gunsnewing wrote:

DrAlphaeus wrote:

gunsnewing wrote:

fishmike wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

DrAlphaeus wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

gunsnewing wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

Nalod wrote:
Good for Melo and anyone one else that can help calm things down and prevent loss of life and property damage. He may be fat, he may be selfish (he should be marching with MDA and LIN)and ruined our lives but he is a positive role model in Balitimore and his efforts are for the greater good! Photo ops are part of being involved good or bad!

I don't totally disagree, but as far as I know the only loss of life that occurred was the homicide the cops committed that started the demonstrations. It was announced this morning that the DA is charging the cops involved with homicide.

They should be charged if it is proven to have been unprevoked and Gray did not commit a crime this time. This case is a little different than the other ridiculous cases we've seen this year I have to say.

I'm just sick of it all and want racism to end. Remove "Race" from all government forms. There is only one race. We are all humans. Dogs come in all colors but we still see them as dogs and nothing else. Something went array years ago but it has to change now. I feel like we have gone backwards after everything that has happened this year and the media is trying to divide the nation for their own personal gains and the government has failed to do its job in uniting the people of America. In fact I think they Want to divide the nation. So much arguing between republicans and democrats. Get rid of political parties. Let's just try to come to a mutual agreement. I bet if we all got down to the basics all our political views and needs would line up perfectly. Why be forced to pick a side even when you don't agree with everything. I hope we figure it out one day

i don't think it's been happening any more than it used to. this **** has always happened. We are just finally seeing it because of social media spreading the word. the media wasn't going to cover this until people lit up twitter with videos of the shootings and eye witnesses finally having a place to go be heard.

i think twitter is bad for a lot of things, but i think it is actually really good for spreading information about what is really happening. it finally gives a way for people to see this stuff that has been going on for a long long time.

it's like the rodney king case - certainly not the first time the cops roughed up a suspect, but it may have been the first time it was caught on video. people saw that and they were shocked. sort of like how people saw images from vietnam and it was the first time people saw a true vision of our military in a foreign country. that stuff is shocking to see. will it lead to change? who knows. i really hope so. but i think the fact that people are more aware of what is happening all the time in this country is a good thing, because you need to be aware of a problem to fix it.

+1. Civil rights movement in the 60s definitely was successful in part because of "the whole world [was] watching" — the US was trumpeting its values around the world with the hypocrisy of Jim Crow going on. And now unfortunately we see that as terrible Jim Crow was, the promise of Northern cities that drew so many people from the South wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

Yeah, agreed. Have you heard of this book the New Jim Crow? It's about how prisons are used as essentially the new Jim Crow laws - unfair incarcerations, crazy and sad stuff. To be honest, I had to put it down halfway through because it was so upsetting, but definitely a powerful book. I hope to have the guts to finish it some day soon: http://newjimcrow.com/praise-for-the-new-jim-crow

this is the reason Im pro legalizing drugs. Maybe not all, but certainly pot. I wasnt at first, thinking its just another thing people will screw up (cant even handle booze). But the laws arent fairly enforced. The drug laws are just an avenue to accomplish what your talking about above. All law enforcement has to do is say "I smell pot" when they pull you over and the illegal search begins. Who smokes pot demographically in the US? Everyone. Who gets locked up for it? Blacks.

I agree but everyone gets locked up. It all depends if they have the money to post bail or family to bail them out. A lot of these guys don't have he money for bail and lawyers unless they are dealing right?

My mom used to always say that as bad as streets of the cities are, there's just as bad if not worst things happening in the suburbs behind closed doors. Instead of street transactions of smack, its someone who knows a dirty pharmacist for oxy. Instead of a 20-year old with no sense getting caught in the streets, you have 20-year olds on university campuses doing every drug under the sun, but their enforcement officers are RAs or campus cops. Instead of a working class guy getting off his shift and coping a dime bags on Franklin Av and being exposed, your creative class office worker or finance bro is getting an 1/8th of dro or an eightball of nose candy delivered to them at work in Midtown. The "Two Americas" idea definitely extends to vice.

Absolutely. The difference being that hardly anyone is being murdered in the suburbs over drugs and gang activity. There is a shooting in Newark every couple of weeks of mmyoung children getting caught in crossfires leaving school. Because of rival gangs and drug money

True: the death toll isn't as gruesome. But there is a body count there too, if it's mostly those who are killed by the addictions.

