On one side, people chant while toting signs and bullhorns. On the other, officers line up in riot gear, smacking batons onto their palms with a threatening thwack. At too many protests, the contrast is stark—a visualization of oppressor lording over the oppressed.
At too many protests, police respond not as peacekeepers but armed-to-the-hilt storm troopers. We see this from Ferguson to Oakland.
Thankfully, we saw something different in the wake of the tragedy that killed five officers in Dallas. The Dallas Police Department and Dallas Area Rapid Transit made a point to wear their regular uniforms and march with protesters last night. They tweeted pictures with participants. Seeing the lack of conflict in those demonstrations did my heart good.
Clearly, Dallas police get it—unlike the San Jose Police Department. In San Jose, police responded to people protesting the Donald Trump rally last month with full-on riot gear. They reacted like a military from the start, and it charged the already fraught atmosphere in downtown. MSNBC has repeatedly mentioned SJPD’s response to the Trump debacle in the wake of the deadly Dallas protests.
I’m sorry to say, however, that SJPD blew it again Sunday. Officers stayed low key during a calm protest against police brutality co-organized by loved ones of 18-year-old Adrian Nunez, who was shot and killed by SJPD on July 4. As demonstrators marched up Santa Clara Street, things turned predictably confrontational when they were met with an overabundance of officers in riot shields.
The murder of these Dallas officers is a tragedy and will obviously garner a great deal of media coverage. But their deaths cannot eclipse the murders of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. There is no justification for any of the murders, but there is a connection. Just as U.S. military intervention in the Middle East has fomented extremism abroad, the assiduous killing of unarmed minorities by police has incited terrorism at home.
Texas Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, whose district encompasses Dallas, said the incidents of this past week should lend a sense of urgency to conversations about police violence and the way we train law enforcement.
“Well, obviously, we need to have a great deal more conversation,” Johnson said. “There is no way that I could possibly think it’s not related to what is going on with the fear that many people have for police throughout the country. And frankly, I think the training has to begin with the academies. I’ve had hearings all of my career, back from the ’70s forward, on police relationships … I can’t fathom that this will continue in this country. We just cannot do it. We must examine the situation more closely, more training, attitudes must change some, the understanding between the peace officers and the citizens, just have to come together. We cannot continue to think that each of us are enemies.”
The Occupy movement mastered social media to broadcast the events as they happened, without police or media spin. Police no longer controlled the narrative. We had our own cameras, cellphones, iPads and other recording devices.
Now, Facebook has introduced Facebook Live—a powerful social justice tool—along with Periscope and others like it. In short order, we heard the first few shots pierce the revelry of Orlando.
On our Facebook feeds, we watched Philando Castile die in Minnesota. We watched as his shock-stricken girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, documented the killing with the kind of institutionalized poise of a black mother fearful for her life and her daughter’s. Hours later, this past Thursday through early Friday morning, we saw graphic footage of the Dallas shootings.
The Republican Party has congealed behind a xenophobic megalomaniac endorsed by white supremacists. Hate groups have gleefully leaped from the shadows and into the spotlight, making both people of color and police less safe. Republicans and those who have endorsed the bigoted leader—whether overtly or with their complicit silence—have to accept some responsibility for where we are today.
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings spoke at a prayer vigil Friday morning. In it, he offered a truthful assessment rarely found in politics.
“We are here to face our challenges head on … we will not shy away from the very real fact that we as a city, as a state, as a nation are struggling with racial issues—they continue to divide us,” he said. “Yes, it’s that word ‘race’ and we’ve got to attack it head on. I will tell you, this is on my generation of leaders. It is on our watch that we have allowed this to continue to fester. That we have led the next generation down a vicious path of rhetoric and actions that pit one against the other.”
I keep hearing phrases like “assassination,” “target,” “open season” and “no justification” used by major media in reference to the murders of the officers. These are the same phrases that have been used by advocates, community members and family each time a person of color has been murdered by police. Blue murder is not worse than the black. Black should not overshadow blue.
Unless we change the system that engenders violence by police and against them, if the people who are oppressed and sick of being targeted and killed start to target and kill their oppressors, we will find ourselves caught in a never-ending cycle of bloodshed.
Until then, Facebook Live will help capture it—in all its ugliness—until we choose to break the cycle.
Shaunn Cartwright is an activist, housing rights advocate and co-founder of South Bay Tenants Union. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of San Jose Inside.
This article is garbage. It’s unbelievable that crap like this is even published.
Hmm, xenophobic megalomaniac. And this tenant rights activist purports to be an expert espousing tolerance. Sheesh. Reread your rant, Shaunn. I’m with you Julie.
Mass communication and Social Media Information Saturation has changed the way Americans have the real time happenings. For the past five years I have submitted remarks to the Mercury News and this site. My interest was the damaging of the SJPD image and the internal lack of transparency and immoral corruption. The stories are unending as to Rape, Child Molestation, Embezzlement, Fraud and the unwarranted killing of human beings.
Because of my many years of experience in Law Enforcement and the fact that I went through today’s problems back in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s which produced the highest number of Police deaths including my uncle, I started to see a pattern of barricaded mentalities and “Us against them” postures. The question was where will it lead? Well it led to Dallas and that’s just the beginning and I caution that there are many more citizens then police in this country, about 1,000,000.
If I throw a pebble into the center of a lake I can be assured that the ripple will never reach the shore and “People will never know in general what I have done. I can cover up my action. Think of mass media as a huge boulder that when dropped into the lake, causes real time information to reach the shore 360 degrees. A pebble will irritate a few people, a boulder will anger millions. Now you have reached everyone including those with nothing to lose who are unstable. Now you release retaliation in every direction.
Police Officers can not kill in lieu of making a tough arrest, they can’t shoot 12 year olds with pellet guns and teens with Black and Decker Drills or old woman with a paring knife or a baseball bat that’s why you arrive in teams, have mace or CS, batons, tasers and K-9’s. Gone are the “I stepped out in front of suspects vehicle and shot him for trying to run me down when he didn’t see me”. Gone are the days of “He had a shiny object in his hand or He made a furtive movement or he spun around with his hand in his waistband”. Gone are the days when “I was afraid for my life” and there was no weapon. Gone are the days of shooting people in the back or just because no one respects you.
The quality of the Police Officers today is deplorable. They are poorly selected, poorly trained, poorly lead and emotionally unfit for the job. Now add in real time mass communication, video phones and acquittal for killing when it’s clear to all it was inexcusable and you have a fertile field for vengeance and that is what you have today and it looks like it’s just begun. If you can’t hire and train stable Police Officers who make arrests without shooting first then you will have people teaching them a deadly lesson until they get the message nation wide. That’s what happened in the 60’s and 70’s and we stopped.
Now you can ignore me and macho out, but I live in Zurich on Lake Zug and you live in America and have a Bulls Eye on your back. Everyone can find you because you drive a Police car and wear a uniform and can be located at your PAB or home and that’s scary if people hate you. Change is really the right answer.
Per FBI’s Expanded Homicide Data (Table 3) for 2012:
“In 2012, white males were 38 percent of the population and committed 4,582 murders. That same year, black males were just 6.6 percent of the population but committed a staggering 5,531 murders.”
https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2012/crime-in-the-u.s.-2012/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/expanded-homicide/expanded_homicide_data_table_3_murder_offenders_by_age_sex_and_race_2012.xls
Any suggestions?
The June 26, 2016 neo-Nazi rally held outside the Capitol in Sacramento erupted into a melee. As it turned out a disorganized group of about 20-30 white supremacists were significant outnumbered by 350-400 anti-fascist counter-protesters.
The neo-Nazi and anti-fascist groups engaged in violence that resulted in numerous injuries and five stabbings. State Capitol law enforcement stood by and did nothing to stop the violent attacks from occurring. In retrospect law enforcement officials say they were overwhelmed and under prepared.
Ms. Cartwright is correct; the system is broken. And Trump is fanning the flames and hatred and hostility.
Amerigo,
I had not heard about that incident, so I found it and watched the videos.
A few items: The Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP) applied for and was granted a permit to meet on the Capitol grounds. I’ve never heard of TWP, and I know nothing about them except what I read online over the past hour. In situations like this I always try to read several different points of view from across the political spectrum. There were a lot of news reports about this incident, so that part was easy.
There were only around 30 in the TWP group with the permit. The media and the 300 or so masked attackers both kept calling them “neo-nazis”. Repeatedly — except when one talking TV head called them “skinheads”.
There wasn’t a single ‘skinhead’ that I saw. See what the media is doing? They deliberately lead you to the conclusion they want you to believe, and they want you to think you arrived at their conclusion on your own. It’s very effective tactic. But of course, it’s propaganda. To make any kind of reasonable judgement you have to get the maximum information possible.
Despite the “skinhead” and “neo-nazi” pejoratives, the group itself never self-identified as skinheads or neo-nazis, and I didn’t see swastikas or anything like that. I suspect that group is simply a natural reaction to the proliferation of leftist groups that have been doing exactly the same thing for several decades now. It would be amazing if counter groups didn’t appear. But they’re still pretty rare. When they do make an appearance it’s newsworthy.
So this little group was a rare event, and it was the only available group with the exact same kind of people that’s gotta be hated on by those brave masked folks. They were so wound up that the assembly didn’t really get started before the violence began.
A group of 30 whiteboys is the perfect target for the assorted hate groups that consider white males to be their #1 enemy. And rich white males are the worst of the worst, because of course they could have only gotten rich by working their slaves to death. So you can imagine the spot in the 9th circle of hell they have reserved for The Donald…
Anyway, it was reported that there were supposed to be several more “neo-nazi” groups there too, but that was mentioned and then quickly dropped. Being a skeptic of just about all media outlets, I think if there were those other groups around, they would have been interviewed.
The TWP had a permit that was approved several weeks ago. The others didn’t have a permit. It was hard to see who started the attack, but with a 10 to one advantage and masks on, who do you think came prepared?
