Baltimore won't burn down because the National Guard will be mobilized in sufficient numbers to prevent it.
What a massive violent response by wild black youth will 100% guarantee, however, will be the election of a GOP President & Congress in 2016.
And that's shame because the GOP candidates are getting nuttier every year.
On the bright side, however, the GOP will probably eliminate welfare completely, build more jails, eliminate all funding for public housing, etc. Even though I'm a lifelong Democrat, I've started think those steps should be taken. Enough is enough.
What a massive violent response by wild black youth will 100% guarantee, however, will be the election of a GOP President & Congress in 2016.
And that's shame because the GOP candidates are getting nuttier every year.
On the bright side, however, the GOP will probably eliminate welfare completely, build more jails, eliminate all funding for public housing, etc. Even though I'm a lifelong Democrat, I've started think those steps should be taken. Enough is enough.
17
So the author failing to point out Mr. Gray 18 prior arrests seen irrelevant to him. NOT TO ME.
33
It should be noted that current police tactics have too often been adopted after many police officials have made trips to Israel for training in the methods Israeli security forces use in dealing with Palestinian demonstrators protesting the occupation. One of the hundreds of police officials who have gone to Israel for training in crowd control methods, Col. Robert Williams head of the Maine State Police, has been quoted that he noted that his Israeli counterparts had decades of experience in dealing with protests and he was impressed with their ability to suppress demonstrations.
“They call it riots and we call it civil unrest,” Williams told a Bangor newspaper.
http://tinyurl.com/lcn4lfe
So our police officials learn how to control demonstrating U.S. citizens from a military occupation force and the Homeland Security department give police forces hundreds of millions of dollars worth of military equipment to effect tactics learned during those trips.
Why have we allowed this country to begin a slide down an increasingly speedy slope toward becoming a police state?
“They call it riots and we call it civil unrest,” Williams told a Bangor newspaper.
http://tinyurl.com/lcn4lfe
So our police officials learn how to control demonstrating U.S. citizens from a military occupation force and the Homeland Security department give police forces hundreds of millions of dollars worth of military equipment to effect tactics learned during those trips.
Why have we allowed this country to begin a slide down an increasingly speedy slope toward becoming a police state?
25
Like most females, I've faced male aggression all my life.
12
Does anyone else find it strange: the media video captured more looters, so to speak, than the police or the Guard?
7
Hobbes was wrong. You can -- and did -- have relatively harmonious societies without the state. The police aren't there to stop violence; they are there to maintain the intrinsically violent institution of private property.
7
The folks who kicked in your door get a pass?
15
I remember the riots of the 60's, Watts in 1965, Detroit 1967. It seems once the match is lit the fire grows. Sadly we may face many more Baltimores soon.
4
I was also born and raised in Baltimore and I find this Opinion Page insulting and gross. For years, no one even wanted to go downtown because of all the crime - black crime. In fact, take away from the general crime statistics in this area all the crime were the alleged perpetrators were black males, and Baltimore would be one of the safest cities in the nation. If the police treated you poorly, it was because their experience was that your ilk caused all the crime and your community abetted it - no snitching, no witnesses, endless black children with no fathers, etc etc. Many young blacks have been successful - witness the Boys and Girls Clubs of Maryland, sponsored by the police--were you ever a member? Did you ever go to their after-school programs? I doubt it. My own personal experiences have been that black males have accosted me, cursed at me, and broke into our home when I was 10. Are all black males to blame? NO! But when the black community sides with the likes of Michael Brown, why should the rest of us even pay attention?
41
Look at that. D. Watkins doesn't get smart until the last paragraph. Rioting, the bubbling cry of the disempowered. It's unfortunate, but it will get swept under the rug as well. It takes an overwhelming rage to overcome social apathy. And the baseball fans got it right, no matter how many articles are written or racial discussions are had. " We don't care!" "We don't care!"
I'd laugh at you. If I didn't want to cry at the same time.
I'd laugh at you. If I didn't want to cry at the same time.
5
Race riots cost Hubert Humphrey the 1968 election. The Baltimore riots have cost Hillary Clinton the 2016 election.
8
As tragic as the loss of a CVS store is to white America it would seem our "outrage" might be insufficient this time.
If just a sliver of those whites who self-describe as being "right on race" were to make the slightest effort to celebrate our commonality with those of different race and to stand up for the human rights of all people in their communities, change would follow.
If just a sliver of those whites who self-describe as being "right on race" were to make the slightest effort to celebrate our commonality with those of different race and to stand up for the human rights of all people in their communities, change would follow.
13
It seems as though the only difference between the police behavior now from the way they acted years ago is video. Would the case of Rodney King, Eric Garner, Walter Scott or Freddie Gray ever have made the six o'clock news if it were not for the video tape. And seeing the tape, no matter how horrible or obvious the excessive force the result seems no different. Selling single cigarettes, walking down the middle of the street or asking why are you arresting me in some neighborhoods can be a capital crime.
Why burn and loot stores in your own neighborhoods? I suppose because the police won't let them get to places like Bloomingdales or Nordstroms. What rage does do is get your attention. And attention must be paid.
Why burn and loot stores in your own neighborhoods? I suppose because the police won't let them get to places like Bloomingdales or Nordstroms. What rage does do is get your attention. And attention must be paid.
15
I think that if these white cops who kill black people for no good reason were charged with manslaughter and put in jail, then things might change. Often these killer cops just get paid leave which is just a slap on the wrist, instead of being brought to justice. When the white killer cops get charged with manslaughter or murder and are prosecuted as they should be, then other cops wil probabyl think twice about their brutality.
20
While working on a construction site in the 80's, I grew friendly with some young black men who, like me , were working as unskilled labor to earn a little extra money. As we grew closer, they shared stories of the brutality that they knew of, had witnessed and feared growing up in Trenton, just a little ways east of Philly.
As a middle class white kid, all of this was a revelation. The stories were told in a very matter of fact manner. There was never a sense that my friends were trying to shock me, just that they were trying to tell what their lives were like; that black men were being beaten and killed by police and that they had to be careful not to end up in the wrong place or time.
It doesn't seem like much has changed in thirty years. The outrage over the way that the police and the justice system treats black Americans is long overdue.We, all of us should be outraged. we should not tolerate this any longer.
As a middle class white kid, all of this was a revelation. The stories were told in a very matter of fact manner. There was never a sense that my friends were trying to shock me, just that they were trying to tell what their lives were like; that black men were being beaten and killed by police and that they had to be careful not to end up in the wrong place or time.
It doesn't seem like much has changed in thirty years. The outrage over the way that the police and the justice system treats black Americans is long overdue.We, all of us should be outraged. we should not tolerate this any longer.
32
One wonders how much of the author's statements are exaggeration? Perhaps an explanation of how Baltimore burning to the ground will help?
7
Are they police or paid killer terrorist?
Shame on such police-system committing heinous crime of extra-judicial killing, the worst crime against humanity.
The USA police system needs a thorough social-reconstruction by uprooting the ongoing evil status quo.
Shame on such police-system committing heinous crime of extra-judicial killing, the worst crime against humanity.
The USA police system needs a thorough social-reconstruction by uprooting the ongoing evil status quo.
9
A lot of these cops were trained for their present tasks over in Iraq and Afghanistan. Maybe that was the whole underlying purpose for the Iraq War in the first place. How else can the 1% lord it over everyone else without a sufficiently brutal police presence?
11
The police in this country, for the most part, act like an invading army and that's how they like it. They talk about 'going into battle' every day with their brothers and they like to refer to to non-cops as "civilians", rather than citizens. The slightest questioning or noncompliance is frequently met with overwhelming force. They even have magical expressions they can use as a get out of jail free card: "he reached toward his waistband"..."he reached for my gun"... and, of course... "I was in fear for my life."
The police generally have no respect for us. That cuts across racial barriers. Yet, just because they have a badge and a gun, they demand respect.
Most people who trust the police never have contact with them.
The police generally have no respect for us. That cuts across racial barriers. Yet, just because they have a badge and a gun, they demand respect.
Most people who trust the police never have contact with them.
28
Everyone wants peace.
Well, not really. Everyone wants the other side to be peaceful. But at the same time, many (possibly most) people invent reasons why the rules don't apply to them. They rationalize why they can be violent while the other side must not.
Cops do this. Governments do this. Sadly, so does the author. By advocating violence as a solution, all of his credibility gets flushed. All he needs is a uniform and he could be a corrupt cop.
Well, not really. Everyone wants the other side to be peaceful. But at the same time, many (possibly most) people invent reasons why the rules don't apply to them. They rationalize why they can be violent while the other side must not.
Cops do this. Governments do this. Sadly, so does the author. By advocating violence as a solution, all of his credibility gets flushed. All he needs is a uniform and he could be a corrupt cop.
8
I'm a white male, from the South (N. Fla, S. GA) and was pulled over recently in Wakulla county for reckless driving (the charge they levied). My 5 year old son was in the car. As the corpulent, white males in tinted sunglasses threatened to "take me down hard," if I didn't comply - I tried to move towards my son in the back seat of my car to reassure him that "all was ok." I was tazed and thrown to the ground, arrested for "resisting arrest," and spent the night in jail while my son was subjected to child services. This seems less about race and more about white males joining the force in order to act out fantasies of violence, brutality, and fetish. We rebuke the "animal" responses by the people of Baltimore but it seems to me that the majority of our PD are kids looking to realize the fantasies of their video games.
38
As retired federal law enforcement, I will tell you that the complaints about the cops are, as Jimmy McNulty said in an episode from The Wire, "spot on."
D.C. police department, which has no shortage of "thugs" is a case in point. On one occasion I approached a black female "officer" who was sitting in her patrol car stuffing her face with some Chinese lo mein dish. I began to ask her a question and she began screaming at me, that couldn't I see she was busy. I flashed my credentials and asked her if she was too busy to do her job. Of course, she had no retort.
D.C. police department, which has no shortage of "thugs" is a case in point. On one occasion I approached a black female "officer" who was sitting in her patrol car stuffing her face with some Chinese lo mein dish. I began to ask her a question and she began screaming at me, that couldn't I see she was busy. I flashed my credentials and asked her if she was too busy to do her job. Of course, she had no retort.
26
For the last 30 years, our protections against police brutality and mechanisms for holding police accountable have been rolled back and struck down. This has been a gradual erosion, so much so that many of us can ignore the ultimate effects.
Black people are on the bleeding edge of this problem, but it's a problem that affects anyone who interacts with the police.
Add to this the idea that has become prevalent in some communities that police forces must "generate revenue." This is a formula for corruption.
Black people are on the bleeding edge of this problem, but it's a problem that affects anyone who interacts with the police.
Add to this the idea that has become prevalent in some communities that police forces must "generate revenue." This is a formula for corruption.
14
To get an accurate portrayal of what is happening in Baltimore, one just has to read the hate-filled comments from anywhere U.S.A. I live in Arizona, a red state, and I am ashamed of many the people that live here. While not all of us are hate driven, racists here in the desert, the social media pages of our local Arizona towns, including the one I live in, reflect the true thoughts of the "common" people. People that are not black. People that have jobs and opportunity and have no clue of what it is like to be hated and feared, BEFORE the cop walks up to your window.
Yet. The comments keep on coming. Everyone wants to point the finger and agitate an already volatile situation. I myself do not wish to have to choose sides in the new civil war. I do however, know which side I would choose.
We need presidential action to reign in the insane police/military mentality that we have here in America, beginning with full audio/video recordings of every minute, of every encounter, anyone has with police/fire/medical. If you deal with the public in a professional capacity and you are publicly funded, we want to have documentation. No documentation and I feel that, at the point where the video stops,the police are no longer under the protection of the badge. They are citizens breaking the law and would be subject to the same penalties as we are.
Yet. The comments keep on coming. Everyone wants to point the finger and agitate an already volatile situation. I myself do not wish to have to choose sides in the new civil war. I do however, know which side I would choose.
We need presidential action to reign in the insane police/military mentality that we have here in America, beginning with full audio/video recordings of every minute, of every encounter, anyone has with police/fire/medical. If you deal with the public in a professional capacity and you are publicly funded, we want to have documentation. No documentation and I feel that, at the point where the video stops,the police are no longer under the protection of the badge. They are citizens breaking the law and would be subject to the same penalties as we are.
11
There is a groundswell of long simmering class based anger in many of our cities and in many of our rural areas. Law enforcement has assumed a heavy handed role in many parts of America that is intended to suppress the anger. Deaths of community members at the hands of law enforcement personnel reinforce a belief that law enforcement is not protecting and to serving a community as much as it is intended to intimidate and control a desperate and hopeless underclass. Many feel that law enforcement is used by establishment interests to perpetuate the status quo and to make sure that nothing changes. There will be no resolution to America's class based problems as long as those who enjoy the windfalls of the status quo are allowed to portray our problems as rooted in race.
3
Recently, a close friend who is white, in his early 60s, and has a professional degree and occupation was driving his Prius in Baltimore, accompanied by a young, male, African-American acquaintance. A police officer pulled him over for having expired tags. (The tags, in fact, were not expired; rather, the sticker had peeled off, which my friend had failed to notice.) Unfortunately, my friend also did not have his license, having left it at his doctor's office earlier in the week. The officer engaged my friend and his acquaintance in an extended interrogation, which became more serious when another officer, for no apparent reason, stopped and joined in.
Eventually, my friend asked the officer, "Why are you asking me all these questions?" The officer contemptously replied, "Because I can."
So you do the math. If this is how the Batimore police treat a white, well-educated, articulate, cooperative, middle class professional who's driving a Prius, how do they treat a 15-year-old African-American who's spent his whole life in West Baltimore?
Eventually, my friend asked the officer, "Why are you asking me all these questions?" The officer contemptously replied, "Because I can."
So you do the math. If this is how the Batimore police treat a white, well-educated, articulate, cooperative, middle class professional who's driving a Prius, how do they treat a 15-year-old African-American who's spent his whole life in West Baltimore?
14
1. Arm the populace like a militia.
2. Ensure that it takes a lot of money to get a good education (university here is free).
3. Ensure that it takes a good education to get a good job.
4. Prevent the poor from having good medical care, adding untold misery to their lives.
5. Punish the poor who can't find formal work or take drugs to alleviate their misery with mass incarceration.
6. Blame the fatherless children of the poor for being 'lazy' when they fail to succeed with only one parent, poor health and no education.
7. Prescribe more incarceration and police suppression to keep society safe. In fact, why not privatize the prisons and parole officers to make a profit from the poor?
8. Act 'surprised' when the police, having to deal with the resulting heavily armed and belligerent populace act with brutality.
So I would suggest that you have a few more systemic problems to deal with than just the police.
I would start with rebuilding a social contract, where society exists to help the members of the society and not for the purpose of extracting wealth from it.
2. Ensure that it takes a lot of money to get a good education (university here is free).
3. Ensure that it takes a good education to get a good job.
4. Prevent the poor from having good medical care, adding untold misery to their lives.
5. Punish the poor who can't find formal work or take drugs to alleviate their misery with mass incarceration.
6. Blame the fatherless children of the poor for being 'lazy' when they fail to succeed with only one parent, poor health and no education.
7. Prescribe more incarceration and police suppression to keep society safe. In fact, why not privatize the prisons and parole officers to make a profit from the poor?
8. Act 'surprised' when the police, having to deal with the resulting heavily armed and belligerent populace act with brutality.
So I would suggest that you have a few more systemic problems to deal with than just the police.
I would start with rebuilding a social contract, where society exists to help the members of the society and not for the purpose of extracting wealth from it.
20
Police, in general have become more aggressive in all areas and all cities. A black community is a perceived dangerous place to be enforcing the law and the police respond to that threat. The fact that violent confrontations continue is a result of complex conditions. A community that is hardened by poverty that sees a dollar available by any means whether it is legal or illegal. Communities crazed by heavy use of drugs and or alcohol. Communities that are trapped by local street gangs where singling these gangs out to the law will result in death. Police union actions that defend members beyond any scope of the imagination. Police Commissioners that are more politically connected then community connected. Police and city leaders that are handcuffed by the fact that bad cops, bad community leaders, bad administrators and corruption is so deeply rooted that removing the poison is all but impossible. Possibly a period of Martial Law could be enforced and the entire system from Mayor to Janitor can be strengthened, changed, revised to make a model for the foreseeable future.
Realistically, I believe, we are seeing that our old systems for keeping order are failing and need to be changed to adapt to the modern way of life. The local beat cop that settled the neighborhood beefs is long gone. Those beefs have become violent confrontations over insignificant issues. This is the smartest best country in the world, we should be better than this.
Realistically, I believe, we are seeing that our old systems for keeping order are failing and need to be changed to adapt to the modern way of life. The local beat cop that settled the neighborhood beefs is long gone. Those beefs have become violent confrontations over insignificant issues. This is the smartest best country in the world, we should be better than this.
5
Very one-sided article: no mention of the egregiously high black on black homicide rate in the city, on average one person gets shot everyday. How are cops responsible for that? Cycling to University, I have been assaulted several times by thug black teens. Why? What did the shopkeepers whose stores were gutted do? Own up man. The black community has issues that it needs to deal with instead of passing the buck on.
17
From this and the Times editorial on the opposite page, it appears that the problem is NOT, as we had been led to believe, police racism, since the police force, police chief, mayor, congressman, and president of the affected area self-identify as "black." Now what we have is pure and simple police brutality. Ellen, the psychotherapist (like me, a 60 year old white female--hello Ellen), sees a lot of anger. Try being a cop in Baltimore. Has ANYONE who reads (much less writes) for the NYTimes been a beat cop for any reason other than to expose something? Baltimore never recovered from the white flight of the 1960s and all the political and church action that it throws at itself won't help the broken family structure and ignorance that prevails there. I still drive through there (along North Avenue or past Hopkins hospital) with windows closed and doors locked, as we did in the South Bronx circa 1970. Cops are 20-somethings stuck in the mess as everyone else and trying to not get killed.
7
There are so many problems facing the black community in most of our large cities, one riot will change nothing. Burn down a business like CVS and then complain there are no jobs! How about all of the elderly folks who depend on CVS for medication? This really helps them. If I owned a CVS and watched the police stand by and nothing while my store was being robbed and burned, I'm not real sure I'd be willing to open it again. I'm a 65 year old white guy who worked in this very neighborhood as a salesman for about five years in the 80's, and most of the complaints are valid. But, when it is easier to sell drugs than get an education in order to get by something is really wrong. When you have 72% of young black kids being raised by a single parent, usually a woman, that is a recipe disaster in so many ways I can't even count them. When young people walk around with their pants half down as a sign they have been in jail and proud of it, something is wrong. When young men take pride in how many children they have as oppose to how many how many they are taking care and are committed to their welfare, something is wrong. When young black students are discouraged from making good grades in school because they might be accused of acting white, you've got real problems. If a young man or woman covers themselves with tats to the point where many are on the neck and face, how many employers are going to consider hiring this person? I'm not against tats. I wonder what would happen.
14
I've faced black aggression all my life. I grew up in a white bedroom community of Chicago and left it for the diversity of the inner city when I was 18. Whites now make up less than 25 percent of the city's population. I've lived in all Hispanic neighborhoods and I've lived in all black neighborhoods. If the hatred was palpable in the former, the absolute manipulative dysfunctional self pity in the latter floored me. I noted that blacks were deliberately throwing their garbage in the streets and alleys of the hood. One kid told me Operation Push was advocating such behavior. Sure enough, months later allegations that they weren't receiving city services made national headlines. I even saw my own hood on TV strewn with allegedly uncollected garbage! I was stunned especially since I thought my neighborhood was receiving a disportionate amount of ever dwindling city resources. 25 years later, 90% of the violence I've experienced has been perpetrated by blacks (with white transplants committing the balance). This newspaper is irresponble in its reporting and enabling. I've give up on the democratic process because of it. If Brownshirts were to appear on the streets tomorrow imposing order, I'm not sure I'd even oppose them anymore. The black community is out of control. This isn't a racist white hillbilly writing. It's someone living in Chiraq with firsthand knowledge.
13
Listen to yourself: "Sure enough, months after allegations that they weren't receiving city services made national headlines." Yet you vilify those who weren't receiving the services.
We treat people living in poverty as criminals.
Until we force our businesses to pay a living wage things will never change.
Until we force our businesses to pay a living wage things will never change.
11
To a greater or lesser degree, it is about power designated to the police, anywhere and anytime. Some years ago, I flew to my little hometown of 1500 people in the dead of winter to visit my 96 year old mother; flight was delayed and after I picked up the rental car, I drove another hour. Straight road, not another car in sight, I entered town and made the first right (no stop sign) and drove two blocks to arrive at a stop sign just opposite my mother's house, where, at 1:00 in the morning, she was waiting for me. Big lights behind me and I was amazed to see a sheriff's car. He took his time, and I truly didn't know why I was stopped. The deputy told me I had neglected to make a right hand turn signal upon entering town and he was going to have to give me a ticket. I explained that I was home for a visit and that "home" was just there, across the intersection. Didn't matter. He took time...lots of it--easily 10 minutes. Any normal person would have said, "welcome home....just remember to signal when making a turn."
This is a small story, but it indicates the lack of judgement that occurs a thousand times a day. Even this kind of stop by the police is frightening in a small way because it seems so irrational and projects an antagonistic atmosphere. Can't even imagine what the average citizen in a city like Baltimore suffers daily.
This is a small story, but it indicates the lack of judgement that occurs a thousand times a day. Even this kind of stop by the police is frightening in a small way because it seems so irrational and projects an antagonistic atmosphere. Can't even imagine what the average citizen in a city like Baltimore suffers daily.
10
from the officers down page - i think what police have to face out there is scary its a though job i wonder what makes them do it ? there was no great protest for this man’s death in the media or city was there ? I feel protected by the police and i have to work on the street with expensive gear, have been for many years - i remember the days when you didn’t carry mugger money and when my dad went to walk the dog at night carrying a gun. Will the thugs win ?
Trooper Wesley Brown was shot and killed at approximately 12:40 am while working an off duty security detail at a restaurant in Forestville, Maryland.
Earlier in the evening Trooper Brown had escorted a patron out of the restaurant who had refused to pay a bill. Trooper Brown was standing in the parking lot talking on his cell phone when the man returned and fatally shot him without warning.
Two men, including the one that Trooper Brown had escorted out of the restaurant, were arrested and charged with first degree murder. On May 10, 2012, Trooper Brown's killer was convicted of his murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
Trooper Brown had served with the Maryland State Police for three years and was assigned to the Forestville Barracks. He is survived by his fiancee.
Trooper Wesley Brown was shot and killed at approximately 12:40 am while working an off duty security detail at a restaurant in Forestville, Maryland.
Earlier in the evening Trooper Brown had escorted a patron out of the restaurant who had refused to pay a bill. Trooper Brown was standing in the parking lot talking on his cell phone when the man returned and fatally shot him without warning.
Two men, including the one that Trooper Brown had escorted out of the restaurant, were arrested and charged with first degree murder. On May 10, 2012, Trooper Brown's killer was convicted of his murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
Trooper Brown had served with the Maryland State Police for three years and was assigned to the Forestville Barracks. He is survived by his fiancee.
7
while blacks in Baltimore bear the brunt of police misconduct, the problem is the conduct of the police. it doesn't matter whether the cops live in Baltimore or Maryland or whether they are white or black. rights belong the citizens, not the police. what did Freddie gray do-he looked at the police funny and ran, neither or which are criminal activity. how many of these cases start with police stopping or chasing people for non criminal conduct or trivial traffic or jaywalking violations. the police and city officials may think that this type of conduct reduces crime, but crime is always low in police states. in the long run it breeds disrespect for the police and lack of cooperation in investigating real crime. it is also a violation of people's constitutional rights
9
Of course it is police "misconduct" and not the fact that they don't live in Baltimore; don't know the neighborhood. It would matter little if they did and I question the word "misconduct." It is not a word I would associate with intentional sadism; rather it is appropriate conduct for a homicidal sociopath too cowardly to join the military.
If the police were truly dedicated to serving mankind (in the most masculine sense - guidance, leadership, etc.) they would be firefighters...studying physics, saving children and nurturing each other back at the firehouse with home cookin'.
By the way, police love me - now. When I was a "little hippie freak" as one "officer" called me as I passed by, they didn't like me so much. Now they think of me as their grandmother. As if.
If the police were truly dedicated to serving mankind (in the most masculine sense - guidance, leadership, etc.) they would be firefighters...studying physics, saving children and nurturing each other back at the firehouse with home cookin'.
By the way, police love me - now. When I was a "little hippie freak" as one "officer" called me as I passed by, they didn't like me so much. Now they think of me as their grandmother. As if.
Does the author of this piece recognize that, for the past decade, Baltimore has been governed by black politicians?
Does he care to place some of the blame on them? Or is he going to continue the narrative that the white man is fully to blame for all of the ills within his city?
Me thinks, it is time for the author and those who believe in the same sort of blame shifting to accept responsibility for their own lives and those of their children. One mother did when she recognized her son with a rock in his hand moving to confront the police.
Will the author join her on the front line and constrain his loved ones from becoming part of the statistics failure?
Does he care to place some of the blame on them? Or is he going to continue the narrative that the white man is fully to blame for all of the ills within his city?
Me thinks, it is time for the author and those who believe in the same sort of blame shifting to accept responsibility for their own lives and those of their children. One mother did when she recognized her son with a rock in his hand moving to confront the police.
Will the author join her on the front line and constrain his loved ones from becoming part of the statistics failure?
15
A black politician doesn't automatically become a reformer upon taking office. I have no doubt many are co-opted by the system as they begin to enjoy the benefits, privileges and status of political power. Citing the statistics on blacks in office or even on the police force doesn't mean politics and law enforcement are colour blind. I see this as a byproduct of the post-9/11 world. We have elevated to hero status anyone in uniform; this has gone to their collective heads, in my opinion. Overly aggressive policing is the result.
How many times would the author of this face such danger and injustice and not rise up and protest? It's not your story or your children's, so you have no right to judge.
The civil war ended slavery in 1864 but to gain rights for African Americans a second civil rights act had to be passed on1964. Today, we have a supreme court diligently destroying those gains mainly based on white supremacy. It's time america faced the truth - we're a racist country ruled by white, wealthy, racists who vote against the rights of minorities, women and the law by placating the GOP party of hate and division.
13
There is no question that any police misconduct must be investigated and punished. However the current coverage needs some balance. I am White and have had two run ins with the Police in Los Angels. In the first I was mistaken for a gang member because of a blue sweatshirt and thrown to the ground and a shotgun placed at the back of my head and the second where the highway patrol accused me falsely of leaving the scene of an accident. In both cases polite interaction by me with the police resolved the situations. The police face death and lies every day and the minority communities must learn that the police will not and should not have to tolerate threats drunkeness etc as they have families to go home too like the rest of us. I worked in the worst areas of Newark NJ when I was younger as a social worker the African American families need the police more than anyone else to protect them and learning how to interact with police is necessary. This is no way excuses police misconduct but is an issue that should be discussed.
13
Part of the problem is that after 9-11, we as a country began to quasi worship police officers and other first responders. We've put them on such a pedestal that we've forgotten that they ultimately work for us and that we pay their salaries and very generous pensions. This country has to stop thinking of police officers as Demi gods and more as public servants who need to be held accountable for their actions.
96
Blacks, whites, blues, and everyone: Is this the "justice" system that we want to pass on to our children?
5
If you don't teach your children how to avoid grief at the hands of the police, you and they are heading for heartbreak.
with apologies to Randy Newman "Baltimore"
"crackhead on the corner
Waitin' for a train
Junkie lyin' on the sidewalk
Sleepin' in the rain."
this is Baltimore today.
with apologies to Randy Newman "Baltimore"
"crackhead on the corner
Waitin' for a train
Junkie lyin' on the sidewalk
Sleepin' in the rain."
this is Baltimore today.
Hear, hear.
When will everyone, and not just a few commentators, finally get it that this is not a question of a few “bad cops”? It is a systemic problem, a problem going to the heart of how police departments are conceived of, hired, and run?
We need to protest and protest and protest until officers – and, most importantly, their leaders – get a few simple facts:
1) They are our employees and, like every other employee, they must be willing to give good service to us all or risk being let go. Stunts like open defiance of the mayor must simply not be tolerated.
2) The fact that the job can be hard and dangerous is no excuse – no excuse at all – for brutality or lawlessness. Being an anesthesiologist is “hard” and sometimes “dangerous,” too, but that would be no excuse were I to injure a patient! If you can’t stand the heat, by all means get out of the kitchen – but don’t try to use it to justify egregious behavior.
3) There is something basically wrong with the culture of violence that seems currently to pervade all weaponized groups of men. It is clear, from a hundred different sources, that our police departments are now filled with men who actually like violence. This sort of person must be systematically eliminated from the force for the necessary change in the whole climate of policing to be possible. We need a force of peace officers, not of warriors manques who long to get out there and hurt someone – which, it seems all too clear, is what we sadly have now.
When will everyone, and not just a few commentators, finally get it that this is not a question of a few “bad cops”? It is a systemic problem, a problem going to the heart of how police departments are conceived of, hired, and run?
We need to protest and protest and protest until officers – and, most importantly, their leaders – get a few simple facts:
1) They are our employees and, like every other employee, they must be willing to give good service to us all or risk being let go. Stunts like open defiance of the mayor must simply not be tolerated.
2) The fact that the job can be hard and dangerous is no excuse – no excuse at all – for brutality or lawlessness. Being an anesthesiologist is “hard” and sometimes “dangerous,” too, but that would be no excuse were I to injure a patient! If you can’t stand the heat, by all means get out of the kitchen – but don’t try to use it to justify egregious behavior.
3) There is something basically wrong with the culture of violence that seems currently to pervade all weaponized groups of men. It is clear, from a hundred different sources, that our police departments are now filled with men who actually like violence. This sort of person must be systematically eliminated from the force for the necessary change in the whole climate of policing to be possible. We need a force of peace officers, not of warriors manques who long to get out there and hurt someone – which, it seems all too clear, is what we sadly have now.
24
in 2015, "the US is spending more than $300 million on Afghan police salaries, despite the risk that these funds are being wasted and abused."
That doesn't include any other financial aid sin the DOD has made all that info "classified".
But no money for US jobs, infrastructure, education.
It so great to be part of the so exceptional 21st century Amreika.
That doesn't include any other financial aid sin the DOD has made all that info "classified".
But no money for US jobs, infrastructure, education.
It so great to be part of the so exceptional 21st century Amreika.
9
Finally, a comment that's so factual! Thank you!
Finally, Mr. Watkins comes forward to tell it like it is! He is to be applauded for this fine piece of writing that depicts the rock-bottom truth with regard to police "protection" for all minorities. I deplore violence, yet there are times when personal frustration is such that the human spirit must express its outrage for all the injustice that continues unabated. Baltimore is now such a place where this awakening must destroy any remnant of denial as to the brutality of a racist society that still flourishes . . .
1
'Burn baby burn'. 'Seize the time, off the slime'. Thinking back I can't remember a time when there weren't riots every several years in black neighborhoods across the country, due to a number of triggers. I recall Watts and many other cities burning during the 1960s, a few in the 70s including the infamous New York City riot in the late 1970s due to a blackout, the 80s seemed relatively quiet and then it seemed to pick up again in the 1990s. The Marines and Army were called out in the LA riots in the early 1990s. Looting after hurricanes in some areas has been a problem.
The neighborhoods don't seem any better as a result of the riots, instead the activities of those within and outside the neighborhoods seemed to have made a difference in some areas. At a fundamental level it isn't a 'police brutality' issue, that is a result of an interaction between high crime areas and police callousness over a long period of time, instead it is an economic inequality issue. Other articles in the NYTimes suggest the same, as black leaders and black citizens in black neighborhoods are at a loss at what to do when other in the community burn down the results of their efforts to improve the situation.
If you aren't part of the solution, then you're part of the problem.
The neighborhoods don't seem any better as a result of the riots, instead the activities of those within and outside the neighborhoods seemed to have made a difference in some areas. At a fundamental level it isn't a 'police brutality' issue, that is a result of an interaction between high crime areas and police callousness over a long period of time, instead it is an economic inequality issue. Other articles in the NYTimes suggest the same, as black leaders and black citizens in black neighborhoods are at a loss at what to do when other in the community burn down the results of their efforts to improve the situation.
If you aren't part of the solution, then you're part of the problem.
