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US PRESIDENT BARACK Obama has called for calm in the wake of yesterday’s fatal shootings of three police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Obama’s call comes as details of the man responsible for the shootings came to light.
Obama condemned the shootings “in the strongest sense of the word” and said attacks on “public servants” have to stop.
“We may not yet know the motives for this attack, but I want to be clear: there is no justification for violence against law enforcement. None. These attacks are the work of cowards who speak for no one. They right no wrongs. They advance no causes.”
The suspect has been named as Gavin Eugene Long, a 29-year-old African American US Marine who served in Afghanistan.
Long served in the US Marines for five years starting in August 2005 as a data network specialist, and attained the rank of sergeant, according to his military personnel file. His Iraq tour lasted from June 2008 to January 2009.
At a Kansas City, Missouri address where Long was believed to have lived, a man confronted two local journalists by opening the door holding an AK-47 assault rifle, Fox4 reporter Megan Brilley said.
A Jackson County, Kansas court document showed that Long successfully applied to have his name legally changed to Cosmo Ausar Setepenra.
Tweets
Many of the posts on Setepenra’s Twitter feed targeted white people.
After the Dallas shooting, an 8 July post read: “The Shooter was NOT WHITE, He was one of us! # My religion is Justice @tariqnasheed@ZoWilliams@thecoreyholcomb.”
“Have u ever seen white people march for the things they needed?” read a July 11 post.
On 13 July, he wrote: “Violence is not THE answer (its a answer), but at what point do you stand up so that your people don’t become the Native Americans…EXTINCT?”
One of the officers killed by Long — Montrell Jackson — was black. The other two were identified by US media as Matthew Gerald and Brad Garafola.
Long’s birthday was yesterday, the day he chose to kill the police officers.
In an ominous tweet posted just minutes after midnight the night before the shooting, he wrote: “Just bc you wake up every morning doesn’t mean that you’re living. And just bc you shed your physical body doesn’t mean that you’re dead.”
Baton Rouge has been on edge since the shooting dead of Alton Sterling outside a convenience store in the city.
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Racism is wrong wherever it comes from.
Ah shtop lads!
Black Lives Matter use a new definition of racism which means they cannot be racist. They believe racism is prejudice plus power and that black people cannot be racist because they are oppressed. Although the irony is in the fact that in all these shootings, many of the officials involved, from the police chiefs and prosecutors to the senators and president himself, have been black so the narrative of black people being unrepresented isn’t really very compelling.
Not just that Sean but there whole narrative is that are stamped down by the white man yet the shooting that set it all off was an officer of Hispanic descent but as it doesn’t suit their agenda it isn’t mentioned.
Black Lies Matter!!!!
Black-Lives-Matter is the worst thing in recent history to happen to Black Lives .
There are no circumstances in which attacks on police officers are justified, not even if a small minority of police officers use excessive and disproportionate lethal force when arresting black suspects. Poor judgment was shown in recent police killings, in both the Castile and Sterling execution style killings, but this is not a justification for attacks on the police.
The practical challenge is how to contain the retaliatory attacks by persons in a very heavily armed society with extremely easy access to guns.
The reality is that a heavily armed civilian society poses a greater level of threat to the lives of police officers. This causes police officers to be trigger happy, especially so in the case of black suspects.
Police officers need to be aware that execution style killings may have no personal consequences for them, but that such killings risk provoking reprisal murders against other members of the police.
Micheal, you would have a point if BLM were just protesting against unlawful killings by police. They aren’t though.
Just look at the list of names that the Irish spin-off protested in the name of there a few weeks ago. You had people who threatened innocents with a firearm, ran over police officers or tried to force their way into the NSA HQ in a stolen vehicle while high. Only one of the 5 people they protested in the name of were actually innocent.