Here’s what I think: if they had just left those thirty or so people alone, no one would have even known about them. Look at the video, where they were permitted. There’s not much there.
The Bill of Rights says people have the right to peaceably assemble. The police should have kept the groups well apart. But they didn’t, which seems to me to be deliberately asking for trouble. The folks wearing masks didn’t have a permit to be there. They just barged in with their masks on, and the violence began.
Why didn’t the police protect the rights of the people who took out a permit to meet? Are the police taking political sides now, like the Administration uses the IRS to go after its political enemies?
Can you imagine if the situation was reversed, and 300 Trump supporters had ganged up ten to one on a group that had a legal permit to meet? I can practically hear it now…
“Stop the presses! Extra edition! Front page, above the fold! 72-point font: The Horror!!”
Does ‘equal justice before the law’ still mean something? Or not? Someone needs to tell us, so we can plan accordingly. Me, I like rules, and the fairer the better. But rules have to be enforced. I need to know that if I’m attacked by masked criminals in broad daylight, whether the police will help me, even if I’m part of a politically out of favor group. Say, a group labeled ‘neo-nazi’ by the media.
At the moment, the answer is clearly No. Whoever let those two hostile groups get together in the same space at the same time is either incompetent, or the police department’s common sense was deliberately neglected in this situation. And how could the police be ‘unprepared’? That would mean they’re clueless. Does anyone buy that excuse?
Upholding the Bill of Rights is more important than all the hand-wringing complaints and opinions about Donald Trump here, and it’s more important than the labels the media picks to disparage groups with a politically incorrect point of view. But all I’ve seen so far are excuses.
We need to know whether the police will do what’s necessary to protect the right to legally and peaceably assemble. If the police won’t do their job and enforce the ‘peaceable’ part, I’d like to ask them: why not? The Mayor needs to do some explaining, too. He’s the boss of the police department, no?
This article is full of inaccuracies and inflammatory rhetoric.
1. SJPD does not issue it’s officers “full-on riot gear”. They get a multi purpose ballistic helmet and a baton, hardly “with full-on riot gear.”
2. SJPD does not have Riot Shields and have not had them for over 30 years, so when you state, “they were met with an overabundance of officers in riot shields” is that just a blatant lie or extreme editorial license for the purpose of inflaming the emotions of the leader?
3. After the Trump Rally SJPD took a beating in the media, from both sides of the political spectrum for Under Reacting to the protests and were blamed for allowing the violence to occur unabated.
The author quotes the Dallas Mayor, “we have led the next generation down a vicious path of rhetoric and actions that pit one against the other.” yet he fails to see how that quote applies to him and obviously lacks the moral compass to suppress his propensity for exaggeration and un-truths. Stay in your lane and work on what you know, the plight of the low income renters being priced out of the bay area.
SAN JOSE INSIDE: This is the best Op-Ed you could find? by promoting this junk, you missed a great opportunity for a mature reasoned debate.
Stating that Donald Trump is a megalomaniac is not an unfair or inaccurate characterization. A Megalomaniac is an individual who is obsessed with his own sense of power. Does this not accurately describe Donald Trump who took an attitude of I told you so when responding to these tragedies or when asked to give his opinion of Brexit stated that the Brexit would lower the value of the pound and thus enhance his business opportunities in Scotland? Megalomaniac is on the mark.
The characterization of Donald Trump as xenophobic is also quite accurate. A xenophobe has an irrational fear of people from other countries. Claiming that Mexicans crossing our borders are all rapists and murderers and must be stopped with a wall and also advocating that Muslims not be allowed to immigrate to the United States constitutes xenophobia. No?
Race suffuses our culture in so many ways. It is time that we start recognizing when systematic evil actions align with race and then begin to act in systematic ways to end these evil actions.
Great article!
So, Mr. Bill:
The characterizations you apply to Donald Trump — megalomanic and xenophobic — apply to his supporters as well, correct?
So, people that go to Donald Trump rallies are likewise megalomaniacal and xenophobic, Correct?
Is there anything else you would like to include? Racist? Sexist? Homophobic? Anti-environmentalist? White supremacist?
Aren’t all of these “hate crimes”?
Shouldn’t these people be arrested and put in FEMA camps?
Hello SJOUTSIDETHEBUBBLE,
It does not follow that people who attend Donald Trump rallies are megalomaniacs or xenophobic! They may attend his rallies because they feel that he may speak truth to power especially as it relates some economic issues such as the negative impact that trade has had on American jobs or they may relate to Trump’s anti-war position especially as it relates to Iraq and other horrific boodoggles that the all knowing elites have instigated.
They may be willing to overlook some statements and embrace others.
However, for Trump himself, we must judge him by his words and actions.
It does not follow that people who attend Trump rallies are xenophobic or megalomaniacs as they may just be coming to listen to other messages that Trump may bring like the loss of American jobs due to unfair trade policies that the elite and well heeled support. They may also resonate with his ideas about the folly of supporting Mid-east wars like the debacle in Iraq!
Bill says:
Great article!
That’s your opinion. I gave mine above, along with good reasons.
However, your comment is not factual. It is riddled with mis-statements and misinformation. Donald Trump never said “all” Mexicans are rapists. But even the FBI’s numbers show that illegals from that country contain a high percentage of criminals, and not just rapists. You could ask Kate Steinle — but she’s dead at 32, shot in the back by an illegal who was repeatedly deported, but who simply walked back across the border illegally — five times.
And the candidate who has you so spun up never said Islamics cannot immigrate to America. What he said makes perfect sense: given the overwhelming percentage of of terrorist acts and other crimes committed by Islamiscs, we need to investigate what’s behind it and what to do about it, before we give them carte blanche to immigrate here. It would be foolish not to. Have you already forgotten 9/11/2001? The internet is filled with other Islamic terrorism. Rational folks don’t accept that the 99% of terrorist acts committed by one specific group is only a coincidence.
The current tsunami of mostly young Islamic men — who are responsible for crimes far out of proportion to their numbers, both here and in the EU — anonymously flooding into the U.S. without any vetting at all, is a very serious threat. They have no skills, so they are immediately put on the taxpayer dole with free EBT cards, medical care, welfare, food stamps, and housing. Every one of those millions costs Americans more than $20,000 — every year. They aren’t checked out. Instead, they are simply transported across the country and into thousands of communities. Not vetting them is insane. They’re not Quakers or Mormons; they belong to a sect that requires them to enslave or kill anyone who is not part of their religion. They have repeatedly demonstrated their willingness to do exactly that.
When immigration ramped up in the 1920’s, one out of eight immigrants was sent back for various reasons. They were checked out; vetted. But now they flood in from the Middle East without any vetting at all. Even the Border Patrol admits they don’t check them out.
The problem isn’t just in failing to check them out. The problem is the current President who has stated that when push comes to shove, he will stand with those people; his people. Islamists.
Next, if Donald Trump said that Brexit would lower the pound, so what? He was exhibiting his intelligence. He had nothing to do with Brexit; that was a UK decision alone. President Obama tried to swing that election, and lost credibility when it didn’t go the way he wanted. But Mr. Trump wisely stayed out of it. Because of being correct your response is to label him a ‘megalomaniac’. Please post your credentials. Because you’re talking through your hat.
The fact is that you’re just jealous of someone who has earned $billions, something you obviously haven’t done and cannot do. Or you would have, right? You’re just the next in line here to try a and make the BLM violence a “Trump” issue. If you’re serious, you’re irrational. But if you’re playing partisan politics with the murder of multiple police officers, that’s pretty despicable. Try to stay on-topic.
You are correct, though, when you say that ‘race’ suffuses our culture. President Obama campaigned specifically to be a racial healer; a uniter, not a divider. He has done exactly the opposite, and much if not most of the country’s current fixation on race, and on racial results over color-blind equal opportunity, is directly the fault of this mendacious president.
President Obama could have gone down in history as a truly great president; the healer of racial discord in America. Instead, he poured gasoline on the race fire from the beginning. He has made the race problem much worse. Any fool can see that. It’s everywhere we look.
Hello Smokey,
Statistics from the Migration Policy Institute tell a different story:
Incarceration rate for US born: 3.51% (non-Hispanic whites: 1.71%, non-Hispanic blacks: 11.61%, Hispanics ranges between 2.3% and 5.9% based on country of ethnic origin, Asians ranges from 1% to 7.2%).
Incarceration rate for foreign born: 0.86%, i.e. about a quarter of that for the US born. (non-Hispanic whites 0.57%, non-Hispanic blacks 2.47%, Hispanics ranges from 0.2% to 2.2% based on country of origin, if we exclude Puerto Ricans, who are US citizens, Asians ranges from 0.1% to 0.9%).
Note the interesting fact that all foreign born ethnicities, including blacks, have lower crime rates than the average for US natives.
It is a logical fallacy to use one example of a murder by an immigrant as representative of the whole population. While it may raise emotions, it does not accurately represent the whole population If I provide an example of a white U.S. citizen who kills someone, I can not make attribution that this reflects the whole U.S. born White population.
I agree that there is a civil war going on within Islam and that we must be very careful in vetting anyone coming from countries that are experiencing this civil war but it does not mean that we should reject everyone.
Making money does not equate with being qualified to be president. Look at the scam of Trump university and his bankruptcies.
I agree that Obama could and should have done more to address the race issue in America. He tends to lecture America as the professor. He needs to display some emotion about these tragic events.and more action. Although he has promoted some legitimate and common sense restrictions on guns. He has made some strides thought that deserve credit. He has raised awareness. He could have and should have done more in his presidency.
> Making money does not equate with being qualified to be president. Look at the scam of Trump university and his bankruptcies.
Bill:
Speaking of politicians, universities, and scams, you left out the part about Bill Clinton and Laureate University.
http://nypost.com/2016/06/12/the-clinton-university-scandal/
I’m sure it was just an innocent oversight on your part, and that you are, in fact, OUTRAGED by the self-dealing and corruption of Bill Clinton, and his enabler and co-conspirator, Hillary Rodham.
