While You Were Sleeping

at

rHzg2nIJY7qbpjLNxFBEZKY9CTR7NJ7H0WWb9mmSGreM2N6tn2vX1yz3Ciemcwgx8NfYevdHPKRuZ3gjGjexJ1jrLvAGUBTG2MYyoLF3jXX68YFfxS59J2et8mBlSsXNKNWSEKZJEPFviRepI-SJLrpV3v0ESQJg69qyoIXB8tcMtOxAALCBt08VLoORRRWW2-Sd2xdtpeOTFP-SwyVHTedNsm8p5jIMG_20150428_093827IMG_20150428_093708IMG_20150428_093745

Scenes from last night’s riot in Baltimore, the largest city in the state of Maryland, following the funeral service for Freddie Gray, a young black man who died last week of injuries sustained after an arrest.

Baltimore protests turn into riots as mayor declares state of emergency (Guardian)

Sponsored Link

41 thoughts on “While You Were Sleeping

  1. Wayne.F

    Should it not read, riot and widespread looting? What better way to commemorate the dead or protest police brutality than by picking up a 6 pack and a new TV

      1. Yea, Ok

        No part of being black, American, or poor excuses rioting and looting. Apologetics like that aren’t helping anyone.

        1. ahjayzis

          In fairness if I lived in these parts of America I wouldn’t mind looting all that much. Place makes Ireland look like a non-corrupt socialist utopia.

        2. _d_a_n_

          I just want to play devils advocate for a second.

          I wonder what it would take to excuse rioting. The American justice and courts system systematically persecutes and incarcerates blacks. Black American men make up 6% of the total population but there are over 2 million in jail. That’s 10,000 for every 100,000. Despite the fact that whites and blacks have roughly the same level of drug use, a black man is 10.1 times more likely to be jailed for drug offenses. Blacks make up 13% of the entire population, but make up 56% of those incarcerated for drug related offenses.

          A black male born in 1991 has a 29% chance of spending time in prison at some point in his life

          101 unarmed black men were killed by police in 2014. That’s 40% of total. 26% of the 1,150 people killed by police in 2014 were black. Thats from a population of 6% of total remember.

          There are many more horrible statistics you can find. But here are more facts.

          An ex inmate cannot live in public housing. Their family are also prohibited from letting that person stay with them. This was brought in under Clinton. It was his belief that only those that deserve to live in public housing should be able to, ignoring rehabilitation.

          An employer is entitled to ask and therefore preclude from employment any job applicant who has spent time in a federal prison.

          More here;
          http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/brucewestern/files/western_asr.pdf

          The combination of the systematic jailing of and subsequent exclusion from society of young black people in America has created this situation. Not to mention the sociological effects of a police force which is verging on militia and kills a far greater proportion of the black community than any other.

          I wonder how you would react living, decade after decade, in this situation. What would it take for you to riot? Would all your protests be peaceful?

          We have no idea what that feels like living in Ireland. I can’t really bring myself to judge any of these people.

          1. Yea, Ok

            Good points, well made. But I still can’t see why rioting and looting is a valid option. What will that fix? The world looking in at this are turning against the entire movement the more this goes on. The civil rights movement of MLK and the rest achieved what they did through peaceful protest. The numbers are clearly there to make a huge impact on the treatment of minorities in the US, but the protests descend into this sh1te and are quickly lost in the chaos.

          2. _d_a_n_

            I understand what you mean and think the comparison to MLK is important.

            The fact is this situation is very different. The evils of segregation and commonplace racism in 20th century America were obvious to see for any right thinking and engaged person. The situation that has arisen over the last 40 years in America is very different. The institutional oppression of black people has developed slowly and in a much more pernicious manner. In some ways it has been more destructive to the black community.

            The statistics bear this out. Prison populations have risen 700% since 1970. What America has effectively engaged in is a destruction of the poor. It has created a prison industry, one worth billions a year. This industry is fed the poor and blacks and out the other side come massive profits. Drug detectives get paid bonuses per arrest in most states (Rhode Island for instance). This creates an incentive to arrest and arrest. Legislation is passed by politicians who are influenced by lobbyists to create this kind of policy and the result is a huge increase in arrests of young black people, which in turn destroys their lives by denying them access to housing and employment, which means they turn to the drug industry and the cycle continues.

            I’m not defending looting in principal, and I’m not saying that destroying another persons property is justified. But what is a logical outcome to this situation? If I am young and black and uneducated and unemployed because over two generations the country I live in has systematically marginalized, criminalised, demonised and killed my community on a massive scale, I don’t have the social consciousness or maybe even education to articulate another response. My response is anger and hatred and sometimes unfortunately violence.

            It’s hard for me in this context to simply say ‘these people have no right to riot, the argument is over now that they have rioted’. I would have preferred them to destroy a government building maybe, instead of private businesses. But it must be understood that it is not just the state that has abandoned these people, it is the entire society, it is the banks that won’t give them credit and stores that won’t give them jobs.

            Asking what rioting will fix is fair enough. I would hope that American society and the American establishment would look at these riots and realise that the current system is broken and destroying lives and that massive policy change needs to happen.

            Unfortunately it’s more likely that the American media will demonise the rioters, ignore the greater social context of the riots and advocate greater levels of law enforcement, effectively deepening the cycle.

      2. Paolo

        There are not all black, probably not all “American” (whatever that is) and certainly not all poor.

      3. Clampers Outside!

        Say that to the white guy moron with the machete… I don’t care if they’re black or white, once they start robbing and destroying other people’s sh*t their whole argument and/or position goes out the window. And they become common thieves and vandals, nothing more.

        It is that simple.

  2. Laughter Tack.

    Don’t run from the po po. Especially if you are black and carrying a knife.

    But what would I know? I’m white and not living in North America. Still, must stick my ignorant oar in and retweet nonsense.

  3. ethereal_myst

    These people need to learn what a real violent protest is….where are the water balloons?

    1. spud1

      Can’t afford them with the water charges.
      They tried just normal balloons, but it doesn’t have the same edge to it…

  4. Paolo

    They just want free stuff just like the people who wrecked north London in 2011. There is no political or social justice motivation behind smashing someone else’s house or car up. They are just violent criminals, quite like a large minority of the cops over there.

Comments are closed.

Sponsored Link
Broadsheet.ie