Police State USA

[irishff1014]

VIDEO: Angry mom beats son suspected of rioting in Baltimore | abc7.com

LOLz, need more moms like this.

The police commissioner noted that in his press conference last night and said that the city needed more mothers to care like she did.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

Here's a YouTube video of "she, the black Baltimore mayor, who decried the rioters, looters, and arsonists trying to destroy the city as "thugs". Hours before she used the phrase the black president of the city council used the same term to describe rioters and not demonstrators.

How racist of the Mayor and City Council President, right 41?

They both used a term which refers to an individual's character not their level of melanin. Actually they were very MLK like in judging one character and not the color of one's skin.

It's a shame you can not do the same. In both the Trayvon and Ferguson cases you were quick to play the race card and judge both shooters as guilty before any evident was presented. Before any sworn testimony was given. Before any due process. You made a point about the white shooter of Trayvon even though he was Hispanic with a Black grandmother. Neither DOJ investigation found racial involvement a factor in those cases but you still found them guilty.

In this thread you saw the word thug and jumped to Hogan, the white governor, who is involved only because the black mayor called him and ASKED for National Guard and State Police assistant.

You called out IFF and others as racist for describing the rioters, not the demonstrators as "animals" although once again it is a word that refers to character not melanin.

Nast drew cartoons in the 1800's of Irish immigrants as monkeys although many had red hair and all had pink skin. In the 1950's inner city movie "Blackboard Jungle" students were called "animals" yet most of them, and the baddest of them, were white. John Belushi lived with a herd of "animals" in "Animal House". They weren't black, they behaved badly. "Full Metal Jackets" Animal Mother was't black, he behaved badly. Once again "animal" referred to character not racism.


Despite your claim of not being aware the mayor use "thug", it took little effort to find a boatload of cites. Just type "Baltimore Mayor" plus "thug" in a search engine and it pops right up. Same result if you enter Baltimore City Council President.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_5-6kX431p0

I have a more nuanced perspective on this one.

After my acquaintance with the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland, I note the following :

A) Authority, through media characterizing a group of people they single out, and are trying to neutralize (right or wrong - about the group's intent, or neutralizing them,) always makes the situation worse, because it allows many that may have different points of view to coalesce their anger along lines drawn by ancient prejudice and imaginary allegiances.

B) Strong media presentation requires oversimplification which really masks what is happening. In Northern Ireland, it really wasn't as simple as Catholic versus Protestant; just as it is not as simple as black versus white here. But those calls are being made, and lines drawn. In the long run, such shallow, over-simplification makes the issue much tougher to resolve.

C) What level, does a group of people have the right resist, when they are routinely not given the right to the same treatment as other citizens? Many still debate the morality of the hunger strikers, when it is clear that turned the attention of the world back to some of the more fundamental issues.

This really isn't a black versus white issue, it is a class issue, and those that get torn up the worst are lower class and African-American. After hundreds of years of slavery, poverty, exploitation as a drug using, unemployed(unemployable) population, only recently deemed fit for use as cannon fodder, who can expect as eloquent response to these injustices as we who have had everything would marshal in our responses?

Something needs to be fixed.

It is more important now than ever.

I just cannot see finger pointing and blame as any productive behaviors in the whole of this issue.

(Finger pointing and blame are a primary tool for humans rearranging their prejudices to fit the situation.)

 

[BGIF]

It was started by six cops who severed a man's spine. Let's not let our self indulgence allow us to lose site of that indisputable fact. Do you think the national guard is going to shoot on sight or something? Get a grip man. There is just as good a chance that the guardsmen are going to make things worse.

The use of the National Guard to deal with Civil Unrest is fairly common. While the mayor of New Orleans and the governor of LA held their pissing contest, the National Guard was the group getting relief in after Katrina.

Below are some notables examples mostly regarding civil rights issues. In these cases the President as CINC took charge under the 1952 Act. President Obama could have taken charge in Ferguson and can do so in Balimore, only 40 miles away, but then he would have responsibilityrather than deniability.


1957-58 – Little Rock, Arkansas President Dwight D. Eisenhower orders the takeover of National Guard troops that had been called up by Gov. Orval Faubus to keep black students from attending Little Rock’s all-white Central High School. Eisenhower also deployed U.S. marshals and paratroopers from the 101st Airborne Division to assist in maintaining order after rioting broke out.

1962 – Oxford, Mississippi After the University of Mississippi in Oxford flouts a court order and bars a black student from attending classes there, President John F. Kennedy federalizes Mississippi National Guard troops to prevent violence toward the student, James Meredith, and rioting in the broader community.

1963 – Tuscaloosa, Alabama A year after Oxford, Alabama Gov. George Wallace physically blocks black students from entering a University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa building, despite a court order. That prompts President Kennedy to take control of the Alabama National Guard to enforce the court order allowing black students to enroll.

1965 – Selma, Alabama President Lyndon B. Johnston federalizes the Alabama National Guard to protect peaceful protesters marching from Selma to Montgomery to protest racial discrimination. At an earlier march, protesters were brutally beaten by state police and deputies.

1968 – Detroit, Michigan; Chicago, Illinois; Washington, D.C. Johnson orders deployment of thousands of National Guard units from those two states, and the federal district, to patrol streets and prevent rioting that erupted after the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.

1970 – New York City After thousands of postal workers walked off the job, President Richard M. Nixon orders thousands of National Guard troops to help deliver the mail in the city’s financial district. Others sort mail and keep picketers from interfering.

