Here are some of MLK's words. Perhaps if they come from him, people will actually consider them, as I think we can safely agree that he was a knowledgeable voice on the topic of racism.
Originally Posted By: MLK's I Have a Dream Speech
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an shameful condition.
In a sense we've come to our nation's Capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.
This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check; a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.
Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?"
We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.
We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.
We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.
We can never be satisfied as long as our chlidren are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "for whites only."
We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.
No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, that one day right down in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I will go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.
With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning, "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrims' pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California. But not only that; let freedom ring from the Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
I'm not trying to say ignore the other words, but it seems to me that at times people lose sight of the bolded words.
Many responses on the topic appear to treat all protest the same (Pit comes to my mind). But the protests are not. Yes, protest leads to change. While all people were created equally, not all protests are.
This current movement could use its own version of an MLK-like figure, I believe.
At the moment, it seems, to me, to have too many people trying to take it in too many different directions. Some of them violent.
It seems to me that it would benefit from a figurehead (not just a figurehead, but someone filling that role) that can drive the conversation in a meaningful direction with his or her words. It might also help if there were a respected figurehead to denounce any physical violence. Someone trying to bring people together. MLK talked about all lives, all men. He didn't insist on excluding people.
It seems that instead of a leader, everybody's looking at gestures. Gestures are fine, they just seem to work better when supporting the message rather than being used to send the message.
"Black lives matter" is more slogan than message. There's nothing wrong with it. It's true. Black Lives Matter. But what can you do with just those three words? They would appear to have more power if attached to goals via more direct messaging (speeches tied to the label, not tech DMs.)
I guess the movement seems to be lacking personal charisma and drive. Not that people aren't motivated, but there's no one to keep them all moving in the same direction...if that makes sense?
People point at the violence and claim that's not the movement, but there's not a clear picture/figurehead of who the movement is. Some (alleged) members of the movement denounce it, and some don't.
"We" call it a movement... that implies direction. Now it frequently seems more of a boiling cauldron in need of direction.
The boiling is fine, warranted, and perhaps even necessary, but it does not appear that there is a clear plan for using that force.
You mess with the "Bull," you get the horns. Fiercely Independent.
The bolded part is the setup for the paragraph after. It's because the bolded part is true and something we all believe is why the part after is highlighted.
"I'll take your word at face value. I have never met you but I assume you have a face..lol"
Los Angeles Times Opinion: Want to tear down insidious monuments to racism and segregation? Bulldoze L.A. freeways By Matthew Fleischer Senior Digital Editor June 24, 2020 11:54 AM
Across the country, Confederate monuments are tumbling. Museums are stripping effigies of racist presidents past. Here in Los Angeles, indigenous activists toppled a statue of Junipero Serra, a canonized saint who founded the mission system that enslaved and brutalized generations of California Indians into abandoning their traditions.
The aftermath of George Floyd’s death while in police custody has created a moment for radical truth-telling. So here’s some ugly truth about the city of Los Angeles: Our freeway system is one of the most noxious monuments to racism and segregation in the country.
Most Angelenos don’t think about it as we spew carbon monoxide across the city on our way from Point A to Point B, but our toxic exhaust fumes feed into a pot of racism that’s been stewing for nearly a century. To understand exactly how that works, you have to know what things were like here before freeways came to dominate L.A.’s landscape.
Los Angeles was never a paradise of racial acceptance, but in 1910 some 36% of L.A.’s African Americans were homeowners (compared with 2.4% in New York City) — tops in the nation. L.A.’s comprehensive Red Car transit system, which offered easy, unsegregated access to the region’s growing economic opportunities, was fundamental to this success. Integrated, racially diverse neighborhoods like Watts and Boyle Heights emerged and thrived along these transit corridors.
But as L.A.’s population surged from 320,000 in 1910 to more than 1.2 million in 1930 — including tens of thousands of African Americans from the Deep South — white Los Angeles decided it was time to ramp up its own brand of Jim Crow segregation.
These efforts took many forms — most famously racially restrictive covenants, which barred African Americans and other ethnic minorities by deed from living in houses and neighborhoods deemed “white.” Where covenants failed to keep the races separate and unequal, rising Ku Klux Klan violence targeted African American families who attempted to integrate. Bombings, cross burnings and even drive-by shootings were largely successful in keeping people of color out of “white” communities like Eagle Rock in northeast Los Angeles. Then there was Manhattan Beach, which seized the homes of every African American property owner in town by eminent domain and razed them. The city then turned the land into a whites-only park.
