This is simply amazing, especially coming from the mouth of a corporate executive.
Read as John Angelos, the Chief Operating Officer of the Baltimore Orioles, responded to Baltimore sports-radio broadcaster Brett Hollander, who took to Twitter to argue that demonstrations that negatively impact the daily lives of fellow citizens are counter-productive.
Brett, speaking only for myself, I agree with your point that the principle of peaceful, non-violent protest and the observance of the rule of law is of utmost importance in any society. MLK, Gandhi, Mandela and all great opposition leaders throughout history have always preached this precept. Further, it is critical that in any democracy, investigation must be completed and due process must be honored before any government or police members are judged responsible.
That said, my greater source of personal concern, outrage and sympathy beyond this particular case is focused neither upon one night’s property damage nor upon the acts, but is focused rather upon the past four-decade period during which an American political elite have shipped middle class and working class jobs away from Baltimore and cities and towns around the U.S. to third-world dictatorships like China and others, plunged tens of millions of good, hard-working Americans into economic devastation, and then followed that action around the nation by diminishing every American’s civil rights protections in order to control an unfairly impoverished population living under an ever-declining standard of living and suffering at the butt end of an ever-more militarized and aggressive surveillance state.
The innocent working families of all backgrounds whose lives and dreams have been cut short by excessive violence, surveillance, and other abuses of the Bill of Rights by government pay the true price, and ultimate price, and one that far exceeds the importance of any kids’ game played tonight, or ever, at Camden Yards. We need to keep in mind people are suffering and dying around the U.S., and while we are thankful no one was injured at Camden Yards, there is a far bigger picture for poor Americans in Baltimore and everywhere who don’t have jobs and are losing economic civil and legal rights, and this makes inconvenience at a ballgame irrelevant in light of the needless suffering government is inflicting upon ordinary Americans.
Zach, thanks.
“‘Riot is the language of the unheard,’ What MLK would have said about the London riots”
http://wagingnonviolence.org/feature/riot-is-the-language-of-the-unheard-what-mlk-would-have-said-about-the-london-riots/
Angelos’ concern for the poor is touching but his analysis is all wrong. While changing economic conditions presents problems to be sure, the bigger problem by far is the deterioration of the black family. And for that we can thank progressivism.
Denis is now fighting for unions, “The Death of American Unions Is Killing American Marriage.”
…
“Forty years ago, about nine of 10 American men between the ages of 30 and 50 were married, and the most highly paid men were just slightly more likely to wed than those paid least. Since then, earnings for men in the top tenth of the income distribution have risen and their marriage rates have fallen slightly, from 95 percent in 1970 to 83 percent today. […] [M]en in the bottom quartile of earnings have had a wage cut of 60 percent, and a contemporaneous drop in marriage rates to about 50 percent, from 86 percent.”
…
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/121096/right-work-legislation-impoverishes-working-class-men
While the decline of manufacturing jobs in the US certainly as led to less opportunity for work in some of our inner cities, it is beyond ridiculous that politicians, commentators and the elite wealthy liberals in society refuse to place a large portion of the blame on the rioters and thugs that permeate the inner cities.
What small business is going to open in environments such as this. Just thugs livin the thug life.
Thug power…
jharp, for when you get serious about accountability, “The Case for Reparations.” http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/05/the-case-for-reparations/361631/
If you find anything lacking in Ta-Nehisi Coates’ research, please quote it exactly. So far, I haven’t found anyone who can dispute his conclusions. Look on the bright side, with the new DNA testing you may be related to folks who will be receiving reparations, “The First Family: A New Glimpse of Michelle Obama’s White Ancestors.”
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/06/22/us/first-lady-family-q-and-a.html?_r=0
“The Case For Reparations” begins,
“And if thy brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty: thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing today.”
— Deuteronomy 15: 12–15
“Besides the crime which consists in violating the law, and varying from the right rule of reason, whereby a man so far becomes degenerate, and declares himself to quit the principles of human nature, and to be a noxious creature, there is commonly injury done to some person or other, and some other man receives damage by his transgression: in which case he who hath received any damage, has, besides the right of punishment common to him with other men, a particular right to seek reparation.”
