How are people so simple?

[bab]

I don't know if this is news elsewhere, but an NYPD officer was shot and killed this weekend. My FB is chock full of people questioning "where are the riots? Why aren't these people burning down their community? Where is Al Sharpton?"

Seriously? It is TRAGIC what happened to that officer, but the suspect is in custody without bail. He will be charged for his crime. How are people so blatantly missing the point? I don't condone rioting by any means, but to pretend the justice system operates so equally between blacks and police officers? Really?

[Deleted]

I can't deal with people's crazy comments when it comes to those issues.
The shooting happened in my borough and I'm so sad for that young officer. He was only 25 and lost his life for no reason. I'm glad they caught the criminal that is responsible. 

[lissaholly]

People aren't that simple, they are purposefully obtuse. They want to support the men in blue, above any logic.

[kristie]

I am seeing the same thing. My head hurts from banging it against the wall.

[FastHands]

It's really sad. Some people are so comfortable in their bubble that even murders and riots don't spark reevaluation.

[underwaterrhymes]

This right here is a prime example of how racism is systemic. You don't have to use the n-word to be racist.

It's very sad what happened to that officer and I'm glad the suspect is in custody, but people weren't protesting because an unarmed black man was killed by a police officer. They were protesting because many, many unarmed black men have been killed by police officers and nothing is being done to stop it.

[underwaterrhymes]

May 5, 2015 22:39:31 GMT -5 @iteach said:

They aren't protesting, they are rioting. There is a difference. I'd have some respect for their viewpoint if they were protesting. However, the cops in Baltimore deserve everything they have coming to them.

Sigh.

You clearly have no idea what you're talking about.

[bugandbibs]

May 5, 2015 22:39:31 GMT -5 @iteach said:

They aren't protesting, they are rioting. There is a difference. I'd have some respect for their viewpoint if they were protesting. However, the cops in Baltimore deserve everything they have coming to them.

No. You are wrong.

[Deleted]

May 5, 2015 22:39:31 GMT -5 @iteach said:

They aren't protesting, they are rioting. There is a difference. I'd have some respect for their viewpoint if they were protesting.  

I'm refraining from calling you names because what the fuck.

I'll just (re)direct you to this thread, in case you missed it the first time around:
pandce.proboards.com/thread/441923/hearing-baltimore

Saying "yes mastah" and putting our hands up saying "don't shoot" has gotten us nowhere except killed, so of course we're a tad pissed and past the point of quiet protesting. 


And this explanation sums up things pretty well:

For some reason, some of my friends look to me to explain certain things to them, which should be obvious.

For instance yesterday within just two hours three separate people played YouTube videos of the Baltimore riots and then asked me, "what is going on....? Why are they doing this?". They were truly puzzled. I guess they felt like I had some insight into the "young Black American psyche".....

My answer; We have been singing and talking about this since at least the 30s. You listen to the songs, but you don't heed the message. Nobody wants to pay attention until it might directly affect them.

If you systematically deny a population opportunity, equal protection under the law, justice, access to decent education, the hope of a sustainable legal livelihood, housing and communities, parents and positive role models, in short a life worth living, and then you take away their voice to speak out about these things, their ability to organize, while frequently brutalizing and sometimes killing their friends, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, you will assuredly get frequent and mindless rioting.

Sure some will choose to follow the examples of Dr. King and Ghandi by peacefully protesting, but the very worst off with no faith in the system, no real concept of community, and no escape from their lot in life may only remember that all their leaders including Dr. King and Ghandi have been assassinated or incarcerated. They may choose instead to show their rage, anger and outrage at the situation via destruction.

This is not a rational response and this not rocket science!

Look at any place this has occurred over the the last 100 years; England, Ireland, France, Germany, Eastern Europe, Russia, South and North Africa, The Middle East, The Far East, and yes, Ferguson and Baltimore. The conditions and cause are always the same. The result is always the same.