You don’t know castile was innocent. No one does. The investigation isn’t over. But we do know for fact that he was according to his fb page a black panther supporter and made messages calling for violence. His gun may have been licenced but doesn’t mean he didn’t threaten the cop before going for his gun. Now quit calling it an execution on the grounds of an unreliable witness who took to Facebook live as her partner died
Oh look, let’s not address the elephant in the room. Another black racist who killed white people who happened to be cops. Was the black cop ‘fair game’ because he could be considered an ‘Uncle Tom?’ #whitelivesdontmatter. Cue the riots… oh wait….
What elephant? Are you implying that people are avoiding mentioning anything that comes into their heads??
Your comment is dripping with racism, ranting about racism from “the other side”.
That is the problem. You think you’ve just addressed the elephant yet it’s exactly your type of comment that is the new and overriding threat to the world. “Us Versus Them”, from which ever angle it’s coming from, is racism.
How about you think a little bit deeper?
There clearly are serious issues of deep division within the (only) human race that are probably getting worse now than ever before as so many “enlightened” people can find Google results to suit any narrative they like.
Real life people, even here, in this country, are quoting Donald Trump as a credible source of information
That’s the elephant in the room now. The rise of unbridled ignorance.
Not a Terrorist attack!??!??!?!?+?!?!?+?+?!+?+
Not to worry. In Journal land, you can still blame it on Islam
Well the shooter was a member of the Nation of Islam
I’m confused Rowe, do you hate islam more than blm? Or equal hatred for all?
Stick Nazism in with the two you mentioned, anything Fascist and oppressive, why??
Islamist, preached violence. Breaking news elsewhere.
Pamela Geller isn’t a reputable news source Andy
@lEll……….. Pamella Gellar’s news doesn’t coincide with KalEll’s views so therefore not acceptable. Simple!
Yes Patrick. Shockingly I don’t find news stories solely spread by people who make a career off anti – Muslim sentiment to provide an unbiased accurate version of the news. No doubt you wouldn’t dare question one of your heroes though
@kallEll…………..She’s a brave woman risking her life for what she believes in and below is that what,—
-
…”She quotes the prime minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, “… there is no moderate Islam; there is no extreme Islam; Islam is Islam.”[50] She argues that Islam must be secularized from within: “I believe most Muslims are secular. I don’t believe that most Muslims subscribe to devout fundamentalist Islam by any stretch of the imagination. And we need the secular Muslims to win the battle for the reformation of Islam….”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela_Geller
“Geller uses her website to publish her most revolting insults of Muslims: She posted (and later removed) a video implying that Muslims practiced bestiality with goats and a cartoon depicting the Muslim prophet Mohammad with a pig’s face (observant Muslims do not eat pork). Geller also has denied the genocide of Bosnian Muslims by Serbian forces in Srebrenica – calling it the “Srebrenica Genocide Myth,” even though the Serbian government itself issued a state apology for the massacre. ”
Here comes the anti white right-wing terrorist narrative
Well in Dallas that narrative came from the mouth of the murderer. Was he right-wing?
Another demented lunatic with an automatic rifle, mad country.
Where was it said that he had an automatic?
A semi-automatic isn’t an automatic rifle Roy. I was asking where Gus got the idea that it was an automatic from.
I know exactly what he meant as it’s written very clearly that he’s claiming that an automatic was used. I’m not the one inventing a back story to try and cover up for a factually incorrect statement.
Seriously Jason, stop it now. We all get the point, no need to go childish on us trying to prove your knowledge of weapons…
Out of 35’000’000 arrests last year there were 120 “Unarmed” people shot Unarmed in this context means not having a firearm, not, not having a weapon. an 120 out of 35’000’000 realy be described as a systemic problem?
Why are you using apostrophes instead of commas in your numbers? Are you trying to say 35,000,000? And where did you get that number from?
Correction: The 35,000,000 is the figure for “Police interaction” the figure for arrests is 11,205,833. @ Robert Neale, The FBI crime report.
Anywhere on earth they exist there is nothing but murder, rape, robbery, war, genocide, poverty, vandalism, riots, looting, etc. Name a single place on earth where they have been successful. No other race on earth has received more help handouts and positive discrimination in human history but somehow is always someone else’s fault. How can poor Asians go to America and out perform whites if it’s such a racist country.
