Freddie Gray was just a thug?

a reply to: Snarl

It's pretty simple, no one has the right to take another humans beings life. The only caveat being if your life is directly being put in jeapordy by the person and you have no choice but to defend yourself/loved ones. Other than that it is wrong.

nm

a reply to: Helious
Thanks man. My reaction has been similar to yours. I wasn't aware there was such hatred, though. I figured people would either look at it as police brutality or a sideshow. I guess I have it good where I am. Sometimes I forget about hate.

Ok as an educated black American and veteran I ask for all of you to stop calling young men who have had hard lives thugs. It seems to that it is your new word for nugget and it has become apparent that you are clueless of how living a hard is. You sit at your computer and criticize this young man call him a criminal as if you have never broken the law. If you have speed in you call you are breaking the law therefore you are a criminal. Until you know what is like to be poor,under educated, unwanted, put down by a society that copies every thing you do and then tells you your nothing. That is what many live drugs and what you consider crime is almost mandatory for survival. But your corporations can sell drugs that are literally the same drug but in pill form and it's ok. Open your eyes and see your hypocritical ways stop trying to justify the police brutality. We are all nature beings of the earth and as long there is a system that tries to force rules on us then there will always be problems. So stop using your new word thug because in that means criminal or law breaker guess what you are a thug to.

I meant new word for 'n-word'

a reply to: themanwhois

Let me say please.. to me, a thug doesn't have a color.. I have seen plenty of white ones also, no doubt.

"Thugs" are the kids who yes, have hard lives but don't even attempt to rise above it.. they want to be in this "lets be a bully," rob and steal rape, whatever lifestyle because they want to blame everyone but the people who are to blame.

This type of mentality is across race, and has been used plenty for unruly white kids too. Those ones who are out of control, and have no respect for anyone outside of self.

A Thug is simply someone who bullies others, or otherwise uses force to "get their way" or "get what they want" and they want it, without any effort on their part.

a reply to: themanwhois

I came from a family living in abject poverty. A single mother raising four kids on her own in rural new mexico. The town was riddled with drug use, mainly meth. Chances are if you lived in that town, you were either cooking, dealing, or using. Half of my senior class had dropped out before the end of the year. Rather than fall into the cycle of drug use and dealing, I educated myself, and rose above my "lot" in life and went on to become a successful person. And I did it all without the programs and grants and scholarships that the african american community can get. That man had plenty of opportunity. By virtue of his poverty and race alone he could have gotten multiple grants or scholarships to educate himself. He chose not to. Yes, there is a problem in inner city america. But you only make the problem worse when you make excuses and try to rationalize poor decisions and criminal behavior with platitudes like this. Should we excuse his criminal behavior just because he's poor and black? That only serves to keep the black community mired in the problems they already have.

I don't believe Mr. Grey deserved to die. Nobody does, but don't try to excuse his past actions due to his poverty and the hand he was dealt.

I am not saying that poverty is an excuse but it is one reason why young men live a unproductive life. They don't know anything else. How about showing them something different. OK you made it now instead of getting on a high horse about how you made it why don't you go back to where you are from and lead others down the right path. Mr grey needed a role model and guidance not ridicule. That is what some of you can not see. Why not try to get a understanding of why some make bad choices.maybe they don't know there are other choices out there because no one told or showed them. Many of the young people in these areas don't have guidance that is what is needed not more labels and blame. How can they know what right is if they never seen it first hand.

a reply to: themanwhois

It's not my job, nor is it my calling to try to lead other people onto the "right track". I do not have the moral responsibility to foster the kind of growth I did myself. It is up to the individual to make those choices. I made mine, they made theirs.

I just had an overwhelming feeling of suicide.
Not myself but, something tells me they had better put those officers under a watch...

I am NOT a psychic nor do I claim to be...
just a feeling I had...

originally posted by: TNMockingbird
I just had an overwhelming feeling of suicide.
Not myself but, something tells me they had better put those officers under a watch...

I am NOT a psychic nor do I claim to be...
just a feeling I had...

I am sure they will do just that... they know there is a danger to them.

I am not so sure THUG is a proper term. THUG insinuates the person was at least attempting to do something. As far as I can see, he was a worthless dope dealer too lazy to even steal.
Now, in Baltimore, like all the big cities, if you want to go somewhere, you hop on public transportation and go. There is no reason for those folks to sit around with no jobs...they are just too lazy to get off their ass and get on a bus!

originally posted by: xuenchen
CNN is running a piece that attempts to justify Gray's drug dealing as necessary to support his family.

Pathetic efforts

Gray's antics outside of this particular instance are immaterial. If you feel otherwise, please, elaborate.

originally posted by: Snarl
No. I will not see it your way.

And you know I love you like a brother.

He was a criminal. He was always gonna be a criminal. And, his anti-social behavior caused me to have utterly zero sympathy for him.

Do I believe he should have been 'disposed of' by the State. No ... not in that manner. They could have put his sorry ass in a rowboat and towed him two hundred miles off-shore. I'd have been good with that.

Most of these charges seem drug related and from what I've seen, none of them are violent, although I could be wrong on that last one I'll admit. Not a nice guy by any means; as the OP said not someone I would hang around with but if all is as it seems... At least a few of the cops involved are far more insidious, criminal and "anti-social" than Freddie Gray.

Maybe we should spend more time directing our ire as a society at those that are actually a danger to that society instead of just those we are just mad at.

the rioters are doing the same stuff freddy grey used to do, but you wont ever hear the media say that.

"Here, Here" to Helious!!!! Helious points out the core issue - when did we commoners lose the label of citizen (and become a price tag on the global marketplace)?

a reply to: rickymouse

You can't let criminals get away with crime or they might be infringing on your rights the next time.

Freddie Gray was a free man at the time of his unlawful arrest

What crime was he getting away with?

What people seem to want is the ability to categorize an entire people as weeds - undesirable, without any redeeming qualities - disposable

Without basic civil rights

a reply to: abe froman

Was he murdered? No.

You know that for a fact?

a reply to: Spiramirabilis

From what I read, he ran from the cop. The only people I know who run when seeing a cop are those doing something wrong or if they have an outstanding warrant on them. I have known of quite a few people who ran from the cops over the years.

a reply to: rickymouse

From what I read, he ran from the cop.

He wasn't being stopped. Cops gave chase and arrested him without probable cause - and (drum roll please...) he did not have a switchblade after all

But, even if he had - they couldn't have known that by making eye contact

It's not illegal to run -

Fleeing from police is not, by itself, illegal in America, and the U.S. Supreme Court has made clear that in safe neighborhoods, people not suspected of criminal activity can ignore a police officer who approaches them, even to the point of walking away.

But courts have set a different standard for places where street crime is common, ruling that police can chase, stop and frisk people if their location contributes to a suspicion of criminal activity.

Unless of course you're the wrong color - and live in the wrong neighborhood

This is our country. Our rights are segregated