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Dorchester middle-school students protest
By adamg on Tue, 12/16/2014 - 9:45am
Students in the upper grades at the Joseph Lee K-8 School in Dorchester held a two-hour Black Lives Matter protest this morning.
Kids who'd brought in permission slips walked from the school to the intersection of Blue Hill and Talbot avenues, where they chanted slogans such as "Hands up! Don't Shoot!" and "What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!"
Several teachers stood with them; three BPD cruisers and officers were parked on Blue Hill Avenue. Many passing motorists honked in support.
Here's a memo that was sent to students:
We, the students and the staff of the Joseph Lee School are planning a demonstration to support and increase awareness that ALL lives matter, inspired by the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and so many more. We need not only the voices of our youth but the support of the adults to protest against the unjust police brutality, inequality, and racial profiling taking place across the nation as well as right here in our community. We not only want the support from YOU but the support from your family, too. These injustices based on race have been happening our whole lives. If the majority of our society have accepted same sex marriage, why can’t we come together as a community to address racial inequalities?
This demonstration is a serious matter that effects our entire community. Just think, Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown could have been a student at this school ... or could even have been you.
The school has given us permission to not wear school uniforms on the 16th. Please wear all black attire to demonstrate unity. Remember that it is going to be cold!! Dress warm.
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Comments
LOL
Nice. Instill that victim mentality early.
LOL right back atcha
Nice. Instill that sense of social justice early.
I'm glad to see kids and their parents (only kids with permission slips got out of class) see some things as important enough to try to do something about.
If (when) someone is shot in
If (when) someone is shot in Dorchester by midnight tonight, will they be demonstrating how much black lives matter tomorrow?
Probably
Why don't you get involved in the community and find out?
But...
...they won't be protesting that type of murder. It's only protest worthy when it involves the police.
How do you know?
How do you know?
Because several murders and
Because several murders and shootings have happened the past month to no protests.
How do you know?
Just because you don't read about it in the Globe or Herald doesn't mean it's not happening.
There was a large protest on
There was a large protest on the corner of Blue Hill Ave & Charlotte Street after Dawnn Jaffier was killed.
You're right, cops
You're right, cops systematically not being held accountable for killing people is completely not protest worthy....
I feel like a broken record
But since white people who don't live anywhere near Dorchester or Roxbury keep bringing it up ...
The Louis D. Brown Peace Institute and the Mother's Day Walk for Peace are both examples of the communities you profess to be so concerned about actually doing something. When you volunteer to help them out, please let me know and I can zip over and take your photo.
Different issue. There have been
There have been plenty of demonstrations, marches and memorials for those who have been killed in non-police violence in Boston. Where have you been?
Bless the children, many of whom live in "hot spots" surrounded by violence, it's wonderful to see them speak out for justice in a non-violent way.
And you live....
where?
Deep, deep concern. Deep.
It's heartening to know someone truly grieves for the victims of inner-city violence and is in no way flailing to make what they consider a political point.
Ironically enough, you've
Ironically enough, you've actually presented a great learning opportunity for the students: false equivalency 101. Congrats!
Social justice? Please explain.
If you are referencing exclusively 'white racism', 99% of black victims of crime and violence are victimized by black or other so-called minority perps, not white. If any of these kids should get jumped, robbed, beaten up, or God forbid murdered, raped, ect., the odds of it being at the hands of a white racist KKK, neonazi, etc., are EXTREMELY slim.
These kids are victimized by out of control black crime, wblack on black. This is what they should be protesting and demanding their community and city leaders effectively address. They should be angered that so-called 'progressives' continue to ignore and cover up, make excuses for this issue. Again, cops wouldn't swarm their neighborhoods and 'harass' especially men, especially young men, if the problem of high rates of violence and street crime didn't exist.
The issue isn't black on black crime
Most white crime victims are victims of whites. Where is the faux concern about that?
You might want to go read up on just what these protests are about. I realize it's very hard to believe, but it's quite possible to be concerned about more than one thing at a time, and to be concerned about something that is not happening in your immediate neighborhood.
But what about the riots?
