Posted on 07/06/2013 8:19:52 PM PDT by NotYourAverageDhimmi
On a day when at least four people were shot in Baltimore before dinner time — two of them fatally —hundreds of city men took to the streets in a planned 10-mile march along North Avenue, shutting down portions of the thoroughfare, to protest the recent spike in gun violence.
"There's a war going on in our streets" that "starts and ends with our young black men," City Councilman Brandon Scott told the crowd, which included the mayor and police commissioner. "We're going to take our city back. … We can no longer stand on the backs of the women."
Scott and family friend Munir Bahar, who was in trouble as a kid but turned his life around to mentor other city kids, organized the 300 Man March. It was modeled after the 1995 Million Man March in Washington D.C., a massive show of solidarity among African-American men.
The idea was to stir Baltimore's men to action in their own neighborhoods and homes to stop the cycle of violence so frequently driven by drugs and gangs. While many have called on authorities to stem the tide, this was the first time the larger community has come together to fight back.
More than 40 people have been shot since summer began, with 20 of them struck in a single weekend. On Friday, at least four more people were shot by late afternoon. They were homicide numbers 119 and 120 this year.
In an impassioned speech before the march, Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts implored those within earshot to take action, saying repeatedly that this wasn't about numbers for him, but about faces.
There are "just too many black faces dying on the streets," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
Yes. We have a great one as well. They are among the best.
I hear you. I walked from the inner harbor back to my Downtown Baltimore hotel at night alone and I was just plane frightened. Never do that again.
Also spent a couple scary nights in Detroit.
Never felt uncomfortable in Chicago, even when working in South Side. That was about a decade ago, I imagine it is exponentially worse now. Barry organized that community something good!
That’s almost what happened to me! The first time (early 90s), I was trying to go to an Edgar Allen Poe site (from the Inner Harbor area). It was past downtown and the stadium, but no one had warned me... All of a sudden, I was in the worst bombed-out scary area.
Having grown up in a city (and spending a little bit of time in Oakland, NYC, so on), I knew to not show fear and just keep walking. I actually didn’t even see any people, but felt eyes on me... So I made it and some guardian angels (a young couple about my age, but they had a car) rescued me. The site wasn’t even open that day — maybe they were scared too.
Then, a couple of years ago, I foolishly took the light rail from the airport to downtown.... I really thought I’d be murdered or at least mugged. I have never been so happy to arrive downtown and see all the sports-goers. I walked to the Marriott from there, and all was fine.
I’m not a paranoid or nervous person typically, but these two times were about the most fear I’ve ever been in in a city! I’m used to being on my own, and traveled throughout Mexico and South America. Never felt afraid down there, other than one creepy time in a Mexican bar (thank goodness with friends that time).
It just kills and saddens me that this glorious city — full of American history and monuments — is so frightening in spots.
And about Chicago — spent some time there (Marquette Park) in the 80s, but would be really afraid now. I don’t even like my husband flying through Midway :(
Philly, my lovely place of birth.
Moving just outside there next week.
My brother lived downtown just off Lincoln park a decade ago. It was pretty nice, you could walk to everything. Things felt safe and looked clean. Back then the yuppies were taking over neighborhoods, but I hear that trend is reversing. Brother moved to the burbs around 2004 and left the state after they doubled his income tax last year.
Number of people at march: about 600 of 183,000 (0.33%).
How seriously are Black men in Baltimore really taking this problem?
Back in the 70s we used to go visit my great uncle who was retired from the railroad and who lived in a row house in a fairly poor part of the city.
I’d play with the kids on the block while the parental units made small talk.
Nobody got hurt and nobody died.
Later, we had to go see my dying grandad at Hopkins frequently.
Other than a feral stealing the CB radio outta mom’s car, we felt perfectly safe walking around.
It wasn’t always a jungle.
You are correct. If he had been a white male Republican, his VILE RACIST comment would have dominated the MSM nightly news.