3
Why are the cops that killed Freddie still free? Why have there been no arrests for this blatant, open and shut murder? If it was ANYONE but cops, arrests and charges would have been immediate. I don't blame people for rioting, given this blatantly unjust situation. A life has been lost and the perps are being protected by the State. How can one NOT riot under these circumstances? But let's keep giving the cops military equipment, and keep teaching them their job is to pacify "the enemy," instead of to "protect and serve" the People. And let's blame the "gun culture" instead of the cops and their monstrous leaders who allow the brutal, antisocial behavior of their minions to continue on and on.
It's going to be a hot summer. Coming back around to the 1960s. Even the whites who came up in those times, and then turned their backs on change and cut their hair and their ideals to pursue white collar jobs, are beginning to realize that the pigs are pigs again. I feel sorry for the brutalized citizens, and for the good cops (and yes, there are many) who are stained and vilified thanks to the actions of their peers and their rank superiors. But then again, I don't see them standing up with these black folks. We all need to stand against this grotesquery.
It's going to be a hot summer. Coming back around to the 1960s. Even the whites who came up in those times, and then turned their backs on change and cut their hair and their ideals to pursue white collar jobs, are beginning to realize that the pigs are pigs again. I feel sorry for the brutalized citizens, and for the good cops (and yes, there are many) who are stained and vilified thanks to the actions of their peers and their rank superiors. But then again, I don't see them standing up with these black folks. We all need to stand against this grotesquery.
5
We are not all like Freddy Gray! He was a petty criminal, a drug user and dealer and thief with a lengthy rap sheet! Get real!
14
If cops are so bad at policing your communities, why aren't you joining the force to police better? Isn't it an honest, well paying community job by design?
3
Would people quit questioning the looting? Of course it's not a sensible strategy for changing an untenable situation. It's a freaking riot!
What is it about critiquing a violent, chaotic situation from the cozy comfort of one's nicely insulated home that causes people to forget that we're none of us Vulcans?? Whether it's the stupid comments about the looting or the mind-blowingly insensitive comments about how these people need to just pull up their pants and take responsibility for their lives, there's no acknowledgment of the effect that living in this environment, generation after generation, has on one's state of mind--it's a factor! A really big one. And while many people manage to overcome growing up in such a difficult environment, there are many who won't --and why is this such a surprise?
Instead of making noise about why this shouldn't be happening, be quiet and listen, because it IS happening. There is a reason.
What is it about critiquing a violent, chaotic situation from the cozy comfort of one's nicely insulated home that causes people to forget that we're none of us Vulcans?? Whether it's the stupid comments about the looting or the mind-blowingly insensitive comments about how these people need to just pull up their pants and take responsibility for their lives, there's no acknowledgment of the effect that living in this environment, generation after generation, has on one's state of mind--it's a factor! A really big one. And while many people manage to overcome growing up in such a difficult environment, there are many who won't --and why is this such a surprise?
Instead of making noise about why this shouldn't be happening, be quiet and listen, because it IS happening. There is a reason.
8
Awesome narrative of how governmental forces oppress and create havoc on its citizenry.
The police obviously can't do a good job of policing themselves. I think it's time for a federal agency or some other independent agency to oversee this problem and prosecute these cops. This is the only way justice can be served. They all stick together, and this is a federal problem that needs to be addressed. We have the cameras and the evidence, but there's no way to prosecute these cops. Why not set up a board to review videos and investigate cops? Make them accountable.
4
The impediment are their unions!
It's interesting to read about the different perspectives of everything that is happening. The one thing that I am struggling with is people's need to pinpoint one person, group, etc. to blame for the current state. Reading the experiences of Mr Watkins, one would assume that the police decided long ago that they hate the residents, but in reading a different article I find out that an entire campaign build on "Stop Snitchn'" came out of Baltimore. So, I guess it seems like both sides have been antagonizing each other for a long time. Therefore, asking one group (or subgroup within either the police or the community) to change and not the other is not going to lead to positive outcomes.
6
SH
When something goes wrong, it is not unusual for us to want to pinpoint the blame on someone else. This is human if not humane. There are shades of gray on both sides of this latest tragedy. If anyone is reading what Mr. Watkins has to tell us, and has yet to hear of 'Police Brutality', please step forward.
Miss Daisy here, who is disliked by Mr. Spike Lee, happens to be an outsider in her country of birth, and realizes just how much more she is going to need to learn.
Not college bred, origins the working class and coasting along on good fortune most of the time. Who is my family today, and what would I like to do if I had a chance? My friends are my family; they come from Africa, the Middle East and Europe, and I would teach social skills to a classroom of adolescents.
Ancestors are from Baltimore, but I have yet to visit. Our nature remains the same but our way of thinking changes as we get older. A class of angry young men with reason, the first lesson they are going to be told is regardless of one's complexion and background, one never sasses the powers in authority. Yesterday I watched a few cops swaggering through Grand Central like they were the Lords of the Universe, and this is not going to change.
One may despise them but never show it, because it's asking for trouble. One is going to learn to have better skills and be informed. A message can be found in the powerful 'Heat of the Night' and it is hotter than ever.
Watch it if you dare. Hope.
When something goes wrong, it is not unusual for us to want to pinpoint the blame on someone else. This is human if not humane. There are shades of gray on both sides of this latest tragedy. If anyone is reading what Mr. Watkins has to tell us, and has yet to hear of 'Police Brutality', please step forward.
Miss Daisy here, who is disliked by Mr. Spike Lee, happens to be an outsider in her country of birth, and realizes just how much more she is going to need to learn.
Not college bred, origins the working class and coasting along on good fortune most of the time. Who is my family today, and what would I like to do if I had a chance? My friends are my family; they come from Africa, the Middle East and Europe, and I would teach social skills to a classroom of adolescents.
Ancestors are from Baltimore, but I have yet to visit. Our nature remains the same but our way of thinking changes as we get older. A class of angry young men with reason, the first lesson they are going to be told is regardless of one's complexion and background, one never sasses the powers in authority. Yesterday I watched a few cops swaggering through Grand Central like they were the Lords of the Universe, and this is not going to change.
One may despise them but never show it, because it's asking for trouble. One is going to learn to have better skills and be informed. A message can be found in the powerful 'Heat of the Night' and it is hotter than ever.
Watch it if you dare. Hope.
In my opinion all bigotry is disgusting, but when the bigotry and associated violence come from a citizen's own government it is much, much worse. It goes beyond bigotry and it becomes crushing, systematic oppression. People living in minority communities in our country face this oppression each and every day of their lives.
The United States feels free to preach to countries around the world about the abuse of their citizens and rightly so. Yet we appear to be doing far too little to end the same practices employed against US citizens here at home. Maybe we should clean up our own house before we try to tell the rest of the world how to behave.
The United States feels free to preach to countries around the world about the abuse of their citizens and rightly so. Yet we appear to be doing far too little to end the same practices employed against US citizens here at home. Maybe we should clean up our own house before we try to tell the rest of the world how to behave.
9
Their behavior may be inexcusable, but spend a day as a cop and you will see why they have a chip on their shoulders.
9
Fraudulent Wall Street billionaires and banksters steal billions and crash the entire world's financial system and not one is arrested, yet a man sells cigarettes on a NYC street corner to earn enough to feed his family and he is murdered in cold blood by police in plain view of the entire world.
Corrupt politicians, contracted goons, CIA no-necks and craven lackeys like John Yoo unleash a regime of torture and murder on thousands of innocent victims and we are asked to look forward not backward. Yet a child playing in a park is shot dead by a policeman without a second's hesitation.
This White House prosecuted more journalists than any other, and sent many leakers to jail, while General Betray Us goes scott free for revealing identities of our most secret operatives to an obvious honey trap.
Please remind us all again what rule of law these police are supposedly enFORCing? This is the rank corruption of an entitled Establishment that has ridden heard on the rest of us for far too long. It is time for a house cleaning. Its disgusting.
Corrupt politicians, contracted goons, CIA no-necks and craven lackeys like John Yoo unleash a regime of torture and murder on thousands of innocent victims and we are asked to look forward not backward. Yet a child playing in a park is shot dead by a policeman without a second's hesitation.
This White House prosecuted more journalists than any other, and sent many leakers to jail, while General Betray Us goes scott free for revealing identities of our most secret operatives to an obvious honey trap.
Please remind us all again what rule of law these police are supposedly enFORCing? This is the rank corruption of an entitled Establishment that has ridden heard on the rest of us for far too long. It is time for a house cleaning. Its disgusting.
14
Main Street.....Right .... Garner was 'murdered in cold blood by police in plain view of the entire world, replayed thousands of times. And it was 6 against 1. Yet the jury wouldn't even indict for a trial to be held. People see what they want to see and ignore the obvious, if their perceptions have already been molded to ignore reality. History shows that so called decent people can be completely corrupted. .
Once again, the protesters, media and rioters got the headline wrong. The facts are starting to come out and not unlike, Ferguson, there is much more to the story of Freddy Gray. While not exempting the Baltimore Police from any liability, the message that 'black man neck broken by overzealous police force' is a bit of a stretch at the very least and not unlike the false narrative driven by the protesters in Ferguson 'Hands up don't shoot'.
I am referring to the fact that Freddy Gray had a pre-existing neck injury. He had been in an accident, had more than one surgery on his neck, the most recent being ten days before the arrest. He had also received an insurance payout plan (monthly) as a result of the accident. But instead of resting and recuperating from the surgery as recommended, he was roaming the streets. Oh there's more. He is a career criminal. Over a dozen arrests. Several convictions. Drugs. dealing. lying. theft. While that doesn't mean he deserved the excessive injury resulting from the treatment he received in the arrest vehicle ride, all i'm saying is he is no innocent. Not unlike Eric Garner, what responsibility does Freddy Gray have here? Perhaps if he had cooperated, been civil, and treated the police with respect he would have been better treated.
When are the criminals going to take responsibility for their behavior?
And how is looting, rioting and 'Burning Baltimore to the ground' going to improve anything??
Shame on NYT for publishing this view.
I am referring to the fact that Freddy Gray had a pre-existing neck injury. He had been in an accident, had more than one surgery on his neck, the most recent being ten days before the arrest. He had also received an insurance payout plan (monthly) as a result of the accident. But instead of resting and recuperating from the surgery as recommended, he was roaming the streets. Oh there's more. He is a career criminal. Over a dozen arrests. Several convictions. Drugs. dealing. lying. theft. While that doesn't mean he deserved the excessive injury resulting from the treatment he received in the arrest vehicle ride, all i'm saying is he is no innocent. Not unlike Eric Garner, what responsibility does Freddy Gray have here? Perhaps if he had cooperated, been civil, and treated the police with respect he would have been better treated.
When are the criminals going to take responsibility for their behavior?
And how is looting, rioting and 'Burning Baltimore to the ground' going to improve anything??
Shame on NYT for publishing this view.
14
Are we to conclude therefore he deserved to die? Forget about another trial accusing him of looking at the police, just give him the judge, jury and executioner treatment. Shameful!
1) if you are all Freddy Gray do you too have 18 arrests in the last 8 years for drug possession, intent to distribute, assault, destruction of property and burglary?
2) how does breaking into minority owned businesses, looting, stealing and then burning it down hurt the out of control cops or change the system? Isn't that just reflective of the types of criminal activities that has concentrated the police activity in these neighborhoods to start with? Aren't those the types of activities that residents and business owners in these neighborhoods have been experiencing long before Freddy Gray's death and for which they request police presence and assistance?
3) Authorities have not refused to investigate the circumstance or POSSIBLE criminality surrounding the death of Freddy Gray. Such legal decisions cannot and should not be conducted in under a week.
4) Peacefull protests in Ferguson that didn't accolmlish anything??? Did you not see the numerous nights of Looting, stealing, assault and arson that plagued Ferguson? Did you not see the number of officials that stepped down or were replaced in the aftermath of the Justice Dept. Report?
5). Giving the Mayor an ultimatum of "arrest someone or we will burn Baltimore down" is extortion (another criminal behavior) and I am somewhat, but only somewhat, surprised that the NYT editorial board would print an op-Ed that includes extortion.
2) how does breaking into minority owned businesses, looting, stealing and then burning it down hurt the out of control cops or change the system? Isn't that just reflective of the types of criminal activities that has concentrated the police activity in these neighborhoods to start with? Aren't those the types of activities that residents and business owners in these neighborhoods have been experiencing long before Freddy Gray's death and for which they request police presence and assistance?
3) Authorities have not refused to investigate the circumstance or POSSIBLE criminality surrounding the death of Freddy Gray. Such legal decisions cannot and should not be conducted in under a week.
4) Peacefull protests in Ferguson that didn't accolmlish anything??? Did you not see the numerous nights of Looting, stealing, assault and arson that plagued Ferguson? Did you not see the number of officials that stepped down or were replaced in the aftermath of the Justice Dept. Report?
5). Giving the Mayor an ultimatum of "arrest someone or we will burn Baltimore down" is extortion (another criminal behavior) and I am somewhat, but only somewhat, surprised that the NYT editorial board would print an op-Ed that includes extortion.
17
Let us not forget that Baltimore has been led by Democrats for decades, and the mayor, police commissioner, and about half of the police force is black. So this is not about race. It is about poor leadership, the failure of the liberal model, government employees lording their power over others, and the tendency of all governments to protect themselves, even at the expense of ordinary citizens.
7
You had me until the last paragraph. If you want to really put yourself on the line instead of your community's lives and property, lie down on the street and block the streets, get arrested by the thousands so that the jails and courts cannot handle it, and shut the corrupt government down. This is the technique used by the civil rights pioneers and Mahatma Gandhi. They had the moral higher ground. You do not.
6
The key is the relationship between police and the community they serve. If residents feel that the police serving them are part of their community, they will work with them to preserve law and order. Police themselves will be safer as a result. Otherwise mayhem like this is to be expected.
3
If the police aren't policed, there is no justice system. The authorities in Baltimore have ignored this problem for years, decades, forever, and they are just as culpable as the officers who killed Freddie Gray. If a problem is ignored, it only gets worse. Changes need to be made (i.e., Baltimore police actually living in the city they serve) and any officer involved in the death of an unarmed "suspect" has to be held accountable. These officers are guilty of murder. They need to be indicted for murder, tried for murder, sentenced for murder and jailed for murder (25 years to life) but no one seems to have the courage to do that. The government cannot be afraid of its own police. The government needs to police its police.
3
Two questions: How can we better identify and weed out applicants who fit the perverse psychological profile of bullies-to-be from the police academies? How do we weed out the practice of policing quotas - "get me X heads every day" that leads to persistent harrassment of poor, minority communities who are given no voice?
Why aren't these police given arrest quotas on college campuses and suburbs where criminal drug possession and use is not only rampant but looked upon by rich white people as a rite of adulthood?
Why aren't these police given arrest quotas on college campuses and suburbs where criminal drug possession and use is not only rampant but looked upon by rich white people as a rite of adulthood?
5
The more recent arch of police violence is almost directly proportionate to the economic decline of inner cities across the country. As jobs disappear, people who work can't make rent, schools decline and public health deteriorates, police control gets tighter and tighter.
Rather that serve communities, increasingly law enforcement protects wealth over lives, especially black lives that by all quality of life measures don't count. Our politicians have for years presided over the slow grinding poverty of our cities and have responded with downtown gentrification plans for the wealthy and boot strap speeches for the rest of us.
Congresses response to 30 years of stagnant wages and double digit inner city unemployment is to cut food stamps so that poor folks will have a greater incentive to look for $7.50 an hour jobs. Of course they also repealed the estate tax, a really big help to the Baltimore's of the country.
It's past time for a more radical change in policing in this country. Cameras are fine as a quick stop gap measure, but the real problem is the kind of order that police are enforcing and their increasing alienation from the people they are supposed to serve. Real community policing is not a panacea. It wont solve all problems but it will move us in a better direction that we are going now.
Rather that serve communities, increasingly law enforcement protects wealth over lives, especially black lives that by all quality of life measures don't count. Our politicians have for years presided over the slow grinding poverty of our cities and have responded with downtown gentrification plans for the wealthy and boot strap speeches for the rest of us.
Congresses response to 30 years of stagnant wages and double digit inner city unemployment is to cut food stamps so that poor folks will have a greater incentive to look for $7.50 an hour jobs. Of course they also repealed the estate tax, a really big help to the Baltimore's of the country.
It's past time for a more radical change in policing in this country. Cameras are fine as a quick stop gap measure, but the real problem is the kind of order that police are enforcing and their increasing alienation from the people they are supposed to serve. Real community policing is not a panacea. It wont solve all problems but it will move us in a better direction that we are going now.
4
Many years ago I found myself at a grocery store in Pocatello, Idaho. A man had chased a woman into the store and hacked at her with a kitchen knife. People scattered. The woman fled to the parking lot and two police officers pulled up in their cars.
They drew weapons and pointed them at the man and I knew I was going to witness a police shooting. They fired, but the sound was not of gunshots. They fired bean bag projectiles and knocked the man down, stunning him.
They ran up to him and subdued him.
This was a life or death setting, but those officers kept cool heads and managed the situation without killing.
I was a newspaper reporter for more than a decade and I saw more than my share of police officers when I was on the police beat. Back then, there were some officers who were not up to the task, but most officers were decent people trying to do their jobs. Their chiefs were committed to serving the public and trained officers to that end.
What I see now is many police officers acting like they are in a combat zone.
Yes, some police officers have been shot and some of those have died in the performance of their duties. But, as a police reporter, I saw more convenience store owners and clerks shot and sometimes killed. Those civilians did not shoot people out of hand. They exercised restraint, in part because of what would happen to them. Police officers who commit violence rarely are questioned about their actions and even rarer still, held accountable.
We can do better.
They drew weapons and pointed them at the man and I knew I was going to witness a police shooting. They fired, but the sound was not of gunshots. They fired bean bag projectiles and knocked the man down, stunning him.
They ran up to him and subdued him.
This was a life or death setting, but those officers kept cool heads and managed the situation without killing.
I was a newspaper reporter for more than a decade and I saw more than my share of police officers when I was on the police beat. Back then, there were some officers who were not up to the task, but most officers were decent people trying to do their jobs. Their chiefs were committed to serving the public and trained officers to that end.
What I see now is many police officers acting like they are in a combat zone.
Yes, some police officers have been shot and some of those have died in the performance of their duties. But, as a police reporter, I saw more convenience store owners and clerks shot and sometimes killed. Those civilians did not shoot people out of hand. They exercised restraint, in part because of what would happen to them. Police officers who commit violence rarely are questioned about their actions and even rarer still, held accountable.
We can do better.
10
Freddie Gray was a convicted heroin dealer. He was not some innocent saint.
If the Baltimore PD committed any crimes when he died their custody then the guilty persons will be punished but enough already with pretending that this career criminal was some boy scout.
If the Baltimore PD committed any crimes when he died their custody then the guilty persons will be punished but enough already with pretending that this career criminal was some boy scout.
6
The white men who were screaming "We don't care" belie the nucleus of systemic racism in America. Those people should be deeply ashamed of themselves.
As a human being with a heart, I am saddened by the struggle faced by black America due to the over reaches of law enforcement. Personally, I have been shouted at and felt rancid flecks of policeman spit in my face, while being stopped by the Highway Patrol for going 12 mph over the speed limit and interacting calmly and respectfully with them the whole time. Another time my arm was grabbed with nails dug into my wrist by a female NYC transit cop for not hearing her barking commands at me while wearing an iPod.
As a gay white man, I have been the victim of unprovoked random verbal and near physical abuse by groups of black teens. I regularly felt targeted by black men and this cultivated an indifference to my intellectual awareness of their plight as I made it my business to distance myself from their culture of aggression. Now that I am over 40, I feel differently. I see the big picture. Cause and effect.
What needs addressing is tacit acceptance of gratuitous violence and abuse across society with the ubiquity of guns as one of my central contention points. While we are at it, lets examine through a microscope our for profit prison system, our media that glorifies harming others, shadenfreude, and scapegoating, and finally machismo clout freely awarded to men of all races for marginalizing others who are different.
As a human being with a heart, I am saddened by the struggle faced by black America due to the over reaches of law enforcement. Personally, I have been shouted at and felt rancid flecks of policeman spit in my face, while being stopped by the Highway Patrol for going 12 mph over the speed limit and interacting calmly and respectfully with them the whole time. Another time my arm was grabbed with nails dug into my wrist by a female NYC transit cop for not hearing her barking commands at me while wearing an iPod.
As a gay white man, I have been the victim of unprovoked random verbal and near physical abuse by groups of black teens. I regularly felt targeted by black men and this cultivated an indifference to my intellectual awareness of their plight as I made it my business to distance myself from their culture of aggression. Now that I am over 40, I feel differently. I see the big picture. Cause and effect.
What needs addressing is tacit acceptance of gratuitous violence and abuse across society with the ubiquity of guns as one of my central contention points. While we are at it, lets examine through a microscope our for profit prison system, our media that glorifies harming others, shadenfreude, and scapegoating, and finally machismo clout freely awarded to men of all races for marginalizing others who are different.
96
Cops believe they are above the law, recent events prove that they are correct.
4
When I was 22 years old and a copy editor on a newspaper in a small city in West Virginia, I was stopped by a police officer as I walked back to work from my lunch break. The policeman asked me to get into the squad car to talk to me and I immediately replied with "what is this in regard to?" and I commented that I needed to get back to work at the city's daily newspaper. When he heard that I worked for the newspaper, he told me to have a nice day and I left. The whole experience was unnerving and still vivid 30 years later. I can only imagine what a black man of 22 years of age must have to go through.
6
How exactly does smashing cafes, looting shops and burning property "to the ground," help improve police conduct? Maybe the honest slogan here should read: "We are all stupid"?
8
In Ferguson, the complaint was that the elected officials were white. Since 1967, all Mayors of Baltmore have been democrats and the majority have been black:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mayors_of_Baltimore
Furthermore, the police department is over 43% African American, as is the current police commissioner (Anthony Batts).
If anyone has failed, it is democratic politicians and black leaders. So why don't you hold them accountable, instead of blaming everyone else?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mayors_of_Baltimore
Furthermore, the police department is over 43% African American, as is the current police commissioner (Anthony Batts).
If anyone has failed, it is democratic politicians and black leaders. So why don't you hold them accountable, instead of blaming everyone else?
7
Here's my "why" question - Why is "watch[ing] Baltimore burn to the ground" even mentioned as a "choice" or an "option" by the author (let alone one of two choices)? Destruction and violence should be taken off the table -- by everyone -- as a response to injustice.
5
I'm starting to notice a pattern. In every city where we've had a recent high profile case of clear or probable police abuse, progressive Democrats have been in charge. Whether it was in NYC, Ferguson, Cleveland, North Charleston, or now Baltimore - it seems clear that a philosophy that endorses progressive public sector largess tends to lead to incompetence, bad hiring, bad training, and in some cases corruption.
We've seen this before in other areas of service, whether it be in Kilpatrick's administration in Detroit, Berry's administration in D.C., and
We've seen this before in other areas of service, whether it be in Kilpatrick's administration in Detroit, Berry's administration in D.C., and
3
Read this last night and could not find the words to comment. I am a native of Baltimore, born in St. Joseph's Hospital in the 1940's. The city of Baltimore was, in my memory, largely segregated, which I have come to understand, was facilitated by federal housing policy in effect until the 1960's. I did not understand that as a child. What I did understand was that the only black people I saw drove the streetcar on Belair Road. I am not from an affluent area, but from a working class neighborhood, just over the city limits in the county. My parents were not overt bigots, but i certainly heard bigoted remarks at family gatherings or in the neighborhood, mostly involving the migration of black folks from the inner city into the suburbs.
The experiences Mr. Watkins writes about should distress everyone who reads this column, but obviously, that is not the case. If in 2015, baseball fans can chant " we don't care" about the unjust, violent death of a fellow citizen, followed by calling protesters monkies and apes, any "so called progress" in race relations is mighty sparse. That racism is alive and well nurtured is obvious. Will we ever see a day when black citizens are just citizens, the word black superfluous? Not in my remaining years, we won't. Whites need to never allow bigoted comments, jokes (so called), behaviors or emails go unchallenged. That is the least we can do. Police Departments must change massively and soon.
The experiences Mr. Watkins writes about should distress everyone who reads this column, but obviously, that is not the case. If in 2015, baseball fans can chant " we don't care" about the unjust, violent death of a fellow citizen, followed by calling protesters monkies and apes, any "so called progress" in race relations is mighty sparse. That racism is alive and well nurtured is obvious. Will we ever see a day when black citizens are just citizens, the word black superfluous? Not in my remaining years, we won't. Whites need to never allow bigoted comments, jokes (so called), behaviors or emails go unchallenged. That is the least we can do. Police Departments must change massively and soon.
127
The police let the looters run wild in their own community. But, they protected the "whiter" areas. The rioters should have marched to the rebuilt waterfront and burned it down. The area that the police allowed the riots to happen has been left to rot since the 1960's.
2
It is an unfortunately reality that the power structures of these cities allow their police to harass and beat young blacks. Perhaps this is out of a misplaced fear that treating them fairly might cost money or inspire them to get uppity or get away with crimes. The solution is not for the police to become criminals, as they are now.
The solution is freedom and justice for all.
If the powerful continue to up the ante with random violence, the column correctly describes the only remaining alternatives. "The only option is to rise up, and force Mayor Rawlings-Blake to make what should be an easy choice: Stop protecting the livelihoods of the cops who killed Freddie Gray, or watch Baltimore burn to the ground."
It doesn't have to be this way.
The solution is freedom and justice for all.
If the powerful continue to up the ante with random violence, the column correctly describes the only remaining alternatives. "The only option is to rise up, and force Mayor Rawlings-Blake to make what should be an easy choice: Stop protecting the livelihoods of the cops who killed Freddie Gray, or watch Baltimore burn to the ground."
It doesn't have to be this way.
We are NOT all Freddie Gray.
I am a Black man who listened to my mother, stayed out of trouble, got an education and worked two jobs to get a graduate degree. I never used or even put myself around people who used drugs. Ever.
It is time to stop the racially offensive stereotyping of my race and my gender by the liberal elite eager to maintain their lofty perches by default, because according to this op-ed every man who shares my skin color is also a sketchy character with a criminal rap sheet.
An utter disgrace.
I am a Black man who listened to my mother, stayed out of trouble, got an education and worked two jobs to get a graduate degree. I never used or even put myself around people who used drugs. Ever.
It is time to stop the racially offensive stereotyping of my race and my gender by the liberal elite eager to maintain their lofty perches by default, because according to this op-ed every man who shares my skin color is also a sketchy character with a criminal rap sheet.
An utter disgrace.
14
Society should publicly commend officers who show restraint; those who show compassion and restraint while diffusing volatile situations and punish those who abuse their power. That would restore respect from within the police department and with the public. With mean spirited politicians like Giuliani who protect the police in all confrontations, it's no wonder the police are out of control. Legalize drugs and 90% of the police beatings and abuse would stop.
Eleven years ago, when my son was 16, he was arrested in the East Village for underage drinking and carrying an open beer bottle in public. He and a friend had had dinner at a Japanese restaurant, ordered and been served Japanese beer, and carried their beer bottles out of the restaurant.
The plainclothesmen who accosted the two kids did not identify themselves, and the boys thought that they were being mugged. They tried to run way, and were physically brought down by the cops. My son was pushed into a phone kiosk (they still existed then) and called a "punk." The other boy was knocked to the pavement and cursed.
My son, who had never before in his life been aggressively touched by an adult, and is severely claustrophobic, had a panic attack. Despite the fact that he was crying, screaming and heaving -- breathing unevenly - he was handcuffed, thrown into a police car, and taken to the station house.
We did not think it was okay to drink beer at age 16. Nonetheless, these kids were treated in a way that has made my son suspicious and hostile toward the police -- apparently, for life. Moreover, the cops lied, stating that they had identified themselves immediately. Untrue; they did not state that they were cops until both boys were being arrested.
All charges were dismissed. Do you know what our son's lawyer told us? "You're lucky he isn't black. The cops would have killed him."
I hear what D. Watkins is telling us, and I believe him.
The plainclothesmen who accosted the two kids did not identify themselves, and the boys thought that they were being mugged. They tried to run way, and were physically brought down by the cops. My son was pushed into a phone kiosk (they still existed then) and called a "punk." The other boy was knocked to the pavement and cursed.
My son, who had never before in his life been aggressively touched by an adult, and is severely claustrophobic, had a panic attack. Despite the fact that he was crying, screaming and heaving -- breathing unevenly - he was handcuffed, thrown into a police car, and taken to the station house.
We did not think it was okay to drink beer at age 16. Nonetheless, these kids were treated in a way that has made my son suspicious and hostile toward the police -- apparently, for life. Moreover, the cops lied, stating that they had identified themselves immediately. Untrue; they did not state that they were cops until both boys were being arrested.
All charges were dismissed. Do you know what our son's lawyer told us? "You're lucky he isn't black. The cops would have killed him."
I hear what D. Watkins is telling us, and I believe him.
7
Or he would have been ignored. As are most young inner-city youth with problems...........
I am NOT Freddie Gray. No one I know is Freddy Gray, regardless of race.
No one I know was arrested 10 times by the age of 25. No else I know voluntarily sold heroin to friends and neighbors. No one I know looked for excuses for their situation. No on I know gave up responsibility for their own actions.
I am and do know, many people who were the antithesis of Freddy Gray, independent of what race they were.If it matters to you , I am Hispanic). People who avoided excuses and pulled themselves up out of dire situations; who were motivated to achieve something and refused to accept anybody's limitations to be placed on them.
My heart goes out to the good people of West Baltimore. They are not Freddy Gray either. I am talking about the people who worked at that CVS. Or who had jobs building the Senior center that was burned down. The mother who went looking for her boy and slapped him around for joining in the riots.
For the others, I have no
I am talking about the people -- the "young uprisers" who refused to accept their own accountability and who blame other people for their plight and then take an opportunity to destroy and commit violence. People who live excuse to excuse.
I'm sorry a young guy is dead. There is no reason for that. But by all accounts he was smart enough to make his own choices in life. As was I and others.
No one I know was arrested 10 times by the age of 25. No else I know voluntarily sold heroin to friends and neighbors. No one I know looked for excuses for their situation. No on I know gave up responsibility for their own actions.
I am and do know, many people who were the antithesis of Freddy Gray, independent of what race they were.If it matters to you , I am Hispanic). People who avoided excuses and pulled themselves up out of dire situations; who were motivated to achieve something and refused to accept anybody's limitations to be placed on them.
My heart goes out to the good people of West Baltimore. They are not Freddy Gray either. I am talking about the people who worked at that CVS. Or who had jobs building the Senior center that was burned down. The mother who went looking for her boy and slapped him around for joining in the riots.
For the others, I have no
I am talking about the people -- the "young uprisers" who refused to accept their own accountability and who blame other people for their plight and then take an opportunity to destroy and commit violence. People who live excuse to excuse.
I'm sorry a young guy is dead. There is no reason for that. But by all accounts he was smart enough to make his own choices in life. As was I and others.
8
Many in my country are coming to see the united States of America is a failed state. The concern of many here is what is going to happen to all your nukes when the riots really start and the cities really begin to burn? Will they all become 'broken arrows' falling into the hands of the warlords that will spring up all over the North American continent and beyond? i hope for peace in your land, but the signs all point to an eruption of sustained violence and civil war that will make your last civil war appear like child's play in comparison. The depth of social injustice in the USA, the depth of class and racial conflict, and the antagonistic role of the police state all point to a bleak future. lets hope peace, empathy and compassion somehow finds a way.
3
Sorry Oz, America has always been volatile.
I'm not going to be lectured by a citizen of a country that exterminated aborigines just like the we did. Take care of your own house.
I'm not going to be lectured by a citizen of a country that exterminated aborigines just like the we did. Take care of your own house.
1
Watkins might want to rethink his 'we're all Freddie' notions. Blacks in Baltimore commit 90% of all murders, rapes, assaults, robberies etc. Mr. Gray had an arrest record as long as his arm...20 arrests for drug dealing and other crimes.
3
The tragic events in Baltimore are, alas, nothing more than the reaping of the nation's bitter fruit having spent decades sowing seeds of profiteering wars abroad and predatory capitalism at home.
When the entire middle class is outsourced the people at the bottom suffer most and police brutality is required to subdue them. While misguided, the violent response is understandable - a long pent up anger and frustration having attempted a more peaceful approach in Sanford, Florida, Ferguson, Missouri and elsewhere.