Don't you remember that time when there were riots and property damage by all those thugs, with no regard for any other residents or businesses? It was shameful the way people were shouting at the police who had to result to using tear gas to suppress the wild gangs of young people.
http://www.whdh.com/story/26834201/84-arrested-after-keene-pumpkin-riots...
Even longer ago ...
Riots AND property destruction!
Riots of 241 years ago today!
WTF is the point of the
WTF is the point of the constant pumpkin riots comparison? At this point enough of you jokesters have brought it up that you can't even use it to make your point that no one calls white kids thugs.
The point
white people are treated much differently by the law and the media than black people. Just ask John Crawford.
The end.
It would be informative to
It would be informative to know what the protesters goals are or what changes they would like to accomplish.
Adam did you happen to hear Gov Patrick or Rev Rivers comments over the weekend about the protestors...
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2014/12/14/keller-large-rev-eugene-rivers-on-...
http://www.masslive.com/news/boston/index.ssf/2014/12/governor_patrick_s...
When is this protest around here going to be about something as opposed to just protesting because these people live for protesting and nothing else.
what changes they would like
I love this tactic; you get told exactly what changes people would like to see, and you turn around and ask, "but what changes would you like to see?" It's a mind blowing-ly amazing move in the sense that actual grown adults think this makes any sense whatsoever.
I haven't heard "exactly"
I haven't heard "exactly" what changes they would like to see. I have heard a bunch of slogans, "blacks lives matter", "hands up don't shoot", "racist cops have to go."
It makes no sense to me why they won't meet with the people that can effect change (elected officials, police brass, community leaders). Instead they would rather just cause disruption. Sounds a lot similar to the ows movement all over again
Strange
Somehow, you missed this, in the original post, up at the top:
You see, Bobby, the protesters want those things to stop. It makes no sense to me that you think people haven't met with elected officials, police brass, and community leaders, many times. Why do you think that? Is it because you missed accounts of those meetings, too?
Read the links I posted above
Read the links I posted above b4 u comment
Very helpful of you to
Very helpful of you to explain to black people what they should be upset about. I'm sure they're greatly appreciative of your concern trolling.
'The Right's Wrong Reaction'
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/385162/rights-wrong-reaction-misso...
"This is a peculiar and inappropriate response. Whatever its cause, it is indisputably true that the United States has a problem with blacks killing blacks. And yet this has absolutely nothing to do with the question at hand, which is: “Did a police officer unjustifiably kill an unarmed black man in Missouri [NY, FL, OH, etc]?”
It is feasible, is it not, to be worried about the internecine violence in America’s inner cities and to want to get to the bottom of an allegedly unwarranted shooting [/killing]? So why the conflation? After all, whether or not it is intentional, reacting to a community’s grief by raising an entirely separate topic smacks largely of distraction — of reflexively throwing up a roadblock to what is a legitimate line of inquiry in the hope that the subject might swiftly be changed."
You are completely out of line
It is not your place to tell them what they should be doing, what they should be protesting, what they should be angered about. You speak for you and let them speak for them.
If the message had been
ALL lives matter, that would be a true show of fostering equality and social justice.
It's been tried
here
All lives matter instead of black lives matter...
-'WTF is the impulse behind changing #BlackLivesMatter to #AllLivesMatter. Do you crash strangers' funerals shouting I TOO HAVE FELT LOSS'
-'Do people who change #BlackLivesMatter to #AllLivesMatter run thru a cancer fundraiser going "THERE ARE OTHER DISEASES TOO"'
Arthur Chu, via Twitter:
https://twitter.com/arthur_affect/status/538014928448524288
https://twitter.com/arthur_affect/status/538015166634680320
wow adam, u were lying and
wow adam, u were lying and waiting to fire back at such a comment.
There is an unequal division
There is an unequal division of power in the schools as far as the kids, teachers and administrators are concerned.
Therefore, there is something troubling about the politicization of young school kids by the public schools,,, which is to say by the state. And I do not think a defense of the state doing this should be whether some one agrees or disagrees with the political viewpoints being expressed.
At least, these are middle schoolers; early in the week, in New Bedford, 2nd graders were protesting. When a 2nd grader is protesting you have to be concerned that adults are using the children in a way that the kids don't really understand.
