If you want to get the temper of the right on the Baltimore situation, all you have to do is open up the pages of the National Review, that money-losing magazine founded by a racist, for racists, and propped up by a constant stream of money from far right liars, like the Heritage Foundation. I did. I was unsurprised.
Whenever this kind of unforgivable idiocy occurs, some chin-stroking media wise man assures us that rioting is an expression of anger from oppressed communities, a cry for justice from those who feel every other avenue of protest has been unfairly blocked, blah blah blah.
It’s all nonsense. The last “riot” that achieved anything useful was the Boston Tea Party. If everyone in the United States swore a pledge declaring, “I will never riot,” there would be less injustice in this world, not more.
This is a theme: it’s always the rioters fault (unless they are white, like the Tea Party, and are cunningly dressed up as a minority racial group to displace the blame, like the Tea Party.) And any of the arguments that demand the root problems be addressed will be dealt with via a “blah blah blah” dismissal. Are these people not members of an oppressed community? Do they not have a cause to cry for justice? Are they not ignored, does the problem not persist? What would you have them do?
He also quotes from one of his stable of racist apologists for the elite, Steven Crowder.
You are animals. If you are able to destroy the home or business of your neighbor, you’ve lost your humanity. If you are able to harm your fellow man, to scare their children, to do so with a clean conscience, merely because of something that some cop may or may not have done, which has nothing to do with you . . . you are a horrible human being. You disgust me, as you should anyone who wishes to be a part of civilized society.
So you’re an animal
if you destroy property in a protest. What does that make a policeman who murders human beings at will?
Take a look at the ‘tradition’ of nickel rides in North Philly, as just one example. People arrested on minor charges in a predominantly minority area of the city were subjected to basically vehicular battery.
Top commanders acknowledge that rough rides are an enduring tradition in the department. The practice even has a name – "nickel ride," a term that harks back to the days when amusement-park rides cost 5 cents.
An Inquirer investigation documented injuries to 20 people tossed around in wagons in recent years. Thompson was one of three who suffered spinal injuries, and one of two permanently paralyzed.
We don’t even need to consider the unarmed people gunned down; just consider this one case.
Who are the animals again?
Of course, if you really want to see the bottom of the barrel in right wing journanimalism, all you have to do is peek in on Charles C. Johnson, if you dare. Have a puke bucket handy.
Seeing a lot of Moderates tut-tutting rioting on Facebook right now. Thrilling.
If you think somebody is no longer human because they dared to damage to property, then you have absolutely no fucking moral compass and should the fuck the up. Forever.
Merely because of something that has nothing to do with you. Apparently caring about other people and their treatment is a bizarre concept.
Who is the one who is supposed to be moral here, again?
Here is the face of authoritarianism: absolute disgust, complete with dehumanization, in the face of any that dare to challenge the holy order of society. The status quo is sanctified and any who would intentionally disrupt, through such as impure acts as the frightening of children or the damaging of property, are monsters. The Real Problem.
There were hundreds of people calmly demonstrating on Saturday. The looters are a minority of people but the right wing wants to think they represent all black people. They don’t complain when it is a bunch of white people rioting after a sporting event. According to the right wing those people are the minority and don’t represent all whites. I was impressed to see 200 clergy come out on the street in West Baltimore. I wasn’t impressed because they were praying; it was that they were outside between the police and the looters.
Had a discussion with resident right-winger at work about this. He does not seem to comprehend that an act of violence during a protest does not in any way, shape or form, invalidate the reason for the protest.
Yep, rioting is bad. But one of the reasons that (white) people have a constitutional right to stockpile weapons is so they can form armed resistance to the government if it pisses off (white) people!
Government officials are murdering members of your community? You’d better play strictly by pacifist rules, or else you’re an inhuman animal!
You’re scared by the skin tone of the president, and worried that other people will be allowed to marry people you don’t think they should be allowed to marry? Better buy some more ammunition and get ready for that great gettin’ up day, you great patriot you!
If you are able to destroy the home or business of your neighbor, you’ve lost your humanity
Unless you do it through a predatory foreclosure, then it’s just bidness.
Hmmmm. So Marie Antoinette is writing for the National Review now. Good to know.
Ah yes, the predominantly white riot about taxes. They would think that was a viable reason to riot, wouldn’t they?
I would suggest that anyone who is more horrified by destruction of property than the loss of human life is far more of a “disgusting animal” than the rioters, and seriously needs to sort their fucking priorities out.
