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[GK86]

NY Times article link.

Images from USA Today.

Some vines:

https://vine.co/v/eWeFF6ht3zF
https://vine.co/v/eWej0jY1622

A largely peaceful protest over the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who suffered a spinal cord injury in police custody, gave way to scattered scenes of chaos here on Saturday night, as demonstrators smashed a downtown storefront window and damaged police cruisers, while officers broke up skirmishes and made arrests near Camden Yards.

Hours earlier, a racially diverse and mostly calm crowd of demonstrators marched through the streets, clogging intersections, carrying signs and shouting, “All night, all day, we’re gonna fight for Freddie Gray!” Some had come from New York and Ferguson, Mo., and authorities here had warned against “outside agitators” coming to stir up trouble.

Daily protests have swept across the city since Mr. Gray died last Sunday, but Saturday’s turnout was among the largest.

The trouble began when a group of protesters, as many as 100 by some accounts, split from the main group near the end of the protest and went on a rampage — throwing cans, bottles and trash cans at police officers and breaking windows in some businesses. As the breakaway group reached Camden Yards, where the Baltimore Orioles were scheduled to play the Boston Red Sox on Saturday night, they were met by police officers in riot gear. There were reports of damage to some cars parked at the baseball stadium.

As protesters blocked the corner of Pratt and Light Streets, a major downtown intersection, the Baltimore Police Department urged demonstrators to remain peaceful. Its Twitter feed reported “isolated pockets of people from out of town causing disturbances downtown.”

The police said people were throwing things at officers, and that several of their cars had been damaged; by 7:45 p.m., there had been just two arrests.

On Friday, the Baltimore police commissioner said his officers should have sought medical attention for Mr. Gray much sooner than they did, but that admission, the first from police officials, was not enough to satisfy the protesters. They continued their demands for the firing of six officers involved in Mr. Gray’s arrest and the resignation of the commissioner, Anthony W. Batts.

The six officers were suspended with pay while the Baltimore Police Department carries out a criminal investigation. (Some demonstrators carried signs on Saturday reading, “No paid vacations.&#8221 The Justice Department also is reviewing the case for possible civil rights violations. Mr. Gray’s family has hired a third party to conduct an independent investigation.

Mr. Batts said Friday that officers should have called for an ambulance when Mr. Gray was first arrested instead of waiting until he arrived at the police station 50 minutes later. The police commissioner also said it was unacceptable that the officers had not put Mr. Gray in a seatbelt for the ride.

Mr. Gray was arrested on April 12 after making eye contact with a police lieutenant and then fleeing, according to the police account. He was tackled by police officers, who held him down and handcuffed him before dragging him to a police van. A bystander recorded the arrest on video using his cellphone.

Until Friday, efforts to pinpoint how and when Mr. Gray was injured had focused on what happened inside the van, with a lawyer for the officers involved playing down the suggestion, based on the cellphone video, that Mr. Gray had been hurt before he was placed inside. In the video, Mr. Gray can be heard asking for assistance while on the ground and screaming while being dragged to the police van.

The police acknowledged gaps in the timeline involving three stops made by the van. According to Police Department accounts, at the first stop, officers placed leg bars on Mr. Gray, who they said had become irate; the second stop was made to pick up another arrestee. At the third, Mr. Gray had to be picked up off the floor.

Mr. Gray’s family said that his spinal cord had been 80 percent severed, and that his voice box had been crushed. He died at a hospital last Sunday, a week after his arrest.

 

[CygnusXS]

And all people will want to talk about is the mild property damage.

 

[Chichikov]

And all people will want to talk about is the mild property damage.

Decades later they're still asking why Mookie smashed the window at Sal's instead of why they killed radio Raheem.

 

[themidnightsun156]

"A largely peaceful protest"

that doesn't look peaceful to me

 

[GK86]

"A largely peaceful protest"

that doesn't look peaceful to me

It would help if you read the whole sentence.

"A largely peaceful protest over the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who suffered a spinal cord injury in police custody, gave way to scattered scenes of chaos here on Saturday night,"

 

[Tagyhag]

http://i.imgur.com/KmyHTjm.jpg

If those are supposed to be Bloods and Crips together then that shows just how badly police have been fucking up.

 

[Volimar]

Wonder how much of the damage was from agitators and how much was just people being fed up.

 

[The Adder]

And all people will want to talk about is the mild property damage.