But neither the Klan nor legally dubious covenants nor flagrantly unconstitutional land grabs were arguably as effective as the automobile and its attendant infrastructure at turning Los Angeles into an intentionally segregated city.
When the 1944 Federal-Aid Highway Act allocated funds for 1,938 miles of freeways in California, planners used the opportunity, with full federal support, to obliterate as much as possible the casual mingling of the races.
Local officials rerouted the elaborate designs of freeway engineers — often at considerable expense — to destroy thousands of homes in racially diverse communities. As detailed by Gilbert Estrada in “If You Build It, They Will Move,” mixed-race Boyle Heights was gutted by freeways. Despite a mandate to avoid parks at all costs, planners put lanes through the middle of Hollenbeck Park while spending millions to reroute around a park in the white suburb of San Dimas. Dozens of Boyle Heights homes were destroyed just to give white suburban shoppers easier freeway access to a Sears department store.
Officials justified these actions as “slum clearance”— intended to upgrade the city’s supposedly crumbling housing stock. But their racially malign intent was obvious, laid bare when officials moved the Santa Monica Freeway so that it ran directly through the stately African American middle class neighborhood of Sugar Hill — anything but a slum — wiping it off the map.
When L.A. communities of color rose up in protest at the destruction of these neighborhoods, they were ignored. White areas like Beverly Hills and South Pasadena, meanwhile, successfully fought off freeways planned through their neighborhoods. As noted by Estrada, only 61% of L.A.’s planned freeway network was built as a consequence. This created immediate traffic bottlenecks in the system, which have lingered to this day.
Much of this freeway construction was in service of a suburban housing boom that was explicitly segregationist.
As freeways enabled L.A.’s car-dependent suburbs to expand outward, they did so under the guidance of federal and local policies explicitly designed to keep those neighborhoods white-only. As historian Richard Rothstein detailed in his book “Color of Law,” developers who secured generous federal financial assistance were barred from building racially integrated housing by the Jim Crow federal lending policies of the day. Of the 125,000 Federal Housing Authority units built in Los Angeles County between 1950 and 1954, less than 3% of those were open to people of color.
Freeways created physical barriers that made any non-white presence on the “white” side of the road conspicuous — and thus easier to target by law enforcement. One 1943 freeway marketing pamphlet, designed to win over reluctant white communities, boasted of the freeway’s fortress-like impermeability and ability to preserve “neighborhood character.”
As Rothstein told NPR in 2017: “The ‘Underwriting Manual’ of the Federal Housing Administration recommended that highways be a good way to separate African American from white neighborhoods. This ... was a matter of government regulation.”
Blocked from moving to L.A.’s pristine new suburbs, non-white freeway evictees and newly arrived Black migrants from the Jim Crow South were forced to find housing in the already overcrowded, segregated areas of South and East Los Angeles, away from established and emerging job centers — and in the middle of freeway pollution corridors.
Those segregated housing patterns have largely persisted to this day.
By the mid-1950s, freeway traffic was already generating unhealthy smog that began to choke the city. Facing public outrage, L.A. transit planners drew up designs for a high-speed monorail system to ease congestion along the city’s busiest corridors, including areas that would have served African American communities in South Los Angeles.
Even greater public outrage ensued. The plan never got off the ground.
Decades later, the effects of these decisions are not felt equally. Poor communities of color continue to suffer most from the legacy of segregation and racially motivated freeway construction through their neighborhoods. The health outcomes in these areas are bleak. Pollution kills. Children directly exposed to freeway pollution have higher rates of asthma and unnatural cognitive decline. Segregation endures.
Los Angeles is not unique in this regard. Cities across the country made similar choices. And yet nowhere have the consequences been felt more profoundly.
Decades of activism still haven’t overwhelmingly convinced white Americans that monuments to the Confederacy are intolerably racist. Remedying the enduring effects of white supremacy will be far more challenging — in progressive Los Angeles as much as in Alabama or Mississippi. And it will be impossible if we aren’t honest about the history that made things the way they are —and the massive undertaking it will require to remedy them.
Something to think about the next time you’re complaining about traffic on the 10.
How that crux is expressed shouldn't disregard the bolded part.
Another documented instance of the majority telling minorities how they should protest.
I didn't think MLK was part of the majority.
I know, I know, I should be ashamed with myself for pointing to MLK's words. How audacious of me.
Looking to the most celebrated civil rights leader in US History for insight is so insensitive of me.
I show you MLK's words, and you tell me they're wrong. You act like I made them up.
