Touching Photo: Ferguson Protest (I love this!)

[Mertex]

Everyone has the right to justice, regardless of what you think of them and their upbringing. That's what our Constitution provides. If we were to allow our policemen to shoot/kill every person that is a bully or whose parents made wrong decisions or married a criminal, or a person who is high on drugs, there would be a lot of indiscriminate killing going on.......our Constitution says that everyone of us deserves a fair trial, so, it doesn't matter if any of the above applies, even murderers get a fair trial. That's the United States I believe in and support. The policeman needs to go on trial because there is contradicting evidence and a jury should be able to decide whether or not he is telling the truth.


In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence. - See more at: Sixth Amendment - U.S. Constitution - FindLaw

 

[Gracie]

It is very easy to pass judgment. But I guess it is hard to imagine the circumstances an average black person grows in. Just few generations ago, they were bought and sold against theirs wishes. It is not just poverty. They were uprooted from their family. This destroyed their sense of identity. They had no support base that a traditional family provides to its members. Once you find yourself in this unfortunate situation, it takes generations to get out of this. It is a vicious cycle. Yet, majority of blacks have broken that vicious cycle and have managed to create an identity, a culture they call their own. They lead normal life despite being meted the most cruel treatment imaginable. My hat is oft to all black folks. They are my hero. Every single of them.

And they, along with idiot whites, have just taken HUGE steps backwards due to Ferguson.
My family didn't own slaves, so their plight is not a concern of mine. MY family came from Ireland and other parts of europe. They had their own probs with being treated poorly. My parents and their parents weren't taught they were OWED and lay blame and sit on their asses. They fought to get out of their poverty. Blacks need to do the same. All over the USA, there are ghettos. Filth. Drugs. Thuggery.
My folks didn't have nasty streets, drugs and filthy houses full of bums sitting around planning on who to rob instead of WORK or go to school.
Even poor people sweep the dirt floor and teach their children how to better themselves. STUPID poor people who have morons enabling them just pass on the ignorance to their children.

 

[emilynghiem]

That pic should be on every flag waved. Every tshirt worn. Ever storefront window. Everywhere.
But it won't happen. Looters, rioters, thugs don't give a damn about that. They want STUFF and they will kill their own kids with that mindset, to get it.

Dear Gracie: all the more reason I applaud the mom for taking her son out there, because she didn't have this fear it didn't matter. them being out there did make a huge impact. bigger than they thought. they didn't mean to become famous, but it isn't necessary. that cop wasn't thinking of what other people did or thought, he was thinking about that kid!

the looters don't want stuff, they want to express anger and FU and they are using that to get it in the media.

I really believe the media should reward more positive actions and quit promoting the violent ones.

You remind me of when I cried to the director at the school where I was teaching when the first Gulf Wars were declared.
I could not believe I would see our country go officially to war this far in my lifetime. Nothing could console me.

My mentor tried to explain to me some people need to go through the tribal fighting phase.
it's like child and human development, we can't skip the terrible twos or the rebellious teens.
this is part of life to go through that phase before maturing to adulthood.
spiritually and socially there are phases that cultures and nations go through.

so she trained herself to focus on the people and places where she could use her energy to make a difference.
and had to let the other things take care of themselves that were not hers to change or control.

Gracie I couldn't accept that either. it was unacceptable to me to see people go to war
at a time we have resources to prevent it. I still do not agree at all.

but I have learned to forgive that it happens and trust the anger phase is only temporary.
people are human and have to go through these phases in life.I hate it too and wish
I could make it better. I can help people grieving around me, not to be angry and depressed.
and to focus on being positive. that's why I love this kid, his mom and the cop so much.

just the little exchange between them, one on one, and that had more impact
than 10 or 20 people stomping on a car and burning things down.

let's agree to be more like that mom, who encouraged her son to stand with his sign,
only one person against the world gone mad. and he made a huge difference just being himself.
more love to you, Gracie!
hugs, Emily

 

[Gracie]

The pic haunts me. Like...a life raft. I put it in my favs.

