These riots were about race. Why ignore the fact?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

And he is white?

What color are the gangs of people coming out with brooms to clean up the mess?

From what I've seen there are people from every ethnic background in London coming out to help with the cleanup and to help the police identify and detain looters.

Is someone shocked that politicians and people with political agendas ignore facts? You voted for Obama because it would have been racist not to, right?

That's one of the stupidest posts in this thread so far...

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

I love this circle jerk of congratulation from the usual suspects about completely irrelevant racial incidents in US. Since this has barely been reported in the US news it's not surprising they would get it so wrong, but I'm sure wikipedia has the answers.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

From what I've seen there are people from every ethnic background in London coming out to help with the cleanup and to help the police identify and detain looters.

That's one of the stupidest posts in this thread so far...

Just 2 days ago we were told it was the failure of "multi-culturalism." according to the knowledgeable posters here. Of course the biggest heroes of this mess so far have been muslim men and sikhs but that's not in wikipedia yet so I'm not sure some folks know.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Clearly a few people don't mind looking like ignorant jackasses.

[slim 1,530]

Clearly a few people could care less about the UK.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

If that were true, this thread wouldn't exist.

[bigdog 376]

These riots were about race. Why ignore the fact?

By Katharine Birbalsingh

What colour is Mark Duggan? Mark Duggan is the man who was shot dead by the police on Thursday in Tottenham. The Tottenham riots last night were sparked when people protested his death. This morning, I first heard of the riots on the radio, then on the television. I read articles on the internet. But oddly, no one would say what colour Mark Duggan was. No one would say the unsayable, that the rioters were, I suspect on the whole, black. Then, finally, Toby Young's Telegraph blog post on the riots was published. Is Toby Young the only journalist out there who will dare say that these riots are about race?

Still, one paper did carry a photo of Mr Duggan. When I saw the photo, it confirmed what I knew instinctively: black youths once again have set London alight.

Some of the black kids I used to teach will tell you that the riots are absolutely justified. A number of adults would agree with them. Everywhere I read that the protest was understandable because "people are very angry".

I'd like to know what they're angry about. Mark Duggan is dead. He was shot by the police in a shootout. Duggan was in a minicab and shots were fired from both the cab and the police elsewhere. A police officer was hurt in the incident and a bullet was found lodged in a police radio. Either Duggan was shooting at the police or the driver of the minicab was. Either Duggan was in the wrong place at the wrong time and his death is a terrible tragedy – he was caught in the crossfire – or he shot at the police and the police defended themselves. Whatever the explanation, the police did not kill this man in cold blood.

Yet, a friend of Duggan who gave her name as Niki, 53, said marchers had wanted "justice for the family" and "something had to be done". She said some of them lay in the road to make their point. "They're making their presence known because people are not happy. This guy was not violent. Yes, he was involved in things but he was not an aggressive person. He had never hurt anyone."

I wonder what "involved in things" means? I also wonder whether the police officer who was hurt at the scene believes Mark Duggan never hurt anyone. "Something had to be done"? She makes it sound as if the police are killing black people every other weekend and finally someone decided to take a stand.

At school I remember watching a presentation given to the kids by Trident, the Metropolitan Police Service unit set up to investigate and inform communities of gun crime in London's black community. I didn't know what Trident was then, and it struck me that all of the photos of people shot (the idea was to scare the kids) were black. So at the end, I approached one of the policemen and asked him what percentage of those involved in gun crime were black. I kid you not, but my question made this thirty-something white man who was, after all, trained to deal with the black community and its issues, turn pink.

He explained that about 80 per cent of gun crime took place in the black community. I smiled uncomfortably. But no, he said, it was worse than that. Then he told me that 80 per cent was black on black gun crime, and that of the remaining 20 per cent about 75 per cent involved at least one black person: black shooting white, or white shooting black. I pushed to know more. While he kept saying his stats were crude and he didn't have scientific numbers, on the whole the whites who were involved in these shootings tended to be from Eastern Europe.