You don't need insight into the young black psyche. You just need to know a little history and understand human beings......Even a faithful dog will turn around and bite if it's constantly mistreated.

A Riot is the language of the unheard ~ MLK

[franklin]

May 6, 2015 0:53:15 GMT -5 @wandering said:

May 5, 2015 22:39:31 GMT -5 @iteach said:

They aren't protesting, they are rioting. There is a difference. I'd have some respect for their viewpoint if they were protesting.  

I'm refraining from calling you names because what the fuck.

I'll just (re)direct you to this thread, in case you missed it the first time around:
pandce.proboards.com/thread/441923/hearing-baltimore

Saying "yes mastah" and putting our hands up saying "don't shoot" has gotten us nowhere except killed, so of course we're a tad pissed and past the point of quiet protesting. 


And this explanation sums up things pretty well:

For some reason, some of my friends look to me to explain certain things to them, which should be obvious.

For instance yesterday within just two hours three separate people played YouTube videos of the Baltimore riots and then asked me, "what is going on....? Why are they doing this?". They were truly puzzled. I guess they felt like I had some insight into the "young Black American psyche".....

My answer; We have been singing and talking about this since at least the 30s. You listen to the songs, but you don't heed the message. Nobody wants to pay attention until it might directly affect them.

If you systematically deny a population opportunity, equal protection under the law, justice, access to decent education, the hope of a sustainable legal livelihood, housing and communities, parents and positive role models, in short a life worth living, and then you take away their voice to speak out about these things, their ability to organize, while frequently brutalizing and sometimes killing their friends, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, you will assuredly get frequent and mindless rioting.

Sure some will choose to follow the examples of Dr. King and Ghandi by peacefully protesting, but the very worst off with no faith in the system, no real concept of community, and no escape from their lot in life may only remember that all their leaders including Dr. King and Ghandi have been assassinated or incarcerated. They may choose instead to show their rage, anger and outrage at the situation via destruction.

This is not a rational response and this not rocket science!

Look at any place this has occurred over the the last 100 years; England, Ireland, France, Germany, Eastern Europe, Russia, South and North Africa, The Middle East, The Far East, and yes, Ferguson and Baltimore. The conditions and cause are always the same. The result is always the same.

You don't need insight into the young black psyche. You just need to know a little history and understand human beings......Even a faithful dog will turn around and bite if it's constantly mistreated.

A Riot is the language of the unheard ~ MLK

Very well said! All of this just makes me sad - sad that people are drawing lines in the sand, sad that people are not willing to try and understand the other point of view, and just sad that it has come to this.

[ECB]

May 6, 2015 7:04:43 GMT -5 @koko said:

May 5, 2015 22:39:31 GMT -5 @iteach said:

They aren't protesting, they are rioting. There is a difference. I'd have some respect for their viewpoint if they were protesting. However, the cops in Baltimore deserve everything they have coming to them.

They were protesting for six days, you stupid douchefuck. They're STILL protesting. The riots were a relatively small amount of people. I am so fucking sick of ignorant assholes like you acting like the only people taking to the streets in Baltimore were to set shit on fire and rob the KFC. Go sit and spin.

As the woman named Danielle was captured by one news channel saying - they were protesting peacefully for 6 days.  not a single news station or news camera was there.  it wasn't until they started breaking things and showing their anger that the media thought "OH, now it's a story!!! Let's go!". 

[underwaterrhymes]

May 5, 2015 22:39:31 GMT -5 @iteach said:

They aren't protesting, they are rioting. There is a difference. I'd have some respect for their viewpoint if they were protesting. However, the cops in Baltimore deserve everything they have coming to them.