Just noting, MLK was gunned down and murdered by white supremacists. So conservatives or trump supporters telling minorities to find a leader like MLK is condescending at best. Telling minorities what kind of leader they need.
Another example that this is never the way and this is not the time. Bla bla Samo crap.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Thomas Jefferson.
How that crux is expressed shouldn't disregard the bolded part.
Another documented instance of the majority telling minorities how they should protest.
I didn't think MLK was part of the majority.
I know, I know, I should be ashamed with myself for pointing to MLK's words. How audacious of me.
Looking to the most celebrated civil rights leader in US History for insight is so insensitive of me.
I show you MLK's words, and you tell me they're wrong. You act like I made them up.
Just noting, MLK was gunned down and murdered by white supremacists. So conservatives or trump supporters telling minorities to find a leader like MLK is condescending at best. Telling minorities what kind of leader they need.
Another example that this is never the way and this is not the time. Bla bla Samo crap.
MLK was gunned down because he was effective and his movement was gaining traction. His methods were working.
You seem to be so caught up in your own narrative that I could say, "water is wet" and you'd find something to disagree with.
I'm not telling minorities what kind of leader they need. I'm giving my opinion on what kind of leader WE need.
We need someone that unites people. We need less divisive rhetoric cloaked as "woke-ness".
You mess with the "Bull," you get the horns. Fiercely Independent.
How that crux is expressed shouldn't disregard the bolded part.
Another documented instance of the majority telling minorities how they should protest.
I didn't think MLK was part of the majority.
I know, I know, I should be ashamed with myself for pointing to MLK's words. How audacious of me.
Looking to the most celebrated civil rights leader in US History for insight is so insensitive of me.
I show you MLK's words, and you tell me they're wrong. You act like I made them up.
Just noting, MLK was gunned down and murdered by white supremacists. So conservatives or trump supporters telling minorities to find a leader like MLK is condescending at best. Telling minorities what kind of leader they need.
Another example that this is never the way and this is not the time. Bla bla Samo crap.
MLK was gunned down because he was effective and his movement was gaining traction. His methods were working.
You seem to be so caught up in your own narrative that I could say, "water is wet" and you'd find something to disagree with.
I'm not telling minorities what kind of leader they need. I'm giving my opinion on what kind of leader WE need.
We need someone that unites people. We need less divisive rhetoric cloaked as "woke-ness".
I have no narrative other than a vote for trump is a vote for racism. But keep telling us how and when we should protest and where we should do it and what type of leader we need. Yes it’s as plain as the nose on your face, we need more minority leadership. But that’s not happening in trumps little world. So sugarcoat this however you want. It’s the samo crap I’ve heard over and over again. Pffft
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Thomas Jefferson.
Re-read the paragraph after your first bolded portion. THAT is the crux of BLM.
That speech is amazing/ btw.
Which only goes to expose that the BLM movement is a fraud.
For over a decade minorities and their political representatives who keep claiming victimization of a systemically racist institution have been in charge of that system. They have been in the necessary political positions and have had the necessary political power to make any changes that they've wanted to do.
"Hey, I'm a reasonable guy. But I've just experienced some very unreasonable things." -Jack Burton
-It looks like the Harvard Boys know what they are doing after all.
You possess a penchant to tell minorities how to act while using words of a minority to tell people how to act.
Here's a hint: you do not have the right to tell a minority group how to carry out non-violent protest.
Maybe one day white people will learn to not invoke Dr. King against black Americans?
It's not a minority group. Its allegedly a movement that isn't race specific.
I'm not telling them how to act.
I do have the right to voice my opinion.
You seem to keep trying to make things about color. I don't complain about minorities quoting white people. I'm quoting a man's words. He's a recognized authority on civil rights, the discussion is on civil rights, seems to fit-except to racists that like to call people that don't worry about what race someone is racist. You seem awfully concerned with what color I am for someone protesting against racism.
You mess with the "Bull," you get the horns. Fiercely Independent.
How that crux is expressed shouldn't disregard the bolded part.
Another documented instance of the majority telling minorities how they should protest.
I didn't think MLK was part of the majority.
I know, I know, I should be ashamed with myself for pointing to MLK's words. How audacious of me.
Looking to the most celebrated civil rights leader in US History for insight is so insensitive of me.
I show you MLK's words, and you tell me they're wrong. You act like I made them up.
Just noting, MLK was gunned down and murdered by white supremacists. So conservatives or trump supporters telling minorities to find a leader like MLK is condescending at best. Telling minorities what kind of leader they need.