1992 – Los Angeles, California Rioting erupts in Los Angeles after four white police officers are acquitted in the brutal beating of Rodney King, a black man. President George H. W. Bush calls up more than 10,000 California National Guard troops to help quell the unrest.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

The use of the National Guard to deal with Civil Unrest is fairly common. While the mayor of New Orleans and the governor of LA held their pissing contest, the National Guard was the group getting relief in after Katrina.

Below are some notables examples mostly regarding civil rights issues. In these cases the President as CINC took charge under the 1952 Act. President Obama could have taken charge in Ferguson and can do so in Balimore, only 40 miles away, but then he would have responsibilityrather than deniability.


1957-58 – Little Rock, Arkansas President Dwight D. Eisenhower orders the takeover of National Guard troops that had been called up by Gov. Orval Faubus to keep black students from attending Little Rock’s all-white Central High School. Eisenhower also deployed U.S. marshals and paratroopers from the 101st Airborne Division to assist in maintaining order after rioting broke out.

1962 – Oxford, Mississippi After the University of Mississippi in Oxford flouts a court order and bars a black student from attending classes there, President John F. Kennedy federalizes Mississippi National Guard troops to prevent violence toward the student, James Meredith, and rioting in the broader community.

1963 – Tuscaloosa, Alabama A year after Oxford, Alabama Gov. George Wallace physically blocks black students from entering a University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa building, despite a court order. That prompts President Kennedy to take control of the Alabama National Guard to enforce the court order allowing black students to enroll.

1965 – Selma, Alabama President Lyndon B. Johnston federalizes the Alabama National Guard to protect peaceful protesters marching from Selma to Montgomery to protest racial discrimination. At an earlier march, protesters were brutally beaten by state police and deputies.

1968 – Detroit, Michigan; Chicago, Illinois; Washington, D.C. Johnson orders deployment of thousands of National Guard units from those two states, and the federal district, to patrol streets and prevent rioting that erupted after the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.

1970 – New York City After thousands of postal workers walked off the job, President Richard M. Nixon orders thousands of National Guard troops to help deliver the mail in the city’s financial district. Others sort mail and keep picketers from interfering.

1992 – Los Angeles, California Rioting erupts in Los Angeles after four white police officers are acquitted in the brutal beating of Rodney King, a black man. President George H. W. Bush calls up more than 10,000 California National Guard troops to help quell the unrest.

In May of 1970 three Guard related actions resulted in the killing of six and the wounding of 32, including the paralysis of one. (Other instances where a president could have taken responsibility rather than deniability.)

Boston Massacre (1770) five killed, six wounded.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

The other thing that is annoying to me is that there are two groups of people hell bent on two competing narratives:
1) That rioting is somehow justified and a good thing.
OR
2) That the rioting is all a media invention and everything is actually peaceful.

Both, to me, are total bullshit when you look at the facts of property destruction, injuries, and arrests.

See Toledo, (2006) :

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_wR-mvqivmk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Ndaccountant]

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[GoIrish41]

Like I said earlier: this is not primarily a protest of anything. It is an excuse for these people to loot stores and destroy property (note that I said "these people"- or does the use of the word "these" make that racist too?). This is not the way that well-socialized people respond to tragedies: compare it to the response of the Amish community in Lancaster County, PA, after the 2006 school shooting, for example. The low percentage of normal black families is the main cause of the high crime rate, including these riots.

You're not seriously suggesting that one more tax hike or government program will fix this? Liberals like yourself have run Baltimore since 1967 and have effectively run race relations in this country since around the same time. You have shoveled money at these schools, expanded welfare programs, imposed ludicrous diversity quotas on police forces, abolished civil service exams because of "disparate impact," etc. We can all see the results of this approach in the chaos currently engulfing Baltimore.

No, I'm not suggesting that at all. What I was suggesting is that your previous post about divorce rates seemed to be an answer looking for a question. It had nothing to do with what is going on in Baltimore and I was poking a little fun by offering other potential opportunities for you to make this incident about something you might care about.

On your first paragraph, we simply do not agree ... at all. I don't think people had tentative plans to destroy the city in the event that something opens the door. I think that is silly talk. People are legitimately angry. We can agree that they are not managing their anger well, but lets not diminish their anger to fit a narrative of thugs gonna thug. There is a major problem with excessive force by police officers -- particularly against young black men -- in this country, and until that is dealt with in a comprehensive way, these incidents and their aftermath are going to continue to happen. What are we going to do after inaction causes something like is happening in Baltimore to errupt across multiple cities simultaneously. We should not minimize the amount of justifiable anger that many African Americans feel for being treated as second-class citizens for far, far too long. Oh, and the Amish comparrision is not even close to being the same thing as what happened in Baltimore, and Cleveland, and Brooklyn, and South Carolina, and .... well, you get the picture. Police didn't systematically profile young Amish men. Prisons are not overcrowded because Amish people are thrown in jail at a statistically significant rate. Police didn't chase down and break the back of an Amish guy.

And while I didn't take issue with your use of the word "people," I think you perhaps should have re-read this sentence before hitting the send button.

"The low percentage of normal black families is the main cause of the high crime rate, including these riots."

 

[Ndaccountant]

No, I'm not suggesting that at all. What I was suggesting is that your previous post about divorce rates seemed to be an answer looking for a question. It had nothing to do with what is going on in Baltimore and I was poking a little fun by offering other potential opportunities for you to make this incident about something you might care about.

