July 09, 2010
Oakland Riot After Mehserle Verdict
Reminds you of Congress, doesn't it?
The trouble Thursday boiled down to a racially diverse mob of about 200 people, many bent on destruction no matter what, confronting police after the day's predominantly peaceful demonstrations ended.Sporadic conflicts were quelled quickly early in the evening, but by late night at least 50 people - and maybe as many as 100 - had been arrested as small groups smashed windows, looted businesses and set trash bins on fire.
The violence was contained for much of the early evening within a one-block area near City Hall by an army of police officers in riot gear, but around 10 p.m. a knot of rioters broke loose and headed north on Broadway toward 22nd Street with police in pursuit.
They smashed windows of shops including the trendy Ozumo restaurant, and one building was spray painted with the words, "Say no to work. Say yes to looting."
This was a bunch of progressives/socialists/anarchists bound and determined—regardless of what the jury decided in this case—to do to Oakland what our progressive Congress and President is doing to our nation.
There's no good reason for destroying property as was done. That said, you seem quick to label and pass judgement.
Minds and morals require cultivation. I think it's a mistake to underestimate the depth of poverty and violence in Oakland and the impact it's had on kids who see the incongruity better than their parents.
You can only beat a dog for so long...
Posted by: Justin at July 9, 2010 10:57 AMOh, give me a break. From the article:
Officials said the main instigators appeared to be organized "anarchist" agitators wearing black clothing and hoods. Many of the most aggressive demonstrators smashing the windows of banks and shops were white.
i didn't label these progressive pukes. Witnesses did.
Posted by: Confederate Yankee at July 9, 2010 11:13 AMThere was no "riot" in Oakland, CA (or anywhere) over the Mehserle verdict.
There was a relitively small (initially peacful) demonstration in Oakland, CA where the police made 100 arrests of the same jobless vandals that show up at every demonstration or celibration (regardless of the cause) to make trouble and a police vehicle accidentlly backed into a woman who had to ba taken to the hospital.
The Mehersle shooting was not about race. It was about an inexperienced and unqualified transit cop who confused his 9mm for a taser and accidentlly shot and killed a man--criminal negligence to be sure, but no murder and certainly not a race-motivated shooting.
Dispite the officer's apparent inability to find his taser with both hands (so to speak) there was no evidence of prior on-the-job excessive force or on or off the job racial animus.
The officer was (and should have been) found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Case closed.
Posted by: StephenG at July 9, 2010 11:31 AMJustin,
Have you ever met one of these "poor" people that you cry about? Do you know anything about their social dynamics?
I do. I have taken care of these people for about 40 years in one way or another. To sum it up, they are not like anything you could ever imagine. I am not talking about race. There is an equal mix of black and white and whites are actually increasing in number in the "poor" category. The underlying, unifying characteristic of the bunch is that they are lazy. They are so lazy that they will often not sign up for social programs that would provide them with money and health care. When we ask about symptoms and question about breathlessness, we often have to try and determine if they have a true underlying heart or lung problem that would cause the symptom or if the problem is secondary to the fact that they have never done anything physical in their lives. That includes walking up stairs or crossing a parking lot.
Their ignorance and laziness leads to poor life choices and thus poor health, poor diet, poor houseing and on and on. I once built a house for one of these poor people only to see it destroyed within 6 months due to laziness and an attitude that they do not have to take care of anything.
Posted by: David at July 9, 2010 12:19 PMI still say we give the anarchists their wish
any protest that these black clad, masked fools show up at we should be free to start shooting them out of hand. This is anarchy and some of us are far better at it than they are. That is why we don't like it.
'organized "anarchist" agitators'?
I'll take "Oxymorons" for 800, Alec.
Posted by: Random Commenter at July 9, 2010 04:53 PMPosted by JP at July 9, 2010 02:02 PM
It is very amusing that these young punks who fancy themselves anarchists really couldn't survive in the society they wish to create. They aren't really anarchists in the true sense of the term; they are really doctrinaire Trotskyites (if I understand their confused babblings correctly).
Tangle these spoiled kids up with the ones who would be released when someone says "Cry Havoc and let slip the dogs of war" and it would be a short and ugly sight.
Posted by: iconoclast at July 9, 2010 04:53 PMOrganized Anarchists and Master-Card Marxists had been putting up demonstration posters and planning for weeks. Enough so that word got out and one of the arrestees was from out-of-state - solidarity with Oscar! Oscar who's postmortem indicated a blood-alcohol tox of .2 with cocaine and some shit stronger than Dilaudid when he and his buddies were roughing up the BART coucourse. Someone who wasn't always as pretty as his sanitized picture.
After the speeches, when it got dark the anarchists pulled up their bandannas and went to work. For them a riot is a party.