Welcome to the Journal in 2016
Correlation does not imply causation, archer. Just because areas/regions with large black populations have more crime or poverty does not mean the two are linked.
This is statistics 101.
Im confused archer12 – when you say “No other race on earth has received more help handouts and positive discrimination in human history but somehow is always someone else’s fault.”… who are you talking about? Unless science has changed in the last 3 hours since your post, I thought that there is only one race on earth, i.e. humans…?
Gary too many nutters carrying guns in the US.
The relationship between black communities and police in the US seems to have parallels with Catholics in Northern Ireland during the troubles and their relationship with RUC/British Army.
It seems to be heading in the direction of a type of armed civil uprising against US Police.
Some serious changes need to take place to prevent this tinder box from exploding.
Apples and oranges I’m afraid. Catholics had a genuine reason to protest against their treatment in Northern Ireland as they were institutionally treated as second class citizens. The black community, on the other hand, is marginalising itself and many black celebrities and police officers have come out to condemn the actions of the black community since the end of the civil rights movement.
If you isolate yourself in impoverished communities, ridicule people who try to better themselves by referring to them as wannabe white men and commit a disproportional amount of crime then the increased focus on your community by police is an inevitable response.
Have you any idea of the issues that poor black people have in impoverished areas like Baltimore & how hard it is to try & make some sort of life for their families ?
Your ignorance on this is quite staggering… but I’ll have to excuse it,Jason, as you’ve never even set foot in areas like Baltimore / or America..
Francis, I know it’s not impossible to lift yourself out of these areas as there’s a long list of successful black individuals who have done so. Do I need to drag up the fact that the first black Secretary of State, Colin Powell, grew up in perpetual poverty in the Bronx?
Jason is right, there would have to be fairly prevalent dual-membership of the Klan and the police for the comparison to be apt. Maybe that was true in some southern states in the 50s & 60s but not now
Only last month a report confirmed that the RUC had colluded with the people who carried out the Loughinisland massacre in 1994. That wasn’t even a surprise to anyone familiar with the Stalker and Stevens enquiries. Read Lethal Allies by Anne Cadwallader, it’s jaw-dropping stuff.
Jason
You keep going on about the very small minority that go on to make a successful life/career ..
Have you any idea of what the housing segregation did to the black communities & the consequences of it today ? Genuine question..
I was wondering how many comments it would take for you to blame all the woes of the black community on the actions of white people Francis. Didn’t take too long this time.
The simple fact is since the Fair Housing Act of 1968 there has been a concerted effort by US authorities to dismantle the effects of segregated housing. In the period of 1980-2000 segregation between black and white communities declined at a greater rate than any other minority group.
Again, blaming something that lost it’s relevance 50 years ago for the inability of the black community to take responsibility for themselves doesn’t hold any water Francis.
Nice try ,but no cigar for you,Jason..
The segregation in Baltimore was mainly caused by estate agents blockbusting areas—which was a practice in which real estate agents would sell a house on an all-white block to an African American family with the aim of igniting a panic among the other residents. These homeowners would often sell at a loss to move away, and the real estate agents would promote the properties at a drastic markup to African American buyers…
Baltimore’s blacks have endured at the hands of local, state and federal policy makers, all of whom worked to quarantine black residents in ghettos, making it difficult even for people of means to move into integrated areas that offered better jobs, schools and lives for their children.
Schools in black areas are awful, run down, over run with roaches and rats, Third World stuff..
You have the kids living in sub standard housing, with lead paint, they have behaviour problems because of this, + no fathers, it’s a mess
Poor education = poor prospects, cycle of poverty
You know shit,Jason
Did this happen before of after the Fair Housing Act of 1968 Francis?
Parallels meaning similarities not exactly the same.
A section of the population feeling disenchanted and victimised by state authorities and feeling the need to respond violently which then perpetuates the vicious cycle and negative stereotypes on all sides become self fulfilled prophecies.
Providing a subscribers-only link doesn’t exactly help your point if people can’t access your evidence.