Political viewpoints
You mean political viewpoints like "don't kill me"?
LOL back at you
"permission slip" and "protest"don't belong in the same sentence. These children aren't raging against the machine, they are mere tools of the state.
These children are no fools
They were given a chance to skip classes for part of a day, and they took it.
If you don't like schools teaching Democracy ...
You can always leave the US. You might as well since you haven't bothered to learn much of our country's history, judging from that comment.
Our freedoms aren't abstract entities intended only for worship - the founders were petty clear that they were meant for use by common citizens.
Here's the problem...
I doubt the majority of those kids really has an understanding of the complexities of race relations in this country. And before anyone jumps all over my shit accusing me of being some ignorant white guy, I grew up in South Philly, and when I was growing up, I witnessed first hand what it's like when every race and ethnicity literally hates one another. So there's that. Anyway, I think this childrens' protest is more a product of what their teachers are feeding them than it is about their understanding of the issues.
Really
After all, they're just black kids. How much do they know about, you know, being black kids?
Lol
Awesome! and it simplistically hushes a lot of these comments of the variety of "what about black on black crime, what do they know about race relations"etc.
They are somewhat related
If the police in your area lack accountability and participate in the violent climate of the area, then it is rational for your community to completely avoid any interaction with them.
This was as true in the slums full of immigrant people in the early 1900s as it is in other marginalized communities now.
Hence Code of Silence/Stop Snitchin, etc.
Who's "hushed"...
None of you will silence me, no matter how badly you want to. Liberals my ass.
Excuse me?
Where did I even imply that? Show me. That's right. I never did. Leave it to a sneering elitist like you to immediately try to accuse me of being a racist because I simply state an observation. The administration of the school is no doubt feeding these kids what they are "supposed" to believe, rather than allow them to make up their minds themselves.
And I resent the liberal belief (read: people like you) that since I'm white I have nothing to say here. When I was 16 I was walking home around 9PM in the middle of winter. I was jumped and had my ass kicked by a group of black teens. It was racially motivated. I won't even repeat some of the things they said, but suffice it to say I got a cold hard dose of racial hate. But white people are the only ones who are racist (according to you). What safe little corner of the world did you grow up in before moving to Boston and pretending to be "progressive".
Um, well, MatthewC
I am going to take a stab and say these kids to have an understanding. A very good understanding.
Yes, a ten year old black
Yes, a ten year old black child is inherently much more knowledgeable about history than a 30 year old straight white man. He could never know what the noble savage understands intuitively.
Stay classy, Dave!
Stay ultra-super-classy!
Huh?
To be black, asian, Latino etc is to have an intimate"understanding of the complexities of race relations in this country"! We deal with it the majority of our lives!!! Day in day out we are reminded that black/non white lives don't matter as much as a white live or a pet.
Despite your rough and tough
Despite your rough and tough upbringing, I doubt that you really have an understanding of the complexities of race relations in this country either. It is a complex subject. So what do you think represents the greater problem: young people who don't (yet) fully understand the complexities but who are trying to engage with it, or older people who insist on reducing these same complexities to simplistic platitudes that provide them with a justification to sit on their collective ass and enjoy the status quo?
I'm not sure I agree with that assumption, MatthewC
Non-white kids, especially black kids growing up here in America, learn about the complexities of the racial situation here in the United States learn it at a very early age. In fact, that's the first thing that they do learn.
The kids are protesting peacefully, and the adults who are with them seem to be encouraging the kids to protest in a responsible way (meaning not blocking traffic or sitting/standing in the middle of the MBTA tracks.), which is a very good thing, because they'll also learn at an early age to protest in a sensible manner.
I know, right?
Why can't they be like those white kids in Harvard Square who will forget all about Eric Garner and Michael Brown when the new iPhone comes out?
Disagree. These kids had
Disagree. These kids had parental permission, and did this under the school's auspices. I think it's a great lesson in social justice and the first amendment.
Yeah...
...and I'm sure anyone who disagrees with what the school administration has been telling them is looked at sideways.
I don't personally have a
I don't personally have a problem with people who say asinine things getting sideways looks.
Oh, I see...