 

[emilynghiem]

It is very easy to pass judgment. But I guess it is hard to imagine the circumstances an average black person grows in. Just few generations ago, they were bought and sold against theirs wishes. It is not just poverty. They were uprooted from their family. This destroyed their sense of identity. They had no support base that a traditional family provides to its members. Once you find yourself in this unfortunate situation, it takes generations to get out of this. It is a vicious cycle. Yet, majority of blacks have broken that vicious cycle and have managed to create an identity, a culture they call their own. They lead normal life despite being meted the most cruel treatment imaginable. My hat is oft to all black folks. They are my hero. Every single of them.

And they, along with idiot whites, have just taken HUGE steps backwards due to Ferguson.
My family didn't own slaves, so their plight is not a concern of mine. MY family came from Ireland and other parts of europe. They had their own probs with being treated poorly. My parents and their parents weren't taught they were OWED and lay blame and sit on their asses. They fought to get out of their poverty. Blacks need to do the same. All over the USA, there are ghettos. Filth. Drugs. Thuggery.
My folks didn't have nasty streets, drugs and filthy houses full of bums sitting around planning on who to rob instead of WORK or go to school.
Even poor people sweep the dirt floor and teach their children how to better themselves. STUPID poor people who have morons enabling them just pass on the ignorance to their children.

Dear Gracie and Vikrant:
your posts remind me of me and my boyfriend who come from two different sides on this issue.
Gracie your post is like my bf also Irish and there was slavery and rape/forced breeding of blacks with Irish to make more slaves, so there is common history and why these two lineages were forced by rape to hate and fear each other, passing this phobic hatred from generation to generation.

Vikrant I volunteer in Freedmen's Town where the generations that used to own their own land they built themselves
had it taken away by eminent domain and corporate welfare paid to developers to seize the land at taxpayers expense.
it's been genocide but without violence, so nobody sees it in the news. Black churches have burned down for the convenience of developers to sweep the history, even remove graves to build a Federal Reserve building over historic sites, and nobody has looted or protested, no ministers have called for violence.

the peaceful people in Freedmen's Town who have worked diligently to protect the history without violence
are heroes. and they are fighting for the one thing that has never been talked about in this fight for equality:
the right to own property which would make people equal if they owned and ran their own towns
as Freedmen's Town once did. nobody wants that or else it would start a revolution nobody is ready for.

the one thing I would add to your post is that Blacks were 150 years behind on the learning curve
of owning their own property and businesses. and in Freedmens' town where they once owned
their own churches businesses and homes, it was taken away. so you wonder why blacks stay poor.

Gracie I understand your anger because my bf and I are both angry
that the black leadership has basically pimped the poor blacks.
trained them to give millions if not billions to political campaigns
and then turn aroudn and say there is no money to save black history.
while millions in taxes are given to corporate developers to seize and destroy property here,
the nonprofits who wrote grants to buy and save history went unfunded, instead they were evicted
so coprporate developers could take over.

when I tried to help, I got screwed over by some of the very black community leaders I trusted
to counteract the wrongs. they left me with thousands in debts and can't pay it, so my bf is mad at them.

it is a big mess. I am angry too, burned out and in debt with two jobs just to pay the interest.
the historic houses I worked so hard to save may be torn down by now because I couldn't do this alone.

the blacks are too busy blaming the wrong people
they won't even invest in saving their own history.

the liberal/conservative split was abused to finagle millions of dollars to fight political wars
whle the historic preservation plans went without funding and more churches and history are destroyed for lack of funds.

