So the city i was born in is on fire.  My daddy took me to see the damage from the 1968 riots here.   I'm shocked at how quickly things have gone completely out of control.  What are your thoughts PB?

I've been having this same discussion on FB since about 3 when the violence started. what is going on right now (in my opinion) has nothing to do with the death of Freddy Gray. I believe it is a direct reflection of what took place in Ferguson and the people in Baltimore are taking advantage of a lawless situation with the looting and see it as an opportunity to act a fool. I care less what your feelings are toward police but to start throwing bricks at them and innocent people driving by in cars is plain stupid if you ask me. If you don't want to be killed by the police, don't commit crimes. It's that simple. I'm not saying if you commit a crime you should be killed but you have to understand that if you do commit crimes you are increasing your chances of running into trouble with the cops. Before you say anything understand that when I was younger I committed plenty of crimes and had my fair share of interactions with cops that I feel I was harassed but now that I'm older I realize I was at fault for putting myself in that situation. That's all I got Caissa...lol

a clear front sight post will quickly aid in bringing this problem to an end

i saw this on the news, looks like a good time to grab a free TV or two

Thoughts on Baltimore???...how can ANYONE have any thoughts other then disgust and dismay at what they saw yesterday..can you imagine being a parent of one of them animals and watching your son or daughter loot and assault neighborhood business and cops and firefighters...how proud they must be..don't these people understand their only hurting themselves???..how about the employees who now have no place to work,no way to pay their bills???..your not hurting "the man" when you burn down your own community...now let the haters chime in about how off my rocker I am,and somehow defend these deplorable people..and I watched it with my 5 year old daughter..she asked why they were doing such things and then expressed how glad she was she didn't live their..and she was worried that it was the CVS we used...throw those points in your hate rebuttal too....when they swarmed and destroyed that pawn shop and check cashing store,who do you think frequented and used that store???..the suburbanites????lol

Last edited by shawshank 11 years ago

the land of the free and home of the brave

So far we have the viewpoint that the looters must hold from Thuglief, that the chaos is an opportunity to do something they couldn't ordinarily get away with. I don't agree with the sentiment, but I know that is representative of some. Zero tolerance from Turbo there, which seems to treat the protesters, rioters and looters as a pest that must be exterminated. Again, I don't agree, but I'm certain that there are quite a view who feel this way, that we are not dealing with other human beings of infinite value, but with some kind of plague that looks like a human. People carrying signs that say 'black lives matter' are reacting to those who hold this sentiment. I know Turbo didn't reference black and didn't intend to, but the fearful perception on the other side that that's what he would mean is increasingly common.

Then two in the middle that register dismay, which i think most all normal people are feeling. No tolerance of criminal behavior, but a concern for the community and a desire for genuine law and order to be restored so people of all kinds can live their lives.

But there is no one who registers the view that Shawshank anticipates, at least not yet. The view that injustice breeds injustice, and that when people are not being heard they get louder and louder until you can hear the glass breaking. Has our community shrunk down to where there is no one in that camp that's paying attention?

Last edited by Caissa 11 years ago

Here are some interesting and often unreported facts:

In 2012, according to the CDC, 140 blacks were killed by police. That same year 386 whites were killed by police. Over the 13-year period from 1999 to 2011, the CDC reports that 2,151 whites were killed by cops — and 1,130 blacks were killed by cops.

Police shootings, nationwide, are down dramatically from what they were 20 or 30 years ago. The CDC reported that in 1968, shootings by law enforcement — called “legal intervention” by the CDC — was the cause of death for 8.6 out of every million blacks. For whites the rate was was .9 deaths per million

By 2011, law enforcement shootings caused 2.74 deaths for every million blacks, and 1.28 deaths for every million whites. While the death-by-cop rate for whites has held pretty steady over these last 45 years, hovering just above or below the one-in-a-million level, the rate for blacks has fallen. In 1981, black deaths by cop stood at four in a million, but since 2000 has remained just above or below two in a million.

So, it would seem the dividing of this issue along racial lines is a common mistake which is undoubtedly encouraged by some community "leaders" and most members of the media. Both of which stand only to gain by their sensationalizing and exaggeration. Caissa, it is an admirable trait of yours to be instinctually drawn to immediate compassion. Unfortunately, there are great numbers of people who have learned how to take full advantage of compassion. White and black alike.

Last edited by TurboTorture 11 years ago

Other stats..Baltimore has a black mayor,a black police chief and 41% of the police force is black (46% white)...odd theirs so much oppression.

Last edited by shawshank 11 years ago

Just to clarify, I am not advocating for a military style response. That said, if it were my place of business that was being ransacked by a large group of cowards, it would a short amount of time before the pile of corpses inside the doorway would be too thick to climb through.