police murder megathread

[Indy Texas]

Am I naive in wondering why they can't just have an unimpeachable, inoffensive MLK-style march? Even Fox News couldn't get hot and bothered about that.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Am I naive in wondering why they can't just have an unimpeachable, inoffensive MLK-style march? Even Fox News couldn't get hot and bothered about that.

The problem is, many whites will view the march as being another Sharpton stunt. Even MLK was controversial in his lifetime among many whites, even those who weren't racists from the south. I don't condone rioting, but it is not my place to decide what the black communities response should be.

[© tweed]

Am I naive in wondering why they can't just have an unimpeachable, inoffensive MLK-style march? Even Fox News couldn't get hot and bothered about that.

those don't work. that's why the bourgeois liberals applaud them.  and the cops will punch you in the face irregardless.

besides, such 'peaceful' protest was criticized by many and many during the NYC protest against cops.  they ended up getting blamed for a couple homicides a week later.

[Lief 🗽]

They've been peacefully protesting for a week. No one gives a sh**t about these people until things get lit on fire.

[BaconBacon96]

Is the rioting still ongoing?

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Am I naive in wondering why they can't just have an unimpeachable, inoffensive MLK-style march? Even Fox News couldn't get hot and bothered about that.

No one will pay attention to that.

[Lief 🗽]

Public schools are closed tomorrow...

Wonder what all the school children will do, probably just stay at home playing video games all day

These bastards want riots, they rile people up, they antagonize protestors, they send out their police-soldiers to escalate the situation, and then a couple of angry people throw a brick or light something on fire, and suddenly we can go back to villainizing and dehumanizing black men, "oh sure they tortured that guy to death by severing 80% of his spinal cord, but with the way these thugs act he probably had it coming", and then and only then does the media pay any attention to what's going on, and without any context mainstream American is thrust into CNN reporters acting out their fantasies as war correspondents. The same story every single time.

[ChainsawJedis]

I have been going off about this all day. Being from Maryland, seeing the ignorance, racism, and bigotry on social media is appalling. 

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Lol'ing at the CNN headline "Unprecedented"

I know the quotes are from Baltimore police, but CNN is national and will be interpreted as such. Are we really at the point where we can pretend Ferguson never happened?

[Beet]

This really brings out the worst in people in terms of racism.

[publicunofficial]

I always love when white conservatives criticize black people for rioting as a "bad way to convince people." As if a peaceful protest would change their minds.

[King]

I was watching FOX News about the riots and there was some guy screaming about Martin O'Malley's corruption as responsible for the decay of the city.

RIP O'Malley's challenge to Clinton.

[Associate Justice PiT]

I always love when white conservatives criticize black people for rioting as a "bad way to convince people." As if a peaceful protest would change their minds.

     So given a choice between a peaceful protest (doesn't change their minds) and a riot (doesn't change their minds and destroys their own homes and workplaces), we shouldn't want them to go with the former?

[Beet]

Here's a sample of upvoted comments from the Baltimore Sun:

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http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bal-university-of-baltimore-closes-amid-high-school-purge-threat-20150427-story.html#page=1&panel=comments

[Ebsy]

There's no racism in America!

[King]

Here's a sample of upvoted comments from the Baltimore Sun:

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http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bal-university-of-baltimore-closes-amid-high-school-purge-threat-20150427-story.html#page=1&panel=comments

Those comments are on every article on the internet.

[ChainsawJedis]

I always love when white conservatives criticize black people for rioting as a "bad way to convince people." As if a peaceful protest would change their minds.

     So given a choice between a peaceful protest (doesn't change their minds) and a riot (doesn't change their minds and destroys their own homes and workplaces), we shouldn't want them to go with the former?

No, you should, but he does have a point.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

I always love when white conservatives criticize black people for rioting as a "bad way to convince people." As if a peaceful protest would change their minds.

     So given a choice between a peaceful protest (doesn't change their minds) and a riot (doesn't change their minds and destroys their own homes and workplaces), we shouldn't want them to go with the former?