Another example that this is never the way and this is not the time. Bla bla Samo crap.
MLK was gunned down because he was effective and his movement was gaining traction. His methods were working.
You seem to be so caught up in your own narrative that I could say, "water is wet" and you'd find something to disagree with.
I'm not telling minorities what kind of leader they need. I'm giving my opinion on what kind of leader WE need.
We need someone that unites people. We need less divisive rhetoric cloaked as "woke-ness".
I have no narrative other than a vote for trump is a vote for racism. But keep telling us how and when we should protest and where we should do it and what type of leader we need. Yes it’s as plain as the nose on your face, we need more minority leadership. But that’s not happening in trumps little world. So sugarcoat this however you want. It’s the samo crap I’ve heard over and over again. Pffft
C'mon dude.. there is no way I can believe you seriously don't understand the point Bull is and has been making over the course of several posts and threads.
I guess I have no other narrative than to say that any vote for a Democrat is a vote for continued systemic racism and oppression.
"Hey, I'm a reasonable guy. But I've just experienced some very unreasonable things." -Jack Burton
-It looks like the Harvard Boys know what they are doing after all.
You possess a penchant to tell minorities how to act while using words of a minority to tell people how to act.
Here's a hint: you do not have the right to tell a minority group how to carry out non-violent protest.
Maybe one day white people will learn to not invoke Dr. King against black Americans?
It's not a minority group. Its allegedly a movement that isn't race specific.
I'm not telling them how to act.
I do have the right to voice my opinion.
You seem to keep trying to make things about color. I don't complain about minorities quoting white people. I'm quoting a man's words. He's a recognized authority on civil rights, the discussion is on civil rights, seems to fit-except to racists that like to call people that don't worry about what race someone is racist. You seem awfully concerned with what color I am for someone protesting against racism.
If MLK was alive he'd be banned from Twitter and BLM would already have doxxed him.
"Hey, I'm a reasonable guy. But I've just experienced some very unreasonable things." -Jack Burton
-It looks like the Harvard Boys know what they are doing after all.
Depending on how you're approaching this, I think I agree with you.
I don't believe Democrats have the best interests of minorities on their agenda. I think they aim to provide however much lip-service is required to boost their election chances, and that's it.
But I don't see what that has to do with BLM, as it's a grassroots movement.
"I'll take your word at face value. I have never met you but I assume you have a face..lol"
I have no narrative other than a vote for trump is a vote for racism. But keep telling us how and when we should protest and where we should do it and what type of leader we need.
So Vice Versa is ok evidently. As you say Trump is not the type of leader we need, in the same breath as objecting to being told what type of leader we need.
Depending on how you're approaching this, I think I agree with you.
I don't believe Democrats have the best interests of minorities on their agenda. I think they aim to provide however much lip-service is required to boost their election chances, and that's it.
But I don't see what that has to do with BLM, as it's a grassroots movement.
I think a lot has been done to make BLM look grassroots and naturally spontaneous, but my opinion on their origin doesn't change the point I'm about to make.
When I say that those demanding change of the racist oppressive system have been in the necessary positions to effect change for just a little over a decade, I'm not dropping that as a "gotcha" or "whataboutism". I'm not even putting it out there as a distractor for the failings of the Right.
I bring it up because I'm wondering why they are never the target of these conversations and demonstrations. How often have we seen well meaning Dawgs lament about how "voices aren't being heard" or "things need to change" or how white people just aren't "Getting the message"?
Well, what is the message? Police brutality has been going on too long? Ok. We need systemic change? Ok.
For argument's sake I'll say that BLM has a legitimate mission.
Why are they not organizing against Democrats in these cities where tragedies happen that are so often held up as examples of the problem and demanding accountability? If they care about justice for George Floyd, why are there no protests against the black Dem DA who upped the charges and added the element of "intent" to the list of things he has to prove in court. Unless he has something damning like a diary entry where Chauvin wrote that if he ever sees that SOB Floyd again he'll kill'em... based on what we do know he's not likely going to be able to prove that, and most certainly not going to be able to get successful convictions on the others for Aid and Abet. Essentially what Ellison did was increase the chances that Chauvin gets acquitted. At the very least if he gets found guilty on a lesser charge like the one he was originally charged with, the narrative will be how "the system is broken" "the system is inequitable" "the system allowed white jurors to exercise their racism", etc etc.
Then there will be protests and riots.
And not 1 word about the DA that they elected failing to do his job.