Growing up in Paterson they would periodically do stings in the roughest part of town – either drugs or prostitution — and list names and addresses of folks in the paper. I was always amazed at how the majority of the named were not from the city but from the surrounding suburbs, sometimes as far away as Sussex County and Eastern Pennsylvania.

gunsnewing wrote:I never heard of cops planting drugs on people in Newark. If so the media has done a great job of hiding the cold hard truth

like i was saying - the media wasn't covering any of this stuff until social media made it impossible for them not to.

you think cops haven't been planting drugs on suspects for the last 50 years... man... they have.

not saying drug use isn't it's own problem, but the way it is policed is bull. the war on drugs has allowed cops a lot of leeway to do some bad police work and it's turned the communities against them. but the communities have plenty of other problems - no real way out, no jobs. it's a ****ty situation all around.

gunsnewing wrote:I never heard of cops planting drugs on people in Newark. If so the media has done a great job of hiding the cold hard truth

Police and racism are two different issues. Don't think for one moment a police officer would discriminate fcking over anyone of any race if they are bad and you happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Do people really think white people say "yeah its the police"!!! Nope its an institution mired by a great deal of corruption by those who are in it and thats that. Same with politics wall street and every other "fraternity" When a black person is done foul by a policeman--you hear about it when an white asian or latin get mistretaed it--they don't. Go look up East Haven CT and the history of the police there. They were predatory against Latins and Jews--you just dont hear about it. This goes on every where. The problem is police are not accountable to almost anyone. You put a gun and a badge in a persons hand and it and they have it over anyone. I think black people equate--police=white race and it could not be farther from the truth. Police=police.

holfresh wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:Let Carmelo Anthony and a swarm of his buddies put up the money to help Baltimore upgrade their schools. If he wants to do something with his name--be the man who brought a better brand of education to the kids in the city. I have to pay a LOT in taxes in two towns each year to keep our education system running well. You have to invest in education before you will see upgrades in a standard of life---I mean how long has this been going on in Baltimore and other towns 50-60 years? No one gives a sht--thats the main problem. Lets be lazy and blame the system instead of picking myself off the ground and handling things in house.

The Carmelo Anthony Youth Development Center...
https://www.livingclassrooms.org/ourp_pgming_carmelo.php

That nice he put it there--but that not education. Education is classrooms teachers books--not basketball court rec room. He deserves a lot of credit for that but its not an answer to the problem.

BRIGGS wrote:

holfresh wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:Let Carmelo Anthony and a swarm of his buddies put up the money to help Baltimore upgrade their schools. If he wants to do something with his name--be the man who brought a better brand of education to the kids in the city. I have to pay a LOT in taxes in two towns each year to keep our education system running well. You have to invest in education before you will see upgrades in a standard of life---I mean how long has this been going on in Baltimore and other towns 50-60 years? No one gives a sht--thats the main problem. Lets be lazy and blame the system instead of picking myself off the ground and handling things in house.

The Carmelo Anthony Youth Development Center...
https://www.livingclassrooms.org/ourp_pgming_carmelo.php

That nice he put it there--but that not education. Education is classrooms teachers books--not basketball court rec room. He deserves a lot of credit for that but its not an answer to the problem.

Did you click the link?..It helps kids educationally year round with classroom work, among other things...

holfresh wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:

holfresh wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:Let Carmelo Anthony and a swarm of his buddies put up the money to help Baltimore upgrade their schools. If he wants to do something with his name--be the man who brought a better brand of education to the kids in the city. I have to pay a LOT in taxes in two towns each year to keep our education system running well. You have to invest in education before you will see upgrades in a standard of life---I mean how long has this been going on in Baltimore and other towns 50-60 years? No one gives a sht--thats the main problem. Lets be lazy and blame the system instead of picking myself off the ground and handling things in house.

The Carmelo Anthony Youth Development Center...
https://www.livingclassrooms.org/ourp_pgming_carmelo.php

That nice he put it there--but that not education. Education is classrooms teachers books--not basketball court rec room. He deserves a lot of credit for that but its not an answer to the problem.

Did you click the link?..It helps kids educationally year round with classroom work, among other things...

I agree thats a start--its a great gesture but this is a town like many other bigger cities that lack the quality of education and the enforcement to send kids to school every day is a problem that I have not seen go away in my 46 years on this Earth. I go back to some place and say to myself this is still here??? Why? For all of these years why do people still live like this? in 2015 every kid needs to be educated and the parents and towns and cities must make sure this is enforced.

BRIGGS wrote:

holfresh wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:

holfresh wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:Let Carmelo Anthony and a swarm of his buddies put up the money to help Baltimore upgrade their schools. If he wants to do something with his name--be the man who brought a better brand of education to the kids in the city. I have to pay a LOT in taxes in two towns each year to keep our education system running well. You have to invest in education before you will see upgrades in a standard of life---I mean how long has this been going on in Baltimore and other towns 50-60 years? No one gives a sht--thats the main problem. Lets be lazy and blame the system instead of picking myself off the ground and handling things in house.

The Carmelo Anthony Youth Development Center...
https://www.livingclassrooms.org/ourp_pgming_carmelo.php

That nice he put it there--but that not education. Education is classrooms teachers books--not basketball court rec room. He deserves a lot of credit for that but its not an answer to the problem.

Did you click the link?..It helps kids educationally year round with classroom work, among other things...

I agree thats a start--its a great gesture but this is a town like many other bigger cities that lack the quality of education and the enforcement to send kids to school every day is a problem that I have not seen go away in my 46 years on this Earth. I go back to some place and say to myself this is still here??? Why? For all of these years why do people still live like this? in 2015 every kid needs to be educated and the parents and towns and cities must make sure this is enforced.