Gracie I am at a loss why all these ministers publicly preach for Brown and Martin
and yet don't say a word when it comes to the destruction of historic churches in Freedmen's town.

it does seem that only violence gets in the news,
and when people protest peaceably they get no credit.

so Gracie I find it hard to blame people if that's the only way they can get public attention

when we try to work peacefully nobody cares
we have to change the way the media covers these issues

so maybe this photo is a good start, how can we do more stories
and pay more attention to people like this and quit rewarding looters with our attention

 

[Mertex]

It is very easy to pass judgment. But I guess it is hard to imagine the circumstances an average black person grows in. Just few generations ago, they were bought and sold against theirs wishes. It is not just poverty. They were uprooted from their family. This destroyed their sense of identity. They had no support base that a traditional family provides to its members. Once you find yourself in this unfortunate situation, it takes generations to get out of this. It is a vicious cycle. Yet, majority of blacks have broken that vicious cycle and have managed to create an identity, a culture they call their own. They lead normal life despite being meted the most cruel treatment imaginable. My hat is oft to all black folks. They are my hero. Every single of them.

And they, along with idiot whites, have just taken HUGE steps backwards due to Ferguson.
My family didn't own slaves, so their plight is not a concern of mine. MY family came from Ireland and other parts of europe. They had their own probs with being treated poorly. My parents and their parents weren't taught they were OWED and lay blame and sit on their asses. They fought to get out of their poverty. Blacks need to do the same. All over the USA, there are ghettos. Filth. Drugs. Thuggery.
My folks didn't have nasty streets, drugs and filthy houses full of bums sitting around planning on who to rob instead of WORK or go to school.
Even poor people sweep the dirt floor and teach their children how to better themselves. STUPID poor people who have morons enabling them just pass on the ignorance to their children.

Therein lies your problem. Not all blacks sit on their asses.....there are many whites that sit on their asses, and are on welfare when maybe they could be working. My family didn't own slaves either, but I'm sure if I were to do a family tree, somewhere along the way there must have been one that did.....but that isn't the point. Racism still exists today.....even though the Civil Rights Act was passed over 50 years ago, there are many in this country that hate blacks just for the sake of hating them. Check out the thread "Negroes: Go back to Africa" and you'll see what I mean. And blacks are doing the same....fighting to get out of poverty, there are many that have, and there are many whites that haven't, too, so to claim that only blacks live in ghetto like filth with drugs and thuggery is racist.

And just because your folks didn't have nasty streets, with drugs and filthy houses full of bums doesn't mean that there are no whites that live in that type of environment. If you really believe that you are very naive and haven't been around much. There will always be poor people, of that you can count on, but to think that only the blacks are poor, and lazy is an erroneous mindset.

Study Whites More Likely to Abuse Drugs Than Blacks TIME.com

This elevated risk reflects past and current institutional practices that put blacks and other minorities at a disadvantage. But it’s also true that almost three-quarters of black incomes do not fall below the poverty line. Collapsing poor and black as if all poor were black and all blacks poor turns the “poverty” problem into a “race” problem. The white poverty rate does run much lower than the black rate, just under 10 percent, one-third of the black rate. But the white poor outnumber the black poor considerably, 19 to 7.8 million. White people make up 42 percent of America’s poor, black people about 28 percent. - See more at: Poverty More than a Matter of Black and White Inequality.org
Poverty More than a Matter of Black and White Inequality.org

 

[Gracie]

That's your drum you march too. I march to a different one.

 

[Vikrant]

That's your drum you march too. I march to a different one.

It is not about drum. It is about empathy. It is about love.

 

[Mertex]

That's your drum you march too. I march to a different one.

Yes, but you haven't provided any factual information to support your drum!

 

[thereisnospoon]

Yes, we are better people than what happened in Ferguson and those images prove it. Beneath our skins we share our common humanity. A little empathy and compassion go a long way.

99.9% of America did not riot over due process of law.

I didn't riot either but that doesn't mean that I am not appalled about the travesty of "justice" that was perpetrated by the Ferguson prosecutor. I am not alone either.

You had expectations?

 

[Mertex]

Yes, we are better people than what happened in Ferguson and those images prove it. Beneath our skins we share our common humanity. A little empathy and compassion go a long way.