On your first paragraph, we simply do not agree ... at all. I don't think people had tentative plans to destroy the city in the event that something opens the door. I think that is silly talk. People are legitimately angry. We can agree that they are not managing their anger well, but lets not diminish their anger to fit a narrative of thugs gonna thug. There is a major problem with excessive force by police officers -- particularly against young black men -- in this country, and until that is dealt with in a comprehensive way, these incidents and their aftermath are going to continue to happen. What are we going to do after inaction causes something like is happening in Baltimore to errupt across multiple cities simultaneously. We should not minimize the amount of justifiable anger that many African Americans feel for being treated as second-class citizens for far, far too long. Oh, and the Amish comparrision is not even close to being the same thing as what happened in Baltimore, and Cleveland, and Brooklyn, and South Carolina, and .... well, you get the picture. Police didn't systematically profile young Amish men. Prisons are not overcrowded because Amish people are thrown in jail at a statistically significant rate. Police didn't chase down and break the back of an Amish guy.

And while I didn't take issue with your use of the word "people," I think you perhaps should have re-read this sentence before hitting the send button.

"The low percentage of normal black families is the main cause of the high crime rate, including these riots."

These individuals do not look angry with the police state.

Neither does this guy.

Sad thing is, those are the people that everyone is going to remember. It should have been about this:

Now, these are the people left to pick up the pieces. Another example where the vocal minority is disconnected from reality.

 

[GoIrish41]

Here's a YouTube video of "she, the black Baltimore mayor, who decried the rioters, looters, and arsonists trying to destroy the city as "thugs". Hours before she used the phrase the black president of the city council used the same term to describe rioters and not demonstrators.

How racist of the Mayor and City Council President, right 41?

They both used a term which refers to an individual's character not their level of melanin. Actually they were very MLK like in judging one character and not the color of one's skin.

It's a shame you can not do the same. In both the Trayvon and Ferguson cases you were quick to play the race card and judge both shooters as guilty before any evident was presented. Before any sworn testimony was given. Before any due process. You made a point about the white shooter of Trayvon even though he was Hispanic with a Black grandmother. Neither DOJ investigation found racial involvement a factor in those cases but you still found them guilty.

In this thread you saw the word thug and jumped to Hogan, the white governor, who is involved only because the black mayor called him and ASKED for National Guard and State Police assistant.

You called out IFF and others as racist for describing the rioters, not the demonstrators as "animals" although once again it is a word that refers to character not melanin.

Nast drew cartoons in the 1800's of Irish immigrants as monkeys although many had red hair and all had pink skin. In the 1950's inner city movie "Blackboard Jungle" students were called "animals" yet most of them, and the baddest of them, were white. John Belushi lived with a herd of "animals" in "Animal House". They weren't black, they behaved badly. "Full Metal Jackets" Animal Mother was't black, he behaved badly. Once again "animal" referred to character not racism.


Despite your claim of not being aware the mayor use "thug", it took little effort to find a boatload of cites. Just type "Baltimore Mayor" plus "thug" in a search engine and it pops right up. Same result if you enter Baltimore City Council President.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_5-6kX431p0

Oh BGIF, I always enjoy your special attention. Makes me feel loved.

But, a couple of things. ...

I already responded to a post on the mayor's comments. I didn't say she was a racist for using the word "thug" to describe behavior of looters, because it is probably a fairly apt description of people who are setting cars on fire, looting stores, and causing general mayhem. I did say, that such language is almost certainly not helpful and would cause her political complications as she seeks to fill the vacated senate seat in Maryland. I posted a comment about the governor, and Bill responded with a comment about "she." And, I didn't "jump to" Hogan. I made a sarcastic comment about the possibility that he might start using the term "animals" to ease tensions. It had nothing to do with Hogan personally, it was meant to demonstrate to the poster how using that word might not be the best way to smooth things over in Baltimore.

Using the word "animals" to describe black people is outrageously offensive. It is not at all the same as calling a looter a thug. You are far too intelliigent for that point to go over your head, BGIF. Hey, don't take my word for it. Go ask a black person how they feel about ANY black people being referred to as "animals." And even if it was not meant by the poster, and even if he was oblivious to the obvious racial overtones that word can carry in the context of the conversation it was used, it is still is offensive to describe a human being as an animal no matter their color. And, since it seems the author of the original post use of the word was clearly talking about a group of black people, it was at the very minimum insensitive, or an unfortunate use. But, that isn't what anyone is arguing. They are arguing instead that he he used a noun to describe a trait when an adjective was in order. It was clear what the author of that post was saying. You know it, everyone who is defending him knows it, he knows it, and I know it.

Also, when someone tells you they are offended by something that is said, the polite, civil and reasonable thing to do is to say, "sorry, I meant no offense" and stop using the word. Not on IE!! People come out of the woodwork to defend ignorance. It almost never ceases to amaze me.

 

[NDgradstudent]

On your first paragraph, we simply do not agree ... at all. I don't think people had tentative plans to destroy the city in the event that something opens the door. I think that is silly talk.

They didn't have plans to destroy the city, but once the door was opened, they did attempt to destroy the city.

There is a major problem with excessive force by police officers -- particularly against young black men -- in this country, and until that is dealt with in a comprehensive way, these incidents and their aftermath are going to continue to happen.

There is a major crime problem with young black men, which requires more police attention. What is your solution? Hiring more black cops?

Police didn't systematically profile young Amish men. Prisons are not overcrowded because Amish people are thrown in jail at a statistically significant rate. Police didn't chase down and break the back of an Amish guy.

Blacks are in jail at a "statistically significant" rate (I assume you mean they are disproportionately imprisoned?) because they commit crimes at much higher rate than whites or Asians.

