President Obama Statement On #BaltimoreUpRising

Posted on April 28, 2015 by SouthernGirl2

About SouthernGirl2

A Native Texan who adores baby kittens, loves horses, rodeos, pomegranates, & collect Eagles. Enjoys politics, games shows, & dancing to all types of music. Loves discussing and learning about different cultures. A Phi Theta Kappa lifetime member with a passion for Social & Civil Justice.
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65 Responses to President Obama Statement On #BaltimoreUpRising

  1. rikyrah says:
    April 29, 2015 at 12:43 pm

    https://twitter.com/ydubaltimore/status/593416618836889601/photo/1

    explanation:

    Town
    It means you have to be presented before the magistrate within 24 hours to have your rights & stuff explained to you.

    Basically, Hogan just said I’m Locking You Nigrums Up And Throwing Away The Key Indefinitely.

    Reply
  2. rikyrah says:
    April 29, 2015 at 12:23 pm

    At a conference in 2013 at Johns Hopkins University, Vice Provost Jonathan Bagger pointed out that “only 6 miles separate the Baltimore neighborhoods of Roland Park and Hollins Market, but there is a 20-year difference in the average life expectancy.”

    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/28/we-are-not-ok-in-baltimore/26529001/

    Reply
  3. rikyrah says:
    April 29, 2015 at 12:23 pm

    from POU:

    woody45

    Be careful what you wish for. David Simon

    The city eventually got sued by the ACLU and had to settle, but O’Malley defends the wholesale denigration of black civil rights to this day…

    But what it taught the police department was that they could go a step beyond the manufactured probable cause, and the drug-free zones and the humbles – the targeting of suspects through
    less-than-constitutional procedure.

    Now, the mass arrests made clear, we can lock up anybody, we don’t have to figure out who’s committing crimes, we don’t have to investigate anything, we just gather all the bodies — everybody goes to jail.

    And yet people were scared enough of crime in those years that O’Malley had his supporters for this policy, council members and community leaders who thought, They’re all just thugs.

    But they weren’t. They were anybody who was slow to clear the sidewalk or who stayed seated on their front stoop for too long when an officer tried to roust them. Schoolteachers, Johns Hopkins
    employees, film crew people, kids, retirees, everybody went to the city jail.

    If you think I’m exaggerating look it up. It was an amazing
    performance by the city’s mayor and his administration.

    http://pragmaticobotsunite.com/wednesday-open-thread-african-americans-and-the-sport-of-horse-racing/#comment-1994049958

    https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/04/29/david-simon-on-baltimore-s-anguish

    Reply
  4. rikyrah says:
    April 29, 2015 at 12:18 pm

    You’d be surprised who the outside agitators in Baltimore really are
    Max Blumenthal, AlterNet MAX BLUMENTHAL, ALTERNET
    29 APR 2015 AT 04:56 ET

    On Monday, the country watched as a band of outside agitators descended on the streets of Baltimore, attacked locals with blunt force, intimidated innocent bystanders, and even threw rocks at native residents. Every day, these gun-toting rogues come from as far as New Jersey and Pennsylvania to intimidate the good people of Baltimore, forcing communities to cower under the threat of violence. The agitators are known for their menacing dark blue garb, hostile behavior and gangland-style codes of secrecy and silence. Though many of these ruffians have attempted to conceal their identities from their victims, they can be easily spotted by the badges that signify membership in the widely feared Baltimore Police Department.

    According to data posted on the city of Baltimore’s OpenBaltimore website in 2012, over 70 percent of Baltimore Police Department officers live outside city limits, with at least 10 percent living over state lines, in places as far away as New Jersey and Pennsylvania. By contrast, almost all of those arrested in ongoing protests sparked by the police killing of the unarmed Baltimorean Freddie Gray reside firmly within the city. These facts were apparently lost on Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake when she blamed “outside forces” for all the looting of local businesses and attacks on cops. Similarly, the Baltimore Police Department claimed that “outside agitators continue to be the instigators behind acts of violence and destruction,” even as it conceded in the same statement that “the vast majority of arrests reflect local residency.” No evidence of outside agitation was produced by the mayor or the police, and none was demanded by much of the media covering the ongoing troubles.

    http://www.rawstory.com/2015/04/youd-be-surprised-who-the-outside-agitators-in-baltimore-really-are/

    Reply
  5. rikyrah says:
    April 29, 2015 at 9:25 am

    The Kitchenista @MissAngelaDavis
    I’m not here for Hillary invoking the images of Freddie Gray, Mike Brown & Trayvon Martin to pacify black rage.