This is another logical fallacy. Because Bill Clinton and Hillary exhibit some of the same money grubbing proclivities as Mr. Trump in no way absolves or legitimizes Mr. Trump’s chicanery.
Bill writes: “I agree that Obama could and should have done more to address the race issue in America. He tends to lecture America as the professor.” Pretty ironic considering Obama has spent big bucks to keep his school and college grades secret. No-one with good grades pays to hide them from the public.
The only different story Bill’s 16 year old statistics reveal is that not even the worst foreigners can ravage our streets on par with African-Americans and, to a lesser degree, home grown Hispanics (two groups, by the way, most likely to have been displaced in the job market by illegals). Take those two groups of democrats out of the crime game and this might be the happiest place on earth.
I may be wrong, but I suspect Smokey’s objection to importing criminals here was based on a couple of facts, not the least of which is that we already had enough of our own. Add to the disproportionate impact of illegal alien crime on states bordering Mexico (something your MPI wasn’t concerned with) and you wind up with the horror that is illegal alien crime in California, where, despite our efforts to keep convicts out on the street, illegals comprise a significant percentage of those incarcerated (estimates run from 12.5% to 20%) — many of them fully-committed members of criminal gangs.
It may be a logical fallacy to use a single example to make a broader point, but it is a logical swindle to employ statistics to derogate a legitimate concern. Besides, I’ve seen enough of demographic book-cooking at local, state, and federal levels (not to mention academic) to put my faith in what the people observe and experience and not in anything we are told from on high.
We live in a society that has advanced because of statistics! If we want to give uo science for gut feelings than we would all still be driving around in dangerous corvairs and using leeches to solve our medical maladies!
I appreciate your recognition of the logical fallacy of using single examples to represent the actions of a whole group.
What are your sources for the statistics you quote about border state incarceration for immigrants?
Bill,
To equate government statistics with science is the mark not of a thinker, but a believer. The federal government has, as have a number of states, done everything possible to obscure from the public an accurate picture of the numbers, associated costs, and public safety impact of illegal aliens. By hiding the truth, inveterate liars in public office, the media, and academia can cite, with little risk of being found out, whatever made-up or borrowed statistics they like.
The fact that you had to quote a dubious 16 year old study to make a point about one of the most contentious issues of the last quarter-century is evidence of just how roadblocks have been erected to keep the truth from the public. Even Google has been largely neutralized, as every search gets one a partisan.
The GAO (linked below), which lists the states most severely impacted, appears not to have posted anything for five years, and some states have stopped collecting the immigration status of their inmates. Transparency, progressive style.
Also, your response suggests I recommended a reliance on people’s gut feelings, but I said no such thing (which makes me question your motive for misrepresenting my position). Observations and experience are not gut feelings; they have value, such as when government statistics report lowered food costs (by redefining the word food) despite the public’s experience at the grocery store.
http://www.gao.gov/assets/320/316959.pdf
“This is another logical fallacy. Because Bill Clinton and Hillary exhibit some of the same money grubbing proclivities as Mr. Trump in no way absolves or legitimizes Mr. Trump’s chicanery”.
If the argument is to absolve Mr. Trump from all responsibility of past transgressions, then your statement would hold water. As a fact, the discussion is not to excuse Mr. Trumps’ behavior, but to illustrate the comparative behaviors of both Trump and the Clintons. While you seem to agree that they are all greedy and not in touch with the daily lives of American citizens, you cannot deny that this is the only such comparison the Liberal Establishment is able to make. Undoubtedly you could agree, that the foreign and domestic political agenda and actions from Hillary have been a disaster. It is unfair to place this type of baggage and cursory observation on Donald Trump or his supporters.
Julie is absolutely correct. This article is the same kind of political spin emitted by the BLM folks. It displays the same attitude that incited the murders of police officers.
As usual, no concrete solutions are offered by the author, just vague pablum that “the System Has to Change to Stop Bloodshed”, along with the usual endless criticism, veiled threats, illogical associations, and posturing:
…SJPD’s response to the Trump debacle… Trump is fanning the flames and hatred and hostility…
Huh? What “Trump debacle”? This is about the response to the murders of police officers! The mindless lemmings who parrot “Trump” as an argument are either disconnected from reality, or they have no rational argument, and believe that mentioning an unrelated person’s name wins the debate. It doesn’t; that’s the kind of errant nonsense that comes from a few generations of people being indoctrinated by the government’s .edu factories. Julie is right, this crap should never have been published. It’s just more “us versus them” hatred and animosity that fans the flames of anger, jealousy, and resentment for no constructive purpose.
The author proposes no concrete solutions, and his emotional arguments are peppered with words like the “opressed”. In this case, he says the “opressed” are met by “storm troopers”. But in reality, the “opressed” are treated with kid gloves by the police, and they’re showered with free cash EBT cards that are topped up monthly, and free food stamps, free medical care, etc., courtesy of working taxpayers. But has anyone ever seen any gratitude from the “opressed” for that generosity?
Since the recipients of all that free loot never say, “Thanks!” to the taxpayers, people like the author of this stupid article have to find ways to fan the flames of their wealth transfer schemes, lest they start to appreciate what they’ve been given for nothing in return. So typically the appeal is to their envy: jealousy of anyone who earns more than they do. It’s the same old ‘Takers’ versus the ‘Makers’ argument. And then there’s the threat of “bloodshed”, if taxpayers don’t hand over even more loot.
Those ‘tenants union’ renters could do what millions of other Americans have done at one time or another: share housing. Double up. Room together. Move to a less expensive location. Or *gasp* even work two or three jobs. But instead, they blame others, and demand more.
There are proven ways to reduce violence, too. The problem is that those proven methods are ignored — and worse, the culprits are given preferential treatment.
For example, when people peacefully assembled last evening to pray for the murdered officers, more than fifty BLM protesters went over and picked fights with those holding the prayer vigil. BLM also tried to close down the freeway, and they set fires. But the author’s “storm troopers” did nothing; no arrests, no charges, no paddy wagons carting the attackers and arsonists off to jail. No wonder there’s so much violence. The perps have their enablers, who give their violence a free pass — so long as the attackers are part of a politically favored group.
Is that ‘equal justice under the law’? No, it is partisan politics injected into the police force by the Mayor. Just imagine the reaction if “Trump” supporters had picked the fights and set fires on public property. There would be a crowd of the author’s people carrying torches and pitchforks and marching on City Hall, and you can be certain that Mayor Liccardo would be telling the city’s DA to press charges.
Partisan politics has been injected into everything by this President: the military, federal grants, the IRS, religion, immigration, etc. By refusing to enforce the law for certain favored groups, the message is being sent out loud and clear, and BLM hooligans can attack others with impunity.
In order to reduce violence, society must enforce the law equally, and without exceptions; no free passes. No politics. But as we see, the opposite is being done. The job of the Mayor and police is to protect the community. By turning a blind eye toward politically favored groups like BLM, the message is clear. It encourages them, it divides our society rather than uniting us — and we’ve seen the hatred and violence that results.
> It’s just more “us versus them” hatred and animosity that fans the flames of anger, jealousy, and resentment for no constructive purpose.
Primitive tribalism.
“My tribe good, other tribe bad”.
You heard it here first.
Actually, maybe not. George Orwell wrote about it in “Animal Farm” in 1945, before was born.
“Four legs good; two legs bad”.
@Smokey: I was at the protest and the vigil and can attest to the fact that no fights or fires were started. Both received a lot of media attention and they substantiate that. Stop blowing smoke.
69WORDNERD,
Tell that to Kathleen Flynn. Yesterday she posted this:
“…the press didn’t mention that the Black Lives Matter protesters staged a “die in” screamed and yelled, and some of them set a few fires, and tried to close down the freeway! Or how a few of them came over to our vigil and tried to start fights with our group, or how when we sang and prayed for fallen Officers, and for our country, they yelled louder trying to drown us out.”
Maybe you were just in a different area. Or out getting a taco…
Anyway, apology accepted.
Smokey: Here is an article on the “Die In.”
http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_30113327/san-jose-protesters-hold-die-wake-police-shootings.
Smokey- Here is the media link that bares out what I’ve said. The reporter is mistaken when he said there weren’t any problems because some of the BLM people did try to start a fight. It just didn’t work because we just weren’t down with that. Also, the media was more focused on BLM than us, so may be they just didn’t hear or see it. Don’t know why no one reported the small fires that were started.
http://www.ktvu.com/news/172740369-story.
69wordnerd- ” I was at the protest and the vigil and can attest to the fact that no fights or fires were started.” I was there too and you and I will have to agree to disagree. I don’t know when you got there, or how long you stayed/left, but Smokey is correct. I got there 20 minutes early, and left about 30 minutes after our vigil. Several BLM folks came over and did try to get some of our members into an argument, but instead of taking the bait, we offered them to join us. Some of them did and some just left. The ones that stayed thanked us for having them.
And yes, some of them did start fires, and tried to block the freeway. We smelled it, saw the Fire Department rushing by, and were contacted by SJPD, informing us of the problem, and which routes to avoid when leaving. The BLM group was very angry and were shouting some pretty hateful things. They have a right to be angry, but they are going about this all wrong, in my humble opinion. Having said that, we had a large number of members from the African American community, and churches praying and speaking at our prayer vigil. We prayed for our fallen Officers and victims of homicide. Because of the behavior of SOME not all of the BLM group, I was fearful of the safety of our guests. In fact, I had some of our people escort these members to their car, and stayed behind telling our out of town guests/visitors how to get to their cars without coming into contact with the BLM protesters. I was also very fearful for the well being of the children that attended our vigil. In my lifetime, I never thought I would have to protect and worry about the safety of my guests the way I had to last night. I was worried sick that they would be harmed or injured by these protesters. And being a street smart kid, that says a lot.
> In my lifetime, I never thought I would have to protect and worry about the safety of my guests the way I had to last night. I was worried sick that they would be harmed or injured by these protesters. And being a street smart kid, that says a lot.
