ADDED: From the video clip at the link: "The crowd has been growing over the past couple of hours. Members from the Young Black and Gifted Coalition are forming a line out here, demanding justice. Though the shooting happened several hours ago, police here on scene have not spoken to the public."
AND: At 1:50 in the video, there's an interview with Madison Mayor Paul Soglin, and you can hear, in the background, that the crowd is chanting "No justice, no peace."
MORE: Discussion at Isthmus: "It's getting a little nutty on Willy St right now. Trying to make this the next Ferguson from some tweets I'm seeing. Good grief." And:
I was in the area and heard a few different things. "Young black male acting a bit crazy." "Attacked a Burrito Drive delivery person, then attacked a couple in their house, and was rolling around on the ground." "attacked a cop."ALSO: Mayor Soglin says that he can't get any information from the Madison police because "under the new laws they're not allowed to conduct the investigation." From the first-linked article:
19 year old Tony Robinson-RIP.
Rep. Chris Taylor, who happened to be in the area at the time of the shooting, worked successfully for legislation last year that would require an independent agency to investigate when there is an officer-involved shooting.And I'm just noticing, in my quote at "ADDED," that the reporter said that the people in the street were "forming a line out here, demanding justice," but the chant, which you can hear is "No justice, no peace." That's more than a demand for justice. That's a threat of civil disorder.
"Obviously we've had our share of tragedies in this community, so it's a scary thing when you're in a situation like that, which I never expected to be in tonight, I have to say," she said.
Protesters gathered on the scene Friday night. The Young, Gifted and Black Coalition will host a strategy session at 10:30 a.m. in Madison. Members will meet at the YWCA on Latham Drive.
AND: The reporter calls the group "the Young Black and Gifted Coalition," but — as those familiar with the Lorraine Hansberry book title should suspect — it's the Young, Gifted and Black Coalition.
MORE: I'm seeing Facebook pages for YGB Community Meeting (Taking up Community Power) #BlackLivesMatter ("In the wake of the tragic murder of 19 year old Tony Robinson at the hands of Madison's Police Department, We'll be talking about the why's and how's of organizing and mobilizing for change") and for Ferguson to Madison (which pre-dates the shooting). At Twitter, there's #TonyRobinson.
AND: Speaking through a bullhorn that has a "Socialist Worker" sticker on it, a woman addresses a crowd: "I want you to take this opportunity to understand and connect with [the family's] hearts. A black teenager, a black boy, was viciously killed and murdered by Madison Police Department." She also says that if things don't change, "then we will have a Ferguson in Madison." Someone in the crowd cries "We do have a Ferguson in Madison." After the first minute in the video there is some NSFW language.)
UPDATE: In the "Saturday café" post, someone says:
"Please delve into this shooting in Madison and with Meade give us factual details, interviews and pictures of what is the real story. Use your background to breakdown the legal details for us layman."I responded:
I don't know anything about it at this point. I'll read the news reports.
We drove by the scene of the shooting today. Should I be "drive-by media"?
If so, all I can say is that there was police tape in front of a house, and there were police cars along the curb and a few police officers standing around. Across the street there were 3 or 4 sad-looking people sitting on the step of a porch, but no one was standing around or chanting or heckling the police officers. There was one woman walking toward downtown, carrying a "Black Lives Matter" sign.
Things looked very quiet. There was no evidence of anyone attempting to maintain protest energy around the site.
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213 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 213 of 213The left wants Blacks to get "Get out of Jail Free" Cards. We shouldn't be putting them in jail in a greater proportion then white people (Asians don't seem to count).
We need decouple actual crime and who goes to jail so we can achieve racial balance.
To people who questioned whether it was dark in Madison at 6:30 p.m.: Sunset was a few minutes before 6. That's roughly what it is here in Salem, OR. At 6:30 or so right now, it's quite dark outside.
chickelit,
"[R]etail theft for survival" is a new one for me.
Me too. Why do the "retail theft[s] for survival" always seem to involve stuff like booze, jewelry, flat-screen TVs, cigars, and the like, rather than (say) bread -- I mean the edible sort, not cash?
Of course, you can't pawn bread; you're pretty much limited to actually eating it. But as someone said in Berkeley right before the Rodney King riots, "Ooh, I hope they hit The Gap. There's a lot of stuff I want out of there." The Gap was hit, of course; so were all the other Southside purveyors of consumer goods.
CWJ,
I didn't see that 7 AM post. WOW.
And I agree. Some of these posts are very unhelpful.
If one assaults an armed police officer, a fight to the death is the most likely outcome.
Why didn't the cops just beat him senseless? Why must they always shoot to kill?
"Structural racism" has replaced "institutionalized racism". The "structural" part of "structural racism" is a term used in literary criticism. It looks at how a narrative is 'structured" to become a love story, a Western etc.
So what you are dealing with is people who want you to look at a tragedy that occurred as a result of a racist social narrative rather than person A choosing to do something and person B responding in a certain way.
It doesn't matter if Robinson was killed because he was a danger to people, it only matters that he was Black. It doesn't matter if the cop that shot him was Black or white, only that they represented the racist forces in society.
So claiming that Robinson was a bad guy who was at fault for his own death is the wrong way to counter YGB. They don't care. It's like you are speaking Chinese to them. Young Black men committing crimes aren't a problem to YGB. The response of white society to young Black men committing crimes is the problem. You will never, ever, make them see it your way so don't even try.
There something greasy about YGB's action on the literary level. They are asking the White Man for permission to be the intermediary between poor blacks and the White liberal establishment. They are a bit like the "Stephen" character in the Django movie, they want to be the ones who present massa with the list of good slaves and bad slaves. That gives them power over massa and over the other slaves. Being awarded with an office, a car, and a $50k/yr job as "community liaison" with Madison PD is not a revolutionary act.
I know the "Young, Gifted, and Black" thing comes from a song about Hansberry. People who declare themselves gifted usually aren't. UW Seattle has an offical "Young, Gifted, and Black" group. To become a member you have to have graduated high school with a 3.0 average. That's pathetic.
CWJ said:
That said. I'm a little saddened that chickelit received nearly all the praise for uncovering Robinson's earlier history when it was Mrs Whatsit who made the connection back at 7AM.
Major differences:
1) The 7AM comment was speculation - based on similar name.
2) 7AM comment was not hyperlinked - I don't think I have pasted a link for about 5 years now - if it's not hyperlinked I figure it's not worth reading (unless the commenter provides a compelling reason why I should bother). Even Garage Mahal hyperlinks his sources.
3) Chicklit did hyperlink to some credible sources (court record, pictures).
MDT (#204):
I believe it was during a New York City electrical blackout years ago that Jesse Jackson explained widespread looting in black neighborhoods by saying "When people are hungry, they have no choice". Some wit (not I) pointed out that people must have been a lot more thirsty than hungry, given the number of liquor stores looted.
alan markus,
I reply only because your comment actually supports mine.
chickelit and mrs whatsit's links "hyper" or otherwise go to the exact same place. Both comments were speculation.
The mugshot and incident report were posted by MaxedOutMama at noon, not chickelit.
I just find it interesting who receives attribution and when, and who appears to be invisible at times.
So once again a police department in a very liberal Democratic city with a very liberal mayor behaves just like Bull Conner's cops...why am I suffering from cognitive dissonance here? Something about this narrative does not compute.
Douglas wrote:
" . . . behaves just like Bull Conner's cops"
No, they did not. Unless I missed the part with the firehoses and the dogs.
The thug had a white grandmother with DREADLOCKS -- no way in Hell he wasn't going to die from a gunshot! I'm surprised he made it as long as he did.
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