ON: Eric Garner and Mike Brown are not martyrs
Posted 12-11-2014 at 05:18 PM by Blondebaerde
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lital_The_Best
With the recent events of police of whats been going on with Eric Garner and Mike Brown, I have been silent about these sensitive and very frustrating issues. Since I try to be as pragmatic as possible about these issues rather than jump the gun and be too liberal or conservative. There's no secret that police brutality and racism is very real, very alive and very active. I don't care if you're White, Black, whatever, its real, its evident and if you don't think so you're probably some very privileged White person who doesn't understand any struggle and much less the struggle of people in lower economic backgrounds and especially non-white poor peoples struggle or you're just delusional.
Its NOT to say all police are bad and corrupt. I have 2 friends and a family member in the police force and they are genuine people who join the force because they want to make a change in any way they can. And my experiences with police have been okay since I tend to interact with them in polite and intelligent matter. On the flip side, yes, I have also had experiences with policemen who aren't the most model citizen. This isn't my point though.
Growing up in the inner cities of NYC, I know how people in the ghetto can be. There's always this "no snitching" policy amongst the goons and the people who fear and/or look up to them. And there's DEFINITELY a huge mistrust with police. Its a hard situation to comment on because I have seen police activity at its worse and finest and I can understand why some don't have faith in the police. On the same token, I feel a lot (key word: A LOT, NOT ALL) people in the ghetto make it hard for police. These goons, thugs, hooligans always want to flaunt how "big and bad" they are, terrorize the neighborhood, sell dope, crack and other drugs, ruin their surrounding environment and make it hard for the people in the ghetto who DO work, go to school and make an honest living.
They're the first to shoot rap videos, sag their pants, do all sorts of suspicious activity but once confronted, caught, busted by a police officer for selling drugs or just simply for violating certain laws (I.E. loitering in front of the buildings or bodegas/delis/markets, whatever you choose to call it) they have to make a big stink out of it and complain they're being treated unfairly. And like the lots of zombies they are, the people who support these scum join in on protesting that cops are treating them unfairly.
I'm bringing this up because this is the case of Eric Garner and Mike Brown. I have also been hesitant because I know its a very sensitive subject and some people can't seem to use logic with such sensitive topics. However, not to say they should have died or that they deserved too but I really don't understand and I am highly exasperated that they are being martyrs. Many might argue that they are being martyrs because it show cases police brutality and I can understand that. Either way, I at least feel the Mike Brown case is just all sorts of convoluted and Eric Garner...Well, I'll get to that.
What exasperates me is that ESPECIALLY the White, liberal, hippie protesters-first of all-wouldn't want anything to do with Mike Brown or Eric Garner if they knew them in real life. And Mike Brown and Eric Garner wouldn't give two craps about them. Yet, all these White, liberal, hippies want to act like they would have held hands and sang kumbaya with these low lives.
If Mike Brown would have went into your store robbed any of you White hippies, physically harassed, you'll be the first to send for the man. And Eric Garner, a man with 30 prior arrest--some which consist of assault and grand larceny--is the type of man you wouldn't want marching about in your nice gentrified neighborhoods. And Erice Garner simply shouldn't have tried to resist arrest. I have seen people like him in the hood who continuously sell drugs or do other illegal activities time and time again, and every time they are confronted by the police, they resist arrest, scream they are being "abused" and then make a big case out of it.
And it baffles me how the Latinos and Black people of the inner cities make goons like this martyrs. Its not like these guys were future Martin Luther King Jrs's, Roy Innis's are some political and/or civil rights activist, humanitarian who were vested in the future and betterment of the current and next generations of Blacks, Latinos or everyone for that matter and were gunned down or assassinated. Nor was it like it was some completely innocent man who didn't do anything at all (even if he did have checkered past) and was gunned down or choked out without any good reason. Like the guy in Brooklyn who got gunned down in the staircase because the cop got "spooked".
Its not to say they deserved to die but its also very tiring that guys like this, who I am 90% sure, if they were alive wouldn't give 2 flying fits about anyone who is out there protesting for them-would be worrying about you.
Its a frustrating topic to discuss because these issues further divide the country and divert us from the many other sinister issues that are at hand in this country. We shouldn't be so blind but instead try to understand both sides of the issue.
Its NOT to say all police are bad and corrupt. I have 2 friends and a family member in the police force and they are genuine people who join the force because they want to make a change in any way they can. And my experiences with police have been okay since I tend to interact with them in polite and intelligent matter. On the flip side, yes, I have also had experiences with policemen who aren't the most model citizen. This isn't my point though.
Growing up in the inner cities of NYC, I know how people in the ghetto can be. There's always this "no snitching" policy amongst the goons and the people who fear and/or look up to them. And there's DEFINITELY a huge mistrust with police. Its a hard situation to comment on because I have seen police activity at its worse and finest and I can understand why some don't have faith in the police. On the same token, I feel a lot (key word: A LOT, NOT ALL) people in the ghetto make it hard for police. These goons, thugs, hooligans always want to flaunt how "big and bad" they are, terrorize the neighborhood, sell dope, crack and other drugs, ruin their surrounding environment and make it hard for the people in the ghetto who DO work, go to school and make an honest living.
