BaltiMORE

I've been waiting a while to give a definitive public opinion on the uprising in Baltimore.

Now that I've seen most of the rioting, had enough conversations, and read enough posts from other news sources, I think I can finally give you my full break down of the situation.

1. No matter how Freddie Gray was killed, he could go down as a hero for black minorities everywhere in this nation. His death was the lynch-pin that set off rioting of proportions that we have not seen since the 60's, and that includes Ferguson and all the sports-related riots that this country has seen.

2. I've waffled on this next point with myself a few times, but my final opinion on this is that the rioting WAS/IS necessary in order for this country to progress. I hate violence as much as the next person. At first, I supremely disliked the kind of rioting that was going on and I still feel that way with the exception of a couple things that have been done. I don't really feel like going through all the ins and outs, just know that if I were in a black minority's shoes over the last almost 240 years of our country's existence, then I'd feel like angrily throwing shit around, too. At some point, enough is enough, and the line has to be drawn somewhere. You wanna know how our country does that? War. Which in case you're not aware, we're a part of some war all the time. These rioters are sending out a war cry, and there's one thing I'm sure of: I'm listening. I hope you are, too.

3. I feel this way, because I've listened to every single side of this including that of the president's.* In brief, the president condemns the violence and cheers on the peaceful protests. I agree with his train of thinking, but not necessarily his logic. I agree that peaceful protests SHOULD change the mind of millions of people. I agree that peaceful protests SHOULD gain the majority of the medias attention. The problem is, these peaceful events aren't getting much attention at all. And as terrible as some of the violent rioting has been,  people are talking and having great conversations about the events, which was the whole point of the peaceful protests. Unfortunately, as I've seen it over the last year, the peaceful protests get about a minute of coverage compared to the thousands of minutes of coverage that the rioting gets. Therefore, if the president wants to do anything useful about stuff like this, he needs to figure out a way to pay the media to do so. Yeah, I know, that sounds like corruption, but the media, like some of our authority in blue, is already corrupt. So, really, it's kind of like an anti-corruption? Neither here nor there, the point is: Money talks.

4. I agree that some of the rioters are going wayyyyyy too far. Looting personal property like housing and apartments is ridiculous. They're just hurting people that almost literally have nothing to do with their oppression. Here's the thing, though: No matter what these people are doing, they are neither thugs nor animals, and we SEVERELY need to get away from these words. The other day I got so angry with the uses of the words "animals" and "thugs" even from the President himself, that I basically hoped that a riot leader stood up and said, "Let's make a deal, you stop calling us animals and thugs, and we'll stop doing this!" I cannot imagine what my life would have been like in a black minority's shoes growing up, but based on what some of my black friends have told me: It was god fucking awful.

5. I'm waiting for someone somewhere who has a legitimate voice to ask the question, "How can we help these people?" In order for us to help them we need to listen to their legitimate issues and why they feel the way they do to riot like this. No one, not even POTUS wants to do this!! It's absolutely maddening! Instead, they want to ASSUME what will work, do some shit that hardly works (in the long run), and then everything goes back to that shitty normal American state of cops killing people that shouldn't be killed. Why would I make that last statement? BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING. I remember back when Ferguson happened--ya know, because it wasn't that long ago--and I was writing posts that said, "Ahh don't worry, this shit will never happen again. The government will correct itself. Blah blah blah..." Was I right? NO. Dead wrong, in fact. These killings keep happening, and white privilege talk comes out in droves. "I don't expect this to happen to me, so from a far I'll point the finger at those "thugs" and "animals" while saying they're the problem." Yeah, and for those doing that: Seriously, fuck you. I'm so sick of you that I kinda wish you'd just get the fuck out of this country, because you're going to keep holding us back from progress.

Today, a protest is taking place outside of City Hall, and all anyone is worried about is traffic. Not saying that's not a legitimate thing to complain about, I just feel like most white conservative people who have been complaining about the Baltimore riots have been worried about those businesses and people who lost their cars. Not one time did I hear any one of those type people say, "It's a shame that boy died, but I really wish people would stop hurting businesses and breaking windows, etc." NOT ONE. And, ya know what, that kind of sentence really makes a difference, because most of those people I mentioned, just go right to saying "Those animals! Those thugs!"

There was a segment from the Larry Wilmore show where they were talking about the black mother who was beating the shit out of the kid for rioting and how everyone was applauding her for that. A black woman comedian says at the end of the segment, "I don't disagree with the mother, I'm just waiting for the time we see a video of a white mother beating the shit out of her white cop son saying, 'Stop killing black kids!'"

And the media--UGH--the media is just god awful. They are covering the rioting so much so that they are probably trying to get viewers to forget that a white cop killed another black kid. Haha, yeah, that's not the problem, just these fucking rioters.

https://www.facebook.com/politico/photos/a.62440786679.82359.62317591679/10152747748191680/?type=1&theater

Bullshit.

- PatInTheHat

*The article quoting the president's full speech about the riots. http://www.colorlines.com/articles/here%E2%80%99s-everything-obama-said-about-baltimore