police break blakk yuth neck?

[blugiant]

It's easy for you to sit in France, in the safe confines of your home, as criminal activity occurs in Baltimore. Innocent people attacked, a city burned and destroyed by thugs. I've just worked a 24 hr shift in the middle of this melee. You are making excuses for criminals.

yuh got all dat overtime ann cumplaing cah yuh mekk more money awf blakk sufferrinn. natt mekkinn annee xxcuse cah dem yuths juss fallawinn merikka foundinn fathers example . yuh know king george ann imm representatives sed similar tings bout da foundinn fathers. iff yuh studee histaree, yuh kno wat mii seyinn iss troo

[blugiant]

Death of Freddie Gray Gives Black Youth In Baltimore A Chance to Show The World The Extent of Their Inevitable Rage and Frustration

April 28, 2015 | Posted by Nick Chiles



Images of burning buildings and ransacked stores in Baltimore are filling the news media across the country as public officials desperately grasp for whatever resources they have to quell the unrest that exploded after the Monday funeral of Freddie Gray.

As occurred in cities like Ferguson, the stories quickly morphed from cataloguing the victimization of the Black community at the hands of law enforcement to portraying the frustrated young members of that same community as an evil force of criminals.

It is a tableau that is now beginning to take on the characteristics of a broken record: Community member is killed by police, community explodes in anger, community is attacked for being angry. And the coverage turns from sympathetic reports of peaceful protests to sensationalized dispatches from a war zone—with very little analysis of the roots of the anger.

From the relative comfort of white privilege, it may be hard to understand the nihilistic rage that accompanies Black oppression. Even for those Black people in America who are fairly well off, below the surface there is always a slow simmer of frustration and anger over slights and slams, big and small. For those truly on the margins, there is a visceral desire to disrupt and alarm. To disturb a system whose prosperity requires the suffering and disregarding of poor Black people.

So when “riots” explode in Black communities like Baltimore, it is merely the outward manifestation of American capitalism, the proverbial chicken coming home to roost. If you are going to create the largest wealth and income gap in American history, an economic system that has become noteworthy for its lopsidedness, you must expect periodic explosions. The real question is: Why doesn’t it happen more often?

Across America, every major city with a substantial Black and poor population has all the elements to witness a Ferguson or Baltimore redux: Huge unemployment among young Black males (and females). The disappearance of a working class job base. Crumbling and failing schools. Massive incarceration rates. Visceral and mutual hostility between Black people and the cops. A complete disinterest in the fate of the Black community from the city’s real economic elite. Lack of recreational outlets for young people.

The cities are often run primarily by Black public officials while white capitalists continue to control the purse strings, quietly stashing the city’s real cash outflows garnered from sectors like banking and real estate in their pockets every night and taking them back out to the surrounding wealthy suburbs—or increasingly to cloistered and rich enclaves inside the city lines.

In Baltimore, public officials are using what they have at their disposal: condemning words, threats, law enforcement and the criminal justice system—there have been dozens of arrests since the conflict started. The young people of Baltimore use what they have: destruction of property, fire, looting, rocks. Officials want to call the violence “senseless,” as did incoming Attorney General Loretta Lynch in a statement released yesterday. But if the point is to create chaos and upset the public officials who have failed them, then there is much sense to it.

The responsibility for this chaotic scene will fall into the lap of Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who will be faulted for not seeing it coming. But any mayor of a struggling Black city knows, deep down, that the elements are always there. That’s why Baltimore had already had in place a curfew for youth 14 and younger, which the mayor announced last night will be extended to everybody in the entire city starting today. The curfew will be in effect for a week, from 10 pm to 5 am, and will be “extended as necessary.”

Even before the killing of Freddie Gray, writer Mike Males noted on the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange that Baltimore’s youth curfew was intended to “gloss over bad conditions officials have failed to redress, such as Baltimore’s campaign to curfew kids playing street football during evenings in poorer neighborhoods devoid of parks and recreation facilities.”

“Safer, inclusive communities welcome more teenagers in public, a reality reflected in the fact that police quickly tire of the hassles and antagonisms curfews entail,” Males wrote. “In short, community leaders who adopt a curfew are admitting there’s something radically wrong with their leadership, not young people.”

A clearly frustrated Rawlings-Blake resorted to name-calling to describe those young people who were burning and looting.

“What we see tonight … is very disturbing,” she said. “It is very clear that there’s a difference between what we saw last week between the peaceful protests … and the thugs, who only want to incite violence and destroy our city.

“I’m a life-long resident of Baltimore. Too many generations have spent their lives building up this city to have it destroyed by thugs, who in a very senseless way are trying to tear down what so many have fought for.”