KATHLEEN:
You should consider yourself VERY, VERY lucky.
Seriously bad things could have happened.
I suggest you spend some quality time in thoughtful contemplation thinking about the level of risk you are comfortable with.
Would you ride in an airplane if you knew there was a 0.001% chance of a crash?
Would you ride in an airplane if you knew there was a 40 percent chance of a crash?
Old adage: “Don’t tempt fate.”
sjoutsidethebubble- Thank you for your concern about my safety. I really mean that.
Having said that, I strongly believe that it is the duty of every citizen, me included, to be the other voice. Officers put their lives on the line for me everyday, I owe them that in return. Their families hurt, and their pain matters to me. Deceased SJPD Officer Johnson’s Mother found comfort in our vigil, and the community held, hugged, and thanked her for her son’s sacrifice. That is what this is all about you see. Coming together for one another. Making change together. She also changed some of our Police hating visitors minds. They got to see first hand what an Officer’s family goes through when they are murdered. To me, that lesson/exchange was priceless. Her presence and her story CHANGED minds! How powerful is that!
I had many friends, including my friends in law enforcement, beg, not ask, but beg me not to hold this prayer vigil, or go to it because they were afraid for my safety. Now I’m not trying to be noble, or any kind of martyr here, but I’d rather die or get injured doing what I think is right, than die or be injured any other way. Any way, God has always had my 6.
Keep the faith my friend and HE will have yours too.
> MSNBC has repeatedly mentioned SJPD’s response to the Trump debacle in the wake of the deadly Dallas protests.
So THAT’S what MSNBC does. I thought they were just a bunch of vacant, slobbering animated clothes racks with TV cameras.
Kind of a cultural oddity to discover there’s someone out there who wastes brain cells decoding what MSNBC has to say. It’s like learning that some artist has built a legacy on making things out of used toilet paper. File it under “U” for useless information.
“Clearly, Dallas police get it…”
No, clearly Dallas as an entire community gets it. Their police trusted they could go out in sleeves and not be confronted with a constant threat of violence like so often happens in Oakland. The police don’t cause protesters to throw rocks at them, or to start fires in the streets or even buildings. The police don’t force them to graffiti buildings and bust out the windows of businesses along the street as they protest. And these issues… not a “black” problem, protesters in Oakland tend to be racially mixed… a part of their own community.
It takes two to tango. The police can “get it” all you want, but if they have to walk out the door into violence, they are going to prepare for that violence.
The SJPD did not contribute to the violence of the Trump disaster. They did what a police force who “gets it” should be able to do. Stand back and hope protesters will exhibit their own best human traits and behave. The police didn’t contribute to that. They were too understaffed, they tried to give protesters the benefit of the doubt and here were hearing from one of the local anti-police rags about how it was their fault because they didn’t “get it.”
caseythomas- BRAVO and well said! At our prayer vigil last night, there was virtually no VISIBLE Police presence until the end when protesters started getting really loud and aggressive, I know because I was there early and left late.
I am very PROUD of the way SJPD handled themselves last night. They lined up ACROSS the street, a very safe distance from us and the protesters. They had a Police helicopter flying over, and two Officers on top of City Hall. They did absolutely NOTHING to incite the protesters. One of our guest speakers, Senior Pastor Dr. Oscar Dace, an African American man, can be seen on the news disagreeing with the behavior of last night’s protesters. He basically said that their protest was only going to exacerbate an already bad situation. I couldn’t agree with him more.
If people want change, there is a better way to go about it. Dr. King didn’t condone hate and violence, and neither do I. Love, Peace, Unity, and respectful conversations, along with community involvement creates change.
And finally, I just need to say this, I don’t know how the Police do what they do. Myself, and the sponsors of last night’s vigil held the awesome responsibility of ensuring that everyone at our vigil got to their cars safely, without incident. As I looked into the eyes of some pretty frightened children who heard and saw the anger of the protesters, my heart was broken. I assured them that the POLICE, and we adults wouldn’t let anything happen to them, or their parents, and that God would take care of ALL of us, the protesters included. Given that experience, I have to say that I really GET what Officers go through, and I appreciate their service even more now. Thank GOD for our law enforcement Officers! Please be safe out there!
Kathleen, there are unfortunately agitators on both sides. You can see some of them regularly here on this blog both in the articles and the comments. People who have nothing to offer but more divisiveness and hate. The difference here simple. Dallas PD and their community have been working hard, TOGETHER, to reach the point where protesters don’t have to face down a line of police outfitted for aggressive civil disobedience. They have worked, in the face of a city government that underpays and under appreciates them, to improve their community relationship, their transparency, and their trust. Both sides are responsible for managing their fringe stupidity and stop letting it be the main dish of every conversation.
Looking at SJPD and the SC Sheriff’s Office, you have a government who has used the police as punching bags for political points for years. You have agencies that are falling apart and still the primary consideration is political careers. You’ve had, and still have in some cases, incompetent and corrupt people elected into offices and they shore eachother up by, at best, turning a blind eye, at worst, giving them a shield. You have people who would rather cover up massive failures, as they’re doing in the sheriff’s office, than fight for real transparency and integrity.
See, these things cost money. Real community policing, which I know for a fact Laurie Smith does not believe in, takes effort and resources and it changes things. Something the cities and counties of California do not want to invest in. Much easier to keep the money in pocket and keep blaming the boots on the streets of our state for everything.
If people like Shaunn Cartwright here want to see their city look like Dallas did during that protest before some radicalized lunatic overrode that then they are going to have to WORK for it. It doesn’t just happen by magic.
It infuriates me, watching a community demand better, yet they’re not willing to lift a finger themselves to make it better. Apply to the academy. Run for office. FFS, at least go VOTE if they do *nothing* else — change isn’t ever going to happen if people refuse to show up and vote. They want a better community… but everything is the fault of officers — because they won’t go out and vote responsibly. They won’t stand up when an official is shown to be negligent (but oh my God mention the name Hillary and they can’t shut up about corruption — Laurie Smith… you might get a little mutter of agreement).
caseythomas- Amen to everything you’ve said.
I think this Chief puts it beautifully. Well said Chief: http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2016/07/11/dallas-police-chief-were-asking-cops-to-do-too-much-in-this-country/.
Agreed Kathleen!
Police in Baton Rouge, alerted to the presence of a man with a gun threatening others, do their duty and respond to investigate. The armed man, a felon and sex-offender, disregards the lawful orders of the police and leaves them one of two choices: walk away from the threat and leave the public’s safety to the whim of an armed man (who has already engaged in threatening conduct), or physically engage the man, take him into custody, and end the threat. To choose the former would be a dereliction of their duty, to choose the latter would be to put the public’s safety above their own.
That a resisting, armed suspect ends up shot by the police is not exactly unusual, in fact, the risks involved with dealing with such dangerous people is exactly why police officers carry sidearms. Of course, it goes without saying – for those truly interested in law and order – that nothing can be known for certain until the incident is fully investigated, yet in the Alton Sterling case that precept was trampled upon with lightening speed by black activists, putrid politicians, and our corrupt news media.
The question to ask is, why? Why this shooting, which will likely turn out to have been justified? Why this man, a lowlife scumbag whose potential was, at best, to someday elevate himself to the status of medicated and feeble parasite? Why the rush to judgment, especially by the state’s governor, whose statements not only fanned the flames of race-hatred and riot, but also endangered the coffers of one of his state’s larges cities? To what benefit was this done…
if not to Hillary’s?
Guess whose reckless and inexcusable conduct, as detailed by last week’s FBI report, was suddenly overshadowed by this orchestrated crisis? Guess whose free pass for intentionally circumventing the nation’s information security system is no longer being criticized? Guess whose husband’s conduct – meeting behind closed doors with the AJ, was instantly rendered yesterday’s news? Overnight, Hillary went from sidestepping questions about her conduct to offering her opinions on race relations. Nice pirouette for an old gal with thick ankles.
Mobilizing the Black Lives Matter imbeciles is child’s play – a few phone calls is all it takes (it’s not like they have to get release time from work). Same with the pukes in the media – eager for one more tragedy to report with breathless angst (another chance for Frank Somerville to remind everyone that he adopted a black child). This is a win-win for these folks.
As for Louisiana’s governor, a democrat, of course, well, in service to the cause of his candidate (he voted for her in the primary), this public servant made the hard choice to put his citizens and police in harm’s way by making public a conclusion that would’ve been irresponsible had he made it in private.
The Founders gave us a great nation, we turned it into a lowbrow game show.
Yeah it’s all a grand scheme by Hillary to divert attention from the FBI report that criminally exonerated her… she celebrated by having cops kill black people. Where are your meds, I think you’ve been missing a few doses.
CASEYTHOMAS,
I knew your reading comprehension was poor, but that you understood from my post (in which I suggested Clinton’s people acted AFTER THE FACT) that Hillary directed the cops to kill that gun-toting piece of garbage, reveals you to be simply too stupid to take seriously.
If you hold a job that requires you to perform any tasks that do not include wielding a spatula or running a vacuum then I’m pretty sure you are in the wrong profession.
Whenever a black man is killed by a white cop, the lead to the story by all media outlets is always that a black man has been killed by a white cop. The color of the shooter and shootee is mentioned frequently throughout the story. When fifteen people, most if not all white, are shot by a black man, the lead does not start out with the color of the shooter and shootees, and is mentioned far less frequently in the story. Only the black police chief of Dallas makes it clear that the shooter was black and the motive was racial hatred. There is rarely if ever a mention that 7,000 black men are killed by other black men annually in the USA. When a white cop kills a black man, there are protests and riots by black people nationwide. Were there any white riots after the racially motivated slaughter in Dallas? Nope. It seems that only black people riot. Why do you suppose that is? Could it be because there is rarely an adverse consequence to the black rioters; who, like ill-behaved children whose parents let it slide, much to the chagrin of all around them, just keep doing it?
JMO- The media does this for PROFIT! They play on the justifiable anger of the African American community, and pits whites against blacks. It is really that simple and FRIGHTENING!
