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    persnickety291Andy Cush
    7/20/16 11:37am

    Let’s just be clear about this: Tamir Rice was 5'8 and 175 pounds.

    The airsoft gun he was playing with was sold with bright orange safety details to indicate it was a fake gun, but somebody had removed them, so the airsoft gun looked like a real weapon.

    Rice had been brandishing the airsoft gun and pointing it at passersby, who were terrified. In this neighborhood, most of the terrified passersby would have been black. When you live in a city with high rates of gun violence and youth gang activity, and where innocent people are routinely struck by stray gunfire during gang related gunfights. Somebody called 9-1-1.

    The cops probably acted irresponsibly, but they thought they were rolling up on an active shooter. The contention that they came in shooting in response to a child playing with a toy grossly misportrays the situation. It’s incredibly deceptive to continue to portray police officers as marauders slaughtering people at random while denying the reality of the high levels of violent gun crime in the communities where these incidents are taking place.

    Tamir Rice also was not a “young black king.” He was a low-achieving, poorly-behaved student who was the barely-supervised son of an irresponsible heroin addict with a lengthy criminal record. And now, she’s a millionaire.

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      Levinbravopersnickety291
      7/20/16 11:49am

      “ In this neighborhood, most of the terrified passersby would have been black.” ...NOPE.

      Did you even read the piece? The “Boulevard” neighborhood is not even close to being a “black” neighborhood. It ain’t Beverly Hills, but it ain’t South Central, either. It’s a very diverse, working-class neighborhood.

      Do you even Cleveland, bro?

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      Kinja Cornudo SYSTEMS ANALYSTpersnickety291
      7/20/16 11:54am

      He was 12.

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    EatTheCheeseNicholsonAndy Cush
    7/20/16 11:25am

    For anybody who hasn’t read the recent GQ piece on the Tamir Rice grand jury, it’s really worth your time to check it out.

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      Vanguard KnightEatTheCheeseNicholson
      7/20/16 11:29am

      I read it. I am so mentally exhausted.
      I have no idea how I am going to make it to the end of this years election, and after god forbid trump wins.

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      Annie from the Grog BoothEatTheCheeseNicholson
      7/20/16 11:39am

      Heartbreaking. It's sick what this country has created as normalcy, there's an excuse for everything. No accountability. I'm so exhausted.

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    secretagentmanAndy Cush
    7/20/16 11:28am

    Great piece Andy, thanks.

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      ScelestusAndy Cush
      7/20/16 11:49am

      “All it takes is guns. It doesn’t have to be a war, doesn’t have to be an argument. Just point guns at each each other, and somebody’s going to shoot, and somebody’s going to die. Then, after one shot, a million people might start shooting.”

      This. This right here. I’m proud to live in the same city with a guy who said this.

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        ArturoAndy Cush
        7/20/16 11:37am

        Great read. Thanks Andy.

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          PitfallHarryAndy Cush
          7/20/16 12:30pm

          Hearing that crowd erupt into cheers when they found out that there would be no justice at all for this poor little kid and his family made me cry tears of rage. Then I went to the bathroom and puked up my raisin bran.

          What The Fuck is WRONG with these motherfucking pieces of shit? You CHEER because an emotionally unstable piece of shit shot and killed a kid in the park, and then a bunch of other pieces of shit decided the shooter did nothing wrong? And these folks have the fucking AUDACITY to label themselves as god-fearing, neighbor-loving ‘christians?!’ I’ve checked, and I can’t seem to find one iota of bloodlust apparent in any of Jesus’s teachings. Nor can I find the part where he says it’s a good idea to revel in the misery of others.

          Ben Carson needs to let Lucifer know that he’d better start working on a Tenth Circle soon....

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            Hachi-ko ChukenAndy Cush
            7/20/16 11:23am

            This brings tears to my eyes. Sometimes I feel so isolated in my political beliefs and its stories like these that remind that there is still good in the world. To think that after such a tragedy there are children playing right next to Tamir’s final moments is incredibly touching and even humanizing. I am so far away from this community and his story gets lost in the chaos of the world. Tamir becomes another name in another tragedy and as horrible and embarrassing that is - its the truth. But reading this reminds me that Tamir was a boy, he had a family and community and that these things never go away. The pain is still there but life, in whatever form it exists, is still there.

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