No double standards here, not a one.
You would not get me to DRIVE ten miles on North Avenue. That street has been a crime ridden crap hole going back to the 1970’s.
>>I’ll take these people seriously when they stop stomping all over the right of the people to keep and bear arms and shoot back at the vermin.
I came across a really interesting article recently that goes a long way towards explaining why so many blacks support anti-2A and -self defense laws. After reading this, I’m not sure it is something that can be overcome. There are deep cultural issues at work that make it unlikely.
This essay is by John Ross, the author of Unintended Consequences, and is a little slow to get going, but reveals an important aspect regarding race and gun control.
Race, Values, the O.J. Verdict, and Right-To-Carry, or A Statistician Explains a Conundrum
http://web.archive.org/web/20070706054607/http://www.john-ross.net/race&rtc.htm
Did you notice they really didn’t really condemn the criminals committing the violence?
They KNOW that the first step is to stop voting Democrat, but they won’t so all of this is show business probably to get another Obama grant for new basketball courts.
How about this: Start throwing RATS out of office.
Thank you. This is a common theme with these marches against black deaths, which are somewhat not rare in the US. They don’t seem to mind murder, they just mind black victims.
Exactly, that is why they are empty gestures. The criminals don’t hear themselves in the message.
I recently drove through Baltimore on US 40. It was sacry.
I crossed one bridge with potholes that had potholes.
“just too many black faces dying on the streets,” .....
Doesn’t make any difference what color dead people are, “dead” is dead. Shooting/killing one another has become a cultural thing for these people.
Had to drive through a ghetto area of Baltimore to take my son to a doctor’s appt. I swear at one point, had the light turned green two seconds later, I would have been one of those victims of black on white crime we read about everyday. A group of them had spotted me and were ready to make their move. I thank God for gas in the car and enough light to get the hell out of that place. It looked like we were literally on another planet.
These marches are absolutely useless. Here’s a few more concrete and cost free suggestions:
1. Pick up all the trash in their streets. This could start tomorrow. It would at least show they have some concern about the community they live in. You drive through and it literally looks like a trash bomb went off.
2. Do the next thing that is free. Go down to the justice of the peace and marry the women they impregnated. (I guess for some, they’d have to first figure out WHO their kids are, or how many they actually have with more than one woman!) Move in. BE THERE so the woman can go to work without having to pay daycare (and charge it to the taxpayers). Clean up the house while you’re home. Pick the kids up at school and walk them home so they aren’t subjected to the dangers of the neighborhood. Spend time with them. Let them know you. Don’t do drugs that day. Don’t drink ...just be a parent to the kids you brought into the world. Don’t abuse the woman, either. Have some respect for her as the mother of your children.
3. With the money you save from doing that, enroll in some courses at the local college. Learn a skill. Then take advantage of all the affirmative action jobs that are ready and waiting for you to take.
4. Take the money you normally spend on saggy jeans and gold chains and buy a normal outfit. Make an attempt to dress according to the norms of civilized society.
5. Take that woman, those kids, put on your nice outfit and walk through your clean streets to Church. Learn moral values. Lend a hand to those around you who are less fortunate.
Five suggestions ...all relatively cost free. No need for “aid or assistance” from anyone. All possible and achievable for a person with two legs, two arms, and half a brain between their ears. My own disabled son does more with less than any of these people ever seem to do.
A pipe dream, I know. These people will never clean up, will never do the right thing. Never. It’s too boring. But I’ll tell you one thing — I’m GD sick of subsidizing THEIR choice not to do the right thing, because WE do the right thing ...every day of our lives. I don’t get why they continuously get a pass.
3.
Hey wait, isn't that profiling?
Some Reverend: "We need to stop black-on-black violence!"
Person who can read between the lines: "Why don't you just say 'We need to stop the violence?' It sounds like you're cool with the violence as long as the victim isn't black."
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