Also, I think from your screen name you are a teacher, so you really should know this, but allow me to enlighten you:

The events that spurred the war that meant the States aren't under British rule? Riots. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Tea_Party

Part of the reason we aren't all working in a sweatshop? Riots. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_affair

Some of the events that paved the way for LGBTQ equality? Riots. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_riots

Want women's rights? Yep. Got riots there too. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_uprisings_led_by_women

It really infuriates me that all of these fucking people sit on their damn high horses and say that riots don't change anything when we have ALL benefitted from social uprisings that occurred when quietly asking for change did not make a difference.

I didn't see you (or anyone else bemoaning the fucking CVS) anywhere in here talking about the travesty of the police severing a man's spine. To value a building over a life is fucking gross, dude.

Also, none of these bigoted assholes blowing up their Facebooks over the Ferguson and Baltimore riots had anything to say about the riots that don't make any sense, namely those that take place after a sporting event. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_riot

But I guess because those are mostly white college kids, they don't muster your outrage, right?

[dawnzersong]

May 5, 2015 22:39:31 GMT -5 @iteach said:

They aren't protesting, they are rioting. There is a difference. I'd have some respect for their viewpoint if they were protesting. However, the cops in Baltimore deserve everything they have coming to them.

thenib.com/great-moments-in-peaceful-protest-history-44bdadb44cf

[Deleted]

Ok sorry I have to come back to this...


I honestly couldn't sleep for a little bit last night because @iteach's opinion is so common and just makes me not just angry but sad.

Can anyone imagine if white women in their teens, 20s and 30s were getting the same treatment from the police and getting killed monthly...can you imagine the absolute uproar it would cause?

Yet because it's "others" aka black men, it doesn't matter and we just need to sit down and shut up and write to Congress about it. NO. 

Obviously this isn't an overnight fix, but I think education is key and I hope @iteach and some of the others from the last post who "didn't get the riots" would read and listen. It'd be nice if some of them would come back and post with some understanding and compassion.

[underwaterrhymes]

May 6, 2015 10:21:11 GMT -5 @wandering said:

Ok sorry I have to come back to this...


I honestly couldn't sleep for a little bit last night because @iteach's opinion is so common and just makes me not just angry but sad.

Can anyone imagine if white women in their teens, 20s and 30s were getting the same treatment from the police and getting killed monthly...can you imagine the absolute uproar it would cause?

Yet because it's "others" aka black men, it doesn't matter and we just need to sit down and shut up and write to Congress about it. NO. 

Obviously this isn't an overnight fix, but I think education is key and I hope @iteach and some of the others from the last post who "didn't get the riots" would read and listen. It'd be nice if some of them would come back and post with some understanding and compassion.

Also, the fact that people bring up criminal records of the people who were killed - looking for anything to "validate" these murders - is absolutely ridiculous.

NONE of us should want to live in a country where it's okay to summarily execute someone without benefit of a trial.

[kristie]

www.mintpressnews.com/the-lesson-from-ferguson-riots-work/203388/

Riots aren't the answer, except when the are. No one, not one fucking person that I have talked to in person about this has known there were huge peaceful protests for at least a week before shit hit the fan. They are quick to say riots aren't the answer. Well it seems like they are because now you are all talking about it. This has never been something that has personally affected me, but I have felt enough rage over the militarization of the police to want to burn some shit down.

[underwaterrhymes]

May 6, 2015 12:13:44 GMT -5 @iteach said:

100% the police were wrong in Baltimore, they are awful cops. There are also good cops out there. But don't you think it's possible that the cops feel justified in the way they treat black people after they riot like this? It's like "see, this is why we do it, because they are criminals"
I'm not saying I agree with that thinking, I don't. I think everyone was wrong in Baltimore. The guy for getting in trouble in the first place (please know,that no matter what he did, he did not deserve what happened to him), the awful cops for murdering him, and the rioters. I just feel like violence and destruction of your community aren't the answer.

He did nothing wrong.

He looked at the cops and ran, but he committed no crime.