I wouldn’t call it useful, but the Brooks Brothers “riot” in 2000 succeeded in it’s goal of shutting down vote counting in Florida.
And there’s a long, shameful history of racist and anti-union violence that could be called “riots” that also achieved their immediate goals.
If anyone should believe in the efficacy of riots it should be conservatives.
I’ve taken a couple screen shots of sanctimonious, racist comments on FB. I wish there was a place to anonymously post them so the wider Internet was aware of what shits they are, in case one wanted to employ them etc.
mishcakes
Can you post them here? You’ll get at least some of the wider internet.
+++
As twitter is once again saying, “I do not have to condone it to understand it”.
And oh, the property damage… Property of their neighbours… Funny then, why people put out signs saying ‘Black-owned business’ to garner some sort of protection for themselves.
Funny how what freaked Baltimore PD out was the Bloods and the Crips calling a truce between themselves in support of Freddie Gray and the protests.
Funny.
I imagine there would be plenty of riots that would accomplish something if it weren’t for right-wing authorities swooping in during the aftermath, telling everyone to shush shush shush, and assuring everyone that there isn’t anything to see there, nothing at all, just remember how violent and horrible riots, shake your head in disgust at the horrid mess of it all, and just be on your merry little way. Don’t think about the reasons, issues at hand, implications. Don’t look at the trends or statistics. To worry your little head about whatever injustices these people are actually worried about, and what their message is. Just spit out the word “riot” with contempt, sneering about the filthiness of it all, presuming that it is all just stupid violent people who deserve no consideration, maybe squeal indignantly about the poor persecuted corporate chains and motor vehicles, spew out a little police apologia, and go back to not thinking nor caring. Because if the white conventional authorities don’t care, why should you? There is no reason to, so just listen to the nice thought leaders, let the apathy wash over you, wail out with fatigue about how you wish people could just get along already, and then indignantly sputter out until your privileges finally lull you back into the normal state of perpetual sleep.
White bankers and white real estate agents “red lined” west Baltimore. I suppose they think it is not an act of violence against the community to refuse small business loans, to make sure dark-skinned people are kept within certain boundaries, to make sure most dark-skinned people remain renters instead of owners?
Even federal government housing policies played into redlining.
More background:
http://www.jhupolitik.org/2015/01/06/the-legacy-of-redlining-in-baltimore-using-credit-to-curb-social-mobility/
Excerpt:
I’m also amazed at whoever decided it was a good idea to close Baltimore schools today – that’s about 80 000 children without a place to go, 85% of whom rely on schools for meals. It’s like a purposeful provocation or something. And not coming from the oppressed.
rq @13, I agree with you. Closing the schools is not going to help. Some of the local churches and other organizations with larger buildings are opening up for the school kids, and they are hosting activities for them.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump is saying stupid stuff: “Our great African American President hasn’t exactly had a positive impact on the thugs who are so happily and openly destroying Baltimore!” he tweeted.
So fucking sick of hearing these words every time.
It’s not violence when racist police officers commit government sanctioned murder of a black person. It only becomes violence when a black person responds to it in any way other than silence and obedience.
It’s not destruction when racist police officers ruin entire families and communities by taking their friends and family members from them without any hesitation (or even any superficial display of shame or guilt afterwards). It only becomes destruction if a fucking building or an automobile is damaged in outrage afterwards.
He’s not a fellow man who has dark skin and is being choked, punched, Tasered, or shot to death by public servants whose very jobs it is to uphold the law. No, apparently, the fellow man is the property owner. Or the white person who is appalled at seeing the consequences of organized racism on their televisions in safety, safety simply imparted on them by their skin color. How dare anyone offend their sensibility!
There’s no lamenting of the decline of civilized society when black people are publicly executed on camera for all to see. Civilized society only becomes endangered when these same people start voicing and acting out in anger.
And animals. Of course he has to use that word. Can’t talk about anything to do with the plight of black people without letting them know they still live in the same system that fucked over generations of their ancestors. That word is the very distillation of centuries-old racism.
Steven Crowder, you are a lowly racist fuck. I look down upon you and any of your tribe of destructive, violence promoting, uncivilized hatemongers who have no compassion for your fellow man and no interest in civilized society.
rq: That and also bringing in the National Guard and the riots last night seemed to have happened after dozens of officers in riot gear set themselves up. Yes, it looks like intentional provocation. Or that they are stupid and don’t realize they are fighting fires with a hose full of gasoline. It is exactly what happened in Ferguson: Police kill someone, people protest peacefully, police then make a big show of their power in the name of preventing riots and, surprise, it fucking raises tensions because the people are protesting against the excesses of the fucking police!