"A largely peaceful protest"

that doesn't look peaceful to me

.

 

[Gordon Shumway]

And all people will want to talk about is the mild property damage.

Yep..like clockwork.

 

[Merc_]

And all people will want to talk about is the mild property damage.

Anything to distract from the point.

 

[Chichikov]

If those are supposed to be Bloods and Crips together then that shows just how badly police have been fucking up.

k-dot is already dead.

 

[ramuh]

All people want to talk about is people talking about property damage...

The news on 11 NBC chopper showed how there was one group of violent vandals that went around smashing windows, cars, etc. This really has no bearing on the really peaceful protest earlier today.

 

[esms]

If those are supposed to be Bloods and Crips together then that shows just how badly police have been fucking up.

First thing I thought.

 

[GK86]

If those are supposed to be Bloods and Crips together then that shows just how badly police have been fucking up.

Yeah, Bloods and Crips came together to protest.

 

[Hazmat]

It would help if you read the whole sentence.

"A largely peaceful protest over the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who suffered a spinal cord injury in police custody, gave way to scattered scenes of chaos here on Saturday night,"

I don't mean to get on the side that I'm not on, but you can't really go after someone for selective editing and have your "whole sentence" end with a comma.

 

[Mizerman]

And all people will want to talk about is the mild property damage.

Meh. They're just practicing for the Olympics of Mental Gymnastics.

Probably training hard for that one.

 

[dekline]

Yeah, Bloods and Crips came together to protest.

Wow. That's pretty incredible.

But yeah, lets talk about that broken car window instead.

 

[Mizerman]

Yeah, Bloods and Crips came together to protest.

Amazing.

 

[TheJLC]

If those are supposed to be Bloods and Crips together then that shows just how badly police have been fucking up.

Criminal organizations always band together against the police. The fastest way to gain street cred is by killing a cop regardless of your affiliations. It's about street cred.

 

[Volimar]

Wow. That's pretty incredible.

But yeah, lets talk about that broken car window instead.

Peaceful protesters don't grab people's attention like scary violent minorities do.

 

[ahoyhoy]

Baltimore is a city where the justice system, more than most any other city in the U.S., does not represent the best interest of the demographic. The fact that a majority black city can still systemically embolden this kind of oppression is depressing.

Meanwhile, most all the middle-aged suburbanites I grew up listening to in Maryland will cluck their tongues and ponder if Baltimore is a failed city because of how uppity "they" were this weekend.

 

[The Adder]

Criminal organizations always band together against the police. The fastest way to gain street cred is by killing a cop regardless of your affiliations.

The fuck are you even babbling about?

 

[Geneijin]

Yeah, Bloods and Crips came together to protest.

Wow.

 

[Volimar]

The fuck are you even babbling about?

I think he just finished binging The Wire.

 

[Gordon Shumway]

Criminal organizations always band together against the police. The fastest way to gain street cred is by killing a cop regardless of your affiliations.

How many were killed during this protest?

The fuck are you even babbling about?

lol..

 

[Zen_Arcade]

Those pictures are inspiring.


Yep. They always love to ignore the real problem.

Pointing out that people shouldn't be vandalizing other peoples shit for no reason isn't ignoring the real problem. It's talking about an additional problem caused by some idiots who don't know how to protest peacefully. Even the victims family has come out and spoke against the vandalism and violence. Vandalism is a problem in itself, it doesn't suddenly become OK under certain circumstances.

 

[ahoyhoy]

I think he just finished binging The Wire.

Man, the worst thing you could do in The Wire was fuck with the police. You would be ostracized because no one wanted to be collateral damage when the hammer came down on the mope who did that.

 

[TheJLC]

How many were killed during this protest?

lol..

None. Just saying, they always gonna get together against the police.

 

[Gordon Shumway]

None. Just saying, they always gonna get together against the police.

Oh. Ok. Thanks.

 

[B-Dubs]

Yeah, Bloods and Crips came together to protest.

Wow, that's incredible.

 

[esms]

Yeah, Bloods and Crips came together to protest.

That's pretty incredible.

 

[lednerg]

I see the police union's plan is going swimmingly. Good for them.

 

[Opiate]

It's difficult to overemphasize how badly the police are doing when their corruption is so offensive that Bloods and Crips can unite.

 

[Enzom21]

None. Just saying, they always gonna get together against the police.

If that was all you were saying, then why did you throw in the nonsense about killing a cop?