And while I didn't take issue with your use of the word "people," I think you perhaps should have re-read this sentence before hitting the send button.

"The low percentage of normal black families is the main cause of the high crime rate, including these riots."

Again, my view is that the dominant cause of black crime (and all crime) is poor socialization- caused, in general, by the lack of a father figure in the home. This was the liberal view in 1965, but I guess this too is now unmentionable?

 

[irishff1014]

I watched a ton of video on this because the county I work for has a city Call Salisbury MD. It was last year top 15 in the USA in serious crime rates per capita. It could be much worse probably then then Ferguson reaction if the chose to and my occupation would directly effect myself. I listens to a lot of dispatch so I could see how they handled it.

With that said I saw in some of the videos of what appeared to be mixed races, some white, and not sure if they were Hispanic and Islamic races in some of the looting. So when I made my comment it was towards the race you want to accuse me of.

I will mention again that the leadership of that city in politics and police force is afarican Americans. They are upset the investigation is taking so long that to me is a good thing because they are going to every aspect to make sure that ANY wrong doing is punished. Isn't that what we preach don't make any emotional decision and investigate and make the right decision?

As well just for record according to the media Ferguson population 22,000. Baltimore City 620,000.

 

[NDdomer2]

does the guy holding the stacks of cash shirt say "cashland"

how ironic

 

[DomerInHappyValley]

The mayor may have given them space to destroy if they want to destroy as she called it. Others are saying hell no.
Another 1 saying hell no.

 

[Irish Insanity]

Using the word "animals" to describe black people is outrageously offensive. It is not at all the same as calling a looter a thug.

He used the terms animals to reference those looting and such, the race card wasn't pulled by him. His original comment was no different than the Mayors. Hell I'd say less offensive.

 

[Irish#1]

Anyway you slice and dice it, it's a shame we aren't past this.

People want swift and immediate action, which is unreasonable. If they were in trouble you better believe they would want due process. Many of these protesters are never happy. Look at the cop who recently killed the guy that ran away after trying to get his stun gun. The policeman was immediately fired and booked on murder charges. The protesters still weren't satisfied.

 

[Rhode Irish]

Look at the cop who recently killed the guy that ran away after trying to get his stun gun. The policeman was immediately fired and booked on murder charges. The protesters still weren't satisfied.

Uh...the reason he was fired and booked on murder charges is because there is VIDEO that clearly shows the cop was lying about the victim trying to steal his stun gun. If there were no video, the cop would have gotten away with it. And the suspicion is that there usually is no video and cops get away with this stuff all the time. Hell, there was video of the police murdering Eric Garner and they got away with that one.

 

[tussin]

I have not heard her speak on the incident but if she said that I believe it is not at all helpful and it will not help her win Mikulski's senate seat either.

... and Obama just referred to the rioters as "thugs." What a bigot!

 

[pkt77242]

They didn't have plans to destroy the city, but once the door was opened, they did attempt to destroy the city.



There is a major crime problem with young black men, which requires more police attention. What is your solution? Hiring more black cops?



Blacks are in jail at a "statistically significant" rate (I assume you mean they are disproportionately imprisoned?) because they commit crimes at much higher rate than whites or Asians.



Again, my view is that the dominant cause of black crime (and all crime) is poor socialization- caused, in general, by the lack of a father figure in the home. This was the liberal view in 1965, but I guess this too is now unmentionable?

I think you are forgetting the part about black people being given significantly longer sentences than white people for the same crime. Also what crime are you talking about? White and black people use drugs at about the same rate yet black people are significantly more likely to get arrested for it (and to go to jail for it).

 

[pkt77242]

... and Obama just referred to the rioters as "thugs." What a bigot!

What is your point? GoIrish agrees that the rioters are thugs for what they did and he didn't call her a bigot for saying it. Color me confused.

 

[IrishinSyria]

Blacks are in jail at a "statistically significant" rate (I assume you mean they are disproportionately imprisoned?) because they commit crimes at much higher rate than whites or Asians.



Again, my view is that the dominant cause of black crime (and all crime) is poor socialization- caused, in general, by the lack of a father figure in the home. This was the liberal view in 1965, but I guess this too is now unmentionable?

A: They commit some crimes at a higher rate, this is true, but they are also arrested and prosecuted at a higher rate per crime committed and receive longer sentences than whites for the same crimes.

B: I don't think any liberal would disagree that absence of the black (and increasingly, you can substitute the word poor for black) adult male in family life is a major problem. However, while you seem to want to end your analysis there (too many black families don't have a father figure, problem solved) most liberals see that as the starting point. Why do we have conditions that lead to this? What are the social and historical forces at work. Given that this problem exists, how can we mitigate the damage it does?

 

[kmoose]

I can't describe how encouraging it is, to see the black men gathered on the streets of Baltimore, today, keeping the knuckleheads separate from the Police. If you look at the difference between yesterday and today, I think you can really see the difference it makes, when responsible black men stand up and say "Enough of the nonsense!" I couldn't be any prouder of those men. I hope that someone who is a position to do so, makes sure that those men are recognized for the positive difference that they are making.

 

[irishff1014]

I can't describe how encouraging it is, to see the black men gathered on the streets of Baltimore, today, keeping the knuckleheads separate from the Police. If you look at the difference between yesterday and today, I think you can really see the difference it makes, when responsible black men stand up and say "Enough of the nonsense!" I couldn't be any prouder of those men. I hope that someone who is a position to do so, makes sure that those men are recognized for the positive difference that they are making.