"A riot is the language of the unheard."
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
When the entire middle class is outsourced the people at the bottom suffer most and police brutality is required to subdue them. While misguided, the violent response is understandable - a long pent up anger and frustration having attempted a more peaceful approach in Sanford, Florida, Ferguson, Missouri and elsewhere.
"A riot is the language of the unheard."
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
3
Without the police, the citizens of our distressed neighborhoods would be living a real life "Gangs of New York!"
1
Violence against blacks has been going on for decades. Most whites claim to know nothing about it or pretend the unwarranted brutality is necessary to keep black communities "in check."
It is past time to reinvent our system to provide black communities with opportunities for education, safety and good, well paying jobs so there is future worth living. To some, well paying jobs mean selling drugs. When I lived in the Detroit area I watched white executives in their maxed out cars stop at drug houses on their way to work and buy the goods. Drug transactions destroyed communities, creating a dangerous and threatening environment which needed to be enforced by weapons. We have marginalized an entire segment of America and I fervently hope we will not have to go through another summer of burning cities to find a real path to equality and justice for all our citizens
It is past time to reinvent our system to provide black communities with opportunities for education, safety and good, well paying jobs so there is future worth living. To some, well paying jobs mean selling drugs. When I lived in the Detroit area I watched white executives in their maxed out cars stop at drug houses on their way to work and buy the goods. Drug transactions destroyed communities, creating a dangerous and threatening environment which needed to be enforced by weapons. We have marginalized an entire segment of America and I fervently hope we will not have to go through another summer of burning cities to find a real path to equality and justice for all our citizens
2
Thank you for this articulate, powerful piece. Riots and rage don't come out of nowhere. I don't live in Baltimore and I'm not black but this rings true to me. Abuse of power always leads to violence, eventually.
1
Yeah right, more black violence will solve the problem. To win the battle for better outcomes - this is apparently what is sought - you need to have an idea that resonates. Civil rights laws were eventually adopted, after mighty resistance, because, to put it mildly, the idea of equal opportunity didn't square with Jim Crow and other forms of institutional racism. MLK knew, then when the obstacles were mostly external to the black community, that to gain the support of an overwhelming and often hostile white majority, non-violent protests were the only way to deliver a strong message of morality and justice. Fast forward to this column. Now, when much of what prevents advancement of blacks is white fears of black violence, we get ... an argument for more black violence. This author's angle is that we all should fear the police. I'm betting that most peaceful communities across the U.S. don't fear the police. Worse, the Baltimore riots and columns like this will make most Americans embrace the police even more as their protectors. So, you, D. Watkins, have just made matters worse.
6
When the state show such brutality on a consistent basis that we see in Baltimore, Ferguson, New York City and all around America, maybe we should start questioning why the state requires such brutality. What is it about the American capitalist system that necessitates such a militant and abusive police force? Could it be the gross inequality and unequal distribution of capital?
3
When the tide recedes you can see all the rocks. Baltimore, like many cities has lost one third of its population since 1970. Abandoned housing, empty lots, no jobs. Investment and economic opportunity little or none. The policies of this administration have made it worst, but our leader makes a speech to blame Congress. Baltimore is the Detroit of the East Coast.
1
This account b y D. Watkins is welcome. it applies to Baltimore, but comments that focus on Baltimore alone, as if there are no problems elsewhere, would be wrong. Such problems are widespread. The causes are systemic. They are not new.
1
The video of the mother who chased after and slugged her son for rioting in Baltimore went viral. Yesterday it had more than 20 million hits. Our nation needs this column to go viral, too.
Most Caucasians, and I am one, have never had experiences like those described here with the police. I grew up in the center of Pittsburgh, a city much like Baltimore, and my family and white neighbors trusted the police. For us, they were friends and heroes in times of need. We never had experiences like Mr. Watkins' which are part of the cultural history and daily fabric of African Americans. But my African American friends from Pittsburgh did.
There is a lot of discussion about the need for a conversation or dialogue about race. I don't see how that can begin unless it starts by our listening to and absorbing experiences like those described here and trying to imagine how they would affect us if we, our parents and grandparents other relatives friends and neighbors had lived with them for generations.
Most Caucasians, and I am one, have never had experiences like those described here with the police. I grew up in the center of Pittsburgh, a city much like Baltimore, and my family and white neighbors trusted the police. For us, they were friends and heroes in times of need. We never had experiences like Mr. Watkins' which are part of the cultural history and daily fabric of African Americans. But my African American friends from Pittsburgh did.
There is a lot of discussion about the need for a conversation or dialogue about race. I don't see how that can begin unless it starts by our listening to and absorbing experiences like those described here and trying to imagine how they would affect us if we, our parents and grandparents other relatives friends and neighbors had lived with them for generations.
1
Thank you for this candid view point.
We need more exposes of this nature in all area of journalism.
The real stories must continue to be revealed.
We need more exposes of this nature in all area of journalism.
The real stories must continue to be revealed.
Police violence is not just in major cities. Recently, while doing a rotation in a NH emergency room an Hispanic man was brought in. He stated that the cops just grabbed him at a stop, threw him in the back of the cruiser, then beat him with knight sticks. His injuries were consistent with the story, so I believed him. He wanted to know why. I had no answer. The officers in question were never punished nor even admonished for their actions.
Whites state these things 'just don't happen' up North. But they don't see what they don't want to see.
If we were interested in stopping such practices, and we should be, we should routinely examine hospital ER records for such instances and take appropriate action.
Whites state these things 'just don't happen' up North. But they don't see what they don't want to see.
If we were interested in stopping such practices, and we should be, we should routinely examine hospital ER records for such instances and take appropriate action.
2
1. Arm the populace like a militia.
2. Ensure that it takes a lot of money to get a good education (university here is free).
3. Ensure that it takes a good education to get a good job.
4. Prevent the poor from having good medical care, adding untold misery to their lives.
5. Punish the poor who can't find formal work or take drugs to alleviate their misery with mass incarceration.
6. Blame the fatherless children of the poor for being 'lazy' when they fail to succeed with only one parent, poor health and no education.
7. Prescribe more incarceration and police suppression to keep society safe. In fact, why not privatize the prisons and parole officers to make a profit from the poor?
8. Act 'surprised' when the police, having to deal with the resulting heavily armed and belligerent populace act with brutality.
So I would suggest that you have a few more systemic problems to deal with than just the police.
I would start with rebuilding a social contract, where society exists to help the members of the society and not for the purpose of extracting wealth from it.
2. Ensure that it takes a lot of money to get a good education (university here is free).
3. Ensure that it takes a good education to get a good job.
4. Prevent the poor from having good medical care, adding untold misery to their lives.
5. Punish the poor who can't find formal work or take drugs to alleviate their misery with mass incarceration.
6. Blame the fatherless children of the poor for being 'lazy' when they fail to succeed with only one parent, poor health and no education.
7. Prescribe more incarceration and police suppression to keep society safe. In fact, why not privatize the prisons and parole officers to make a profit from the poor?
8. Act 'surprised' when the police, having to deal with the resulting heavily armed and belligerent populace act with brutality.
So I would suggest that you have a few more systemic problems to deal with than just the police.
I would start with rebuilding a social contract, where society exists to help the members of the society and not for the purpose of extracting wealth from it.
4
Another thing that may help reform is to have national standards for police policy, not leaving it up to localities to decide ‘what’s best for them’. With our political hostility to the fed govt, and to the president by the rw congress, the mention of national standards is a provocation. But they’re the basis for a decent justice system.
We hear that each community has ‘unique needs.’ But no, all have the same needs—equal treatment, justice and decency.
Else our Bill of Rights is a cruel joke. Police brutality is the mark of a dictatorship---and it can live inside a supposed constitutional democracy, as history shows.
On the French TV news a panel discussed Baltimore and said the US has about 18,000 separate police forces that make own rules, inconsistent policies and standards. In France they accept centralization, and there are 2 main criminal justice governing bodies that set the rules. They also appoint judges, where the US elects them--very important.
Some would say the centralization makes for entrenched authority and it’s harder to make changes. Vs the US local control means they can easily try new things, not needing central govt ok. But we see that our separate police forces are very resistant to change, and make for inconsistent justice.
Like with health care—we let states op out of ACA, and their citizens are made 2nd class, vs other nations where h/c is nationally consistent for all. We need a NYT column on this.
We hear that each community has ‘unique needs.’ But no, all have the same needs—equal treatment, justice and decency.
Else our Bill of Rights is a cruel joke. Police brutality is the mark of a dictatorship---and it can live inside a supposed constitutional democracy, as history shows.
On the French TV news a panel discussed Baltimore and said the US has about 18,000 separate police forces that make own rules, inconsistent policies and standards. In France they accept centralization, and there are 2 main criminal justice governing bodies that set the rules. They also appoint judges, where the US elects them--very important.
Some would say the centralization makes for entrenched authority and it’s harder to make changes. Vs the US local control means they can easily try new things, not needing central govt ok. But we see that our separate police forces are very resistant to change, and make for inconsistent justice.
Like with health care—we let states op out of ACA, and their citizens are made 2nd class, vs other nations where h/c is nationally consistent for all. We need a NYT column on this.
1
The mayor called her citizen’s thugs and all hell break loose. Would have been greatly appreciated if she had of called some of her own cops Thugs. Thugs beat up handcuffed prisoners thugs push people heads into the concrete with their knees. Even the guy shot and killed by the 73 year old man playing cop as he lay dying a overweight cop had his knee on his head. When one is caught we are told all cops are not bad. Never do we hear all protesters are not bad. There are people drawn to police work for all the wrong reasons. They are drawn not to protect and serve. They are drawn because a badge and gun makes little men into big men. They are drawn because now under the cover of authority they can take out their own shortcomings on people with impunity. According to BLS more warehousemen die in America on the job than police. Do we allow warehouseman to wantonly beat up and kill a group of people daily? Let’s get honest Freddy Gray was beat up by a bunch of Thugs wearing badges. No rush to judgment but just a little common sense.
3
D. Watkins scores a points. Whatever their reactions, police always have the upper hand; and take advantage of it, always. I go along with: "But the system — even when it’s run by a black mayor and a black commissioner, even when a majority of the City Council is black — protects the police, no matter how blatant and brutal they are" a 100%.
There's "protecting the community" and "to protect to serve" writ large on LAPD cars. But murdering people? Until those using violence as their "attendance fee" are given free hand to traumatize, kill, beat and abuse their powers, then no solution is in sight, I'm afraid. This very good article shows - once again - how deeply sick the system is, and I wonder: how much longer the police have to rely on such brutality to maintain "law and order"? How much longer killings, beatings, are hypocritically seen as legit?
There's "protecting the community" and "to protect to serve" writ large on LAPD cars. But murdering people? Until those using violence as their "attendance fee" are given free hand to traumatize, kill, beat and abuse their powers, then no solution is in sight, I'm afraid. This very good article shows - once again - how deeply sick the system is, and I wonder: how much longer the police have to rely on such brutality to maintain "law and order"? How much longer killings, beatings, are hypocritically seen as legit?
I am favor of freedoms rights and guarantees in Baltimore
What is happening in Baltimore, has happened elsewhere and will happen again in the future, is as predictable as it is lamentable. This scenario could contribute to the attractiveness of ISIS.
1
If you were white people why would you give up your privileged place in America? Your sons are not shot and killed in the streets. Your schools get more resources than those other people. Your children are better prepared for adulthood. If your child took a job in fast food you would think you failed him. When do we stop kidding ourselves? Things in Baltimore have not gotten better since last riot in 1968 they have gotten worse. But still we wait for white people to grow benevolent and learn how to share instead of dominate! Waiting for America to get a conscious has been going on for hundreds of years. Sure we have people of color in positions of power but in reality they have little power. Just having a black man as president has diminished the power of the office. Would Louisiana and Mississippi, the worse states for healthcare in America, embrace Obamacare if it had of come from someone else? Fifty years ago it was cops with dogs hundred years ago it was the mob with a rope and a tree. Now its Thugs wearing badges! Yet we wonder why children are out in the streets throwing rocks? Four hours to call out the Army because a CVS has burned. Three years to tell them Trevon Martin life meant nothing. Guess the FBI is still investigation the Garner case? Wonder what year they give us the results of that. We won’t put boots on the ground to stop beheadings but will to avenge the loss of CVS. Then we wonder why our children are throwing rocks. Looks like Gaza.
5
"In Baltimore, We’re All Freddie Gray"
Including his rap sheet?
Including his rap sheet?
6
I know it's not the intention of the author but he actually made me feel more empathy for the cops. sounds like they are dealing with a chaotic population that seems to have few moral boundaries. The cops seem exhausted having to go from one scene of mayhem to another, typing up police reports for cases that'll probably go nowhere.
They are only human, not superheroes. If you continuously deal with crap, crap caused mostly by the same people, you're not going to have positive views about those people.
I suspect if you talked to Baltimore public school teachers and they could speak freely, they'd have very few positive things to say about their charges.
Something is rotten in Baltimore, but it's not the cops.
They are only human, not superheroes. If you continuously deal with crap, crap caused mostly by the same people, you're not going to have positive views about those people.
I suspect if you talked to Baltimore public school teachers and they could speak freely, they'd have very few positive things to say about their charges.
Something is rotten in Baltimore, but it's not the cops.
5
With words like these, "Stop protecting the livelihoods of the cops who killed Freddie Gray, or watch Baltimore burn to the ground," the law-abiding regular citizens of Baltimore are on notice.
It is time to evacuate, because Baltimore is about to become the next Detroit. Your neighbors have every intention of committing the crime of arson as they destroy the viable institutions in your community. Don't imagine for a moment that they value the lives you are building and the community that you are a part of. They burned a CVS which the community struggled to bring in. They burned a construction site that was to become a senior center. Once they destroy everything you value, your government will not care about you, because the mayor announced in a broadcast that those protesters "who wished to destroy were given room to do so."
It is time to evacuate, because Baltimore is about to become the next Detroit. Your neighbors have every intention of committing the crime of arson as they destroy the viable institutions in your community. Don't imagine for a moment that they value the lives you are building and the community that you are a part of. They burned a CVS which the community struggled to bring in. They burned a construction site that was to become a senior center. Once they destroy everything you value, your government will not care about you, because the mayor announced in a broadcast that those protesters "who wished to destroy were given room to do so."
3
I liked the beginning of this piece. It said what so many of the contributors to these blogs (about police-Black interactions) say all the time: it's an open and shut case. My word, what savings we could achieve in administering our criminal justice system if we could watch videos on Youtube, vote on-line, and arrive at a guilty or innocent verdict in minutes. Perhaps that's the way Blacks like their justice system.
Baltimore has a Black (female) mayor; a Black police commissioner; several of the most senior figures in the police department are women; the head of the national guard is a Black woman; 43% (just under half) of the police force is Black. Rather takes the wind out of the sails of those who point to 'lack of diversity' and white racism as the cause of all society's problems.
To gangsters, the police, of course, are the enemy. And, faced with that attitude and guns, just how can the police operate? A tough problem, for which the author appears to have no solution, except to burn down his neighbourhood. This 'logic' seems to have a great appeal to anarchists, 'revolutionaries', and young Blacks.
It must be tempting for White people to consider moving out and letting Blacks have an all-Black police force and all-Black city government. They can then see how they sort their problems out.
Baltimore has a Black (female) mayor; a Black police commissioner; several of the most senior figures in the police department are women; the head of the national guard is a Black woman; 43% (just under half) of the police force is Black. Rather takes the wind out of the sails of those who point to 'lack of diversity' and white racism as the cause of all society's problems.
To gangsters, the police, of course, are the enemy. And, faced with that attitude and guns, just how can the police operate? A tough problem, for which the author appears to have no solution, except to burn down his neighbourhood. This 'logic' seems to have a great appeal to anarchists, 'revolutionaries', and young Blacks.
It must be tempting for White people to consider moving out and letting Blacks have an all-Black police force and all-Black city government. They can then see how they sort their problems out.
4
You missed the point completely. While the people on the street have color, the establishment does not.
In a comment filed before any of the 7 Verified comments now showing at 1:24 AM EDT I asked, in effect, would creating a police force consisting entirely of Blacks in a political unit where the "management" consists of Blacks solve the problem?
Presumably the answer is "NO" because problems concerning policing in the United States should not be seen purely in terms of the white police-black men syndrome but in terms of the police versus us syndrome.
In other words, only raising questions about policing when the officer is white and the victim is black will not get us very far lets is all too limiting.
The comments by the 5 white Verifieds who present their own experiences at this hour show that this is an American Dilemma that unlike the Dilemma studied by Gunnar Myrdal (my 1st submission) concerns every American and therefore should be addressed nationally.
Who will make that study? Who shall be the American Guinnar Myrdal?
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Presumably the answer is "NO" because problems concerning policing in the United States should not be seen purely in terms of the white police-black men syndrome but in terms of the police versus us syndrome.
In other words, only raising questions about policing when the officer is white and the victim is black will not get us very far lets is all too limiting.
The comments by the 5 white Verifieds who present their own experiences at this hour show that this is an American Dilemma that unlike the Dilemma studied by Gunnar Myrdal (my 1st submission) concerns every American and therefore should be addressed nationally.
Who will make that study? Who shall be the American Guinnar Myrdal?
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
I read deep despair in Mr. Watkins' words at so many decades of unchecked police brutality. This writer does not call for violence; he simply states that violence is inevitable in the absence of civil recourse. Any historian would agree. When the writer says we are all Freddie Gray, he means we are all fellow Americans. We all are responsible, whether we choose to stand up and demand civil recourse or whether we choose to stand by and allow the inevitable to happen in our besieged cities.
87
We all have stories. I am an old, white, law-abiding woman. I've never been arrested, but two members of my family have had disturbing experiences with the police.
My daughter was working as a bartender in DC. She was vigilant about refusing to serve under-aged customer, but two policemen came into the bar and tricked her into serving a minor. That's not the problem. They took her to a precint in a very bad neighborhood, along with a number of others who were caught in the dragnet. After being processed, she was left to make her way home. Fortunately, one of the other girls was able to call for a ride out of the danger and it all ended well, but not thanks to the police. It seems to me that there was an intent to punish in an extra-legal way.
My son-in-law was maced for jaywalking. The police said he tried to run away. My husband, who was present and also jaywalking, said it didn't look that way to him. We think the police were angry that so many people were disobeying their commands that they retaliated.
I will never feel the same toward the police after these incidents. It makes me furious to hear officer say, "Just comply and take it up in court." It's clear that isn't likely lead to any kind of justice.
My family's experiences are trivial compared to people who live in poor minority communities. Those of us who really value law and order need to take action for change. If the riots divert our attention, the infection will continue to fester.
My daughter was working as a bartender in DC. She was vigilant about refusing to serve under-aged customer, but two policemen came into the bar and tricked her into serving a minor. That's not the problem. They took her to a precint in a very bad neighborhood, along with a number of others who were caught in the dragnet. After being processed, she was left to make her way home. Fortunately, one of the other girls was able to call for a ride out of the danger and it all ended well, but not thanks to the police. It seems to me that there was an intent to punish in an extra-legal way.
My son-in-law was maced for jaywalking. The police said he tried to run away. My husband, who was present and also jaywalking, said it didn't look that way to him. We think the police were angry that so many people were disobeying their commands that they retaliated.
I will never feel the same toward the police after these incidents. It makes me furious to hear officer say, "Just comply and take it up in court." It's clear that isn't likely lead to any kind of justice.
My family's experiences are trivial compared to people who live in poor minority communities. Those of us who really value law and order need to take action for change. If the riots divert our attention, the infection will continue to fester.
6
Thuggish cops may be a small minority, but they are enabled by the silent majority of cops, who thereby becomes complicit. Likewise, they are enabled by time-serving apparatchiks, where career and personal ambitions matter more than principals. And so along the line to the right-wing racism that dominates America. It rarely shouts from the roof-tops, but that racism is an underground river that is eating what's left of the foundations of this Republic.
3
It is becoming more obvious every day, that the mainstream media has finally stopped ignoring this Jim-Crow-gone-underground-into-law-enforcement-and-the-(in)justice-system 20th century phenomena, thanks to the alternative media, like DemocracyNow, etc.
Veterans are the first-hired people in law enforcement. This policy needs scrutiny and review, as many women and men have become mentally unstable from military experience in asymmetric street warfare.
Sunlight [public exposure] is the best antiseptic.
Veterans are the first-hired people in law enforcement. This policy needs scrutiny and review, as many women and men have become mentally unstable from military experience in asymmetric street warfare.
Sunlight [public exposure] is the best antiseptic.
3
Dear Mr. Watkins,
Yes, why did it take so long. It seems to me the election of a minority president has touched a nerve in the white population of this country. Cops are reflective of the problem; in LA, when responding to black on black homicides in the ghettoes, the radio call would include the expression NHI, No Human Involvement. They may have been forced to stop using the expression but, I would bet, the attitude of the rank and file cops hasn't changed a bit.
Your last paragraph sums it up; so what if the "Police Union" doesn't like being called what it is, bigoted, ignorant and racist through and through? If the mayor can't stand up to the cops then it seems the populace has to.
It's not pretty but it's time, either by peaceful or violent protests, this country face the true "character" of what it is; a nationwide community riven by inequality and color which can't face up to the fact that when it comes to racial tolerance, we've blown it.
I've heard we've come a "long way" on race relations. Ferguson, Baltimore, L.A. and virtually every other big city in the United States tells me otherwise; the "journey" hasn't even started.
Yes, why did it take so long. It seems to me the election of a minority president has touched a nerve in the white population of this country. Cops are reflective of the problem; in LA, when responding to black on black homicides in the ghettoes, the radio call would include the expression NHI, No Human Involvement. They may have been forced to stop using the expression but, I would bet, the attitude of the rank and file cops hasn't changed a bit.
Your last paragraph sums it up; so what if the "Police Union" doesn't like being called what it is, bigoted, ignorant and racist through and through? If the mayor can't stand up to the cops then it seems the populace has to.
It's not pretty but it's time, either by peaceful or violent protests, this country face the true "character" of what it is; a nationwide community riven by inequality and color which can't face up to the fact that when it comes to racial tolerance, we've blown it.
I've heard we've come a "long way" on race relations. Ferguson, Baltimore, L.A. and virtually every other big city in the United States tells me otherwise; the "journey" hasn't even started.
2
The Michael Brown case also looked like an "open and shut case" until exculpatory evidence begin to emerge.
1
Strange how there is always exculpatory evidence in favor or the cops.
If you think this is a white and black, and not a rich and poor issue, I invite you to take a leisure drive to Tuxedo Park in New York or Alpine, NJ on an inexpensive car. As the wealth gap widens and more and more white people are finding themselves on the lower end of the socio-economical ladder, this story will soon become one experienced by a lot of us regardless of skin color.
2
What this article misses is the fact that high crime also has a serious impact on societies. Having been robbed, a few times, I can tell you that from first hand experience. These criminals are the real "terrorists" and need to be treated as such.
1
Thank you for telling us what it is like to grow up young black man there. Arresting the cops who attacked Grey would help. How is the failure to arrest
and charge the police who attacked Freddie Grey justified.
and charge the police who attacked Freddie Grey justified.
56
In the absence of body cameras and Federal oversight, all people of good conscious should begin video recording police encounters with black and brown people nationwide and upload to site that can reconcile local police statistics to the particular encounters. The same DOJ test that exposed Ferguson's race based municipal policing should be used nationwide to identify racist police departments for legal remedy, if not Federal action. The Klan was temporarily put out of business by legal judgement not re-education. Let's call on the DOJ, SCLC, NAACP, ACLU and others to begin this work in earnest. Clearly, the burden is on us and the numbers can not be refuted.
5
Sorry but burning Baltimore to the ground will only result in injury and death to the torch mob and to innocent people. How will that help your case? Also, in a 24-hour news cycle world, you need the "optics" to work in your favor, i.e., the only violence that the public should see and read about should be police violence. If citizens are burning down Baltimore and causing mayhem, people will believe that police brutality is justified because Baltimore is full of "savage animals" and I am sure that is not what you want. Further, if drunken baseball fans and anyone else are shouting insults as you pass them, ignore their words. Why engage? It doesn't hurt them if a fight breaks out but your cause is lost because you are being violent. You may want to think critically and offer sage advice instead of inflammatory words.
2
As a white baby-boomer, college educated and suburban, I have no trouble believing D. Watkins. All I had to do was to dress like a hippie and I was immediately 'suspicious' in the eyes of the cops. When my sons were teenagers and beyond they were stopped many times for nothing and treated with disrespect.
Now I have learned that there is such a thing as LEOBR - Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights. This law exists in many states and cities and basically prevents cops from having to write reports that go against their 5th amendment rights, then the union rules add further protections.
We live in a police state. The police are in charge and answer to no one.
Now I have learned that there is such a thing as LEOBR - Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights. This law exists in many states and cities and basically prevents cops from having to write reports that go against their 5th amendment rights, then the union rules add further protections.
We live in a police state. The police are in charge and answer to no one.
3
The response to the actions in Baltimore will be more canned talking points by the usual array of talking heads and insiders. The system is broken. It's like your hockey stick is cracked and you decide to fix it with super glue.It's cheap but ineffective.
If poverty were a virus we would call Baltimore a pandemic. During Baltimore's renaissance what was the economic base for the middle class? Maybe machine shops,tanning leather or some other skilled or semi-skilled labor. What hope lies on the horizon? I heard a startling statistic while watching the news coverage of "Baltimore in Flames ". This "official" stated that 85% of the 90,000 children attending public school in Baltimore qualify for the school lunch and breakfast program.
Simultaneous with that information, I saw where Paul Ryan was quoted as saying that , in his view, "free" school food programs sap the initiative of children. I honestly don't know how people of color keep so restrained. Let's face it we, as a country, have passively decided that an underclass (mostly Black)of 45 or 50 million people is acceptable.
If poverty were a virus we would call Baltimore a pandemic. During Baltimore's renaissance what was the economic base for the middle class? Maybe machine shops,tanning leather or some other skilled or semi-skilled labor. What hope lies on the horizon? I heard a startling statistic while watching the news coverage of "Baltimore in Flames ". This "official" stated that 85% of the 90,000 children attending public school in Baltimore qualify for the school lunch and breakfast program.
Simultaneous with that information, I saw where Paul Ryan was quoted as saying that , in his view, "free" school food programs sap the initiative of children. I honestly don't know how people of color keep so restrained. Let's face it we, as a country, have passively decided that an underclass (mostly Black)of 45 or 50 million people is acceptable.
3
I know two NYPD cops . They will tell you that the real fear they have is because of the number and quality of the guns on the street. There are other nations such England with hand gun laws and the police need not and dont want to carry guns.
This is not the cause nor the solution to the the current problems but it does ratchet up the fear quotient in the cops mind . Lets get the guns off the street and we can bring down some of the tension and anxiety.
This of course is impossible as long as people see gun availability as way to rile the conservative base in the pursuit of votes. The greater good for solemnity is clearly not a gun in ever hand , but no handguns in any hands. Try and think about who and why people stand in the way of effective hand gun control. The real reasons.
This is not the cause nor the solution to the the current problems but it does ratchet up the fear quotient in the cops mind . Lets get the guns off the street and we can bring down some of the tension and anxiety.
This of course is impossible as long as people see gun availability as way to rile the conservative base in the pursuit of votes. The greater good for solemnity is clearly not a gun in ever hand , but no handguns in any hands. Try and think about who and why people stand in the way of effective hand gun control. The real reasons.
1
I have studied non violence for years. I have met the Dali Lami in a group setting. Everybody is on the violence does not solve a thing. But I am here to tell you I support the Baltimore riots. Asking please stop, and vigils are not working. When you march the cops get overtime and everybody feel good for a minute and the system keep rolling along with no changes. An unarmed young man was killed on camera. If you want your child to just go to school and you to go to work like nothing happened, then the problem is with you. These kids are on a plantation/reservation, where they are mined for tax revenue and police effectiveness headlines. The police harass them daily. If it is a true crime the police do not come, but if they walk down the street they are harassed, and occasionally killed. The mother of that kid should be proud. He saw another unarmed human being killed and he took action. As to the belief that outsiders should go home. Baltimore is in America and it is our home. We are all Freddy Gray. The police did not ask his name, or residence before killing him. If you denounce this, you must also on here denounce the Arab spring, Tiananmen Square, and the Boston Tea Party.
3
I care about the diabetic and the sick young child who could not get their medication due to the burning down of the CVS Store and the senior whose only interaction with other people is to visit the now destroyed Senior Center, and the the nieghborhood peopole who have lost their jobs due to the destruction of these sites.
3
We are not all Freddie Gray. I am not Freddie Gray. I have no criminal record. I have never even received a parking summons. I do not "do drugs", steal from others or destroy property of others. I do not riot, pillage or loot. I have never had any cause to feel threatened by the Police and run away from them because I know I have been doing something illegal. No, we are not all Freddie Gray. Most of us, black and white, are law abiding citizens of our great nation not hoodlums and bums.
55
Freddie Gray did not die because he was a hoodlum or a bum. He died because he was Black. He was not violating the law when he was pursued and then killed at the hands of the Baltimore police. you are indeed fortunate that you have no criminal record and do not feel threatened by the police. I am guessing you are White. I am, too, but I know and work with many well-educated, hard-working, professional people of color who also have never received a parking summons, but who feel very threatened by the police, having been on the receiving end of numerous threats taunts, unwarranted traffic stops and other racist, brutal or criminal acts. When you cannot expect equal justice under the law from those who are charged with upholding it, who can you trust?
3
Peaceful protests do not get media attention. And riots accomplish nothing but ratings for the MSM. The media only lets us see what they want us to see and it is up to the individual to find the truth. Unprovoked police brutality is unacceptable, but if you encounter a LEO and fail to comply there is a chance you are going to get hurt. The more crimes you commit, your chances of getting caught get greater. If you get caught and don't comply and get hurt, is really the officer's fault? For the number of citizen to police encounters each year, what happened to Freddy Gray and the rest is anomaly not the norm. It is unfortunate and very sad, but it is not the norm. Statistics don't lie. The facts don't lie. The way you portray police officer, there must be thousands of black people who were killed purposely this past year by the Baltimore police. What we have here are separate issues: 1: Excessive Force resulting in the death of suspect. 2: Unnecessary Force, and 3: Racial profiling. The riots in Ferguson and NY did nothing, a spectacle that left the rest of the country looking on in disgust taking the attention away from the real issue. The Baltimore Sun claims that "The incident stemmed from a flier that circulated widely among city school students via social media about a “purge” to take place at 3 p.m., starting at Mondawmin Mall and ending downtown. " How does this help the issue? It is not as cut and dry as your words make it out to be.
12
I've traveled a lot. We have a large country. It contains multitudes. It contradicts itself.
I've seen police abuses. They are not everywhere.
If they are not near you, feel yourself fortunate. Stop it where it is, before it gets to you too. It's real.
I've seen police abuses. They are not everywhere.
If they are not near you, feel yourself fortunate. Stop it where it is, before it gets to you too. It's real.
19
There are two malls near my home in which my daughter worked during summers off college, both reasonably affluent areas.
She tells me that the cops assigned to one of them are friendly, helpful, polite, everything one would hope. The cops assigned to the other act like Nazis, thugs. The store staff is afraid of them.
I'd pick her up after work, and sometimes chat with staff. I saw myself that she's right, but she has more experience of them, and is more vocal about it.
It is the leadership, not the men they lead. I talked with them too, since I helped the store owner with the lease. It was obvious, transparent. The owners must have known what they were getting in their security leadership. It was what they hired, what they wanted.
That abusive behavior is one thing that does trickle down.
She tells me that the cops assigned to one of them are friendly, helpful, polite, everything one would hope. The cops assigned to the other act like Nazis, thugs. The store staff is afraid of them.
I'd pick her up after work, and sometimes chat with staff. I saw myself that she's right, but she has more experience of them, and is more vocal about it.
It is the leadership, not the men they lead. I talked with them too, since I helped the store owner with the lease. It was obvious, transparent. The owners must have known what they were getting in their security leadership. It was what they hired, what they wanted.
That abusive behavior is one thing that does trickle down.
41
For some time my position has been that police body cameras will not solve policing problems. The problems of training, discipline, leadership and supervision - which are the main trouble-causes all over the country. Police should look to the military for some ideas of how to achieve those needed characteristics. So far, none have.