Serious question: did you know about Freddie Gray before the rioting began? I didn't know about Freddie Gray before I read about the riots.

[cinyc]

Serious question: did you know about Freddie Gray before the rioting began? I didn't know about Freddie Gray before I read about the riots.

Considering the riots didn't start until Saturday and the story was all over on the news earlier in the week, anyone who was paying attention to the news should have known about Freddie Gray before the riots.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Here's a sample of upvoted comments from the Baltimore Sun:

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http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bal-university-of-baltimore-closes-amid-high-school-purge-threat-20150427-story.html#page=1&panel=comments

Those comments are on every article on the internet.

I wouldn't read too much into those comments: Stormfront and other white supremacist websites encourage members to spam articles, youtube videos, reddit and 4chan with racist rhetoric in order to make it racism seem "mainstream".

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Serious question: did you know about Freddie Gray before the rioting began? I didn't know about Freddie Gray before I read about the riots.

Considering the riots didn't start until Saturday and the story was all over on the news earlier in the week, anyone who was paying attention to the news should have known about Freddie Gray before the riots.

What media outlets covered the death of Freddie Gray? I visit the New York Times' website every day and did not see an article about Freddie Gray or a death in Baltimore. I've been paying attention to the news on a more sporadic basis as of late but this behavior is actually pretty reflective of the average American.

We're actually discussing Freddie Gray on this forum now. Although I'm sure that the Baltimore riots will turn-off most of the public, there will be segments of the public that will be more concerned about Gray's death than riots. Again, I doubt that these sympathetic segments would have heard about Gray before the rioting.

In short: rioting is effective at raising awareness. It's possible to condemn rioting and acknowledge that rioting has played an important role in American history. Although endemic rioting was behind the inception of "backlash voting", it also produced a keen awareness among public officials that the living conditions in inner-cities posed a risk for all Americans. This isn't disputable: discussions of the material conditions and slum-like conditions played a much more prominent role in American public life after Watts.

[The Free North]

Here's a sample of upvoted comments from the Baltimore Sun:

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http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bal-university-of-baltimore-closes-amid-high-school-purge-threat-20150427-story.html#page=1&panel=comments

Idiots post on the internet...news at 11

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

I always love when white conservatives criticize black people for rioting as a "bad way to convince people." As if a peaceful protest would change their minds.

     So given a choice between a peaceful protest (doesn't change their minds) and a riot (doesn't change their minds and destroys their own homes and workplaces), we shouldn't want them to go with the former?

Serious question: did you know about Freddie Gray before the rioting began? I didn't know about Freddie Gray before I read about the riots.

CNN televised the massive press conference just hours after it happened. BPD was embarrassed for this to have happened. I was pretty impressed with the coverage, and it did not stop all week. It was literally the major news story every day. And then the riots started at Camden Yards, and the tide turned.

[cinyc]

What media outlets covered the death of Freddie Gray? I visit the New York Times' website every day and did not see an article about Freddie Gray or a death in Baltimore. I've been paying attention to the news on a more sporadic basis as of late but this behavior is actually pretty reflective of the average American.

We're actually discussing Freddie Gray on this forum now. Although I'm sure that the Baltimore riots will turn-off most of the public, there will be segments of the public that will be more concerned about Gray's death than riots. Again, I doubt that these sympathetic segments would have heard about Gray before the rioting.

The CNN link posted here in Reply 5 was published last Tuesday, April 21.  Stories were run on the national nightly newscasts around the same time.  It was in the news.

The only thing riots will do is make many people less sympathetic to Freddy Gray, not more.

[Beet]

quote

Those comments are on every article on the internet.

It depends on the outlet. I looked on the more highbrow Atlantic and the discussion was a lot more balanced, as I expected.

Oh yeah: come on cinyc, common sense. Rioting is always going to get more coverage than clapping your hands and singing. That's not to say that white reaction isn't a concern. We all know the history of the late 60s leading to Mr. "law and order" Nixon.