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Are Waco's white bikers treated differently than Baltimore's black protestors?
CS Monitor/AP ^ | 05/20/2015 | Jesse J. Holland

Posted on 05/20/2015 8:25:55 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd

The firefight in Waco between rival outlaw motorcycle gangs is raising questions about perceptions and portrayals of crime in America.

Washington — The prevailing images of protests in Baltimore and Ferguson, Missouri, over police killings of black men were of police in riot gear, handcuffed protesters, tear gas and mass arrests. The main images of a fatal gun battle between armed bikers and police in Waco, Texas, also showed mass arrests — carried out by nonchalant-looking officers sitting around calm bikers on cell phones.

The firefight in Waco is raising questions about perceptions and portrayals of crime in America, considering the vehement reaction that the earlier protests got from police, politicians and some members of the public.

Media critics, columnists and civil rights activists are complaining that there appears to be little societal concern about the gunplay at a restaurant in Texas, whereas politicians — including President Barack Obama — described violent looters in Baltimore as "thugs," and the media devoted hours of television and radio airtime to dissecting social ills that affect the black community.

~snip~

There were no deaths during the Baltimore and Ferguson protests, yet people immediately stereotyped all of the protesters as criminals, said Nicole Lee, a human rights lawyer who worked with protesters in both cities.

"Nine people were killed in Waco, and yet you have not heard the level of disgust and dismay as you did over fires burning in Ferguson and in Baltimore," Lee said. "One of the things the protesters always said was that while many of them disagreed with the property destruction, that you can rebuild property. But you can't bring back people, and yet you're not hearing an equal amount of disgust from the media and from people over what happened in Waco."

(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: Maryland; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: baltimore; blackkk; drugdealers; elijahcummings; maryland; texas; twinpeaks; waco
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To: Pollster1

I wonder which biker gangs these were and who won?


81 posted on 05/20/2015 9:32:48 AM PDT by goseminoles
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To: TexasGator

Nobody ever painted them as a bunch of Mother Teresas and that’s besides the point.

When biker gangs fight, who normally suffers. Vs. when the typical big city street gang fights. That says a lot.

I would never recommend biker life to anyone looking for honor. But you have to acknowledge real life phenomena truthfully.


82 posted on 05/20/2015 9:34:23 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: Responsibility2nd

One group is handled with kid gloves and permitted to rape & pillage, the other group is gunned down mercilessly.

You be the judge....


83 posted on 05/20/2015 9:36:24 AM PDT by Roman_War_Criminal (Unapologetic supporters of Obama, Sodomy, and Abortion will find the afterlife rather torturous)
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To: Sasparilla

Jay-Z is bailing the Baltimore thugs out anyways...


84 posted on 05/20/2015 9:37:32 AM PDT by Roman_War_Criminal (Unapologetic supporters of Obama, Sodomy, and Abortion will find the afterlife rather torturous)
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To: Pollster1

In the list of current threats to the country, biker gangs are like WAY down there. They can be vicious, can be mean in certain contexts. But usually you can believe them and usually you can stay out of trouble with them if that is what you want.

Not so with our double crossing enemies. You really think the “thuggee” version of double cross is superior... they’d be viewed as the lurking menaces from hell if they were going on in our neighborhoods today.


85 posted on 05/20/2015 9:40:45 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: MEG33
Well, it's not a ballistics report but is sufficient to cause one to desire to see that ballistics report.

gunfire at Waco

86 posted on 05/20/2015 9:41:04 AM PDT by arthurus (It's true!)
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To: Responsibility2nd

It’s like comparing apples with oranges: different state; different situation; no burning, looting, and attacking innocent people in Waco even though 9 (NINE) men died. And Waco is lucky to have DA as anti-police and as incompetent as the pathetic Marilyn Mosby.


87 posted on 05/20/2015 9:46:18 AM PDT by apocalypto
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To: HiTech RedNeck

Yes, Thuggees would be viewed as lurking menaces from Hell if they were in our neighborhoods. I’d still be far less concerned about them than I am about Obama and his followers - both the Obama true believers who vote Democrat and those who fight for ISIS. Right now we are not quite outnumbered, but it’s so close that it’s within the margin of fraud. That also means some cities are occasionally too dangerous to go out, and large sections of some cities are always too dangerous, because of Obama’s people.


88 posted on 05/20/2015 9:48:58 AM PDT by Pollster1 ("Shall not be infringed" is unambiguous.)
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To: DesertRhino

In my former town the local Banditos chapter had a distinguished list of offenses. They specialized in drunk driving, low level sales of narcotics, and sex with minors. Not sure what part of that makes up their “code of honor.”