1
I agree with you. Police departments have a culture, some good, some bad. They can sometimes be in two towns next door to each other very different.
1
A question that pops up in my mind when I read this is why is the police force so overwhelmingly non-local? Isn’t this a well-paying job? If you are so unhappy with the current force, why not join and police yourselves?
15
Did you read about the kids growing up in some area of the neighborhood with high lead in their blood because of lead paint from where they live? When you are handicapped that way, you are not going to be able to get through high school, let alone getting into the police academy or high education for that matter
1
You have to be "hired" before you can join."
The police are almost exclusively non-local in Baltimore for the same reason they are non-local in Ferguson, end every "high-crime urban region" throughout America:
Because when you are a police officer in a high-crime area, and your family lives in that area, then you will be targeted by the very people you are assigned to police. Perps and their associates will target you, your house, your family, your mom, and your dog. Who in their right mind would voluntarily endanger their children to be part of the hated local police?
"Snitches Get Stitches"... remember?
Bos... blaming lead paint for the lack of local police officers is about as ridiculous a premise as I have ever encountered.
Because when you are a police officer in a high-crime area, and your family lives in that area, then you will be targeted by the very people you are assigned to police. Perps and their associates will target you, your house, your family, your mom, and your dog. Who in their right mind would voluntarily endanger their children to be part of the hated local police?
"Snitches Get Stitches"... remember?
Bos... blaming lead paint for the lack of local police officers is about as ridiculous a premise as I have ever encountered.
I lived in Baltimore for many years. I hear your story. But it is only one small part. Someone needs to tell the whole story, from all sides. Shootings, lootings, burnings and riotings will not solve anything. Though revenge may be sweet, it is not true justice and is not long-lasting. The places where it has occurred over the years have not changed much, and soon Baltimore will be back where it was before, and remembered for only the current events. A place for a start would be for everyone, including the media, to stop saying that Freddie Gray was murdered. That so far is only an opinion. Another place to start is to stop making threats like "burn to the ground". The burning and looting of CVS only eliminated a black business and black jobs. Yesterday I saw black people and white people working together to clean up the mess. Now, THAT is an example of what needs to be done. I love Baltimore, and it deserves better than burning.
45
I have never read any reputable media account saying he was "murdered."
Got a link?
Got a link?
Interesting. No mention of the strong evidence of routine police brutality the author presented and which must destroy the soul of everyone in Baltimore who has been treated like animals by the police. Violent riots may not be the sweet revenge you assume, but the reaction of a people who refuse to take it anymore. But I agree with your conclusion. Baltimore does deserve better.
1
Will looting and burning make the community better? No. But what will? Even while leaders like Obama are calling for more investment in these downtrodden communities, House and Senate Republicans have agreed on a budget that cuts domestic spending and hurts the very people who live there. Were you not aware of that?
Can you really sit there with a straight face and tell young black men in Baltimore and Detroit that they can make their communities better by working within the system? It's the system that has destroyed their communities in the first place. Do you really not see that?
Can you really sit there with a straight face and tell young black men in Baltimore and Detroit that they can make their communities better by working within the system? It's the system that has destroyed their communities in the first place. Do you really not see that?
2
The most shocking thing for me in this article was the white baseball fans shouting "We don't care!" So, police brutality, racism and even sadism are perfectly tolerated and in a way stimulated by a society that does not give any value at all to black people's life and dignity. What a shame.
122
In the case of some of the people who are chanting "We don't care!", they really do care, but not in the way you would hope. Racism is very much alive in America - every time a guy gets shot in Cleveland, many comment boards overflow with what amounts to "Hooray, one less n*****!" I know lots of white people who are absolutely convinced that neighborhoods become unsafe the moment a black person moves in (this despite the fact that what I see from the vast majority of my black neighbors is kids going to school, adults going to work, mowing the lawn, tossing a football in the front yard, and lots of other wholesome activities).
13
It does not surprise me that a group of white baseball fans standing outside a strip of bars would shout rude racial insults at peaceful protesters. That is typical drunken fraternity rat behavior, which goes on near many college campuses whenever sports season or party season are going strong. If the offenders in this group were older than that, all it means is that they had more practice.
2
Americans have been sold the "American Dream" for a very long time. For some reason, and in spite of ample evidence to the contrary, a lot of white people still buy the "you, one day, will also be part of the 1% percent" therefore they fail to perceive that what is happening to minorities might seem like a race issue on the surface, when in reality is a class issue. They fail to realize that as the income gap widens, regardless of skin color, it is more likely that they will find themselves part of a much lower level socio-economical population, facing the same issues poor populations have been facing for a very, very, long time: bad educational services, high unemployment, high levels of incarceration, etc. than ever joining the top 1% The game is rigged, not based on race but on class.
2
Considering what they’ve endured in abuse and insults for years, the black Baltimore citizens have been remarkably restrained for years. And their taxes help pay for the millions in lawsuits, yet.
But why would a group of white baseball fans yell, “We don’t care! We don’t care!”? What is forming their warped callousness?
The only thing that will stop police abuse is the jailing of cops. Evidence from body cameras may help. Obama just said federal funds would pay for these. That’s needed for low wealth tax towns where police forces are instructed to use profiling to extract fines from citizens for revenue, as reported in NYT.
It’s true the Garner video atrocity didn’t prevent the grand jury from refusing to indict 6 cops ganging up on 1 man. But if cameras are used over time, they might help change the culture.
Besides that, they need to devise reliable psychological tests to weed out those with authoritarian sadistic tendencies from applying for police work. And retest them periodically. The police forces are obviously drawing a certain type of person, as these killings pile up. Not all are like this, but their police unions protect the worst, no matter what.
As cops see these cases of no firings or jail for abuse, what will restrain them? There must be a cover up going on in Baltimore after weeks, and no charges or facts. We still don’t know what started the whole thing.
But why would a group of white baseball fans yell, “We don’t care! We don’t care!”? What is forming their warped callousness?
The only thing that will stop police abuse is the jailing of cops. Evidence from body cameras may help. Obama just said federal funds would pay for these. That’s needed for low wealth tax towns where police forces are instructed to use profiling to extract fines from citizens for revenue, as reported in NYT.
It’s true the Garner video atrocity didn’t prevent the grand jury from refusing to indict 6 cops ganging up on 1 man. But if cameras are used over time, they might help change the culture.
Besides that, they need to devise reliable psychological tests to weed out those with authoritarian sadistic tendencies from applying for police work. And retest them periodically. The police forces are obviously drawing a certain type of person, as these killings pile up. Not all are like this, but their police unions protect the worst, no matter what.
As cops see these cases of no firings or jail for abuse, what will restrain them? There must be a cover up going on in Baltimore after weeks, and no charges or facts. We still don’t know what started the whole thing.
35
The cries of "We don't care!" perfectly epitomize this country's problem with race. Us or them. We BETTER than them. So sad. I really thought we were long past beyond this.
1
Perhaps those who have been paying for the trillions of dollars in "help" for the inner city have the right to say that they no longer care if the inner city chooses to destroy itself.
1
But why does a criminal subset use the legitimate protests as an excuse to burn and steal. Burning down a half-built senior housing project meant to help the residents of the neighborhood -- what does that help?
16
Agreed. And which part of "peaceful" were these protests of which D Watkins writes?
I don't know which is more terrifying--that police never get held responsible for this...or that too many non-black citizens think this abuse could never, ever happen to their perfect, law-abiding, non-thug selves. Too many cops in this country are just warming up for the day the 1% want to conclusively clamp down--this mess is just practice.
80
"just warming up for the day"
It has already gone past that in many places. We just haven't woken up to it yet.
It has already gone past that in many places. We just haven't woken up to it yet.
15
Living on a limited fixed income, I am far from the 1%. But I would most assuredly wish that my next visit to Baltimore is one that is safe.
It IS time to crack down, and crack down heavily on the criminal elements in the inner city. I suspect that even the residents would appreciate being able safely to walk down the streets of their neighborhoods after dark.
It IS time to crack down, and crack down heavily on the criminal elements in the inner city. I suspect that even the residents would appreciate being able safely to walk down the streets of their neighborhoods after dark.
Police brutality is systemic and exists throughout America. What is tragic is that the criminal behavior of police officers who commit unspeakable crimes against the people, negatively impacts all of the good cops who put their lives on the line to protect the public.
Unless the United States government starts prosecuting and jailing police officers who break the law, it's just a matter of time before the next American city explodes.
Unless the United States government starts prosecuting and jailing police officers who break the law, it's just a matter of time before the next American city explodes.
52
I agree 100% and, given this belief in systemic brutality where criminal behavior of some police officers makes all police officers suspect, where are the decent cops' voices? Why is there not a huge majority of police officers in this country visibly and vocally demanding the exoneration of the majority of cops by prosecution of those whose behavior tarnishes them all? The absence of such outcry leaves one to conclude they either support the criminal cops or don't care about their victims.
Agreed. Out here in white bread land, our local law enforcement officers, mostly small towns scattered through the land, dress and behave like commandos, way too military looking with their black cars, black clothing boots bloused, sniper sunglasses, and lots of leather. I Know a bunch of cops, and have worked with them; some are one step away from being over the line. They say it's our society that forces the issue. IMHO, they are not approachable by the citizenry. Just another institution that is rotting from the inside.
Im a PhD therapist and have done a lot of work on "emotional regulation" in children and adults. I'm also white, female, and 60. About a year ago, I was walking my dog and let him off the leash for a few minutes. A policeman came up and stated screaming at me. He was enraged. I was afraid but even more, I was shocked. His face was red and he was almost shaking. I kept thinking about his shocking arousal level - how he had no control of his emotions and went from baseline arousal to out of control in about 2 minutes. I found the experience terrifying. What if I'd been a young, black male? I'd probably be dead.
190
I've had similar experiences, and in reasonably well-off neighborhoods too.
16
I'm with the cop. What if your off-leash dog had chased a person who ran away because he was scared of dogs, then bitten him? Do you need a Ph.D. to know that you're supposed to control your dog in public at all times?
5
The police response was over the top and wrong but as a dog owner in crowded NYC who respects the leash law I am tired of people who let their dog off leash. If my dog is on leash and were to attack your dog who is off leash you would be responsible.
We live in a police state. Time to stop pretending it's also a democracy.
37
I was once pulled over for a minor driving infraction and let go. As I am white with no record and in late middle age, I felt relatively safe. I did make the mistake of getting out of my car only to be yelled out to get back in.
The police are aggressive and part of the reason is that anyone they stop may have a gun.
Our gun culture is one of the causes of police aggression. As long as the NRA promotes and encourages citizens to go about their daily lives with guns on them, the police will be wary of them.
It would be wonderful if the police unions would make more of the cause and effect of violence in America.
The police are aggressive and part of the reason is that anyone they stop may have a gun.
Our gun culture is one of the causes of police aggression. As long as the NRA promotes and encourages citizens to go about their daily lives with guns on them, the police will be wary of them.
It would be wonderful if the police unions would make more of the cause and effect of violence in America.
140
Police used to oppose letting people carry guns. Now they support it. Much of what has happened since this change of opinion is self-inflicted by cops.
The police don't need pretexts to murder Black people, and Freddie Gray did not have a gun. Perhaps he should have.
"We are all starting to believe that holding hands, following pastors and peaceful protests are pointless. The only option is to rise up..."
We do need to jettison the pastors, but we must be careful... Recently, I (a brown man) was pulled over by a motorcycle cop for exceeding the speed limit. My car is quick, built for the Autobahn, and he (surprisingly) understood. He was the singularly nicest cop I have met, and one of the nicest men I have spoken with as well. Ever. Hands down. He ended up giving me a warning. Then the truth came out; he was not born in the United States...
Being Dutch, his family came here when he was 12-14 years old. That said, his humanity was clearly and completely intact. I don't know what it is allowing so many white Americans in "Law" "Enforcement" to so monstrously disregard the humanity of others- but it is proven by this deluge of killings we're seeing in 201X... These people are, from every indication... psychopathic, in my opinion.
I'm gonna find that motorcycle cop and invite him for a beer.
We do need to jettison the pastors, but we must be careful... Recently, I (a brown man) was pulled over by a motorcycle cop for exceeding the speed limit. My car is quick, built for the Autobahn, and he (surprisingly) understood. He was the singularly nicest cop I have met, and one of the nicest men I have spoken with as well. Ever. Hands down. He ended up giving me a warning. Then the truth came out; he was not born in the United States...
Being Dutch, his family came here when he was 12-14 years old. That said, his humanity was clearly and completely intact. I don't know what it is allowing so many white Americans in "Law" "Enforcement" to so monstrously disregard the humanity of others- but it is proven by this deluge of killings we're seeing in 201X... These people are, from every indication... psychopathic, in my opinion.
I'm gonna find that motorcycle cop and invite him for a beer.
97
"built for the Autobahn" = expensive car. I wonder how the interaction would have developed if you had instead been driving a way cheaper car.
If you are pleasant and cooperative with a policeman, their aggressive stance quickly dissolves into one of a properly professional one.
If you react threateningly to a policeman, don't be surprised if he responds in an aggressive manner.
Here's one tip that will assure your safety when being stopped at night...turn on the inside light of your car so that the policeman can see inside
If you react threateningly to a policeman, don't be surprised if he responds in an aggressive manner.
Here's one tip that will assure your safety when being stopped at night...turn on the inside light of your car so that the policeman can see inside
This in not comparative, but as a white teen in Brooklyn's 63rd, I and my friends were constantly hassled by the constabulary. Just because the obnoxious bullies could. Knocked a friend off of his bike. Drinking soda sitting on a curb side, getting rousted for no reason.
It's a cop mentality combined with bigotry. It's not just the south either.
It's a cop mentality combined with bigotry. It's not just the south either.
35
In the 1770s, American colonists were fighting illegally against the soldiers of the mother country. They are our heroes. Today the colonies are black, within the mother country, but the dynamics are the same. Mainstream white Americans are the modern-day Tories.
14
That is the most rediculous comparison I've heard to date. You just equated black Americans to patriots and white Americans as tyrants. You should be ashamed of such a hateful and racist posting.
Is a conversation needed about policing in America? Yes. Are there legitimate grievances on the part of minorities? Yes. The police involved in the injury to Mr. Gray should be investigated and held accountable. Rioting and destroying the city you live in accomplishes what exactly? Proving a point? Drawing attention? Expressing outrage? All it does is destroy the city you live in and hurt the very community that you claim to be trying to save.
The people involved in this have no interest in seeing anything change. They merely want to take part in criminal behavior that ends up resulting in interactions with the police, which in turn lead to more opportunities for cases like Mr. Gray's to occur. It's a cycle that cannot be broken unless people work together for a solution.
The conversation also needs to be had about why as a small percentage of the population, "black" America accounts for a larger percentage of criminal activity than any other group. Is it socio-economic related? Is the deterioration of the family structure? Perhaps. But to blame "white" America for the problems of "black" America does nothing more than contribute to the problem instead of finding a solution.
Is a conversation needed about policing in America? Yes. Are there legitimate grievances on the part of minorities? Yes. The police involved in the injury to Mr. Gray should be investigated and held accountable. Rioting and destroying the city you live in accomplishes what exactly? Proving a point? Drawing attention? Expressing outrage? All it does is destroy the city you live in and hurt the very community that you claim to be trying to save.
The people involved in this have no interest in seeing anything change. They merely want to take part in criminal behavior that ends up resulting in interactions with the police, which in turn lead to more opportunities for cases like Mr. Gray's to occur. It's a cycle that cannot be broken unless people work together for a solution.
The conversation also needs to be had about why as a small percentage of the population, "black" America accounts for a larger percentage of criminal activity than any other group. Is it socio-economic related? Is the deterioration of the family structure? Perhaps. But to blame "white" America for the problems of "black" America does nothing more than contribute to the problem instead of finding a solution.
The cops are just as afraid as you are when they are in an environment where their 'colors' are there for all to see, and when they know there are weapons and drugs and poverty seething all around them-and not just in black urban neighborhoods.
We have created a society with ever greater division of educational and economic achievement and support systems that are breaking down all around us as we shrink government in the name of 'freedom'.
We identify less with our fellow man than ever before whether you are wearing a badge or being accosted by someone wearing one.
This is not about race. This is about those with progressively less power being exploited by those with ever more power. The poor souls at the bottom of the ladder eventually get fed up and fight back.
The cops are caught in the middle of a system that has gone off the rails.
We have created a society with ever greater division of educational and economic achievement and support systems that are breaking down all around us as we shrink government in the name of 'freedom'.
We identify less with our fellow man than ever before whether you are wearing a badge or being accosted by someone wearing one.
This is not about race. This is about those with progressively less power being exploited by those with ever more power. The poor souls at the bottom of the ladder eventually get fed up and fight back.
The cops are caught in the middle of a system that has gone off the rails.
9
I agree - but it also IS about race. I am constantly appalled and disheartened by the remarks I overhear and the comments I read here in the lily white State of Maine. Here, our Tea Party governor is making war on the poor and disenfranchised and yet many of those people see people of color not as fellow sufferers, but as the enemy. Our country is sick and we need to start seeing ourselves as a nation of equals or we are doomed.
1
One does not improve the neighborhood by looting its stores, bashing car windows, and burning down buildings.
Just sayin'.
Just sayin'.
1
I often feel frustrated with smartphones—our attachment to them. But where I am so grateful, is that (with our cameras) injustice can be captured by nearly anyone. We can all witness the reality of what being a black man in America really is and how free we feel they really are.
It is difficult to have these conversations with my children. "Why does this happen?" I'm not clear. "Are these bad people?" Those being arrested or arresting?
It's more than just 'crime'. It breaks down to how we value, understand and respect each other. I agree with Obama—we need, as a nation, to look at the root cause of inequity and injustice plaguing our country. We all need to take responsibility. We need to invest our hearts and vote with our dollars like our childrens' life depends on it (because it does).
I feel terrific sadness that (yet) another man has died. Let's not be silent.
It is difficult to have these conversations with my children. "Why does this happen?" I'm not clear. "Are these bad people?" Those being arrested or arresting?
It's more than just 'crime'. It breaks down to how we value, understand and respect each other. I agree with Obama—we need, as a nation, to look at the root cause of inequity and injustice plaguing our country. We all need to take responsibility. We need to invest our hearts and vote with our dollars like our childrens' life depends on it (because it does).
I feel terrific sadness that (yet) another man has died. Let's not be silent.
15
"Take responsibility!?" Now, that's downright un-American!
1
Trouble is, if you burn Baltimore to the ground, you hurt a lot of innocent people and you cede the moral high ground, which is the strongest thing you've got.
30
African Americans have had the moral high ground for hundreds of years. No wonder impatience boils up once in a while.
I lived in USA 35 years ago. Then, my experience with police in two states was good; they were pros, polite, yet did their jobs. What happened since then? It seems Americans, both white and black have evolved towards the good, but the police has evolved towards the bad. Please America, you must fix this. White man now living in France.
6
Jean Louis, while I agree that Batimore is symptomatic of a centuries-old yet-unsolved American problem, I suspect that the ratio of decent-to-nasty cops today is about the same as it was 35 years ago. Every barrel has its rotten apples, here and elsewhere.
1
I think the police are what their bosses want them to be. As the economy unravels for the great majority of us there will be increasing unwillingness to follow the rules and the system will increasingly have to rely on enforcement rather than willing participation. By encouraging their disdainful attitude toward the public the police are being prepared to take on this role.
Even the great liberal hope DeBlasio hired the originator of "broken windows policing", in which everyone is guilty so the cop gets to decide who to arrest.
It isn't possible to reform the economic system. It must be replaced.
Even the great liberal hope DeBlasio hired the originator of "broken windows policing", in which everyone is guilty so the cop gets to decide who to arrest.
It isn't possible to reform the economic system. It must be replaced.
17
"I think the police are what their bosses want them to be."
Exactly. The problem is the bosses, not the cop on the street. The cop may do it, but he's doing what is expected of him by his bosses.
Exactly. The problem is the bosses, not the cop on the street. The cop may do it, but he's doing what is expected of him by his bosses.
9
As an alleged "military man", Mr. Thomason, you should be aware of what their orders really are.
The mission of the police is to protect lives and property.
Stopping a thief or a looter is part of the job. So too is catching the arsonist or the man that is cutting the fire hose of the men fighting the fires.
The mission of the police is to protect lives and property.
Stopping a thief or a looter is part of the job. So too is catching the arsonist or the man that is cutting the fire hose of the men fighting the fires.
1
Mr. Watkins:
Everytime I read about one of these incidents I wonder how long before the protests will be called riots. Well, it has begun. How could it be otherwise?
How much injustice are we all supposed to accept before we say enough?
I would like anyone to explain how a single person can sustain the injuries that killed Freddie Gay while being arrested for an uknown offense. It is easy to imagine what act would cause that damage. It is impossible to justify that action. Not one official has even asked how he sustained these injuries.
I suppose the apologists won't be moved until they have to call out the National Guard. Then we'll have to ask what nation they are supposed to be guarding? It's the 40th anniversary of Kent St.. It's been done before. Those of you with short memories or who are to young to remember should know:
they will shoot white people too. Wake up and stand up against this blatant
racism before it is too late. We are our brothers keeper.
Everytime I read about one of these incidents I wonder how long before the protests will be called riots. Well, it has begun. How could it be otherwise?
How much injustice are we all supposed to accept before we say enough?
I would like anyone to explain how a single person can sustain the injuries that killed Freddie Gay while being arrested for an uknown offense. It is easy to imagine what act would cause that damage. It is impossible to justify that action. Not one official has even asked how he sustained these injuries.
I suppose the apologists won't be moved until they have to call out the National Guard. Then we'll have to ask what nation they are supposed to be guarding? It's the 40th anniversary of Kent St.. It's been done before. Those of you with short memories or who are to young to remember should know:
they will shoot white people too. Wake up and stand up against this blatant
racism before it is too late. We are our brothers keeper.
35
Some of the comments here say that mistreatment by police is not just a white/black problem. I agree. We should always remember, however, that people without power, without the ability to speak back through lawsuits or influence with elected officials, are always treated worse. Always.
The roots of this problem are in the desire for dominance of people over others. Throughout history, the battles between tribes, cities, nations, and alliances revolves around that issue: who is going to be on top and who is going to be on the bottom? When people are down, others push them around and usually with brutality. While there are many good, honest, hardworking police officers, they have been sent on the wrong mission, acting as agents of repression in poor and minority communities, either accidentally or intentionally. They don't stop to analyze what they are doing, they are a para-military force where taking orders is paramount.
The students who started the riot in Baltimore know quite well the role police play in their community, in the lives of their families and, especially, their fathers and other adult males. But, nonetheless, we should worry less about who gets the blame, police for violent tactics or protesters for throwing rocks and setting off the rioting, and we should worry more, much more, about the underlying economic and social conditions that lead to a hopeless state of mind. We need to surrender or breakdown economic dominance and good results will follow.
The roots of this problem are in the desire for dominance of people over others. Throughout history, the battles between tribes, cities, nations, and alliances revolves around that issue: who is going to be on top and who is going to be on the bottom? When people are down, others push them around and usually with brutality. While there are many good, honest, hardworking police officers, they have been sent on the wrong mission, acting as agents of repression in poor and minority communities, either accidentally or intentionally. They don't stop to analyze what they are doing, they are a para-military force where taking orders is paramount.
The students who started the riot in Baltimore know quite well the role police play in their community, in the lives of their families and, especially, their fathers and other adult males. But, nonetheless, we should worry less about who gets the blame, police for violent tactics or protesters for throwing rocks and setting off the rioting, and we should worry more, much more, about the underlying economic and social conditions that lead to a hopeless state of mind. We need to surrender or breakdown economic dominance and good results will follow.
20
TerryReport.com:
"The roots of this problem are in the desire for dominance of people over others."
****
I respectfully disagree. The interaction between a half-minority police department and a mostly minority neighborhood should not be viewed through this or simply a racial prism. That misses too many factors.
One mistake is expecting a police department to address problems that are way beyond its purview. They are like the finger in the dam. In this case, they are poorly managed, corrupt and out of control. The tragic killing of Freddie Gray is a symptom of this.
The real problems are socioeconomic and far beyond the capacity of that mayor and police commissioner. To expect any police department to address these deep problems, when they are simply the lowest rung on the ladder, is a fool's errand.
"The roots of this problem are in the desire for dominance of people over others."
****
I respectfully disagree. The interaction between a half-minority police department and a mostly minority neighborhood should not be viewed through this or simply a racial prism. That misses too many factors.
One mistake is expecting a police department to address problems that are way beyond its purview. They are like the finger in the dam. In this case, they are poorly managed, corrupt and out of control. The tragic killing of Freddie Gray is a symptom of this.
The real problems are socioeconomic and far beyond the capacity of that mayor and police commissioner. To expect any police department to address these deep problems, when they are simply the lowest rung on the ladder, is a fool's errand.
6
"always treated worse. Always."
Yes, but it won't change unless we can rally support to the idea that it isn't just their problem, it is our problem too. We are all treated badly, some worse, but all badly.
True, what happens to some also happens to us all, but that is too philisophical in its truth to have the political weight needed to get this job done.
Yes, but it won't change unless we can rally support to the idea that it isn't just their problem, it is our problem too. We are all treated badly, some worse, but all badly.
True, what happens to some also happens to us all, but that is too philisophical in its truth to have the political weight needed to get this job done.
5
What AACNY said is just a fancy way of saying "can't win, don't try."
1
So then attack the police and leave the innocent alone.
4
If anybody has ever been to Baltimore they would see it looks like the aftermath of a B 52 bombing run. It is a tale of two cities. In one city they see growth in the other they see more blight. The side that sees growth really supports their so called Thin Blue Line. The Thin Blue Line that protects them and their property from the "others". Any city kid knows what happened to Freddy Gray. You run from the police and if they catch you. You are going to get a tune up. A tune up is cop lingo for a beat down. In the real world the folks in the better sections of Baltimore turn a blind eye when their Thin Blue line has to break a few heads to maintain order. There were more outrage over the burning of CVS than the killing of black youth. Now the victims of racial injustice are told they are cutting off theirs nose to spite their faces. The few jobs lost because CVS is gone and the inconvenience to granny in getting her prescriptions are appalling. This callousness on the part of the bussed in looters is beyond the pale. Because we have a black president and a black mayor we are supposed to be more accepting of racist policing makes little logic. It is not the skin color of the cops that stops racist policing. America has culture of policing and justice that is racist. The skin color of the actors has little to do with the content of the play. The play that is played out daily in the streets, courts and cities of America. Visit Baltimore and ask yourself is this Mayberry?
20
"A tune up is cop lingo for a beat down."
That they have a name that everybody knows for a blatantly illegal action tells you much about what you need to know bout the state of policing in America.
That they have a name that everybody knows for a blatantly illegal action tells you much about what you need to know bout the state of policing in America.
5
The only two times I have experienced sexual assault that could not be fought, except with glares and hatred, it was by cops. If I am the victim of a criminal, I can fight back. If a cop victimizes me, I have to stand there and take it or be killed. For 45 years I have despised and distrusted cops - and I am an affluent elderly white female with no record. I have seen the law enforcement community change - at least I have not been blatantly asked for a bribe in years! Now cops are aware of how to game the system. 45 years ago, they didn't care, they just acted with impunity. For 45 years, I have driven with one eye in the rearview mirror; only part of my brain processes traffic when 50 % of my senses are geared to avoiding cops. I live alone with poor health, but I have told my employer and all my friends who are concerned about my health and have mentioned, worse case scenario, having a 911 check if they can not reach me by phone, that I had better be dead - they had better pray I am dead - before they send a damn cop to my house.
16
As a 20 year old white man I experience these problems so I can't imagine what it is like to be black and living in an underprivileged neighborhood. When I was fourteen a cop pulled a gun on me for (legally) carrying what was a clearly-marked air soft gun over to a friends house. Last year, after a riot (my university lost a big basketball game) I was hit over the head with a beer bottle by a stranger who then tried to choke me. My friends managed to subdued him, we called the police, and sat on the man until the police arrived. Immediately taking a dismissive tone and not even attempting to listen to either party's story, the officers threatened to arrest me if I pressed charges against the other man, which I believe they did so they would not have to fill out the assault paperwork. If I had been black, maybe I would have been shot when was fourteen, or maybe I would have felony assault charged to my name for a crime I did not instigate or escalate.
14
I am "white". I am a "senior" (which is a polite way of saying that I am old or elderly). I am well-educated with a profession that requires a great deal of knowledge and skill. I am a military retiree. I do not have a criminal record, and in fact the last traffic violation I had was in 1959. I am what some people would call the epitome of a law-abiding citizen. And with all that, I don't go near a police officer, I don't want to have anything to do with a police officer, I want to steer clear of any and all police officers. Yes, I am sure that there are many decent, well-tempered, understanding and even compassionate officers, but to me my impression of today's police officer is that of an ignorant or semi-ignorant bully, an unapologetic bigot and racist, a person who lives and can only exist within a tight, monolithic police enclave, and in general a person who lives, perhaps only temporarily, on the "right" side of a very thin line that separates the criminal from the police officer.
31
Brown, 'almost senior', well educated and i am afraid too! Want to steer clear. I believe that people are decent and pray that my interactions will lend veracity to my beliefs.
Only the good cops themselves can clear their names by fighting to get rid of the bad cops and bad leadership.
yes, often a very thin line separating criminals from police themselves---who are the thugs here? We are getting a nasty picture of police as bullies, racists, and even sadists on a power trip.
As for the decent ones, how can they stand being identified with such a group? Decent police should speak out and work for changing the police culture. I'd like to see some public protests by groups of the good cops, who'd like to see reform.
The more of these videos come out--and they're being replayed on TV constantly, even over played--- and the more we see of these appalling cases of abuse, the more citizens become cynical, mistrustful and resentful. This causes lawlessness itself. It contributes to the Disunited States of America. The police culture is doing damage to society.
As for the decent ones, how can they stand being identified with such a group? Decent police should speak out and work for changing the police culture. I'd like to see some public protests by groups of the good cops, who'd like to see reform.
The more of these videos come out--and they're being replayed on TV constantly, even over played--- and the more we see of these appalling cases of abuse, the more citizens become cynical, mistrustful and resentful. This causes lawlessness itself. It contributes to the Disunited States of America. The police culture is doing damage to society.
A Mr Conner, I think it was, a black man in Baltimore, said the same thing to a reporter and Megan Kelly on FOX news last night. She was moved to empathy for him, for a while, but seemed to be hounded out of that point of view by others around her. So there's some hope. Megan might be president some day ...and since the only place from where you are now, in the wrong direction, is to mandate capital punishment for drug dealing ...(and thus have 1943 Germany - and that just wont happen)... it can only get better.
1
As an attorney who has seen what happens in the the black community and courts, I can absolutely confirm every word from Mr. Watkins. The police in the USA are out-of-control militaristic racist thugs who routinely beat, brutalize, harass, falsely charge and arrest and murder people of color. Police also routinely perjure themselves in court to falsely convict and imprison black Americans. Police are almost never held accountable for their crimes.
This has done on since slavery. In a middle-of-the-night raid, Chicago police shot to death two Black Panthers who were involved in administering a free breakfast program for kids, Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, as they slept. The police said they were being fired upon, an allegation forensic evidence later showed to be false. A few years later, the Ku Klux Klan, guarded by Danville, Illinois police, burned a cross on the lawn of a housing project. The police were never charged, never faced justice.
When police beat, brutalize, paralyze or cause disability, the police invariably charge the person they brutalized with Resisting Arrest, Assaulting a Police Officer and/or Obstructing Justice. Prosecutors then condition dismissal of these criminal charges on the agreement of the injured person not to sue the police for damages. And so injustice continues and grows.
There is scant justice available against brutal, violent and criminal police in this land. Dr. King wrote: Rioting is the language of the unheard.
This has done on since slavery. In a middle-of-the-night raid, Chicago police shot to death two Black Panthers who were involved in administering a free breakfast program for kids, Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, as they slept. The police said they were being fired upon, an allegation forensic evidence later showed to be false. A few years later, the Ku Klux Klan, guarded by Danville, Illinois police, burned a cross on the lawn of a housing project. The police were never charged, never faced justice.
When police beat, brutalize, paralyze or cause disability, the police invariably charge the person they brutalized with Resisting Arrest, Assaulting a Police Officer and/or Obstructing Justice. Prosecutors then condition dismissal of these criminal charges on the agreement of the injured person not to sue the police for damages. And so injustice continues and grows.
