Baltimore Riots & The Death of Freddie Gray

[The Divine Potato]

Oh and remember how he was supposedly carrying an illegal switchblade? He was carrying a very legal (in Baltimore at least) pocket knife.

[TheKingsHills]

Oh and remember how he was supposedly carrying an illegal switchblade? He was carrying a very legal (in Baltimore at least) pocket knife.

Source?

[Foopzheart]

Base on these quotes I have gathered this.

The police shut down all public transportation in the area around the school.
In response the students gathered at the mall, like planned for the "purge," and threw bottles and bricks at the police.

Also, is running from the police for no reason, not suspicious?
when you live in a Police State, especially one that discriminates against the poor and colored,I don't think its suspicious at all.
In the Atlantic it is said the police made eye contact with Gray and he ran.
This is not suspicious? At all?
Why would he run from the police if he had done nothing wrong?

There have been many, many cases of police brutality when the victim has done absolutely nothing wrong. I'm not talking about ones where it is debatable like Micheal Brown, but cases like the one in (i believe pennyslvania) where a group of cops pulled a white old man out of his car, into the grass at the side, and proceded to beat him to death. Another case of a middle aged white male was shot in his car at a stopping spot on the high way because he reached for his car pocket when the officer requested he present his ID and car registration. the officer claimed he was reaching for a gun. In a country where this happens, especially in Baltimore, where the Baltimore Police Department has murdered over 100 people since 2010, people want to avoid the police.
Essentially, if he had done nothing wrong why would his non-crimes be so bad that he felt it was necessary to run from the police without being confronted. Why would you run from the police at all?
If the Police had a record of murder and extortion then yes I would.
If you have done nothing wrong, you should have no problem with talking to the police, and proving your innocence in court. Assuming you are innocent. You have no reason to run from the police if you are innocent.
Do you also agree with the New Patriot Act and the US Government stripping your constitutional rights away in order to root out terrorism? Bear in mind the CIA and other organizations have done reports labeling how the NPA and NSA have done nothing successful in stopping terrorism. The, "if you've done nothing wrong" reason is full of crap and is not a valid reason to be mandhandled or confronted or forced to undergo illegal searches.

One of the things I have noticed in all of these police brutality cases that have hit the mainstream media. Is that most, if not all of those I've heard about have involved the victim RESISTING ARREST.
What constitutes resisting arrest is moving in any way, shape, or form that the police does not take kindly. So if you're handcuffed, and you move your arms around to try to get comfortable, that is resisting arrest. If you're getting tackled and you wiggle forward so you can breathe or get some weight off of you, that is also resisting arrest. Coming from a family full of boys and dogs, all I've done is wrestle, and let me tell you, it is impossible to get tackled and not move at all, because you always fall down weird where you can't breathe right or an area hurts and you need to wiggle to get into a comfortable spot. This all counts as resisting arrest.
These people would probably still be alive if they didn't attempt to resist arrest.

The point is, I think the riot was distasteful. Regardless of justified or not.
Just people taking advantage of a death of a fellow person to take out violent urges.
Gray's death marked the 115th? I believe, death in Baltimore in the space of 5 years. Also, a big bank had bought many houses and properties in Baltimore and proceed to foreclose on families for ridiculous reasons so they could kick them out. That area of Baltimore has received very little economic funds to build themselves up and pull themselves out of the gutter. The riots did not use Gray's death, its been a long period of time of constant government negligence and discrimination that as prompted for the people of Baltimore to rise up and protest.

This isn't about race (though it is a huge part of the problem) it all stems from poverty and harsh classist views against the poor. This stems from ghettos being completely ignored, and the lack of funding to help these people get out and get jobs. Bad economic areas result to violence because they are mad. Keep this in mind, if America invest money to rebuild its infrastructure and its ghettos, there would be no more violence. You don't see the Swedish Government opening fire and tear gassing Muslim protesters who want legal protection for their faith.

Also, is running from the police for no reason, not suspicious?
when you live in a Police State, especially one that discriminates against the poor and colored,I don't think its suspicious at all.
In the Atlantic it is said the police made eye contact with Gray and he ran.
This is not suspicious? At all?
Why would he run from the police if he had done nothing wrong?

when you live in a Police State, especially one that discriminates against the poor and colored,I don't think its suspicious at all.
In the Atlantic it is said the police made eye contact with Gray and he ran.

when you live in a Police State,

Police State,

I smell bias.

[Foopzheart]

Riots solve no problems, and never have. That's all I'm going to say.

hold on a minute buddy but i think u need to pick up a history book, specifically on revolutions, both armed and political.

In the United States alone, riots for socio-economic justice sparked landmarks in the expansion of both civil and economic rights.

The Haymarket Riot of 1886 gave us the 8 hour work day, freeing the American proletariat from harsh, exhausting, stressing, and sometimes fatal work.

The 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain sparked the awareness of the horrid conditions coal miners were forced to go through. This lead legislation being passed in various parts of the US to expand workers rights and environmental protections, and quite possibly, sparked every further movement to expand the rights and protections of the common American worker.

