Same shit, different day.

In general, when the police see a black man or woman in a mostly white, affluent neighborhood they assume the person does not belong there and is up to no good.

SCNDLS said:

True dat. Can't win in the hood or not.....

So after avoiding the riots last night I've been listening to alot of local talk radio today trying to wrap my head around the aftermath and one thing keeps sticking in my head that alot of callers have mentioned.

Here in Oakland we have a stupid-ass murder rate it's like 120 per year average (loose calc.). It's plain retarded. Many of the callers ask "Where are the riots about these murders? Why riot and tear black-owned businesses up over this one case?" That has me all today...

Also, it's coming out that a fair portion of the rioters are just ignorant assholes who label themselves anarchists out lookin' to bust shit up. This whole thing has me pretty fuckin' pissed right now...

Times like these bring that Boondocks episode to mind when Martin Luther King Jr. awoke from his coma.

What a fuckin' week it's turning out to be...

RenHoek said:

Are those murders committed by police officers??? If not, I don't think it's the same thing and I think the outrage and outcry for this case warranted.

SCNDLS said:

Outrage is indeed warranted, that goes without saying but why burn peoples cars? Why destroy a black-owned braid shop in Downtown??? The owners were in the place with an infant and morons came through and trashed the place while chanting "Fuck your business!" over and over again. That shit has me MYSTIFIED!!!

In reference to the callers, they were addressing the ridiculous amount of Black on Black crime, particularly murders and where is the public outcry for that? Where is that outrage???

I just don't get it...

RenHoek said:

Is that what's going on??? I don't get why someone would lash out at a black owned business. Where's the logic in that??? As for the black on black crime I think that everyone has become desensitized to it because it's so commonplace. People will ask "Where's the outrage?" but there will be no real outrage OR action just more of the same.
[Edited 1/8/09 13:26pm]

SCNDLS said:

Yeah it's a real clusterfuck around here right now...

SCNDLS said:

Outrage is indeed warranted, that goes without saying but why burn peoples cars? Why destroy a black-owned braid shop in Downtown??? The owners were in the place with an infant and morons came through and trashed the place while chanting "Fuck your business!" over and over again. That shit has me MYSTIFIED!!!

In reference to the callers, they were addressing the ridiculous amount of Black on Black crime, particularly murders and where is the public outcry for that? Where is that outrage???

I just don't get it...

RenHoek said:

But on top of it all, it was not even the Oakland Police department or the city of Oakland that was involved in the original incident. It happened on BART property, by BART police, in BART jurisdiction in a station that just happened to be in Oakland.

The city itself and the Oakland Police Department had nothing to do with it. And then to deystroy not only businesses in downtown Oakland but some black owned businesses in downtown Oakland on top of that....just doesn't make sense.

But in all fairness, from what I can tell the vast majority of protesters were outraged but were calm and orderly. To me it looked like a few knuckleheads that were just looking to cause trouble and tear shit up...they were just using the situation as an excuse.

BlueZebra said:

OK...but, look at that bright ass yellow thing. If I didn't feel the difference I think I'd see it.

I don't know enough about the story to say whether or not I think the cop made an error. Who knows. I just think IF the story is true that one other cop had his knee in the victim's back and/or neck then do you really need to shoot someone at all? And if you do shoot them somewhere to hurt them, not kill them...

hokie said:

"Made an error"?

Jill.

Are you kidding me?

This was captured on video. I watched it. The BART officer shot an unarmed man, who was handcuffed and facedown on the ground, in the back, and killed him.

What more information do you need to conclude that this was unjustified murder? What if it was your brother who was eating concrete as a bullet pierced his body, ricocheted off the ground under him, and shattered back into his lungs, cutting his life off forever? Would you need to know more to conclude that this was some kind of "error," as you put it?

hokie said:

"Made an error"?

Jill.

Are you kidding me?

This was captured on video. I watched it. The BART officer shot an unarmed man, who was handcuffed and facedown on the ground, in the back, and killed him.

What more information do you need to conclude that this was unjustified murder? What if it was your brother who was eating concrete as a bullet pierced his body, ricocheted off the ground under him, and shattered back into his lungs, cutting his life off forever? Would you need to know more to conclude that this was some kind of "error," as you put it?

FunkMistress said:

errors can be tragic

NDRU said:

What's really tragic is that black men are ALWAYS the victims of these "errors"

NDRU said:

What's really tragic is that black men are ALWAYS the victims of these "errors"

FunkMistress said:

errors can be tragic

hokie said:

"Made an error"?