There is scant justice available against brutal, violent and criminal police in this land. Dr. King wrote: Rioting is the language of the unheard.
21
If the fish stinks, check the head. And that place stinks badly.
Police departments need strong management to keep them from spiraling out of control into Gestapo-type paramilitary units. In NYC, Giuliani was a supporter of cops, but he was also an enforcer of law. He prosecuted many cops.
I don't get the feeling that this mayor or police commissioner is even capable of conducting a prosecution. They are inept.
Police departments need strong management to keep them from spiraling out of control into Gestapo-type paramilitary units. In NYC, Giuliani was a supporter of cops, but he was also an enforcer of law. He prosecuted many cops.
I don't get the feeling that this mayor or police commissioner is even capable of conducting a prosecution. They are inept.
3
It's not just you brother. I'm white, when I was 14 an out of control cop stood on my chest til I choked out. I had scuffled with a neighborhood kid who had stolen a friends' bike, so granted I was a bit of a hooligan, but the cop had such a gleam in his eyes, a wicked smile even as I lost conciousness, thinking I would die. He really enjoyed it.
Like Mr Gray I was also arrested for petty behavior (at age 16) cuffed and shackled and transported unsecured in a police van while the driver swerved wildy and braked hard at high speed.
To all the folks who think that since communities riot in the wake of these things that they were animals and had it coming, you will feel differently when it happens to you. I speak from experience, I was a kid not an animal and I did not deserve to be tortured for the amusement of sadistic psychopaths, neither do you.
Like Mr Gray I was also arrested for petty behavior (at age 16) cuffed and shackled and transported unsecured in a police van while the driver swerved wildy and braked hard at high speed.
To all the folks who think that since communities riot in the wake of these things that they were animals and had it coming, you will feel differently when it happens to you. I speak from experience, I was a kid not an animal and I did not deserve to be tortured for the amusement of sadistic psychopaths, neither do you.
35
Excellent commentary. I would even suggest that the media and social commentators stop referring to the unrest in Baltimore as "riots" and start acknowledging what it really is, a revolt.
Now if that revolt were organized and directed it could become a revolution.
Now if that revolt were organized and directed it could become a revolution.
14
Nonsense.
Some commenters have said it, but not many: The heart of the matter is that collectively, the police in america are the domestic army for the One Percent. It is their job to protect the interests of the Haves. In return, cops get a salary and, most importantly, they are granted immunity for almost anything they do. If americans, particularly White americans, decide to take an HONEST look at what is happening and has been happening for decades, the truth is unavoidable. The brutality, and the racism that is so much a part of it, will not stop until people demand that, by whatever means necessary, these criminals in blue come to understand that they will be duly punished for their criminal behavior.
21
Here's the problem for me. As a white, middle class, woman, living far from Baltimore, I have no idea what I can do to help you. I would never treat you the way you describe. I would like to see anyone who treats you that way punished but I have no power to make that happen. I am appalled and horrified by what has happened in recent months to minorities and I have no doubt that it is only the tip of a very large iceberg. But again, tell me what I and the rest of white America who shares my disgust, can do. I believe you that these things happen and do so regularly. I want to see it stop. Tell me. Please, what can I do?
29
Yes, you can help by stop voting people whose only goal is to preserve the top 1% interests regardless of what the consequences might be for the rest of us. (The Republican Party). Tax cuts, cuts to social services and education, "government shrinking", less "regulation" and "free markets" only help the rich who thanks to Citizens United can more easily buy senators and congresspeople these days. We have to stop believing the "I vote to help the 1% now because one day I will be one of them" pipe dream and start voting based on our own interest. As the middle class keeps shrinking and the income gap widens, it is way more likely that you and I will find ourselves outside the middle class than joining the top 1%.
Its easy to understand Mr. Watkins point of view, but maybe there are better ways to hold the system accountable.
2
Require cameras on police guns. No video no discharge.
4
President Obama said, Those kids are our kids, and we cannot let them grow up with poverty and violence.
In the America that I want, he is absolutely right.
In the America that I want, he is absolutely right.
15
When police shoot and kill or seriously injure someone, they ar put on "paid administrative leave pending investigation," i.e. paid vacation. That is, they are rewarded for their aggressive action. There is no incentive to behave better.
8
The fact is that no white person ever understands this kind of harassment. But combine the harassment with other ways in which life in these circumstances presents no options. People point to Freddie Gray's rap sheet, as if this excuses Baltimore police from *severing* his spine, while in custody.
Why is Freddie Gray selling drugs in the first place? Well, they are illegal and thus a lucrative business in an area without real jobs. And there are recruiters. What's minimum wage again?
The fact is that police are out of control. The premise of police in the social contract is that there are maladaptions and maliciousness in human nature. That's true. But the police are human beings as well, so why aren't the structures in place to police and punish them?
We saw first hand two weeks ago the de rigeur procedures of a police officer nonchalantly reconfiguring a crime scene after he shot a black man in the back multiple times and left him to die, handcuffing him in the process. All for an unruly traffic stop.
That video is the best piece of evidence we have of what is the norm. Generalizing from that behavior is our best bet at an accurate induction as to what is going in America. The police must be prosecuted, they must be brought to justice.
Police the police.
And while you are at it, make it a two year specialized Associate Arts degree in order to walk the street with a gun and a badge.
There are thugs on the streets of Baltimore all right...
Why is Freddie Gray selling drugs in the first place? Well, they are illegal and thus a lucrative business in an area without real jobs. And there are recruiters. What's minimum wage again?
The fact is that police are out of control. The premise of police in the social contract is that there are maladaptions and maliciousness in human nature. That's true. But the police are human beings as well, so why aren't the structures in place to police and punish them?
We saw first hand two weeks ago the de rigeur procedures of a police officer nonchalantly reconfiguring a crime scene after he shot a black man in the back multiple times and left him to die, handcuffing him in the process. All for an unruly traffic stop.
That video is the best piece of evidence we have of what is the norm. Generalizing from that behavior is our best bet at an accurate induction as to what is going in America. The police must be prosecuted, they must be brought to justice.
Police the police.
And while you are at it, make it a two year specialized Associate Arts degree in order to walk the street with a gun and a badge.
There are thugs on the streets of Baltimore all right...
23
There can't be real changes without sacrifices. Freddie should be the last sacrifice to end this madness.
Why is there still a silent understanding between the protesters and the powers-that-be that ghettos can be burned, but downtown remains untouchable? Why are neighborhood CVS's and liquor stores trashed, but CitiBank or NationsBank or Bank of America or whoever they've become remain pristine? After all, who are the people who redlined your neighborhoods, denied good mortgages to your parents, charged extortionary fines for late payments, lied when mortgages were protected by insurance, denied loans to local businesses, denied fixed-rate mortgages even to veterans under the GI bill, and generally bled the neighborhoods occupied by Blacks into ghettos?
Politicians frankly don't mind the occupants of ghettos torching their own neighborhoods. That's why they don't bother heeding rage -- as long as it's only coming from the ghetto.
Politicians frankly don't mind the occupants of ghettos torching their own neighborhoods. That's why they don't bother heeding rage -- as long as it's only coming from the ghetto.
20
During these protests, criminals know they have a window of opportunity, a period of time in which they can literally get away with murder before strong law enforcement will be brought in to contain them. That's their opportunity to steal and do as much damage as possible.
The question is why is there always this window? Why are governing officials afraid to respond to extreme violence with the proper level of force to protect property? Never mind, why don't they anticipate and prevent it?
The Baltimore mayor seemed afraid to incite the crowd. She wanted to give the protestors room to vent their anger (not necessarily do damage, she claims). What she got for this reluctance to respond was a badly damaged city.
It's hard to believe any mayor today, especially after Ferguson, couldn't have anticipated these burned out and looted buildings. In not responding, she was condoning this outcome.
The question is why is there always this window? Why are governing officials afraid to respond to extreme violence with the proper level of force to protect property? Never mind, why don't they anticipate and prevent it?
The Baltimore mayor seemed afraid to incite the crowd. She wanted to give the protestors room to vent their anger (not necessarily do damage, she claims). What she got for this reluctance to respond was a badly damaged city.
It's hard to believe any mayor today, especially after Ferguson, couldn't have anticipated these burned out and looted buildings. In not responding, she was condoning this outcome.
2
Mr. Watkins is direct and correct.
The leaders of a city are, for all intents and purposes, parents responsible for the family of workers that makes the city run for the family of citizens that lives there. The parents support the children (pay them); nurture them (care for their needs, pay attention to them and bring them up); instruct them (monitor their behavior, serve as examples, set limits, teach and direct them) and discipline them (punish their wrongdoing.)
If the children are bullies who disrespect, mistreat, injure and kill the citizens next door, it is the parents' fault.
The buck stops with the mayor and the police commissioner.
The leaders of a city are, for all intents and purposes, parents responsible for the family of workers that makes the city run for the family of citizens that lives there. The parents support the children (pay them); nurture them (care for their needs, pay attention to them and bring them up); instruct them (monitor their behavior, serve as examples, set limits, teach and direct them) and discipline them (punish their wrongdoing.)
If the children are bullies who disrespect, mistreat, injure and kill the citizens next door, it is the parents' fault.
The buck stops with the mayor and the police commissioner.
2
It seems each of these racial unrest problems start from a confrontation with a person with a criminal record and the police. That shouldn't be a shock to anyone. If you're doing criminal stuff you're bound to have a bad experience with the police. One who lives by the sword is likely to get wounded or killed by the sword. Why do people destroy their community over the misfortunes of such people?
3
I suppose you're right - if you're "doing criminal stuff" you should expect a "bad experience." Freddie Gray had a very "bad experience." So you're saying if we break the law, or are suspected of it, we should expect extrajudicial violence and/or killing. Yes, I suppose you're right. The problem, or one of them, is that many of those "bad experiences" happen to people who never did the crime. This is one of the reasons we have a judicial system.
I applaud Obama for telling it like it is. But he can do more than he does. The occupation is rooted in the Drug War and the militarization of police since the "War on Terror." Police today appear to behave much like US Army forces in Iraq. All battering ram and not enough knowledge of what fuels an insurgency. Even the generals in the war colleges know that you win the people by building a legitimate government, a functional economy, and pby protecting the population from the militants (criminals). But we have no such plan for our own people. Obama can use his executive power to call off the dogs of the Drug War, but he doesn't. Shame that.
6
D. Watkins accomplished more in ~750 words than a month's worth of shoe leather on the streets of his hometown: he helped the rest of us understand what daily life is really like in the rotting cores of big American cities.
10
It must take a special breed to sign up for police work only to delight in tormenting the people in communities they vow to keep "safe." These cops are sadists. All I can say is, if I were black in Baltimore, I'd probably be pretty fed up too. I'd likely be throwing bottles as a show of hatred for the men who obviously hate me and virtually everyone else they are charged with "protecting."
11
There's 1,000's of comments across NYT articles relating to the Baltimore and generally, all police forces in America. I haven't read any that are positive.
Why not just do away with them, except for a small group of police to fill out insurance claim reports?
If there is no good police force, no good police, and all experiences are negative and ending in beatings and death, why not just get out of this business?
Although, I did read that only .001% of all police interactions result in the death of a suspect. That would be odd because then 99.999% of interactions are not deadly encounters.
So which is it?
Why not just do away with them, except for a small group of police to fill out insurance claim reports?
If there is no good police force, no good police, and all experiences are negative and ending in beatings and death, why not just get out of this business?
Although, I did read that only .001% of all police interactions result in the death of a suspect. That would be odd because then 99.999% of interactions are not deadly encounters.
So which is it?
4
As President Obama reflected, long standing inner city poverty is at the root of the riots. It is a matter of will and focus and problem-solving. If this were a defense issue halfway around the world, we would be "on it."
3
The public officials in Baltimore appear to be incompetent. Incompetence breeds corruption. It's not surprising that they would take this long to investigate. I would have zero confidence in their ability to conduct an honest investigation.
7
Cops everywhere are much ruder and more officious than they used to be.
I'm white and 67.
I'm white and 67.
13
Do you think this might have something to do with the public's having become ruder and less respectful of the law? It certainly appears that way from the stories coming out of these neighborhoods, where there appears to be very little respect for other residents, authority, laws, personal property, etc.
1
Cops have a hard job, harder these days. I can imagine that this is not getting any better with all the news around us.
Based on all that has transpired during the past few months it seems to me that if you are a black male between the ages of 15 and 35 in America, and you have not been arrested or harassed by the police, you may be spending too much time indoors.
4
Every so called conservatives and libertarians should cringe that an agent of the state (a police officer) can stare at someone without any evidence of probable cause, the person runs away and the policeman give chase. Somehow in the melee that follows the person who runs gets his spinal cord severed. The spinal cord is one of the most protected structure in the human body and can withstand several G forces. It can withstand thousands of pounds of pressure generated by wrestlers pounding each other and 300 lb football players pounding into each other. Instead of conservative outrage of this state overreach we once again get the specter of conservative cheering for the state to crack down on these blacks, whether thugs, law abiding or spectators. Only Rand Paul at speaks to this hypocrisy.
10
Burning down your own home town doesn't really make sense, though, does it?
I believe, myself, that what has just happened is enough - a little bit of a spectacle for the rest of the world to watch when they're bored - unpleasant, but all eyes are watching now, and reform will have to come. I am surprised that it has taken so long, and that racism still exists at this level in some places (too many places, that is). I'm sorry. I must confess I'll never fully understand this. There are cultural differences between many blacks and whites, but that just makes life more interesting. But each has its share of bad apples- and those are the ones who have their own agenda for exploiting social unrest. This racism thing is just a convenient vehicle for them.
I believe, myself, that what has just happened is enough - a little bit of a spectacle for the rest of the world to watch when they're bored - unpleasant, but all eyes are watching now, and reform will have to come. I am surprised that it has taken so long, and that racism still exists at this level in some places (too many places, that is). I'm sorry. I must confess I'll never fully understand this. There are cultural differences between many blacks and whites, but that just makes life more interesting. But each has its share of bad apples- and those are the ones who have their own agenda for exploiting social unrest. This racism thing is just a convenient vehicle for them.
If it weren't for the violence and arson in Baltimore, we wouldn't be reading about it now on the front page. If it weren't for the violence and arson in Ferguson, there wouldn't have been a federal investigation revealing the way the city government preys on poor residents to fund itself. The truth is that violence is the only way to get attention. When we as a society reward violence, we will have more of it.
8
One of the simplest solutions is too mandate, and enforce, that officers live in the area/city/district that employs them.
8
A jury here in Boston as well as the local population are agonizing publicly and privately over the death penalty vs. imprisonment for the convicted criminal and murderer Tsarnaev yet somehow police officers feel they're empowered to be split-second judges and executioners of cigarette sellers, petty thieves, sassy teenagers and 12 year olds with toy guns. How'd that happen, I wonder?
14
I'm a white woman. I used to think that police officers were my friends, people to turn to, until I got handcuffed for inadvertently driving with an expired license, (I had just gotten a brand new drivers license after moving and didn't notice that the expiration date was mistakenly a month after the issue date).
I was stopped for crossing a double yellow line to get onto a turning lane. Was itnecessary to scream at me and have me stand handcuffed on the side of the road for ten minutes? All that achieved was to frighten and humiliate me. And that unfortunately seems to be the goal of the police in the US today... To frighten and humiliate the people they are supposed to protect and defend.
Today when I see an police car, I turn and drive in the opposite direction, even if it is out of my way, Which seems to have been Freddie Gray's impulse as well... To get away from the cops because they are dangerous, or at very least,
like to frighten and humiliate.
I was stopped for crossing a double yellow line to get onto a turning lane. Was itnecessary to scream at me and have me stand handcuffed on the side of the road for ten minutes? All that achieved was to frighten and humiliate me. And that unfortunately seems to be the goal of the police in the US today... To frighten and humiliate the people they are supposed to protect and defend.
Today when I see an police car, I turn and drive in the opposite direction, even if it is out of my way, Which seems to have been Freddie Gray's impulse as well... To get away from the cops because they are dangerous, or at very least,
like to frighten and humiliate.
134
It is an open and shut case as is obvious to anyone who has seen that video and I assume most have. So the question arises why is it taking the mayor and police chief a week to investigate it? Basically, like all the politicians involved in these recent incidents, they're frightened of the police unions. Would this have been the case if the victim had been white and middle class? Back in the 1970's (when he was working for Nixon of all people)Daniel Patrick Moynihan once famously said that blacks had achieved liberty in the mid 60's with civil rights but they now want equality. Can one honestly say they the have achieved it? Some of the black citizens involved in these recent incidents aren't St Francis of Assisi but as Harry Reid also said, perhaps more colloquially, let's not kid ourselves the system is fair.
9
The whole thing disgusts me. People have honestly just lost their minds. When I read comments on crime posts in my white, low crime city, the problem seems so clear, and yet so unfixable - people are so afraid of crime in this media centered world that they see every person of color as a potential danger. And seeing police tormenting children and young men who are innocent of wrongdoing *makes them feel safer! * They would rather see 100 innocent men in prison than risk a criminal being free, because they constantly fear being a victim of crime.
How could seeing armed gangs killing innocent men make us feel safe? How?
Well obviously the assumption is that the victims of police brutality were guilty of something. They were not innocent, they could never be us. And for some of us it is true, we're unlikely to be victims. But anybody with a decent sense of empathy has to feel a sense of disquiet, to fear that we could be the mother getting the call that our son was killed for being too young, looking too guilty, or trying to avoid arrest.
I have to say I was most offended by the repeated headlines that "15 officers were injured" during the rioting. How many innocent people were injured that night because they "looked like" thugs or looters? And what about those injured before Freddie Gray became the proverbial straw?
I don't see how people can expect victims not to be angry.
How could seeing armed gangs killing innocent men make us feel safe? How?
Well obviously the assumption is that the victims of police brutality were guilty of something. They were not innocent, they could never be us. And for some of us it is true, we're unlikely to be victims. But anybody with a decent sense of empathy has to feel a sense of disquiet, to fear that we could be the mother getting the call that our son was killed for being too young, looking too guilty, or trying to avoid arrest.
I have to say I was most offended by the repeated headlines that "15 officers were injured" during the rioting. How many innocent people were injured that night because they "looked like" thugs or looters? And what about those injured before Freddie Gray became the proverbial straw?
I don't see how people can expect victims not to be angry.
16
Angry voices abound, and for good reasons. Police brutality, with a 'shoot- first -ask- questions- later attitude, has been denounced over and over. And to add insult to injury, no indictments for evident abuse of power, and the impunity that follows, precisely the match that starts the fire of indignation of the community members. It is unfortunate that yesterday's peaceful protest ended in violence acts, unjustified of course...but likely the result of pent-up emotions bottled for a long time and longing to find expression and revenge. A paradigm is urgently needed, as the hiring of unqualified officers may be at the root of questionable behavior,too fast to to draw the gun, with no intent for conciliatory efforts, and no empathy for a group of people they have no feelings and, perhaps, no humanity. Would an ounce of wisdom consider removing the guns altogether? Use 'tasers' instead (and rarely, please)? If the police learns to use restraint, common sense, and mature judgement, police brutality may yet become a thing of the past. Only then will trust returns.
3
I am a white female, age 48. I grew up in a small suburb of St. Paul, MN. When I was in Girl Scouts in 4th grade, another Girl Scout in my troop was in 3rd grade; she was the only black person I had ever seen in my life. We quickly became great friends. A while after we became friends, I asked my mom why her skin was darker than mine. Thank God my mom was NOT a racist and she told me that people come in all shades of various colors, but we were all the same in every respect. I said, "Why aren't there more black people?" My mom then explained racism to me. She said that black people will try to buy a home in towns that were all white, and suddenly the house was no longer for sale and taken off the market. She said many white people are racist and they only want to be around other white people. My mom said how wrong racism is and that we are ALL CREATED EQUAL. I was shocked. I loved my new Girl Scout friend and saw absolutely NOTHING WRONG with her. I couldn't understand how some one could hate her because her skin was darker than mine. I will never forget this horrible reality of racism. Often, I'll hear horrible racist comments by white people who are in my presence who don't know me. They think I am racist because I am white. I am NOT nor will I ever be a racist. I have NEVER been hurt by any person who is black. But I have been HURT by people who WHITE. I will always cherish my friends who are black, and I will not be friends with anyone who is a racist.
13
Violence perpetrated by white law enforcement against African American men have a common root. It is because in this country, many have a culture of hero worship of men who were traitors, who committed high treason and engaged in a bloody rebellion to preserve a system which enslaved black. So if we want this to end, start with a war crimes trial for Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, and other Confederate "heros." Charge them for crimes against humanity, and call symbols of Confederate "heritage" what they really are, symbols of a regime that perpetrated hate and slavery. Then and only then will there be any hope for equality for African Americans.
11
In all my years as a police officer, I never carried "the weapon". If you carry a gun, you are going to use it. I have a temper, and I decided early that I would rather take a beating than have to explain myself once a month. Funny thing is, it was never necessary more than one time. People generally did as I told them to. But that's a decision that today's cops can't make. Because they're punks who have no experience in the streets, and they aren't supervised. You can't give a young cop a gun and let him roam the streets unsupervised. He's scared to death and will fall back on "the weapon" every time.
35
The reports of gang activities has been discounted.
I appreciate your candor. What needs to be done to bring community policing back?
It's obvious to everyone in this world except for the so called hypocritical white conservatives. We have created the perfect police state. FOR BLACK PEOPLE. All these conservatives white males running around buying automatic weapons to counter the so called tyranny of government believe in government exercising get this tyranny over brown people and "others" but not themselves and their families.
9
I am going to guess that police in most parts of the country do a good job and most people encounter an officer only when they try to stop getting ticketed for a parking violation. The police in those communities are respected, never openly threatened, tend not to assume that the driver of the car they are pulling over has a gun, and are not condemned by the media. Occasionally they are stern or rude when enforcing order, but mostly they aren't noticed because crime is so low. Basically, they aren't fearful. In cities where the police are threatened, vilified, and shot at, they behave differently because they fear the very people they are trained to protect. Fear escalates, for the police and the policed, and here we are. Of course this means both sides are complicit.
2
Ferguson is everywhere. Baltimore is everywhere. If you aren't angry, you aren't paying attention. And if you're more angry at broken windows and damaged cars than the loss of a young life to police brutality, you're angry at the wrong things.
Black lives matter.
Black lives matter.
79
Black lives matter except to other black people. Just look at the black murder rate. Where are the protests for that? Where's your outrage over Baltimore's high crime rate? The police aren't causing it. black people are. I know you'll play the race card because you don't like the facts.
So does Black responsibility.
our justice system is complicit in the misuse of power by the police. Judges and Prosecutors protect police and their actions even when they have obviously violated people's rights and ignore the reality of police abuse even when it is headline news. They are supposed to be a check on police power; the courts have allowed the police to go unchecked and given them the green light to abuse their power.
9
A powerful testimonial. It has been clear over the recent past that the police are out of control in this country. When was the last time a police officer was convicted of violating a black person's civil rights? Convicted of assault? Convicted of murder?
The police act viciously and unlawfully because they rarely face the consequences of their actions. But the times, well, they may be "a changin"(Bob Dylan). The adulation for those who "serve and protect" is rapidly fading as it becomes apparent on a daily basis that all Americans are not the beneficiaries of equal justice under the law. May the new Attorney General restore freedom and justice for all. We are at the precipice and the time for action is now.
The police act viciously and unlawfully because they rarely face the consequences of their actions. But the times, well, they may be "a changin"(Bob Dylan). The adulation for those who "serve and protect" is rapidly fading as it becomes apparent on a daily basis that all Americans are not the beneficiaries of equal justice under the law. May the new Attorney General restore freedom and justice for all. We are at the precipice and the time for action is now.
11
Rising up doesn't work either Mr. Watkins. I'm 67 years old and I remember trying to go to work in Plainfield N.J. in the summer of 1967 and being stopped by a police road block. He asked me where I worked and I said W. 7th St, and he said, "You don't want to be working down there. You'll be ducking bullets all day."
How many race riots have occurred since then? How many millions of dollars in damage has been inflicted on law-abiding property and business owners? What did rioting accomplish?
It takes years to repair the damage done by race riots. Then the cycle starts all over again, because black people and the Democratic Party in general clearly can't manage the cities they control. History tells us they never could. Majority black cities will never prosper until black citizens learn how to rebuild the cities they have come to control. The Democratic Party and the Federal government can only do so much. Much of what they do exacerbates the problem.
Some people argue that the pathologies that afflict these cities were caused by the policies designed to combat them. It's a compelling argument and I've never seen it refuted.
How many race riots have occurred since then? How many millions of dollars in damage has been inflicted on law-abiding property and business owners? What did rioting accomplish?
It takes years to repair the damage done by race riots. Then the cycle starts all over again, because black people and the Democratic Party in general clearly can't manage the cities they control. History tells us they never could. Majority black cities will never prosper until black citizens learn how to rebuild the cities they have come to control. The Democratic Party and the Federal government can only do so much. Much of what they do exacerbates the problem.
Some people argue that the pathologies that afflict these cities were caused by the policies designed to combat them. It's a compelling argument and I've never seen it refuted.
6
He sounds a little bit like Eldrige Cleaver and that's a compliment.
4
I'm white and I'm angry about the indifference whites show toward the plight of blacks and the irony is that we are spending trillions trying to change the culture of the Middle East. If blacks become well-educated and prosperous everyone else will be better off. Spend the money here!
I was hoping Obama would fix things among us. It's worse now than since the '60's.
I was hoping Obama would fix things among us. It's worse now than since the '60's.
7
Norm I look for new observations and your observation that we literally spent trillions trying to change the culture in the Middle East gets to the heart of the matter. We succeeded there beyond GW's wildest dreams but not in the direction he wanted. IS is now part of the culture.
Those trillions could have provided medical care, better schools, and support for the single mothers. Never in America.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com (American citizen however)
Those trillions could have provided medical care, better schools, and support for the single mothers. Never in America.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com (American citizen however)
Being white, white-haired and driving a less than one year old car won't protect us now. A letter written to the Idaho Wood River Valley newspaper last week told of a resident's experience of having a local policeman pull up behind him while he was in a center left turn lane waiting to merge into heavy traffic. The policeman got out of his car, unsnapped his holster, put his hand on his gun and walked up to this older white driver and in a "surly" voice demanded to see his license and registration. The driver stated in his letter that it made him very nervous to have the policeman approach with his hand on a weapon. He was given a ticket for being stopped in a left turn lane, which was, of course, thrown out in court. But it seems that today everyone is under suspicion, and the police are not the friendly community members I remember from my childhood when we had such institutions as the Police Athletic League working with kids, and cops walking a "beat."
20
I am a 60 year old, conservative white guy who has never had trouble with the law so I will never be Freddie Gray (who I heard has a long history with the law). I am really angry about young blacks flaunting the law and the rioting. It is a blemish on America. Having said that, I found this article deeply troubling. I have read several articles in the NYT, WSJ and Reuters sites, listened to the national news and none of them had talked about the long history of public and documented abuses by the Baltimore PD. If they have lost several cases in court and had the kind things happen that are described, well, I am ashamed. America is better than this. We should not have people hating this place from within so much that they want to do this. it is a national security issue. I wish our press was more forthcoming about just documenting the history of what the police have done in their home towns. Is should be done on a national basis. I am not a police officer and actually have a lot of respect for what they do. They are here to protect and serve us and enforce the law. They are not here to just hurt people because they can't handle the job any longer. So no, I am not this Freddie Gray kid but I am an American and the police need to treat people like they are their own neighbors and citizens of the same country. The police abusing their powers is not what America is about. End of story. We should all stand together on this.
22
If Mr. Watkins comment is to be taken literally then it means that in Baltimore where blacks commit 90% of all crimes they are all felons with a rap sheet containing 20+ arrests as was Gray's rap sheet. The man had been arrested that many times for selling drugs and other crimes.
6
I have spent many hours with police officers as a television reporter. "Embedding" in that manner can't fail to bring sympathetic ideas forward about the problems they face. Yet, I would hesitate to call the police for any reason, even though, now, I live in a very safe area, almost an exurban zone. Why? When one knows how police are inclined to act, then any other than absolutely necessary contact with them is to be avoided. ANY contact at all. Calling the police can easily lead to trouble for yourself and trouble can mean arrest or violence.
Look, are police officers sadistic or outright evil? No, certainly not the majority, but their work puts them in contact with the darkest, ugliest side of life and they can, over time, come to see everyone as either a criminal or an idiot. This helps them sustain a belief in what they do: "I am better than those people." If they don't feel better, they can assert superiority through degrading comments and, when the chance arises, violence.
What the police do is arrest people. That's their daily routine. They can turn on you in an instant. Being arrested is in and of itself a career ending event for many people and it is certainly humiliating. Teachers teach, mechanics fix cars, pilots fly planes, police put people in jail after, in many cases, working them over.
Baltimore is a rough, dangerous, depressed city. Have police there become an occupying, hostile army? D. Watkins and other testimony indicates the answer is yes.
Doug Terry
Look, are police officers sadistic or outright evil? No, certainly not the majority, but their work puts them in contact with the darkest, ugliest side of life and they can, over time, come to see everyone as either a criminal or an idiot. This helps them sustain a belief in what they do: "I am better than those people." If they don't feel better, they can assert superiority through degrading comments and, when the chance arises, violence.
What the police do is arrest people. That's their daily routine. They can turn on you in an instant. Being arrested is in and of itself a career ending event for many people and it is certainly humiliating. Teachers teach, mechanics fix cars, pilots fly planes, police put people in jail after, in many cases, working them over.
Baltimore is a rough, dangerous, depressed city. Have police there become an occupying, hostile army? D. Watkins and other testimony indicates the answer is yes.
Doug Terry
28
The police have ALWAYS had work that "puts them in contact with the darkest, ugliest side of life", its their job.
But they didn't always, in such great numbers:
- "come to see everyone as either a criminal or an idiot".
- shoot to kill as a first option when faced with a less than docile arrestee.
- have modern war arms and equipment to use as they saw fit.
They seem to have watched too much cop tv and to actually believe they are warrior heros , not public servants charged with protecting the population.
But they didn't always, in such great numbers:
- "come to see everyone as either a criminal or an idiot".
- shoot to kill as a first option when faced with a less than docile arrestee.
- have modern war arms and equipment to use as they saw fit.
They seem to have watched too much cop tv and to actually believe they are warrior heros , not public servants charged with protecting the population.
No, we're not all Freddie Gray. Most of us never really got in trouble with the law except for traffic violations. Most of us work for a living, don't rob, don't assault strangers and don't believe that looting stores in your own community is a meaningful way of improving your community and economic well-being.
5
I'm an old white lady and I am afraid of cops. Never used to be. I know a few young men who quit the police force. They didn't like the police culture. It has gotten worse over the past ten years.
37
Thank you for the perspective. The police force is completely out of control. The police have become the key public safety issue in this country.
8
I'm not sure what you can expect but hair-trigger syndrome when you allow--nay, encourage--the civilian population to arm to its teeth, which our political "system" has done. No, none of the young black men killed by police officers in recent months was armed. But the damage was done years, even decades, ago as overwhelming force gradually became accepted police doctrine, and the availability of extremely lethal weapons (e.g., Columbine) was a big factor in that. Stated positively, a fast take-down is supposed not only to be safer for officers but to prevent trouble from spreading. Hence police feel entirely justified in reacting swiftly and fiercely if a suspect becomes emotional in a way they interpret as resistive. Not only are six officers piling on one overweight suspect not wrong, that's the best way to do it. Safety of the suspect is secondary, if a consideration at all, at the height of the action. And the word "action" is deserved there--police are candid about feeling they are warriors in a war zone.
5
This article offers a perspective that has been glaringly absent from the conversation about policing in black communities. This man details practically a lifetime of police brutality, misconduct and presumption of criminality because of having black skin. Multiply this treatment by hundreds of thousands of urban dwelling black men and you have the perfect recipe for these riots. The contributor is clearly an upstanding citizen who was peacefully protesting but there are others who are channeling their anger at this mistreatment in a violent way because they see no other way to be heard. It is way past time for some federal intervention in these low income neighborhoods because the police clearly cannot police themselves and continue to treat the residents in this manner simply because they are black. Are there any white cops unjustifiably murdering white men? If there are it doesn't appear to be making the news and if it does begin to happen you can believe it will be addressed. Cops think they can operate with impunity in these black neighborhoods and always have. Unless there is some accountability for all levels of cops and their leadership when an unjustifiable murder occurs you can count on these riots continuing.