 

[TheJLC]

If that's all you point out then yes it is... You are ignoring why people are vandalizing.

People are very materialistic so they gonna wake up tomorrow and go... "Hey, what were the protests about yeste... WTF WHO THE HELL BROKE MY CAR WINDOW?!!"

 

[CHEEZMO™]

 

[TheJLC]

If that was all you were saying, then why did you throw in the nonsense about killing a cop?

It's about street cred. Gangs show up to show their hate toward the police. For example, here we had a nice family friendly boxing event, gang bangers showed up because it was others vs cops boxing. Being a gang banger isn't a crime in the US so they take every opportunity to hate on the police, regardless of their gang affiliations.

They didn't do anything bad at the event but there were plenty of annoyed coppers.

 

[brian577]

If that's all you point out then yes it is... You are ignoring why people are vandalizing.

Pointing it out =\= ignoring the problem. It's pointing out that these people are hypocrites. I understand that there is an issue and these (peaceful) protests serve a purpose. But they are undermining their own cause when they use violence.

 

[The Adder]

It's about street cred. Gangs show up to show their hate toward the police. For example, here we had a nice family friendly boxing event, gang bangers showed up because it was others vs cops boxing. Being a gang banger isn't a crime in the US so they take every opportunity to hate on the police, regardless of their gang affiliations.

They didn't do anything bad at the event but there were plenty of annoyed coppers.

Do you ever say a single fucking thing worthwhile in these topics? Like ever? Jesus Christ.

 

[themidnightsun156]

It would help if you read the whole sentence.

"A largely peaceful protest over the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who suffered a spinal cord injury in police custody, gave way to scattered scenes of chaos here on Saturday night,"

doesn't give them the right to say peaceful, just say protest, and let me get this right, a police officer kills a man and that gives people the right to smash car windows and smash store front windows? it's justified to fuck other people's property up because a cop killed someone using excessive force?

yeah rioting and looting ain't a big deal, and yeah im trying to distract from the real issue and not pointing out another problem being needlessly piled on top of the already mounting stack of issues

and im aware that looting wasn't mentioned in the article but what do you smash store front windows to do? it's not solely to see and hear the glass shatter

 

[CHEEZMO™]

but there were plenty of annoyed coppers.

Hopefully they dont murder any minorities

 

[CygnusXS]

Pointing out that people shouldn't be vandalizing other peoples shit for no reason isn't ignoring the real problem. It's talking about an additional problem caused by some idiots who don't know how to protest peacefully. Even the victims family has come out and spoke against the vandalism and violence. Vandalism is a problem in itself, it doesn't suddenly become OK under certain circumstances.

When people inside the movement discourage property damage, it's because they know the power-brokers in society would rather talk about the property damage than the violence and state oppression against blacks. They know that the politically-dominant part of the community uses discourse about vandalism in order to undermine the larger social movement, by undermining the ability for whites to empathize with blacks.

In no way are some smashed windows an equivalent concern to the issues that African-Americans have to deal with. But when people focus on that, they lose the ability to see the African-American struggle as a morally viable movement, because they get caught in stereotypes about blacks being violent or irrational. And deciding that the property damage in these incidents is an indefensible outcome of spending a lifetime living under injustice requires you to assume that the perpetrators are either naturally violent or irrational.

How would you not be dissatisfied with normative claims about private property and proper social behaviour if you lived a life where your parents had to tell you how not to get murdered by the police, where you were subject to extra scrutiny and prejudice, had extremely limited economic mobility and educational opportunity, and a government which continually acts against your own interests?

 

[hypernima]

It's about street cred. Gangs show up to show their hate toward the police. For example, here we had a nice family friendly boxing event, gang bangers showed up because it was others vs cops boxing. Being a gang banger isn't a crime in the US so they take every opportunity to hate on the police, regardless of their gang affiliations.

They didn't do anything bad at the event but there were plenty of annoyed coppers.

You, sir, are an expert on gang dynamics.

 

[Zen_Arcade]

Pointing it out =\= ignoring the problem. It's pointing out that these people are hypocrites. I understand that there is a an issue and these (peaceful) protests service. But they are undermining their own cause when use violence.

Exactly. I don't have to preface my posts with "Oh I totally think it's great that they're protesting but..." to point out shit I don't like. Just because I don't bring something up doesn't mean it's not something I think about.

