police murder megathread

[Ebsy]

Well, it looks like Baltimore is intent on making all the same mistakes Ferguson/St. Louis County did.

[Ebsy]

There's no racism in America!

[Ebsy]

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.

Black people don't want sympathy. They want the extrajudicial killings to stop.

[Ebsy]

Why on earth would people wait for the investigation to be complete when they have no confidence in the integrity of said investigation?

[Ebsy]

I don't see what use comes out of people condemning the violence, or why it falls to a certain group, due to their sympathy with the cause of the demonstrators, to condemn the violence. Arguing that the rioters and protesters have a point is not an endorsement of how they are acting out, whether peacefully of violently. Of course the violence is counterproductive and unacceptable, but is not the oppressive culture that the police of Baltimore and many other cities just as worthy of condemnation? I've watched this all before from much closer than most of you, as my city has consumed itself in violence and looting. Condemnations from white and black Democrats did little to nothing to discourage the outbreaks of violence; I imagine condemnations from white democrats on a political forum will have similar impotency.

[Ebsy]

It was not too long ago that there were a bunch of drunk white coeds rioting in Kentucky over losing a basketball game. I don't remember people labeling them thugs or animals.

Edit: In St. Louis, we use the term "undesirables" to refer to any black people spotted in white neighborhoods. It has the same racially coded message as urban or inner city.

[Ebsy]

I don't think any logical person on here is going to argue that there are people in this country who have been systematically oppressed and discriminated against.

However, there is still absolutely no excuse for violence and looting. The systemic oppression of blacks in the south during the Civil Rights Era did not lead to the type of violence were see today from protestors. Everyone from the president to local leaders in the community has condemned this behavior and rightfully so.

Whether some on the left want to admit it or not, frustration is not a historical or logical justification for violence and non-violent protest remains the most effective means of civil disobedience.

Destroying your city does nothing for your cause.

There were dozens of race riots during the Civil Rights movement, especially following MLK's assassination. Pretending like this sort of disorder is unprecedented is willful ignorance.

[Ebsy]

This kind of vicious lawlessness is why many people feel uncomfortable in urban areas

I wonder who feels more uncomfortable: the white people from the suburbs who come to watch the ball game, or the people who have to live in abject poverty, surrounded by crime and vice, and forced to send their children to terrible schools because the tax base fled when the real estate covenants were ruled unconstitutional.

[Ebsy]

Nevada is an interesting anomaly.