15
I get what you're saying, I really do. But is burning down the city you live in really going to help the situation?
3
People should protest, vote, sue, and judiciously defend themselves. They should not riot. Destruction of property or physical threat is riot and all force necessary should be used by the authorities to suppress riot. A protestor who picks up a rock and cocks his arm back to throw it has made himself a legitimate target.
2
So this is not really about race. Its about power and the drunkenness it creates. So sorry to hear these stories. This should never happen in any civilized society.
4
As I read your op-ed piece, I was thinking of the lyrics to Buffalo Springfield's song, "For what it's worth:"
"There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking' their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind
"It's time we stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look - what's going down?"
It's indeed time for the nation to stop and look at what's going down.
Walter Scott was shot in the back while he was running away from the police. Mr. Gray was also running away from police after making eye contact with one officer, according to reports. He, too, wound up dead.
The mayor of Baltimore in her annual State of the City address said, "We know the overwhelming majority of our officers treat our residents with dignity, respect, and courtesy. They wear the badge with honor and demonstrate reverence for the position they hold in our community. However, it only takes a few bad actors to damage the reputation of an entire city."
Sadly, she was as right about the last sentence as she probably was about the first two.
Perhaps it is time for Maryland to think about giving precedence to people's right to "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" over the “law enforcement officer bill of rights,” (LEOBR) which was first passed by that state. http://tinyurl.com/mtg9vs7
It is imporant for Maryland and other states to ensure that "a few bad actors" don't take refuge under LEOBR and sully the reputatioon of the majority of the police.
"There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking' their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind
"It's time we stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look - what's going down?"
It's indeed time for the nation to stop and look at what's going down.
Walter Scott was shot in the back while he was running away from the police. Mr. Gray was also running away from police after making eye contact with one officer, according to reports. He, too, wound up dead.
The mayor of Baltimore in her annual State of the City address said, "We know the overwhelming majority of our officers treat our residents with dignity, respect, and courtesy. They wear the badge with honor and demonstrate reverence for the position they hold in our community. However, it only takes a few bad actors to damage the reputation of an entire city."
Sadly, she was as right about the last sentence as she probably was about the first two.
Perhaps it is time for Maryland to think about giving precedence to people's right to "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" over the “law enforcement officer bill of rights,” (LEOBR) which was first passed by that state. http://tinyurl.com/mtg9vs7
It is imporant for Maryland and other states to ensure that "a few bad actors" don't take refuge under LEOBR and sully the reputatioon of the majority of the police.
8
Mr. Watkins' account has the unmistakable ring of truth.
You can't brutalize a segment of the population for decades without expecting them to fight back at some point.
I am ashamed that the police have been given this kind of latitude when policing Baltimore's black community.
I'm ashamed that government hasn't been responsive to these injustices.
I'm ashamed to be an American tonight.
You can't brutalize a segment of the population for decades without expecting them to fight back at some point.
I am ashamed that the police have been given this kind of latitude when policing Baltimore's black community.
I'm ashamed that government hasn't been responsive to these injustices.
I'm ashamed to be an American tonight.
21
I commend the writer for being honest about what he feels are his choices: reform or riots.
I don't believe the riots in Baltimore are the result of white bar-goers hurling racist insults.
But I do believe the actions of the Baltimore police, with most transgressors definitely white, are responsible for the atmosphere that leads people to riot.
I don't believe the riots in Baltimore are the result of white bar-goers hurling racist insults.
But I do believe the actions of the Baltimore police, with most transgressors definitely white, are responsible for the atmosphere that leads people to riot.
4
So your point of view, from 2313 miles away from Baltimore is more valid than that of an on-site witness?
The internet gives everyone access to display his/her ignorance to the world
The internet gives everyone access to display his/her ignorance to the world
I couldn't agree more.
Nothing could be more important to social order in this country than imprisoning cops.
I'd like to see at least 10,000 cops imprisoned this year - for life, or even death sentences. Then they might think twice about their thuggish, militaristic tactics.
And by the way, cops act this way towards ALL Americans. Blacks definitely have it worse, but even me, a white, upper-middle class professional - I would not dream of calling the police if my house was burglarized or such. These people are thugs and treat the entire citizenry as if they are criminals.
Nothing could be more important to social order in this country than imprisoning cops.
I'd like to see at least 10,000 cops imprisoned this year - for life, or even death sentences. Then they might think twice about their thuggish, militaristic tactics.
And by the way, cops act this way towards ALL Americans. Blacks definitely have it worse, but even me, a white, upper-middle class professional - I would not dream of calling the police if my house was burglarized or such. These people are thugs and treat the entire citizenry as if they are criminals.
12
Remember too that the excuse for a lot of what goes on is the war on drugs. End that, legalize the garbage, provide treatment on demand, and we will end the excuse for much of the police misconduct. Note too that studies consistently show the same rate of drug use among both blacks and whites but that the arrest rate for blacks is far higher. That feeds the stereotypes about blacks that in turn feed the differential treatment by police.
11
I agree with this article. But the moment I see images of looting, all credibility is lost.
2
There seems to be a bit of a vicious cycle going on here. Cops policing crime-ridden neighborhoods seem to take a harsh, intimidating approach - understandable but unprofessional and only making the situation worse. In turn, citizens begin to distrust cops and lose their respect for them, causing cops to come down harsher to regain control. It's a bit like being a substitute teacher, in my opinion. Eventually a boiling point is reached.
However, brutally manhandling people until they die and then covering it up is unacceptable. Looting stores and burning buildings is unacceptable. It makes me equally sick to see people excusing both.
However, brutally manhandling people until they die and then covering it up is unacceptable. Looting stores and burning buildings is unacceptable. It makes me equally sick to see people excusing both.
4
I have lived in Baltimore for 10 years. I can completely vouch for the author's statement that Baltimore cops are a racist organization, funded by tax dollars. Wake up America.
15
"..The police officers in Baltimore, as in many places in the country with dense black populations, are out of control, have been out of control. One of the major reasons is that many Baltimore police officers don’t live in Baltimore City; some don’t even live in Maryland. Many don’t know or care about the citizens of the communities they police, which is why they can come in, beat us and kill us without a sign of grief or empathy..."
It might be that the police in Baltimore are vicious and brutal thugs, and they cannot be trusted by anyone in the community, or that might be too broad a generalization but the reason that police in almost all urban areas do not live where they work is not because they are indifferent or lack empathy. They deal with people at the worst moments of their lives and must enforce laws that can result in very severe losses to those prosecuted for violating those laws. There are many who would retaliate against the police and their families if they were to live where they work. Given the deep mistrust that the author expresses, it would be suicidal for any police to try to live where they work until things have completely changed.
It might be that the police in Baltimore are vicious and brutal thugs, and they cannot be trusted by anyone in the community, or that might be too broad a generalization but the reason that police in almost all urban areas do not live where they work is not because they are indifferent or lack empathy. They deal with people at the worst moments of their lives and must enforce laws that can result in very severe losses to those prosecuted for violating those laws. There are many who would retaliate against the police and their families if they were to live where they work. Given the deep mistrust that the author expresses, it would be suicidal for any police to try to live where they work until things have completely changed.
2
Nonsense. You, along with members of Baltimore police are confusing Baltimore with Falluja. There are plenty of safe places for police officers to live in this city. I doubt that requirement will ever come to pass, but it would be a real change if the cops considered the people of the east and west areas of the city as fellow citizens.
1
Given that blacks are somewhere around 13 per cent of the American population, it is entirely possible for a white person to graduate high school in this country having no interaction with any black human being. If the Baltimore officers are killing blacks in their custody because they don't live in the community and therefore don't know their victims . . .where does this leave us in terms of black/white relations, police and civilian? It's easy to hate and completely devalue those you don't know? It has become impossible to read all the articles and comments here, but I haven't seen mention of "white flight" to the suburbs as a contributor to racial tension. Almost funny, in a very surreal sort of way, I'm now reading these same white people are tired of long commutes and are moving back.
I agree with D. Watkins that no one who watched the video can reasonably doubt that Freddie Gray was gravely, if not mortally, injured, when he was thrown into the police van. His legs were dragging behind him, useless. He was asking for an inhaler, an indication that he could not breathe. His larynx & neck did not get broken in the van - there was no traffic accident or other event that could have caused such damage-the police broke them during the arrest. The additional damage that occurred may have made those injuries irreversible, but they had already occurred.
Continual abuse and violence by the police and their protectors create rage. Nat Turner led a violent slave revolt because he had no better choice. As a society, we refuse to acknowledge continuing racial discrimination and racist violence. Just look at your average large law firm, investment house or top 40 corporation, and ask how many African-Americans are employed in professional capacities. You know what is said behind closed doors? That blacks are not intellectually capable of holding such positions, and that any credentials that suggest otherwise are "affirmative action" fictions. Nobody is prejudiced; everyone is objective; in the whole, wide world, not one qualified person of color could be found. Sure.
The doors to opportunity are closed; the police are racist and violent; society does not care. A riot? More like a volcanic eruption: ignore the causes, and suffer the consequences.
Continual abuse and violence by the police and their protectors create rage. Nat Turner led a violent slave revolt because he had no better choice. As a society, we refuse to acknowledge continuing racial discrimination and racist violence. Just look at your average large law firm, investment house or top 40 corporation, and ask how many African-Americans are employed in professional capacities. You know what is said behind closed doors? That blacks are not intellectually capable of holding such positions, and that any credentials that suggest otherwise are "affirmative action" fictions. Nobody is prejudiced; everyone is objective; in the whole, wide world, not one qualified person of color could be found. Sure.
The doors to opportunity are closed; the police are racist and violent; society does not care. A riot? More like a volcanic eruption: ignore the causes, and suffer the consequences.
11
I work at a large investment firm and run a team of quants (mathematicians, statisticans, economists, programmers). On my 40 person we have not one black person. We have many Indians, Chinese, Russians, Sinaporeans, white Americans, Vietnamese and Eastern Europeans. We are about 2/3 male and 1/3 female. And we don't have one Black American.
We have also had only one ever apply for a job for us. One person. We normally have a hit rate of 1/250 people who submit a resume to us. We get thousands and thousands of applications a year. And only one black person in my 5 years so far at this firm.
Yes, there is a big problem with Blacks not being in these firms. But that problem is happening WAY upstream.
Women have gone into science and math and economics. But Blacks have NOT entered STEM programs at nearly the same rates as women and other non-white minorities. Why?
Until they begin to enter these type of programs, I don't believe you can look at me and firms like mine and say the problems is ours and ours alone to solve. That we are racists.
We have also had only one ever apply for a job for us. One person. We normally have a hit rate of 1/250 people who submit a resume to us. We get thousands and thousands of applications a year. And only one black person in my 5 years so far at this firm.
Yes, there is a big problem with Blacks not being in these firms. But that problem is happening WAY upstream.
Women have gone into science and math and economics. But Blacks have NOT entered STEM programs at nearly the same rates as women and other non-white minorities. Why?
Until they begin to enter these type of programs, I don't believe you can look at me and firms like mine and say the problems is ours and ours alone to solve. That we are racists.
"Why did it take so long?" Why, indeed? I've been astonished by the treatment of blacks in America for a long time now, and have come to believe that the US is sitting on a powderkeg of frustration. While the looting of their neighbors is unfortunate ought to be condemned, it is becoming ever harder to say that a revolution would be unjustified.
15
Ivan, the revolution and civil war are happening simultaneously.
I'm white, and I was arrested for driving under the influence because I refused to pay $3000 for an ambulance to come up to a mountain road when the hospital was 20 minutes away. The State Trooper put the handcuffs on my wrists so tight that I though my bones were going to break, and he put me in the back seat of his car and every turn on the road tugged at those handcuffs. It told him the handcuffs were really hurting me,,,I begged him to change the setting and he didn't care. When he released me to go home....because I was innocent.....my wrists had indentations to the bone! I have tiny wrists, and for 1 hour, my wrists were tortured with metal shackles that nearly cracked them,,,,and I did nothing wrong. I know too well about police brutality and indifference to the public who pays their salaries. They do not protect and serve.
8
Thank you Mr. Watkins for your commentary, it is a tragedy that this behavior on the part of a few bad apples in law enforcement, primarily in poor neighborhoods has been condoned much like the actions of a few bad apples among the many youths in Baltimore caused so much destruction to their own homes: I would like to point out however what I consider a greater injustice that no one covering the riots, with the exception of Chris Matthews and Mr, Robinson of the Washington Post, would discuss how we as a country have arrived at this juncture: the obvious cause is not that these young black men are different from any other young people in their hopes and aspirations the difference lies in the the fact that that the jobs in factories that allowed the middle class to flourish have been sent to China so that a handful of people can become fabulously wealthy and the opportunities for these young folks and their parents before them have all but disappeared; until that is dealt with the violence will continue and probably get worse. The really unfortunate fact is that the life of this young man who died so tragically could be the turning point in what has become a race to the bottom for America were the causes of this inequality not only in out system of justice but in the ability of everyone to have a chance at a good and decent life addressed on a national stage last night instead of just the usual theatrics by the media and the complete no show of our elected officials.
9
Thank you, D. Watkins, for telling the truth about the brutality that African American citizens have faced for decades in Baltimore. Knowing that sworn law enforcement officers can treat the black community with cruelty and impunity is a crushing blow to the spirit of the community. Of course, it's an open and shut case. Freddie walks into the van, and he emerges a veritable corpse. Not exactly rocket science. Yet the leadership of Baltimore refused to act justly--instead circling the wagons around the six officers at whose hands Freddie Gray died. Thank you, D. Watkins for allowing readers here to feel the frustration, fear, terror, and anxiety of what it means to be black in Baltimore and many, many other cities.
15
"a group of thugs kicked in the door to my home, knocking it off the hinges... held my family and me at gunpoint for hours while they tore our house apart". What a terrible story! To me it sounds like more than the police department is broken in Baltimore.
4
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young sang "Ohio" after the Kent State Massacre. Where is the popular music in today's culture and non-thug "counterculture" to raise this issue of our time to higher into art and social conscience? On the reading side, as Ta-Nehiso Coates recently suggests, we should also revisit Dr. King's speech "The Other America," with such topical comments as the paragraph stating, "And I would be the first to say that I am still committed to militant, powerful, massive, non-violence as the most potent weapon in grappling with the problem from a direct action point of view. I'm absolutely convinced that a riot merely intensifies the fears of the white community while relieving the guilt. And I feel that we must always work with an effective, powerful weapon and method that brings about tangible results. But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear?..."
12
D. Watkins - keep being a contributor...
10
I would like to see a breakdown of the percentage of white police vs. black police in Baltimore City. I bet it is not available,
1
46% black, 48 +-% white, balance Other.
Finally, someone tells the truth. Peaceful protests achieve nothing. The older generation of black leaders, including Obama, tells young black people to march peacefully and register to vote. What good has that done? The mayor and police chief of Baltimore are black, and police violence continues unabated.
The economic and social problems facing young black people like the victim in this case are as bad as they have been in twenty years. Why should young blacks pay any attention to Obama or other leaders who have done nothing to improve their lives? What do leaders like Obama and Elijah Cummings have to offer - plans and proposals that a right wing Congress will never approve? If they can do nothing, if they have failed, then they should shut up and let the young do as they think best.
The economic and social problems facing young black people like the victim in this case are as bad as they have been in twenty years. Why should young blacks pay any attention to Obama or other leaders who have done nothing to improve their lives? What do leaders like Obama and Elijah Cummings have to offer - plans and proposals that a right wing Congress will never approve? If they can do nothing, if they have failed, then they should shut up and let the young do as they think best.
6
Violence only begets more violence. It may be tempting in the heat of the moment, but it's not a feasible solution.
If you burn down Baltimore, you are as bad as the cop murderers. And someone will, in turn burn you down for your evil deeds.
The better way is to end the cycle of violence, which can only be done with peace.
If you burn down Baltimore, you are as bad as the cop murderers. And someone will, in turn burn you down for your evil deeds.
The better way is to end the cycle of violence, which can only be done with peace.
1
We've ceded our responsibility for keeping each other safe to big-government agencies, like the militarized police forces in Baltimore. What was likely to follow was a lack of respect for individuals, as the gaping maw of government opened wide to devour tax and fine revenue, as well as reaping the windfall of transfer payments from the prison system. We've got to starve the government beast, or this cycle will never stop.
4
I have family in Baltimore and they are not at all like Freddie Gray. But being black and male in any encounter with the cops they were treated like Freddie Gray or worse all of their lives. Visiting my family in Baltimore and D.C. over the past 45 years I saw things change dramatically for better and worse. Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Mitchell were from Baltimore. Frederick Douglass was from Maryland. There are more blacks than ever on welfare, in prison and unemployed living desperate cold lives.
Because I was born and raised poor and black on the South Side of Chicago there was the sickening frightening familiarity with the living while black daily gauntlet run between thugs in blue with a badge, a gun, a uniform and a license to deprive you of your life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and thugs who do not have any of those things. I never trusted the cops. And I refused to do crime or join a gang. But I had a godfather Pony Soldier aka Mickey of the Main 21 of the Almighty BPSN.
The black lady Mayor of Baltimore and her Black police chief are immature, incompetent, ignorant, intemperate, reckless, fickle and unprofessional. The NAACP, which has it's national headquarters in Baltimore,is typically obtuse ineffective and out of touch with the local community. If you want to know Baltimore and can't handle the truth then watch the thinly disguised fiction of "The Wire" series. We may all look alike. But we are not alike. We are humans and Americans.
Because I was born and raised poor and black on the South Side of Chicago there was the sickening frightening familiarity with the living while black daily gauntlet run between thugs in blue with a badge, a gun, a uniform and a license to deprive you of your life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and thugs who do not have any of those things. I never trusted the cops. And I refused to do crime or join a gang. But I had a godfather Pony Soldier aka Mickey of the Main 21 of the Almighty BPSN.
The black lady Mayor of Baltimore and her Black police chief are immature, incompetent, ignorant, intemperate, reckless, fickle and unprofessional. The NAACP, which has it's national headquarters in Baltimore,is typically obtuse ineffective and out of touch with the local community. If you want to know Baltimore and can't handle the truth then watch the thinly disguised fiction of "The Wire" series. We may all look alike. But we are not alike. We are humans and Americans.
16
Thanks blackmamba for your final paragraph. In my first comment, accepted 2 minutes before yours, in my question (2) I ask about the two officials you point to. You are in a position to actually know something about them and I trust you.
Now how can we get our fellow Americans to understand your final 2 sentences? The verbal harassment of some peaceful black demonstraters is one indication of how long that road is.
Larry
Now how can we get our fellow Americans to understand your final 2 sentences? The verbal harassment of some peaceful black demonstraters is one indication of how long that road is.
Larry
Thanks, Blackmamba...In this world of words, I watch for your "Voice"...and appreciate your lucid wisdom.
These are compelling, true, and honest stories. Obama should call for a South African style truth and reconciliation commission charged with hearing stories from all sides regarding the permeating disrespect that grows among us all like weeds in our schools, on our streets, on the public transportation system, in the Congress, and in our homes. As a teacher, I would attend what I imagine to be a limitless, timeless sharing of stories narrating the grief and shame all we Americans seem to carry. This burden weighs on our hearts: it is time to have a nationwide truth telling of the pain we carry and it should be sanctioned, chronicled, and archived by the Library of Congress to at least show future generations that we TRIED to clear our hearts of our grief.
4
An American Dilemma 2015
After Ferguson, I read often in the Times that one solution to "The Fergusons" would be for blacks to vote and by voting place blacks in office. The unstated assumption was and is, perhaps, that once those in power are all blacks, then the American Dilemma would disappear.
Yet, here I read that Mayor Rawlings-Blake. Police Commissioner Batts and the majority of the City Council are black but no transformation of policing has taken place.
Implicit in the OpEd is the assumption that if the majority of the police were black and had grown up in Baltimore, then the transformation would take place. (The author does not telll us the skin color of the police in each incident he reports so I assume skin color = white.)
Since my American birth certificate says "color-white" I withdraw by asking D. Watkins and readers a couple of questions.
1) D. Watkins, do you believe that a police force made up mostly of Baltimore born blacks would solve this American Dilemma?
2) What are the rewards to the black mayor, the black police commissioner and a majority black city council of preserving a police force that behaves as described?
It is 3:30 AM in Sweden but later today I am going to read Ralph Ellison's 1944 essay on the work of Swedish outsider Gunnar Myrdal to see if this helps me: http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/an-american-dilemma-...
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
After Ferguson, I read often in the Times that one solution to "The Fergusons" would be for blacks to vote and by voting place blacks in office. The unstated assumption was and is, perhaps, that once those in power are all blacks, then the American Dilemma would disappear.
Yet, here I read that Mayor Rawlings-Blake. Police Commissioner Batts and the majority of the City Council are black but no transformation of policing has taken place.
Implicit in the OpEd is the assumption that if the majority of the police were black and had grown up in Baltimore, then the transformation would take place. (The author does not telll us the skin color of the police in each incident he reports so I assume skin color = white.)
Since my American birth certificate says "color-white" I withdraw by asking D. Watkins and readers a couple of questions.
1) D. Watkins, do you believe that a police force made up mostly of Baltimore born blacks would solve this American Dilemma?
2) What are the rewards to the black mayor, the black police commissioner and a majority black city council of preserving a police force that behaves as described?
It is 3:30 AM in Sweden but later today I am going to read Ralph Ellison's 1944 essay on the work of Swedish outsider Gunnar Myrdal to see if this helps me: http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/an-american-dilemma-...
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Torching your city and your neighborhood is essentially fouling your nest. Baltimore is (was?) emerging from the devastating riots of 1968. What is the point of burning down a neighborhood CVS where elderly neighbors get their prescriptions filled? Or a black church sponsored senior living center under construction?
The reason that officers have not dismissed or indicted the officers involved in Freddy Gray's death is to give them due process, which I will admit you didn't receive growing up in Baltimore. In Missouri it turned out that the officer was defending himself although there were many hallmarks of racism in that community. In South Carolina, the officer was dismissed and indicted. According to an article in yesterday's Baltimore Sun, there have been many people thrown into a paddy wagon manacled and unfastened and then taken for a wild ride, as it appears that Freddy Gray was. But my point is that we need to let justice take its course.
Most community members are appalled by this senseless rioting, looting, and arson. Most police are decent human beings trying to do an honest and helpful job for the community. In both cases, there are some who are not nice at all and they need to be brought to justice.
The reason that officers have not dismissed or indicted the officers involved in Freddy Gray's death is to give them due process, which I will admit you didn't receive growing up in Baltimore. In Missouri it turned out that the officer was defending himself although there were many hallmarks of racism in that community. In South Carolina, the officer was dismissed and indicted. According to an article in yesterday's Baltimore Sun, there have been many people thrown into a paddy wagon manacled and unfastened and then taken for a wild ride, as it appears that Freddy Gray was. But my point is that we need to let justice take its course.
Most community members are appalled by this senseless rioting, looting, and arson. Most police are decent human beings trying to do an honest and helpful job for the community. In both cases, there are some who are not nice at all and they need to be brought to justice.
1
I'm white in Toronto and I have to say that some of the points raised here are echoed -- very very faintly echoed -- in my own experience with police in Toronto. Some of the points raised here are significant but not necessarily race-related.
Two things stand out: (1) Police openly reject the paper work that is sometimes necessary. Because of this, they take pains to cut corners in the real work that they do in the streets to avoid the paper work that would follow. The corner-cutting harms the community and the reputation of the police. This needs to change. Paper work comes with the territory. (2) Police don't live in this city. We had a chief who chose not to live in the city. Many years ago the Toronto Star reported that 87% of police do not live in the city. This appears to extend to fire fighters and to to much of the civil service. It's not a strictly police phenomenon. Nevertheless, it harms the community that they serve and the city needs to find a way to stop it.
The conclusion: We need a completely new police force. A new beginning that will put the existing "culture" completely behind us.
Two things stand out: (1) Police openly reject the paper work that is sometimes necessary. Because of this, they take pains to cut corners in the real work that they do in the streets to avoid the paper work that would follow. The corner-cutting harms the community and the reputation of the police. This needs to change. Paper work comes with the territory. (2) Police don't live in this city. We had a chief who chose not to live in the city. Many years ago the Toronto Star reported that 87% of police do not live in the city. This appears to extend to fire fighters and to to much of the civil service. It's not a strictly police phenomenon. Nevertheless, it harms the community that they serve and the city needs to find a way to stop it.
The conclusion: We need a completely new police force. A new beginning that will put the existing "culture" completely behind us.
5
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.
"The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. He has sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance, protecting [his armed officers], by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States.
"In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
"We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War."
--- Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence (in relevant part -- every word is his -- I just ediited it down so it would fit in this comment))
"The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. He has sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance, protecting [his armed officers], by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States.
"In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
"We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War."
--- Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence (in relevant part -- every word is his -- I just ediited it down so it would fit in this comment))
9
Thanks for posting this. It saved me the trouble.
"To us, the Baltimore Police Department is a group of terrorists, funded by our tax dollars, who beat on people in our community daily, almost never having to explain or pay for their actions."
As a white man who has had very few personal encounters with the police, I agree with you, Mr. Watkins.
I see a Blue Wall of Violence, Silence and Corruption that has completely lost touch with protecting and serving the public.
As you said, America's police "are out of control".
As for that wretched group of white baseball fans you encountered wearing both Baltimore and Boston gear yelling, “We don’t care! We don’t care!” with some calling your group monkeys and apes, I can only say that those white people, their white privilege and their white supremacy are a big part of the problem.
And a lot of white people do care about the way blacks are systematically mistreated by the police, the judicial system and society in general.
Freddy Gray, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Walter Scott and thousands of other black men have died for the 'crime' of their pigmentation.
That has to change.
Police and judicial terrorism of poor black communities must end.
It's in your hands, Boys In Blue.
As a white man who has had very few personal encounters with the police, I agree with you, Mr. Watkins.
I see a Blue Wall of Violence, Silence and Corruption that has completely lost touch with protecting and serving the public.
As you said, America's police "are out of control".
As for that wretched group of white baseball fans you encountered wearing both Baltimore and Boston gear yelling, “We don’t care! We don’t care!” with some calling your group monkeys and apes, I can only say that those white people, their white privilege and their white supremacy are a big part of the problem.
And a lot of white people do care about the way blacks are systematically mistreated by the police, the judicial system and society in general.
Freddy Gray, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Walter Scott and thousands of other black men have died for the 'crime' of their pigmentation.
That has to change.
Police and judicial terrorism of poor black communities must end.
It's in your hands, Boys In Blue.
126
To Socrates & D. Watkins
'This has to change' but by what measures are we planning to make a difference by placing the responsibility in the arms of the Boys In Blue? Perhaps they can try something different for a change.
The largest American Concert and Entertainment ever, in one of our giant stadiums, comprised of our best-known musicians, entertainers and popular stars from Hollywood, might be a beginning to raise funds for the casualties and victims of Racism in our Nation now.
1979 was the International Year of the Child, and all popular musicians and other stars came together world-wide to launch an effort to wake us up to the realities that we are facing. The Cops to safeguard all the participants, while a great majority of ageless Americans will have a choice of watching this in person, or at home. Challenging, difficult it may be, and professional organizers and volunteers to make this a memorable event, an inspiration to many of us, no matter where we come from, or live today.
Let us begin to make change now, while time is running out for the future of our younger generation.
It is a beginning to get us out of this rut and bring us together, while the Boys in Blue direct the Crowd, offering protection to all of the participants of this challenging and enterprising enter
'This has to change' but by what measures are we planning to make a difference by placing the responsibility in the arms of the Boys In Blue? Perhaps they can try something different for a change.
The largest American Concert and Entertainment ever, in one of our giant stadiums, comprised of our best-known musicians, entertainers and popular stars from Hollywood, might be a beginning to raise funds for the casualties and victims of Racism in our Nation now.
1979 was the International Year of the Child, and all popular musicians and other stars came together world-wide to launch an effort to wake us up to the realities that we are facing. The Cops to safeguard all the participants, while a great majority of ageless Americans will have a choice of watching this in person, or at home. Challenging, difficult it may be, and professional organizers and volunteers to make this a memorable event, an inspiration to many of us, no matter where we come from, or live today.
Let us begin to make change now, while time is running out for the future of our younger generation.
It is a beginning to get us out of this rut and bring us together, while the Boys in Blue direct the Crowd, offering protection to all of the participants of this challenging and enterprising enter
Your point about the police not being from the community in which they serve, and therefore not doing their job well, is the heart of the problem facing many cities in this country: white suburbanites governing a city in which they do not live, and from which they feel alienated. That is a recipe for creating government which works poorly. Solution: train people in those cities to do those jobs well: police work, firemen, teachers, etc. Also, encourage those suburbanites to move into the city, so they have more skin in the game. This is not an easy task and there will be many bumps along the road, but the final result will, hopefully, be a more equitable society and better functioning government. I am very glad to have heard your personal anecdotes D. Watkins. Now I know why rioting took place in Baltimore. Placed in your shoes, I would have done the same.
2
I wake up every weekday morning and spend 10-15 minutes with Christina who is our Autistic son's Bus Para who supports him on the ride to and from school every day. She is a young Black mother with a young son who lives in Harlem and travels 30 minutes to get to us and she has to drop off her son at her sister's to get to us. She is never late, she text me when she has a transportation delay, and she takes care of my son who has challenging moments at times on the bus. Since she started with us, she now has a "next level" job at school and works as a Para during the day with a second Autistic student. On weekends she takes her young son to museums and free shows in Midtown Manhattan that she finds through research. She has introduced her son to "Street Squash" in Harlem which is a academic first sports program that has placed many inner city kids in prep schools and colleges. I have NEVER heard her complain about her son's father other than the court dates that he misses which then screws up my son's bus schedule.
As you can see from my profile, I am a big white guy. Before commenting here, I read some of D. Watkins other pieces. Sorry, but without really knowing Freddie Gray, D. Watkins is NOT even close to Freddie Gray. He is smart and he has opportunities. He could be a leader of a community like Christina is is a leader for her son. It is his choice and I genuinely hope he chooses that Christina makes every morning for her son and for my son.
As you can see from my profile, I am a big white guy. Before commenting here, I read some of D. Watkins other pieces. Sorry, but without really knowing Freddie Gray, D. Watkins is NOT even close to Freddie Gray. He is smart and he has opportunities. He could be a leader of a community like Christina is is a leader for her son. It is his choice and I genuinely hope he chooses that Christina makes every morning for her son and for my son.
4
With such a high proportion of elected officials being African American in a City with a majority of the populace being African American it looks like the problem is not actually race but socio-economic inequalities, so that the wealthy and influential are in office and are disregarding the needs of the poor and lower income majority and sending police into the communities with the clear message that they are to suppress that population to keep them under control. If that is the case then the people of Baltimore have already tried achieving justice and equality before the law by democratic means but it does not work. What's left when the law and the franchise have no impact with addressing people's grievances?
3
D. Watkins,
Awful. It was awful what you had to relay of living in Baltimore and in thinking of Freddie Gray, I was thinking of all of you today and the horror of it all, which this woman here in New York will never understand because I am not there. Until I read what you said, I wondered what could this young man have done to be murdered by the cops in such hot blood.
The President who is the finest one I have seen in my life has spoken and he is angry. Angry with reason that some thugs took advantage of the demonstrations to loot some of the stores and by so doing, make an inflammatory situation worse. And, yet I have reservations as to what I would do if I were young and growing up, as you have with your family and friends.
The odds would be stacked against me and I would be living in fear because of what I had seen and feeling that the System always wins. My godson is a rapper and he is angry too. You are writing, he is spreading the word with his music and I sent him to watch 'The Loneliness of a Long-distance Runner'.
Cunning is what is needed, I told him, to buck the System and defy the authority that governs one's life. He is moving on, he is not staying in a rut anymore, while remaining in the long arm of the law because not all of us are going to end up as Freddie Gray.
Setting one's House on Fire never works. Keep writing. Some of us are waking up. Some of us care. A call for action and a time for change. It is now, or never to speak up.
Awful. It was awful what you had to relay of living in Baltimore and in thinking of Freddie Gray, I was thinking of all of you today and the horror of it all, which this woman here in New York will never understand because I am not there. Until I read what you said, I wondered what could this young man have done to be murdered by the cops in such hot blood.