The only real barrier to police and criminal justice reform is that reason and logic are not the rule of the day. Instead of rationally thought through proposals, we've gotten a slew of these crazy off the wall or nothing more than virtue signal policies that when thought through for even a second shows that more harm than good is likely to occur.
Reform doesn't need a whole stadium of whiteys to kneel with Kaep or agree with him in order to occur.
While I generally agree that Confederate statues have served their time, reform doesn't need every Confederate statue or rebel flag to come down before it can occur.
Reform doesn't need a bunch of knuckleheads on a fan message board to come to a consensus for change to occur.
They already occupy the positions they need. So why is anyone worried about what I think?
"Hey, I'm a reasonable guy. But I've just experienced some very unreasonable things." -Jack Burton
-It looks like the Harvard Boys know what they are doing after all.
god i hope somebody defunds the dog crap out of your department.
i already know now if i get pulled over by you, im getting searched for drugs.
what state are you in, again? i gotta make sure i never travel there by myself.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
This will probably annoy some, but I am going to share it anyway. I am choosing to share it because I think it is more indicative of how most people are rather than the picture we get from opposing sides on this board and in the media. I'm posting this mostly for those who don't get involved in these heated debates and are horrified by what they are reading.
I went to the dentist today to get my teeth cleaned. I go twice a year. My appointment was supposed to be at the beginning of May, but it was moved due to the virus. Anyway, they take my temp and have me fill out a form that is about Covid19 and almost immediately, this young black girl comes out and calls my name. She takes me back and tells me she is my dental hygienist. I did not ask where my regular girl was because I thought it might be rude. We talked and talked and talked. It was kinda hard because she had to keep taking stuff out of my mouth so I could respond to her. But, damn man..........she was a great girl. We agreed on almost everything. The issues that black people have. The issues that women have. She brought up how upset she is w/the rioters and looters because it takes away the focus on what is important. It was like talking to a real soul mate. She actually is going to get a concealed weapon permit because she is scared of the climate. I was thinking about that and man....I realized I have been thinking about ways to protect myself if some blacks want revenge. I understood she is in a lot more danger from alienated white males. I want to make this very clear. She was not militant or aggressive at all. She was pretty, slim, and as friendly as anyone could be. But, she feels a need to protect herself and her two children.
The dentist came in while we were having this intense conversation and she asked: "Am I early?" LOL. I said that we were just talking a lot and the dentist replied "I can see that." Anyway, the dentist is a young, absolutely beautiful Asian woman and the three of us talked and talked after my cleaning was done while we waited for some information from the lab about another procedure I'm thinking about having done.
I don't know............it was very cool and it made me feel so much better. Two women. One man. One black, one Asian, one white. And we were all good. Discussing things w/intelligence and actually listening to one another instead of assigning blame and taking sides.
Reading some of the things on this board depresses me. So much hate. So much blame gaming. Today's visit to the dentist reminded me of when I was working for my minority students and parents and just how well almost all of us got along.
Thus, in summation, I want to tell some of our readers that there are a lot more intelligent, rational, and fair people out there than what is portrayed in the discussions we have on this board and the crap we read about in the media. Have faith in those that are good. We are still the majority and that majority is represented from all races and genders.
A 46-year-old black man in Georgia who claims police officers used excessive force while wrongfully arresting him has sued the Valdosta Police Department.
Antonio Arnelo Smith is suing the department for $700,000 after a city police officer grappled him from behind and slammed him to the ground. Officers said they were "investigating suspicious activity" and mistook Mr Smith as a suspect.
The lawsuit also demands a jury trial.
According to the Valdosta Daily Times, the lawsuit names Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson, members of the city council, the city's Police Chief Leslie Manahan and three officers involved in the arrest as defendants.
Officers were responding to a report of panhandling outside a pharmacy. According to the lawsuit, officers responding to the call made contact with a man near the pharmacy and ran his information. They found the man had an outstanding warrant and arrested him.
Once that man was in custody, the officer told a colleague - who had just arrived - to search near the pharmacy for another man who had allegedly been asking customers for money. The officer wanted to find the man to see if the pharmacy wanted to bring trespassing charges against him.
Despite not having a description of the man, the officer went searching for a suspect, and found Mr Smith walking nearby.
Bodycam footage, acquired by the Valdosta Daily Times, provided insight into the incident.
On the video, an officer approaches Mr Smith claiming he was investigating "suspicious activity" related to the pharmacy. Mr Smith defends himself, explaining that while he had been in the pharmacy, he was waiting for his sister to wire him money. Mr Smith insists that he is innocent, that the staff at the pharmacy know who he is and that nearby security cameras would prove he hadn't done anything illegal.
