Republican Senator from Florida, Marco Rubio, made the following statement about the recent tragedies in Louisiana, Minnesota, and Dallas:
"...Marco Rubio's statement about the Dallas shooting and police brutality was shockingly on point and measured. Rubio spoke on Friday at a press conference in Doral, Florida.
He began by saying that anyone who's not African American will "never fully understand the experience of being black in America, but we should all understand why our fellow Americans in the African American community are angry."
Rubio then moved on to discuss the specific videos of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling this week, while acknowledging that Black Lives Matter is about more than a few incidents.
"Despite decades of progress on many fronts, millions of our fellow Americans feel they are treated differently, and they are scared," he said. Rubio laid out the the foundations for Black Lives Matter better than almost anyone I've seen yet — which is is pretty surprising. But he didn't just talk about how Americans need to acknowledge the fear of law enforcement.
He also spoke to how dangerous police officers' jobs are and how human experience and error plays into their job. And also about how the public discourse surrounding these shootings is divisive and unproductive.
The rest is HERE.
Our late friend, Sheria Reid, wrote THIS:
The New Racism: Denial
Rational Nation USA has a post up that everyone should read.
And for people who think violence against police is on the rise, here's a chart that shows the opposite:
12 comments:
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Confusing those on the right that avoid acts again eh Shaw?
RN, thanks for the heads-up. Fixed the link.
I usually check on links I put up but didn't this time.
I'm linking to your post. Good work.
Actual facts and figures have no effect on those that have already decided America is falling apart, things have never been worse and it's all Obama's fault. If Obama even talks about race he is throwing gas on the fire. Let's see if they come down on Rubio or Newt, who said something reasonable too, for their "racist" comments.
I was thinking about how some on the Right treat police killing black men caught on video and the treatment of Hillary. We watch a man being shot or the immediate aftermath of a shooting and are told we can't know what happened before the camera rolled and after. An investigation needs to be done. That's fair. Then a Grand Jury is convened and the local DA, whose job depends on a close relationship with that police force, presents evidence to the GJ and, surprise, no indictment. Case closed and if you question it you're a race baiter.
Hillary Clinton is charged with something concerning Benghazi, I'm still not sure what. After 9 investigations, some led by Republicans, no wrongdoing found. Her email "scandal" is investigated by the State Dept. and for a year by the FBI and it's Republican directer. Carelessness but no criminality found. For 20 years she has endured a thorough colonoscopy and the best they can come up with is a few polyps.
These same people who are so quick to accept a non-indictment from a DA with, at best, a conflict of interest, cannot accept anything but a preconceived verdict of guilty for H. Anything less, the fix is in or the investigators are inept. Good God people, check your standards. Twice.
Sorry for the long comment, Shaw. I needed to dump and like Richard Gear in "Officer &...", I've got no place else to go.
Good points, Craig. And let's not forget how highly Comey was regarded and praised until he found Hillary NOT guilty of any criminal act.
And let's not forget that GOP Congress didn't have enough time to come up with funding for the zika virus, but within minutes of Comey's Congressional appearance, how many new GOP House committees were formed to investigate the investigation.
The Rubio comment is a stunner.
It may be that Republicans see the writing on the wall and realize they can't go any further
with the divisiveness.
Shocked into accepting the path must change.
Ducky, not just Rubio, but I heard Gingrich talked about the same thing.
Newt Gingrich: White people 'don't understand being black in America'
Pretty soon the only people demonizing African-Americans will be the sycophants at a certain right wing blog, where they're adding gasoline to the divisive fires.
Red State and Daily Caller also featured columns decrying the mistreatment of minorities by police over the years and again saying it happens and must stop.
Maybe we are seeing a sea change. Unfortunately what I see from rank and file bloggers is a far cry from what conservative leadership is saying. And those bloggers are not happy.
How does Trump defend Gingrich' statement about this to the base if he picks him as a VP running mate?
