The saddest part of all this in Baltimore is that the Lawfull protests are given little to no coverage. MLK must be rolling over in his grave. I just watched a video on FB that I wish could be broadcast on every station here in the US and overseas. It is a National Guardsman with a very powerful message about the protests and the unnecessary violence taking place right now. Saddest of all is that by and large the real story of what happened to the young man while in Police custody will be given a backseat to the violent actions of a few. The only thing that will be stamped in most people's mind will be pictures of burning cars and rock throwing rioters.
Segregation is gone, Slavery is gone. We dont NEED another MLK, he was a great guy and changed history forever. What we need is less stupidity, I know there are people who are for segregation and still are racists today, hell most of my dad's side of the family is racist. What I am saying is that people need to realise that just because a while back a white officer puts a black man in a chokehold (I personally think the officer should have been charged no matter what the dead guy's race is, he broke regulation) and killed him, that not every time a black man dies after being confronted in some way by a white officer that it is automatically that the white man is racist. The cop is not always to blame in every situation. If Freddie Gray was white, and the same thing happened to him but from black officers, would all the white people in town be rioting. NO (maybe, but that would be like a 0.00000001% chance that riots would outbreak from that). These riots started as a peaceful protest and turned into this.... its the young kids doing it though, people my age that are out there breaking other people's hard earned property. I dont care where or when you grew up, your parents likely tought you not to steal/break other people's stuff. This is a famous (one of my favorite) quotes of all time: “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.” - Albert Einstein
I personally believe it is more economical than racial. Economics and culture determine crime, not race. There are plenty of economically desperate "white" people who commit crimes. Like just_five says above, there is a downward spiral that is fueled from within. This is normal, economic inequality is unfortunately a requirement for economies that don't have an excessively intrusive government.
So true. I don't understand why they think that looting their own shops and hurting other people is doing to help them besides get themselves arrested.
I certainly agree with you. I think that the two, economic and racial issues, entwine to create the problem. Let's face it, any color skinned person could be racially attacked. But darker skinned people have had a long, ugly history about it with white people in America. I think that events, such as this young man's death, whether accidental or not, triggered an outrage. The younger opportunists decided that they would loot for money, because they believe that their oppression justifies their outrage. But they don't understand the difference between outrage and just causing chaos because they can. Do you agree a little? Also, there's lots of kind people in the city trying to help clear streets and revert some of the rioters' actions, such as this kid in this gif. He's slashing a firehose, that's absolutely awful.
Dear rioters: If you don't want black people to be profiled as criminals, stop giving the police an excuse to do so. Protest =/ Rioting From: Mrlegitislegit
I know, but in all, never seen the earth this bad, I would implicate Biblical Prophecies but I have been warned, so PM me if interested in it.
Sucks that this has been happening. Geniuses, thinking they would make a difference by attacking the people who are there to protect them.
Not sure if this how you intended this but if so, that's a great point to be made. These people shouldn't be considered rioters but because that has been beaten into the news so much I'm sure there is no going back. Violent protest is indeed very different than a riot. Edit: some people here seem to be fear mongering even worse than CNN. Come on guys, this is hardly the end of the world and a building burned down and cop car set ablaze is hardly even close to "bad" especially in the past few years. I have yet to see one person be reported dead during this whole thing except for the victim for which the media blames the whole thing.
It isnt the end of the world, or civilization... Nowhere in this thread it states this. This IS a bad thing, it isnt as bad as what soldiers see overseas but it is bad nonetheless.
I just re-read all the posts I missed while I was in school (except for your post, obviously didnt need to reread that long thing...) I still dont see anywhere where someone said it was the end of the world. Please quote person for me. Its my fault if I missed it.
This was the second post that said pretty much the same thing so you didn't just miss it once, you missed it twice. Jesus is coming back because he doesn't like when we fight authority like he did. Like he was crucified for, ironically.
what you guys arent understanding is this is just the boiling point of an area ravaged by disparity and racism. look at the amount of shootings in the same area last year of cops shooting people. after a formal complaint was given the police responded by saying yeah well it happens and shrugging. the following day the swat team and off duty police officers patroled and marched in solidarity. This is a violent protest to those actions. noone has been raped, noone has been murdered, and the only people injured were cops in full riot gear. property damage is not a result of just riots but also civil unrest, you know the principles this government was founded upon? or have we forgotten that little tidbit? a riots best synonym is free-for-all which this is not. ghandi himself proposed violent recourse when the point wasnt being driven home. yall need to brush up on your history and english
This was a problem that they created themselves. Baltimore's violence and crime issue drove away anyone who could afford to, so it became a city of the poor. They then rioted about the lack of jobs because those who owned the businesses brought their live's elsewhere, which just drove many more of the remaining jobs out of the city and brought down the city's worth even more. Then when a lot of no-low skill jobs were sent overseas, they lost even more of the jobs. Baltimore is a crime city, because there is little to no opportunity left. Racism is an issue that can never be fixed, this is basic economics. Racism is also beyond over blown. Disparity can be fixed, but that requires an effort by the people and real education. Much of the trouble in Baltimore stems from the lack of effort put in by those who have given up hope. I would support matching effort for effort. But I highly doubt that would ever happen, just look at what the troubled youth in that town did.
Being poor isn't the antithesis to community and human rights, the whole reason there are protests. As said before, ironic when put into the perspective of Jesus and his teachings. Where being poor was equated more with civility. I have been attacked before on this site for those views but really, I'm going to turn the other cheek. ;-)
a problem they created themselves? hardly. violence and crime does not pop up in areas of wealth. unless of course you are blaming baltimorians for the recession we found ourselves in 8 years ago, but i know you dont mean that. the troubled youth you are talking about have never known a time where their city was not crime ridden, im not sure if youve ever been in that situation but its very hard to break free of and suprisingly its gotten even harder since obama took office (the normal entitlement programs are nigh impossible to apply for these days and more and more are being re-appropriated by a republican congress). the youth are not the ones who are supposed to fix problems either economic or racial, they simply are the victims of them. its the adults that are the issue. the kids arent the lawmakers, and they arent the ones who put the idea of racial seperatism in their own heads, they arent the ones who gerrymander the election boundaries so even if they can vote they have little to no voice, they arent the police using excessive force and being hidden when they do behind the "blue line" all this is a direct responsibility of the 30+'s who you dont see protesting in these videos.