The Stonewall Riots of 1969 sparked the Gay Rights Movement, and over the space of 50 years have lead to crucial studies on homosexuality, bisexuality, and the overall tolerance and acceptance of those not of heterosexuality. As of now, the US is close to passing gay marriage nation wide, as well as over 20 states granting full and complete economic protection in the workplace for the LGBTQ community.

The Civil Rights Movements of the 60's saw many riots, before, during and after MLK's various peaceful marches and speeches. This movement undoubtedly marked American politics to continuously discuss the race topic. This has prompted numerous local and state governments to begin aid to bring the African American community out of the ghettos they originally put them in. It even prompted the US National government to begin a program to repair the ghettos nation wide (this was defunded during the Vietnam War and was never continued again, becoming the reason why ghettos exist in the United States and the continued class struggle of the poor against socio-economic injustice)

Riots in the late 1700s in France sparked the French Revolution. The importance of the first socialist revolution in history was critical to the formation and popularization of democratic, republican governments abandoning the monarchical theme and shifting to governments to serve the people. Along with the American and Polish Revolutions of the 1700s, the French is most notable for its more radical opinions and revolutionized theories on the government permanently. Many economists, sociologists, psychologists, political scientists, and those who study government can link their professions and founders to the French Revolution. Though the French Revolution failed, as did its protest, its burn on human civilization never ended, and its questions it asked and further caused, still have us discussing today and questioning the government.

The riots in Hungary in the 1950's prompted a short lived civil war fighting for democratic socialism in the fascist authoritarian grip of the Soviet Union. The Hungarian riots and its armed revolutionaries sparked government dissent of the Soviet Bloc against the Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, which lead up to Poland becoming the founding father of transrights with their Warsaw Circuit Act of 1967 (correct this year idk if its 67) that expanded trans rights.

The factory protests of 1908 in St. Petersburg, Russia, was an eyeopener to the Russian nation that the Imperial Government was a failure and that the Russian proletariat was being harshly discriminated and exploited to fund a failed, unproductive imperialistic expansion into Eastern Europe. The protests evolved into riots when the Russian Army began to open fire, which lead to many defects of the Russian Army and eventually, the Russian Civil War (aka the Socialist Revolution, or the October Revolution) Though the Russian Civil War failed in its efforts to establish a Marxist Republic with the death of Lenin and the rise of the fascist, Josef Stalin, leaders of the revolution inspired countless freedom fighters throughout the world in demanding economic protections and the empowerment of the proletariat and the disenfranchized. Revolutionary leaders throughout history can link their efforts to the Russian Civil War, such as Nelson Mandela, Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Mohammad Mossadegh, MLK, Ghandi, and many more.

I can honestly go on, but I think these key moments in history can tell you and everyone else that Riots do accomplish things, great things.

I'm talking riots in America, recently.

Rodney King? Nothing.
Michael Brown? Nothing.
Eric Garner? Nothing.
Freddie Gray? Wow, fucking nothing.

Maybe take a different approach. And don't credit MLK or Gandhi to violence, since, you know, their entire movements were against that.

[Shadowstar1922]

You should have been more specific with your comment on riots. But alas, I did give main examples of riots in the USA. You said they have never accomplished anything and they never will, but they have. They continuously will. Look at Syria, Tunisia, Egypt, Israel, Iran, Hong Kong, Russia, all example of modern riots accomplishing big things. You can't just subject one nation to its history of riots and ignore the rest of the world's history because it makes you uncomfortable or you don't like thinking about those.

Also, it is pretty evident we live in a Police State. Our police forces have anti mine heavily armed tanks, sniper rifles, assault riffles, drones, air force, and chemical weapons. They're literally an army, and since what, 2013? they've been getting military grade gear from the Pentagon directly. We only know this because it was leaked and they admitted it, so who knows how long that's been going on. Bringing in the history of violent oppression when movements get momentum, such as the Civil Rights movement, Stonewall/Gay Rights movement, Vietnam anti war movements, all the way up to now with the anti-corporate March on Wall Street; America is known to violently oppress movements aiming to change the government and society, the only reason why they do it is because they do not want opposition.

You honestly think America is the first superpower or world power or regional power in all of humanity's 30,000 years of advanced civilization, to not practice authoritarianism? Eliminating political dissent? Exploiting the poor? Crushing general opposition? You really gotta read some books bro.

The amount of spying the US government does on its own people, how it stalks dissidents and just the people in general. I mean, the US is smart, they're slowly coming to admitting it. It's been a really slow transition from a democratic federal republic to a plutocratic totalitarian oligarchy.

Read Orwell's 1986, or Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.

The US just adjusts oppression, and waits for the next generation to get used to is so they can move on.

Ghandi and MLK did advocate for peace and pacifism, but you can't just ignore and turn a blindside to the violence that erupted. Don't self censor yourself from history, those riots and those fights were just as important and critical to their own respective movements and should always be brought up when mentioning those leaders, just as we should always mention their pacifism.