When people inside the movement discourage property damage, it's because they know the power-brokers in society would rather talk about the property damage than the violence and state oppression against blacks. They know that the politically-dominant part of the community uses discourse about vandalism in order to undermine the larger social movement, by undermining the ability for whites to empathize with blacks.

In no way are some smashed windows an equivalent concern to the issues that African-Americans have to deal with. But when people focus on that, they lose the ability to see the African-American struggle as a morally viable movement, because they get caught in stereotypes about blacks being violent or irrational. And deciding that the property damage in these incidents is an indefensible outcome of spending a lifetime living under injustice requires you to assume that the perpetrators are either naturally violent or irrational.

How would you not be dissatisfied with normative claims about private property and proper social behaviour if you lived a life where your parents had to tell you how not to get murdered by the police, where you were subject to extra scrutiny and prejudice, had extremely limited economic mobility and educational opportunity, and a government which continually acts against your own interests?

How about going and breaking the windows of one of the establishments that you're angry against instead of fucking up innocent people's property? It is irrational to break the property of people who have nothing to do with what you're angry with. This doesn't suddenly change depending on the situation. It has nothing to do with race. That's irrational behavior for any human being. Breaking a window of a deli doesn't suddenly become a rational action just because you're angry with police brutality. And I don't think criminal activity should be ignored, regardless of why it was done.

 

[Chichikov]

doesn't give them the right to say peaceful, just say protest, and let me get this right, a police officer kills a man and that gives people the right to smash car windows and smash store front windows? it's justified to fuck other people's property up because a cop killed someone using excessive force?

yeah rioting and looting ain't a big deal, and yeah im trying to distract from the real issue and not pointing out another problem being needlessly piled on top of the already mounting stack of issues because rioting and looting is completely justified when you're pissed off

and im aware that looting wasn't mentioned in the article but what do you smash store front windows to do? it's not solely to see and hear the glass shatter

Do you not understand what the words "largely" and "gave way to" mean?

 

[Mesoian]

It's about street cred. Gangs show up to show their hate toward the police. For example, here we had a nice family friendly boxing event, gang bangers showed up because it was others vs cops boxing. Being a gang banger isn't a crime in the US so they take every opportunity to hate on the police, regardless of their gang affiliations.

They didn't do anything bad at the event but there were plenty of annoyed coppers.

...what does that have to do with ANYTHING?

 

[Merc_]

How about going and breaking the windows of one of the establishments that you're angry against instead of fucking up innocent people's property? It is irrational to break the property of people who have nothing to do with what you're angry with. This doesn't suddenly change depending on the situation. It has nothing to do with race. That's irrational behavior for any human being. Breaking a window of a deli doesn't suddenly become a rational action just because you're angry with police brutality. And I don't think criminal activity should be ignored, regardless of why it was done.

Whoo! It's time for the derail! Right on time as always! We gotta do whatever it takes to shift the focus off police violence and onto the protesters.

 

[themidnightsun156]

Okay, that may be the case, but it's very difficult seeing people around you, people who are of the same demographic as yourself, be consistently killed and imprisoned unfairly without expressing anger through destruction and violence. It's easy for people observing to say "vandalism is wrong, therefore this protest has no validity". It's hard to say "these people are expressing their anger after years of oppression, we need to work together to solve this problem". People don't like to solve problems.

nobody is saying this protest doesn't have validity

 

[Zen_Arcade]

Whoo! It's time for the derail! Right on time as always! We gotta do whatever it takes to shift the focus off police violence and onto the protesters.

I'm not shifting the focus off anything. If your mind can't simultaneously process the idea that police brutality against minorities is bad and vandalism in the name of awareness against that police brutality is bad, then you my friend have a weak mind. I can talk about the shitty things people I agree with do while not losing focus of why they're doing it. If you can't, that's your problem.

By this you're essentially saying that protesters should be able to do whatever they want, and if anyone speaks up against those actions, they must not care for the cause the protest was for in the first place. That is astronomically dumb.

 

[Merc_]

I'm not shifting the focus off anything. If your mind can't simultaneously process the idea that police brutality against minorities is bad and vandalism in the name of awareness against that police brutality is bad, then you my friend have a weak mind. I can talk about the shitty things people I agree with do while not losing focus of why they're doing it. If you can't, that's your problem.

Yeah, we know. This argument happens every single time. It would be amazing if we lived in a world that cared as much about the lives of black folks as it does about broken windows.