Here’s Ta-Nehisi Coates:
Also, had the privilege on facebook of seeing a police officer making two frustratingly asinine arguments:
1. The hypocrisy of people saying only a small number of protestors are looting or committing violence, while criticizing the small number of police who are bad and kill defenseless citizens. This would be a good point if it weren’t for police like him apologizing for violence. Which he does in the second argument.
2. He objects to calling it “murder” when a police officer kills people like that. He invokes legal definitions and says it is homicide instead. Because if it is justifiable, it isn’t murder. Which, if that isn’t apologizing for police brutality, I don’t know what is.
Here’s a video of the Crips and Bloods disputing claims made by the Baltimore police.
I think that claim of organized gang violence was fear mongering. That claim was repeated in every media outlet, and that ramped up the tensions.
Link
Another Baltimore resident noted that on the sun Paper’s liveblog there were repeated reports of the Bloods and the Crips protecting properties and trying to temper anger.
The police are acting more like a gang than the gangs are!
Here’s a clean up and recovery story that hits some positive notes.
That story also highlights how the rumor of a Blood/Crips organized assault, and/or an assault organized by high school kids, affected the police response:
Note that the “transportation hub” for all of those students was not working. Students did not have access to their usual mode of transportation home.
I’m really out of touch with news, so I had no idea about this. This Forbes’ article has some numbers that helped me familiarize myself with the situation in Baltimore:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/dandiamond/2015/04/28/why-baltimore-burned/
The cold blooded entitlement in that response proves the protesters’ point.
Sickening.
Protestors: Please stop what you’re doing, police, it isn’t right.
Police: Poke protesters. Poke. Poke. POKE.
Protestors: Please don’t do that.
Police: They’re rioting! Get ’em!
If there’s any good coming out of all of these incidents, it’s that the officially sanctioned violence is being exposed for all the world to see. Beyond that, I got nothing.
@Lynna, OM #21:
Good link, also in there a link to an editorial by Ta-Nehisi Coates at The Atlantic that cuts right to the hypocrisy of government officials calling for peace:
From Lynn’s quote:
What the fuck?
Here’s something slightly more uplifting: 28 Moments That Show Another Side Of The Baltimore Riots. Which is mostly decent stuff, and some questionable (see #11), like – I understand praising kids who are helping clean up the streets, but they should have been in school…
anteprepro @16
Well, that and the fact that public transportation was shut down shortly before school was due to be out, essentially stranding a lot of students near the riot police. It’s stupid enough actions to seem unintentional, but enough stupid actions as a collective to seem intentional…
anteprepro @26
Yup.
Article form.
Here’s a teacher’s account of the beginning last night, see appended text.
This weekend a guy told my husband “If the races didn’t mix so much these things wouldn’t happen”. He blamed the civil rights moment for the riots. The “best part”? He said “Civil War”, but he was talking about the 60’s. Quite the Freudian slip, huh?
My husband just turned and walked away. He was not expecting to be lectured by a racist. He now wishes he’s have at least said, “Bullshit”.
We’ve lived here a long time and while racism has always been standard (We have a high school named for a confederate general, FFS) alot of the buried stuff is rising to the surface. People have stars and bars tattoos and all that crap, but they used to pretend it was about “history not hate”. We avoid most of our extended family now because the racism is becoming so blatant. These racist shitheads are getting bold. They’re smug too and it is unbearable.
Why wouldn’t they be getting bolder? When they see cops walking away from murder with gifted millions they know it is safe for them to finally open up about how vile they are. They don’t have to pretend anymore.
I hate this place.
Merely? Merely? Nice minimizing the death of a young person there. I also notice the actual act of violence is taken out of the sentence and replaced by What is it that this cop did? Huh? It was murdering a young person. Now when you fill that content into your damn sentence, doesn’t seem misplaced? If you can minimize murder, what’s left? What’s more serious than murder? Oh yeah…. property damage.
Fuck these people. I haven’t seen a single one of their opinions that doesn’t compare black lives to property and the justified outrage of black people to animalistic behavior. What would these people do if their children were murdered by the state with impunity? They absolutely would not just shut up because
It was certainly a tense night in the city last night. Shutting down the bus and light rail system ahead of the “Purge” was about the stupidest fucking thing that those in power could have done. Combined with the “co-ordinated gang threat” that the police made sure got a national release. It feels very contrived. The Baltimore City Paper is doing a very good job with the coverage.