But her description of a city that has been built up by generations is not at all reflected in the facts of life for much of Baltimore’s Black community, where a quarter of residents are living below the federal poverty line. Researchers Karl Alexander and Linda Olson of Johns Hopkins University traced the lives of nearly 800 poor children in Baltimore for more than 25 years, starting in 1982, and found that almost none of them finished college, Black or white, by 2007. But even without the benefit of a college degree, the 40 percent of the children who were white still wound up having far better outcomes as adults than the Black children. The white men were more likely to be working full-time and to be earning more money.

“Baltimore, like so many other American cities, suffered immensely under the ravages associated with de-industrialization: the loss of industry, population and wealth,” they wrote. “Under such circumstances, many of the city’s disadvantaged youths stumbled along the way. But the consequences have been especially dire for African-Americans. As young adults, African-American men had fared much worse than whites in the job market, even though they and their white counterparts had about the same levels of education and the whites reported higher rates of marijuana and heavy drug use and binge drinking.”

They found that at age 28, nearly half of the white men who had not attended college were employed in the industrial and construction trades, the highest-paying sector of blue-collar employment. But only 15 percent of African-American men worked in these sectors, and even within that small group, annual earnings were less than half that of whites — $21,500 versus $43,000. How did that happen? Because a fifth of the white men who grew up in disadvantaged families had after-school and summer jobs in these industries, which is crucial experience that can help secure a full-time job, while not a single African-American person did.

So it’s very easy to see the racist forces that control their lives, leading to incredible frustration and anger.

In a study of teenagers led by Dr. Kristen Mmari, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health, which compared adolescents from impoverished areas in Baltimore, Shanghai, Johannesburg, Ibadan and New Delhi, researchers found that although there were many similarities—in all five cities, adolescents were exposed to unsanitary conditions, substance abuse and violence—teenagers in Baltimore and Johannesburg, despite being located in comparably wealthy countries, had far worse health outcomes and tended to perceive their communities more negatively.

“In Baltimore, which is located in the world’s richest nation per capita and just 40 miles from the White House, adolescents exhibited considerably high rates of mental health issues, substance abuse, sexual risk-taking, sexual violence and teen pregnancy,” the researchers wrote.

One of the biggest differences was that adolescents in Baltimore and Johannesburg had relatively lower levels of “social cohesion,” which refers to the emotional support provided by one’s family and neighbors. In Baltimore, many poor teens grow up in single-parent homes and have a father in prison, while those in Johannesburg tend to lose their parents to AIDS.

“In those cities, kids were much more likely to live in a one-parent household,” Mmari says. (Or, as a youth in Baltimore described it, “The kids are being raised by themselves.”) “Whereas in Delhi, most of these kids are still living in two-parent homes, so they are getting much more support.”

Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, released a statement yesterday saying that he understands the anger over Freddie Gray’s death. But he said the violence does nothing to ensure that justice is served.

“We understand people are angry and that the community is upset, but violence only distracts us from the justice we seek,” he said. “Violence does not lead to justice.”

But a quest for justice is likely not even the driving force in the minds of most of these young people. They know justice is a distant stranger, one they have rarely seen in their lives. Their most reliable companion is rage. And the death of Freddie Gray has given them a rare opportunity to show it to the world.

http://atlantablackstar.com/2015/04/28/death-of-freddie-gray-gives-black-youth-in-baltimore-a-chance-to-show-the-world-the-extent-of-their-inevitable-rage-and-frustration/

[Blackstar*]

I don't usually bother with that racist who I put on ignore, but Baltimore is my old hometown and I have family and friends who live and died there so don't come for me like I don't know anything about the city.

Move off from me and don't bother responding to my posts because I don't see them and will not respond again.

[lonewolf]

Blu, I believe that you are one very sick person...You are forgetting that these thugs are burning and looting black neighborhoods. The CVS pharmacy that was burned provided medicine to many elderly and sick folk in the area. That's just one example of destruction that you call progress. You applaud while people suffer. I believe that the majority of black residents in Baltimore are not thinking like you. And, for that I'm grateful. Of course you may talk and think like a thug, but you let others do your bidding for you...that's the way of all cowards.

PS No over time for 24 hrs, that it is a regular shift....And, Blackstar, when you come to your senses you can thank me for keeping your family in Baltimore safe.

[My Looh]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3058476/Baltimore-mom-sees-son-preparing-riot-smacks-upside-head-large-crowd.html

The world needs more mothers like her.