The President who is the finest one I have seen in my life has spoken and he is angry. Angry with reason that some thugs took advantage of the demonstrations to loot some of the stores and by so doing, make an inflammatory situation worse. And, yet I have reservations as to what I would do if I were young and growing up, as you have with your family and friends.
The odds would be stacked against me and I would be living in fear because of what I had seen and feeling that the System always wins. My godson is a rapper and he is angry too. You are writing, he is spreading the word with his music and I sent him to watch 'The Loneliness of a Long-distance Runner'.
Cunning is what is needed, I told him, to buck the System and defy the authority that governs one's life. He is moving on, he is not staying in a rut anymore, while remaining in the long arm of the law because not all of us are going to end up as Freddie Gray.
Setting one's House on Fire never works. Keep writing. Some of us are waking up. Some of us care. A call for action and a time for change. It is now, or never to speak up.
4
Any reasonable person will agree that racial profiling is alive and well and that police are sometimes taking excessive measures of enforcement during confrontations. In those instances, those officers must be held accountable which, unfortunately, is not usually the case. Since the abuse of police power has been ignored by our elected leaders and since most offenders are poor or minority, it is not surprising that the kettle has now boiled over, just like it did in the 1960's. At the same time, it is irresponsible and criminal for anyone to burn a CVS or loot community businesses. Injustice is not an excuse to pillage and it never wins the hearts and minds of fellow citizens.
I'm a middle-aged, middle-class white man and I've had enough negative interactions with the police that I'm certain that I wouldn't want to be a young, poor black man when interacting with the police. But, two passages in this column struck me. The first is: "many Baltimore police officers don’t live in Baltimore City". And the second is : "Stop protecting the livelihoods of the cops who killed Freddie Gray, or watch Baltimore burn to the ground".
If Baltimore burns to the ground, who will be the victims of that violence -- the cops that don't live there or the largely black population that does?
The violence that occurred in the last two days did nothing to help the residents of that city. It only served to reinforce the perception of some that black communities are lawless places where there is no alternative, except the administration of zero-tolerance policies and brutal police tactics.
If Baltimore burns to the ground, who will be the victims of that violence -- the cops that don't live there or the largely black population that does?
The violence that occurred in the last two days did nothing to help the residents of that city. It only served to reinforce the perception of some that black communities are lawless places where there is no alternative, except the administration of zero-tolerance policies and brutal police tactics.
Mr. Watkins, no one is doubting police brutality in urban neighborhoods - particularly black neighborhoods. But how does looting small shops and setting pharmacies and elderly people's homes ablaze help that? If anything, it justifies police brutality. Perhaps force IS the only language that inner city young black men understand. This is how the rest of the country will now view the issue.
1
Your personal experiences with the police in Baltimore remind me of the stories my Eastern European relatives tell about growing up in a communist country. It makes me sick to read how black people are treated in the Home of the Free.
4
An op ed piece in the times that supports burning down a major American city. Wow.
The brutality of police departments all over the country must come to an end and the police officers who are guilty of it should rot in jail, where they belong.
Burning down cities and causing millions of dollars damage to innocent people just turns people off and is just as terrible as the brutality the rioters are saying they are fighting.
The brutality of police departments all over the country must come to an end and the police officers who are guilty of it should rot in jail, where they belong.
Burning down cities and causing millions of dollars damage to innocent people just turns people off and is just as terrible as the brutality the rioters are saying they are fighting.
2
Absolutely correct. The mayor and the police chief need to make clear any cop who drags anybody anytime is history, turn in your weapon and kiss your pension goodbye.
Long term as in all other cities cops must be required to live where they work. Why cops and other city workers can live outside the cities where they are employed is amazing.
Long term as in all other cities cops must be required to live where they work. Why cops and other city workers can live outside the cities where they are employed is amazing.
2
Wish I could say that being black and living in Baltimore City, under the jurisdiction of the Baltimore police, could fully explain the brutality that the author writes so cogently about. But as a white male, living in Baltimore County, I could relate the same kind of tales about the brutality and disrespect many of the police officers seem to have for the people they're hired to serve and protect regardless of race. There seems to be a mindset in police stations in both the county and the city that their job first and foremost is to shield their thuggish behavior from public scrutiny.
On night, for example, when police came to my friend's house because his party had got a little loud for the neighbors, while out in the back yard, one of the cops suddenly shined his flashlight into his face. His reflex was to shield his eyes, and in so doing he knocked the flashlight. He was immediately thrown to
the ground and handcuffed. As they drive him to the station, they didn't fasten his seat belt, and instead the driver kept hitting the brakes so my friend's head would slam into the steel screen that separated the front from the rear seats. Charged with resisting arrest, he hired an attorney, who assured him he could get him off, if he'd do community service. When he objected that what he wanted was to bring charges against the cop, the attorney said he could no longer handle his case. That would apparently have gummed up his cozy relationship with the cops.
On night, for example, when police came to my friend's house because his party had got a little loud for the neighbors, while out in the back yard, one of the cops suddenly shined his flashlight into his face. His reflex was to shield his eyes, and in so doing he knocked the flashlight. He was immediately thrown to
the ground and handcuffed. As they drive him to the station, they didn't fasten his seat belt, and instead the driver kept hitting the brakes so my friend's head would slam into the steel screen that separated the front from the rear seats. Charged with resisting arrest, he hired an attorney, who assured him he could get him off, if he'd do community service. When he objected that what he wanted was to bring charges against the cop, the attorney said he could no longer handle his case. That would apparently have gummed up his cozy relationship with the cops.
5
Maybe it is time all of us white folks walked in African American shoes for a week and see what it is really like.
2
Thank you for that perspective.
A country whose motto E Pluribus Unum cannot continue to harbor its racism without betraying itself to the world.
I understand the frustration, but what will burning and looting your own neighborhood accomplish, except making your life tougher when the businesses leave? I have heard the need to make a "statement" to "wake people up" to what is going on from every set of rioters since Watts. Yes, after a violent episode, attention will be paid and changes eventually made, but it is the local people who pay the price. Some small business that hasn't done anything, get torched. One of the few national chains to operate in the area, gets looted. When sanity returns, people look around, the national chain is gone, so is the local store and the neighborhood suffers.
Have you made things better? If it was your store, your life's work, that went up in flames, would you say it was worth the sacrifice?
Have you made things better? If it was your store, your life's work, that went up in flames, would you say it was worth the sacrifice?
2
it is a very sad and unfair situation, to be rectified asap, but burning & looting and punishing innocent people is not the answer
"I’d like to think that if I broke a person’s neck for no reason, I’d be charged in minutes."
The problem being that nobody actually saw the police hurt Gray. There's no video evidence of the police hurting gray. Nobody knows how Gray got hurt. I'm a trained first responder - a person can fracture their c-spine after a fall from head height. It's entirely possible, given what's been made public, that BPD officers had nothing to do with the injury that killed Gray.
I have no doubt that Baltimore city institutions - education, police, social services, parks - are shot through with severe problems that disadvantage the African Americans who live there.
But the author - and the protesters, and the rioters - seem unable to even accept the possibility that maybe in this specific case the police didn't do anything wrong. Instead they jump to conclusions, torching a city in the process. Has nobody learned anything from Ferguson, where the mobs chased out a cop (perhaps the only cop) who actually did nothing wrong?
Sometimes institutions are guilty, but individuals are innocent. Conflating the two does no good.
The problem being that nobody actually saw the police hurt Gray. There's no video evidence of the police hurting gray. Nobody knows how Gray got hurt. I'm a trained first responder - a person can fracture their c-spine after a fall from head height. It's entirely possible, given what's been made public, that BPD officers had nothing to do with the injury that killed Gray.
I have no doubt that Baltimore city institutions - education, police, social services, parks - are shot through with severe problems that disadvantage the African Americans who live there.
But the author - and the protesters, and the rioters - seem unable to even accept the possibility that maybe in this specific case the police didn't do anything wrong. Instead they jump to conclusions, torching a city in the process. Has nobody learned anything from Ferguson, where the mobs chased out a cop (perhaps the only cop) who actually did nothing wrong?
Sometimes institutions are guilty, but individuals are innocent. Conflating the two does no good.
3
You lump the author, the protesters and the rioters in one group. It is one thing to write an article, another to protest and yet another to riot. They did not all torch a city. Please , let's have some logic (and no false conclusions) in the debate.
Personally, I think there are just too many conclusions when it comes to the police and African Americans. And I'm not even American.
Personally, I think there are just too many conclusions when it comes to the police and African Americans. And I'm not even American.
If one does not expect justice, one will not be willing to wait for the legal processes to be completed. According to D. Watkins, the police and City officials of Baltimore are thugs and corrupt politicians and there is no hope of any just outcome in this case. Whether Freddie Gray's case is determined to show that police either made an avoidable mistake or injured him with indifference, nothing will be done. If Freddie Gray's case shows that he suffered an accident that produced his injuries, nobody in Baltimore will believe it because of the mistrust of police and of City governmental officials.
This sense of hopelessness is a big part of the reason that people destroyed their own neighborhoods last night. It seems that it cannot be helped.
This sense of hopelessness is a big part of the reason that people destroyed their own neighborhoods last night. It seems that it cannot be helped.
While there is surely tons of racism, one should note that the local police beat the crap out of a white University of Maryland college student for no reason with the pictures all over the news last year. When my suburban house was burglarized, it took 2 hours for the police to show up after the alarm went off and they had an attitude about it until there were pointed at the broken door. My white college student son has been hassled by the local police in Maryland repeatedly. Its not just race,its the occupying army mentality. The local police have slowly become a more military and more hostile force. When the PBA asks for money just say no. When local organizations honor the police, take your business elsewhere. Demand change from your counsel,mayor,govenor but rioting serves to provided justification for all the abusive behavior.
2
"To us, the Baltimore Police Department is a group of terrorists, funded by our tax dollars, who beat on people in our community daily, almost never having to explain or pay for their actions. It’s gotten to the point that we don’t call cops unless we need a police report for an insurance claim."
There is substantial evidence that the Baltimore Police Department acted very poorly with respect to Freddie Gray and may be substandard. However, since the mayor and the political establishment is black, about 63% of the population is black, responsibility for the police department, in substantial measure, has to be placed on the voters and the politicians they elect. If Baltimore's black citizens cared about their home and their fellow citizens, they would invest the time necessary to insure that competent people are elected to positions of importance and that they elected officials properly manage the police department. If the author's piece is correct, there has been a failing of the black polity to manage its own municipality and to invest the necessary time and effort to make Baltimore livable.
JD
There is substantial evidence that the Baltimore Police Department acted very poorly with respect to Freddie Gray and may be substandard. However, since the mayor and the political establishment is black, about 63% of the population is black, responsibility for the police department, in substantial measure, has to be placed on the voters and the politicians they elect. If Baltimore's black citizens cared about their home and their fellow citizens, they would invest the time necessary to insure that competent people are elected to positions of importance and that they elected officials properly manage the police department. If the author's piece is correct, there has been a failing of the black polity to manage its own municipality and to invest the necessary time and effort to make Baltimore livable.
JD
3
What sense does it make to complain about a lack of jobs in your area of the city and then burn the businesses to the ground that are located there? Good luck with that approach to civil unrest. Cops treat you badly? Get a good lawyer.
2
That sounds so easy doesn't it? Except if you're in a minimum wage job (or no job) and doing you best to survive paying rent, feeding a family and all that basic stuff, then hiring a lawyer at $150/hr or more is just so easy. Notice that most of the subsidized legal services that used to be available to the poor have been starved out for funds. The top 20% or so can afford it, the people of West Baltimore not at all unless its pro bono. Under the circumstances "get a good lawyer" is just condescending.
1
Mr. Watkins....This has been a week that I have admitted many times that I am ashamed of being White. (This is not up for discussion or dispute. At 78, I've been around to experience and see, up close and by distance, many things that have disturbed the quiet world I have had and could enjoy.) But I cannot "enjoy" while knowing the suffering carried out by some human beings....upon others. As a Lutheran pastor and counseling therapist and basic average person, I have seen the livid disdain and hate expressed by everyday people in quiet communities and in the Inner City. But I have never
been treated with disgust or disdain....to the point of wishing to react with hatred and violence toward anyone else. I know enough to care and care enough to know. I wish I could be more useful as a Peacemaker in this broken world. I am simply grateful that you have given your words to my world. Yesterday, I called a couple of my high school acquaintances to express a few of my words. I want more Peace for my Grandchildren.
been treated with disgust or disdain....to the point of wishing to react with hatred and violence toward anyone else. I know enough to care and care enough to know. I wish I could be more useful as a Peacemaker in this broken world. I am simply grateful that you have given your words to my world. Yesterday, I called a couple of my high school acquaintances to express a few of my words. I want more Peace for my Grandchildren.
2
Thanks for this excellent piece. It's heartbreaking to see young people with so much anger and despair destroying their own neighborhoods, but it's not hard to see where it's coming from when you read this. What other result could obtain after decades of disrespect, marginalization, and publicly sanctioned abuse? Nothing else seems to get people's attention.
2
I was a child, then a teenager, then a young adult when the civil rights movement pushed back against the Jim Crow laws that had replaced slavery as the modus operandi for bigotry. I can remember vividly both the violence and the nobility that wrote those years into our history. I celebrated with millions of others the victories as old laws fell and new laws protecting the Constitutional rights of all people were passed.
I was so naive. The Jim Crow laws that replaced slavery were themselves replaced by the "war on drugs." Today hundreds of thousands of black men are missing as full-fledged citizens because of violence and because of selective and brutal police actions. Our prisons are full of people who should be filling our voting booths, providing for their families, contributing to our economy, and raising their children.
My generation is old. Although we continue to have the same obligations that drove us to fight for equal rights decades ago, there will be no victories to celebrate unless younger generations recognize the injustices that are occurring and accept the responsibility for ending them. We all must see ourselves as victims of this hubris, and we all must join together in ending it.
I was so naive. The Jim Crow laws that replaced slavery were themselves replaced by the "war on drugs." Today hundreds of thousands of black men are missing as full-fledged citizens because of violence and because of selective and brutal police actions. Our prisons are full of people who should be filling our voting booths, providing for their families, contributing to our economy, and raising their children.
My generation is old. Although we continue to have the same obligations that drove us to fight for equal rights decades ago, there will be no victories to celebrate unless younger generations recognize the injustices that are occurring and accept the responsibility for ending them. We all must see ourselves as victims of this hubris, and we all must join together in ending it.
3
109 people have been killed by Baltimore police since 2010: 40% of those people were unarmed. Almost 70% of them were black.
10
If it takes a week or a month to make sure that the police officers responsible for killing Freddie Gray are held accountable, we must allow the process to work. Impatience is no excuse for injustice. Denying the police the justice they denied Mr. Gray won't move us any closer to a better Baltimore.
1
It is clear that the police departments in this country bear most of the responsibility for the disorder and destruction of these neighborhoods. Police abuse of power should unite us all and demand immediate, substantive changes to every police force in the country. The conduct of these police departments is what I would expect in autocratic developing countries. It is truly shameful.
3
This is so discouraging and depressing. I am very suspicious of how long these investigations take and suspect their primary purpose is to exonerate the police, not to find the truth. That's taking longer and longer for these outrageous incidents.
It's disgraceful and it's getting worse, not better, as militarized police departments across the country dig in to protect their self-appointed right to casually kill black men.
It's disgraceful and it's getting worse, not better, as militarized police departments across the country dig in to protect their self-appointed right to casually kill black men.
3
I agreed with this piece, and was moved by it, until I got to the end. On the one hand, violence in the streets in response to oppression is understandable, but that does not mean it is the only option. As the Rev, Dr, Martin Luther king, Jr. taught us over and over, by eloquent word and brave example, violence is not the answer.
Baltimore need not burn to the ground, and residents shouldn't have to destroy their own city to achieve justice. Indeed, they won't, because the forces resisting change will inevitably capitalize on the wrongness of the violence to change the subject and turn the focus on the victims.
Rise up? YES. but it's non-violent resistance that is needed. There's lot's of creative choices here that make the point better than arson. All of them must be employed before turning to violence.
When all means exhausted -- all -- then the rules change. At that point, violence is not only justified, it is a patriotic duty. So says Thomas Jefferson anyway.
Baltimore need not burn to the ground, and residents shouldn't have to destroy their own city to achieve justice. Indeed, they won't, because the forces resisting change will inevitably capitalize on the wrongness of the violence to change the subject and turn the focus on the victims.
Rise up? YES. but it's non-violent resistance that is needed. There's lot's of creative choices here that make the point better than arson. All of them must be employed before turning to violence.
When all means exhausted -- all -- then the rules change. At that point, violence is not only justified, it is a patriotic duty. So says Thomas Jefferson anyway.
4
Although African-Americans by far bear the brunt of dysfunctional policing, with it strong racist element, in this country, no-one is immune to the kind of power trips and disrespect armed police officers practice everyday. I'm a white, middle-class, middle-aged white guy in a white neck of the woods but I still gave my son "The Talk" - namely, never even try to reason with a police officer, even if they are clearly out of line. This issue runs very deep and is symptomatic of a society that has a very violent streak running through it. It's hard to see how to break through it. Even after two dozen first graders were slaughtered by a mentally deranged young man, twice as many states loosened their gun laws as made them more restrictive. Dark times ahead I'm afraid.
12
At times like this I think about the riot after the vancouver cannucks lost the stanley cup. Afterwards the outpouring of condemnation across north America was swift and universal. These were not boys being boy, and there was no justification. People on facebook began turning in their friends, the police asked the community to help idenify photographs, and people who had actually riotted walked into police stations to give themselves up.
I could easily take the racist route and compare the mostly white riot in Vancouver to the mostly black riot in Baltimore, but I won't. These are two very different circumstances.
Instead i will say that the reaction in Vancoucer was appropriate because of exactly two things that are entirely missing in Baltimore. 1). The community trusted the police, and 2). The police trusted the community.
There is no excuse for the violence. No exuse for looting the shops of hard working baltimorians. I heard one rioting kid say they stood outside black run shops and directed people to middle eastern and asian merchants. Racist rioters complaining about racism.
That said, a part of me also wants to say that if what this essay talks about is true, every cop, from the metermaids all the way up to the chief of detectives should lose their job. Since the national guard is there anyway, now is the perfect time to start over from scratch.
I could easily take the racist route and compare the mostly white riot in Vancouver to the mostly black riot in Baltimore, but I won't. These are two very different circumstances.
Instead i will say that the reaction in Vancoucer was appropriate because of exactly two things that are entirely missing in Baltimore. 1). The community trusted the police, and 2). The police trusted the community.
There is no excuse for the violence. No exuse for looting the shops of hard working baltimorians. I heard one rioting kid say they stood outside black run shops and directed people to middle eastern and asian merchants. Racist rioters complaining about racism.
That said, a part of me also wants to say that if what this essay talks about is true, every cop, from the metermaids all the way up to the chief of detectives should lose their job. Since the national guard is there anyway, now is the perfect time to start over from scratch.
3
I don't see how Baltimore stakeholders buring their own home, in this case CVS and other buildings, helps the matter much.
2
"We are all starting to believe that holding hands, following pastors and peaceful protests are pointless. The only option is to rise up, and force Mayor Rawlings-Blake to make what should be an easy choice: Stop protecting the livelihoods of the cops who killed Freddie Gray, or watch Baltimore burn to the ground."
This argument is the essence of all corrosive political philosophy today; the ends justify the means. It doesn't matter if the subject is President Obama's ideas on the expansion of executive power (after all, Congress ASKED for it by failing to act), trampling fifth amendment rights in new, broadly expanded definitions of "rape," or judicial activism from the Supreme Court on any number of issues. Ideologues in this country have so convinced themselves they're on the side of angels that no means are too vile to achieve its ends. To quote Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall "you do what you think is right and let the law catch up." This issue is the very essence of the problem; so many people in this country have convinced themselves they're above the law simply because they believe their motives are pure or they're serving a greater good. Haven't you stopped to ask yourself if maybe that's why the police roughed up Freddie Gray in the first place?
This argument is the essence of all corrosive political philosophy today; the ends justify the means. It doesn't matter if the subject is President Obama's ideas on the expansion of executive power (after all, Congress ASKED for it by failing to act), trampling fifth amendment rights in new, broadly expanded definitions of "rape," or judicial activism from the Supreme Court on any number of issues. Ideologues in this country have so convinced themselves they're on the side of angels that no means are too vile to achieve its ends. To quote Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall "you do what you think is right and let the law catch up." This issue is the very essence of the problem; so many people in this country have convinced themselves they're above the law simply because they believe their motives are pure or they're serving a greater good. Haven't you stopped to ask yourself if maybe that's why the police roughed up Freddie Gray in the first place?
60
Let me guess:
a. You're white
b. You do not live in a poor community predominantly minority.
Try hanging around Chicago, Detroit or NYC for a while; if the ends and the means you mention happen to be "racism", you'll just love all three places.
a. You're white
b. You do not live in a poor community predominantly minority.
Try hanging around Chicago, Detroit or NYC for a while; if the ends and the means you mention happen to be "racism", you'll just love all three places.
1
Being polite, dressing well, never threatening an officer and obeying orders, even when they're illegal will not insulate you from unlawful stops, racial profiling or police violence. The cases are too numerous to list. What is telling is how desperately people want to believe in the make believe world that you describe.
The true ideologues in society are not the D. Watkins, they are the members of the shadow government. They are the one percent and their helpers and doers, themselves quite well paid. They don't rob banks, they own them and get laws passed so that they can legally rob you and me.
People are "above the law." but not the people you think. The 4th Amendment has been diminished for you, but not for the Wall Street boys. There's a war on drugs, but HSBC was found guilty of drug dealing and just paid a fine. The CEO got a bonus. You or I would have gone to jail.
Today people go to jail for being too poor to pay civil fines. Then they face more fines because they have to pay the costs of their own incarceration. Due process of law has become a farce, unless you are a major corporation.
The idea that law is neutral and applied fairly to all is itself an ideology. The idea that we dispense justice is an ideology. Freddy Grey and countless others died because this system has to make examples of those who challenge this ideology, even when they don't know that that's what they're doing.
This system devours its own children. But it comes for yours and mine first.
The true ideologues in society are not the D. Watkins, they are the members of the shadow government. They are the one percent and their helpers and doers, themselves quite well paid. They don't rob banks, they own them and get laws passed so that they can legally rob you and me.
People are "above the law." but not the people you think. The 4th Amendment has been diminished for you, but not for the Wall Street boys. There's a war on drugs, but HSBC was found guilty of drug dealing and just paid a fine. The CEO got a bonus. You or I would have gone to jail.
Today people go to jail for being too poor to pay civil fines. Then they face more fines because they have to pay the costs of their own incarceration. Due process of law has become a farce, unless you are a major corporation.
The idea that law is neutral and applied fairly to all is itself an ideology. The idea that we dispense justice is an ideology. Freddy Grey and countless others died because this system has to make examples of those who challenge this ideology, even when they don't know that that's what they're doing.
This system devours its own children. But it comes for yours and mine first.
1
I find it totally amazing how in this day and age some people can still be so obtuse in their thinking. May I direct you to carefully read Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail." In it you will find an answer to the basic question you pose.
1
His experiences over time are no doubt true and lamentable.
The false choice that defines his conclusion of either confronting the officers who are quilty of the horrific treatment of Mr. Gray or watching Baltimore burn to the ground is equally lamentable.
The false choice that defines his conclusion of either confronting the officers who are quilty of the horrific treatment of Mr. Gray or watching Baltimore burn to the ground is equally lamentable.
3
Gosh, I don't like that last sentence. Is it a lack of effective leadership that creates the opening for the violence? Would it be different if the community had a leader(s) they felt would effectively advocate for the much needed change. I can understand how "holding hands, following pastors" could feel ineffective but isn't there SOME other way? I really hope so.
Today I found my self asking why we all act so shocked when these things happen. As this author so clearly describes, his community feels like it's helpless against an unfriendly occupying force. How is that tenable for healthy human existence? What do we think is going to happen when that goes on year after year with no relief in sight? People who have no clue what this community deals with on a daily basis have to be quiet and listen to them and just imagine how they would feel in their situation. How would they feel after begin being treated in such an inhuman way? How would life look to them? It doesn't take much imagination to realize you'd be angry and disillusioned as well. These problems are so so complicated. We need effective leadership and we need it now.
Today I found my self asking why we all act so shocked when these things happen. As this author so clearly describes, his community feels like it's helpless against an unfriendly occupying force. How is that tenable for healthy human existence? What do we think is going to happen when that goes on year after year with no relief in sight? People who have no clue what this community deals with on a daily basis have to be quiet and listen to them and just imagine how they would feel in their situation. How would they feel after begin being treated in such an inhuman way? How would life look to them? It doesn't take much imagination to realize you'd be angry and disillusioned as well. These problems are so so complicated. We need effective leadership and we need it now.
6
While most are loathe to admit it, we need to take a serious look at the militarization of our police forces. I surmise that the brutality used by police officers is directly related to the return of men and women who have been shellshocked by a decade of war. While honorable, soldiers are trained to kill first and ask questions later. As such, they should not be the ones that act as gate keepers in our community. Potential officers, especially ones that have been in warzones, should also undergo more rigorous mental health testing. At the end of the day, do we really need assault grade rifles or a tank rolling through our suburban communities? I think not. Let's take back our police!
87
At a time when storeowners are losing their livelihoods, normal citizens are being intimidated, and youths are rampaging in Baltimore this Op-Ed is crass, tone deaf, and disgusting.
When crime is disproportionately committed by one group, the police overreach in responding to that group and don't necessarily tackle their concerns correctly. This is regrettable. What is criminal is the violent response by so-called protestors seen in Ferguson and now Baltimore. "Why did it take so long?" Because most residents of our cities are decent human beings.
When crime is disproportionately committed by one group, the police overreach in responding to that group and don't necessarily tackle their concerns correctly. This is regrettable. What is criminal is the violent response by so-called protestors seen in Ferguson and now Baltimore. "Why did it take so long?" Because most residents of our cities are decent human beings.
17
So police "not necessarily tackle(ing) their concerns correctly." is your intertpretation of the reasoning for breaking someone's neck because they were looked in the eye?
It is this view that allows our police state to grow more uncontrolled year by year.
To paraphrase:
"first they mistreated and killed the blacks but I'm not black so I didn't do anything......"
It is this view that allows our police state to grow more uncontrolled year by year.
To paraphrase:
"first they mistreated and killed the blacks but I'm not black so I didn't do anything......"
I know one thing for certain. If I had been born a black boy child in America in 1951, instead of a white girl child, I'd be dead now.
93
This is not as simple as you state. You'd be 10 times as likely killed by a black youth as by a cop. This is the neglected story.
Right or wrong, more damage was done to the cause of African-American after America watched the looting and burning in Baltimore. You want real change, then stop behaving badly, be responsible for your actions, get a job, pull up your pants, stay in school, stop accepting handouts and stop having babies. Wait, did I just list all the facts or are they just stereotypes? If there are no jobs where you are then, move where the jobs are. Employers are always looking for good employees, no matter what color.
12
" . . . then move where the jobs are."
Easier said than done if you have no money, have been poorly educated in underfunded schools, have none of the skills that employers are looking for, among other things you take for granted.
Walk a mile in their shoes, then make such glib comments. Might as well be saying "Let them eat cake."
Easier said than done if you have no money, have been poorly educated in underfunded schools, have none of the skills that employers are looking for, among other things you take for granted.
Walk a mile in their shoes, then make such glib comments. Might as well be saying "Let them eat cake."
I hear anger, and anger, in my experience, and believe me I have had a lot, usually leads to human suffering if it isn't dealt with in an empathetic manner, no matter how irrational it may seem to the one who is not experiencing it. I think the writer, and those who share his experience, need a sympathetic ear, a safe place to vent their quite understandable fury, and a chance for relief from the sorrow and pain that is just under its surface. My extensive personal battle with anger has taught me that it is a cover for hurt. Many of the blacks of Baltimore hurt badly, but the immediacy of the anger takes precedence. If those of us who know what it feels like to be hurt so bad that we fume and act out, and I believe that is most if not all of us, can be patient and kind in the face of the violence, we can help get the sadness and hurt to the surface. Then we can truly help ease the pain of oppression. It is real. Whether we feel it or not, it is real in the minds of many people, and things that are real must be dealt with, not ignored.
8
I don't know enough facts about policing in Baltimore to have an opinion on whether what he says is accurate or not. But when I read the article, I was instinctively sympathizing because it sounds horrific. But while I still might have sympathy for the people of Baltimore, he lost it with the threat at the end. At first I thought I misread it, so I read it again. That's not advice. That's a threat or at the very best, wishful thinking. Burn the city to the ground? Okay, he's upset and maybe more than I can imagine, but contemplating the killing of who knows how many people and ruining the lives of hundreds of thousands of them? This is no Martin Luther King, Jr., whose generation faced as great or greater problems. I seriously doubt that the police or government would react to this article as being representative of the general thought, but if they did believe that this was the goal of enough protesters or rioters or gangs at some point, what would be the consequences? I guess he doesn't care or is looking for a war to end his pain and frustration one way or another. I hope cooler heads prevail.
9
A threat? Read it still again!
It seems more like a prediction -- NOT a you'd-better-attend-to-this-or-we'll-burn-Baltimore, but this-is-a-city-in-trouble -- the issue of police brutality and unaccountability need to be addressed. If not, the angry eruption over still another death is likely to get worse. It seems that Watkins is pointing this danger out as nearly inevitable -- not proposing it!
It seems more like a prediction -- NOT a you'd-better-attend-to-this-or-we'll-burn-Baltimore, but this-is-a-city-in-trouble -- the issue of police brutality and unaccountability need to be addressed. If not, the angry eruption over still another death is likely to get worse. It seems that Watkins is pointing this danger out as nearly inevitable -- not proposing it!
Remember what Jefferson said; "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants".
4
Yes and he also said "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever".
It is unfortunate that it had to come to that. The real outcome we should all be waiting for is legal. Will the police get charged? What will be the nature of the charge(s)? Or will we have to wait for a grand jury to first occur before we get to that stage. Finally, if the aforementioned things do happen, will there be a trial or a plea deal? it is sad that it may be some time before we know, although it is apparent that from the outset of the arrest to his final breath, that those police officers that were sworn to protect and serve, trampled on their oath, and the rights of Mr. Gray. And if justice eludes us once more, will we think the looters were unjustified in their response?
4
Thank you D. Watkins for telling us what it's really like on the streets for black men! You have the insight and the experience we have been missing in the news coverage and commentary on the horrendous spate of killings of black men. How can we stand by and watch this without becoming outraged? I'm white and middle class, and I'm outraged. I cannot blame any of these people for becoming violent. I would too if this is how I was treated regularly in a modern, democratic society which prides itself on justice under the law.
59
"""If the mayor and police commissioner can't end the brutality of the cops, then we will burn our own homes down!!! THAT will teach the cops!!!""""
-the op-Ed writer
No, it won't. All it will do is give the whites who chant the racist ideologies power. It will give these people the proof they need.
The police will look on and shrug and think "good".
No. You must hold the police and their leaders accountable.
You call for the mayor to be kicked out of office. You call for police to be arrested. When CITIZENS serve in the rare jury case against a corrupt cop, YOU CONVICT HIM OR HER, not find the cop "not guilty".
The rioters didn't loot and burn city hall, the main police station, the mayors house. No, they destroyed their neighbors livelihood, they destroyed their neighborhood more.
It's like a poor person finding a $20 bill and ripping into pieces.
-the op-Ed writer
No, it won't. All it will do is give the whites who chant the racist ideologies power. It will give these people the proof they need.
The police will look on and shrug and think "good".
No. You must hold the police and their leaders accountable.
You call for the mayor to be kicked out of office. You call for police to be arrested. When CITIZENS serve in the rare jury case against a corrupt cop, YOU CONVICT HIM OR HER, not find the cop "not guilty".
The rioters didn't loot and burn city hall, the main police station, the mayors house. No, they destroyed their neighbors livelihood, they destroyed their neighborhood more.
It's like a poor person finding a $20 bill and ripping into pieces.
2
I agree with much of what the writer says, I think that the baseball fans sound like they were way out of line. However, and I am really not being patronizing or sarcastic, can s/he please explain to me how attacking store owners in one's own neighborhood helps address a person's anger and frustration at the police in a way that actually brings change for the good.