The officer asks for identification and Mr Smith hands over his ID. As the exchange is taking place, another officer approaches Mr Smith from behind and grabs his arm. As Mr Smith reacts, the officer puts him in a bear hug. Mr Smith cries out that he hasn't done anything and the officer holding him tells him to put his arms behind his back. After the third time asking Mr Smith to do so, the officer body slams Mr Smith face-first into the ground. Mr Smith's arm breaks as a result, and the police handcuff him.
Once the police realise Mr Smith has been injured - he cries from pain in the video - the officers take the handcuffs off. The officers then realise that the suspect they were searching for had already been arrested, and that they'd attacked Mr Smith in error.
The officers eventually help Mr Smith with his injuries. He refuses medical attention and is allowed to leave the scene.
Following the encounter, Mr Smith went to hospital, was fitted with a sling and told he'd have to seek physical therapy to recover from his injury.
According to the statement given by the responding officers, Mr Smith was "standing with a 'bladed' stance" while "arguing or debating with" them.
"Based on what I observed and believing this person to have a warrant for his arrest, I grasped his right wrist. I felt Smith tense up and begin to pull away from me. At that time, I wrapped my arms around Smith in a 'bear hug'," the sergeant who slammed Mr Smith wrote in his report.
The sergeant wrote in his report that Mr Smith didn't comply with his orders to put his arms behind his back, so the officer pulled him "off-balance and rolled him to the ground to gain control of him in anticipation of a warrant arrest."
Regarding the injury, the sergeant notes he was "unsure how Smith's injury occurred, whether he had placed his arm out to the side or between us."
Attorney Nathaniel Haugabrook, Mr Smith's lawyer, said he believes it is a civil rights case. He said the officers violated Mr Smith's civil rights to "be free from an unlawful arrest, unlawful detention and all of the other rights that goes along with us being citizens."
The lawsuit claims there was no reason for police to believe Mr Smith had committed a crime or that he had any intention of committing a crime, and that the sergeant's use of a bear hug was "unnecessary and illegal" and indicative of "malice and reckless indifference."
The city of Valdosta issued a statement regarding the matter on Monday.
"The City of Valdosta and the Valdosta Police Department takes any report of any injury to a citizen seriously," the statement said. "Although there was no complaint filed with VPD, once the shift supervisor was notified, it prompted the review process of the incident by the officer's supervisor, patrol bureau commander, Internal Affairs Division and chief of police."
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Start taking the lawsuit money out of Devils pension fund.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
god i hope somebody defunds the dog crap out of your department.
i already know now if i get pulled over by you, im getting searched for drugs.
what state are you in, again? i gotta make sure i never travel there by myself.
Was that comment meant for me? If so was it meant to go in another thread because it literally doesn't have a single thing to do with what I've posted in this thread.
"Hey, I'm a reasonable guy. But I've just experienced some very unreasonable things." -Jack Burton
-It looks like the Harvard Boys know what they are doing after all.
Your whole “blm is a fraud” rhetoric is straight up trash.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
Depending on how you're approaching this, I think I agree with you.
I don't believe Democrats have the best interests of minorities on their agenda. I think they aim to provide however much lip-service is required to boost their election chances, and that's it.
But I don't see what that has to do with BLM, as it's a grassroots movement.
All while trump supporters except police brutality and diminish black lives. Pffft trump and his supporters can go to hell.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Thomas Jefferson.
I have no narrative other than a vote for trump is a vote for racism. But keep telling us how and when we should protest and where we should do it and what type of leader we need.
So Vice Versa is ok evidently. As you say Trump is not the type of leader we need, in the same breath as objecting to being told what type of leader we need.
Stop projecting your flaws onto me. A vote for trump is a vote for racism. That’s the narrative. Deal
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Thomas Jefferson.
Your whole “blm is a fraud” rhetoric is straight up trash.
I respect you and your wife more than you’ll ever know. You being one of the creators of a beautiful family like you have is amazing. You don’t need to be taught how to act. You’re living it. You know. Obviously you and your spouse put the race issue behind you guys when you met. You’ve got a lot to teach us. Too bad some will never get it. But most of us will eventually.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Thomas Jefferson.
![[Linked Image from i.ibb.co]](https://i.ibb.co/fkjZc8B/Bull-Dawg-Sig-smaller.jpg)
Which only goes to expose your true colors.