So only one side is allowed to have an opinion. How liberal of you.
Look out! Persecution complex ahead!
You're allowed to have an opinion. And he's allowed to call it asinine.
Ain't America great?
Oh, I see... no one's allowed
Oh, I see... no one's allowed to get criticized when then have an idiotic opinion. Why do Conservatives always insist that everyone gets a participation medal? You're idea is no good; you don't get a blue ribbon so your feelings don't get hurt.
sideways looks?
Perruptor,
do you have any problem with 7th graders getting "sideways looks" if they do not conform to what they are being told to think/feel? Because I have kids in BPS and that's what is happening. Maybe you agree with how it's falling out on this issue, but it's hardly a good educational tactic.
"Looked at sideways"
Well, anyone who suffers the horrible pain of being looked at sideways can certainly hold their own protest. Since it's such a terrible thing that someone cares more about it than people being shot and choked to death.
Doubt it
You don't sign the permission slip, and your kid reads a book in the library or works quietly while this is going on.
This protest sure as anything beats the unsanctioned spontaneous student walk outs at my (white, suburban) high school to protest teacher contacts. In fact, my father (who was a teacher) forbid us to participate in them because he felt it was a waste of school time.
See my above reply...
So you're saying that since I'm white I have no clue. Seriously, get bent.
Somebody needs a hug
He's not saying "since you're white" ...anything.
This was a bad idea
Below from an article about a cops kid who attended this protest and was never granted permission to take part!
"What second grader wants to give up recess to go stand on a busy street corner and chant, 'We want justice'?" he said. "My son's a cop, so he's really upset, and after his daughter got in the car, she asked if he shoots people."
Here
https://gma.yahoo.com/second-graders-ferguson-protest-sparks-controversy...
What was his answer?
Whatever it was, maybe he'll think about her asking the question if he ever is in a position where he has to make that choice.
what was the cop's answer to his daughter?
<<<>>>
and maybe he'll freeze for that instant, when he should be justifiably using deadly force, and leave behind a grieving family. Hard enough to make those life/death decisions without having to worry that the state and the justice dept are going to make a sacrificial lamb of you for political considerations. The people on that Missouri grand jury must have been incredibly courageous. The one in NY, maybe not. I can't say for sure, I was not at either one. It must be so nice for you all to be so certain.
This photo brought a tear to
This photo brought a tear to my eye.
Im
already paying for their education, now i have to pay for their BS protest.
Get back to class!
How much, exactly, are you paying?
Maybe we can start a collection for your share of the cost of this protest.
In the meantime, if you don't give a rat's ass about the issue involved, which something tells me you don't, consider the fact they are getting a first-hand lesson in how the Constitution works and the role of protest in American history (and please note what happened on this day, in this city - it was kind of a famous protest you might have heard of).
Well , here we go again , A
Well , here we go again , A-man. How about people taking an abatement on their property taxes if they send there children to Parochial School for the percentage of property tax directed to the school system , or a reasonable facsimile thereof.This is no more a lesson in civics as I am the starting middle linebacker for the Patriots. With rights come responsibilities .
Would we get a property tax
Would we get a property tax abatement for not having any children then, we are saving the city and state even more than you! Or say, the city will pay for x children of each family, more than that and you pay a fee, less you get a tax abatement, is that the system you would prefer?
Don't like the nuns , huh ? I
Don't like the nuns , huh ? I could offer various scenarios if you were serious , how about pay as you go , and no property tax funneled to school systems. I knew of a lot of kids that never saw the inside of a public school but got very good educations, parents paid for all of it. Myself , good thing I had better tackling skills than grammar skills , or I would have been destined to the pick and shovel. But there is no shame in an honest day's digging.
I am curious
Where did you go to school, kvn? I ask because you clearly care a lot about education, yet your teachers seem to have failed to teach you the difference between there and their, or where to place commas and spaces, or the use of than instead of as. Possibly you shouldn't have taken all those gut courses on your football scholarship...
That way lies madness
I never need police services from district C-11; I live in E-18 and spend a fair amount of time in E-5. Why should I pay for police (or fire?) protection in Dorchester?
Are they learning the entire Constitution?
