Around 7:30pm Saturday protestors took to the street to air their displeasure with the recent killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. A group of maybe 200-300 people (I am TERRIBLE at estimating crowd size) marched up and down the length of the H Street Corridor. Police cars drove in front of the protestors, and also brought up the rear of the procession. The protestors blocked traffic while marching through the street, and they drew sidewalk crowds of onlookers snapping cell phone pictures. More coverage from the Washington Post.
44 comments:
the sign in the second picture pretty much sums up why these "protests" can't be taken seriously
lol,
If you read the writings of Palestinian activists and black activists who have been drawing the parallels between black and Palestinian oppression since the 70s, you would understand why that sentiment is taken quite seriously. But you know, sitting at home in your bubble where you refuse to absorb perspectives that deviate from your own is trendy thing to do in a comment section, isn't it?
A five second Google search of "Palestine Ferguson" should illuminate you.
It's unfortunate that this Michael Brown guy ended up dead because he went out and made some relatively minor stupid choices one night. It's pretty clear he was not an innocent victim by any account though.
These people in the streets are the real racists. They would not give a damn if the victim was 'white' or the officer was 'black'. They don't give a damn about the specific facts of the case. They just want sympathy for themselves, justification of their own personal failures, and an enemy to blame.
Institutional racism was outlawed 50 years ago in this country, plenty of 'black' people find wealth and success in this country everyday. If you are not it's your own fault.
@1000
yes, i sure hope it will "illuminate" me. Maybe that particular google search could also backlight me.
your post makes about as much sense as the sign to which i was referring.
@1006, concur
@10:06: "Institutional racism was outlawed 50 years ago in this country." Is that why blacks are about four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana use than whites despite a similar rate of consumption? Or white felons have an equal chance of employment as black non-felons?
@1121, two words to answer your questions: stupidity and laziness.
ugh here we go again
Cops are racist, laws are racist, prisons are racist, jobs are racist.
Maybe life is unfair? Any immigrant from China to Mexico will tell you lazy ass fools nobody believes the hype.
If you feel this is oppression or occupation, maybe we should have separate communities where you practice your values?
This is why I travel to my beach home on weekends.
This protest already has a post or are you trying to create controversy
by placing inflammatory pictures?
Do you want to see H.st burn again
A wise man said, "Beware large groups of stupid people"
@1121 I actually used to believe the disparate arrest rate for MJ between black and whites was due to racism, prior or moving to this neighborhood that is. I have personally witnessed dozens of separate incidents of people who are complete strangers to me standing around OUTSIDE on street corners, sidewalks, and stoops SMOKING POT in BROAD DAYLIGHT. Never have I seen a white person do this, at least not in the middle of city with witnesses everywhere and cops driving by regularly. These dumbasses are getting arrested for being dumbasses not because they are black.
1) H Street is not going to "burn again." This is the second time I've seen a poster on this site try to connect the Ferguson protests to what happened on H Street in 1968. Stop it, that is a ridiculous attempt at a historical parallel. There probably won't be a leader as beloved in this country as Dr. King. Rest assured should such a leader show up and get killed, maybe then H Street will be in danger.
2) 3:06 Study after study shows that white people use drugs more than black people, but black people are arrested for possession more than white people. While your personal anecdote is interesting, empirical data has shown a racially disproportionate slant to arrests in this country over and over, as regards drug possession.
3) 10:15, someone gives you the opportunity to learn and you respond with a terrible joke about illumination/back lighting. You will no doubt stay in the dark for the rest of your life. Pun intended.
4) 1:52, as your statement "maybe we should have separate communities where you practice your values," since my values are "I don't like unarmed black people getting shot by police officers," I agree. Happy to buy you a plane ticket to Europe, since my ancestor's free labor built this country and I'm not going anywhere.
Hold up your pants and run to join the Black Israelites at Gallery place, cause you are just as much a fool if you believe the hype.
Ask the Ethiopians why they work, start business and are not gangbanging, and hustling.
