Black People - Stop Blaming Racism, Take Responsibility

[LastPoet]

*** CAREFULL, GENERAL SPEED BUMP AHEAD ***

Ladies and gentlemen, I know that that this is a sensible matter, please keep this discussion reasonably leveled.




I'll stay the fuck away now.

[Minimalist]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/28...tail=email

Imagine for a moment that a man's neck was almost severed, nearly clean cut in the most painful way possible, while in the custody of the people charged with the duty of protecting and serving. Imagine that man died, alone, in a prison cell, while his cries for help were blatantly ignored. Now imagine that in the wake of that tragedy, a government had been infantile in its ability to explain even the basic details of what happened.

That's the revolting reality in Baltimore. And through it all, the dominant white response was muted. From different reaches of the Internet, prominent civil rights leaders weighed in on the travesty, offering perspectives on another data point in an ever-growing body of evidence that the police state is still being mobilized against black Americans. And sure, the death of Freddie Gray received some national media attention.
But it wasn't the concern of the average guy who looks like me. White Americans are immune to these problems, isolated from the realities of police brutality and oppression. Severed spines are a problem in the abstract, but certainly not something to get all bothered about. For some of us, the Freddie Gray travesty was another opportunity to reflect on the moral failings of the afflicted, noting that if Freddie had been a law-abiding choir boy, he wouldn't have found himself in the crunching grasp of Baltimore's police force. For others, it was an opportunity to remind the world that not all cops are bad, an impulse that's certainly correct, even if ill-timed.

[Mudhammam]

Broken windows are replaceable. Broken spines are not. Where are the condemnations of the police as "thugs" in the media? Not even a reference to any "pigs"? Or is it because "thug" has become the socially acceptable version of the N-word?

[Bad Wolf]

Rioting won't fix anything. Rioting won't make things any better. Rioting will only make things worse. Rioting will reinforce the prejudices of those that hold them. That baltimore picture is not representative of what the rioters are actually doing, why don't they show pictures of them standing on top of a car they just smashed, or next to a building they just set on fire? Their anger is justified, their rioting is not.

[rexbeccarox]

While I disagree with the word "thug" when it's just as easy to use words like "rioter" or "person", have you seen what has been happening in Baltimore, Pickup? The photo you posted is not at all representative. In fact, it's completely misleading.

[Minimalist]

Rioting won't fix anything. Rioting won't make things any better. Rioting will only make things worse. Rioting will reinforce the prejudices of those that hold them. That baltimore picture is not representative of what the rioters are actually doing, why don't they show pictures of them standing on top of a car they just smashed, or next to a building they just set on fire? Their anger is justified, their rioting is not.

Oh, you mean like this?




"Rioting" is not a rational response. It is an irrational response to constant provocation.

[Bad Wolf]

And I condmen that equally, what is your point?

[Mudhammam]

While I disagree with the word "thug" when it's just as easy to use words like "rioter" or "person", have you seen what has been happening in Baltimore, Pickup? The photo you posted is not at all representative. In fact, it's completely misleading.

I think the photo makes a valid point though. When these sorts of demonstrations occur in other countries, they're hailed as brave and democratic. When they occur here, the looting by "thugs" and "criminals" is always the main story.

[rexbeccarox]

While I agree with you (the peaceful protests in B'more came long before the looting), it doesn't change the fact that the people who are doing the rioting, looting, etc. (thugs, if you will- though I won't) exist, and that's what's happening in Baltimore, and those are the people being called "thugs", not the guy in the photo you posted.

[Mudhammam]

While I agree with you (the peaceful protests in B'more came long before the looting), it doesn't change the fact that the people who are doing the rioting, looting, etc. (thugs, if you will- though I won't) exist, and that's what's happening in Baltimore, and those are the people being called "thugs", not the guy in the photo you posted.

Sure, but I still disagree with that. These people have every right to be angry, and their pain is real---add insult to injury by stripping them of wealth, power, and opportunity, and what would anyone expect to be the result? That cause for the rioting, from my limited perspective, is not that they're bad people or looking for trouble, it's that they're fed up with the disrespect of the entire system and are fighting back the only way they can that will have any substantial impact.