I hope they are learning the entire Constitution, including the Grand Jury process, which in both the Brown and Garner cases, considered all of the evidence and declined to indict the brave officers. As difficult as it is for some to accept, a police officer never ceases to be a citizen with all of the Constitutional rights appertaining thereto.
Amendment V
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury...
So
You are okay about people being executed for an alleged crime by cops on the street?
Without constitutionally mandated due process?
Who exactly
was executed?
That's a leading question bosguy22......
Don't you know that Swirrly's great uncle invented the electric chair?
Yeah, right
They should memorize the Constitution and worship the flag, but ZOMG THEY SHOULD NEVER DARE CONSIDER THEMSELVES WORTHY OF ACTUAL HANDS-ON LEARNING!
Just have them all sit in a class-time eating assembly where they recite puerile country songs about being proud of being a Christian American! That's all they need to know about being an American!
What's with this "ZOMG" +
What's with this "ZOMG" + enormous hyperbole formula you're on? Care to chime in without completely misrepresenting peoples' words?
ZOMG!!!
ZOMG!!!!+Anons!
Please stop patronizing this
Please stop patronizing this serious issue with immature replies. Just because YOU aren't personally impacted by this doesn't mean you should continue to trivialize it. You are being disrespectful.
Respect
Sorry, anon, but all those people using your user name have blown any chance of it being accorded any respect.
I'd rather remain an
I'd rather remain an unregistered anon and contribute thoughtful and mature comments rather than bash certain ethnicities and belittle serious issues such as what these students are protesting with foolish comments like zomg. I don't care what color you are, if you have a registered name on uhub, where you grew up, or whether or not you have a degree from MIT, if you post a respectful and thoughtful comment on Adam's post then great. However, if you hijack it with silly demeaning nonsensical words then you're just being a selfish ass and from time to time people on this site will call you out on it.
ZOMG!!! + an Anon IS SCOLDING ME!
ZOMG!!! + an Anon IS SCOLDING ME!
You'll have to excuse
I'd advise to try your best and ignore the above poster.
Usually to be found commenting on any story she can find a way to shoehorn in her own life experiences in an effort to somehow make it about her. She craves attention, don't give it to her.
Though as a formal welcome to UHub, let me provide you with some of the other latest catch phrases and buzz words you can expect from this tolerant community lest you disagree with the opinion of the educated masses.
1. Dog whistle
2. Straw man
3. False equivalency
4. Boston Herald
5. Tea party
6. Troll
7. Anon
8. ZOMG
9. Any combination thereof, see example below
"ZOMG! Another dumb anon with yet another dumb knee-jerk, racist reaction to a dog whistle! Your straw man rebuttal is intellectually inferior to my views on literally every single issue which has plagued society from the dawn of civlization to present day. Why don't you head back over to the Boston Herald comments section where you and your tea party friends belong, and take your ridiculous false equivalencies with you. Troll."
<GOLF CLAP>
Bravo
Amen!
People who know things and think logically are total losers, amirite?
Outstanding.
..
Great list!
Thanks Anonamonster! I am going to play a drinking game; using this list, while I peruse the comments section.
"Thanks for playing"
should be added to your list of snarky commentary.
Apparently they should
Apparently they should memorize the Constitution without ever once thinking that it applies to them.
Maybe You're Right
Because whatever they're doing in the classroom now surely isn't working...
http://www.boston.com/news/special/education/mcas/scores13/results/bosto...
Ever take that test yourself?
I bet you would find it more challenging than you think it is.
Way to justify substandard
Way to justify substandard performance, Swirl.
Yours?
Yes, you are justifying your substandard understanding of our civil rights by pointing at test scores.
Also, you are looking at averages that include special education kids with substantial cognitive disabilities, ELL kids, etc. Averages are garbage.
But there you are trying to justify your substandard understanding of statistics and SES impacts as well.
All the same, I'd like to see how poorly you score on those tests - those kids are probably getting a far better education than you ever did.
Isn't the Constitution in C
Isn't the Constitution in C Town ?
Christian American and country songs?
