Pic Of The Moment: Baltimore Riots: The Bottom Line

[EarlG]

Orioles COO John Angelos offers eye-opening perspective on Baltimore protests

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[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. What an incredibly powerful statement.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

34. Yes, it's extremely well said.

I wish I could remember it verbatim the next time some asshole whines about the "hooligans destroying property."

[yuiyoshida]

46. That was a mouth full

but what he said, wow!

[Fantastic Anarchist]

48. Yes, definitely "wow!"

[Dustlawyer]

66. Beyond wow! His is a very astute and succinct observation of the decline taking place in our

country, not to mention the world. These corporations, acting in concert, have carved up the world, including the governments. Anyone who thinks that this is hyperbole or blown out of proportion needs to check again. Until enough people see the truth and decide to do something about it we will continue our downward spiral.
The corporate media seem to delight in exacerbating the racial and other societal differences to create different factions that can be pitted against each other. This makes us much easier to control and distract.

[dixiegrrrrl]

68. He also added:

We need to keep in mind people are suffering and dying around the U.S., and while we are thankful no one was injured at Camden Yards,
there is a far bigger picture for poor Americans in Baltimore and everywhere who don’t have jobs and are losing economic civil and legal rights,
and this makes inconvenience at a ball game irrelevant in light of the needless suffering government is inflicting upon ordinary Americans.”

[hopemountain]

76. absolutely on the mark

thank you for posting more of his succinct statement.

[SpankMe]

2. Rec and kick to the max. n/t

[catnhatnh]

3. Brilliant! N/T

[Chipper Chat]

4. Holy cow!

A light just appeared in the wilderness. I am astonished and encouraged.

[Solly Mack]

5. K&R

[leftieNanner]

6. PERFECT!

Sounds like something Bernie would say.

[hibbing]

7. How long before he is forced to resign? n/t

[rwsanders]

32. Hopefully soon...

I think there is still plenty of time for him to file and run for congress in 2016.

[TacoD]

39. He is the owner's son (nt)

[Hiraeth]

8. Yes, very well stated. A hopeless peoples will take desperate measures. We are a nation of hopeless

people. I will not be surprised to see more of these types of actions taken.

[dotymed]

88. Sadly the corporate owned MSM

will keep portraying these situations as "racial tension" perpetrated by a "bunch of thugs."

It is sickening to watch the elites blame the rioters instead of the actual problem....them. Thanks EarlG.

[libodem]

9. Hell to the yeah!

[1StrongBlackMan]

10. I hope I am reading this incorrectly; but, ...

I take this to mean, "Yeah, but the REAL problem is, not the killing of Black men and boys, or the consistent failure to address the mentality among the law enforcement community and courts, that allows for these killings ... the REAL problem is ..."

If I have mis-read that, please set me straight.

[heaven05]

19. well the statement

while true, is an attempt to follow a middle road. Black people and the rage and frustration(s) felt by centuries of injustice perpetrated by the privileged white class using the tools at their disposal, the KKK, white supremacists of all stripes, police and 'authorities' is NEVER addressed by whites in general because they never have to experience hate based on the color of ones skin. I don't think you mis-read it, you are just pointing out the whole truth that is never being addressed. Just my humble opinion.

[mother earth]

23. Chris Hedges sums it up better than anyone, IMHO.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026582414

[1StrongBlackMan]

36. I see very little nexus between what Hedges is saying and what the OP has said ...

Yes. We are seeing a shift in attitude, largely, among the younger folks; but, that focus remains (again, largely) on the treatment of Black men and boys, and conditions that allow for that treatment ... which is completely (well, not completely) different from John Angelos' concern.

End the shipping of jobs away from Baltimore (and everywhere else in American); end the "diminishing every American’s civil rights protections in order to control an unfairly impoverished population living under an ever-declining standard of living and suffering at the butt end of an ever-more militarized and aggressive surveillance state", and Black men and boys will continue to be killed.

The American political elite's promotion of/failure to address Income inequality is NOT what is killing Black men and boys.

[mother earth]

37. Then tell me what is?

[1StrongBlackMan]

38. I would suggest, at it's root ...

racism.

[mother earth]

40. And that's your one objection to the OP? Of course it is at the base, and when people are pushed

and driven to desperation it all comes to a boil. Everything in the OP is a factor & everything in Chris Hedges summation of these desperate times is on point, IMHO.

[1StrongBlackMan]

55. Hedges' piece is saying something entirely different from the OP, which is

Just another, "Yeah, you got it bad; but, the REAL problem is ..." post ... without the "Yeah, you got it bad" part.

That is my objection to the OP.

