hear about the white college student who was shot by a black police officer because the college student was wandering around under the influence of drugs and naked? That isn't an offence with the death penalty.
Reverse racism is indeed pathetic, as is racism. Both really just being racism and the perpetuating of hate. I have seen several people on different social mediums saying that they are destroying their own communities... I do not think this makes any sense. In the US the police have been "forced into a corner" from the perspective of the news which only grants them more freedom to act in a policing manner without fear of repercussion because: did you see whats going on on the news? they are all acing like animals!" makes a good excuse for not treating men like men but rather animals. It's all a dance, one that will not end well in the favor of those who are having veils draped over their eyes. Police brutality, screening, insurance, "exemption from the law" all need to be addressed and people have been saying this for decades. This kind of stuff(police executing people in their custody) isn't isolated to this one man. It happens ALL the freaking time. It is an issue. When someone that you love is executed in such a way then maybe you will understand the frustrations of these communities. Bringing in more instigators, swat, dhs, national guard is not going to solve anything. When police are held accountable for their actions then these riots will stop. someone said, "It should be public policy that if a policeman kills someone, for any reason, he should lose his job. If this was the price for the use of lethal force, the police would find other ways to defuse a crisis." This seems more than justified. If you HAVE to kill someone it should be because you fear for your life. That simply isn't the case today and to indict a police officer takes an act of God. In the past twenty years there has not been one year where the police killed more people than last year. The FBI says something like 600 people were killed by police officers(which accounts for 3% of all murders in the US and accounts for the preceeding statement) HOWEVER, many civilian ran organizations say that that is a gross understatement of how many people were killed by police officers. With some saying that not only was it over 1600 but that they have accounted for every single one of those murders. If that is true then 10% of all murders in the US last year were committed by police officers. Whether it is 3% or 10%, it is WAY too many and its sickening to think that these groups are held as supposed to be there to protect and serve... which is another issue with police. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/politics/28scotus.html?_r=0 The illusion that police in the US are there... or worse, required to... protect the people is, well, an illusion. Yet, thanks to legislation passed at a federal level, we arm these state and local officers with weapons of war ranging from sniper rifles to tanks to body armor and high explosives. Then! people come in and say, the news gives the police a bad name they put their lives on the line every day and protect us. Another fallacy, the police have a dangerous job: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cfoi.pdf The people that are killed by police generally have much more dangerous jobs. However, they don't get to carry around automatic weapons and body armor. The point being, the police forces in America are corrupt and need to be reigned in. To see it any other way is just cognitive dissonance. If you can't identify with the rioters, that is understandable. Belittling them doesn't change their situation or what they are doing though.
Gawadrolt, I agree with some of what you said. The police have no business carrying automatic weapons, armored vehicles, grenades and such. And I also agree that police need to be held accountable for their actions, as racism does occur. However, statistics do show That Crime is much more prevalent in areas where minorities reside. So to put all this on the police is also not the right answer. Unfortunately, America incarcerates minorities with 1st time offenses MUCH more frequently than Caucasian offenders. In my view, that is where real racism occurs. It's how we ensure that minorities never have a chance to get out of poverty. The sad fact is that minorities do commit more crime. Poor, unemployed desperate people are the ones that are filling up our prisons, and they are the ones who find themselves in street confrontations with the police. The real problem is this: why are they mostly African Americans? Until America ends the war on drugs, finds a way to get 2 parents working for more than minimum wage , and finds SOME way to end minority poverty, then this is a case of the tail wagging the dog. I agree with most of what you said, but when police continuously find themselves in those neighborhoods, The law of averages is going to define who gets in confrontations with the police. Therefore my view of the whole situation is this: find a way to lift minorities out of poverty and this problem will go away on its own, providing the media leaves their gas can away from flammable events.
Seen some videos from the Baltimore riots and it looks absolutely manic. Glass everywhere, people kicking in doors and throwing things at cars. In one case, I saw a video of some men throwing bricks at a fire truck responding to an emergency. Some terrible people out there doing those things, but I can't say I know anything about it other than what I have seen on videos, and as we all know, the news do like a good story, even if they have to emphasize things. A lot.
Rioter 1: Hey guys, I have an idea. Rioter 2: OK, let's hear it. Rioter 1: OK, I think that we should, instead of trying to achieve something through protests and reasonable behavior, loot and pillage our fellow people in the name of some twisted form of justice. Rioter 2: Did those people do something wrong? Rioter 1: No. Rioter 2: . . . . let's do it. I do understand that it is a small minority of people doing this, but all it takes is a few people to give a large group a bad name.
I like these threads and discussions. Not the events obviously, but threads like these show us (Europeans) that some problems happen world wide. When I read the comments above about the media who place things outside of context just to get a good story? I can relate to that. I think that part is quite interesting to read. Now, being a Dutchie I obviously can only base my opinion on the things I hear in the media. Fortunately though there's the Internet (and threads like these!) which can provide different views on the whole situation. But I will say this.. I can respect protesters, its the fundamental basis of democracy to go out there and make your voice heard. As long as you don't overdo it there shouldn't be a problem. However, so far all I'm seeing about these "protests" is people who run out and start looting whatever they can get their hands on. Shops get raided, people's cars get destroyed, public places get turned into a wasteland. That's not protesting anymore, that's plain out vandalizing and stealing. And in those cases I think the police have every right to step in as hard as they can. Not merely because of the "protesters" who obviously take things way too far, but also because of all the innocent civilians who end up seeing their property get stolen or destroyed by some crazed mob. That's not protesting anymore, that's anarchy.
Riots are a sign of deep systemic problems in the community. When large numbers of people are willing to participate in destructive and self harming behavior, it is a sign of desperation. The people in this area are economically stressed and disenfranchised from society. They can see no reachable way to correct the problems or improve their situation. In the process they make things worse by discouraging investment in the area. The downward spiral continues. If the people understood that they could achieve a reasonable reward for their effort, then they would be too invested in that success to risk it by participating in such behavior. These people have lost hope. It's very sad when a community has lost the positive role models and is unable to guide it's youth into prosperity. Of course the people are responsible for their actions, but the blame/problems go far deeper than the actions of any one rioter or any single (possibly) racist cop. I am pleased to see the mother go out and drag her son from the streets. Not everyone is willing to just let this happen and hopefully those people will get together and find ways to bring back hope.
If baltimore is all over the news due to rioting, just think how famous EMC would be if we just... RIOT!
The media really doesn't have a side on this. They just try to focus on sympathizers to get views, and will switch scope on a current event to the most popular opinion. But I don't think this is the media's fault. It's, very obviously, the racial tension/inequality that is so widespread that it will take well more than another century to dissolve. My history teacher told us that in my school, if an idea is made by the higher-ups, it takes over six years for the change to be noticed. Now that's maybe 100 teachers. We live in a country of over 300 million people, so seeing a change that has impacted us for already a century to disappear will take a very long time. No quick riots will fix the problem What this rioting means to me, is that as a group, people are idiotic and panicky. Which is a good reason why there should be a person that represents that stupid group's desires as a whole. Martin Luther King Junior did this peacefully in the 1960s, and made great strides for the civil rights movement, as well as became a symbol of civil rights. Malcolm X, as many of you know, was pro-violence. Nowadays, he is known for his violence, and little for his contributions towards an equal future. We need another MLK, not another Malcom X.
