Tuesday Open Thread [4.28.15]
“The Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear arguments on whether there is a constitutional right to same-sex marriage. The session, scheduled to last two and a half hours, is the last public step before a decision, expected in June, that will resolve one of the great open questions in modern constitutional law,” the New York Times reports.
“Until recently, the court has been cautious and halting in addressing same-sex marriage, signaling that it did not want to outpace public support and developments in the states. Now, though, a definitive decision will probably be handed down in about two months.”
“National Guard troops fanned out through Baltimore, shield-bearing police officers blocked the streets and firefighters doused still-simmering blazes early Tuesday after riots, looting and violent unrest engulfed swaths of the city Monday,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The unrest came just hours after thousands of people attended a funeral for Freddie Gray , a 25-year-old black man who died in police custody earlier this month. Fifteen officers were injured, and at least 27 people were arrested as Baltimore became the latest national flash point for race relations and law enforcement.”
Politico: “Obama and Congress are busy arguing over the Iran nuclear negotiations, a trade deal, what could become the broadest climate change agreement in history. But each city that erupts is a reminder of how little’s been done to address the hopelessness that’s hitting Americans in some communities across the country much more immediately.”
The Baltimore Sun, of course, has the best coverage, as local news always does. And yes, the “Purge” rumor was/is real.
And in case you are confused over my stance on this issue: I believe the riots are justified. The Baltimore Police Department is a thug operation with a long history of past crimes and abuses perpetrated on the community it is supposed to protect, and it should be cleaned out:
Over the past four years, more than 100 people have won court judgments or settlements related to allegations of brutality and civil rights violations [by the Baltimore police department]. Victims include a 15-year-old boy riding a dirt bike, a 26-year-old pregnant accountant who had witnessed a beating, a 50-year-old woman selling church raffle tickets, a 65-year-old church deacon rolling a cigarette and an 87-year-old grandmother aiding her wounded grandson.
And in case you missed it, the Baltimore Police threw rocks at rioters yesterday, because when you want to calm a riot, the first thing you do is throw rocks back at them.
That is the backdrop and the spark. Riots don’t start in a vacuum by bad people. If that were the case, there would be riots everyday. No, you need community involvement to start it. You need a community that is fed up and that has had enough. This has been building up for a long, long time in Baltimore and around the country. There have been decades of systemic inequality, bad policing, a war on drugs and a biased criminal justice system. This country is damned lucky we don’t have more riots in more cities. But if we don’t fix this country now, that is where we are headed.
“A man can only take so much before he breaks.
Throwing stones at the police is wrong, but you know what, it fucking pales in comparison to shackling a man’s hands and legs, throwing him in the back of a van, and driving around erratically until he is paralyzed and eventually dead.
Looting is wrong, but it’s also an understandable reaction to spending a life living hand to mouth thanks to a rigged, oppressive system while simultaneously being surrounded by all the riches the wealthiest nation in the world has to offer.
In the words of Chris Rock, I’m not saying it’s right, but I understand.”
I’ve said it so many times before. The entire thing is incredibly sad. The point that our overlords don’t seem to understand is that the violence had already begun and it was started by the people with the guns and the uniforms and the clubs and the tanks and the sniper rifles and the “laws” on their side. (Was anyone intimately aware of this police “bill of rights”? Holy shit! I thought it was a joke initially, but I guess even sometimes I am naïve.)
Perhaps we should have had speeches about stopping the violence before Freddie Gray’s spinal cord was severed and his throat was crushed for making eye contact with a police lieutenant and running away. But I suppose that type of violence is A-OK!
It is becoming clear that America has two criminal justice systems. One mostly for whites that looks like TV, with judges, lawyers, investigations and trials in which people are found guilty or not guilty. The other, mostly for blacks, in which police act as the judge, jury and over 111 times in Maryland last year – executioner.
Some people seem to be really pleased with this set up. Others are, understandably, less pleased.
Old enough to remember the riots in the mid sixties, not completely the same but similar enough. We called it “police brutality”, beatings and out right killings, almost always the victim was black and living in a ghetto. The riot in Baltimore has delegitimized the protests and handed a weapon to the conservatives who will now use it to defend the police and attack the poor, sound familiar? Hopefully something better will emerge from the ashes, but it seems like I’ve been saying that for almost fifty years at this point.
Think this would have happened if the unemployment rates for black males was the same as for white males?
If the police continue with near impunity to slaughter unarmed black people in the street like it’s some kind of sick game I doubt even full employment would assuage the anger, but I see your larger point, yes.
The majority of Baltimore is African American people. The police force is made up of equally mixed races of black and white officers. The police commissioner and deputy police commissioner are African American. The mayor is African American. The leading law enforcement official in the country is African American. The President of the United States is almost African American.
Is this a race riot, or a riot over police brutality? Reports say that the rioters are singling out white police officers for attack, and there has been attacks on white bystanders.
I could try to explain it to you again but I’m fairly certain you haven’t the capacity to grasp it so I’ll choose not to waste my keystrokes.
Yeah, I’m sure that your life experiences in racism and police brutality, far outweigh mine. You must have the capacity to grasp that which I cannot.
Shorter FBH: Black people are a monolith and black people being killed by police in a racially diverse force shouldn’t count because, OMG! It’s more black on black crime! And if there are black people in positions of power… kill away.
This is such a tired, lazy argument.
It has nothing to do with life experience necessarily. You don’t even understand how to frame the question so I know you wouldn’t understand the answer.
What is this dichotomy you proposed – “race riots” (whatever that is) versus riots over police brutality? The entire premise doesn’t make any sense.
We’ve boxed people in, my man. We treat poor blacks like sub humans. We allow stop and frisk. We propose to tell them where and on what they can spend the $50 in food stamps they get every week. We allow them to be handcuffed and beaten and shot in the back running away and strangled to death on the sidewalk while the “laws” protect their assailants and murders. (We codify police protection for all manner of awful dehumanizing tactics.) We leverage unequally the criminal justice system against the poor and disenfranchised (see also Ferguson, MO and everywhere else, see also historical rates of crack versus powder cocaine sentences, etc, etc…). We lock-up and execute blacks in incredibly disproportionate numbers. We sell military equipment to police and think it’s ok that they use it. Shall I continue? I could.
And you’re confused about what’s going on because the mayor and police chief in Baltimore are black… You’re going to have to catch up on your own here. I hope you do. Sincerely…
Interesting comments coming from an entrenched guy.
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/04/orioles-john-angelos-baltimore-protests-mlb
I grew up in the Baltimore ‘burbs but lived in the leafy parts of the city most of my life. It gives me no right to comment on what it is like to live in the other Baltimore. I worked at a drug rehab facility on the West side briefly and it opened my eyes considerably but still… Walk in a man’s shoes, assuming he has shoes.
Sorry, you can delete the above. I didn’t realize it was another thread.