Thanks for the link Shaw.
According to Dallas Mayor Rawlings an armed society isn't a polite society, it's a dangerously confused society:
"For decades in Texas, it’s been legal to open carry rifles, and as the Dallas News points out, people carrying rifles have been regularly showing up at various recent protests.
When the sniper attack that killed 5 police officers got underway this Thursday at a Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas, many of the people marching were also carrying rifles – about 20 people in “ammo gear and protective equipment and rifles slung over their shoulder,” according to Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings.
After the shooting broke out, Mark Hughes, who was open-carrying, was immediately named as a suspect when police released a photo of him carrying an AR-15. He was later cleared after turning himself in.
While police are keeping tight-lipped on the effect the armed protesters had on the situation, Mayor Rawlings isn’t holding back.
“It’s logical to say that in a shooting situation, open carry can be detrimental to the safety of individuals,” he said.
From the Dallas News:
Rawlings said Dallas police Chief David Brown told him that people running through the shooting scene with rifles and body armor required officers to track them down and bring them to the police department. Whether that was time that could have been spent trying to find and stop the shooter is something police will have to comment on, Rawlings said.
“When the shooting started, at different angles, [the armed protesters] started running,” Rawlings said, adding that open carry only brings confusion to a shooting scene."
Dave,
I've read a few things from different sites. One of them was about a young black man who was stopped by the police in a city in Arizona, and the young man immediately told the police that he had a conceal carry permit and that he was carrying. The police and he managed to make it through the stop by respecting each other and without any tragedy, and so folks are using this one incident as an example of how a young black man who doesn't "mouth off" at the police would not endanger himself. (As though "mouthing-off" were a death sentence?)
Well that worked in this one incident, but I don't think Tamir Rice had a chance to "mouth off" to the police when we saw the video -- it took two seconds for them to kill the 12-year old.
IOW, using one example of a young black male getting through a police stop doesn't mean that a black man will be treated with respect by all policemen.
There seems to be too much fear on both sides, and that's why things escalate into tragedy.
The FT blog and the WYD blog are having a collective mental breakdown. It's an interesting phenomenon to watch. All the mentally disturbed are howling like stuck pigs over what? And who the hell cares? They don't understand no one other than themselves gives a good goddamn about their angst. But its' still amazing to watch their complete breakdown.
I think our friend Sheria had a little something to say about Gingrich's attitudes towards black people and racial politics as reflected in his 2008 presidential primary victory in 2008. If you read the above quoted article about Gingrich today, you see that it is nothing more than a clever, yet vicious condemnation, (yet again,) of president Obama for throwing away a wonderful chance to unite the American people on race. I think a more reasoned analysis of Gingrich is found in Sheria's 2008 post, Race, Gingrich and South Carolina
I'm prepared, if the NAACP invites me, I'll go to their convention and talk about why the African American community should demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps. (Gingrich Singles Out Blacks)
Gingrich conveniently ignores that 28% of American households receiving food stamps are black and 59% are white. About 78% of American households are white and about 13% are black. (U.S. Census Bureau)
NAACP President and CEO Ben Jealous points out, the majority of people receiving food stamps are not African-Americans and have jobs. (Gingrich Singles Out Blacks) Gingrich is fond of referring to Obama as the food stamp president. (Id.) More people are receiving food stamps under this administration. Of course more people are unemployed or under employed. The country is, after all, in a recession.
Newt knows how to make southern whites who refuse to confront their own issues with race feel good about themselves. A discussion about race and racism is immediately ended when the focus becomes on declaring that one is not a racist, although no one has declared anyone to be a racist. Talking about racism is not the same as calling someone a racist. The discussion that needs to be done about lingering racist beliefs, attitudes,and practices rarely takes place in this country which is why Newt really doesn't get why there is anything wrong with declaring that black people need to seek paychecks instead of food stamps. The key word is seek,which assumes that black people are more likely to be low-wealth in America because we choose to be so.
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