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Senate "Race" Relations (was "U.S. Society and Black Men")

Discussion in 'Community' started by Jedi Merkurian , Aug 11, 2014.

  1. Jedi Merkurian

    Jedi Merkurian Future Films Rumor Naysayer star 7 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    May 25, 2000
    JCC Mods: Feel free to roll this into the Gun Control thread if you feel this is a redundant topic, or modify the thread title if you feel it too incendiary :cool: [face_peace]

    In the course of less than a week, two instances of men being fatally shot by police have made headlines. In the first, an Ohio man was fatally shot by police in a Wal-Mart while carrying a toy gun. According to his girlfriend, she was on the phone with him during the incident, and just prior to being shot, he was heard saying "its not real." Also worth noting is that a bystander collapsed and died while fleeing the scene.

    Over the weekend, an unarmed Missouri teen was shot and killed by police. Details surrounding the incident are unclear, but multiple eyewitnesses indicate that the young man had his hands in the air when the shooting occurred.

    Meanwhile, a group of Texans have marched into various establishments with fully functional and loaded rifles, freely and without police interference.

    Of course, excluding possible police hesitation about confronting a large group of armed men, what might be the reason behind the wildly different levels of police response? Let me offer a theory. Better yet, let me illustrate:


    [​IMG]
    John Crawford


    [​IMG]
    Michael Brown


    [​IMG]
    A couple of guys from Open Carry Texas

    Why is it that a Black man gets shot for carrying a toy rifle in a place that sells toy rifles while insisting that the rifle he's carrying is a toy, while Whites can maraud as they please while carrying actual assault weapons?
     
  2. Darth Guy

    Darth Guy Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Aug 16, 2002
    Guns shouldn't be sold for private ownership and toy guns shouldn't look anywhere near realistic enough to ever be mistaken for the actual thing.

    There, I solved everything.
     
  3. Rogue_Ten

    Rogue_Ten Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 18, 2002
    “You took my son away from me. Do you know how hard it was for me to get him to stay in school and graduate? You know how many black men graduate? Not many. Because you bring them down to this type of level, where they feel like they don’t got nothing to live for anyway. 'They’re going to try to take me out anyway'... You're not God. You don't decide when you're going to take somebody from here ”
    ----Lesley McSpadden, the mother of Mike Brown

    [​IMG]
     
  4. Rogue_Ten

    Rogue_Ten Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 18, 2002

    well, except racism
     
  5. Darth Guy

    Darth Guy Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Aug 16, 2002
  6. Lord Vivec

    Lord Vivec Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Apr 17, 2006
    I'm probably going to get **** for this by the progressives, but we don't actually know what happened in the police car.
     
    Jedi Merkurian likes this.
  7. Rosslcopter

    Rosslcopter Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    Men with goatees can frickin' get away with anything.
     
  8. Rogue_Ten

    Rogue_Ten Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 18, 2002
    i dont see anything i would necessarily call a goatee anywhere itt

    the dude holding the baby has, like, the shadow of one indicating he could at least grow one if he had to, but other than that...
     
  9. Rosslcopter

    Rosslcopter Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    I was looking at the open carry texas guys bro.
     
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  10. Rogue_Ten

    Rogue_Ten Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 18, 2002

    "the progressives"

    anyways, what, pray tell, happened in the police car that caused the dudes dead body to fly 35 feet away? and without damaging or even bloodying the car, no less. i only ask because, clearly this technology should be harnessed for the good of all mankind and not kept secret by the st louis police
     
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  11. Rogue_Ten

    Rogue_Ten Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 18, 2002

    dont see a goatee on either of them. chin beard and chin beard with (barely) a mustache, but no goatee, imho
     
  12. Rosslcopter

    Rosslcopter Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
  13. Rogue_Ten

    Rogue_Ten Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 18, 2002
    oh. it has always been my stance that it doesnt count as a goatee unless it the chin beard connects to the mustache or at least the mustache is so robust that it COULD connect to the chin beard if one so chose. anything less is not hirsute/manly enough to be considered a goatee. facial hair is one area where i have always been a bit of an ultra-traditionalist

    but i guess i am wrong. wrong on facial hair. wrong for america
     
  14. Rosslcopter

    Rosslcopter Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    Its okay, we aren't all cursed with living in Portland.
     
    Ender Sai likes this.
  15. Rogue_Ten

    Rogue_Ten Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 18, 2002
    like that gun dude on the right is rocking some truly pathetic facial hair. i mean, either give it up or wait a few years to see if your testosterone levels pick up any and try again witcho cherubic ass, damn

    its alright if you cant grow a beard, i sucked at it for a long time too and im still not crazy beard man, but dont fake the funk if you're incapable. its just... sad
     
    PRENNTACULAR likes this.
  16. Darth Guy

    Darth Guy Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Aug 16, 2002
    Crimes against humanity chin-only beards are present near any college campus.

