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The effect of the execution of the two police officers has much longer legs than the police.
Those police officers had families. Those families have friends, those friends have friends. Real fast this goes far beyond those two officers. It already has. Listen to what people are saying and it isn't what the protesters and drive by black community) wants to hear.
Even if the protests fade, guess what doesn't fade? The execution of two police officers, justified by the same voice that people see when they watch the protests.
Yes, there are whites and others participating in these protests. They seem to be part of the everyday America but they aren't. If they were, protests wouldn't need bussed in participants and selected areas like Oakland and other large cities. You'd have protests in all the small towns throughout the midwest, the south, the northwest...the smaller population centers, not the biggest.
There is no America standing up in these protests, there are agenda driven coalitions seeking to popularize a limited problem created to incite racial division, not reduce it or even eliminate it.
There are people making a lot of money on these protest.
Who thinks these protests are America talking?
Okay, then let me ask simply:
Where are the protests at Martha's Vineyard?
Where are the protests in the Hamptons?
Where are the protests in Las Vegas?
Where are the protests in Tiburon, Ca.?
Where are the protests in Lincoln Nebraska?
Where are the protests in Lexington Kentucky?
Where are the protests in Dothan Alabama?
Where are the protests in Newtown Ct?
Yeah, in the wealthy areas there aren't going to be protests (wouldn't want the suit wearing civil rights leaders impacted now would we) but notice the absence of them almost everywhere that you might find a typical American living, working and doing what they can to make things go 'round?
Where do you see the protests? The cities where handouts abound, where public places can be trashed with impunity, innocent people assaulted for trying to protect their property but can't because it's almost impossible to have a firearm for personal protection unless you can't get to it. Places where you can protest by night to clog up freeways where people are trying to get home or work to pay for those "entitlements" make it possible for protesters to stand in line to collect their benefits to buy food and clothes they trade for drugs.
Yes, that is where you see the protests and look closely at who is protesting and ask yourself one question...do you see them stuck in the traffic the next morning trying to get to work or do you see them line standing on the street at the corner where pulljunkbubba is waiting to slap some on them?
The protests should continue if those involved think they should. Those who are against protesting should not use this tragedy as an excuse to squash that they disagree with.
There were 2 more killed in Las Vegas today eating pizza. I think this may have legs for awhile, it definitely has the police on edge. I think our police have become very militant these last few years, not people you really want to be around or respect. Some of them are no better than a bunch of gangsters themselves.
I have been thinking of this here lately. I have nothing in common with them as a citizen, they're apart from me and mine almost like another class. Nothing like they were 20 years ago.
The protests should continue if those involved think they should. Those who are against protesting should not use this tragedy as an excuse to squash that they disagree with.
Why many people (including me) don't support the protest. I don't think people on here are trying to squash it. The thing that could squash any protest is not being able to get the public on their side. A single high profile negative story could kill any movement.
Will the movement of protest behind the killing of Mike Brown and Eric Garner now be kill or crippled do to the tragic killings of the two NYPD police officers? Or was the movement already slowing momentum? Why or why not?
(no right or wrong answers but try to be civil)
It will, at least I hope, lead to a more intelligent discussion on the issue of police relations with blacks (American and immigrant). Most black people know that most policemen are ordinary people no better nor no worse than any one.
There do exist a minority of police men, not all white, who have bad attitudes. There are also communications gaps that can lead to misunderstanding, and can escalate an event beyond where it is supposed to go.
I will give an example of an incident which involved me. I was waiting for a cab in an almost exclusively white Westchester suburb. This was a party and the host was a little too drunk to carry me back to the train station, so called a cab. Not knowing the attitudes of some of his neighbors, he didn't think that maybe he should have stayed with me while I was outside waiting for a cab.
I will add if he was black he would have stayed with me until the cab came, not wanting the embarrassment of inviting some one to his house to a party and have the night end up with a confrontation based on racist notions that some people have.
Some panicked white neighbor called the cops because she didn't know who I was and had never seen more before. The cops came and with their normal gruff manner, which they reserve for young black men (we are presumed guilty and have to prove our innocence).
Once they realized that the situation was created by a panicky neighbor and the person who I was visiting verified who I was, two of the cops apologized and wished me a good night. The third one continued to be rude and ranted that he didn't catch me with a gun THIS time, implying that I am a criminal. This is after he saw my business card, and verified from the host that I am a professional and not a criminal. Clearly he is a racist.