Secondly, it is very naive to think that African Americans aren’t still being oppressed because they are. They have a right to be angry. I think they protest because Dr. King did. The difference of course is that Dr. King did so with peace, love, unity, and respect for others.
If Americans had half a brain they’d protest our government the way they do in France, England, etc. Corporations OWN this country and that is something to be pissed about! What they are doing to everyone of us is FRIGHTENING! Wait until the dollar looses its value. If you think the BLM protests are bad, just wait! The rich are already leaving the US, and or buying up farm properties and building under ground bunkers, and or securing their homes against the violence that will come from what lies ahead~
Kathleen: Do law abiding black people have a right to be angry? You bet. But the BLM movement seems to say that ALL black lives matter, and it’s quite clear to me that ALL black lives do not matter. Black thug lives do NOT matter to me in the least. Michael Brown was a thug. Trayvon Martin was a wannabe thug. Philando Castile did not die because he was black. He died because he did something stupid–he told a cop he had a gun and then reached into his pants. A white man who did the same thing would also have been shot by a nervous cop who had just learned the guy he pulled over admitted to having a gun. If black lives really mattered to BLM thugs, then they would concentrate on stemming the black on black murders that average 7,000 per year, as well as the dozen or so killed by white cops. BLM is just an anti white movement by a predominantly disruptive criminal element in the black community. MLK would be shocked by BLM and its tactics.
JMO- I can’t argue with what you said because I agree with you. I find it shocking that these folks protest over a child molester like Smith, and a thug like Brown. I don’t see them protesting over black on black, or brown on brown killings, or the murder of children either. I don’t get it.
I do think though that any Cop who is so concerned about dying that they shoot first and ask questions later needs to retire. You can’t do a job like that and do what some of these Cops are doing. I do believe that anyone with a gun in their car when stopped by a Cop is an idiot. That is what car trunks are for.
I think Pete Malloy and Casey Thomas posted it perfectly for me.
> BLM is just an anti white movement by a predominantly disruptive criminal element in the black community.
“Black Lives Matter” is NOT an organic movement of the “black community”. It is the creation of political forces intent on undermining and dismantling Western Civilization. They have many faces and many guises, and employ many tactics. But they have a common, fundamental ethos: tribal warfare.
The tribalists reject the Golden Rule. They manifest the ethos of “Animal Farm”: “my tribe good: other tribe bad.”
http://www.ktvu.com/news/172890269-story
Now THIS is the way to do it! http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2016/07/11/one-dallas-protesters-come-together-nccorig.cnn?sr=fbCNN071116one-dallas-protesters-come-together-nccorig.cnn0238PMVideoVideo&linkId=26433054.
> It seems that only black people riot. Why do you suppose that is?
It is interesting that the popular “ethos” of black people seems to have changed dramatically some time in the early middle part of the last century.
In the early twentieth century, blacks largely lived in intact families, and the unemployment rate for black teenagers was LOWER than the rate for white teenagers. And, that era is not noted for widespread black rioting.
And then something changed….
SJOB: “And then something changed….” Yup–the majority stopped going to church, and got addicted to the freebies handed out by one Democratic administration after another, which too many Republicans went along with. Why work when you can get all that free sh*t? Now, 70% of black children are born to a single Mom. Dads nowhere to be found. Things changed all right.
They also were segregated in the early twentieth century, weren’t they? Did the ethos change around the time they started clamoring for integration?
Alton Sterling was a sex offender with a long criminal history. Officers were called to contact him that day because he was reportedly threatening someone with a gun. When officers arrived, he chose to fight. In his pocket was an illegally obtained and possessed gun, which he went for during the fight. As a result, he was shot. Were the officers supposed to wait until he shot first? What should they have done instead? The author ignores these questions and what actually happened, and instead makes the blanket assertion that there was “no justification.” I can’t say that I’m surprised.
Throughout this prolonged national furor, the actual facts have seemed to matter very little to the protestors, media and politicians. The facts were also apparently irrelevant with regard to the Michael Brown shooting. The narrative immediately became that he was a “gentle giant” who was shot by an obviously racist police officer while trying to surrender. The President of the United States sent a representative to his funeral. Michael Brown was held up as another poor victim of the racism of violent police officers.
The only problem with the narrative was that it turned out to be almost entirely false. He wasn’t a gentle giant. In fact, he’d just robbed a store. When confronted by the police, he punched the officer and tried to take the officer’s gun. When he was shot, he was advancing toward the officer, not fleeing. His hands weren’t up and he wasn’t shot in the back. As much as Eric Holder and President Obama wanted the officer’s head on a platter, the facts showed that the shooting was justified. There was no prosecution. Yet despite all of this, Michael Brown is still held out as a victim. The false narrative is still presented as if it was the truth. Ridiculous.
There have been endless calls for the need to have a “real” conversation about race, but that seems to mean only that the police need to acknowledge that they are the evil persecutors of young, black males. If an actual real conversation occurred, there would have to be discussion about the incredibly disproportionate percentage of violent crimes committed by young, black males, which inevitably leads that group to more frequent contact with the police. The discussion would also have to include the idea that many of these situations involved young men who chose to put officers in a position where they were required to make a split-second decision in circumstances where they believed their lives were in danger, and that decisions made by human beings in those kinds of situations will not always be perfect. The concept of personal responsibility might even be brought up. In reality, those clamoring for a “real” conversation about race are deathly afraid of such a conversation, and howl with outrage whenever it is attempted.
For some reason, the author also chooses to bring Trump into the discussion, claiming that the endorsement of Trump by white supremacists means that Republicans “have to accept some responsibility for where we are today.” Not surprisingly, he makes no mention of those associated with the BLM movement who have routinely chanted and otherwise called for the murder of police officers. I guess responsibility only goes one way.
Of course, the police aren’t perfect. Officers can make mistakes, particularly when forced to make split-second decisions. There are also some who should have never been allowed to wear a badge. But overwhelmingly, police officers are public servants who are doing their best at a job that just keeps getting tougher.
There are over 1,000,000 police officers in the United States. Compare that total to the number of incidents over the last couple of years that have sparked outrage. At the same time, keep in mind the thousands of altercations that take place each year between the police and those they contact, including young, black males, that don’t end in death or serious injury. Those, of course, receive no attention from the media, politicians or activists. Despite all of this, an entire profession has been regularly demeaned. The lack of fairness should be jarring. Instead, it’s merely standard practice.
Excellent points…thank you.
I LOVE this Police Chief! http://www.addictinginfo.org/2016/07/11/dallas-police-chief-tells-congress-to-shove-their-thoughts-and-prayers-do-your-jobs-video/.
This is a great explanation of the term “Black Lives Matter: http://fusion.net/story/170591/the-next-time-someone-says-all-lives-matter-show-them-these-5-paragraphs/.
Roland G. Fryer Jr., the youngest African-American to receive tenure at Harvard, said his research finds no racial bias in police shootings. http://www.intellectualtakeout.org/blog/harvard-economist-no-racial-bias-police-shootings
Thanks Julie. Guess statistical data points don’t get much of a preferential treatment by the esteemed editorial board of SJI. I’ve submitted a reply yesterday with the link to FBI’s crime statistics for 2012 (homicides in particular) yet somehow, it got censored, which I’m pretty sure was due to a “technical error”.
https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2012/crime-in-the-u.s.-2012/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/expanded-homicide/expanded_homicide_data_table_3_murder_offenders_by_age_sex_and_race_2012.xls
I highly recommend that Baltimore Police be extremely careful after todays verdict. Rice has a deplorable record of violence and is the one who chased Freddie down and boot locked his thoracic and cervical spine. He is the fourth to be acquitted and the next three have powder puff charges against them. So Freddie died by spontaneous deadly injuries do to atmospheric and weather conditions. No juries which the defendants have no right to demand and a Judge, prosecutor and defense attorney who have spent weeks coordinating the defense. The first deliberate act was the over charging.to protect the officers and stop the riots. Watch what happens when the other three are acquitted and the next black man is killed. If you own Municipal Bonds from Baltimore get rid now
Was that not the study which showed that, if anything, law enforcement officers may hesitate longer to use deadly force in (potentially) violent confrontations with black offenders than others? I know there was at least one study that showed this and, if anything, this reticence to use justified deadly force against black offenders is, if anything, a form of reverse racism. Although, I suspect it probably has to do with weighing two forms of self-preservation: surviving the immediate deadly encounter vs surviving the media/acitivist/political lynching that will inevitably follow.
Not sure OfficerAnonymous but it does say that the results coincide with The Washington Post study from 2015. Here’s the breakdown.
1. According to The Washington Post’s 2015 police shooting database, 36 unarmed black men were killed by police shootings…out of 990 total people killed by police shootings.
In other words, around 3.6 percent of all people who died from police gunfire were unarmed black men. Additionally, 31 unarmed white men were shot and killed by the police.
2. Of the 36 unarmed black men killed by police gunfire, the threat level to police was determined as an “attack in progress” for 15 of them, “other” for 18, and three under “undetermined.”
Since the “other” designation is incredibly broad, here are some of the instances that fit in that category:
• A man was shot while attempting to break into a motel room through a window.
• Another man was shot when he ran at police officers “wielding a large tree branch.”
• Another was shot when he attempted to grab something out of his car when he was ordered to put his hands up.
• One man was unfortunately hit by a bullet intended for a man who pointed a gun at a cop.
In short, the majority of the 18 incidents under the “other” category involved those attempting to flee the police, seeming to grab for a weapon, or running toward a police either unarmed or holding something like a tree branch as a weapon. That pattern is consistent for unarmed white men shot and killed under the “other” category as well.
Some of the incidents under the “attack in progress” category included a man in Iowa beating a cop in the face with handcuffs and another man pummeling an officer in the face to the point where several bones were broken; the cop shot him only after repeated orders for him to stop and move away.