89 posted on 05/20/2015 9:49:53 AM PDT by USNBandit (sarcasm engaged at all times)
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To: dfwgator

Reno was just a scapegoat for one of the Clintonistas, most likely Hitlery. Less likely one of the Bent One’s “optics” advisors. Although, I could HHS secretary Donna Shalala coming up with the idea.


90 posted on 05/20/2015 9:49:53 AM PDT by Calvin Locke
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To: circlecity
Are these people insane? The police engaged in a gun battle with these bikers and may have fatally shot some. How many “protesters/rioters” did the police gun down?

I do not believe I have read of a single cop being injured or killed by gunfire in this incident. Am I mistaken?

91 posted on 05/20/2015 9:50:02 AM PDT by zeugma (Are there more nearby spiders than the sun is big?)
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To: Steven Scharf

Actually, the names have been released, hunted the story up, it has been mentioned in these threads if not this one.

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2015/05/20/names-nine-biker-gang-members-killed-in-waco-released-by-police/


92 posted on 05/20/2015 9:50:13 AM PDT by BeadCounter
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To: zeugma
"I do not believe I have read of a single cop being injured or killed by gunfire in this incident. Am I mistaken?"

You are correct, all the dead and injured were bikers. But it's yet to be determined whether any of the dead or injured were shot by police or whether it was all biker inflicted. Certainly the police were dishing out lead.

93 posted on 05/20/2015 9:53:37 AM PDT by circlecity
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To: TexasGator

...after 9 of their cohorts were shot dead...


94 posted on 05/20/2015 9:54:06 AM PDT by ctdonath2 (Hillary:polarizing/calculating/disingenuous/insincere/ambitious/inevitable/entitled/overconfident/se)
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To: All

The article ends saying maybe it is not an apples to apples comparison and that may well be correct.

Surprisingly, Waco has a crime rate quite a bit above the national average thought that is probably mainly property crime.

Even more surprising is that 75% white (oil patch trash as they say) Odessa has one of the top crime rates in Texas and the Cossacks seem to be somewhat active in that area. That’s the odd thing, you have Texas Hammerskins, you do have some of these obscure types of groups there. If white supremacists got gunned down, many would applaud it, bikers being a step up in many people’s minds.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odessa,_Texas (Seems to include Hispanics in those numbers as “Hispanic or Latino of any race was 50.6%” )


95 posted on 05/20/2015 9:58:54 AM PDT by BeadCounter
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To: HiTech RedNeck

“But you have to acknowledge real life phenomena truthfully”

That gangs will kill you based on how you wear your clothes. They are all just a bunch of thugs deserving NO admiration.


96 posted on 05/20/2015 10:02:33 AM PDT by TexasGator
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To: Responsibility2nd

“The rest of that retail center has re-opened for business and life returns to normal in Waco, Texas.”

With this gang activity and mass shooting, Waco will go down in the American lexicon along with Capone’s Chicago, the South Bronx, Baltimore, Watts, New Orleans after Katrina, and Detroit after Jimmy Carter.


97 posted on 05/20/2015 10:15:42 AM PDT by Oliviaforever
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To: HiTech RedNeck

“When bikers have a rumble they man up about it... “

Actually they don’t. They coward up about it. If one gets in a fight, they ALL jump on the other one. So actually it will be 4 or 5 vs 1. That ain’t manly, its’s simply punk.


98 posted on 05/20/2015 10:15:55 AM PDT by DesertRhino (I was standing with a rifle, waiting for soviet paratroopers, but communists just ran for office)
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To: Responsibility2nd
Question is apples and oranges...

I'm a white guy with a Harley in the Waco area...

I'm not protesting.
I'm not rioting.
I'm not looting.

The question should be are white bikers in Waco not involved/affected by the incident acting like the scum in Baltimore.

99 posted on 05/20/2015 10:27:58 AM PDT by Feckless (The US Gubbmint / This Tagline CENSORED by FR \ IrOnic, ain't it?)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

“You know, when bikers fight almost never does a civilian on the scene eat anything other but a little dust.
A lot of people wish they had even that amount of honor to lean on.”

That’s simply not true. They victimize normal people an a very regular basis. And this fight that hurt no regular people? Those jackasses shut down numerous businesses, and probably closed one. That’s probably 30 or 40 people who are looking for jobs today. No harm there,,, right?
You laugh at it, but my sister was going to patronize that very mall after church.
But the jackass cowards with their “honor” made that impossible.

I cannot understand this organized crime lore, about the teddy bear rogues with honor, and hearts of gold, whether its mafia, Mexican cartels, banditos, or MS13. But they do attract their fanboys.

Thank god for the Waco PD and the Waco Judge and his selling the bikes an million dollar bonds. Showing the world how to do it right.


100 posted on 05/20/2015 10:34:11 AM PDT by DesertRhino (I was standing with a rifle, waiting for soviet paratroopers, but communists just ran for office)
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