    This is a weird direction to take this thread in.
     
  17. Mr44

    Mr44 VIP star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 21, 2002
    That's why I'm a bit surprised Merk would create this post so quickly. There are literally no facts known about the second situation. There's probably not going to be any kind of honest discussion here at all.

    And not that it matters, but the first incident-John Crawford, wasn't just holding a "toy gun in the toy gun section." The toy guns Wal-Mart sells are all bright orange and lime green and aren't mistaken for a real gun. John Crawford thought it would be funny to go to the sporting section, get a sporting pellet gun, either start loading it or manipulating the controls, and start pointing it at people in the store. The reason why the police responded to the Wal-Mart in that instance was because there were no less than three 9-11 calls about a strange man pointing a rifle at customers. The most credible 9-11 call (and which the police have released) was initiated by a former Marine who was shopping at the store and who was giving a play by play of Crawford's actions:

    9-11 Call: There's a man walking around with a gun in the store.... (he's) pointing a black rifle at people near the pet section... and that he’s loading it right now... He looks like he is trying to load it... I don’t know....He just pointed it at two children.”

    You can feel the tension in that 9-11 call. How would anyone expect the police to react? Now, I don't care what color you are or what you're background is. It's not funny to start loading up a rifle in a Wal-Mart, even if it is only a pellet rifle and even if you're only joking. And you don't start pointing it at people who are complete strangers. And you don't walk around the store with it. It's stupid. It's irresponsible. And it's completely tragic.

    BTW, for context, here's the same "MK-177 pellet gun" that Crawford took the display model and was pointing at people in the Wal-Mart:

    [​IMG]

    If anything, I don't know how Crawford got it out of the box. He either took it out of the box himself, which would be way over the line for anyone to do. Or Wal-Mart had one already out of the box for display, and he picked it up and started "pretend" using it.
     
  18. Rogue_Ten

    Rogue_Ten Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 18, 2002

    oh wow they did a "the professional" ref... that settles it: guess im gonna have to watch the back episodes of community
     
  19. Rogue_Ten

    Rogue_Ten Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 18, 2002

    still its preferable/slightly less delusional than that dude on the right with his pathetic attempt at a connecting moustache

    but perhaps im a bit defensive since i did have a no frills chin beard for a hot minute in my early 20s
     
  20. Ender Sai

    Ender Sai Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Feb 18, 2001

    My first reaction?

    FN SCAR.
     
  21. Mr44

    Mr44 VIP star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 21, 2002
    Well, honestly my friend, an incident like this is what gives me a brief flash why Americans probably shouldn't have guns. A brief flash.

    Because tragic or not, John Crawford was 22 years old. What kind of 22 year old takes a rifle like the above and starts pointing it at people and either pretends to load it (or manipulates the controls) while walking around a public place? I might understand some sort of controversy if this was a pre-teen we were talking about and the police had to make a snap judgement about him holding a pellet rifle like that. But a 22 year old man? In a Wal-Mart? Pointing that at people? The end result is predictable, and harsh or not, Crawford couldn't have engaged in a more irresponsible action if he was intentionally trying to kill himself through death by cop.

    Of course that's not to suggest that racism doesn't exist in the world. But the least relevant part about this specific example was that Crawford was black. Someone white, purple, or plaid who demonstrated such a complete and utter disregard for common sense would have ended up the same way. At what point does the focus shift to acting responsibly, and not treating guns-even pellet guns- as some sort of action movie prop or joke?
     
  22. Lord Vivec

    Lord Vivec Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Apr 17, 2006
    Rogue, in the very post you quoted, I said that we don't actually have enough information on the case yet. I guess waiting a week before starting with the racism accusations is too difficult for you, eh?
     
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  23. Lowbacca_1977

    Lowbacca_1977 Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Jun 28, 2006
    Wait, the Wal-Mart thing was a real gun he was pointing at people? I'd thought it was some sort of toy. That's one heck of a spin
     
  24. Mr44

    Mr44 VIP star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 21, 2002
    Not real gun per se...But not a kid's toy gun from the toy gun section. It was the Crossman MK-177 model pellet gun from the sporting goods section.

    I don't even know if this would matter, but the question remains how did he get it out of the box? I mean, I don't think he would sit there and take the pellet gun out of the box, so I'd wager that Wal-Mart probably had an open one sitting on the display case. But still, I wouldn't imagine that Wal-Mart thought someone would pick it up and start pretending they're in the middle of Call of Duty.
     
  25. SithSense

    SithSense Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2002

    tiny penis + bully mentality + attention whoring = not doing anybody any favors.

    their guns won't mean jack **** if something goes down...a concealed pistol would have both of them down before they would have presence of mind to lift their pieces.
     
    anakinfansince1983 likes this.