    Reply
  6. rikyrah says:
    April 29, 2015 at 9:25 am

    lex Luthor @ArrogantDemon
    So we really gonna give Hillary props for doing the bare minimum, while sitting on Obama for not doing enough?

    Reply
  9. rikyrah says:
    April 29, 2015 at 9:18 am

    Eyewitnesses: The Baltimore Riots Didn’t Start the Way You Think

    After Baltimore police and a crowd of teens clashed near the Mondawmin Mall in northwest Baltimore on Monday afternoon, news reports described the violence as a riot triggered by kids who had been itching for a fight all day. But in interviews with Mother Jones and other media outlets, teachers and parents maintain that police actions inflamed a tense-but-stable situation…

    …Meg Gibson, another Baltimore teacher, described a similar scene to Gawker: “The riot police were already at the bus stop on the other side of the mall, turning buses that transport the students away, not allowing students to board. They were waiting for the kids.…Those kids were set up, they were treated like criminals before the first brick was thrown.” With police unloading busses, and with the nearby metro station shut down, there were few ways for students to clear out.

    http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/04/how-baltimore-riots-began-mondawmin-purge

    Reply
  10. SouthernGirl2 says:
    April 29, 2015 at 8:59 am

    Chicas, check your email.

    Reply
  13. rikyrah says:
    April 29, 2015 at 8:02 am

    Baltimore, Freddie Gray, and the Making of Media Narrative

    By Nijla Mumin | Shadow and Act
    April 28, 2015 at 2:11PM

    I hear a lot of people asking, “How is rioting helping?” How is rioting and destroying a community furthering the cause of social justice? Well it’s not, nor was it ever supposed to. It’s interesting that people have found the time to flood their timelines with tweets about how much they abhor the looters and rioters, about how they don’t understand why anyone would ruin their city, but not once question the policies of law enforcement and their role in the death of Freddie Gray, which has inevitably led to a city in chaos.

    Why don’t these people redirect these same questions to the police: How is police brutality helping Baltimore? How is covering up the death of this black man helping the city? These questions aren’t being asked by most of America because they don’t fit into the popular narratives we’ve grown to embrace. The narrative, popularized by American news, TV programs like COPS, and films that portray police officers and agents of the law, as good, wholesome people who just want to fight crime and rid our streets of the “bad guy.” Well, that narrative no longer works in this country. There are cops who try to protect citizens, there are cops who misuse their authority, and sometimes there are cops who do both. A black man was severely injured while in police custody, (his spinal cord severed and voice box crushed), and no one seems to have any answers. The police have no answers, the man’s family has no answers, and the community has no answers. In this whirlwind of silence, anger, and grief, some people have decided to burn down buildings, and loot businesses.

    Their actions have managed to become the highlight of mainstream media coverage- not the family’s grief at losing a son, a brother, a lover, not the silence and lack of information around how this man died, not the peaceful protests and community activism, not the man himself- but stores on fire, businesses burning down. There’s a popular narrative that helps people to believe that this burning of property is the problem, not the burning of bodies, the burning of lives from this world. Not the routine covering up of police harassment that has mounted to a point of implosion. We are taught, through tight sound-bites and 30-second clips that a man stealing bread and teens running down the street with stolen shoes has set us back. And, maybe it has. Maybe these people will be the end of us, but who was the beginning?