[mother earth]

63. I understand what you are saying, but this was an on the spot summary of what he felt was at play,

I don't think one can fully understand the black experience, just like men cannot fully understand what women are up against. The road we live we know best. That he could put into words what everyone in a generalized way is going through, was pretty good.

I think the police problem is far worst even than racism. It's like the Stanford experiment. You give someone authority & it is a matter of time before they see themselves as superior & those they have authority over as "less than", and the results are devastatingly inhumane. The police brutality thing is beyond race, IMO, they seek those vulnerable, it's predatory.

I honestly think what is happening is a deterioration of society, those at risk most are feeling it first.

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

53. My immediate reaction to it was the same as yours, I like it has half full

or a beginning of sorts but he almost entirely leaves out the racial issue.

[1StrongBlackMan]

54. Because the racial issue is of no importance to him. ...

Just another, "Yeah, you got it bad; but, the REAL problem is ..." post ... without the "Yeah, you got it bad" part.

[BeyondGeography]

91. "An unfairly impoverished population"

That's where it became a great statement to me. I don't see how you can read that and come away with, "the racial issue is of no importance to him." Even if that doesn't work for you, he uses the word, "sympathy," right up top in connection with black rioters.

[ALBliberal]

80. When he talks about losing civil liberties I think he is talking more about

the African American community. Similarly I think when he talks about an impoverished community he's talking more about neighborhoods such as the one in this instance in Baltimore which is predominantly AA. So I disagree that he has left race out. When I first read it I thought it was mostly about racial conflict. But the brilliant thing I am now understanding is that he is talking about the plight of ANY American that finds themselves living in these poor impoverished areas whether it's the backwoods of Arkansas or Ferguson MO or the Navajo nation. I think his overriding message is we're all in this together and forty years of bad economic policy has led us here. And this has led to us losing power and control over our circumstances. A cycle.

I love it. Truly a breath of fresh air.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

44. I agree!

It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others... One ever feels his twoness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warrings ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.

W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963)
The Souls of Black Folk (1903)

Read more: Famous African American Quotations (Ali, Andrew Young, Angelou, Du Bois, King Jr.) http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmquotes1.html#ixzz3Yd1uJUh2

[1StrongBlackMan]

50. That is, probably, my favorite literary line of all time! ...

thank you for reminding me.

And thank, BabyGirl SBM, for giving me a leather-bound, 1961 (the year of my birth) edition of that seminal work, for my 50th birthday!

[shaayecanaan]

83. Part of it is income equality

When apartheid ended in South Africa, the old white political elite and police force was replaced with a largely black police force, but the class structures were left more or less intact.

The end result was that South Africans are now shot and killed by black police instead of white:-

Reports of police brutality in South Africa have soared by 313% in a decade, experts warn, yet only one in 100 cases against officers results in a conviction.

A series of high-profile cases, including the shooting of striking mineworkers at Marikana and the killing of a Mozambican taxi driver dragged behind a van‚ have left the reputation of the service in tatters. Cases of police brutality leapt from 416 during 2001-2002 to 1,722 cases by 2011-2012, the Institute for Security Studies' (ISS) annual crime conference in Johannesburg heard on Wednesday.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/22/south-africa-police-brutality-increase

Its easy to make a simple race-based argument in the United States where the inner-city underclass is still predominantly black (poor whites in the US tend to be in provincial centres, and its a bit hard to riot in a town of less than 2000 people).

However, in places such as the UK, where the inner-city underclass is still largely white, you have mostly white riots instead of mostly black riots:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_England_riots

And how many of the youth out there rioting are from the professional middle class? Probably close to fuck all, I'd say.

So you can't say its an either/or problem, its both.

[spooky3]

70. If you go to the full statement, linked here:

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/04/orioles-john-angelos-baltimore-protests-mlb

I think it could be interpreted differently. It seems that comparison he is making when he says "greater concern" is not to the killings but to the suggestion that people were behaving violently in reaction to the deaths, and not respecting the law, etc.

[snort]

11. Yes

[TerrapinFlyer]

12. Wow! perfectly stated.

States the problem very succinctly.

[Enthusiast]

13. K&R! This post deserves hundreds of recommendations!

Well said, John Angelos! Stop these fucking trade deals!

[SMC22307]

77. Exactly. Obama and ConservaDems need to put two and two together.

Or maybe they have, and they just don't care. Bloomberg News cavalierly states "oh well, jobs will be lost." What are the jobless supposed to do? How are they supposed to survive?

[Enthusiast]

86. When jobs leave an area it isn't like those that lost their jobs have options.

Politicians say, "Retrain, move to where the jobs are, get an education."

