Bob Cesca: The Profound Unfairness of the Baltimore Riots

[Hissyspit]

http://thedailybanter.com/2015/04/the-profound-unfairness-of-the-baltimore-riots/

The Profound Unfairness of the Baltimore Riots

Bob Cesca on April 27, 2015

There’s something grossly, profoundly unfair happening in Baltimore and across the country tonight.

It’s unfair that so much of the media coverage tends to come from white anchors, reporters and commentators (like me), who’ve never experienced what it’s like to be a person of color who’s confronted by police brutality — on camera or off. This isn’t to suggest that only African-Americans are allowed to comment on issues within African-American communities, but one thing was clear from Monday’s coverage: Wolf Blitzer might not be the most insightful moderator for such a discussion.

It’s unfair that the memory of Freddie Gray, the latest victim of unfair police profiling and excessive force, is besmirched by looters and rioters who are effectively spitting on his grave by turning what ought to be peaceful protests into self-serving violence and theft — where personal outrage and greed supersede a far more noble cause. The fact is, the looters probably don’t care too much who was killed or by whom. They’re merely piggy-backing their personal greed and lack of morality onto an entirely unrelated event.

It’s unfair that more commentators don’t make a clear distinction between the original tragedy and the violent unrest.

It’s unfair that the news media focuses so much time and coverage on the darker aspects of what’s happening, rather than balancing the coverage by showing neighbors helping neighbors and ministers preaching nonviolence and peaceful demonstrations. Sure, if it bleeds it leads, but as we’ve seen on countless occasions, viewers also love heroes, and throughout the day Monday, the heroes were marginalized in lieu of showing burned out cars and drugstores on fire.

It’s unfair to the broader African-American community, which still struggles with racism and racial discrimination, that a relative few looters reinforce the ugly stereotypes marketed by those who seek to separate rather than unite. The looters and assailants are no more representative of the African-American community than secessionist Bundy ranch hooligans are representative of whites.

It’s unfair that poverty, one of the root causes of racial animosity, isn’t viewed by more Americans as a national problem demanding national solutions, rather than a wedge to be marginalized, ridiculed and demagogued with racial scare-words and Southern Strategy dog-whistles.

It’s unfair that shop owners and franchises have been robbed and burned through no fault of their own.
It’s unfair that nearsighted haters and bigots view rioting and looting as an exclusively African-American problem when it’s absolutely not.

Huntington Beach, 2013, following a surfing competition:

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[ivote4women]

1. I listen to you on Stephanie Miller's show. Your words resonate.

It's time for those of us floating in our safe harbors to take some risk.

When people behave badly, whether they are in authority or are our friends and family, we have a choice or a decision to either let their words and or actions stand without rebuke or correction or to tell them we disagree and do not condone their actions.

Failure to weigh in is tacit consent and too many of us have allowed others to set a tone of injustice and atrocity just because we don't want to hurt someone's feelings or worry that maybe we don't know the whole story.

Are you willing to support one another in calling out what you know is a wrong? Are you willing to protect and stabilize righteous police officers within the ranks who identify wrongful behaviors and who go on record against policies and alliances that shield "their own" from scrutiny and removal?

It's tough to be a whistle blower and it seems like there's a mechanism that actively and forcefully covers the miscreants and demonizes those who dare to question the status quo.

I'm not sure I'm brave enough or smart enough to intervene but I know it's up to us as individuals to push back, take bold stands for revamping the structures that entrench authoritative favoritism, and reset our civil frameworks and authorities to serving our communities peacefully and justly.

Maybe if some of us express our thoughts to each other we can forge workable solutions and renew faith and trust in our leaders and communities.

[gopiscrap]

2. Welcome to DU

[Cha]

3. Mahalo Bob Cesca!