Yes sir I saw a picture of roughly 10 yr old African american pass out water bottle to the police . touching.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

Guys, back to the substance of GoIrish's comments. Any narrative, or influencing the narrative is an attempt to get the spotlight off of the real issue.

Of course the Mayor and every other authority figure up to Obama is going to use thugs, and other pejorative terms referring to the whole episode, and all of the people.

Take control by the narrative by lumping people together and oversimplifying the situation. It works every time.

That is what they did in Ireland in the 70's and 80's; and that is what they are doing here.

 

[wizards8507]

What is your point? GoIrish agrees that the rioters are thugs for what they did and he didn't call her a bigot for saying it. Color me confused.

Lots of people accuse those who use the word "thug" as trying to be a coded racist. I believe I've even heard "thug" described as the modern day "n-word."

 

[GoIrish41]

President Kennedy said in 1962, that "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." He was speaking about foreign policy, but I think it is an apt quote for what we are seeing today on the streets of Baltimore, Ferguson, New York, Charleston, Cleveland, and cities across this country where it seems that African Americans are a perminent underclass in many cases, targeted by police, imprisoned disproportionately, employed less frequently, paid less, educated worse .... And I think of the violence on the streets of Baltimore and wonder how we got here, or more precisely how are we not past here yet? Anyway, I'm going to post three or four pretty long posts that list and discuss some of the major riots in this country since the beginning of the 20th Century. I'll let you all come to your own conclusions about what any of it means. I look forward to comments.

Here is the first entry

1900-1919: Old hate dies hard

The Atlanta race riot of 1906 was a mass civil disturbance in Atlanta, Georgia (USA), which began the evening of September 22 and lasted until September 24, 1906. It was characterized at the time by Le Petit Journal and other media outlets as a "racial massacre of negroes".The death toll of the conflict was at least 25 African American along with 2 confirmed European Americans; some sources claim as many as 100 African Americans were killed.[citation needed] The main cause of the race riot was newspaper-publicized rapes of four white women in separate incidents by African American men.

The Springfield race riot of 1908 was a mass civil disturbance in Springfield, Illinois, USA on August 14 and 15, 1908, sparked by the arrest of two African Americans as suspects in violent crimes against whites. When a mob seeking to take the men for lynching discovered the sheriff had transferred them out of the city, it rioted in black neighborhoods. It killed black citizens on the street and destroyed businesses and homes. By the end of the riot the next day, the governor had sent in thousands of militia to restore order. At least seven people died, and there was US$200,000 in property damage, mostly to the black neighborhoods. This was one of the few riots of whites against blacks in 20th-century United States history in which more white deaths (five) were recorded than black (two). The riot was a factor in a biracial group forming the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), an organization to work to improve civil rights for blacks, and to educate all the populace and improve race relations.

The Everett Massacre (also known as Bloody Sunday) was an armed confrontation between local authorities and members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) union, commonly called "Wobblies". It took place in Everett, Washington on Sunday, November 5, 1916. The event marked a time of rising tensions in Pacific Northwest labor history.
The East St. Louis riot (May and July 1917) was an outbreak of labor- and race-related violence that caused between 40 and 200 deaths and extensive property damage. The incident took place in East St. Louis, Illinois, an industrial city on the east bank of the Mississippi River across from St. Louis, Missouri. It has been described as the worst incident of labor-related violence in 20th-century American history, and one of the worst race riots in U.S. history. The local Chamber of Commerce called for the resignation of the police chief. At the end of the month, ten thousand people marched in silent protest in New York City in condemnation of the riots.

The Houston riot of 1917, or Camp Logan riot, was a mutiny by 156 African American soldiers of the Third Battalion of the all-black Twenty-fourth United States Infantry Regiment. It occupied most of one night, and resulted in the deaths of four soldiers and sixteen civilians. The rioting soldiers were tried at three courts-martial. A total of nineteen would be executed, and forty-one were given life sentences.

The May Day Riots of 1919 were a series of violent demonstrations that occurred throughout Cleveland, Ohio on May 1 (May Day), 1919. The riots began when Socialist leader Charles Ruthenberg organized a May Day parade of local trade unionists, socialists, communists, and anarchists to protest the jailing of Eugene V. Debs. The previous year, Debs's Federal Court trial was held in Cleveland. The event was also aimed at helping promote Ruthenberg's own candidacy for mayor of Cleveland. The 32 groups were divided into four units, each holding a Socialist flag and an American flag at its head. As they marched to Cleveland's Public Square, one of the units was stopped on Superior Avenue by a group of Victory Liberty Loan workers, who demanded that they lower their flags. The marchers refused to do so and mass fighting broke out immediately; chaos quickly spreading throughout the downtown area. Ruthenberg's party headquarters on Prospect Avenue was ransacked by a mob. Law was finally restored by mounted police, army trucks, and tanks. Casualties amounted to two people killed, forty injured, and 116 arrested (one of them Ruthenberg himself on a charge of "assault with intent to kill"). Local newspapers quickly pointed out that only eight of those arrested were born in the United States. In response to the riots, the city government immediately passed laws to restrict parades and the display of red flags. Overall, the occurrence is seen as the most violent of a series of similar disorders that took place throughout the U.S. as a result of the First Red Scare.