You built this country again claims of grandeur! I would say you contributed but you want all the credit HA
Dont want the school to prison pipeline? Simple dont break laws.
You would rather blames the laws.
I think laws are unfairly biased towards law breakers and criminals.
An article written by another minority who calls Bullshit!
http://nypost.com/2014/09/02/slim-shady-al-look-who-benefits-from-sharptons-work/
@3:06:00 i concur with your observations. I've been here over a decade and my black neighbors smoke on the front porch, on the sidewalk, in their cars with the windows down and in the alley. They're loud, often shouting about how high they are. They fight, argue and are boisterous with no regard for their neighbors. When they need to use the toilet they step out in the alley, rather than use their own bathrooms. My white neighbors, several of whom I know smoke pot, always do it inside, are considerate of others and don't draw attention to themselves.
The disparity in arrest rates appears to this observer to be due to lack of judgement and civility, not racism.
Just because another person's judgment and civility do not equal your own is no reason to think you are better. Your values are just different and you should not live along side such folks.
We are not disputing the truth of such behaviour, we are only debating the treatment of it.
back to the discussion to the protest. did these protestors get away with shutting down traffic? why weren't they fined or arrested?
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/03/07/opinion/coates-the-good-racist-people.html?smid=fb-share&_r=1
Racism is like an std. The ones who don't know they have it are the biggest problem.
Inked,
Why are you deleting some posts but leaving some other posts up? It seems to me you may be supporting one side of this debate with your actions.
No bueno.
The simple answer, it is legal to protest in the United States
Why dont you know this?
10:36,
That's not me. It's the automatic spam filter. My guess would be that you triggered it to pull your ppsts by posting a comment that was just a link.
BTW, accusing me of something like that...no bueno.
Inked,
Thanks. Note my usage of "may".
Peace and blessings.
@ 10:00am: Great NY Times piece...thanks for sharing. Those who deny or willfully ignore disparate treatment should read it though I doubt if it will do any good.
@ 10:37 the right to gather assembly, i.e protest is not applicable to any time, any place a group choses to protest.
why don't you know this?
"It's pretty clear he was not an innocent victim by any account though."
It's pretty clear from the multiple eyewitnesses who said Brown's hands were up and he was surrendering that you're not aware of multiple accounts of what happened when Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown. Getting shot when your hands are up is pretty much as innocent a posture as you could take.
"Ask the Ethiopians why they work, start business and are not gangbanging, and hustling."
Sure, no Ethiopian person has ever been arrested for anything, ever, anywhere on Earth. Stop typing, you're making yourself look ridiculous. BTW, there were roughly 70,000 Ethiopians in the greater DC area last time I checked. They don't all own businesses. Stop stereotyping.
"back to the discussion to the protest. did these protestors get away with shutting down traffic? why weren't they fined or arrested?"
Back to the point of the protest, has Darren Wilson been arrested?
@ 3:19
A man runs a business to participate in society, contribute, and make a living. Brown walks in and takes what he wants, shoves and threatens a working man.
If Brown is your poster child for justice then you are as much as waste of life as he was.
If that criminal was the only person you can find to defend your ignorance is staggering, but not surprising.
Those people smoking pot that you're complaining about just "happen to be black" because you moved into a neighborhood that was once poor. CLASS is the problem, not race! Go 30 minutes to Dundalk or Baltimore Md and you would be making the same comments about the LOWER CLASS WHITE PEOPLE who are doing the exact same things, only Meth is their drug of choice!
Like yourself, most of the people of color I know, including myself are decent human beings who want the same things out of life that you do. I am a African American male, business owner with several degrees and am educated enough NOT TO label those poorer white folks based upon their race.
So as you make these general statements about people of color,then walk by the "safe looking one's" and greet them with a smile, just know that we're not judging a race of people based only upon the negative.