Jason
You provided a sentence from Wiki -but you conveniently left out the rest of that paragraph,why?
Firstly, I didn’t provide a line from Wikipedia otherwise I would have quoted it.
Second, why did you avoid the question? Was the situation you described before or after the Fair Housing Act of 1968?
Apologies Jason. Essentially it says that the Fair Housing Act has done little to resolve the systemic property segregation put in place by the New Deal and other programs. It quotes many studies including one by Stanford academics that highlighted that affluent Black families are likely to live in a poorer area (both in terms of overall SES and environment) than low income White families. This is because earlier structural barriers have been maintained by discrimination by real estate agents, mortgage brokers, landlords etc. This in turn has a knock on effect on health, education and other factors.
Fair enough KalEll, I guessed it wasn’t on purpose.
I don’t deny that the Fair Housing Act wasn’t exactly a smashing success, however the fact that this was the first of many pieces of legislation brought in to address intentional segregation shows that the US is trying to break down the barriers between neighbourhoods.
It also laid the foundation for legal challenges against conscious segregation as was proven in the 1999 case against Baltimore.
Trying to break down barriers and actually doing it are two different things, however, and your initial charge that people isolate themselves in impoverished communities seems a bit disingenuous in light of what I’ve just said
This was from wiki,Jason :
“Overall, in the period from 1980–2000, residential segregation between the black and white population has decreased at a greater rate than other minority groups.”
And the rest of the paragraph :
“[5] However, the African American population, currently the second largest minority group in the United States, still experiences the greatest residential segregation compared to other minority groups.[7] The older industrial cities of the Midwest and Northeast, experience the highest levels of black-white residential segregation, while the newer metropolitan areas of the South are experiences lesser levels of black-white residential segregation. The presence of a black population in the suburbs continues to increase with 40% of African Americans currently living in the suburbs.[5] ”
The situation that I described to you Jason was because of being segregated from the most vital of services ..
Legislation is one thing. Actions are another. Functionally, Americans are even more segregated now than previously. It’s neighbourhood segregation, school segregation, even shopping segregation. There are white Walmart’s and black Walmart’s, white shopping centres and black shopping centres, white Catholic churches and black Catholic churches.
The best examples of integration ironically, is in the south. but in the south, the black knows his/her place. But they were always socialised to be integrated, as master and slave. and by and large, this is how it is to this day
A young black family from Baltimore want to move out of the poor area that they have lived in most of their lives -as they want to better their lives..
They see an ad in the paper for a beautiful house to rent in a white suburb, and they proceed to call up the landlord (Jason Culligan) to book a viewing ..
Will Jason Culligan :
a) even bother to offer them a viewing
and if he decided to give them a viewing
b) would he rent out his beautiful house to the young family
Anybody want to talk about PTSD and veteran care?
Apparently not Dave.
Just fault and blame…
Cause and effect have no place here it seems.
Sorry I forgot, the official line is that PTSD doesn’t exist, just like veteran care
PTSD can hardly be blamed for a murder spree like this. This person had agency and they knew exactly what they were doing when they decided to gun down cops.
That said mental healths services for veterans is in dire need for reform regardless.
The odds of this being PTSD-related are slim to none. He was a data network analyst responsible for installing and administering IT systems at US Marine facilities. His tour of duty in Iraq was exclusively base-related and the odds of him seeing so much as a lick of combat are remote.
Here’s the description of what his job was for anyone who’s wondering:
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/enlistedjo2/a/0651.htm
As for veteran care? If you want to disenfranchise people quick put them in the army
Ohh look he wasn’t a terrorist!
Media is great as terrorist label is only for muslims lol
If a muslim kill someone that’s terrorism and if anyone else kills that’s voilance!
Pure bigotry!
Racism is one part of this as is the way mental health is look upon by the US Military, some say 3 and others say 20 veterans a day commit suicide, what faction turns self hatred outward then?
Iraq and Afghanistan veterans might cause more of this as does the media for ratings and racism with fear?
have your say