Miss, your rural roots are showing. You have quite a chip on your shoulder. Never mind the fact 'Christian' and 'country music' (racist?) have NOTHING to do with the subject being discussed, you just gratuitously threw them in to stir the pot. It's called 'trolling'.
Cultural Roots???
That's Dr., not Miss, btw.
As for "cultural roots" I grew up in a trailer court, darling. Thanks for playing.
Want to see a picture of my gun?
Also, after 9/11, my kids complained about having to sing gawd awful "proud to be an American" stuff with lots of God Bless this and that during assemblies. That was the "how to be an American" lessons they were being fed.
You clearly haven't enjoyed such a vapid patriotic jingoism display as a mid-'00s school assembly.
I would far rather they learn some important ways to be an American - like, how to actually use those rights in the Bill of Rights - instead of wasting their time in worship of some vague abstraction called GodAmericaFreedom.
These kids here are actually learning about their rights and how to use them.
Thanks for the clue-free trolling, though.
I'll keep going with Miss,
I'll keep going with Miss, thanks. There is no institution in Boston that grants a Doctorate in epidemiology.
Where's your supposed thesis? Lets see the link to it on DSpace.
doctorate in epidemiology
Umm... What?!
http://www.bu.edu/sph/admissions/application-requirements/phd-in-epidemi...
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/epidemiology/prospective-students/doctor-of-...
What a coincidence.
What a coincidence. I feel exactly the same way about whatever contributions I've ever made to DARPA, and its ensuing impact on your ability to spout inane bullshit in a public forum via the internet.
You can just send the check for your share directly to UHub; Adam deserves it for putting up with this every day.
The Lee School
I'm so proud of them!!!!!
It's a shame how most of you
It's a shame how most of you are bashing these kids. How are they going to learn to stand for themselves and make difference when there are a bunch of adults bashing them. Shame on you!
Instead of bashing them you should praise them for being part of history and taking a stand. -Proud Joseph Lee Parent
I disagree with the most part.
I think you'll find the majority of the regulars here are quite supportive of this kind of first hand learning experience. And we're just as proud of your kids as you are.
It's just some isolated curmudgeons that are complaining.
Yeah, Lee parents and
Yeah, Lee parents and students, don't let the bigots get you down. They produce a volume of hot air that's all out of proportion to their numbers.
Thank you for the support!
Thank you for the support!
It's a lot better than the
It's a lot better than the bored trust fund hippies who wander around downtown every weekend now with zero perspective, making sloppy attempts at shutting down the highways and bridges. These kids have a hell of a lot more life experience than the anarchists and professional protester crowd.
Both are a lot better than...
...an armchair critic like yourself who sees the world through the lens of infantile and irrelevant comparisons. Get out and do something yourself and stop bellyaching about what others do.
Irrelevant comparisons? Are
Irrelevant comparisons? Are they not protesting the exact same issue? I would say its an excellent comparison and contrast. And I'm only bellyaching about the protesters who are doing nothing to better these kids lives but are causing foolish disruption under the false pretense that they are fighting to help these kids. They are protesting out of fear that they will not be able to tell their kids that they were part of a "movement" 20 years from now. They have said as much on twitter.
Irrelevant comparison,
Irrelevant comparison, because there's no point to it. The one does not cancel out the other, they are not in competition, it's not an either/or thing. If you know anything about movements for change, you would know that lasting change is brought about by diverse groups of people using various tactics and operating from different motives. If you see the whole world as dualistic, you'll miss 99% of what's really going on; broaden your mind, it'll be uncomfortable at first but better in the long run. And why are you bellyaching about ANY protesters? What skin is it off YOUR back? Why the pathetic need to project these elaborate motive story-lines onto others? Stop looking around at the world and finding fault; look in the mirror instead.
I'm not projecting or
I'm not projecting or bellyaching, nor am I finding fault. I am offering an opinion. But you seem very passionate about the issue, so I'll ask you this : Do you think that the protesters (downtown hippies, not young urban kids) are bringing about "lasting change" with their "various tactics" by aimlessly marching around downtown Boston and attempting to block traffic, all while tweeting about how the other protesters are too white and the cops are harassing them by preventing them from blocking bridges and enter jails. I'm not an expert like you, but it just seems like they are protesting just to say they protested.