[meggers5]

May 6, 2015 12:13:44 GMT -5 @iteach said:

100% the police were wrong in Baltimore, they are awful cops. There are also good cops out there. But don't you think it's possible that the cops feel justified in the way they treat black people after they riot like this? It's like "see, this is why we do it, because they are criminals"
I'm not saying I agree with that thinking, I don't. I think everyone was wrong in Baltimore. The guy for getting in trouble in the first place (please know,that no matter what he did, he did not deserve what happened to him), the awful cops for murdering him, and the rioters. I just feel like violence and destruction of your community aren't the answer.

This sentence actually hurts.

[underwaterrhymes]

May 6, 2015 12:13:44 GMT -5 @iteach said:

100% the police were wrong in Baltimore, they are awful cops. There are also good cops out there. But don't you think it's possible that the cops feel justified in the way they treat black people after they riot like this? It's like "see, this is why we do it, because they are criminals"
I'm not saying I agree with that thinking, I don't. I think everyone was wrong in Baltimore. The guy for getting in trouble in the first place (please know,that no matter what he did, he did not deserve what happened to him), the awful cops for murdering him, and the rioters. I just feel like violence and destruction of your community aren't the answer.

And also, what the fuck is wrong with you with this statement?

[gummybear]

May 6, 2015 12:13:44 GMT -5 @iteach said:

100% the police were wrong in Baltimore, they are awful cops. There are also good cops out there. But don't you think it's possible that the cops feel justified in the way they treat black people after they riot like this? It's like "see, this is why we do it, because they are criminals"
I'm not saying I agree with that thinking, I don't. I think everyone was wrong in Baltimore. The guy for getting in trouble in the first place (please know,that no matter what he did, he did not deserve what happened to him), the awful cops for murdering him, and the rioters. I just feel like violence and destruction of your community aren't the answer.

This is possibly one of the worst things I have ever read on here. You cannot be serious.

[Deleted]

May 6, 2015 12:13:44 GMT -5 @iteach said:

100% the police were wrong in Baltimore, they are awful cops. There are also good cops out there. But don't you think it's possible that the cops feel justified in the way they treat black people after they riot like this? It's like "see, this is why we do it, because they are criminals"
I'm not saying I agree with that thinking, I don't. I think everyone was wrong in Baltimore. The guy for getting in trouble in the first place (please know,that no matter what he did, he did not deserve what happened to him), the awful cops for murdering him, and the rioters. I just feel like violence and destruction of your community aren't the answer.

Wtf is wrong with you. I'm actually having a physical reaction to your statements in that I feel rage.

I take back my statement in regards to wanting posters to come back after reading differing viewpoints in hopes that they will learn something.

Did you read what I posted above? I assume your screen name means you teach, which means I hope you have opened a history book. Sometimes riots get shit done...look around the world at oppressed people. WTF.

PEOPLE HAVE BEEN QUIETLY WRITING CONGRESS, PEACEFULLY PROTESTING, BECOMING EDUCATED, DOING ALL THE "RIGHT" THINGS AND LOOK WHERE IT HAS GOTTEN US....KILLED, HARRASSED, ARRESTED, ETC.

[meggers5]

May 6, 2015 12:20:03 GMT -5 @iteach said:

Ok, so this time he didn't do anything wrong. He had a pretty long rap sheet, so he was no stranger to being in trouble. By running, he acted guilty, which of course led the cops to believe he was guilty. He made a mistake by doing that, for sure. Again, he did not deserve what happened to him, the cops do deserve every second of jail time they will hopefully get (or the death penalty, not sure if Maryland has it though)

Maybe he ran because he doesn't trust police.

It would appear that he shouldn't.

[Deleted]

May 6, 2015 12:20:03 GMT -5 @iteach said:

Ok, so this time he didn't do anything wrong. He had a pretty long rap sheet, so he was no stranger to being in trouble. By running, he acted guilty, which of course led the cops to believe he was guilty. He made a mistake by doing that, for sure. Again, he did not deserve what happened to him, the cops do deserve every second of jail time they will hopefully get (or the death penalty, not sure if Maryland has it though)

I rarely say this, but FUCK YOU.