These aren't real options for a lot of victims of outsourcing. Many of us are too old to start over. Some have paid on a home mortgage forever and cannot sell in a depressed market that is depressed partially because industry has left the area. This tells me the politicians actually do not care, at all. They want the cameras to portray a caring candidate or office holder, but that's as far as the concern goes. Lip service.

[SMC22307]

94. I don't see how this cycle is ever going to break...

too many at the top making insane amounts of money.

[Enthusiast]

95. We need sunshine. Something the captive media is no longer allowed to provide.

Look what the bastards did to radio. TV journalism is a joke. Print media, with a very few exceptions, is terribly one-sided. It is not democracy.

[mother earth]

14. Sums it up nicely. K & R nt

[SoapBox]

15. Wow.

And yet Pukes, Baggers, DINO's, ALEC, The Chamber of Commerace, the Koch Brothers and their billionaire ilk...

Could give a shit about his statement.

We do need a revolution...a VOTING revolution. Our house thinks it's too bad the punks decided to burn down and steal stuff in their own town...that "effort", if applied to registering folks to vote and helping others then to vote, to get the scoundrels out of office/power would have been more powerful.

[heaven05]

16. truth speaks

to a degree

[raouldukelives]

17. K&R Couldn't agree more.

An ever declining standard of living. Ain't that the truth. Sadly, these will be the days of wine and roses in comparison to the future currently being mortgaged for them by the selfish, ignorant and evil.

It's not too hard to imagine. Just picture the same place with a few more degrees of heat and longer heat waves, a few extra feet of sea level, less access to fresh water and fresh food, levels of poverty, despair, sickness & anger that make this look like a garden party and you might be close.

It isn't so far away. I'm afraid things are going to get much worse before they get better, and they will most likely never get better.

When corporate money trumps reality, corporate money is the enemy of solutions.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

18. Exactly

and what we need now is for politicians to follow through.

[appalachiablue]

22. True, if politicians can help given how Congress & so much else is controlled by the

powerful now. Allocating part of the huge military budget for domestic revitalization would be a place to start.

[NoMoreRepugs]

20. K&R Kudos to John Angelos...

I'd say he has summarized the MIC plan for 'Merica down to a single paragraph...

[appalachiablue]

21. Bravo for John Angelos! Brilliant, the ugly reality. Love neighbor Balto. & the 'O's.

[Iris]

24. Too bad it's "eye-opening" to too many people, but otherwise, this is dead on.

[DhhD]

25. EarlG, this is the help that DUer White Cloud was looking for before the OP was hidden. Thanks.

[lame54]

26. In a nutshell

[KT2000]

27. YES!

This should be hand delivered to every member of Congress - TV cameras should cover them reading this.

[marym625]

28. Best one ever!

[wendylaroux]

29. ^^^THIS is the truth^^^

Watching the live feed of the demonstrations yesterday,I was day dreaming.
That millions of people across the nation gather,all colors,all religions,and no religions too,all economic
tiers,just people,who are so sick of the bs,who know right from wrong,all of our people gather,too many to contain,
if not this demonstration,then the next one,or the next one.Anyway,that is my silly,naive dream.

[Ilsa]

64. Yes! What I was thinking:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http://pixgood.com/guy-fawkes-mask-metal.html&h=435&w=400&tbnid=1dBsVzuIP-O87M:&zoom=1&docid=nx4TdrLK7RbStM&ei=-OY_VY7kMOPlsATbrYGwCg&tbm=isch&ved=0CGwQMyg-MD4

[wendylaroux]

73. No,not with the mask thing,

just good people doing the right thing.

[potone]

30. Very well stated.

Frankly I am surprised that we haven't seen more rioting, given the fact that the majority of Americans have seen their economic security get ever shakier for decades now, and the situation of African Americans has gotten even worse. In Europe there would have been mass protests and strikes long before now. We Americans are a patient people--too patient in my view--in the face of a government that is not responsive to most people's needs because of corporate influence.

[WillyT]

31. HUGE K & R !!! - THANK YOU !!!

[BobTheSubgenius]

33. Is there an email address where we can send messages of support?

I would love to shake this man's hand, but alas, an email is the best I can hope for, I think.

[AuntPatsy]

35. K&R

[zentrum]

41. Wow. n/t

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

42. I'm personally religion free, but for John, let me say "bless you"!!

[wryter2000]

43. Wow

That guy can write.

[calimary]

45. I'll add another "Wow!" This sure does nail it.

[Cryptoad]

47. Just "Growing pains" of a budding Oligarchy........

[Warren Stupidity]

49. He speaks for me.

That is the whole ballgame right there.

