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They're not being peaceful if they're disobeying laws to get their point across. Do it at the courthouse or across the street from the police station, but don't sit in the middle of a heavily traveled freeway and block traffic to get your point across.
I agree. I think it's sorry when the standard is "be happy your city isn't burning down".
The media did a wonderful job fanning the flames of this one, so I'll admit that I wasn't unhappy to see a CNN reporter get hit in the head with a bottle in Ferguson. I think the media needs a wakeup themselves that this stuff is really happening.
What is it they're all protesting anyway and why in a Durham highway? Were they witnesses? Did they all sit on the Grand Jury and see all of the evidence? Someone throw me a bone here. . . 'cause I ain't gettin' it. .
^^^This. This all day long. Some won't get it. But like the saying goes, "You can't wake somebody up who is pretending to be asleep."
I guess count me in as one not getting how blocking a major freeway in Durham helps anybody's cause for something that happened in Missouri? As was so eleoquently pointed out above, the lunch counter and bus were finite targets that disrupted a smaller number of people but still got a point across.
Were those blocking the freeway wanting to antagonize the local police? Ratchet up tensions here? I for one can say this is not helping their cause in the public's eye.
Seriously? You're comparing this to lunch counter sit-ins? That was a private business, this is a public highway. Also, they sat at the lunch counter to protest not being able to get service at said lunch counter. Why block the Durham freeway for something that happened in Missouri?
I'm not comparing the two, merely pointing out that your statement that by breaking a law a protect cannot be considered peaceful is bunk. Your argument wasn't about private business versus public highway - your argument was that simply by breaking the law, a protest cannot be considered peaceful. Might I remind you that by sitting at the lunch counter, civil rights protesters were breaking the law too? And again, Rosa Parks' protest was on a public bus, so again, by your logic, her protest wasn't "peaceful." As for why block a Durham freeway for actions that happen in Missouri, why should white college kids from New York have cared one whit what happened to impoverished blacks in Mississippi? Because if a movement calls to you, for whatever reason, you tend to join. Just because you individually don't understand it doesn't make it any less valid.
Was this something planned, approved by local officials and the public notified ahead of time, with signage and road blocks? Blocking a road like the Durham Freeway seems awfully dangerous, especially if someone is driving 60mph and comes up on the blockage, not knowing it was there.
What is it they're all protesting anyway and why in a Durham highway? Were they witnesses? Did they all sit on the Grand Jury and see all of the evidence? Someone throw me a bone here. . . 'cause I ain't gettin' it. .
+1
After publicly stating that their judgement is better, more fair, than the Grand Jury at Ferguson, (who had the legal power to force anyone to provide them with all the information they felt necessary), they proceed to block traffic rather than demonstrate at their courthouse or center of politicians, IE: county or state legislatures offices.
Who, after even a seconds-worth of rational thought, believes this isn't about gathering publicity for THEM, rather than for justice?
What is it they're all protesting anyway and why in a Durham highway? Were they witnesses? Did they all sit on the Grand Jury and see all of the evidence? Someone throw me a bone here. . . 'cause I ain't gettin' it. .
There were nationwide protests - it was really more than about the Ferguson decision. Wish I could remember the exact wording a CNN guest used this morning because it was excellent, but it was basically a protest about racial injustice in general in other cities.
I'm all for it though I admit if I had been caught in traffic on the Durham freeway or trying to get into NYC via the Lincoln Tunnel I would have been totally annoyed.
I feel like this entire situation is a product of the media. The same media, who will never feel accountability for their irresponsible reporting and the devastation that they leave in their wake.
First, the issue and subsequent national conversation in Ferguson should be only about the use of force by LEOs. There is no proof or evidence of any racial or violent tendencies of Officer Wilson, so there is way to say this is race related. I do feel like the use of force by LEOs in America needs attention, and I would fully support ongoing focus and conversations on the topic. It is complete and total shame that Michael Brown lost his life, and that Officer Wilson will unlikely ever be able to live a normal one again.
Second, the sensational reporting for ratings sake needs to stop. It is insanely dangerous and irresponsible. Every single article describes Michael Brown as an 'unarmed black teenager,' and Officer Wilson is a part of an 'overwhelmingly' white police force. Why does race need to be used as a descriptor? On the flip side of things - if a reporter was to describe Michael Brown as an 'imposing man who was an active suspect in a robbery' and Officer Wilson as a 'decorated officer with an unblemished record' the sensation may flip the other way.
Just stick with the facts! But I guess facts don't cause people to turn to their station.
Seriously? You're comparing this to lunch counter sit-ins? That was a private business, this is a public highway. Also, they sat at the lunch counter to protest not being able to get service at said lunch counter. Why block the Durham freeway for something that happened in Missouri?
There is a difference. Breaking laws that are unjust is a reasonable way (IMO) of protesting the unjust law. Helping to free legally held slaves, hiding Jews in Nazi Germany, sitting at the front of the bus, etc are all ways of breaking laws because the laws themselves are unjust. Laws against obstructing traffic are not unjust laws. Purposefully breaking them is not peaceful means of protest because it puts people's safety at risk.
We do have racial biases in this country that need to be dealt with but it seems to me like the path most people are taking right now (even those who think they are supporting their brothers/sisters of a different skin color) are inflaming the issues rather than solving them. We need dialogue. We need to be able to see things from the perspective of those who disagree with us. In order to do that we need to spend time building relationships with people from different cultures and walks of life from our own. Burning, looting and even obstructing traffic are not going to help anything.
I am also thankful that this limited form of protest is all we have had to deal with here in NC.
Seriously? You're comparing this to lunch counter sit-ins? That was a private business, this is a public highway. Also, they sat at the lunch counter to protest not being able to get service at said lunch counter. Why block the Durham freeway for something that happened in Missouri?
Usually I can understand the whats and whys of what people do.
But on this one, I don't get it.
Ok, so protest. No violence necessary. No reason to burn other businesses. No reason to harm others. Protest. But you make your point much better if you are rational about it.
Why the Durham Freeway? I have no idea. I don't get it.
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I guess count me in as one not getting how blocking a major freeway in Durham helps anybody's cause for something that happened in Missouri? As was so eleoquently pointed out above, the lunch counter and bus were finite targets that disrupted a smaller number of people but still got a point across. 
