The press is trying to elevate that “iconic” Baton Rouge photo to the level of the Tiananmen Square photo of the man stopping the column of tanks.
“But communities that don’t send a police presence to a protest are asking for trouble. There are a lot of wonderful, kind, generous, caring people in the world, and in most big crowds. But the other kinds are around too, and I don’t see it as cynical to recognize that fact.”
And I think just the opposite. Their presence lately seems to provoke, not protect the protesters. It reminds me of what happened at Kent State.
I’m not sure if you mean this how it sounds, but 6 minutes of inconvenience and the killing of a father of two are not even comparable.
The police in that case were not even indicted.
How did two bailiffs get shot and killed? They carry guns on them, no? I heard a deputy sheriff also got shot and surely he had a gun too.
How come these good guys with guns keep getting killed? Plus, courts are definitely not no gun zones. Baffling.
I’m not sure what your point is @OHMomof2 ? I was comparing the responses by the cops in the video to the white and black man in the video, not any other cases. If there’s any comparison between the killings that have sparked the national outrage and the people in that video, that is on your part not mine.
Saying that the mere presence of police “provokes” violence is on par with saying that wearing short skirts “provokes” rape. Not cool at all.
There’s a big difference between the normal uniform and the riot gear. I do believe police showing up in full riot gear to a peaceful protest is over the top.
"How did two bailiffs get shot and killed? They carry guns on them, no? I heard a deputy sheriff also got shot and surely he had a gun too.
How come these good guys with guns keep getting killed?"
Because the NRA is full of it.
What is the point of your argument, emilybee?
Is it not more sensible to have cops on scene at an event where there is a high likelihood of people misbehaving, or at worst, killing people? Wouldn’t you rather the cops be there, on scene, to take care of a potential problem as quickly as possible? Or would you rather wait 5-10 minutes for the cops to respond, meanwhile a crazy person is running around putting others’ lives at risk?
If someone or some event has a proven record of violence, you take further precautions to keep people safe, knowing that there is an increased likelihood of something bad happening. This is commonsense… this is reality.
The black man in the video I posted was killed. Was there some black man in the video you posted that wasn’t stopped and asked for ID? I watched most of it.
The event in Dallas was a march, not a protest. I can imagine a protest not having police presence and going fine, if there is a large enough area for the crowd–such as is often the case on college campus with protests.
A march is much more like a race or a parade. Neither of which I have ever seen occur without police presence–simply because of the traffic control issues involved in closing streets. Add in the emotion involved in many protest-type marches, and the frequent presence of counter-protesters, and I just can’t imagine how you do that w/o some police presence.
I didn’t see anything that looked inappropriate or excessive about the Dallas police presence.
“How did two bailiffs get shot and killed? They carry guns on them, no? I heard a deputy sheriff also got shot and surely he had a gun too.”
The earlier version of the DFP article said an inmate grabbed a deputy’s gun and began firing. Now that is being confirmed.
Less than 5% of gun owners are members of the NRA. Look it up if you don’t believe it.
May I point out that the shooter was stopped with a gun? 2 deaths is tragic, but how many do you think there would have been if no one stopped the shooter?
Guns are prohibited in Michigan courthouses without judicial consent. http://www.ncsc.org/Topics/Courthouse-Facilities/Court-Security/State-Links.aspx?cat=Firearms+in+Courthouses+and+Courtrooms#Michigan How could just anyone have possibly gotten a gun and started shooting? It’s prohibited. Hmm.
As for the video, I was referring to a video emilybee posted several pages back. Not yours, OHMom. Sorry for the confusion.
I live in Baton Rouge. I can understand people objecting to some of the outsiders. Heck, I object to some of them. I realize that saying that can sound very 1960’s white Southern racist. I will attempt to clarify.
I’m fine with people coming down here to support the cause. When they stand in the street and yell “Racist pigs” at the cops, I do not think that’s helpful. Nor is trying to shut down the interstate, IMO. Sure, some local people may be (probably are) doing these things as well. But many of the ones doing those things are not local–and the local leaders and organizations are definitely not heading up efforts like that.
So outsiders come in, say and do things that inflame the situation, and then leave town. Yeah, I have a problem with that. As I was telling someone yesterday, come to town, get the police PO’d, and then the people who live here get to try to make things better. Thanks.
The police are reacting horribly in many cases. And our mayor is MIA. I’m far more upset about both of those things than I am about some outsiders (SOME!). But I would not be the least bit upset if the New Black Panthers Party left town, no.
I was at a very peaceful youth-organized march downtown yesterday. After the march, some people started marching towards the interstate–that evolved into the craziness with the police rushing into someone’s yard to arrest people, police in gas masks, etc. I left when the official march was obviously over. Things went downhill soon after that–and I think at least some people did not initially realize that the group going down the street was not the official march.
“Is it not more sensible to have cops on scene at an event where there is a high likelihood of people misbehaving, or at worst, killing people? Wouldn’t you rather the cops be there, on scene, to take care of a potential problem as quickly as possible? Or would you rather wait 5-10 minutes for the cops to respond, meanwhile a crazy person is running around putting others’ lives at risk?”
I don’t believe the people protesting are any different then you and me, nor more likely to "misbehave or “kill people.” I think it’s shameful this disdain people have for others.
And people wonder why race relations in this country are so awful.
The presence of police at many events now are a direct result of the fear of terrorist attacks ( and I know this because H was with Honelans Security until on,y a few months ago.) They are not at the Macy’s parade or the Super Bowl or the Belmont because of fear the crowd is going to misbehave or start shooting at people because their team lost. I don’t have my bag searched when I enter Yankee Staduim or any other event because I’m part of a large crowd. I’m searched because of the fear of a terrorist sneaking in.
Right now Taste of Chicago is going on, which is a massive street fest with umpteen thousand people. Should police be there? Of course.
Emilybee, I think you just backed yourself into a corner on this one. By your reasoning we shouldn’t have sheriffs at county courthouses because heck most people are there for traffic tickets or minor infractions.
“The earlier version of the DFP article said an inmate grabbed a deputy’s gun and began firing. Now that is being confirmed.”
I would think a trained officer would have been trained to prevent that from happening.
“I think you just backed yourself into a corner on this one. By your reasoning we shouldn’t have sheriffs at county courthouses because heck most people are there for traffic tickets or minor infractions.”
Those people are not escorted by sheriffs or court police when showing up for their court appearances. Even those out on bail are not escorted by LEO’s. They walk in alone or with their attorney’s. We don’t treat them the same.
“Right now Taste of Chicago is going on, which is a massive street fest with umpteen thousand people. Should police be there? Of course.”
I’ve been to Taste of Chicago and many other festivals of that nature. There is no reason to have police there, other then the regular park police. It’s ludicrous.
It’s a fricking food festival, fgs.
People are losing their collective minds and instead of working on solutions to these issues we are mindlessly accepting becoming a police state.