Jackie @30
Ain’t that the truth? With all my white privilege blindness I grew up with, the last year has been very eye opening. It’s hard to look at some of my family members, friends, and community members the same way. And I don’t want to look at them the same way. I grew up being told platitudes about racism being wrong from the same people spouting such vileness today. I’m just so, so sorry that it took this ugliness to get me to see how deeply entrenched racism is at every level of society and government. Here’s to keeping my eyes and ears open.
Read that teacher’s tweet linked by rq at 29. Hundreds of cops stopping buses, forcing students out in the open without transportation, and harassing any groups of students they found suspicious. It suddenly makes sense: This is how riots started almost immediately after school. This is how the shutting down transportation that day was an issue, and why they shut down school today. It was all about that “purge” threat. The cops went the Full Ferguson, full force, massive number, decked out in riot gear, prepared for a massive attack that probably didn’t exist. But they attacked their invisible foe, angrily, sloppily, and by doing so they conjured up a real one.
@rq:
I’m glad you’re familiar with PINAC, that’s a great source.
As for cops throwing rocks, I’ve seen multiple sources saying that “cops” (plural) threw rocks/bricks/concrete, but I’ve only seen video of the one. It’s entirely possible that “cops” is without a first-hand source and is merely repetition of an accidental plural. But even if that’s true for some sources (or even for all of the sources I’ve seen) that doesn’t mean only one cop did it.
If I hadn’t seen the video of the one doing it, I wouldn’t have suspected any – they’ve got their own weapons, why use rocks?
But if Baltimore PD is so unprofessional as to have ONE officer throwing what clearly looked like a hunk of concrete, then I have literally no problems believing that more than one officer did. That’s not evidence, but it’s a statement about the standard of evidence: the cops would like us to believe that thoughtless, raging, retributive rock throwing is something we should consider an exceptional claim, requiring exceptional evidence.
It’s a mundane claim now.
Transcript of the teacher’s account from #29, originally from a Facebook post:
It’s posted with what looks like her full name. I hope she doesn’t get punished for being a witness.
The mayor’s reaction was sickening
https://twitter.com/MayorSRB/status/592883669636915201?s=09
Going well beyond decrying the methods.
sugarfrosted
She also called protestors ‘thugs’ in one of her tweets.
More from the mayor:
In which she talks about “thugs” tearing down the city, with a photo of herself next to a prominently displayed officer in uniform
https://twitter.com/MayorSRB/status/592843763178942464
In which she talks about the “evil we see tonight”. Yes, she calls the rioters fucking “evil”.
https://twitter.com/MayorSRB/status/592885093561192449
“Deplorable and cowardly acts”. This is like Baltimore’s 9/11 apparently.
https://twitter.com/MayorSRB/status/593029310627340288
These are the same people who think a reasonable response to shoplifting is summary execution.
rq, #27
Wow, #7 and 18.
Oh yes, thanks for the reminder: the War that resulted (from the Tea Party) was really _useful_. Killed 1000’s of people, sank many ships, blah blah blah, BUT it gave us our Freedom from those disgusting Royals, eh? And the Party didn’t burn anything, just threw some tea barrels into the Bay, what harm resulted. Police killing a young man is too minor to riot over, but getting taxed over tea is justifiably riotous. Good to know. Burning buildings is too extreme a response for that minor incident, but causing a war is appropriate for being taxed more than you think you should be?
—
cognitive dissonance is rattling my brain.
The guy, that I quoted above, seems to have his priorities a little askew.
Steve Crowder? Any relation to Boyd?
Rand Paul says a bunch of stupid stuff:
This is the same Rand Paul whose son was recently arrested for drunk driving.
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2015/04/rand-paul-baltimore-riots-absentee-fathers
Right. If you’re a straight, white male with money and no inconvenient empathy, then killer cops don’t concern you. Everyone else has to worry about dodging bullets.
What a despicable creature.
Former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) said stupid stuff. He tweeted: “Want to blame someone for Baltimore besides the thugs? Blame Democrats who have purposely turned blacks into uneducated government slaves.”
He later added: “50 yrs of Democrat [sic] policies destroyed the black family, created dependency & ruined public schools. Democrats did that. Not the Tea Party.”