[blugiant]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rge-crowd.html

The world needs more mothers like her.

iff yuh studee histaree yuh will see dat itt usuallee da yuths dat ar da engine fe change ann narmallee dem affii overcum da objections aff dem scared parents. dat blakk yuth realized dat he iss ann endangered species while imm maddar iss da wan brainwashed to defend oyinbo supremacee.

read willie lynch carefullee ann ovatand oww blakk oomen roles

wat wood dat maddar do iff itt was ar son instead of freddie gray being buried.

blakk mothers have to stap babyinn blakk yuths ann let dem become strong blakk men

[blugiant]

Blu, I believe that you are one very sick person...You are forgetting that these thugs are burning and looting black neighborhoods. The CVS pharmacy that was burned provided medicine to many elderly and sick folk in the area. That's just one example of destruction that you call progress. You applaud while people suffer. I believe that the majority of black residents in Baltimore are not thinking like you. And, for that I'm grateful. Of course you may talk and think like a thug, but you let others do your bidding for you...that's the way of all cowards.

PS No over time for 24 hrs, that it is a regular shift.....

dem yuths ar natt thugs. onlee dem sellout blakk politrixxstahs pander fe oyinbo support characterizinn dem as thugs. dese ar yuths woo ar tired aff seeing blakks being murdered by the police and da injustice system findinn dose killars natt guiltee.da onlee ting wurst dan wat happen lass nite is da numerous murders aff blakk people by the police woo ar natt held accountable.

wander iff dat cvs was selling da flu vacine dat nuh wukk. progress fe mii iss wen no more innacent blakks ar being murder. so yuh nuh tink mi eva attended protests beefour

[Tropicana]

dat blakk yuth realized dat he iss ann endangered species while imm maddar iss da wan brainwashed to defend oyinbo supremacee.

read willie lynch carefullee ann ovatand oww blakk oomen roles

wat wood dat maddar do iff itt was ar son instead of freddie gray being buried.

blakk mothers have to stap babyinn blakk yuths ann let dem become strong blakk men

You're kidding right?

[Tropicana]

dem yuths ar natt thugs. onlee dem sellout blakk politrixxstahs pander fe oyinbo support characterizinn dem as thugs. dese ar yuths woo ar tired aff seeing blakks being murdered by the police and da injustice system findinn dose killars natt guiltee.da onlee ting wurst dan wat happen lass nite is da numerous murders aff blakk people by the police woo ar natt held accountable.

wander iff dat cvs was selling da flu vacine dat nuh wukk. progress fe mii iss wen no more innacent blakks ar being murder. so yuh nuh tink mi eva attended protests beefour

Unflippinbelivable

[Blackstar*]

[blugiant]

You're kidding right?

willie lynch letter


Say one nigger female bears a nigger female and the other bears a nigger male; both nigger females—being without influence of the nigger male image, frozen with a independent psychology—will raise their offspring into reverse positions. The one with the female offspring will teach her to be like herself, independent and negotiable (we negotiate with her, through her, by her, negotiates her at will). The one with the nigger male offspring, she being frozen subconscious fear for his life, will raise him to be mentally dependent and weak, but physically strong; in other words, body over mind.

http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/Perspectives_1/Willie_Lynch_letter_The_Making_of_a_Slave.shtml

dat mother was da perfect example of diss nuh

[Blackstar*]

Blu is right.

[lonewolf]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rge-crowd.html

The world needs more mothers like her.

I agree, as a civil servant in Baltimore I am proud to work for people like this lady.

[blugiant]

‘Why So Much Anger?': If You Don’t Know, Washington Post Won’t Tell You


The Washington Post (4/28/15) offers:

A Freddie Gray Primer: Who Was He, How Did He Die, Why Is There So Much Anger?

The “who was he” part comes from the “no angel” school of journalism—stressing his the “frequent run-ins with the law,” sniffing that he “lived off” compensation for childhood lead-poisoning. It’s not all negative—friends recall him as “loyal and warm, humorous and happy.” But as in other pieces in this genre, there’s a sense that the point is not to humanize the victim but to allow readers to judge whether he deserved to live or die.

In this section, Post writers Peter Hermann and John Woodrow Cox describe Gray as “at the moment…the nation’s most prominent symbol of distrust in police.” Does he really symbolize “distrust in police”—or police violence against black men?

But the Post can’t refer to him as a symbol of police violence, because as far as the paper is concerned, there’s no way to tell whether any police violence occurred at all; in the next section—”How did he die?”—his death is presented as a complete mystery. Which is not surprising when you look at the sourcing for this section:

The officers said…. Officials say…. police officials said…. Officials said…. Baltimore police have acknowledged…. Police have said…. Those involved in the arrest…. City officials have promised…. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said….

This is a good example of what Adam Johnson calls “a friendly local media whose default position is to simply repeat ‘official’ accounts, no matter how illogical they may be.” The only independent source of information offered on Gray’s death comes from “video shot by a civilian bystander,” which “shows officers dragging Gray, who appeared limp, after he was handcuffed.” But the Post follows this up with “officials say he was able to climb into the back of a police van.”

