Discussion
  • Read More
    MizJenkinsGabrielle Bluestone
    4/29/15 10:04pm

    As children, [Gray] and his two sisters were found to have damaging lead levels in their blood, which led to multiple educational, behavioral and medical problems, according to a lawsuit they filed in 2008 against the owner of a Sandtown-Winchester home they rented for four years.

    So in other words, it’s likely that the very criminality that some cite as proof that Freddy Gray deserved to have his neck snapped by the police was also a result of municipal negligence and society’s utter disregard for the health and safety of the Black underclass in America.

    That’s what they call being set up to fail.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      dothedewMizJenkins
      4/29/15 10:22pm

      The connection between lead paint exposure (almost exclusively in poor neighborhoods) and bad outcomes in life should be talked about much more often.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      KinglyCitrusMizJenkins
      4/29/15 10:23pm

      If you read a little about the history of lead, you’ll come across some pretty frightening patterns. Somewhat predictably, lead deposits (mostly from leaded gasoline) tend to be highest in urban, inner-city neighborhoods. I don’t know if that can be attributed to institutional malice, but it is interesting that we’ve managed to segregate our poorest people in the most polluted areas of the country.

      The effects of lead on human behavior and society have been, in my opinion, vastly underestimated. We’re just now beginning to understand how it affects crime rates, but I’ve seen some really compelling research on the relationship between leaded gasoline and the crime epidemic of the 80s and 90s. Lead does not simply dissapate or quickly decay—much of the lead that entered urban soils in the mid-20th century is still present in those soils today. Inner city kids are still playing in it, breathing it, getting it on their hands and in their mouths... and several decades after we banned leaded gas, most people are still completely unaware of the implications of that exposure.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    Max CherryGabrielle Bluestone
    4/29/15 9:54pm

    Yep, I have that racist uncle too. Except he prefers to call himself a “free thinker”, and says that we’re the real racists, because we’re not racists, or something.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      SquidEatinDoughMax Cherry
      4/29/15 9:58pm

      Haha, all my white friends seem to have the same uncle. I “love” that guy.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      VectoriousMax Cherry
      4/29/15 10:14pm

      I have an uncle sort of like that. After having not heard from him for about 20 years he friended me on fb one day and his first words after I guess looking at my timeline was “I can’t believe you’re so liberal”.

      I’m now back to seeing if I can go another 20 years without hearing from him. So far, so good.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    JRuGabrielle Bluestone
    4/29/15 9:58pm

    WaPost just published article with a source telling them about the other prisoner in that van. Says he heard Freddie Gray “banging against the walls” and that he thought he “was intentionally trying to injure himself.”

    Here we go again...

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/pr…

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      The Alvin Greene DreamJRu
      4/29/15 10:03pm

      Even if he were intentionally trying to injure himself—a dubious claim to begin with—it still remains the responsibility of the police to restrain him and prevent him from doing so. Gray would not have been able to perform this alleged act if he’d been properly strapped to a seat inside the van. The negligence here is so clear and obvious that no rationalization can mitigate against it. If he was trying to injure himself, he should have been strapped in. If he wasn’t trying to injure himself, he should have been strapped in. Either way, he should have been strapped in. There’s no excuse.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      JRuThe Alvin Greene Dream
      4/29/15 10:06pm

      Yeah. But the worrying thing here is, gee, I wonder who leaked this police document to WaPo and why?

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    The Alvin Greene DreamGabrielle Bluestone
    4/29/15 9:56pm

    Even if it were true, which it isn’t, how would that “exonerate” the police? They are supposed to strap passengers into the vehicle. Last I checked (actually, I didn’t have to check, because it’s the rule of the road to wear a seat restraint), this didn’t just apply to people with pre-existing neck injuries. So even if Gray did have neck surgery a week prior to his injury in that van, the cops are still negligent for not strapping him in. And from what I’ve read, there’s no dispute that Gray wasn’t strapped into the vehicle. Seems pretty damned open and shut to me. Well, as long as a fucking DA decides to get off his/her ass and charge somebody for once. And ... doesn’t sweep everything under the rug at a rigged grand jury. A longshot if ever there were one, but hey, I’m just sayin’.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      American MeatgoatThe Alvin Greene Dream
      4/29/15 10:13pm

      And from what I’ve read, this isn’t the first time Baltimore PD has seriously injured someone in a ‘rough ride’. This is just the first time this bullshit came back and bit them in the ass.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      NewYorkCynicThe Alvin Greene Dream
      4/29/15 10:18pm

      Truth. Whether he did or didn’t have surgery the week before, or had some neck condition, is irrelevant. If the cops didn’t strap him in and this caused his death, that’s the end of the story as far as I am (and I hope the law is) concerned.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    NonNeoNonConGabrielle Bluestone
    4/29/15 9:53pm

    I don't know what happened, and it's pretty difficult to imagine a scenario in which the cops didn't hurt Gray. But if somehow evidence comes out that exonerates the police will Gawker report it honestly and with self reflection or will this be Mike Brown all over again?

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      ww1383NonNeoNonCon
      4/29/15 9:57pm

      If they report that the police killed him would you be able to accept their reporting?

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      NonNeoNonConww1383
      4/29/15 10:11pm

      Yes. And the Police who killed him should go to jail. But they deserve a fair trail before they are sentenced which is something Gawker and the protestors need to understand

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    EldritchGabrielle Bluestone
    4/29/15 9:54pm

    I will believe in aliens landing in a field in NJ with Fox Mulder’s sister before I will believe this bullshit. The lengths they go to so the police can face no consequences. Infuriating, regressive, conspiratorial bullshit.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      s3rp3ntsEldritch
      4/29/15 10:01pm

      plus there are the other folks, pre-Freddie Gray who were (also) uninjured before dealing with BPD, but our memories are only so long, and our abilities to research so weak...

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    joeybishopspersistentitchGabrielle Bluestone
    4/29/15 9:53pm

    These racists will stop at nothing. They are a stain on America and on humanity. They should be relentlessly called out on all of their bullshit and damned from sea to sea.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      Brad Connersjoeybishopspersistentitch
      4/30/15 4:45am

      They should be relentlessly called out on all of their bullshit and damned from sea to sea.

      Agreed, friend; except when to do so will get them out of the grays.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Opposite LocksmithBrad Conners
      4/30/15 8:22am

      Originally Read your comment as “that’s what I use to get rid of the gays”

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    flamingolingoGabrielle Bluestone
    4/29/15 10:12pm

    I’m embarrassed by how fucking stupid and shitty my fellow Americans are.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      Liquid-XGabrielle Bluestone
      4/29/15 9:51pm

      Of course he didn't have spine or back problems. Because if he did, you just KNOW the cops would have jumped all over it in order to justify their treatment of him, rather then the usual smear job of "he was a druggie and criminal!" that popped up a day or two ago.

      Reply
      <
      • Read More
        DesperatelySeekingSolutionGabrielle Bluestone
        4/29/15 10:26pm

        I guess the real question in all of this is, what lengths will people who are clearly racist go to to prove that they and all who act on racist instincts to maim, oppress, degrade, marginalize and otherwise squeeze the necks of black people, are not in fact racist?

        These are the same people who insist that racism doesn’t exist and that current tragedy effecting specific black people are the fault of said “victim”.

        Do they have to wear pointy white linen hats to prove that we are still under siege by a powerful societal, media driven, resource and opportunity hording, blame eschewing racists?

        Reply
        <