The Red Summer refers to the race riots that occurred in more than three dozen cities in the United States during the summer and early autumn of 1919. In most instances, whites attacked African Americans. In some cases many blacks fought back, notably in Chicago, where, along with Washington, D.C. and Elaine, Arkansas, the greatest number of fatalities occurred. The riots followed postwar social tensions related to the demobilization of veterans of World War I, both black and white, and competition for jobs among ethnic whites and blacks. The riots were extensively documented in the press, which along with the federal government conflated black movements with bolshevism. Activist and author James Weldon Johnson, employed since 1916 by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as a field secretary, coined the term "Red Summer." In 1919, he organized peaceful protests against the racial violence of that summer.

The Chicago race riot of 1919 was a major racial conflict that began in Chicago, Illinois on July 27, 1919 and ended on August 3 During the riot, thirty-eight people died and over five hundred were injured It is considered the worst of the approximately 25 riots during the Red Summer, so named because of the violence and fatalities across the nation.The combination of prolonged arson, looting, and murder was the worst race rioting in the history of Illinois. The sociopolitical atmosphere of Chicago was one of ethnic tension caused by competition among many new groups. With the Great Migration, thousands of African Americans from the South had settled next to neighborhoods of European immigrants on Chicago's South Side, near jobs in the stockyards and meatpacking plants. The ethnic Irish had been established first, and fiercely defended their territory and political power against all newcomers.Post World War I tensions caused frictions between the races, especially in the competitive labor and housing markets. Overcrowding and increased African American militancy by veterans contributed to the visible racial frictions. Also, a combination of ethnic gangs and police neglect strained the racial relationships. According to official reports, the turmoil came to a boil after a young African American was struck by a rock and died at an informally segregated beach. Tensions between groups arose in a melee that blew up into days of unrest.William Hale Thompson was the Mayor of Chicago during the riot and a game of brinksmanship with Illinois Governor Frank Lowden may have exacerbated the riot since Thompson refused to ask Lowden to send in the militia for four days, despite Lowden ensuring the militia was in Chicago and ready to intervene. Although future mayor Richard J. Daley never officially acknowledged being part of the violence, at age 17 he was an active member of the ethnic Irish Hamburg Athletic Club, which a post-riot investigation named instigators in attacks on blacks. In the following decades, Daley continued to rise in politics to become mayor for twenty-one years. United States President Woodrow Wilson and the United States Congress attempted to promote legislation and organizations to decrease racial discord in America Illinois Governor Frank Lowden took several actions at Thompson's request to quell the riot and promote greater harmony in its aftermath. Sections of the Chicago economy were shut down for several days during and after the riots, as plants were closed to avoid interaction among bickering groups. Mayor Thompson drew on his association with this riot to influence later political elections.

In the Boston Police Strike, Boston police officers went on strike on September 9, 1919. They sought recognition for their trade union and improvements in wages and working conditions. Police Commissioner Edwin Upton Curtis denied that police officers had any right to form a union, much less one affiliated with a larger organization like the American Federation of Labor (AFL). Attempts at reconciliation between the Commissioner and the police officers, particularly on the part of Boston's Mayor Andrew James Peters, failed. During the strike, Boston experienced several nights of lawlessness, although property damage was not extensive. Several thousand members of the State Guard, supported by volunteers, restored order. Press reaction both locally and nationally described the strike as Bolshevik-inspired and directed at the destruction of civil society. The strikers were called "deserters" and "agents of Lenin."Samuel Gompers of the AFL recognized that the strike was damaging the cause of labor in the public mind and advised the strikers to return to work. Commissioner Curtis refused to re-hire the striking policemen. He was supported by Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge, whose rebuke of Gompers earned him a national reputation. The strike proved a setback for labor unions, and the AFL discontinued its attempts to organize police officers for another two decades. Coolidge won the Republican nomination for vice-president of the U.S. in the 1920 presidential election.

The Elaine race riot, also called the Elaine massacre, occurred September 30, 1919 in the town of Elaine in Phillips County, Arkansas, in the Arkansas Delta. Sharecropping by African American farmers was prevalent on cotton plantations of white landowners, and blacks outnumbered whites in the rural county by a ten-to-one proportion. Approximately 100 African-American farmers, led by Robert L. Hill, the founder of the Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America, met at a church in Hoop Spur in Phillips County, near Elaine. The purpose was "to obtain better payments for their cotton crops from the white plantation owners who dominated the area during the Jim Crow era. Black sharecroppers were often exploited in their efforts to collect payment for their cotton crops." [3] Whites resisted such organizing by blacks, and two went to the meeting. In a conflict, guards shot one of the white men. Violence ensued in the town and county, leaving five whites and 100-200 blacks dead. The events of the following week in the Elaine area are subject to debate. "It is documented that five whites, including a soldier died at Elaine, but estimates of African American deaths, made by individuals writing about the Elaine affair between 1919 and 1925, range from 20 to 856; if accurate, these numbers would make it by far the most deadly conflict in the history of the United States.[4] The only men prosecuted in the events were 115 African Americans, of whom 12 were quickly convicted and sentenced to death for murder. Their cases went to the United States Supreme Court, where the convictions were overturned on appeal. In the closing days of Governor Thomas McRae's administration, he freed most of the defendants, who were helped to leave the state to avoid being lynched.

 

[wizards8507]

I'm woefully uninformed about what's going on in Baltimore. Can someone catch me up with "just the facts"? It seems like there was a criminal apprehended by the police who was conscious and able-bodied when he was arrested and then he died a week later. Is that about the sum of it?

 

[GoIrish41]

Here is the second part.