It's bigger than just education..It's a huge social issue that this country have not made the determination to address yet...Education is just a small piece of the puzzle...Lots of these kids aren't prepared to receive an education..They have been defeated before education even begins...What Melo is doing is piecemeal..He can't change whats happening..Pumping money in schools won't change what's happening...

holfresh wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:

holfresh wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:

holfresh wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:Let Carmelo Anthony and a swarm of his buddies put up the money to help Baltimore upgrade their schools. If he wants to do something with his name--be the man who brought a better brand of education to the kids in the city. I have to pay a LOT in taxes in two towns each year to keep our education system running well. You have to invest in education before you will see upgrades in a standard of life---I mean how long has this been going on in Baltimore and other towns 50-60 years? No one gives a sht--thats the main problem. Lets be lazy and blame the system instead of picking myself off the ground and handling things in house.

The Carmelo Anthony Youth Development Center...
https://www.livingclassrooms.org/ourp_pgming_carmelo.php

That nice he put it there--but that not education. Education is classrooms teachers books--not basketball court rec room. He deserves a lot of credit for that but its not an answer to the problem.

Did you click the link?..It helps kids educationally year round with classroom work, among other things...

I agree thats a start--its a great gesture but this is a town like many other bigger cities that lack the quality of education and the enforcement to send kids to school every day is a problem that I have not seen go away in my 46 years on this Earth. I go back to some place and say to myself this is still here??? Why? For all of these years why do people still live like this? in 2015 every kid needs to be educated and the parents and towns and cities must make sure this is enforced.

It's bigger than just education..It's a huge social issue that this country have not made the determination to address yet...Education is just a small piece of the puzzle...Lots of these kids aren't prepared to receive an education..They have been defeated before education even begins...What Melo is doing is piecemeal..He can't change whats happening..Pumping money in schools won't change what's happening...

Yea how many people from the older generations didn't even finish high school yet were able to own homes and be fruitful members of society, part of a union and civic organizations whether church or the Elks or whatever. Obviously things change and what took 200 blue collar workers now takes a 1/10th of that with things like automation. The 70s poked a lot of holes in the illusions the country operated under, yet the answer seemed to be to take business to places where people can be more easily pushed around. People have woken up from the American Dream but the system is still trying to tell you you are asleep... all we are is scared awake fumbling in the dark. Man, it bums me out.

How do we turn on the lights and start dealing with reality?

BRIGGS wrote:

holfresh wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:

holfresh wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:

holfresh wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:Let Carmelo Anthony and a swarm of his buddies put up the money to help Baltimore upgrade their schools. If he wants to do something with his name--be the man who brought a better brand of education to the kids in the city. I have to pay a LOT in taxes in two towns each year to keep our education system running well. You have to invest in education before you will see upgrades in a standard of life---I mean how long has this been going on in Baltimore and other towns 50-60 years? No one gives a sht--thats the main problem. Lets be lazy and blame the system instead of picking myself off the ground and handling things in house.

The Carmelo Anthony Youth Development Center...
https://www.livingclassrooms.org/ourp_pgming_carmelo.php

That nice he put it there--but that not education. Education is classrooms teachers books--not basketball court rec room. He deserves a lot of credit for that but its not an answer to the problem.

Did you click the link?..It helps kids educationally year round with classroom work, among other things...

I agree thats a start--its a great gesture but this is a town like many other bigger cities that lack the quality of education and the enforcement to send kids to school every day is a problem that I have not seen go away in my 46 years on this Earth. I go back to some place and say to myself this is still here??? Why? For all of these years why do people still live like this? in 2015 every kid needs to be educated and the parents and towns and cities must make sure this is enforced.

It's bigger than just education..It's a huge social issue that this country have not made the determination to address yet...Education is just a small piece of the puzzle...Lots of these kids aren't prepared to receive an education..They have been defeated before education even begins...What Melo is doing is piecemeal..He can't change whats happening..Pumping money in schools won't change what's happening...

Well thats a pssy defeatist attitude. Man I give up before I even try. What the f kind of panzy BS is that. We dont live in North Korea --this is a FREE MF country and if you want something bad enough--you do it--or atleast you 120% effort. This is the land of opportunity and each kid deserves that chance to work hard. Are you saying that somewhere in the US that a student is denied access to public schools? Are you saying that there is not enough money to improve almost any school? WTF are you saying?

I think some of what you are saying plays into the USA rah-rah-rhetoric. A "free" country that has 1/4 of the world's prisoners? A land of opportunity built on taking people's land?

What Melo is doing should be lauded, but you can also be cynical about that: most corporations do PR-friendly things to give back. I think he genuinely wants to help out his community but there are only so many multimillionaire athletes out there.

I always think about Kanye: he says the George Bush don't care about black people thing, it really kicks up dust in terms of public discussion and that administration's lead feet in reacting to this crisis. Now this guy is a character in the Kardashians and he's too busy battling with European fashion houses. Will America only respond to celebrities? What if Jay-Z went to Trenton and said: you know what, I was part of the problem here selling garbage... and I'm going to repent for this by repudiating the crime that funded my success. I mean that doesn't even sound like something an American would do. Renounce the crime behind your fortune? I'm sure Mr. Rock-a-fella would ask the Rockefellers to go first...