Thanks.
Thanks.
3
Some in Congress and State Legislatures want to extend the definition of "personhood" to a fetus. Maybe they should extend it to cover poor black people, too.
169
Fetuses don't have any means to protect themselves. Their "terminators" are their own mothers. The number "terminated" is in the millions.
Hard to understand why people are not rioting in the streets over that.
Hard to understand why people are not rioting in the streets over that.
Anyone reading this who ISN'T afraid of the police hasn't been paying attention. The cops are out of control. Look at all the stolen cars they're driving around in ("confiscated" for drug crimes, even when no drugs exist.) How about the cops pulling people over on interstates, finding cash on them, and TAKING the cash. No explanation, no reasoning, just taking. (Well, the reason is that if the people have cash, they must have obtained it through questionable means.)
It's the cops. The cops. They threaten all of us.
My approach? Follow the advice of Allen Ginsburg - avoid them.
It's the cops. The cops. They threaten all of us.
My approach? Follow the advice of Allen Ginsburg - avoid them.
46
They don't need a drug crime to confiscate your car. Parking fines will do. More money for the city.
America seems to already have forgotten the cause of the problems in Ferguson and Baltimore; Police killing with impunity. Until the American Stasi is reigned in this problem will get worse, and even come to a neighborhood near you. The police have been beating, coercing, broom handling, and killing with impunity for decades all with a wink and a nod from the American people. Now the chickens come home to roost. The police need reigned in, and quick. They have too much power and seem willing to abuse it.
66
In order to enact meaningful change, you must get the white population on your side. With talk of "burning Baltimore to the ground," you will not, and thus will continue to be shown the short end of the stick.
9
I'm sorry for all the injustice that people face in this country; injustice perpetrated upon all colors. I think black Americans are targeted partly due to racism and our insanely racist past, but also due to the fact that such a high percentage live in poverty and in high-poverty areas. And, yes, all this has to change.
I support the signs of 'All Lives Matter', because that's the truth. All lives. I don't care about color, I care about people. What has to change in America is compassion that translates into real-life existence, meaning we must end poverty. We must end poverty. Our 'more perfect union' will never come to fruition until we bridge the great and obscene divide of wealth. I think this is where all black Americans, white Americans, all Americans must focus on: inequality.
We have the most billionaires in the world and the highest percentage of poverty in the industrialized world and the highest percentage of citizens in jail. These all go together. If being crazy greedy and caring only about the 'success' of acquiring more and more money, property and power is our nation's focus, then, we are doomed. Today we seem doomed. But, we need only to change the focus to the community, to 'the People', to love and a truly United States. We can do this.
Tax the wealthiest and all their corrupt financial systems in a realistic and humane level, as if they too are part of our community. We need more love, equality of wealth and condition. Vote like it: Democrats.
I support the signs of 'All Lives Matter', because that's the truth. All lives. I don't care about color, I care about people. What has to change in America is compassion that translates into real-life existence, meaning we must end poverty. We must end poverty. Our 'more perfect union' will never come to fruition until we bridge the great and obscene divide of wealth. I think this is where all black Americans, white Americans, all Americans must focus on: inequality.
We have the most billionaires in the world and the highest percentage of poverty in the industrialized world and the highest percentage of citizens in jail. These all go together. If being crazy greedy and caring only about the 'success' of acquiring more and more money, property and power is our nation's focus, then, we are doomed. Today we seem doomed. But, we need only to change the focus to the community, to 'the People', to love and a truly United States. We can do this.
Tax the wealthiest and all their corrupt financial systems in a realistic and humane level, as if they too are part of our community. We need more love, equality of wealth and condition. Vote like it: Democrats.
30
I am a white mother of 3 teenagers. How different my experience of being American is from my fellow black citizens. I feel shame and horror that this is happening all over our great country.
22
Is it legal for a 14 year old to ride a moped?
Racist, sadistic cops aside, and they do exist both white and, sadly, black, I've lived long enough to know that no young man ever admits to doing anything.
"We weren't doing anything" No they never are. Freddie Gray was arrested over 20 times mostly for selling drugs to our children. The martyrs are seldom innocent kids.
No criminal deserves to be killed by a violent cop playing God. No one does. But lets not fool ourselves. The majority of the dead were criminals and they prey on our neighborhoods, not the white suburbs.
So no I am not Freddie Gray and no one in my family is either. We don't sell poison on the streets of Baltimore.
Racist, sadistic cops aside, and they do exist both white and, sadly, black, I've lived long enough to know that no young man ever admits to doing anything.
"We weren't doing anything" No they never are. Freddie Gray was arrested over 20 times mostly for selling drugs to our children. The martyrs are seldom innocent kids.
No criminal deserves to be killed by a violent cop playing God. No one does. But lets not fool ourselves. The majority of the dead were criminals and they prey on our neighborhoods, not the white suburbs.
So no I am not Freddie Gray and no one in my family is either. We don't sell poison on the streets of Baltimore.
19
In this country, we are supposed to have Due Process. Not Death Squads that identify the incorrigibles, then eliminate them.
19
It is legal for a 14 year old to ride a moped.
1
Ever since the tragic events of 9/11, there has been a distinct and palpable change in the attitude of police in this country. The members of law enforcement now seem to see themselves as an occupying army with the right to conduct police business in any manner they wish, be it legal or illegal. The corrupt judicial system works synergisticly with law enforcement to create a closed black box legal establishment that accounts to no one save itself.
As a society, we don't even allow privately owned businesses to operate without some form of independent oversight. Yet we are allowing the most important tool of our society just such "anything goes" independence. The people who have suffered the brunt of our legal system's illicit activities now have undeniable proof of the brutal and illegal actions of its police force and judiciary. Should we be surprised that they are experiencing a catharsis of shared oppression that is leading to violent rebellion against their oppressors? I think not. Our system of justice as applied to the poor and disenfranchised of this nation has simply lost its mandate of legitimacy. Until the rot of corruption and bias is removed from our police and judicial system, no member of those organizations should expect to operate in an unchallenged environment. This is not close to being over.
As a society, we don't even allow privately owned businesses to operate without some form of independent oversight. Yet we are allowing the most important tool of our society just such "anything goes" independence. The people who have suffered the brunt of our legal system's illicit activities now have undeniable proof of the brutal and illegal actions of its police force and judiciary. Should we be surprised that they are experiencing a catharsis of shared oppression that is leading to violent rebellion against their oppressors? I think not. Our system of justice as applied to the poor and disenfranchised of this nation has simply lost its mandate of legitimacy. Until the rot of corruption and bias is removed from our police and judicial system, no member of those organizations should expect to operate in an unchallenged environment. This is not close to being over.
10
As a white person who lived in black neighborhoods before 9/11, I have to say you're flat-out wrong that police brutality towards people of color began after that. This has been going on, north and south, since before Jim Crow.
1
As I said before, the reason why Blacks are targets of the police is because of the 13th Amendment in the U.S. Constitution. It states; Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
I know that President Lincoln loved to compromise, but the wording in this amendment gave authorities a back door to subjugate freed Blacks all over again. They just switched slavery with conviction of crimes. Until this 13th Amendment is amended, Blacks will always be the target of law enforcement. This is another failure by President Lincoln.
I know that President Lincoln loved to compromise, but the wording in this amendment gave authorities a back door to subjugate freed Blacks all over again. They just switched slavery with conviction of crimes. Until this 13th Amendment is amended, Blacks will always be the target of law enforcement. This is another failure by President Lincoln.
2
Mr. Watkins displays a deep anger we all can understand. Nevertheless, is the choice really about getting the mayor to "stop... protecting the police" or having "Baltimore burn to the ground"? This is the irrationality of anger that we see in both the police and their victims, but it is not the way to a harmonious and just society. The police have been the enforcers of the will of what the great American sociologist, C. Wright Mills, called the "power elite." That is the elite that now controls most of the wealth in the country and is on the verge of purchasing the next President. It is a "white racist" elite, according to the Kerner Commission that reported on similar riots 47 years ago, that continue to maintain inner-city ghettos of poverty, crime, high unemployment composed largely of people of color. For all the hoopla of "progress" and the celebration of our first African-American President, the deck, as Senator Elizabeth Warren repeatedly notes, is still "stacked" against those trapped in these segregated, impoverished ghettos that are found in all major American cities. With the population demographics rapidly changing us to a predominantly brown nation we need to face the fears of our prejudices and change before the growing anger of those increasingly dispossessed burns everything to the ground.
3
We hear a lot of criticism in the media of the criminal element that is now waging war against the police in Baltimore. But one fact remains: Had the Baltimore police not deliberately caused the death of, or perhaps even murdered, Freddie Gray, none of this violence would be happening in Baltimore. The first cause for all the turmoil are the criminal acts of the Baltimore police and the impunity with which police commit criminal acts.
8
Well said. It's a shame that the police have made themselves the enemy. The blue wall must come down. It must be taken down from the inside and from outside. Citizen oversight is key.
3
Excessive force complaints against the Baltimore PD are well-documented by the Baltimore Sun--they have paid out almost $6 million in settlements in just the last four years. As I read in another commentary, when only the powerless bear witness to this brutality, it does get reported, but that does not mean the events did not happen. When white people get angry because property is destroyed, but not when black lives are treated as worthless by some rogue police officers that are sworn to protect, then we are part of the problem. Just because the brutality does not happen to us does not mean it does not happen. The rage is justified.
10
I thought this was an interesting article until the last paragraph. To me this sounds like inciting violence and I'm surprised NYT would publish that paragraph. First of all, "forcing" a mayor to take a certain action should not be the concern. Instead of calling for Baltimore to "burn to the ground", where is the call to band together politically and work towards real change? Taking power back for the people is a slow process. Rioting and destruction is the "one step back" after the two steps forward. I'll never understand why the natural reaction to injustice for so many people is to steal and destroy the property of other members of their community. We are in desperate need for a true leader, with true intelligence, to organize this cause and make real progress. Rioting is amateur hour. We need more people to step up and take on this challenge as professionals. You won't get anywhere throwing a temper tantrum. Rioting is easy, political change is difficult and takes really special people to pull off.
5
Why is the response from many whites always the same? The residents of Baltimore are facing a legitimate issue--ongoing and long-standing police oppression and violence aimed at black citizens. The response: "Monkeys and apes." Is it really that difficult to get white people to look at the data or to read the horrifying "Baltimore Sun" news accounts about black grandmothers and pregnant mothers being beaten by police? The abrogation of Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights of American citizens is met with taunts of "monkeys and apes." The superior race, indeed.
42
So "watch Baltimore burn to the ground" is the threat?
Really? I saw the video of person in automobiles pull up to their neighborhood stores and empty them out clean. The perpetrators were obese, well clothed and driving late model automobiles - not quite starving and poor in my estimation. What were they protesting, the local liquor stores brand selection, or the local food stores frozen section, or the malls sneaker assortment?
Really? I saw the video of person in automobiles pull up to their neighborhood stores and empty them out clean. The perpetrators were obese, well clothed and driving late model automobiles - not quite starving and poor in my estimation. What were they protesting, the local liquor stores brand selection, or the local food stores frozen section, or the malls sneaker assortment?
10
So well written. So well said. So awful to have to hear stories like this for so many years. Not just out of Baltimore either.
1
If you want sympathy from the general public, looting is not going to get it done. It only brings about the opposite reaction, which is "This is why we need the cops." The author can make an argument that torching a police car is a form of protest, but burning and looting the CVS??? Please. The CVS did not beat anyone and instead provided jobs and services in an impoverished city. As someone who lived in Baltimore, there is no need to destroy things any further given how bad they were already. Rioting and looting innocent businesses is no different than the thuggery the author decries about the police. I guess Baltimore is just a thug city all around. Glad to be gone.
10
On the one hand, the NRA has made it possible for the public to have extremely dangerous weapons that are not available to the police. Police fear criminals today much more than in the past.
Secondly, the Tea Party, Sara Palin, Republicans, Congress and the rest of the haters who made President Obama's race an issue. as well as immigration, have caused a huge increase in racism throughout the country.
Remember the next time you vote.
Secondly, the Tea Party, Sara Palin, Republicans, Congress and the rest of the haters who made President Obama's race an issue. as well as immigration, have caused a huge increase in racism throughout the country.
Remember the next time you vote.
9
The barflies yelling, "I don't care." Assures us that peaceful protests are pointless. Obviously they will not care until they feel pain. Until they care there will be no change.
Evolve or die. Prepare for pain.
Evolve or die. Prepare for pain.
6
Mr. Watkins, I worked with Boston public high school students, and have heard similar stories from many of these students--and I know how much harm and damage repeated incidents of violence, disregard, disrespect, and emotional abuse can do.
The protestors in Ferguson did, in fact, get a very meaningful and hopeful result one of the two Justice Department's reports - the report that set out the financial abuse of the citizens that is enforced by the police. Many of the Ferguson officials have since resigned. This is not insignificant.
You also noted that the system did not change, that even black leadership did not change the system. But it is impossible for one person, even a Mayor, to change the system - it takes efforts on the parts of many. The Mayor cannot order the City Council, the courts, the federal system or any other system to do as she says. Changing the system takes a lot of people over time. Ghandi was not successful in India in one week or one month, yet he inspired the movement that overturned the power of the British Empire. The beauty of nonviolence though is that it eventually shames the people who are violent into seeing into themselves, and it shames the people committing the violence into eventually joining with the nonviolent protestors.
The protestors in Ferguson did, in fact, get a very meaningful and hopeful result one of the two Justice Department's reports - the report that set out the financial abuse of the citizens that is enforced by the police. Many of the Ferguson officials have since resigned. This is not insignificant.
You also noted that the system did not change, that even black leadership did not change the system. But it is impossible for one person, even a Mayor, to change the system - it takes efforts on the parts of many. The Mayor cannot order the City Council, the courts, the federal system or any other system to do as she says. Changing the system takes a lot of people over time. Ghandi was not successful in India in one week or one month, yet he inspired the movement that overturned the power of the British Empire. The beauty of nonviolence though is that it eventually shames the people who are violent into seeing into themselves, and it shames the people committing the violence into eventually joining with the nonviolent protestors.
3
Non-violence is a beautiful philosophy but requires that a) the population cares what the outside world thinks of them, b) has a conscience to call out to, and c) is honestly presented with the truth about the issues. It would not have worked with the Nazis, will not work against ISIS, and may not work in a country divided, with half its residents "informed" by Fox News.
Looting and rioting are not viable solutions either. And I speak as someone who has lived through a major looting episode in a major city. Sustained protest, the careful collection of allies, educating white potential allies past willful blindness, and finding and maintaining productive leaders in our hair's breadth news cycle will all be necessary. Rioting is an understandable response, a brief release of the pressure valve, but sustained pressure via a growing movement are ultimately what will succeed.
Looting and rioting are not viable solutions either. And I speak as someone who has lived through a major looting episode in a major city. Sustained protest, the careful collection of allies, educating white potential allies past willful blindness, and finding and maintaining productive leaders in our hair's breadth news cycle will all be necessary. Rioting is an understandable response, a brief release of the pressure valve, but sustained pressure via a growing movement are ultimately what will succeed.
1
Police have been getting away with violence for many years. The police don't rat on each other, and when there are complaints, they are investigated by prosecutors who they work with every day. A prosecutor can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich, but there was no indictment for the officer who choked Eric Garner? Clearly, the system is rigged.
Many things need to change. One of the most important changes is to require independent, special prosecutors when police officers are accused of misconduct. Law-abiding police officers have nothing to fear from such a change.
Many things need to change. One of the most important changes is to require independent, special prosecutors when police officers are accused of misconduct. Law-abiding police officers have nothing to fear from such a change.
13
Awful police; awful rioters; awful political response. Where oh where is real solid and trusted local leadership?
4
What was the NYT thinking by allowing this to be published? These riots are not about Freddie Gray or police brutality. The businesses being burnt are black owned or predominantly employers of blacks. The neighborhoods being destroyed are black neighborhoods. Were I the family of Mr Gray I would not want his name to be associated with this shameful display that will set back racial progress many years.
5
I am sorry the police have brutalized you and your community. But don't let the rioters burn down your city, even if it is justified. Vote the rascals running things out. Vote in people that will end this constant violation of your rights. The public sector unions fund your politicians and so your people victimized by unionized brutal police and incompetent teachers. In the next election throw their rascals out and get your own rascals in.
Campaign. Vote. Campaign. Vote. Campaign. Vote.
You really need to stop invoking Michael Brown. Michael Brown was shot while charging a cop. He had just committed a felony strong arm robbery. Michael Brown knew that. He thought the cop knew it. Obama's Department of Justice called BS on on the "Hands up. Don't shoot" narrative. The stories of Mr. Gray, Mr. Garner, and Mr. Scott are perfect examples of police criminality and should be used in your campaign to throw your mayor and city council out on their ear.
Campaign. Vote. Campaign. Vote. Campaign. Vote.
You really need to stop invoking Michael Brown. Michael Brown was shot while charging a cop. He had just committed a felony strong arm robbery. Michael Brown knew that. He thought the cop knew it. Obama's Department of Justice called BS on on the "Hands up. Don't shoot" narrative. The stories of Mr. Gray, Mr. Garner, and Mr. Scott are perfect examples of police criminality and should be used in your campaign to throw your mayor and city council out on their ear.
8
Somebody needs to give city residents a venue in Camden Yards to plan and hold a peaceful protest. This situation is deserving of major attention and major grieving. It cannot be bottled up.
1
How does a man get a crushed voice box and 80 percent-severed spine in police custody? Why don't we know the answer yet? When will all have the right to live?
33
The real enemy now is the neoliberalism that has almost overtaken our leadership. Neoliberalism and neoconservatism, both, are protectors of the authoritarian police state and unsympathetic to the plight of the poor.
Martin Luther King foresaw the riots of 1968. At his last speech at the National Cathedral, he said:
"I don’t like to predict violence. But if nothing is done between now and June to raise ghetto hope, I feel this summer will not only be as bad but worse than last year.”
The conditions, today, are much the same as they were back then, and factoring in the effects of secular stagnation, the new employment reality created by the Great Recession.
Mayor Rawlings-Blake called some of her citizens thugs multiple times before she finally walked her insults back. Even the press started joining in with their usage of the racially-fraught term.
We need better leaders, courageous ones who will stand up to the police unions and will insist on the mass-firing of violent officers. We need a leader who will pick up where King left off and see the mission through. We need Moral Monday in every state and citizens of all races to join together and demand justice and equality. We need a new civil rights movement.
Martin Luther King foresaw the riots of 1968. At his last speech at the National Cathedral, he said:
"I don’t like to predict violence. But if nothing is done between now and June to raise ghetto hope, I feel this summer will not only be as bad but worse than last year.”
The conditions, today, are much the same as they were back then, and factoring in the effects of secular stagnation, the new employment reality created by the Great Recession.
Mayor Rawlings-Blake called some of her citizens thugs multiple times before she finally walked her insults back. Even the press started joining in with their usage of the racially-fraught term.
We need better leaders, courageous ones who will stand up to the police unions and will insist on the mass-firing of violent officers. We need a leader who will pick up where King left off and see the mission through. We need Moral Monday in every state and citizens of all races to join together and demand justice and equality. We need a new civil rights movement.
22
Martin Luther King was telling us about inequality in 1963
http://www.rimaregas.com/2015/04/mlk-died-warning-us-about-inequality-ba...
Rand Paul blames the Baltimore riots on the lack of fathers
http://www.rimaregas.com/2015/04/open-letter-to-senator-randpaul-baltimo...
The incredible offensiveness of "thug"
http://www.rimaregas.com/2015/04/the-incredible-offensiveness-of-thug-ba...
http://www.rimaregas.com/2015/04/mlk-died-warning-us-about-inequality-ba...
Rand Paul blames the Baltimore riots on the lack of fathers
http://www.rimaregas.com/2015/04/open-letter-to-senator-randpaul-baltimo...
The incredible offensiveness of "thug"
http://www.rimaregas.com/2015/04/the-incredible-offensiveness-of-thug-ba...
5
I am heart-sick reading about these shameful behaviors. We've been at war abroad for over a decade, and technically--it appears--at war at home far longer; disenfranchising, dis-empowering, and punishing minorities and others with police actions that are out-of-control and dehumanizing; the police themselves acting as if they are underseige. And our gun culture isn't helping. America desperately needs to find ways to de-escalate tensions and create more respectful ways of connecting. Force is over-rated.
179
Ann....Sometimes the sanest reaction to an insane situation....is Insanity.
Talleyrand's famous comment to Napoleon when Napoleon said, revolt, I'll simply send in the army: you can do everything with bayonets. Except sit on them.
Affluent white people who comment from the comfort of their suburban homes on news articles about lynchings by American police that black citizens "should just comply" with police orders have no idea what they are talking about. American police rough up black people for the fun of it. That's why Freddie Gray ran away when his eyes locked on a cop's.
I am sure by now everyone has read about rides in Baltimore police vans that are called "shaking the can" -- shackling a prisoner, not strapping him to his seat, and driving violently like Stuntman Mike does to kill a girl he picks up in Tarantino's movie "Death Proof."
No progress will be made in race relations in the USA until a simple distinction that escapes millions of white people is widely understood: one person feeling superior to a class of people is bigotry; systematic deprivation and brutalization of an entire class of people on the basis of their skin color is racism. Systems, people. Racism, not bigotry.
I am sure by now everyone has read about rides in Baltimore police vans that are called "shaking the can" -- shackling a prisoner, not strapping him to his seat, and driving violently like Stuntman Mike does to kill a girl he picks up in Tarantino's movie "Death Proof."
No progress will be made in race relations in the USA until a simple distinction that escapes millions of white people is widely understood: one person feeling superior to a class of people is bigotry; systematic deprivation and brutalization of an entire class of people on the basis of their skin color is racism. Systems, people. Racism, not bigotry.
419
There is a solid segment of the US society that understands that race is not biological nor scientifically valid, but has only the purpose of creating unequal classes based on superficial attributes. But that segment has not reached critical mass and this get no attention by the media.
Racism continues to exist because the concept of race remains in use.
Racism continues to exist because the concept of race remains in use.
2
Rachel Maddow described the "shaking the can" ride. Police officers are supposed to enforce the law. They are supposed to strap people to their seats so they don't get hurt on the way to the police station. They give me a ticket if I drive without a seatbelt. To put an injured man in a police van and deny him medical attention and let him slide around in the back of the van until his injuries become fatal is murder and these cops were not held accountable. When the police become the criminals and peaceful protests don't work, this is what you get, and it is ugly. There is enough destruction from natural disasters. We must stop police brutality before people become so hopeless that all they can do is burn down the city. I cannot imagine being robbed and being afraid to call the police. What an awful thing for a child to experience.
2
" That's why Freddie Gray ran away when his eyes locked on a cop's. "
Actually Mr. Gray had, what, 21 felonies already.
Actually Mr. Gray had, what, 21 felonies already.
1
I'm a small dowdy middle age white woman and almost every interaction I've had with the police has been unpleasant. For example I was walking on a sidewalk and two officers started screaming at me to get away ( they were closing the street for a parade) ... There was no asking or explaining just vociferous loud and rude commands. As others have said if this is how they treat me in a situation where there is no crisis or danger I shudder to think about what young African men deal with in their encounters. I don't know how they stand it.
286
Years before 9/11/2001 a friend of mine got lost coming to visit me. She asked for directions from the local police officer who happened to be sitting in the patrol car. She was still lost and passed him by trying to find my street. When she asked him again he turned nasty and said some rude things to her. We're both white females. If this is how we're treated when we're doing nothing wrong I hate to imagine how they treat anyone they think has done some small thing wrong. What the police don't seem to grasp is that we remember being treated badly and that figures into whether or not we report things to them later on. Their attitudes and how they treat us can make a big difference in how we treat them. I was not treated badly by the police when I was a child. It started when I was an adult, when the police who knew what community policing was were replaced by those who had no interest in the community.
It's clear that the police in our village aren't interested in us as residents. Any time we call them we get the runaround. They are nice to the mechanics they have to visit, pleasant to the corner deli employees, and just plain rude to the rest of us. They never say hello, ask us how things are, get out of their patrol cars unless it's to buy a snack. I remember being able to approach a cop on the street and report something suspicious and being taken seriously. Now I wouldn't even bother. I don't want to be treated like a criminal.
It's clear that the police in our village aren't interested in us as residents. Any time we call them we get the runaround. They are nice to the mechanics they have to visit, pleasant to the corner deli employees, and just plain rude to the rest of us. They never say hello, ask us how things are, get out of their patrol cars unless it's to buy a snack. I remember being able to approach a cop on the street and report something suspicious and being taken seriously. Now I wouldn't even bother. I don't want to be treated like a criminal.
2
Many years ago, when I was 15 years old, we had an overaggressive cop in my town. If you were a kid walking down the street after sundown, he would stop you, demand knowing who you were, where you were coming from, where you were going, etc. etc. . I still remember it over 50 years later, with a feeling of annoyance and resentment.
I can only imagine what it must be like to be an adult member of a minority group and be subject to this on a regular basis. Driving, walking, or even sitting around while black is not a crime. Programs like Stop and Frisk may catch a few people who might have bad intentions, but when it becomes a regular intrusion into the lives of members of a community, the result is inevitably radicalization within that community. And the last thing society needs is a significant segment that feels, with justification, that it is under siege by agents of the State.
0t
I can only imagine what it must be like to be an adult member of a minority group and be subject to this on a regular basis. Driving, walking, or even sitting around while black is not a crime. Programs like Stop and Frisk may catch a few people who might have bad intentions, but when it becomes a regular intrusion into the lives of members of a community, the result is inevitably radicalization within that community. And the last thing society needs is a significant segment that feels, with justification, that it is under siege by agents of the State.
0t
204
If only t'were just Baltimore,
It's north, east, south, west, and more,
By us, universal,
Defying reversal,
Revealing real rot at the core.
It's north, east, south, west, and more,
By us, universal,
Defying reversal,
Revealing real rot at the core.
114
The hatred in the Baltimore Police Department is found all over the world. Is the rot born within man to begin with?
Larry,
You really hit it this time. Short and (not) sweet.
You really hit it this time. Short and (not) sweet.
It isn't just blacks, or just black neighborhoods. They have it bad, worse than most others, but it isn't just them.
Cops are out of control in many places.
I'm a white attorney and I've been beaten by cops, twice. I've seen things in minority (not black) neighborhoods that are stunning in their unreasoning brutality.
My theory is that the problem is big departments. It isn't all big departments. Some run out of control, too big to be faced down by any local political power, or encouraged and used by local politics.
Small departments can be ugly too, and a couple around here are so corrupt other cops will not deal with them. But small departments are self limiting, ringed around by other cops not part of it, usually despised by the others.
What this author describes here I've seen. It only gets that bad on that scale in big departments.
I write this because I've seen it doesn't have to be that way. My example is the Michigan State Police, which is a very big department, but famously honest and I've never seen it abusive. It is who you call to clean up other departments gone bad.
They ARE NOT local. They also rotate, so they don't "go local." The answer is not so simple as local guys. I've seen too many local guys go bad. Local effects often include creeping small corruption, and the local politics that encourages it.
The solution is standards, that come from the top, and are safeguarded by enforcement, that avoids any corrupting local politics.
Cops are out of control in many places.
I'm a white attorney and I've been beaten by cops, twice. I've seen things in minority (not black) neighborhoods that are stunning in their unreasoning brutality.
My theory is that the problem is big departments. It isn't all big departments. Some run out of control, too big to be faced down by any local political power, or encouraged and used by local politics.
Small departments can be ugly too, and a couple around here are so corrupt other cops will not deal with them. But small departments are self limiting, ringed around by other cops not part of it, usually despised by the others.
What this author describes here I've seen. It only gets that bad on that scale in big departments.
I write this because I've seen it doesn't have to be that way. My example is the Michigan State Police, which is a very big department, but famously honest and I've never seen it abusive. It is who you call to clean up other departments gone bad.
They ARE NOT local. They also rotate, so they don't "go local." The answer is not so simple as local guys. I've seen too many local guys go bad. Local effects often include creeping small corruption, and the local politics that encourages it.
The solution is standards, that come from the top, and are safeguarded by enforcement, that avoids any corrupting local politics.
237
I completely agree.....we need to clean up our police departments and regulate them on a continuous cycle. This (corruptness) has been going on for way too long. I was (sexually) harassed by a Sheriff and had no resources or outlets. Who do we look to for assurance and how do we clean house? It seems obvious that many of those in charge are corrupt...so where does one begin?
4
It must begin at the top. We can't work our way up from the bottom.
Working our way up is just playing into the layers of protection used by those at the top, who have the real power to change things but don't want to change them.
Working our way up is just playing into the layers of protection used by those at the top, who have the real power to change things but don't want to change them.
2
A year ago I was pulled over in suburban Pittsburgh because my car's inspection had lapsed. When the cop noticed that my registration sticker was missing from my tag (it had fallen off) he grew increasingly confrontational in his treatment of me, a 60 year old white guy. I can't even begin to imagine what it is like for a black man in the same situation. It took me a year to drive through that same community and not get a shot of adrenaline to my gut when I saw a cop car behind me. That just isn't the way this is supposed to work. We have created a quasi "police state" which makes guys like me afraid, but which terrorizes anyone of color. It is time to stop this. Now!
423
Having a current state inspection on your car is state law in Pennsylvania.
I think what D. Watkins is telling us is that at some point being white won't protect us either. It seems as if it's okay as long as it's those people, the blacks who are being shot or beat up by the police. The other thing we all need to remember is that it's a lot easier to fix things before they are destroyed by the cracks than it is to put them together after they give out. Since 9/11/2001 we've given law enforcement too much power due to our fear of terrorists. Now we have to fear them, fear for our safety if we don't behave just right, fear for our lives if we run or question.
I've seen the change. Police officers used to be approachable. Now they aren't. As we grew more afraid they became more aggressive and more inclined to treat things as issues requiring force and arrest. There are times to be tough and times to be community police officers. Today's officers don't seem to grasp the difference and that's terrifying. They are allowed to carry guns, use force, and kill if they think it's called for. They seem to have forgotten that they can treat all of us like people, even those they think are criminals. But we need to take control back too. We need to stop being so afraid of everything and everyone.
I've seen the change. Police officers used to be approachable. Now they aren't. As we grew more afraid they became more aggressive and more inclined to treat things as issues requiring force and arrest. There are times to be tough and times to be community police officers. Today's officers don't seem to grasp the difference and that's terrifying. They are allowed to carry guns, use force, and kill if they think it's called for. They seem to have forgotten that they can treat all of us like people, even those they think are criminals. But we need to take control back too. We need to stop being so afraid of everything and everyone.
426
"at some point being white won't protect us either"
It doesn't now. Most just don't come face to face with it. I have, lilly white and all. Others too, clients and friends.
Maybe they come for blacks in these news stories, but they already come for you, your wife, and your children too in unfortunate and maybe unexpected places.
We are all in this problem together, now, already. Some of us just don't know it yet.
It doesn't now. Most just don't come face to face with it. I have, lilly white and all. Others too, clients and friends.
Maybe they come for blacks in these news stories, but they already come for you, your wife, and your children too in unfortunate and maybe unexpected places.
We are all in this problem together, now, already. Some of us just don't know it yet.
191
The thing is that after 9/11 Americans lost their collective minds. I don't see this lunatic fearfulness going away for a generation.
12
There is also the fact that we have been passing criminal laws at an alarming rate for the past 50 years, such that (as Judge Alex Kozinski has observed) everything is now illegal, and have been doing so even as basic rights of defendants have been steadily eroded since the demise of the Warren Court, the immunities of officers and prosecutors have been judicially enhanced by the doctrine of qualified immunity, and the practice of indemnifying accused officers has become so widespread it has all but eliminated individual responsibility, and thus deterrence.
I knew it was gonna be bad when, on Hill Street Blues," every roll call ended with the sergeant saying, "Let's do it to them before they do it to us."
I knew it was gonna be bad when, on Hill Street Blues," every roll call ended with the sergeant saying, "Let's do it to them before they do it to us."
7
I have an idea, why not continue to demonstrate, peacefully, demand better and accountable policing in your crime ridden neighborhoods, and... this is the important part.. create a program that halts the high incidence of teen pregnancy and fatherless homes. Those 2 together may change for the positive the next generation.
Or you can continue to burn things.. and see how that goes.