— John Locke, “Second Treatise”
John H you have it all wrong. Those folks are not thugs. They are front line progressives enacting progressive policies. They weren’t paying close attention in history class though. The teacher and progressives say they are owed 40 acres and a mule. They heard “40 ouncers and some fuel.” An innocent mistake of course.
Denis, if you’re going to bring up 40 acres and a mule, why not mention one of Abraham Lincoln’s greatest achievements as the first Republican president? The Homestead Act (1862) was understandably eclipsed by his greatest achievement, Emancipation, but I strongly encourage you to consider his economic vision. The Homestead Act of 1862, “…allowed any citizen, including single women and freed slaves, to take possession of virtually any unoccupied 160-acre tract of public land, for a $12 registration and filing fee. Live in it for five years, build a house and farm the land, and it was yours for just an additional $5 “proving” fee. Over time, the Homestead Act helped to settle some 10 percent of the entire land area of the continental United States. Senator Justin Morrill’s (R-VT) 1862 land-grant college act awarded each state a bequest of public lands which they could sell to finance state colleges focused on the agricultural and industrial arts. No other country had conceived the notion of educating farmer and mechanic, and the Morrill Act schools are still the foundation of the state university systems.
The 1862 Pacific Railway Act made yet another lavish grant of public lands to finance a railway line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean, a dream of the pro-development party for more than twenty years. The undertaking was still at the very limits of the current technology; the act needed several revisions to get the financing right; and the whole project was plauged by scandal. But the railroad was actually completed more or less as its promoters promised and surprisingly close to the original schedule; over time its development justified the airiest dreams of its supporters. (“THE TYCOONS: How Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J.P. Morgan Invented the American Super Economy,” by Charles R. Morris; Henry Holt and Company (2005) page 10).
Riots are just one more natural or just reaction to “income disparity” especially if one’s
US income is zero compared to the excessive.07 per hour paid to Vietnam workers by American employers.
Economics may play a role but the larger problem, by far, is the breakdown of the family, a problem needlessly created by progressive politics.
Denis,
When you get serious about accountability, read my response to jharp.
Try forced breakup of the family through arresting 65%-70% of black young men. Get your wording correct, your facts straight and it is not too difficult to understand institutional racism perpetrated by the conservative whites, oh let’s say for example in the white suburbs around inner city Milwaukee.
Hey nonquixote. Please understand that I have NO PITY for the 65%-70% of black young men that are arrested and incarcerated. Guess what nonquixote, it is damn near impossible to get put away in milwaukee for an initial crime. It only happens after REPEAT offences. These young Black MEN are breaking our laws and ruining any chance they have to LIFT themselves up.
Maybe if your wife or your child or yourself were robbed or assaulted or molested in some way by the criminals that you defend your attitude would change. Maybe not, no matter, the thugs will keep on thugging and the white rich liberal apologists will keep on blaming conservatives.
Lets look at EVERY large city in AMERICA. All run by liberals and all are failing to HELP. NICE
jharp just loves that government welfare, as long as it goes to the right people.
“A Company That Runs Prisons Will Have Its Name on a Stadium”
On Tuesday, that trend took another strange turn when Florida Atlantic University, in Boca Raton, firmed a deal to rename its football building GEO Group Stadium. Perhaps that pushed stadium naming to its zenith, if only because the GEO Group is a private prison corporation.
…
Libal said the GEO Group “poured enormous resources” in recent years into “attempting to take over a large portion of the Florida prison system.” He said the company’s usual practices included lobbying and charitable donations, often in areas where it operated facilities or planned to. To that end, this move could represent a way for the company to rebrand itself in Florida, he added.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/sports/ncaafootball/a-company-that-runs-prisons-will-have-its-name-on-a-stadium.html
jharp
Even Grover Norquist is against you, “Criminal justice reform is a conservative issue.”
“I’m a conservative activist who thinks that we should execute murderers and in the case of violent criminals we should throw away the key. One thinks that goes without saying, but it’s better to let folks know where I’m coming from.
On the other hand, my life’s work has been about maximizing individual liberty. How should liberty-minded folks look at the criminal justice system, and how should we treat all the rest of the criminals who will come back to society sooner or later?