Was any of this ever mentioned in their presentation? Of course not. Just like the news about the Tottenham riots doesn't mention race either.

Problems cannot be addressed unless people are willing to tell the truth. As with so many other things in this country, we stick our heads in the sand and refuse to speak out about it.

http://blogs.telegra...gnore-the-fact/

Europe is Europe, racial issues?

[Ban Hammer 13,403]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

IMMORTAL QUOTES BY FAMOUS AMERICANS

"I REGRET THAT I HAVE BUT ONE LIFE TO GIVE FOR MY COUNTRY" -- Nathan Hale

"GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH" -- Patrick Henry

"THERE IS NOTHING TO FEAR BUT FEAR ITSELF" -- Franklin D. Roosevelt

"ASK NOT WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU..." -- John F. Kennedy

"GODDAMN B*TCH SET ME UP!" -- Mayor Marion Barry

you left out one:

"ask not what your country can do for you, but who you can do for your country!" --bill clinton, anthony weiner, and others

[jundp 191]

Clearly a few people could care less about the UK.

Then why post in this thread if you don't care? Clearly many people care about the UK.

It seems that this is more about social/economic class rather than race. But I am not familiar with the areas in which the rioting is happening -- I am basing that solely on reading/watching news accounts and stories from British friends.

[slim 1,530]

Our cares are not about what is happening in UK, but moreover, what's happening here.

[^_^ 5,021]

slim's thread hijacks have all the subtlety of a bull in a china shop.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Just 2 days ago we were told it was the failure of "multi-culturalism." according to the knowledgeable posters here. Of course the biggest heroes of this mess so far have been muslim men and sikhs but that's not in wikipedia yet so I'm not sure some folks know.

I read BBC and the Guardian...if that counts for anything.

[jundp 191]

Our cares are not about what is happening in UK, but moreover, what's happening here.

This comment doesn't make any sense in the context of my question. Summary: "clearly not many people care about the UK"/"Then why post here?"/"Our cares are not about what is happening in UK, but moreover, what's happening here."

"Here" being the US?

But this is a thread on what's happening in the UK.

If you don't care about what's happening in the UK then why are you even commenting in this thread?

[^_^ 5,021]

it's a hijack, jundp....

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Considering that you appeared to defend the erroneous assertion that the riots were caused by multiculturalism I don't see how you or your RUB buddy can lay claim to facts. For someone who apparently follows uk news coverage you seem to be remarkably ignorant as to what's going on.

One might even think that you didn't read the articles at all before you posted them.

http://news.yahoo.com/riot-hits-north-london-police-shooting-death-235602349.html

Riot hits north London after police shooting death

By RAPHAEL G. SATTER - Associated Press | AP – 40 mins ago

LONDON (AP) — The gritty north London neighborhood of Tottenham exploded in anger Saturday night after a young man was shot to death by police.

Two patrol cars, a building and a double-decker bus were torched as rioters clashed with officers in front of the Tottenham Police Station, where people had gathered to demand "justice" for the death of a 29-year-old killed in an apparent gunfight.

"It's really bad," said local resident David Akinsanya, 46. "There are two police cars on fire. I'm feeling unsafe."

Sirens could be heard across the city as authorities rushed reinforcements to the scene. In Tottenham shop windows were smashed as residents looted the stores, pushing shopping carts full of stolen goods down the street.

Officers in riot gear and on horseback pushed up against the demonstrators. Akinsaya put the number of demonstrators at between 400 and 500. Police said there were about 300 people gathered.

Miles from the tourist hotspots of central London, Tottenham is one of the most deprived areas in all of England, with nearly half of all children living in poverty, according to campaigners. The area is very diverse and home to one of the capital's biggest black populations.

The area also has a history of racial tension and anti-police feeling.

In 1985 Tottenham was the scene of a deadly riot after a local woman suffered heart failure when her home was raided by the police. The Tottenham riots were among the most violent in the country's history, with one officer stabbed to death as he tried to protect firefighters and nearly 60 others hospitalized.

Edited August 10, 2011 by Why_Me