“An officer in such a situation can’t know whether he will lose consciousness under the blows to the head; if he does he is at greater risk of his gun being used against him,” writes Heather Mac Donald in her book The War On Cops: How the New Attack On Law and Order Makes Everyone Less Safe.
3. Out of the 258 blacks shot and killed by cops, 183 of them were in the “attack in progress” category, and 188 were wielding “a deadly weapon.”
In other words, the vast majority of blacks killed by cops occurred when they posed a serious threat to the cops.
4. From 1980-2008, blacks committed 52.5 percent of all murders in the country, despite consisting of 12.6 percent of the population.
This comes from the Department of Justice, and is therefore consistent with how blacks comprised nearly 26 percent of fatal police shootings in 2015.
5. Almost 6,000 blacks died by the hands of another black.
As Mac Donald points out, that means that the 258 who were shot and killed by the police are a “small fraction” compared to the 6,000 who fell victim to black-on-black crime, suggesting that the anti-police rhetoric is nothing more than a facade designed to distract from the true problem of crime within the black community.
Transcript of upcoming SJPD police radio tape:
Unit #1: “Control I hear shots fired in the area of the apartment complex near the corner or Murder and Urine streets. Am moving toward the area to check it out”.
Dispatcher: “Copy Unit One. Any Units in the area, respond to assist Unit One”.
Unit #2. “Control, I am responding from the other end of town, is there a Unit closer. My ETA is about 20 minutes”.
Dispatcher: “Copy Unit Two. There are no Units closer. You and Unit One are the only Units in service in the entire city at the moment. Unit Three should be clearing “sensitivity and diversity training” in about 30 minutes and I’ll see if he can respond from the Fred Reed substation”.
Unit #1: Control, I’ve found the suspect, he is shooting into a vehicle and appears to have hit several occupants. Better start an ambulance and back-up Units this way”.
Dispatcher: “Copy Unit One, Ambulance is enroute. I’m checking with neighboring jurisdictions and will try to find you a back-up Unit.”
Brief delay then:
Unit #1: “Control, cancel all Units. Repeat cancel all Units. The suspect is an armed African-American male. Advise all units to stay clear of the area. Have the ambulance stage 3 blocks away. I’ll advise when the suspect has left. Start my attorney this way. I may have made eye contact with the suspect and he may complain of racial profiling”.
A few years ago, that might have been mildly amusing. Today, it isn’t. It’s inevitable.
This is one of the worst OP-ED’s SJI has published yet. It should be a case study in left wing propaganda.
No facts, all emotion. Thankfully we have some readers that have posed facts and have written better article than the original.
Well done , those of you who get it!
THIS Thursday evening, at 6:00pm, at the Mexican Heritage Center, there will be a community forum on Police violence and the murders of the 5 Dallas Police Officers. They are going to be discussing ways to bring our community together with law enforcement. My hope is that this will not be yet another forum on bashing the Police, and one that actually deals with the REAL problems of why these kinds of things are happening.
For the past 24 years, I have worked with adult and youth offenders, victims of violent crime, the Mental Health Department, and law enforcement. I can tell you that not ONE of the offenders I have worked with ever blamed the Police for their criminal behavior. The number one reason these offenders gave me was the LACK of Fathers in their lives. Many of their Fathers or Mothers were either in prison, drug/alcohol addicted, mentally ill, or just plain absent from their lives. Money was another motive as many live in poverty. Why is it that these real life issues are NEVER discussed at these forums? Why is it that the behavior of the Police and the demand for more training for Police Officers are the MAIN focus of these discussions? When are we going to start talking about personal accountability? If not now, WHEN?
If we are truly going to see change, we need to start talking about bad parenting or the lack of it. We need to start talking about WHY mental health, drug/alcohol programs, job training programs, mentor ship programs, parental training programs, housing, and Community Policing Programs are underfunded, and practically nonexistent! And finally, we need to have offenders, both adult and youth, be a part of the discussion. They and only THEY can tell us what they needed or need to keep them out of trouble.
> The number one reason these offenders gave me was the LACK of Fathers in their lives.
KATHLEEN:
What’s gotten into you?
You’re making sense.
> Why is it that these real life issues are NEVER discussed at these forums?
Good question. And a long and complicated answer.
Short answer: players in the political process over the years have developed many techniques and stratagems for deflecting, avoiding, or redirecting issues they don’t want to engage:
Exhibit A: “The fact that you say X proves that you’re a racist.”
Exhibit B: “You work for the oil companies”.
Exhibit C: “You’re paid by the Koch brothers”, etc. etc.
No I’m not. Yes you are. No I’m not. Yes you are. No I’m not. Yes you are. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
I would like to ask you, are you an employee of any level of government?
The reason this is relevant is that it speaks directly to how constrained or unconstrained you are in the opinions you choose to offer.
sjoutsidethebubble- “KATHLEEN: What’s gotten into you? You’re making sense.” LOL! Thank you I think. I’ve always spoken my truth, but happily you and I just happen to be on the same page this time.
“I would like to ask you, are you an employee of any level of government?” Currently, I am self employed, but I have done private contract work with a government agency. Regardless of where I work or volunteer, I spoke/speak my mind regardless of “constraints.” I have been very blessed to work officials who really do care, want to help, and who actually….LISTEN, and DO what I’ve asked them to.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/son-of-slain-louisiana-man-speaks-out-for-first-time/ar-BBuijI0?li=BBnb7Kz.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/son-of-slain-louisiana-man-speaks-out-for-first-time/ar-BBuijI0?li=BBnb7Kz
This type of division in America is making HUGE profits for the media, electeds, and for groups that rely on grant money to keep racism and violence alive and well in America! Unless, and until we truly start having HONEST conversations about the REAL problems this country faces, and stop pointing fingers at just law enforcement, nothing, and I mean nothing will ever change.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/america-divided-shooting-protests-and-memorials/ss-BBuaG5P?li=BBnb7Kz.
http://www.ktvu.com/news/173291563-story.
You won’t hear any of these statistics from Obama, Loretta Lynch, Rahm Emanuel, Diane Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Zoe Lofgren, Nancy Pelosi, Mike Honda, Black Lives Matter, the 99%, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, the ACLU, Hillary, Bernie, Sam Liccardo, Gavin Newsome, in fact most Democrats, the mainstream news media, or anyone who ever attended UC Berkeley.
http://www.dailywire.com/news/7264/5-statistics-you-need-know-about-cops-killing-aaron-bandler
UGH~ http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_30120778/san-jose-civic-and-faith-leaders-unite-chief
Viewpoint of a black woman about Black Lives Matter:
http://insider.foxnews.com/2015/08/25/grandmother-peggy-hubbard-takes-down-black-lives-matter-viral-video
I’ve been following Peggy on Facebook since that first video. Her husband is a cop who was shot twice about a month ago. She and her husband both served in the military and I think she used to be a police officer as well. She gets called all kinds of names from some of the black community for speaking the truth. She’s quite a character who rides and loves Harleys and sees people for their character verses skin color.
I have a very heavy, broken heart tonight. Katherine Decker, Mother, of DECEASED SJPD Officer Michael Johnson
attended a community forum tonight on the topic of Police violence, and the Officers that were killed in Dallas. She wanted to talk about Police lives mattering too, and to try to bring both sides together.
Myself and my fiance made several requests for her to be allowed to speak. We both kept being told they “would get to her.” Never happened, so my fiance raised his hand, was given the microphone. He handed the microphone to Katherine Decker. When she got up to speak, and told the crowd that her son was killed, was an SJPD Officer, and that Police lives matter too, someone screamed out, NO THEY DON’T! It just got worse from there.
I finally yelled out,” Give her some respect!” Walter Wilson got up and told the audience to stop being rude, let her speak, and explained that he had talked Officer Johnson into going into the Police force.
In my lifetime, I have never seen or heard such anger and hatred as I heard/saw tonight. It just breaks my heart that some people are so angry that they can’t see past their own pain, bias, and bigotry.
To treat the mother of a slain Officer like they did tonight was just heartless.
We need to come together as a community and work with law enforcement to create change, and unless and until we do OUR part to make things better, NOTHING will ever CHANGE!
Over the years, I have read many things you have written. You have always struck me as an extremely nice person who might have limited awareness of the more negative aspects of society.
In fact, there is a small segment of the population that simply hates the police. To these people, the police will always be wrong. To this segment of society, the facts of these shootings are irrelevant. This ideology is at the core of the BLM movement. No matter what steps are taken by politicians, including Chiefs of Police, to appease this group, their view of the police will never change. That people with this mentality would shout down the mother of a slain officer is not surprising in the least. I’m sorry you had to experience it, but last night you came face-to-face with some of the ugliness that police officers face regularly.
“We need to come together as a community and work with law enforcement to create change.” A fine thought, Kathleen, very New Age and all. I do not believe you can change the minds and hearts of mindless, heartless people.
JMO- “I do not believe you can change the minds and hearts of mindless, heartless people.” Judging by what happened at that forum, the murders of 3 innocent officers, and the 3 injured officers, today in Baton Rouge, I hope you are wrong about that, but even I am starting to wonder.
These attacks seem very well planed and I’m afraid that there are more to come. I think we all better start praying for law enforcement and our communities/country.
Pete Malloy- “You have always struck me as an extremely nice person who might have limited awareness of the more negative aspects of society.” Thank you but I’ve seen more than I want to of the negative aspects of life. I guess I just want to believe that people are basically good. We as a society may not always see eye to eye, but can’t we just try to work together? Listen, and talk to one another with respect? After last night, it appears not.
“No matter what steps are taken by politicians, including Chiefs of Police, to appease this group, their view of the police will never change.” You are absolutely right about that. What you left out is that unless and until we as a society start taking personal responsibility for our children’s and our own actions, and work with law enforcement to improve things, nothing will ever change. Honestly, I’m sick and tired of meetings like these. They sit the Police Chief, electeds, and the DA down in front of hundreds of people who yell and scream at them. They accuse, demand, and tell story after story about the injustice they’ve seen or experienced. When asked to give solutions, they always come back with the same old tired answers. MORE Police training, change the laws, disband the Police and/or take their guns a way. Never do they offer to Police their OWN kids, themselves, or their community. Nor do they try to partner with the Police.