What the hell is a downtown
What the hell is a downtown hippy? Never seen any hippies living in downtown Boston.
I find most of these comments
I find most of these comments hurtful to one segment of the community or another. We seem to enjoy pitting one group against another in hopes that it will bring us together. I doubt that will be the outcome, in fact it seems we're moving apart faster now than at any time since I can remember.
Do you all really feel that most police are racist? Half? 1/4? 1%? I wouldn't want to be in their shoes regardless of skin color.
Do all whites have privilege?
Are all republicans rich?
Are all liberals poor and misunderstood?
Come on folks. It's safe to say that in any given group there are likely an equal percentage of haters out there. I bet it's less than 5%. The other 95% of people really try to get along, understand differences, and genuinely like each other.
Can't we see the love through the hate?
I know I wasn't given a free ride in life. I don't have access that some others have. I struggle to pay my bills every month and find that I have to focus on what makes me happy. I doubt anyone else cares about me. And I bet this is true for 95% of you too.
Okay, back to work for me. And I sincerely feel for everyone that has a difficult time and feels that they're left behind. Let the children protest, it's a good lesson for all.
All the days are hurryin' by
When you're in love, my how they fly
Blue days, all of them gone
Nothin' but blue skies from now on
A - Man , buddy , pal of mine
A - Man , buddy , pal of mine , we are on different sides of the airplane. With this specific situation , to me it is just another fiasco with the schools , which started with busing. To suggest that this is a Civics exercise is insulting , it's just a me too . I believe in you want rights , you got responsibilities. I don't like my pocket picked tax wise by social experimenting, let's get down to the business of being good productive capitalists.Socialism only works until you run out of the other guys money. Now , back to my chainsaw....
How about having your pocket picked tax wise
by non-social experimenting?
And the last time I checked, our country is full of productive capitalists.
In regards to the "ism" you cite, let us go for it, fly-boy, Social Security first, followed by Medicare (heck, my father-in-law with severe dementia can be homeless at 81) and let us not forget Medicaid.
Your pocket is picked daily
Your pocket is picked daily by these so-called "productive capitalists". It's called corporate welfare and "too big to fail". Sheeple.
Social Security? Medicare?
What have those got to do with the real issue here -- forced busing?
Agreed
On either side of the aisle those with the loudest voices seem to be those at the extreme ends of any one particular issue.
The don't speak for the majority, but its hard to remember that sometimes.
These people are so wed to their political ideology they willingly let it define who they are as a person. It's senseless, follower behavior.
Thats not to say some issues don't deserve a strong voice, but also not every issue needs to have political and/or racial roots.
Sometimes police violence is just police violence.
And I begrudgingly have to add, I find nothing wrong with children protesting - though I *would* find it wrong *if* they're simply reacting to the ideas that are being foce fed by their teachers instead of forming an opinon on their own.
Couple of Things
First, while it is definitely a good thing for young people to become involved, it is also a good thing for them to be given all of the information concerning those processes in which they are becoming involved. I would be pleased to find that these kids have been taught about grand juries; that this protest was undertaken by them with full knowledge of just what it is they are protesting. I suspect many of these kids may not have been given such by this time in their young educational lives. I could be wrong (and I'd love to be proven so.)
Second, a memo worded this way (italics mine)...
"Just think, Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown could have been a student at this school ... or could even have been you."
... doesn't give one the sense that it comes from folks who pore over the details. Or, for that matter, who understand English. If it didn't come from a school, it wouldn't be worth noting. It does, though, so it is.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
A grammar Nazi and a Concern
A grammar Nazi and a Concern Troll. Awesome post!
Actually, I find Suldog's
Actually, I find Suldog's post to be a voice of calm and reason in a topic where everyone is trying to out do eachother in either self congratulary pats on the back or slinging vitriol at eachother while claiming to be the most tolerant.
And if this is a school sponsored function, shouldn't we expect good grammer?
"Grammer"
You're trolling, right?
Perhaps she meant "great"
As in "Great Grammer and Gramper"? :-)
Nope, not trolling. An
Nope, not trolling. An actual mistake I apologize for.