[ann---]

51. That is much

too hard on the eyes to read.

[ann---]

52. Bottom bottom line

Stealing and setting police cars on fire will NOT
get equality. It will generate more anger.

[1StrongBlackMan]

59. Nor, will it get you a hockey championship ...

just a lot less judgment and, virtually, no anger.

[ann---]

65. Violence is not a game

People are losing their houses and businesses due to
fires being set FOR NO REASON. It's appalling, to me.

[1StrongBlackMan]

69. People lost they houses and businesses due to fires being set ...

when the hockey fans rioted, causing millions in property damage and 100+ people got hurt, after losing their hockey championship match.

[leftstreet]

56. DURec

[pansypoo53219]

57. welcome to the land grover torquiest & reagan built. tax cuts. HUZAH!

and the rich get richer. i suppose cruz is robspierrie.

[ClusterFreak]

58. John Angelos for President.

I'm a Blue Jays fan (from Canada, big shock lol), but my co-favourite baseball team is now the Orioles.

Good on him for what he said. He absolutely nailed it.

[polynomial]

60. Reason into the cultural aspects

The past is a picture of the future. Look at an overlay map of America with a map of Europe. Trying to use pure logic.

Europe vs. US Size Comparison Map

http://goeurope.about.com/od/europeanmaps/l/bl-country-size-comparison-map.htm


Those populations in Europe endured two centuries of powerful elite rule.

Try to reason into the cultural aspects such as bias between groups not even black, hate based white on white ethnic issues, and economic division where a Royal society still exist. Corruption and secrecy at levels far greater than Americans have endured.

These people have tolerated a deep political deception far longer than America, and do not have the will or are not creative enough to end it.

However, something is chiming in, a truth that is obvious when one looks at the land mass the ethnic diversity and compare it with America.

Then compare the civil strife. America has not confronted a real slaughtering rebellion within the countries boundaries since the civil war.

That, likely being the reason to commit to war elsewhere. Likely the reason elites are military minded.

[Initech]

61. Bravo!!!!!!

[Pooka Fey]

62. K&R

[oldandhappy]

67. Speak it, brother!!

Well said.

[Burma Jones]

71. Damn, HE should have run for Governor.......

Although I'm still annoyed with his Dad for screwing up the Orioles for so long......

Maryland has the highest per capita number of Millionaires and is either first or second in per capita number of Democrats (Hawaii may be ahead of us and I'm not counting DC), an odd mix.....unless you live here.

[stuffmatters]

72. I think Bernie Sanders has found his running mate!

I'd vote for that ticket enthusiastically. Especially re:TPP.

PS Both father( celebrated labor rights lawyer &owner Orioles) & son (V.P. Orioles) have a long history of fighting for labor rights & against insatiable corptocracy.

What he said above represents this whole family's core values, consistent over generations.

[ALBliberal]

74. Amen I continue to be mesmerized by his depth of understanding.

[JRLeft]

75. The most accurate account thus far.

[SMC22307]

78. This statement needs to be sent to Obama and every member of Congress.

The TPP will just impoverish Americans more. Well, not those at the top... they'll make out like bandits. After four fucking decades, why haven't we learned?

[russspeakeasy]

79. Powerful

[ALBliberal]

81. He wrote this in response to a sportscaster complaining the Orioles game was

cancelled. And he did it via Twitter. How can he write like that on the fly? And the second part of his statement was also great where he addresses the plight of "poor Americans". I would love to see him speak.

[KeepItReal]

82. Made this quote my Facebook status yesterday

It will stay there until I have something positive to say.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

84. Chills

He's right, of course, and the entire article sends it home. WOW!

[MannyGoldstein]

85. Sums it up perfectly

Thanks you!

[Vinca]

87. This statement should be on billboards in every city and town in the country.

I've never read anything so spot on.

[turbinetree]

89. HIS ETHOS

ETHOS:

"Ethos is a Greek word meaning "character" that is used to describe the guiding beliefs or ideals that characterize a community, nation, or ideology. The Greeks also used this word to refer to the power of music to influence its hearer's emotions, behaviors, and even morals. Early Greek stories of Orpheus exhibit this idea in a compelling way. The word's use in rhetoric is closely based on the Greek terminology used by Aristotle in his concept of the three artistic proofs."

According to Aristotle, there are three categories of ethos.

phronesis - practical skills & wisdom
arete - virtue, goodness
eunoia - goodwill towards the audience

[BeyondGeography]

90. Bless him

[Hiraeth]

92. Thanks to EarlG for bringing it here and Thanks to John Angelos for saying it out loud. Yes.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

93. Big time use of his media access!!