The Purge is coming! No. Actually, really it’s not (even though it sort of did). But this bullshit did a fair bit of work to fuck things up Monday afternoon.
By noon this had already gotten more 16,000 views. The Purge was “scheduled” for 3:30pm. The first cop was injured at 3:45pm.
These messages also need to be heard by all the apologists for rioters as well. Especially those that live nowhere near Baltimore.
I don’t know these guys (well, I’ve heard of Ray Lewis), but I find these unrehearsed personal messages quite powerful. Especially compared to pontificating buffoons who don’t live in Baltimore and use the city’s destruction to fit their ideological world-view. These are the perspective you won’t hear on NPR or from your over-educated liberal friends.
First from Emeka Mbadiwe. Here is his facebook message to Baltimore Police.
And second, maybe my favorite, from Leroy Wolfgang Harrison. Because sometimes you just need to say, “Fuck you, you ignorant ass motherfucker.” (Also, he uses “bank” a verb, a true Baltimorean.)
And finally Ray Lewis, an NFL player who knows a little something about violence.
This had become a popular video in Baltimore.
And the interview with moms.
You know, technically, in our-spanking-is-wrong society, mom committed the crime of physical child abuse. The law says lock her up and put her child in protective services to protect him from her. The law is not made by single mothers in Baltimore.
Here’s the citywide announcement (mp3 file) to police on the city curfew. Story in the Sun.
That could be one headline from yesterday. There was no Baltimore homicide between 23:45 hours on Sunday and 12:00 our today (Tuesday). I also just heard a call dispatched for drug dealing. It’s almost like things are getting back to normal. (Though they’re not normal yet.)
I still can’t get over the Mayor saying “We also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that as well.”
[Update: Though now I understand, thanks to a comment by Matt and others in a previous post, what I think she was trying to say:
From the video, it appears she did indeed mean that the city inadvertently provided space for those to destroy through their attempts to provide space for protest. Also from the video, the guy on the left of the screen (one of her own who was likely privy to the content of her speech prior) clearly heard the more inflammatory version. People make mistakes, they misspeak; she just needs to clarify her position, wring her hands, and call for an end to the destruction. It wouldn’t hurt if she called on protestors to do their best to police their own… using different language of course.]
Now this isn’t some gotcha moment, but when I ask a cop fighting the riots why the riots started, he said, “The mayor gave them permission.” I had no idea what he was talking about. I sounded like some right-wing lie. But this police officer isn’t right wing. He’s also African-American.
I wasn’t convinced that the mayor said this. But regardless, I asked, “But so what? It’s not like the people out there burning shit listened to the mayor’s press conference. They don’t even know who the mayor is!”
“Word gets out. Through the leaders of the community. It trickles down. That was the message.”
So I found and watched the video. Now I don’t know what the mayor meant to say. But this is what she said. I thought she was going to correct herself. She didn’t. Maybe it’s exactly what she meant. Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is in way over her head.
(And look at the guy on screen-left having a “what chu talking ’bout, Willis” moment.)
Here are two links to the same press conference (in case one link dies in the future).
Well, that did not go well.
When the fires hit the Eastern, I felt it got personal.
I can’t believe nobody got killed. Hell, by that standard, it was a peaceful night in the city.
In the academy, we got less than one (1) day of riot training. This are my notes from Tuesday, April 4, 2000, in their entirety:
Started by watching a video of characteristics of armed suspect: the shoulder dip, the stiff arm, the coat swing, security checks–all of these are grounds for reasonable suspicion and a stop and frisk.
[Instructor 1]: “Don’t walk the line [between legal and illegal]. Often times the department says you can do something, but if you do it against someone with a little pull and they sue you, the department won’t back you.”
“I’m a peon here and my opinion don’t count for much. [regarding getting more time for crowd control]”
“You should be happy you’re going to the Eastern and Western. You’ll learn a lot there. Just keep a good attitude. Stay humble.”
[Classmate 1, a white guy:] “I can’t wait to go to Sarajevo.”
[Classmate 2, a black guy:] “These neighborhoods aren’t that bad. I grew up in the Western. Am I a bad person? There are lots of good people there.” “But a lot of these people aren’t from these areas. They don’t know.” [Classmate 3, a black guy]
“The Eastern and Western are where most of the IID numbers come from… people get burnt out.”
“Keep your contacts here. If you don’t you’re going to have a hard time.
For class, we’ve watched a few episodes of “In the Line of Duty.”
“These college students who think their stuff don’t stink and want to mouth off. I get to arrest them. And it was fun.”
There is no G.O. [general order] on crowd control.
Crowds: there are passive and hostile crowds.
“In Japan, I saw where they bring in buses and let a few people out and beat them. Them they let a few more out and beat them. After that everything is OK. But we have something that stops us from doing it.”
“The ACLU?”
“No, civil liberties, the constitution.”
Our goal: containment, isolation, dispersal.
“Yes, we’ve already been tested on this.” This was a test question yesterday that we were “reviewed” on.
“This academy is a joke” [said Instructor 1]
“As a person penetrates the front line, you will wack them, hit them, beat them down…. This is the one time we will tell you to strike a person.”
We spent the day doing riot formations. Kind of fun. Kind of. But also another long boring day. At one point, though, [instructor 2] slammed his baton into the floor, ran up to [classmate 4] and screamed, “What are you nodding at?! Do you know everything?! You’re creating a hostile working environment because you’re pissing me off!!!” [Classmate 4] sucked it up. It was such an unnecessary yelling event that I found it funny.
275 of last year’s [305] murders were of blacks.
Norris is now in charge, says the news.
That’s it. Let’s hope training has gotten better, though I doubt it has.
[Update: From a comment by Adam, below:
When I went through the BPD academy (in 2008) there was more extensive riot training, done at the firearms training facility. We learned and drilled formations: “V”-shape, a straight line, etc. It wasn’t very lengthy training (I obviously can’t remember much of it), but it was more substantial than what you describe.
An NYPD officer tells me “Your description of riot training is spot on. We were actually told that we’ll probably never do the stuff they taught us.
You sure did, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.
I cannot believe that the mayor of Baltimore said this yesterday.
Unbelievable.
You think that may encourage people to loot and burn?
The full context in case you were wondering (I was) is:
I’ve made it very clear that I work with police and instructed them to do everything that they could to make sure the protesters were able to exercise their right to free speech. It’s a very delicate balancing act. Because while we try and make sure that they were protected from the cars and the other things that were going on. We also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that as well. And we work very hard to keep that balance and to put ourselves in the best position to deescalate.
(And no, it’s not “outside agitators” doing this.)
Now the Eastern is burning. @PeterMoskos https://twitter.com/PeterMoskos.
