Posted on 05/01/2015 8:30:13 AM PDT by Kaslin
The sad scenes playing out in Baltimore are made sadder by the fact that more such incidents are likely over the coming years.
That's because the problems in Baltimore did not begin with the arrest and death of Freddie Gray. Tensions have been building for a very long time. Other cities from coast to coast have similar tensions ready to boil over.
Some tensions are common to all cities -- pockets of economic devastation, laws that are enforced more strictly in some parts of town than others, bad apples among the police, thugs in the community and more.
Some are specific to each city. In Baltimore, the tensions became apparent more than a decade ago when the city inadvertently assumed a prominent role in the Stop Snitchin' movement. Before that, in 2002, a Baltimore woman and her entire family were murdered after alerting police to illegal activities in her neighborhood.
The good news is that there are people on all sides in this tough situation who want to heal their cities. The bad news is that most people -- and certainly most media coverage -- are focused on who to blame. In the blame game, people from different walks of life see what they want to see.
Some see oppressive and racist police. Others see criminal thugs looking to destroy and steal.
In one now-famous incident, a mom slapped her son and pushed him away from the protests. Watching it, I saw a woman who just wanted her only son to be safe. She wasn't thinking about politics or role models or the cameras. She knew her son was in danger and acted to protect him.
That didn't stop others from reading great symbolism into her actions.
Some people, including the police commissioner, dubbed her a "Hero Mom." On Huffington Post, however, Julia Craven pointed out that the mom was protecting her son from the police. One local resident said white America called this woman a hero simply because she was doing what white America wanted to do to all black Americans and their children.
How can people look at the same situation and come up with entirely different conclusions? In Creativity, Inc., Pixar founder Ed Catmull highlighted research showing that only 40 percent of what we see comes from our eyes. The rest is filled in with what our brains expect to see. On the issue of minorities and police departments, the expectations are wildly different, and we've stopped looking more closely at the reality.
That's why we're likely to see more cities burning in the coming years. The tensions exist, and sooner or later a police incident will ignite the fuse. The specifics of the incident won't matter nearly as much as the underlying anger. People will see 40 percent of the story with their eyes, and they'll fill in the rest with what they expect to see.
The only way to avoid such a dismal outcome is to change the other 60 percent of what we "see." Wise city leaders will get people to "see" the reality that the vast majority of both the police and the minority communities want to make things work. Only after that is a shared recognition can people begin to establish the trust needed to make the cities safer and fairer.
Wow, that’s some story CC. Back in my teens (late 70’s), that would have been unusual for the area you live in. Unfortunately each generation of youngsters seems a bit dumber and a bit bolder than the last.
No. Mom was protecting her son from the predictable repercussions for his very own actions.
The older kid’s dad is a truck driver and is on the road for about 3 weeks at a time. The younger kid is only about 9 and is a follower.
There is enough “crap gone seriously wrong” in everyday life, that there is no need to plan or stage an event like the death of a peasant at the hands of some government actor.
After their homes have been turned into smoldering husks they'll begin looking for opportunities elsewhere. Thats when things will get interesting.
Under every tree, inside every bush and shrub, around every corner, in every box and envelope, in every heart and mind it lurks, seeking opportunity to spring forth and grab some poor soul by the throat and oppress him. What is it? Racism! Solve racism and we solve the world’s problems!
It is a good time to move to a rural area if one can.
I agree. I just personally want to stay the hell away. I don’t wanna hurt nobody unless they threaten to do me or the family harm.
Yea, verily yea...
Baltimore!
The poster city of the 21st Century Democratic Party!
“We’re done with Detroit, so we’re onto Baltimore!”
V2: “majority....Democrat”
It's because the movement is rigged with an agenda.
The problem's going to be when there's some spontaneous combustion (a sports event, too much drinking on a summer night, a concert or amusement park, who knows what?) where different racial groups are involved. I think one would be wise to be aware of surroundings and if there's a critical mass of some ethnic group in another group's space, not be there.
And you notice that the Hispanic-dominated areas of the Los Angeles metro region (East Los Angeles, Santa Fe Springs and a few others) are starting to gentrify. Meanwhile, cities with predominantly black underclass people (Detroit, Baltimore and Camden, NJ) have fallen into ruin....
Or, if you live in a city run by Democrats, the rural area will come you you - after a period of tribulation. See Detroit for the Demo model.
This article is more of “can’t we all just get along” stuff. I dare anyone to work as a cop in a big city for a while and see what the job is like. It’s a war zone, and that is precisely why cops need all the military style gear. Otherwise they would be outgunned.
Of course, what nobody will say is that there are some liberal, Democrat controlled cities that don’t have these problems. (Austin, San Francisco) Hmm, I wonder what the difference is?
Anger? The looters and rioters were having a party. They’re hoping to have another excuse somewhere to go shopping again and throw rocks at cops.
Now I know why Americans have been buying guns and ammo over the last couple of years now.
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