So the discussion shouldn't be about damning all cops as racist. Most aren't any more than the rest of us are. The issue should be training them to treat people with respect and to APOLOGIZE if the person who they stop and search is proven to be innocent. And to root out the racists when they can be found. A cop with excessive complaints should be investigated to determine the reasons for this.
In fact the problem with the police isn't the shootings. It is their rudeness which causes people to fear them, especially given the likelihood of an arrest. This being the reason for the emotional outburst. No one wants to have to explain an arrest when looking for a job, a bank loan, or some where to live.
The second area of discussion is in policing strategies. While there is merit in the "Broken Windows" strategy. Those of us who knew NYC in the 80s can appreciate this, when open drug dealing of crack, and heroin and coke went on in FULL daylight. Is selling loose cigarettes really an offense which merits an arrest? Or are there other ways to deal with this?
The main focus of the police should be to protect the communities. They should not behave like an occupying force. REAL dialogue needs to exist between the communities and the local police. Community policing has to be the focus.
And most important. Local municipalities need to be careful about which laws they wish the police to enforce and what the penalties should be. The War on Drugs and the disproportionate arrests of black and brown men isn't the fault of the police. Its the fault of the legislatures which enacted certain strategies which focused more on petty drug dealing by low level dealers, and less on arresting the importation and large scale trading of drugs.
So if there is any benefit in all of this it should be a focus more on discussions and negotiations and less on protests.
I am glad that the vast majority of NYers were intelligent and compassionate enough to not fall into the trap of condoning, or making light of this assassination, even as they continue to demand better policing. And the screams of Pat Lynch, as much of a race baiter as some accuse Sharpton of being, needs to stop!
There are sincere protesters out there who deserve to be heard. But they are drowned out by what I call the "professional protesters" who show up for any and every protest -- even traveling across the country to do so.
These "protesters" are basically the same people that were part of Occupy Wall Street -- people with nothing better to do.
They live on the dole (SSI "disability"), on Mommy and Daddy, on trust funds, or they're students whose teachers join them in the protest.
The cause for them is always the same -- down with America, down with authority. They often want violence and act accordingly.
If you talk to them, they don't know anything.
The only reason we notice them is that the media focuses on them, and it's predictable -- like Kabuki Theater: first the media shows, up, then the politicians (because of the media), and then -- in the liberal cities like New York, Oakland and San Francisco -- the protesters are given free rein.
There may or may not be rioting, vandalism, etc.
Ordinary Americans might get worked up a bit over the issues, but forget them when the next big sports event happens.
There were 2 more killed in Las Vegas today eating pizza. I think this may have legs for awhile, it definitely has the police on edge. I think our police have become very militant these last few years, not people you really want to be around or respect. Some of them are no better than a bunch of gangsters themselves.
I have been thinking of this here lately. I have nothing in common with them as a citizen, they're apart from me and mine almost like another class. Nothing like they were 20 years ago.
That happened several months ago. The perps were anti-govt whack jobs.
Where are the protests at Martha's Vineyard?
Where are the protests in the Hamptons?
Where are the protests in Las Vegas?
Where are the protests in Tiburon, Ca.?
Where are the protests in Lincoln Nebraska?
Where are the protests in Lexington Kentucky?
Where are the protests in Dothan Alabama?
Where are the protests in Newtown Ct?
Hmmm?
Maybe because the type of policing that they get is different. They don't encounter the rude cop who calls them a criminal even when furnished proof that the person who they accosted is a professional and MAKING MORE THAN THEY MAKE!
There are sincere protesters out there who deserve to be heard. But they are drowned out by what I call the "professional protesters" who show up for any and every protest -- even traveling across the country to do so.
These "protesters" are basically the same people that were part of Occupy Wall Street -- people with nothing better to do.
They live on the dole (SSI "disability"), on Mommy and Daddy, on trust funds, or they're students whose teachers join them in the protest.
The cause for them is always the same -- down with America, down with authority. They often want violence and act accordingly.
If you talk to them, they don't know anything.
The only reason we notice them is that the media focuses on them, and it's predictable -- like Kabuki Theater: first the media shows, up, then the politicians (because of the media), and then -- in the liberal cities like New York, Oakland and San Francisco -- the protesters are given free rein.
There may or may not be rioting, vandalism, etc.
Ordinary Americans might get worked up a bit over the issues, but forget them when the next big sports event happens.
Now is this kind of rant the type which fosters a solution of problems?
No!
We solve problems when we learn to listen and when we try to understand the perspectives of the other side, while we try to get them to understand ours.
You do NONE of the above, so WORSEN the problem rather then encourage a solution.
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