by out4good3 229 Replies latest social current
Reporting has been all over the spectrum.
Using one event to broadcast other social issues goes way back in our culture, for good or bad.
Good idea about digging into recruitment practices. Some reporter did that in Los Angeles and found the Fire Department hiring sons of Fire Fighters at a very high percentage rate excluding other good candidates.
Good idea about digging into recruitment practices.
It seems to me to be a no-brainer - I can't believe we're not hearing about it.
Given the attention that the ratio of black police in the area vs the ratio of black people in the community is getting, surely it would help focus attention on where the issue is:
It is just like the number of police stops for each ethnicity - there are hard facts that should be explained and analysed and then people can shut up about them or do something to rectify things (depending on whether they are higher, lower or equal to the population ratio).
Do all the powers that be on both sides just want to perpetuate the dance that they all do? Including the press of course - they just love a good courtroom drama or else some good riot footage to show.
If nothing else it would be good to be able to put some issues to bed once and for all so energy can be focused on the real problems.
The big sticks that groups in power use and misuse are the public feeling disenfranchised and ignored, and it is not by happenstance.
In San Diego, for example, you have a School District that caters to the wealthy neighborhoods. The schools in Del Mar are pristine and stocked with the latest tools while in the poorer neighborhoods the schools are in need of repairs. That sends a powerful message to the children and the parents.
You cannot make this stuff up.
Michael Brown's mother Lesley McSpadden who only 1 month ago was arrested for leading a mob of 20-30 people with clubs that attacked and beat a group of vendors selling tee-shirts that supported the Michael Brown protests, was today in front of a U.N. human rights Committee in Geneva, Switzerland to continue to try to spin her son attacking a police officer and getting shot to death into an unprovoked racially motivated police execution. Included among the vendors beaten by Michael Brown's mother's mob in that incident was Michael Brown's Father's mother-in-law.
In San Diego, for example, you have a School District that caters to the wealthy neighborhoods. The schools in Del Mar are pristine and stocked with the latest tools while in the poorer neighborhoods the schools are in need of repairs. That sends a powerful message to the children and the parents.
Is it a measure of the resources put into the system or how well the system uses those resources?
I read an article about the per-capita amounts spent per child towards education (i.e. put into the school system) and the highest / lowest spending places were not what you would immediately imagine. Some of the places with the worst reputations actually had the most money spent but too much was wasted on lavish political promises (union pensions) or mismanagement.
I was surprised at the news that Michael Brown's mother was going to speak to the UN. To tell them what exactly - good parenting tips? Kind of bizzarre.
Apparently the clock is ticking down on the decision over whether to indict or not. Whatever the result, the outcome will be more unrest and violence I'm sure. Gun sales in the area have gone through the roof and thats unlikely to help the situation but it's hard to blame the people who have to live there wanting to protect their families and businesses. I'm sure if you're there you are pretty much trapped - who is going to buy your property right now?
The trouble is, I think it's gotten to a place where people are going to be unhappy even if they get justice becase they have already been promised the verdict which isn't always the same thing.
One thing I found really surprising is the (still) incredibly low voter turnout in the area. I forget the exact number but the turnout for the latest election was very low and only had 200 or so new voters registered. Since the mayor was elected with a 16% turnout there hasn't been an election with more than 12% (!)
The democratic process is what the leaders should be promoting for people to gain confidence in the system. As it is, unless the verdict is the one people want then they will simply refuse to believe anything is fair and nothing will convince them otherwise. But without more representation at the local institutional level they are never going to get that confidence.
So, no solution that I can see happening any time soon (hardly a surprise). The community doesn't appear to want to engage with or be part of the democratic process but just seems to want the end results to go their way in order to be satisfied. The evidence so far seems to support the officers version of events which means there is a good chance that they will be disappointed and dissatisfied whether or not the verdict is actually fair or not.
As the Kaieser Chiefs said: I predict a riot.
I feel so sorry for anyone living there who is just trying to survive this. Getting the H*ll out of dodge at least for the duration of the riots.
If/when they indict that officer they might as well put on some sheets and burn a cross on the front lawn of the court house.They are the same as the KKK.
Viv- you must have missed today's Press conference where the mother and father took their son's case to the UN in Geneva Switzerland. Citing as the source for their petition and testimony they applied the Convention against Torture document.
Hardly a KKK moment.
Leading her gang of thugs in the beatdown of the tee shirt vendors was a KKK moment for Lesley McSpradden.
The case in under investigation. It is an allegation. The anger seems to be over certain people capitalizing on selling Justice for Michael Brown t-Shirts.
If it is criminal then charges will be filed. Hardly on a level of KKK activity when they castrated men and boys, raped women, set them on fire , skinned them, and hung them from trees.
Maybe Jesus should have been charged for felony assualt, after all he took a whip to vendors in the Temple according to the Gospel of John.
She was arrested for leading the beatdown. Her gang of 20-30 thugs used clubs & pipes and their fists on the black victims. Then, they stole the merchandice and money that did not belong to them. The KKK used same type gang of thugs beatdown tactics on innocent black people. I feel for her losing a son, but for her to be before a UN human rights committee 1 month after doing this is a joke. Even bigger joke when you consider it is to support the lie that her son was innocently executed by a racially motivated white cop. Michael Brown in the short span between robbing the store and getting shot to death assulted the store owner and the police officer. Evidence supports the Police Officer's version of events.