You can see the video here. When you can watch a person being dragged into the back of a police van, apparently unable to walk, and you know that he later died of spinal cord injuries, is it reasonable to suggest, as the Post account does, that his death might be attributed to the fact he “was not seat-belted after being placed in a transport van”? The Post offers that as one of the “significant errors” that are “acknowledged” by police—along with denial of medical attention and failure to call an ambulance—a phrasing that frames Gray’s death as a mistake and treats exculpatory claims by police as revealed fact. (You don’t “acknowledge” a deceptive claim.)

The final section is “Why is there so much anger?” The question implicitly plays down Gray’s importance as an individual—isn’t the fact that police killed someone in a particularly brutal fashion with no credible explanation reason enough for a community to be angry?—but the article does tie Gray’s death to “what activists say is a much larger national issue: police mistreatment of black men.” After listing some of the more infamous instances of black men or youths killed by police—Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Walter Scott–the piece continues:

Those tensions were only heightened in West Baltimore, where relations between residents and police have long been strained.

First of all, a series of deaths are not “tensions”—they’re actual violence, with real lives lost. Nor is “strained” the appropriate word to use for relations between police and residents where police have repeatedly killed those residents.

An ACLU of Maryland report found 109 people killed in police encounters in the state in a five-year period from 2010-14. Sixty-nine percent of those killed were black. (Maryland is 29 percent black.) Forty-five were not armed in any way; 80 percent of these victims were black.

You get a good sense of the human lives—and the racism—behind these statistics in a Baltimore Sun article (9/28/14) about the city’s police brutality settlements, summarized by Conor Friedersdorf in the Atlantic (4/22/15).

But none of this information was included in a passage that purports to explain “why is there so much anger”—though the section does find space to mention “violent rioters who set cars ablaze, looted businesses and injured more than a dozen officers.”

Messages can be sent to the Washington Post at [email protected], or via Twitter @washingtonpost. Please remember that respectful communication is the most effective.

http://fair.org/home/why-so-much-anger-if-you-dont-know-washington-post-wont-tell-you/

[blugiant]

NYT Goes to Baltimore, Finds Only Police Worth Talking To


For readers who turned to today’s New York Times site (4/28/15) this morning for news of the ongoing Baltimore protests following the death in police custody of Freddie Gray, they found a terrifying tale of rioters throwing cinder blocks at firefighters trying to put out arson fires, as the city was beset by people with “no regard for life.”

Whose tale was it, though? Here’s the first six citations from the Times story:

“police said”
“police said”
“police also reported”
“police said”
“state and city officials said”
“police acknowledged”

Not until the 12th paragraph does the paper get around to quoting someone who isn’t a police or government official. (UPDATE: At shortly after noon, the Times edited its story to include a quote near the top from a local resident cleaning up after the night’s violence. It still included no quotes from demonstrators or anyone else actually on the scene last night. The original story lives on at other sites via the New York Times News Service.)

Taking official sources at their word is all too common in US media coverage, of course — especially when reporting on conflicts taking place in distant lands. But Baltimore is a bit more accessible to Times reporters than Afghanistan; indeed, at least one of the two authors of the Times piece, Richard Oppel and Stephen Babcock, conducted some on-the-ground reporting that appears later in the story—well after the main narrative has been laid out by the Baltimore police.

In fact, plenty of other news outlets are doing good reporting from on the scene. The Baltimore City Paper‘s Brandon Soderberg (4/28/15) recounted how sports bar patrons helped spark Saturday’s violence outside the Baltimore Orioles stadium, shouting racial epithets and tossing beer bottles at protesters. And Wall Street Journal technology columnist Christopher Mims reported after Saturday’s protests that they were “overwhelmingly peaceful” — though Journal readers would have to turn to Mims’s Twitter feed (4/26/15), not the actual paper, for this news.

The Times, meanwhile, has stuck mainly with government sources, even for a story that cries out for original reporting to cut through the official line. The front-page story in today’s print edition (4/28/15), which mostly focused on yesterday’s establishment of a curfew and calling out of the National Guard, cited, in order, Baltimore’s mayor, the Maryland governor, Baltimore’s police commissioner, “the police” (cited as the source of a “credible threat” that gangs were plotting to “‘take out’ law enforcement officers”) and a police captain–all before citing the pastor at Gray’s funeral as appealing for calm.

Somebody needs to remind the Paper of Record that government officials don’t have a monopoly on the truth.



You can send a message to the New York Times at [email protected], or to public editor Margaret Sullivan at [email protected]. Please remember that respectful communication is the most effective.

http://fair.org/home/nyt-goes-to-baltimore-finds-only-police-worth-talking-to/