99.9% of America did not riot over due process of law.

I didn't riot either but that doesn't mean that I am not appalled about the travesty of "justice" that was perpetrated by the Ferguson prosecutor. I am not alone either.

Well, write Obama and Holder and demand a show trial.

In the meantime, I respect the jury system, about the only part of the system I do trust.

Except that it wasn't a genuine jury trial. There was no judge, no opposing counsel, no presentation of an alternative explanation of the evidence, no cross examination.

So what you "trust" was the farcical "show trial"!

It was a grand jury, part of due process of law.

If you do not understand the purpose of the grand jury, and do not think a grand jury is a "genuine" jury, you should take Civics I, and STFU in the meantime.

The prosecutor did not follow the rules that are there for a grand jury. If you support that, I bet you wouldn't if the same was applied in a case that affected you. It's about following the rules that apply to due process of law. And your getting angry just shows you are running out of facts.

 

[Gracie]

That's your drum you march too. I march to a different one.

Yes, but you haven't provided any factual information to support your drum!

I don't need to. It's MY drum. I want no other marchers so no need to give any factual information. It's kinda like trying to describe the smell of number 6. lol

 

[Mertex]

That's your drum you march too. I march to a different one.

Yes, but you haven't provided any factual information to support your drum!

I don't need to. It's MY drum. I want no other marchers so no need to give any factual information. It's kinda like trying to describe the smell of number 6. lol

Well you're entitled to have your own erroneous beliefs....that's for sure.

 

[Gracie]

That's your drum you march too. I march to a different one.

Yes, but you haven't provided any factual information to support your drum!

I don't need to. It's MY drum. I want no other marchers so no need to give any factual information. It's kinda like trying to describe the smell of number 6. lol

Well you're entitled to have your own erroneous beliefs....that's for sure.

Erroneous to you. Not to me.
And so round and round it goes again, right? Which proves my initial point. But I forget what it was now anyway.

 

[Mertex]

That's your drum you march too. I march to a different one.

Yes, but you haven't provided any factual information to support your drum!

I don't need to. It's MY drum. I want no other marchers so no need to give any factual information. It's kinda like trying to describe the smell of number 6. lol

Well you're entitled to have your own erroneous beliefs....that's for sure.

Erroneous to you. Not to me.
And so round and round it goes again, right? Which proves my initial point. But I forget what it was now anyway.

Well, they are erroneous. You generalized that blacks sit on their asses, as if there are no whites that do that too....also, that only blacks live in filth and drug infested environments, that too, is erroneous....whites live in those types of environments, too....it would be great if everyone was motivated to better themselves and to help others get ahead, but alas, that will probably never happen.

 

[Gracie]

That's your drum you march too. I march to a different one.

Yes, but you haven't provided any factual information to support your drum!

I don't need to. It's MY drum. I want no other marchers so no need to give any factual information. It's kinda like trying to describe the smell of number 6. lol

Well you're entitled to have your own erroneous beliefs....that's for sure.

Erroneous to you. Not to me.
And so round and round it goes again, right? Which proves my initial point. But I forget what it was now anyway.

Well, they are erroneous. You generalized that blacks sit on their asses, as if there are no whites that do that too....also, that only blacks live in filth and drug infested environments, that too, is erroneous....whites live in those types of environments, too....it would be great if everyone was motivated to better themselves and to help others get ahead, but alas, that will probably never happen.

Uh. No I didn't. But I keep forgetting that here at good ol USMB, one has to be EXACT in what they say otherwise they are crammed in a box with a sloppy label slapped on it. With spit to make it stick. Probably supplied by Keith in Survivor.

I know there a lot of people that sit on their asses and do nothing. But lately, in our faces, we get to see a bunch get off their asses and go get free stuff while PRETENDING to care about a black thug with a black stepfather ex thug and a moronic mother that is a dope and I don't mean drug wise. When I get whites doing what Ferguson did, then I will be on the warpath about them. And asians. And native americans. And mexicans. Blacks are not exempt, but they sure are in the forefront lately.

