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 ...
This writer is not able to think clearly or reason.
As far as the Waco War, it shows that our American ferals come in all shapes, sizes and colors.
The biker code of honor sometimes looks like it endures better than the hypothetical blue one. It wasn’t a biker gang who killed Freddie Gray, or if you must insist that Gray was asking to be killed, then various harmless citizens.
Where are the body cam videos? Bystander smart phone video?
I actually might be one of them don’t know all the facts yet, but the GUNFIGHT inside Harrah’s Casino in Laughlin between rival biker gangs was completely SETUP and Orchestrated by the POLICE, It all came out in the TRIAL’S in which EVERYONE WAS ACQUITTED. So until I see real evidence I do not EVER BELIEVE THE POLICE ON ANYTHING!
The reaction is the same as toward a lot of weekends in Chicago. Thugs shooting thugs is the same in both cases. As long as innocent people aren’t caught in the crossfire it’s dog bites man in the short term. The Baltimore/Waco comparison is a stretch.
Bikers were shooting and stabbing, so they got standard well trained agency cop response. Baltimore was street vandalism and street riots, so they got riot control response with typical low quality east coast police standards.
When bikers rumble, they tend not to take it out on John Q. Random Citizen.
The Gangs may have not burined down the Twin Peaks, but I bet they do not open for business for quite a while.
That is as devastating to a business as looting.
Sure. George Soros didn’t hire any of the bikers. And Waco’s buildings weren’t torched. And there wasn’t a dopey hash tag followed by shameless merchandise sales after Waco (#BikersLivesMatter).
Anybody know if the people who allegedly instigated the fight starting in the bathroom were among the casualties?
Nobody is claiming the bikers were shot in the back with their hands up, either.
Both gangs are mixed Anglo/Hispanic and include black members.
Some bikers shot or knifed one another there. I don’t recall there was one non-1%er casualty. I could cite riskier places to visit. America has gone wimp.
“There are a lot of people on this site who believe the cop actually instigated Waco.”
I know, who could ever -really- believe that a summit at a titty bar between the Bandidos and the Cossacks could really turn violent? Clearly the cops started it. lol
People also believe in ghosts, that Elvis and Jim Morrison is alive, and that ground based submarine antennae are actually weapons to cause earthquakes and weather disasters. People believe a lot of things.
Its funny watching this emotional bond some feel to the Banditos and Cossacks.
Funny you mention Chicago.
What happened in Waco last weekend equals a quiet weekend in Chicago.
(ba doom Shish!)
When bikers have a rumble they man up about it... gotta respect that even though obviously we don’t invite that.
What I find interesting in this story is that have been no stories listing those killed or injured.
As dumb as Jerry Rivers putting the Black Panthers and the KKK on the same show.
“Are Waco’s white bikers treated differently than Baltimore’s black protestors?”
Yes. “Police have acknowledged firing on armed bikers,”
During the race riots, police were not allowed to fire at looters and those throwing stones at police.
It’s better than that. No babies shot on porches, no grandmothers shot in laundromats.
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