    Freddie Gray, Rekia Boyd, Tamir Rice, Mike Brown, and Eric Garner were once alive. They had lives ahead of them. That was the beginning of the narrative that many people seem to forget. These were human beings with emotions, with favorite foods, and pastimes. They had their own narratives that many will never know because we’ve become so obsessed with the easily crafted narrative- the “1-2-3” easy-bake way of seeing things and people, that freezes out any complexity, nuance, or humanity. If people, and not just black people, were half as concerned about these people’s lives and the senseless taking of them, as they are about the media blitz they help sustain, we’d be in a different place.

    http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/baltimore-freddie-gray-and-the-making-of-media-narrative-20150428

    Reply
    • sunshine616 says:
      April 29, 2015 at 8:33 am

      Cuz they are more scared of the gang in blue than they are of the invisible citizens they make money off of.

      Reply
    • Ametia says:
      April 29, 2015 at 8:44 am

      Because some WHITE folks want the negroes to keep the peace. it’s all their fault doncha KNOW! it’s all about their fe-feels! They can’t UDNERSTAND, wrap their white privileged brains around the fact that these folks fight back the only way they know how.

      They can only go beyond that it’s wrong, it should be peaceful & nonviolent, because they don’t, nor will they ever experience what the folks in B-MORE are experiencing. Experience matters.

      They can’t address the CAUSES, they look at the EFFECTS, because in reality, their WHITE ethnicity is the CAUSE. LOOK IN THE MIRROR, FOLKS!

      Reply
    • Ametia says:
      April 29, 2015 at 8:49 am

      My heart weeps for you sir. But have folks tell it, violence doesn’t solve anything, but your son was killed by VIOLENCE, and all you’re supposed to do is weep silently, and protest, while the media focuses on the police surrounding your neighborhood when they call for state of emergency and to protect WHOM?

      Certainly not you and your neighbors!

      Reply
  23. rikyrah says:
    April 29, 2015 at 7:54 am

    A resident’s take on Baltimore’s problems
    Asma Hanif, Baltimore resident, shared her thoughts with MSNBC’s Joy Reid on the tensions in Baltimore, Maryland, as well as the decision by the city to keep children home from school on Tuesday.

    http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/a-residents-take-on-baltimores-problems-436100163910

    Reply
  24. rikyrah says:
    April 29, 2015 at 7:50 am

    Don’t just pay attention to these communities when a CVS burns’
    04/28/15 03:07 PM—UPDATED 04/28/15 07:06 PM
    By Steve Benen
    As violence erupted in Baltimore last night, President Obama spoke directly with Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, and the White House issued a statement stressing “the administration’s commitment to provide assistance as needed.”

    Today, however, the president had quite a bit more to say on the subject.
    President Obama said there was “no excuse” for the violent rioting Monday on the streets of Baltimore, which saw looting and fires break out after the funeral of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died of a severe spinal injury while in police custody a little over a week ago. At the same time, the president put the crisis in Maryland’s largest city into a national context, focusing on unemployment, poverty and the education gap that plagues some communities of color.

    “We can’t just leave this to the police,” Obama said Tuesday in a White House press conference with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. “There are some police departments that have to do some searching. There are some communities that have to do some soul searching. But our country needs to do some soul searching. This is not new. It’s been going on for decades.”
    Obama, speaking without prepared remarks on the subject, acknowledged that he feels “pretty strongly” about the subject. It showed.

    For those who can’t watch clips online, the president’s remarks are worth reading in detail. Note, for example, the way in which the president focuses initially on specific developments in Baltimore before transitioning to a much broader context:

    First, obviously, our thoughts continue to be with the family of Freddie Gray. Understandably, they want answers.

    And DOJ has opened an investigation. It is working with local law enforcement to find out exactly what happened, and I think there should be full transparency and accountability.

    http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/dont-just-pay-attention-these-communities-when-cvs-burns

    Reply
  26. rikyrah says:
    April 29, 2015 at 7:30 am

    Baltimore protester Joseph Kent ‘kidnapped by police’ on live TV

    A well-known protester was arrested after curfew on Tuesday night in Baltimore as CNN’s cameras rolled, and many want to know his fate.