If Katherine wasn’t so insistent upon going, I’d have stayed home and spent time with my pets, and family because I’ve been to enough of these meetings to know exactly what was going to take place. I just never dreamed that they’d disrespect and abuse the Mother of a fallen Officer.
You hit on what I believe to be the root of most of society’s problems: people having kids who are not equipped, or even willing, to be parents. Raising kids isn’t easy under the best of circumstances, but if a child is born into a situation where they receive little in the way of love or the right kind of guidance, they already have two strikes against them and are often on their way to becoming society’s problem. The police then have to deal with the end result. Blaming them has become a convenient smokescreen for the real issues that politicians and activists don’t want to acknowledge.
Pete Malloy- Very true~
Mr. Pete,
What we all may be forgetting, and what we should try to keep in mind, is that the bigotry of groups like “Black-lives-matter”(BLM) and the other race baiters, i.e., the Al Sharptons, the Ladoris Cordells and all the other exploitive “Blacktivists” of the world DO NOT represent the views of the mainstream African-American community. The BLM’s are just getting all the attention from a media that has a vested interest in continually throwing gasoline on the fires of racial division and unrest.
I wonder how many of these little BLM thugs would even know who Martin Luther King Jr. was and what he accomplished by moral force and non-violent means, or would even recognize a picture of him!?! I have little doubt that Dr. King would be absolutely appalled by the behavior of these BLM savages who would then undoubtedly brand him an Uncle Tom when he denounced their thuggery, as I’m sure he would.
Certainly shootings like the one that happened with Walter Scott in South Carolina are shocking (the system is dealing with him, he has been charged with murder) but Blacks need not fear the police on the basis of such incidents. The odds of dying during surgery or from being hit by lightning are greater and there are far more cases of deadly malpractice, in all types of professions (check in to what happens if someone simply installs your furnace improperly), than what is being misrepresented as common among the police profession.
All this Blacktivist rhetoric about having to teach their young men how to interact with the police if stopped (by that of course they mean only by White police officers who always stop people based only on their race ) is enough to make me blow a gasket. I have taught my (vanilla) sons how to act if they are stopped by the police too. Keep your hands on the wheel as the officer approaches, keep your yap shut and do what you’re told. If the cop is unreasonable or wrong, do what you’re told, follow directions then file an Internal Affairs complaint, ( bring an ACLU lawyer, a journalist and an Al Sharpton with you if you want when you file it), or become a celebrity millionaire (like St. Rodney) by suing the jurisdiction where the officer worked. In the meantime, if you are ever stopped by the police, my advice would be to sit down, shut up and do what you are directed to do. It’s no different than what I tell my idiot sons to do at home when they screw up, if they don’t want a boot in the keister!
Exactly, Pete Malloy. 70% of black kids in the US are born to a single Mother, and Dad is nowhere to be found, because he’s either in prison, pimping, dealing drugs, or shooting other black men to death. In a recent weekend in Chicago, which has the toughest anti-gun laws in the nation, there were 43 shooting deaths. In ONE WEEKEND!! Where are Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Black Lives Matter, or Obama on this fact? AWOL, that’s where they are.
saw this one today: https://www.prageru.com/courses/political-science/black-fathers-matter
I wonder if this CNN reporter would have the same perspective if 10 reporters were randomly shot to death in the last week by BLM sympathisers ?
Kathleen writes: “I guess I just want to believe that people are basically good.” On the other hand, I believe some people are basically good, some people are basically bad, and most are somewhere in between. She continues: “What you left out is that unless and until we as a society start taking personal responsibility for our children’s and our own actions, and work with law enforcement to improve things, nothing will ever change.” True, but dat ain’t happenin’ in da hood. They be goin’ da otha way. And: “They sit the Police Chief, electeds, and the DA down in front of hundreds of people who yell and scream at them. They accuse, demand, and tell story after story about the injustice they’ve seen or experienced.” Successful behavior is repeated behavior. As long as the Chiefs, DA’s, and electeds keep putting up with the ghetto BS, they will continue screaming, rioting, and looting, which PC whitey and the PC news media call “protests.” THE POLICE ARE NOT THE PROBLEM HERE. THE GHETTO MENTALITY WHICH WE HAVE ALLOWED TO GROW BY CONSTANTLY APPEASING IT IS THE PROBLEM. We have become a nation of Neville Chamberlains, and if it doesn’t stop soon, there will be a lot of blood in the streets. Dallas and Baton Rouge are just the beginning.
Law enforcement needs our prayers today. This is just so sad very sad.
Thank you, Kathleen. The media and politicians, led by President Obama, have done their best to stoke these fires. Before knowing anything about the facts, he eulogized Alton Sterling as a victim, which has been his pattern. When the President, particularly the first African American President, makes false and inflammatory comments like those (and he did the same with Michael Brown), the fallout shouldn’t be surprising.
Pete Malloy- Speaking of the ignorant, bias media. I sent out the video showing how Katherine Decker was treated by members of the community forum, last Thursday night, to every media contact I have. Only three reporters responded. One is currently writing a story on it, or so I was told. The second one was a well known local TV reporter. Two things: First he said that his news team SAW AND HEARD how the crowd at the forum treated Ms. Decker, because they were THERE! I asked him WHY THE HELL they didn’t report what they saw and FILMED, regarding their treatment of Mrs. Decker? His response was, “I don’t know.” He also said that it might be because…Are you ready for this? IT WAS OLD NEWS! Seriously? The media IS covering UP the things these groups are doing! INCLUDING the BLM group starting fires 7-10-16, during their protest. Absolutely Sickening!
Secondly: He told me that he got word that BLM was going to hold a protest in SJ this past Friday at 5:00pm. He knows my views on violence, law enforcement, the PROPER way to protest, etc. He actually said this to me, “I don’t want to start any trouble with this group, but would you be willing to meet with me for an interview and give your perspective on these protests?” I was honestly floored that he asked me that after he admitted that their news crew saw what happened to Katherine Decker and decided NOT TO AIR IT! I basically told him to shove it. WHY would I want to run down to City Hall, give a 1 minute interview that would be hacked and edited to the point that they could keep any controversy or TRUTH from coming out about the BLM groups?
The 3rd reporter said she was horrified, and would talk to her Editor. Never heard back from her! Surprised? Not me.
Thank you for publicizing what happened, as well as the media’s lack of interest in anything that doesn’t advance the approved narrative. I wish I could say that I’m surprised.
Pete Malloy- You are very welcome. I am just outraged by the media’s handling of these incidents. What are they so afraid of? Why won’t they just report the FACTS, or is the truth just too boring to report? I honestly just don’t get it.
I think that’s just the way it’s always been. The press enjoys the freedom guaranteed it by The Constitution, but rarely displays the responsibility that ought to go along with that freedom. I’m sure San Jose Inside would also be completely disinterested in the story of what happened to Mike Johnson’s mom.
Interesting assumption. SJI actually invited Mike Johnson’s mom to submit a guest column, which we expect in the coming week.
That’s better than nothing, but it will only amount to her voice. That’s quite a different than a journalist doing some actual reporting on the actions of those involved with the BLM movement that don’t fit the approved narrative. Instead of letting his mother speak for herself, why don’t you do story about what happened to her? Allowing her to write a guest column would be an opportunity to get the story out, but it would also shield San Jose Inside from direct responsibility for publicizing what happened. Or how about a story about how, as Kathleen described, the media chose to ignore what happened, even though some of them actually witnessed it?
Kathleen, I would like to see the video. Can you share it with me? If the news outlets refuses to report on it, perhaps some of us citizens could share it via social media, YouTube, etc. Thank you
Julie- The video is from her cell phone and is on Facebook. I looked to see if I could share it, but I’m not tech savvy enough to figure it out. As far as I know, it is not posted on YouTube.
Katherine Decker will be writing an Op-Ed for SJI, and I’m sure she will include the video.
Thank you for checking Kathleen. I did a quick search and it is not shared with public nor on YouTube (as far as I could tell). I’m glad to hear she is doing a Op-Ed and if I come across it, I would be happy to share myself. Thanks for all you do.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/18/us/wisconsin-sheriff-david-clarke-i-predicted-this/index.html
The TV anchor did not hear what he wanted to hear, so he went to break.
BLM guy gets it after he goes through a PD training exercise. I hope he transmits what he learned to his BLM cohorts, so maybe a few of them will get it, too Sadly, I fear, most won’t.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=uvkI2CAj-4c
JMO- They should ALL have to go through this training and then be publicly scrutinized for their response to the training situation they just went through. May be then they’d get what our law enforcement Officers go through.
“Op-Ed: Black Lives Matter, Police Lives Matter—But the System Has to Change to Stop Bloodshed” So, Einstein, just what change in”the system” do you contend will stop 7,000 black men from being killed by other black men every year in this country? Focus on the real problem. it’s not the few cops who kill black men annually; it’s the black men in da ‘hood killing each other. But, I guess it’s just easier to blame whitey.
JMO- “Focus on the real problem. it’s not the few cops who kill black men annually; it’s the black men in da ‘hood killing each other.” Every time I bring this subject up in an anti-Police violence forum, either people jeer and heckle me, or dismiss me because I’m white, or look at me like they are deer caught in headlights, and move on to complain about the Police. These kinds of conversations will NEVER be had because it puts responsibility on PARENTS and the hypocritical groups pointing fingers to do something about it! They don’t WANT A SOLUTION! They want to collect their hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant money that they get from holding forums like these, and to get their 15 minutes of fame! It’s all about MONEY!
Further, they NEVER invite adult or youth offenders to sit on these panels so that THEY can tell us what led them to commit murder, join gangs, or carry a gun. This group is VITAL to add to the conversation on stopping violence. 90% of the adult and youth offenders I have worked with, HUNDREDS of them, told me they either didn’t know their father, or their father was in prison, or abandoned them, or was an addict. Hello! Let’s think about that for a minute and DEAL with it!