Doing 10 things at the same time, this sometimes happens
If you can't understand, again you have my deepest apologies.
Feel better?
But, back to the subject at hand: Suldog is spot on!
I find Suldog's post to
I find Suldog's post to suffer from false equivalences.
I Couldn't Care Less What You Think
That's all.
(It's possible somebody might have read this comment earlier when it was harsher. That was not good. I would have deleted this completely, but I can't seem to do that. Oh, well.)
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Grammar Nazi
Hey, I didn't even mention...
"This demonstration is a serious matter that effects our entire community."
If a teacher wrote that, he or she should be fired.
Now, just a little background. I certainly believe black lives matter. I believe all lives matter. And I have some stake in the game, being the uncle to three nieces and nephews of mixed parentage (two with one-eighth Native American blood, one with an African-American dad) whom I love dearly. However, once you start enlisting kids into your cause and trotting them up to the front lines, then you'd better be beyond reproach. It's a cheap publicity stunt UNLESS the kids are cognizant of what exactly is being protested and why (and, if these kids are, more power to everyone involved.).
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
It's a cheap publicity stunt
Truly, this is the issue of our time. We'll all need to stop protesting cops who get away with murder until we can address the rampant and growing trend of "kids not being cognizant of what they're protesting." That's the REAL scourge of our society.
It was the last line of the memo that got me...
But it was too late to advise the kids to "dress warmly".
I do think it's great that the students are engaged in exercising their Constitutional rights. I'm proud of them and their parents for seeing the value in this.
Why?
Why is Trayvon Martin included with Brown and Garner? George Zimmerman was a Hispanic nut job on patrol. He was definitely unjustly murdered, but it's not the same situation.
Why are Garner and Brown linked
Brown was assaulting a police officer when shot. Garner was not.
They were killed by cops.....
One resisted arrest and was subdued by an illegal chokehold, the other assaulted a cop and was shot.
Both alleged adult criminals who were allegedly killed using excessive force.
N/t
wrongreply
Because what matters the most
Because what matters the most is the colour of someone's skin, not their character.
Aw that's cute
Spoken like someone who has no worries about getting shot down in the street because he didn't genuflect to a public servant quickly enough.
Genuflect ? Or assault? Or resist arrest?
No I would never do anything of the sort, and I teach my kids to do the same.
Huh?
?
Who could breathe?
Resisting arrest against a plate glass window, refusing to be handcuffed at 6-foot-3, 350 pounds, suffering from heart disease, severe asthma, diabetes, obesity, and sleep apnea, breathing might be a challenge. Despite this, Eric Garner was very much alive after being taken down with the headlock. He died of cardiac arrest in the ambulance.
Keep on spinnin it
Shiny spinners, like truthy lies, attract a lot of fish.
Not according to the medical examiner...
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/medical-examiner-says-chokehold-police-of...
You missed this part....
Asthma, heart disease and obesity were contributing factors in the death of the 43-year-old Garner, a 6-foot-3, 350-pound father of six, she said.
Asthma, heart disease and
Yes, I'm pretty sure that he would have dropped dead anyway if he hadn't been illegally strangled by a cop.
How ironic
The Lee Middle School? That's where my brother was beat up on a daily basis by black kids during desegregation of the Boston Public Schools. It was the cause of ripping us out of the Boston Public Schools and putting us in parochial school.
I'm sorry your brother was beat up
However, that was a long time ago and it's a bit unfair to blame kids 40 years later for that.
Funny Adam, white people
Funny Adam, white people still get blamed for slavery quite often. When is that statute of limitations up?
Provide a cite
Provide a cite. Chapter and verse, where "white people still get blamed for slavery". Not ones who died a hundred years ago, ones walking around today.
Alternately, admit you're blowing crap and shut up.
See whyaduck's comment below
n/t
Well, the last time I read my history book
the black folks were not dragging the white folks from their homeland, against their will, where, if they survived the voyage, stuffed below deck like sardines in can, for a life of hard labor, where suffering and beatings, rape and death, were the norm...oh, never mind the tearing of kids, husbands and wives from each other, on some plantation a way down South in the land of cotton.
Reread your book
It wasn't white people selling the slaves from their homeland.
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