Anyway..you think whatever floats your boat. I won't sit here and demand you think like I do or march to my drummer...unlike what you are desperately trying to do with me. Good luck with that, though. I march to my own and want no company.

 

[Mertex]

Uh. No I didn't.

Maybe that isn't what you meant, but that is how your post read.....see, none of what you are saying....regarding Michael Brown, regardless of what you think of him, he didn't deserve to be killed....unless it can be proven that he was doing something criminal and was putting the policeman at risk....which hasn't been proven. That's why there needed to be a trial, so the truth would come out. As long as people just take someone's word at face value, people are going to end up getting shafted....I'm sure you wouldn't like that for yourself....and neither would I like it for myself. If it can be proven that Brown was the aggressor, then so be it, but the way it is being handled is not the way our Constitution dictates.

 

[Vikrant]

That's your drum you march too. I march to a different one.

Yes, but you haven't provided any factual information to support your drum!

I don't need to. It's MY drum. I want no other marchers so no need to give any factual information. It's kinda like trying to describe the smell of number 6. lol

Well you're entitled to have your own erroneous beliefs....that's for sure.

Erroneous to you. Not to me.
And so round and round it goes again, right? Which proves my initial point. But I forget what it was now anyway.

There are several flaws in your logic. Let me bullet point it to avoid misunderstanding:

- You are saying that since your family did not own slaves, the plight of black Americans is none of your problem. That approach lacks empathy.

- You are assuming that poverty is the only hurdle blacks face. That is not correct. Their family was uprooted. They had no identity. It takes generations to recover from this kind of trauma. It is not as easy as you assume.

- Furthermore, every injustice that is done to a black family today results in the reset of that vicious cycle that I talked about. The count is set to zero again. They start over again trying to fight their way out of that vicious cycle.

- No body in America has the same kind of advantages a white person has and this includes blacks.

 

[Gracie]

Uh. No I didn't.

Maybe that isn't what you meant, but that is how your post read.....see, none of what you are saying....regarding Michael Brown, regardless of what you think of him, he didn't deserve to be killed....unless it can be proven that he was doing something criminal and was putting the policeman at risk....which hasn't been proven. That's why there needed to be a trial, so the truth would come out. As long as people just take someone's word at face value, people are going to end up getting shafted....I'm sure you wouldn't like that for yourself....and neither would I like it for myself. If it can be proven that Brown was the aggressor, then so be it, but the way it is being handled is not the way our Constitution dictates.

But in my opinion, he DID deserve to be killed. He was going to massively hurt or kill the cop. I have no pity for that guy. None.

 

[Gracie]

That's your drum you march too. I march to a different one.

Yes, but you haven't provided any factual information to support your drum!

I don't need to. It's MY drum. I want no other marchers so no need to give any factual information. It's kinda like trying to describe the smell of number 6. lol

Well you're entitled to have your own erroneous beliefs....that's for sure.

Erroneous to you. Not to me.
And so round and round it goes again, right? Which proves my initial point. But I forget what it was now anyway.

There are several flaws in your logic. Let me bullet point it to avoid misunderstanding:

- You are saying that since your family did not own slaves, the plight of black Americans is none of your problem. That approach lacks empathy.

- You are assuming that poverty is the only hurdle blacks face. That is not correct. Their family was uprooted. They had no identity. It takes generations to recover from this kind of trauma. It is not as easy as you assume.

- Furthermore, every injustice that is done to a black family today results in the reset of that vicious cycle that I talked about. The count is set to zero again. They start over again trying to fight their way out of that vicious cycle.

- No body in America has the same kind of advantages a white person has and this includes blacks.

Pish posh. I have plenty of empathy for those who deserve it. You want me to feel sorry for a bunch of thugs that set fire to their town INCLUDING black people who had businesses there because they were uprooted a hundred or so years ago? Pahlease.