THIS IS EXACTLY THE REASON WHY BLACK MEN ARE GETTING KILLED BECAUSE THIS THINKING RIGHT THERE IN THAT THEIR LIVES DON'T MATTER.

FUCK YOU.

[underwaterrhymes]

May 6, 2015 12:20:03 GMT -5 @iteach said:

Ok, so this time he didn't do anything wrong. He had a pretty long rap sheet, so he was no stranger to being in trouble. By running, he acted guilty, which of course led the cops to believe he was guilty. He made a mistake by doing that, for sure. Again, he did not deserve what happened to him, the cops do deserve every second of jail time they will hopefully get (or the death penalty, not sure if Maryland has it though)

First, I encourage you to go back and look at some of the links in this thread.

Do you see the double-standard? As I've said before, white people walk into Kroeger with semi-automatic weapons on their backs and the cops are not shooting them. But a black man holds a toy gun in Walmart in the toy section and they gun him down.

White kids play with BB guns on the corners all the time. But a black kid holds a BB gun on a corner and he gets gunned down.

White people riot after sporting events and no one calls them "thugs." Black people do it after years of institutionalized racism and murder and they're destroying their communities and - as at least one politician put it - deserve to be shot.

THIS IS RACISM.

[Deleted]

I have to go see patients now and I'm seriously shaking. I want to cry. WHY THE FUCK DO PEOPLE THINK LIKE THIS?!?

[dowagercountess]

May 6, 2015 12:20:03 GMT -5 @iteach said:

Ok, so this time he didn't do anything wrong. He had a pretty long rap sheet, so he was no stranger to being in trouble. By running, he acted guilty, which of course led the cops to believe he was guilty. He made a mistake by doing that, for sure. Again, he did not deserve what happened to him, the cops do deserve every second of jail time they will hopefully get (or the death penalty, not sure if Maryland has it though)

Please tell me you don't actually teach. 

[sweetday]

I need to know what iteach teaches.

[gummybear]

May 6, 2015 12:20:03 GMT -5 @iteach said:

Ok, so this time he didn't do anything wrong. He had a pretty long rap sheet, so he was no stranger to being in trouble. By running, he acted guilty, which of course led the cops to believe he was guilty. He made a mistake by doing that, for sure. Again, he did not deserve what happened to him, the cops do deserve every second of jail time they will hopefully get (or the death penalty, not sure if Maryland has it though)

This is EXACTLY what this is all about. Racial profiling, stereotyping and assumptions. Which have no place is society, let alone law enforcement. How can you not see this? THAT IS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN. You do not ACT on those feelings. That is why innocent men die!

[underwaterrhymes]

May 6, 2015 12:27:50 GMT -5 TR said:

May 6, 2015 12:26:04 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

First, I encourage you to go back and look at some of the links in this thread.

Do you see the double-standard? As I've said before, white people walk into Kroeger with semi-automatic weapons on their backs and the cops are not shooting them. But a black man holds a toy gun in Walmart in the toy section and they gun him down.

White kids play with BB guns on the corners all the time. But a black kid holds a BB gun on a corner and he gets gunned down.

White people riot after sporting events and no one calls them "thugs." Black people do it and they're destroying their communities and - as at least one politician put it - deserve to be shot.

THIS IS RACISM.

I really love you for trying, but I think you're wasting your breath/typing on this one.

I know.

But it just makes me so angry and sad that people can't see this.

[Deleted]

Ok last thing before I might lose my shit so I need to step away...

This thread is a prime example of exactly why riots happen.

Most of us tried to be diplomatic and post nice stories and links and education ablut the history of why this is happening.

And instead of listening and having compassion the response is "but he was a criminal in the past and he ran."

NO. clearly we are talking to a brick wall so if being nice and educational isn't working my next reaction is what I said above, Fuck you.