    Joseph Kent, a 21-year-old student at Morgan State University who rose to local prominence during the Michael Brown protests, was seen on live television standing with his hands in the air alongside a line of riot gear-clad police officers just before 11 p.m. Moments later, a National Guard humvee rolled up, and a swarm of officers swallowed Kent. The vehicle blocked the camera’s view of the arrest.

    http://mashable.com/2015/04/29/baltimore-joseph-kent/?utm_cid=mash-com-Tw-main-link

    Reply
    • sunshine616 says:
      April 29, 2015 at 7:19 am

      Where was the common sense with this. A white teen gets drunk and kills 4 people gets rehab. A black teen gets angry seeing his friends get picked off one by one, he’s a thug criminal. We need a twitter feed of side by side comparisons of how differently we are treated than white america. #privilegeproblems

      Reply
  30. rikyrah says:
    April 28, 2015 at 9:03 pm

    from POU in response to this tweet:

    https://twitter.com/Luvvie/status/592840532608557057/photo/1

    Miranda
    This white guy that was in a PhD program with my sister at Ohio State told her white people’s greatest fear was that one day black folks would stop forgiving them.

    Reply
  39. SouthernGirl2 says:
    April 28, 2015 at 6:46 pm

    Hey Chicas!

    CNN is getting their asses handed to them today for the bullshit they play.

    https://instagram.com/p/2CXLT4ENHS/

    Reply
  40. Ametia says:
    April 28, 2015 at 4:56 pm

    FUCK THE CVS! Better check the check-cashing and liquor joints!

    Reply
  42. SouthernGirl2 says:
    April 28, 2015 at 4:23 pm

    Liza

    Thank you for keeping it real. My energy was drained from me. I went weak after the press conference. Ametia can confirm it. But you’ve revived me. Pls don’t ever stop bringing the truth.

    Reply
  43. Liza says:
    April 28, 2015 at 3:45 pm

    This well meaning comment is interesting. But guess what? The cops ain’t rogue.

    https://twitter.com/ChloeFlower/status/593137497422602241

    Reply
  44. Liza says:
    April 28, 2015 at 3:26 pm

    A crisis is different from a long term systemic problem. A crisis requires brutal honesty and the will to deal with it RIGHT NOW. That is what is lacking as all well meaning people, including PBO, speak to the long term problem in soft tones, and recommend solutions (training, data collection, body cams, etc…) that won’t do much of anything to stop the current crisis.

    Freddie Gray made eye contact with a cop and he suffered a brutal, horrific death. At that moment, the moment when one or two of those cops decided to take down Freddie Gray with enough force to break his neck in three places and sever his spine and crush his voice box, Freddie Gray’s employment status or monthly income or education level was not going to either save him or cause his death. If this country could be honest about why Freddie Gray is dead then they could deal with this crisis, that police are killing innocent people with impunity, whoever they want to kill, oftentimes black people. And this is a crisis.

    I understand that all the PDs can’t be federalized. But lawmen who violate the civil rights of innocent civilians can be charged and tried at the federal level. Until this happens, the investigations, the reports, the recommendations, the grants to buy body cams, etc… are just making little dents in a problem that just continues to grow while the crisis at hand is not being dealt with because everyone is afraid of the cops. No one wants to go too hard on the cops, seeming to forget that they are government employees, civil servants, and nothing more.

    Reply
  45. Ametia says:
    April 28, 2015 at 2:32 pm

    THIS:

    PBO: “We’ll go through the same cycles of periodic conflicts between the police and communities, and occasional riots in the streets. And everybody will feign concern until it goes away,” added. “Then we’ll go about our business as usual.”

    Reply
  46. Ametia says:
    April 28, 2015 at 2:31 pm

    PBO: “If we think we’re going to send police to do the dirty work of containing the problems that arise there — without as a nation and society saying what can we do to change those communities, to help lift up communities, and give those kids opportunity — then we’re not going to solve this problem,”

    Reply
  47. Ametia says:
    April 28, 2015 at 2:28 pm

    THIS

    PBO: “Frankly it didn’t get that much attention,” Obama said of the peaceful movement sparked by the death of black man Freddie Gray, who died in police custody. “One burning building will be looped on television over and over and over again.”

    Reply
  48. SouthernGirl2 says:
    April 28, 2015 at 2:12 pm

    Help us, Lord! Deliver us from this evil oppression.

    Reply

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