The breakdown of the black community since the 1960s is nothing short of catastrophic. Before that, most black men had jobs, most black kids were born into two parent families, most black kids graduated high school; unlike today where 70% of black kids are born to a single Mom and Daddy ain’t nowhere in sight,and the majority of black kids drop out of high school. Up until the 70’s Christian churches played a huge role in the black community. That has virtually gone extinct, and the most notable “church men” around now are the race baiters like Jackson and Sharpton, neither of whom have ever had a real job and never attack the real problems in the black community. They are on one form of welfare, and the single Moms are on another form of welfare, and they rarely ID the Dads. Why is that? BLM attacks black men being killed by white cops. They make thugs like Michael Brown heroes. But cops killing black men is a drop in the bucket compared to the 7,000 black men who kill other black men EVERY YEAR. The media is MIA on that statistic, just as Jackson and Shapton are. Go after the few bad cops, for sure. But the major problem in the black community is not white cops. It’s black men making babies they don’t care for, and killing each other.
What’s your diagnosis? The civil rights movement done ’em in? Speak freely, please.
> The breakdown of the black community since the 1960s is nothing short of catastrophic.
In my view, blacks were largely left alone after the Civil War and were making gradual “organic” progress into the ethos and practices of modern, capitalist civilization: work, saving, future orientation, marriage, families.
Then, in the early to mid-twentieth century, the enemies of western civilization came out of the woodwork, and began energetically advocating multiple variations of “synthetic tribalism”: fabian socialism, collectivism, bolshevism, communism, etc., etc. Until the excesses of the Bolshevik Revolution and the eastern European famines, communism was rather trendy and appealing among intellectuals.
In all the enthusiasm for “collectivism” and the return to “synthetic tribalism”, blacks were seen as easy targets to be cleansed of “bourgeois” indoctrination and redirected back to their black tribal roots.
So, creating “class consciousness” among blacks was seen by leftists as a promising starting point for creating “class consciousness” all across society, starting from the bottom up. And creating racial/ethnic class identification was just a preparatory stage of creating economic and political class consciousness.
So, I think the breakdown of the black community was in the works well before the 1960’s. and was really driven by ideologues from outside the black community who wanted to make blacks the “vanguard” of their revolution.
And, it is important to understand that marriage and stable families are really institutions of capitalism because they are founded on future orientation, accumulation of wealth and property, and inheritance.
Tribal societies do not have a future orientation, but an immediate consumption orientation. Therefore, there is no accumulated wealth in tribal societies, no need for rules of inheritance, no need for marriage. The social and sexual mores of tribal societies are probably similar to a hippie commune, and it doesn’t make much difference whose child is whose. They belong to the “village”.
Hillary Clinton wrote a book about it: “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child”. Not just a happy metaphor. It’s really the way tribalists think.
Interesting viewpoint. Though I respectfully disagree they were “largely left alone” after the civil war. In fact, they were heavily regulated by mandatory segregation laws telling them what they could and could not do. I also question the insight provided by unemployment statistics pre-integration, since they do not speak to the strata of employment or average income. I doubt there were too many black folks employed in professional jobs pre-integration. I do agree they were unable to compete in a more complex economy post-integration, succumbing as a community to poverty, substance abuse and crime. To the extent we can generalize at all, that is how I see it.
> “Op-Ed: Black Lives Matter, Police Lives Matter—But the System Has to Change to Stop Bloodshed”
I don’t think the Mercury News gets enough blame and ridicule for their stupid and shameful editorials.
It’s useful to remind ourselves that there are actual, otherwise unemployable losers sitting in chairs over at the Merc, breathing oxygen depleted air in stuffy offices, and intentionally writing this stuff.
Here’s the current list of offenders:
Sharon Ryan, President and Publisher, Bay Area News Group
Neil Chase, Executive Editor
Bert Robinson, Managing Editor Content
Randall Keith, Managing Editor DIgital
Barbara J. Marshman, Editorial Page Editor
Editorial Board Members:
Neil Chase
Ed Clendaniel, editorial writer
Barbara J. Marshman
Sharon Ryan
Their idea of a “news story” is, not that Black Lives Matter is a troop of violent racists, it’s that Melania Trump’s convention speech sounded like Michelle Obama’s plagiarized convention speech.
And they’re surprised when people don’t subscribe to their stupid newspaper anymore.
VOR sayts:
> Though I respectfully disagree they were “largely left alone” after the civil war. In fact, they were heavily regulated by mandatory segregation laws telling them what they could and could not do.
I think it was Daniel Patrick Moynihan who used the phrase “benign neglect” to describe the black condition in American society. The larger society simply didn’t much care about them. They were basically “furniture”. Just there.
And yes, blacks were highly segregated, But not everybody thinks segregation is an awful thing. The Democratic Party was predominantly segregationist well into the twentieth century. Black “nationalists” advocate race separatism. College administrators openly fret about blacks preferring to socialize with other blacks. “Progressive” social theoreticians spout endlessly about “the black community”. What is “the black community” other than blacks preferring the company of other blacks. Or, is allowing blacks to prefer the company of other blacks “oppression”? Probably, after the civil war, most blacks lived among other blacks and didn’t think twice about it.
It was the strange, weird narcissism of “white liberals” which embraced the idea that people ought to want to live among people who looked like them and their friends. Really, a subtle form of “white supremacism”.
>>not everybody thinks segregation is an awful thing<<
Respectfully, what do you think?
The difference between (1) blacks preferring the company of other blacks (assuming that is true) and (2) segregation laws is this — the first is a private decision protected by the free association clause of the first amendment, whereas the second is government action. The reason the KKK gets to march peacefully down the street is the same reason blacks get to prefer the company of other blacks (again, just assuming you are right about that). Both are very different from the government mandating segregation.
You said blacks were "largely left alone" in a capitalist society after the civil war. They were not. A capitalist society is based on individual freedom, right? Invisible hand, unregulated self-motivated behavior leading to social good, government staying out of people's lives, Ayn Rand, and all that jazz . . . . Right? Well, that was NOT the case for blacks after the civil war. The government was very much in their lives. California had laws against interracial marriage well into the 1940s (overturned by the California Supreme Court in Perez v. Sharp in 1948).
I'll be honest — I can't believe I am actually having to argue that mandatory segregation laws were a bad thing.
> You said blacks were “largely left alone” in a capitalist society after the civil war. They were not.
What are you trying to say here?
That after being in slavery, blacks were handed over to the benevolent welfare state?
Did the Democrat Party rush in and offer them government programs and jobs in the federal bureaucracy?
News to me.
I think they were pushed out the door and told “you’re free, go fend for yourselves.” The lucky ones got a chance to start at the bottom as sharecroppers.
Don’t be coy. You’re dying to tell me “the real story”. Lay it on me.
voiceofreason- I must admit that I am deeply disturbed that so many cultures have freely chosen to segregate themselves from others. I grew up fighting to end segregation because I felt it was wrong to deny others the right to what whites could do.
Having said that, I understand that other cultures/races do this to honor their heritage, but in my heart and mind, I believe that it only proves to further the divide between us.
On another note- It has always concerned me that whenever a man or woman puts on a law enforcement uniform, their race/culture/gender, disappears. They become the enemy, not members of society from different cultures/races who have chosen a profession that is sworn to serve and protect. Many folks in the Civil Rights movement demand that Police Departments employ people of color, and then they bash them when they do.
I just don’t get any of this.
By the way, the version of your posting that I now see, seems to be longer than the one I originally responded to. I have never seen this happen on SJI before.
Did you somehow edit or update your posting after you initially posted it?
Other blog sites have after the fact editing capability, but I never knew this was possible on SJI.
> I’ll be honest — I can’t believe I am actually having to argue that mandatory segregation laws were a bad thing.
Why do you think you have to argue that they were a bad thing. No one said they were a good thing.
You’re projecting.
“Projecting’ motives and arguments on other people is just putting words in their mouth.
Not the “voice of reason”. More like the “voice of prejudice”.
Again, say what you think and accept other people saying what they think.
I get it. The best defense is a good offense.
Do you want me to “lay it on you,” (your 1st response) or do you want me to “accept other people saying what they think” (your 2nd post)? I doubt I can do both at the same time.
And thanks for the definition of “projecting.” Didn’t even have to use the dictionary this time.
> Do you want me to “lay it on you,” (your 1st response) or do you want me to “accept other people saying what they think” (your 2nd post)?
Why would it be either/or? Many people are capable of doing both.
> I get it. The best defense is a good offense.
Why not just make your point?
And feel free to make an offense point or a defense point. I promise that I won’t be crushed.
Pete Malloy-“I think that’s just the way it’s always been. The press enjoys the freedom guaranteed it by The Constitution, but rarely displays the responsibility that ought to go along with that freedom. I’m sure San Jose Inside would also be completely disinterested in the story of what happened to Mike Johnson’s mom.”
SJI has covered some very disturbing things that other media’s have avoided reporting. Please see the link below.
http://www.sanjoseinside.com/2010/01/20/01_14_10_naacp_president_jethroe_moore_poa_nazis/.
I think I’ll just blame this whole mess on the “War on Poverty”,we apparently lost.
Blacks lost home and family to the welfare state because black women without men in the house got paid for having children. Children that grew up without fathers and mothers that had no time to teach children what fathers should have. We have mothers that had no fathers. Government was supposed to be those fathers.
Let us raise your children, remember it take a village? Looks like the village didn’t do to well either.
I’m not just picking on black Americans here but the whole welfare system that has messed up families of every color.
Welfare, Socialism, Marxism, Communism are all designed to make you dependent on the state for your daily cup of food. Vote for us, keep us in power, the other guys hate you and want you to go to work for nothing.
Well no, your job is to keep the governing class in power so they can throw you a bone every 4 years.
The problem is that big government is running out of bones and the people that make bone have had enough, and are retiring.
Maybe we can get Mexico to send some bones, What do you think?