1920-1959: New worker rights, old hatreds

The Tulsa race riot was a large-scale, racially motivated conflict on May 31 and June 1, 1921, in which a group of white people attacked the black community of Tulsa, Oklahoma. It resulted in the Greenwood District, also known as 'the Black Wall Street" and the wealthiest black community in the United States, being burned to the ground. During the 16 hours of the assault, more than 800 people were admitted to local white hospitals with injuries (the two black hospitals were burned down), and police arrested and detained more than 6,000 black Greenwood residents at three local facilities. An estimated 10,000 blacks were left homeless, and 35 city blocks composed of 1,256 residences were destroyed by fire. The official count of the dead by the Oklahoma Department of Vital Statistics was 39, but other estimates of black fatalities vary from 55 to about 300. The events of the riot were long omitted from local and state histories. "The Tulsa race riot of 1921 was rarely mentioned in history books, classrooms or even in private. Blacks and whites alike grew into middle age unaware of what had taken place." With the number of survivors declining, in 1996, the state legislature commissioned a report to establish the historical record of the events, and acknowledge the victims and damages to the black community. Released in 2001, the report included the commission's recommendations for some compensatory actions, most of which were not implemented by the state and city governments. The state passed legislation to establish some scholarships for descendants of survivors, economic development of Greenwood, and a memorial park to the victims in Tulsa. The latter was dedicated in 2010.

The Herrin Massacre took place in June 1922 in Herrin, Illinois. Following an early morning gunfire attack on non-union miners going to work on June 21, three union miners (Jordie Henderson, Joseph Pitkewicius and one other) were killed in a confrontation after the striking union members marched on the mine. The next day, union miners killed 19 of fifty strikebreakers and mine guards, many of them in brutal ways. A twentieth victim from the non-union group would later be murdered, bringing the death total to twenty-three.[
The Rosewood massacre was a violent, racially motivated conflict that took place during the first week of January 1923 in rural Levy County, Florida. At least six blacks and two whites were killed, and the town of Rosewood was abandoned and destroyed in what contemporary news reports characterized as a race riot. Racial disturbances were common during the early 20th century in the United States, reflecting the nation's rapid social changes. Florida had an especially high number of lynchings of black males in the years before the massacre, including a well-publicized incident in December 1922. Prior to the massacre, the town of Rosewood had been a quiet, primarily black, self-sufficient whistle stop on the Seaboard Air Line Railway. Trouble began when white men from several nearby towns lynched a black Rosewood resident because of unsupported accusations that a white woman in nearby Sumner had been beaten and possibly raped by a black drifter. When the town's black citizens rallied together to defend themselves against further attacks, a mob of several hundred whites combed the countryside hunting for black people, and burned almost every structure in Rosewood. Survivors from the town hid for several days in nearby swamps until they were evacuated by train and car to larger towns. Although state and local authorities were aware of the violence, no arrests were made for what happened in Rosewood. The town was abandoned by its former black residents; none ever moved back. Although the rioting was widely reported around the United States at the time, few official records documented the event. Survivors, their descendants, and the perpetrators remained silent about Rosewood for decades. Sixty years after the rioting, the story of Rosewood was revived in major media when several journalists covered it in the early 1980s. Survivors and their descendants organized to sue the state for having failed to protect Rosewood's black community. In 1993, the Florida Legislature commissioned a report on the massacre. As a result of the findings, Florida became the first U.S. state to compensate survivors and their descendants for damages incurred because of racial violence. The incident was the subject of a 1997 feature film directed by John Singleton. In 2004, the state designated the site of Rosewood as a Florida Heritage Landmark.

The Bonus Army was the popular name of an assemblage of some 43,000 marchers—17,000 World War I veterans, their families, and affiliated groups—who gathered in Washington, D.C., in the spring and summer of 1932 to demand cash-payment redemption of their service certificates. Its organizers called it the Bonus Expeditionary Force to echo the name of World War I's American Expeditionary Forces, while the media called it the Bonus March. It was led by Walter W. Waters, a former army sergeant. Many of the war veterans had been out of work since the beginning of the Great Depression. The World War Adjusted Compensation Act of 1924 had awarded them bonuses in the form of certificates they could not redeem until 1945. Each service certificate, issued to a qualified veteran soldier, bore a face value equal to the soldier's promised payment plus compound interest. The principal demand of the Bonus Army was the immediate cash payment of their certificates. Retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler, one of the most popular military figures of the time, visited their camp to back the effort and encourage them. On July 28, U.S. Attorney General William D. Mitchell ordered the veterans removed from all government property. Washington police met with resistance, shots were fired and two veterans were wounded and later died. President Herbert Hoover then ordered the army to clear the veterans' campsite. Army Chief of Staff General Douglas MacArthur commanded the infantry and cavalry supported by six tanks. The Bonus Army marchers with their wives and children were driven out, and their shelters and belongings burned. A second, smaller Bonus March in 1933 at the start of the Roosevelt Administration was defused in May with an offer of jobs for the Civilian Conservation Corps at Fort Hunt, Virginia, which most of the group accepted. Those who chose not to work for the CCC by the May 22 deadline were given transportation home. In 1936, Congress overrode President Franklin D. Roosevelt's veto and paid the veterans their bonus nine years early.

The Ford Hunger March, sometimes called the Ford Massacre, was a demonstration of unemployed workers starting in Detroit and ending in Dearborn, Michigan, that took place on March 7, 1932. The march resulted in four workers being shot to death by the Dearborn Police Department and security guards employed by the Ford Motor Company. Over 60 workers were injured, many by gunshot wounds. Three months later, a fifth worker died of his injuries. The march was organized by the Unemployed Councils. The Ford Hunger March was an important part of a chain of events that eventually led to the unionization of the U.S. auto industry.

