police murder megathread

[cinyc]

also, why do we always get this sh**t?  do the families get paid off?

The mayor’s remarks were accompanied by pleas from Freddie Gray’s family: “Can ya’ll please, please stop the violence?” said Fredericka Gray, saying her twin brother would not want it.

if Tweed were an urban black and had his 15 minutes of fame, I'd say something like "respond in the way in which you are comfortable.  calls for 'peace' are an offense against the concept of peace, the concept of "true Shalom".  the calls for such false 'peace' as calls for allowing the ruling order to rule.  respond in the way you see fit."

can't charge me for inciting a riot on that one, can they? besides, they probably wouldn't even if they could.

Because most people are responsible adults who don't cheer violence.  They don't want to see anyone feel the pain of loss they feel, and don't want to harm the community they live in.

But I guess to immature people, cops, shopkeepers and innocent bystanders caught up in riots are sub-human pieces of garbage who deserve what they get, right?

[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.

[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.

[cinyc]

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.

Rioting gets more negative coverage, perpetuating negative stereotypes about young African-American males.  Clapping your hands and singing last week got plenty of coverage to anyone who was paying attention to the news last week.

Why is the white reaction a "concern", exactly?

[cinyc]

I'd argue that there's a pretty stark distinction between stories that are covered by the media and stories that generate active and sustained interest in collective action, public policy issues and background information. Ferguson played a central role in public life for months. Do you honestly mean to suggest that a few thousand peaceful protesters marching in Baltimore would have aroused the senses of the public?

Again, the story was extensively covered by the media last week.  The focus then was what happened to Freddie Gray.  Now, the focus is on how a bunch of idiots burned down the local drug store and slashed the hoses of the firemen who were trying to put the fire out.  How does that help, exactly?  Someone dies in police custody, an investigation is currently underway, and people are rioting before the investigation is even complete.