Baltimorei

[gimmethesimplelife]

jesus Christ, I have to really wonder about ya'll who apparently don't let live in high crime neighborhoods.

jp, I appreciate perps being locked up for however many moments in order to give my community a freaking rest from their shenanigans.

Go forth and and expound on the nature of criminal rehabilitation and restorative justice and etc. It is the internet, after all. But some of us are real people with communities where we look out for one another against the bad guys. Make no mistake, the bad guys are real. Talk amongst yourselves, it does hurt anything.

of COURSE prison does rehabilitate anyone! Throwing whatever amount of money at that problem won't work, just like throwing money at poor families and poor communities doesn't fix the problem.

MMMMMmmmmm.......living in a lower income area as I do - I have just one question for you. Do you not see the police as part of the problem, also? (Notice I did not say the problem, I said part of the problem). I sure do. But I also don't believe the problem is entirely the police and how they behave in lower income neighborhoods. I does take two sides to dance the tango. But this terror of the police that so many low income have? This issue needs to be publicized more heavily around the world - more than it already has been - and then it needs to be addressed and not half assed but addressed for real. I know you are going to say your neighborhood is not like that and I'm glad for you - I really am. Please understand however that not all lower income neighborhoods have positive relations with the police. Rob

[iris lilies]

MMMMMmmmmm.......living in a lower income area as I do - I have just one question for you. Do you not see the police as part of the problem, also?

Part of what problem?

[ApatheticNoMore]

Dangerous people need to be locked up now. But throwing money at the problem is meant to be, would have to be, a multi-decade approach, alright I could phrase it "investing in the communities" but I'm not much concerned with the framing. It would be a multi decade approach of providing economic opportunities, other needed support etc., a real war on poverty and stick with it over the long haul, and yea deal with issues of police brutality, and other injustices in the criminal justice system as well.

Maybe some criminals could be helped with more opportunities now (I don't actually write off adults, some would respond if the opportunities were better) and maybe some hardened criminals can't be helped, but it would be a focus on long term outcomes as well.

Chances of it happening? A snowdens chance in the u.s., er I mean a snowballs chance in the hot place, a glaciers chance in climate change. Because that's not really how things are done, especially as there's less opportunities for everyone, not enough decent jobs for anyone, so who can bother with multi-generational poverty, when some of the kids of the middle class now work in low paid service jobs. What will probably happen before then is more of the middle class will join the poor, a little closer to the metaphorical if not literal ghetto themselves.

[gimmethesimplelife]

Part of what problem?

Ummm.....for starters, situations like Ferguson, Baltimore, the fact that in my neighborhood you'd be hard pressed to find anyone willing to cooperate with the police due to fear of the police and the brutality they sometimes stand for.....the fact that the police in general have a (expletive) reputation that precedes them in lower income neighborhoods, the fact that people have been illegally killed and police have gotten away with murder, the fact that police officers have in general for years (though I believe this is starting to change) been shielded from paying consequences for illegal actions/behaviors, the fact that police in general have definitely played their role in the US vs. THEM mentality they both face and feed - need I go on, this is all off the top of my head and there's much more I could add. Rob

I guess what I'm saying is lay some blame on their doorstep, too, they most certainly have earned the blame and then some.

[Lainey]

Broken windows > outrage than broken spine. Very sad.

And while we're talking about high crime, can someone post some big color photos of the Wall Street firm that just paid Billions in fines for their financial misdeeds? Not as sexy as a shot of someone stealing toilet paper, but criminals hurting our society nonetheless. I'll never understand the selective outrage.

[bae]

I could post lovely pictures of children dying from malnutrition, lack of access to safe drinking water, and disease in Africa too, if it'd make you feel any better at "selective outrage".

That wasn't the topic of this thread though.

Do we have to parade our outrage at all the world's injustices and wrongs before we can legitimately comment on any single one of them?

[Yossarian]

situations like Ferguson, Baltimore, the fact that in my neighborhood you'd be hard pressed to find anyone willing to cooperate with the police

C'mon Rob, you can do better, can't you? A thug resisting arrest, an unknown cause of death, and a ****ed up dysfunctional neighborhood proves what exactly?

I'll grant you the attention level has increased, but we are still waiting for the great example of the Big Problem. I'm sure there are problems, but there always will be. What exactly do you want to change (yeah, yeah other than pensions)? My guess is it isn't anything that people aren't trying to do already, however imperfectly.

[gimmethesimplelife]

Broken windows > outrage than broken spine. Very sad.

And while we're talking about high crime, can someone post some big color photos of the Wall Street firm that just paid Billions in fines for their financial misdeeds? Not as sexy as a shot of someone stealing toilet paper, but criminals hurting our society nonetheless. I'll never understand the selective outrage.

+1 I couldn't agree with you more, Lainey and I love the words "selective outrage". It sure has seemed to me since the age of 14 on that some people in this society get a free pass and can get away with (in some cases, quite literally) murder and then others do something small and stupid when they are young and pay for it the rest of their lives. Where is the outrage for the latter? Why is there no sense of proportion, no sense of the actual scope of fallout of misdeeds of those who get the free pass? I've lived most of my life in this country except for short stretches elsewhere and this is something I will never understand. I've always found this very troubling and very hypocritical of America, too. Rob

[gimmethesimplelife]

C'mon Rob, you can do better, can't you? A thug resisting arrest, an unknown cause of death, and a ****ed up dysfunctional neighborhood proves what exactly?

I'll grant you the attention level has increased, but we are still waiting for the great example of the Big Problem. I'm sure there are problems, but you there always will be. The big picture isn't so bad.

Please look at the recent events in North Charleston, SC, as an example. Would you not agree in that case there was a problem, that the police officer involved went too far? North Charleston is not an event in a vacuum. You can rah rah and cheer for America all you want - I think it's great that someone is still doing it, in a way - but this incident in South Carolina is not isolated and unusual. Rob

[Packy]

I was just reading a Wikipedia article concerning the series of Race Riots Of 1919, something I had never heard of before. According to the article, the riots were instigated by whites, as part of a backlash against black laborers who had emigrated into cities to fill manufacturing jobs created by the War effort(WWI). After the war, returning veterans and the general public expressed great resentment toward these black workers. This resulted in much violence, and numerous lynchings. I will report back, when I learn more about this very troubled time in American history. Also, more than a month ago, I posted on Facebook a youtube video entitled: Kala U-Bass Richard Coughlin plays Whats Going On. Something like that. Anyway, a bass ukulele overdub of Marvin Gaye's classic song, from 1971. I'm not much for lyrics, but they are as relevant as ever, in this one. Beats the hxck out of stoopid, trite overwrought stuff like "Lady Madonna". OTOH, maybe not. Check it out. It is unfortunate that Marvin Gaye's father shot him to death in a 1984 family dispute. Pretty crazy. Makes me wonder: what's goin' on?