The Minneapolis general strike of 1934 grew out of a strike by Teamsters against most of the trucking companies operating in Minneapolis, a major distribution center for the Upper Midwest. The strike began on May 16, 1934 in the Market District (the modern day Warehouse District) and ensuing violence lasted periodically throughout the summer. Led by local leaders associated with the Trotskyist Communist League of America, a group that later founded the Socialist Workers Party (United States), the strike paved the way for the organization of over-the-road drivers and the growth of the Teamsters labor union. It, along with the 1934 West Coast Longshore Strike and the 1934 Toledo Auto-Lite Strike led by the American Workers Party, were also important catalysts for the rise of industrial unionism in the 1930s, much of which was organized through the Congress of Industrial Organizations.

The Harlem riot of 1935 was Harlem's first race riot, sparked by rumors of the beating of a teenage shoplifter. Three died, hundreds were wounded and an estimated $2 million in damages were sustained to properties throughout the district, with African-American-owned homes and businesses spared the worst of the destruction.[

In the Memorial Day massacre of 1937, the Chicago Police Department shot and killed ten unarmed demonstrators in Chicago, on May 30, 1937. The incident took place during the "Little Steel Strike" in the United States.
The Zoot Suit Riots were a series of riots in 1943 during World War II that broke out in Los Angeles, California, between Anglo American sailors and Marines stationed in the city, and Latino youths, who were recognizable by the zoot suits they favored. Mexican Americans and European-American military personnel were the main parties in the riots, and some African American and Filipino/Filipino American youths were involved as well. The Zoot Suit Riots were in part the effect of the infamous Sleepy Lagoon murder trial which followed the death of a young Latino man in a barrio near Los Angeles. The incident triggered similar attacks against Latinos in Beaumont, Chicago, San Diego, Oakland, Detroit, Evansville, Philadelphia, and New York City.

The Detroit race riot broke out in Detroit, Michigan, in June 1943, and lasted for three days before Federal troops regained control. The rioting between blacks and whites began on Belle Isle on June 20, 1943, and continued until June 22, killing 34, wounding 433, and destroying property valued at $2 million.

On August 1 and 2 of 1943, a race riot took place in Harlem, New York City, after a white police officer shot and wounded Robert Bandy, an African American soldier who inquired about a woman's arrest for disorderly conduct and sought to have her released. Bandy reportedly hit the officer, and was shot while trying to flee from the scene. A crowd of about 3,000 people gathered around Bandy and the officer as they attempted to enter a hospital for treatment, when someone in the crowd incorrectly reported that Bandy had been killed. A riot ensued that lasted for two days and led to six deaths, nearly 600 arrests, vandalism, theft, property destruction and monetary damages. New York City Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia ultimately restored order in the borough on August 2 with the recruitment of several thousand officers and volunteer forces to contain the rioters. The underlying causes of the riot stemmed from a disparity between the values of American democracy and the conditions of black citizens, strained and exemplified by World War II. Discriminatory practices in employment and city services created tension among African Americans as they sought to reject their state of living. Segregated in the Army, Bandy came to represent black soldiers, and Collins came to represent white suppression to Harlemites. Culturally, the riot inspired the "theatrical climax" of Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man, winner of the 1953 National Book Award, and artist William Johnson's representation of the "oppressed and debased community" in Moon Over Harlem.

The Fort Lawton Riot refers to a series of events in August 1944 starting with a violent conflict between U.S. soldiers and Italian prisoners of war at Fort Lawton in Seattle, Washington during World War II. After the riot, prisoner Guglielmo Olivotto was found dead. This led to the court-martial of 43 soldiers, all of them African Americans. In 2005, the book On American Soil helped to convince the U.S. Army Board for Correction of Military Records that prosecutor Leon Jaworski had committed "egregious error," and that all convictions should be reversed. President George W. Bush signed legislation allowing the Army to disburse back pay to the defendants or their survivors.

The Peekskill riots were anti-communist riots with anti-black and anti-Semitic undertones that took place at Cortlandt Manor, Westchester County, New York, in 1949. The catalyst for the rioting was an announced concert by black singer Paul Robeson, who was well known for his strong pro-trade union stance, civil rights activism, communist affiliations, and anti-colonialism. The concert, organized as a benefit for the Civil Rights Congress, was scheduled to take place on August 27 in Lakeland Acres, just north of Peekskill.

 

[pkt77242]

I'm woefully uninformed about what's going on in Baltimore. Can someone catch me up with "just the facts"? It seems like there was a criminal apprehended by the police who was conscious and able-bodied when he was arrested and then he died a week later. Is that about the sum of it?

His neck got broken (almost completely severed his spine) while in a police van on the way to the police station.

 

[wizards8507]

His neck got broken (almost completely severed his spine) while in a police van on the way to the police station.

Is that a fact? Or is that the speculation that's leading to the riots? I'm being completely serious since I have no idea. Is there video of that? Eyewitness testimony?

 

[GoIrish41]

I'm woefully uninformed about what's going on in Baltimore. Can someone catch me up with "just the facts"? It seems like there was a criminal apprehended by the police who was conscious and able-bodied when he was arrested and then he died a week later. Is that about the sum of it?

A guy made eye contact with the police on the street and began to run. The police gave chase (6 cops) and roughed him up pretty good during the arrest, his spinal cord was 80%severed. Subsequent reports from the higher ups suggested that when the strapped him in the paddy wagon, they forgot to strap him in and that is how he sustained his injuries. But there was a video and he was clearly injured prior to being put into the van. Guy died and people went bonkers and rioted.