They dislike riots? I guess they’re going to ban sports for white people now. Oh, wait, when white people burn down cities because somebody won/lost a match that’s perfectly reasonable…
ACLU: 109 people in Maryland died after police encounters in 2010-2014
Something is completely broken in Maryland
Since 2011, Baltimore has lost or settled more than 100 cases related to police brutality
Wonder why we don’t hear the right-wingers talk about this
Dr. Ben Carson said some stupid stuff:
Wonkette link
I think I get it: you’re only justified in rioting or protesting if you are murdered by police.
mishcakes @9: There’s always this site: http://racistsgettingfired.tumblr.com
I saw a Facebook post from somebody I ordinarily don’t associate with racism refer to rioters as “animals.” I don’t understand how somebody can phrase it in those terms and not see that it’s racially charged. It’s frustrating and sickening.
Giliell:
These are right-wing authoritarians. They believe banning the bad thing, and tut-tutting when it happens anyway, is all you need to do. I haven’t seen any evidence at all that eliminating the bad thing is the goal; if anything, tut-tutting is the goal.
There is a good article in the NY Times about all the missing black men, a lot of whom are incarcerated. Rand Paul complains about there being no black fathers. Well, that’s because of the drug wars and because black men are targeted more often. Black men don’t have access to healthcare so they die earlier
These white politicians need to shut up and listen to those are living through injustice. If they don’t want riots, then they need to work on justice and equality.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/04/20/upshot/missing-black-men.html?_r=0&abt=0002&abg=0
numerobis @53:
Oh, eliminating the bad thing is most definitely not the goal. Doing so would upset the well-oiled engine of white supremacy.
@38, rq:
As did Obama, in a press conference with the Japanese PM. Very disappointing.
@54, karmacat
Or they just need to dehumanize protesters to the point where any armed response from the police becomes justifiable.
CNN has gone with the headline “RECLAIMING BALTIMORE”.
Reclaiming…
@ anteprepro
Didn’t people support the invasion of two sovereign countries by the USA and its allies for pretty much this justification some time this century?
Valid reason for riot:
* taxes you don’t like
* your team losing at sports
* your team winning at sports
Invalid reason for riot:
* Murder committed by an officer of the state
ogvorbis
He mist have forgotten JFK’s neat little sentence.
And MLK’s very clear statement about riots.
I pinched these from comments and the OP where Greg Laden does a neat step by step, line by line parallel between these (and similar) riots and the Boston beginnings of the American Revolution. http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2015/04/28/reactions-to-the-baltimore-riot-2015/
I reckon it’s quite a neat expansion of JFK’s and MLK’s core idea with a concrete, real life, politically acceptable comparison.
Every one of these pearl clutching conservative gasbags was super gung-ho about “liberating” Iraq with violence, as I recall, and many still think we should be there looting and killing.
Wolf Blitzer talked to an activist, Deray McKesson, who gave him a calm, civil, and eloquent schooling on property damage v. damage to people.
I also liked this tweet: Republicans whining about property damage:Not only did Jesus beat the piss out of money changers, he also broke their shit. #FreddieGray
I haven’t read all the comments here, but I want to communicate buzz I’ve seen on tumblr that a lot of shit that’s gone down there has been instigated by white racist bystanders. There’s good reason to believe it. I was wondering when race war fetishists outside the PD would walk the talk. Apparently now, though they don’t have the courage to do so in their sheets and swastikas.
Also, check this business out: http://city-limitations.tumblr.com/post/117620105465/yall-need-to-watch-the-last-15-seconds-of-this
Trebuchet @57
Obama has repeatedly shown that he has a serious case of Both Sides-ism when it comes to police brutality. Even if he has no integrity (a normal affliction for politicians), he should realize that right wingers are blaming the protests on him anyway and join the fold.
Mickll – my exact sentiment! What is war if not a protest riot?
@-1, Jim Geraghty
So, he admits there’s precedent, but fails to explicitly distinguish the two cases.
Thus, parsimony implies they are morally equivalent. ¡Viva la Revolución!
@mildlymagnificent #62
The conservatives that tout Dr King (and Gandhi) whenever there is civil unrest don’t want the real Dr King (or Gandhi). They want the Disneyfied King that only exists in their collective imaginations and his example only ever seems to be invoked by them as a cudgel against the very people he was fighting for.
Whenever the country moves too far to the right, people riot. Now, I can’t claim here that correlation equals causation, but surely someone must have gotten this idea before ?