Jill.

Are you kidding me?

This was captured on video. I watched it. The BART officer shot an unarmed man, who was handcuffed and facedown on the ground, in the back, and killed him.

What more information do you need to conclude that this was unjustified murder? What if it was your brother who was eating concrete as a bullet pierced his body, ricocheted off the ground under him, and shattered back into his lungs, cutting his life off forever? Would you need to know more to conclude that this was some kind of "error," as you put it?

To be clear I don't think the Officer should have drawn his weapon to begin with

FunkMistress said:

what if your brother was a BART police man who just accidently shot an unarmed father of a 4yo? Would your brother be devastated ? Would your brother stand up and even start to try to answer all the questions asked by thousands of people ? What if ... there is always two sides to a story? Do you honestly think that this dude stood up and said to himself 'hey, the guy just pleaded for his life, he has a 4yo, let's blow him the fuck up' ? I, for one, can really not believe that.

BlueZebra said:

Then I would be devastated, but my brother would have to accept the consequences of his decision to draw his weapon, an act that led to "blowing the fuck up" a man who did just plead for his life and does have a four year old.

I could give a flying FUCK what the officer said to himself before killing Oscar. He killed him. That is true no matter what.

The officer in question doesn't necessarily need to answer to the public, but he does need to pay for what he has done. The agency that employs him and is charged with defending its citizens needs to answer to the public.

NDRU said:

To be clear I don't think the Officer should have drawn his weapon to begin with but I've watched all kinds of video on this over & over again and I feel he drew his weapon and accidentally fired it into Oscar Grant. If he carried a Glock handgun (which many Police do...) that safety is SO easy to trip & fire. It's built into the trigger!!



The Officer is only a 2 year veteran of the force so that leads me to speculate on his experience and his reaction to the shooting is one of shock...

best seen here starting at 01:49




p.s. FunkMistress, if due to all this you're not really feelin' the shirt I gave you I'd be more than happy to get you something else, just let me know.

SCNDLS said:

Outrage is indeed warranted, that goes without saying but why burn peoples cars? Why destroy a black-owned braid shop in Downtown??? The owners were in the place with an infant and morons came through and trashed the place while chanting "Fuck your business!" over and over again. That shit has me MYSTIFIED!!!

In reference to the callers, they were addressing the ridiculous amount of Black on Black crime, particularly murders and where is the public outcry for that? Where is that outrage???

I just don't get it...

RenHoek said:

Whenever something like this goes down, you always have the idiots who want to riot...just to riot. My mom was watching it last night on the news and shook her head

Hell, you don't even need a cause to do some stupid shit. Remember how morons rioted in East Oakland after the Raiders didn't make it to the Superbowl?

RenHoek said:

Yeah, get me a just police force.

And while you're at it, get me a fucking end to people always wanting to "understand" the perpetrator, ESPECIALLY when a crime involves a victim of color.

I am so sick of hearing that the perpetrator couldn't possibly have just done what they just did, there must be some other explanation - ESPECIALLY when the perpetrator is white and the victim is not.

There's always got to be some deeper reason why some beloved white celebrity used racist language, or why a white cop beat or killed a young black man.

And why does this happen? Because in our culture, we automatically assign decency to white people and authority figures. He must be a decent person who just had a lapse of judgment/a bad day/a sudden onset of mental illness. The victim must have struggled, resisted or threatened to. (Note that the victim is almost never automatically assumed to be a decent person.) That decent white man wouldn't just call that woman a nappy headed ho/shoot a man in the back/kill an unarmed teenager! Let's understand his reasons!

Fuck understanding their reasons. Let's have some motherfucking justice.


[Edited 1/8/09 15:08pm]

To be clear I don't think the Officer should have drawn his weapon to begin with but I've watched all kinds of video on this over & over again and I feel he drew his weapon and accidentally fired it into Oscar Grant. If he carried a Glock handgun (which many Police do...) that safety is SO easy to trip & fire. It's built into the trigger!!

The Officer is only a 2 year veteran of the force so that leads me to speculate on his experience and his reaction to the shooting is one of shock...

bboy87 said:

But why should the rioters have anything to do with the case at hand? They are separate people and separate incidents, totally distinct from the dead young father and the officer who killed him. Justice for Oscar needs to be served. That doesn't become less important - his life doesn't become any less important - because of the actions of people who had nothing to do with him.