I'm sure you saw those people on the porch talking loud when you moved in? Thank GOD for America and the freedom to move wherever you please. Hopefully based upon some of the very unfortunate comments on here, people will understand that the most so-called liberal people can be your worst enemy! Makes me wonder if you hate me as much when i'm in a suit or just sweats coming from the gym because of the color of my skin? Very sad....
In closing, I can count at least 30 of my African American good friends who purchased homes in DC in the 90"s and early 2000's, all with over $500,000 in equity today! We experienced all of the same hardships as yourself being new to our neighborhoods because of CLASS DIFFERENCES! Education goes a long way people...don't waste it with hate and ignorance!
@6:50
White don't make excuses for trash.
Whites don't blame others for trash
When trash robs a store and recv justice either prison or death
we dont call it institutionalized racism.
I am tired of having to give our sons and daughters the talk about how to watch who is around you and cross the stteet when you see trash. Lock you car doors because they will kill you for a car or a cellphone.
keep deleting comments, inked
typical. AGAIN, asians and latinos are completely ignored.
the world is not just black and white, people.
thing BIGGER.
@3:27
No matter what imaginary crime you want to convict Brown of, eyewitness accounts say he was shot with his hands up, the universal signal for surrender. Shooting someone who is unarmed with their hands up is murder, as any civilized person would understand the crime. If shooting people with their hands up is your idea of justice, you need never write the word "justice" again.
I think this is not a black vs white thing but rather a struggle between ratchet vs non-ratchet. And unfortunately, DC has a deeply-entrenched ratchet 'culture' that will take time to eradicate.
@650
I'm sure those lower class white people in Dundalk exibiting that behavior get arrested at the same rate as the lower class black people of DC who do. That's the whole point that is being made, that's it's behavior not race leading to the higher arrest rate statistics. I think the reason that blacks are more likely to get arrested overall is because unfortunately nationwide there is simply a larger proportion of the black population that is lower class and acts that way.
Also, not everyone is a secret racist that hates you. RELAX!
@1142
You don't have to imagine very hard to see Michael Brown as a criminal. All the witnesses state the there was a struggle between Brown and the officer prior to the shooting. The officer had injuries to his face as if he'd been struck. There is a video tape of brown stealing a case of cigars and pushing the store owner to the ground on the way out.
So Michael Brown shoplifted, assualted a guy, then punched a cop in the face when confronted.
I agree that doesn't add up to giving that cop the right to murder him, however yeah, it does make him something less than an innocent victim.
@ 11:42
Some witnesses have claimed Mike Brown put his hands up. Other witnesses are saying otherwise.
what we do know is that the kid robbed a store, had MJ in his system, and walking in the middle of the street
officer Wilson has a clean record prior to this
i am not a big supporter of police, and I have heard a few off-duty police officers drinking and making racial jokes at the Pug, and this neighborhood including African Americans, knows how young African American males behave. look at all the violent crime posts by Inked
When the working class ask their elected officials to create penalties for guns, drugs, and violence, are they being racist?
When those elected officials enact penalties against guns, drugs, violence, are they being racist?
Well skip the PoPo.....we know your answer.
When Jurors convict of violations are they being racist, or is it the judges that impose the sentence?
Or is it the parole system?
As a working class man who participates in Democracy, I want to know ?
@11:01am
Let me explain don't matter what color you are
You either agree that Mike Brown was the victim of a murdering racist cop
OR
You are a racist.
It's nice to see the community sticking together for what they believe is right, instead of backseat driving. So many people are so quick to complain about these protestors, yet they only have themselves to mad with. You can't sit on the sidelines your whole life and scream at those who want a change. Quite crying and get off your butt and do something positive with your life instead of complaining.
@Tow -- thanks for the prime example of incorrectly placing this kind of crap under the label of "community", shorthand in "communities" like ours (mostly black) for acting like morons.
i am glad lol can make sense from tow's writing.
i think tow is asking us to organize events in support of Officer Wilson?
http://www.salon.com/2014/09/05/gun_nuts_special_privileges_how_police_treated_a_dangerous_open_carry_zealot/
just facts folks
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