Draconian punishments for minor infractions, an ever-expanding prisoner population and a legal regime that allows authorities to seize property without a warrant are all slowly eroding the freedoms that the nation has come to expect. For years, lawmakers have focused almost exclusively on being “tough on crime,” all the while forgetting to get “smart on crime.” …”
http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/criminal-justice-reform-is-a-conservative-issue-b99480754z1-300402131.html
Be a big loss to GOP candidates, if private prison corporations couldn’t launder those tax dollars back to their campaigns.
“As priorities shift, corrections budget passes UW System”
Madison – In 2011, Wisconsin state spending quietly hit a milestone: For the first time, the state budgeted more taxpayer dollars for prisons and correctional facilities than for the University of Wisconsin System.
For 2011-’13, Gov. Scott Walker and GOP lawmakers allotted just under $2.1 billion to the state’s public universities and $2.25 billion to the Department of Corrections. It’s a gap that is unlikely to close any time soon.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/wisconsin-corrections-spending-passes-that-of-uw-system-ua62t4k-166039926.html
John we have criminals that have committed 5,6,7,8 crimes that could put them in jail and yet they are still running the streets.
I say you like them all up criminals are criminals.
if you don’t want to spend time in jail do not do the crime.
Let’s get real here. If the kind of police brutality that’s been going on for decades in Baltimore was being perpetrated against white rednecks and their families up in northern Wisconsin, there’d likely be a shooting war going on and some of the dead and wounded would be cops.
Steve let’s get real, really!!! white rednecks, okay…
okay I will be real black gang banger wannabe thugs are already making our large cities shooting ranges and cops are already being killed and wounded trying to protect your white butt from them.
Baltimore is literally up in flames literally up in flames thug life thug life long live the thug life it is pathetic
A natural response to white imposed violence and repression against a racially profiled group. And you are surprised. How you gonna fix it besides exacerbating the problem that you refuse to acknowledge?
John Harper,
You show considerable talent in launching a new musical genre’ ” Old White Guy Rap “.
That said, it appears Freddie Gray may have died as the result of a relatively widespread urban police practice known as a ” nickel ride ” ” cowboy ride ” or a ” joyride ” depending on the metro area where it’s practiced. Cops handcuff and shackle an arrestee, do not buckle his/her seat belt as is required by both law and policy, and then slam on the brakes and take sharp corners at high speeds to throw the prisoner around in the van. In Freddie Gray’s case, if this is what took place, it smashed his vocal chords, severed his spinal cord at 80%, and killed him
So I’m going to tell you again, John Harper, that if cops in the Northwoods of Wisconsin treated people like this with impunity, there are a significant number of my neighbors that would no doubt take the law into their own hands. Period.
jharp,
Here’s a Tweet from Ta-Nehisi Coates, the same guy who wrote, “The Case For Reparations.”
@tanehisicoates
Bernard Parks on TV making sense. “the real problems in our society are not within the police department’s wherewithal or expertise.”
IMHO, the vast majority of law enforcement try to do things the right way. The work of Coates’ and many others is critical, because it documents that the descendants of the slaves have faced institutional challenges, over centuries that other immigrants to America have not.
Denis, shame on me for not responding sooner to your rant about the breakdown of the “black” family. Coates wrote about that in “The Case For Reparations.” Who started breaking up “black families? It started with slave traders taking them out of Africa. It was continued by slave owners selling human flesh. They tore parents away from their children. That ended in 1865, but US state Jim Crow laws promoting white supremacy, which Hitler and the Nazi’s used against the Jews, “Link Between Nazis, Jim Crow Laws,” were legal until the Civil Rights legislation of the 1960’s.
“There is a section of the Anne Frank Exhibit in Sandy Springs where Jim Crow Laws are displayed beside the Nuremberg Laws of Nazi Germany. Certain similarities are apparent, and as a volunteer docent at the exhibit, I often share my own painful memories with guests.) wasn’t even against federal law until the Civil Rights legislation of the 1960’s.
http://atlantajewishtimes.com/2013/08/link-between-nazi-germany-jim-crow-laws/
So with JH immediately responding for DN, not sure which troll is which behind which IP, but, I wasn’t asking if a sociopath internet troll was capable of feeling pity for anything or anyone.
I was pointing out that without a majority of young men to even be around, an entire society of even younger teens or children have no mature role models to follow. Part of what happens to a population subject to decades of institution racism and enforced apartheid.