SOTT Exclusive: Baltimore protests get painted as violent, psychopathic tendency to blame the victims employed
Tuesday night, in a perfect example of blaming the victim, an anonymous source leaked a police document to the Washington Post that claimed the 2nd prisoner in the van, who was separated from Gray by a metal wall and couldn't see him, heard Gray "banging against the walls" of the vehicle and believed that he "was intentionally trying to injure himself." This same 2nd prisoner is denying that he ever said any such thing (the statements come from a search warrant application, not an affidavit written by the prisoner). He said he heard 'little banging' noises which he presumed was from his lifeless body rolling around untethered.
Initial reports seem to differ as well, stating the complete opposite:
We can all see where this is going: the narrative will be something like he wanted to claim police brutality and as such, injured himself. Perhaps he was just plain crazy. Whatever lie is most convenient toward putting the middle class to sleep will be flung across the mainstream and privileged white people will continue to have no idea what's really going on. I suggest the curious reader go through that piece, it'll give you a sense of just how out-of-touch most upper-middle-class people really are.BPD Comm Anthony Batts says 2nd prisoner in van with Freddie Gray reports no erratic driving by van driver and Gray mostly quiet
— Jayne Miller (@jemillerwbal) April 24, 2015
All the king's horses....
Today it was announced that the officers involved had warrants issued for their arrest for charges including: murder, manslaughter, assault, misconduct and false imprisonment. Given recent history on how these things play out, it's not likely any of them will face actual jail-time, although there is some hope now that the demonstrations have garnered national attention, we'll just have to wait and see. The people of Baltimore rejoiced after the announcement was made, and those pictures are much more heart-warming.
Obama has said there's no excuse for the violence in Baltimore, referring to the protesters getting rowdy. Loretta Lynch, our newly appointed Attorney General and head of the Depart of Justice has said: "As our investigative process continues, I strongly urge every member of the Baltimore community to adhere to the principles of nonviolence. In the days ahead, I intend to work with leaders throughout Baltimore to ensure that we can protect the security and civil rights of all residents. And I will bring the full resources of the Department of Justice to bear in protecting those under threat, investigating wrongdoing, and securing an end to violence."Yet she fails to address the police departments and their armed goons in the same manner. No one has called on them to adhere to the 'principles of nonviolence', and given that their unnecessarily violent and criminal behavior has continued to be forgiven, ignored or otherwise tolerated there's no reason to believe the DOJ has any intention of protecting the civil rights of all residents or that any uncovered wrong-doing by police will be punished. Her words are hollow. As stated in the above link:
In a brief moment of honesty, the President also said, "If we think we're going to send police to do the dirty work of containing the problems that arise there — without as a nation and society saying what can we do to change those communities, to help lift up communities, and give those kids opportunity — then we're not going to solve this problem." He added, "We'll go through the same cycles of periodic conflicts between the police and communities, and occasional riots in the streets. And everybody will feign concern until it goes away. Then we'll go about our business as usual."When nonviolence is preached as an attempt to evade the repercussions of political brutality, it betrays itself. When nonviolence begins halfway through the war with the aggressor calling time out, it exposes itself as a ruse. When nonviolence is preached by the representatives of the state, while the state doles out heaps of violence to its citizens, it reveals itself to be a con.
While I agree with the President, given his record, we can only assume that his high-sounding analysis is just talk. There's no real intention of implementing actual change. Certainly they're facilitating the distribution of body cameras to departments that want them, but we've seen plenty of examples of body cameras 'malfunctioning' or flat out being turned off before an officer turns a suspect into a victim. There was also a moment where the President seemed to be especially candid, referencing training officers on the cameras as well as 'data collection', an interesting phrase given what we know about the NSA and its surveillance programs.
What started the riots in Baltimore?
I also want to take a moment and analyze how these riots began. Earlier on the weekend, when violence broke out the first time around, we see that there were several incidents of drunk Orioles fans agitating the crowd.
Classy behavior, right? Yet several websites were quick to blame the protesters.When the protesters turned the corner onto Washington Boulevard from Camden Street chanting "black lives matter," some baseball fans applauded and a few angrily chanted back, "We don't care"—someone who worked at The Bullpen confirmed this for me. He also said that some patrons chanted "run them over," and one yelled "go get them." Other protesters, including City Paper contributor D. Watkins and gang members interviewed on WBAL, recall bar patrons calling them "niggers," among other racist epithets.
This article gets into the situation that happened on Monday. Apparently, the Baltimore Police Department got word via social media that several gangs in the area were going to engage in looting and violent behavior targeting police. As a result they did something very stupid: they prevented high school students from going home after school let out.
Let's think about this, you have a large group of young people who you know are already agitated and you corral them, and effectively deny them the right to peacefully return to their homes. Why would you do that? There's no rational reason. Being naturally skeptical, and well-aware of how the psychopathic puppet masters think, my guess is that they wanted to induce a riot. This doesn't mean the police themselves wanted that - they're in the direct line of fire so to speak - but the folks that order them around are on a whole other level.When school let out that afternoon, police were in the area equipped with full riot gear. According to eyewitnesses in the Mondawmin neighborhood, the police were stopping busses and forcing riders, including many students who were trying to get home, to disembark. Cops shut down the local subway stop. They also blockaded roads near the Mondawmin Mall and Frederick Douglass High School, which is across the street from the mall, and essentially corralled young people in the area. That is, they did not allow the after-school crowd to disperse.
© Antonio Butcher
BPD corralling small groups of students after they unloaded the buses that were supposed to take them home
The media likes to play up violence and anarchy, it gets ratings, but they will consistently miss the more humanitarian side of stories that don't fit their profit-driven agenda. Here's a selection of images and tweets that you won't hear about from mainstream propagandists. I'll summarize them for brevity: we have a rather large gentleman of color keeping his fellow protesters away from the line of police repeating the phrase, "Don't give them a reason." Another blocks the entrance to a convenience store with a baseball bat to protect it from looters. Several pictures of volunteers cleaning up the city, and thousands of peaceful protesters expressing themselves without resorting to violence. Thing's aren't always what they seem, especially if your information is coming from the establishment.
Catching Fire...
© Jenna Pope
NYPD threw people to the ground and tackled them before arresting them, because why not?
Non-violence as a protest strategy is great, but to demand it as some sort of pre-condition to giving protesters' grievances legitimacy demonstrates complete ignorance of the violence inflicted on disenfranchised communities. People don't take to the streets and erupt in a riot because it's a Monday and they're bored. It's a reaction, and the media will do everything they can to dehumanize them so you and the rest of the nation will accept brutal, violent oppression. Don't let that happen, because if the establishment can dehumanize anyone with legitimate grievances it's only a matter of time until they do it to the rest of us...Non-violence is a type of political performance designed to raise awareness and win over sympathy of those with privilege. When those on the outside of struggle—the white, the wealthy, the straight, the able-bodied, the masculine—have demonstrated repeatedly that they do not care, are not invested, are not going to step in the line of fire to defend the oppressed, this is a futile political strategy. It not only fails to meet the needs of the community, but actually puts oppressed people in further danger of violence.
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