They're the first to shoot rap videos, sag their pants, do all sorts of suspicious activity but once confronted, caught, busted by a police officer for selling drugs or just simply for violating certain laws (I.E. loitering in front of the buildings or bodegas/delis/markets, whatever you choose to call it) they have to make a big stink out of it and complain they're being treated unfairly. And like the lots of zombies they are, the people who support these scum join in on protesting that cops are treating them unfairly.
I'm bringing this up because this is the case of Eric Garner and Mike Brown. I have also been hesitant because I know its a very sensitive subject and some people can't seem to use logic with such sensitive topics. However, not to say they should have died or that they deserved too but I really don't understand and I am highly exasperated that they are being martyrs. Many might argue that they are being martyrs because it show cases police brutality and I can understand that. Either way, I at least feel the Mike Brown case is just all sorts of convoluted and Eric Garner...Well, I'll get to that.
What exasperates me is that ESPECIALLY the White, liberal, hippie protesters-first of all-wouldn't want anything to do with Mike Brown or Eric Garner if they knew them in real life. And Mike Brown and Eric Garner wouldn't give two craps about them. Yet, all these White, liberal, hippies want to act like they would have held hands and sang kumbaya with these low lives.
If Mike Brown would have went into your store robbed any of you White hippies, physically harassed, you'll be the first to send for the man. And Eric Garner, a man with 30 prior arrest--some which consist of assault and grand larceny--is the type of man you wouldn't want marching about in your nice gentrified neighborhoods. And Erice Garner simply shouldn't have tried to resist arrest. I have seen people like him in the hood who continuously sell drugs or do other illegal activities time and time again, and every time they are confronted by the police, they resist arrest, scream they are being "abused" and then make a big case out of it.
And it baffles me how the Latinos and Black people of the inner cities make goons like this martyrs. Its not like these guys were future Martin Luther King Jrs's, Roy Innis's are some political and/or civil rights activist, humanitarian who were vested in the future and betterment of the current and next generations of Blacks, Latinos or everyone for that matter and were gunned down or assassinated. Nor was it like it was some completely innocent man who didn't do anything at all (even if he did have checkered past) and was gunned down or choked out without any good reason. Like the guy in Brooklyn who got gunned down in the staircase because the cop got "spooked".
Its not to say they deserved to die but its also very tiring that guys like this, who I am 90% sure, if they were alive wouldn't give 2 flying fits about anyone who is out there protesting for them-would be worrying about you.
Its a frustrating topic to discuss because these issues further divide the country and divert us from the many other sinister issues that are at hand in this country. We shouldn't be so blind but instead try to understand both sides of the issue.
I am a White person, of privilege, and read news and commentary/analysis voraciously. I made an effort to drastically "Up my street IQ" about ten years ago, to mixed success (mostly associating with poor Whites). I have never lived in a ghetto, or have use for ignorant behavior. When noted in my neighborhood, past-present, I and my neighbors have the cops on it like twerking to Miley Cyrus. And the cops run it out with startling efficiency.
I'm not delusional, or racist that I know-of. My friends, and professional peers, are all "races" and genders and orientations, but we do have something in common: social stratification based on achievement and merit. That's the new class system in America, I must say. Frankly, we are the doers...for whatever reason...mostly via hard work and smarts. If "privilege" helped elevate us, I know not: I was not born with a silver spoon, but definitely a bronze one (so to speak). I have friends who are self-made multimillionaires, and one or two born with silver and gold spoons in their mouths. The latter had an easier time climbing the ladder, but still had to earn it once there.
All of the above is a little luck, a lot of great upbringing, and huge amount of competitiveness and insisting on winning. So we're vicious and condescending, sometimes, because as George Orwell wrote about the High, Middle, and Low: "the High are working to stay where they are, not trade places with the Middle. The Low never change!"
SO: In my view...
Mr. Garner's fate was unfair, and nuanced in that it didn't have to happen. He chose to be grossly obese and belligerent, though not excessively the latter, and died of stress (I believe, based on what we know). I don't care if he was 350 lbs of White, Black, or Brown beef, my opinion is he didn't need to go down like that however. I believe the issue is a matter of "oppressive laws" more than "racism". The cops really should have handed him a summons and walked away.
Mr. Brown got what he deserved, and dictated all the outcomes of that day. The police response was over the top, but that did NOT mean they needed to kick back and allow looting after GJ decision came in. I'd have the govenor's a__ for that, thus I hope the voters do just that.
In the end, I'm guessing that 99.9% of professional, educated people with careers and families would say: what's "fair" entirely depends on the facts, not how someone "feels" about supposed-injustice.
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