Today's Action In Campus Martius [Ferguson/Eric Garner Protest]

[RapBrown]

Protest today in Detroit,MI: Campus Martius Park at 12:03pm
http://fergusonresponse.tumblr.com/p...2-03-pm-campus

[Bham1982]

What are people actually protesting at this point? It isn't clear to me.

Assuming the protests are actually focused on police procedures, then why aren't the protestors going to police stations instead of trying to bother people going about their daily lives?

At Noel Night there were people blocking the street demanding free water for Detroiters, but using the "hands up, don't shoot" meme. This kind of unfocused nonsense leads to regular people being turned off, because it just becomes a gathering space for kooks.

[RapBrown]

NBA & NFL players know but you don't? The President of the United States know but you don't? Seems everyone knows excepts those watching Fox News nonstop, there's the hint.

[Bham1982]

NBA & NFL players know but you don't? The President of the United States know but you don't? Seems everyone knows excepts those watching Fox News nonstop, there's the hint.

Love this ignorant response. Obviously anyone who has an opinion differing from a few unemployed anarchists is a Fox news watcher, right? I'm a registered Democrat, and middle-of-the road on most issues [[not that it matters).

The President of the U.S. has been very dignified and clear in his responses. He certainly is not "with the protesters", neither in words nor actions.

The legal process worked, and you don't like the result. Then, if you want change, you need to change the process. You need reforms to police procedures. Tell us what the police officer[[s) should do differently. Tell us what needs to change in the grand jury process. Otherwise you're just wasting everyone's time.

Chanting "free water" and "black lives matter" while blocking kids from going to the Detroit Science Center isn't going to endear one person to this amorphous "cause", which seems to be "Occupy Wall Street", but in new clothes.

[RapBrown]

Sorry forgot one; The United Nations understands, but you don't?

[Bham1982]

Sorry forgot one; The United Nations understands, but you don't?

RapBrown, think for yourself. You have no clue what you're talking about.

No, the UN has no clue on this issue, as they made quite clear. It was nice of them to take a few minutes off from their anti-Israel agenda to host a few felons from the U.S., apparently to offer their deep insights on the U.S. justice system.

[Scottathew]

Tell us what the police officer[[s) should do differently. Tell us what needs to change in the grand jury process.

That's my big rub with the Ferguson protests. I understand the choke-hold death outrage. From the details there, it shouldn't have happened.

But in Ferguson, what should have happened differently? I can tell you, Mike Brown shouldn't have robbed that store. Mike Brown shouldn't have assaulted a police officer. Mike Brown shouldn't have grabbed for the cops gun. Mike Brown is responsible for his own death.

I don't understand how anyone can sympathize with Mike Brown. He's what's wrong with society.

[Wesley Mouch]

That's my big rub with the Ferguson protests. I understand the choke-hold death outrage. From the details there, it shouldn't have happened.

But in Ferguson, what should have happened differently? I can tell you, Mike Brown shouldn't have robbed that store. Mike Brown shouldn't have assaulted a police officer. Mike Brown shouldn't have grabbed for the cops gun. Mike Brown is responsible for his own death.

I don't understand how anyone can sympathize with Mike Brown. He's what's wrong with society.

The protesters have some valid and critical issues, but their failure to understand the appropriate role of force in policing work harms their cause.

If the protesters want to get any real racial reconciliation, they need to show that they are taking responsibility for the Mike Brown's of the world, while expecting the police to be open to about discussing how they defend all of us.

Perhaps Wilson was 100% wrong -- but that doesn't mean every cop nationwide needs to stop engaging with common criminals of both races.

Its hard to be against stopping the shooting of the unarmed. So most blacks say, yeah, we want more from our police, so we're behind you. But what I don't believe black America really wants to wimpy cops who try to avoid conflict with criminals either. That may be what they get.

[Danny]

Love this ignorant response. Obviously anyone who has an opinion differing from a few unemployed anarchists is a Fox news watcher, right? I'm a registered Democrat, and middle-of-the road on most issues [[not that it matters).

The President of the U.S. has been very dignified and clear in his responses. He certainly is not "with the protesters", neither in words nor actions.

The legal process worked, and you don't like the result. Then, if you want change, you need to change the process. You need reforms to police procedures. Tell us what the police officer[[s) should do differently. Tell us what needs to change in the grand jury process. Otherwise you're just wasting everyone's time.

Chanting "free water" and "black lives matter" while blocking kids from going to the Detroit Science Center isn't going to endear one person to this amorphous "cause", which seems to be "Occupy Wall Street", but in new clothes.

To other white folks if they see black folks [[escpecially black males) getting into prison culture, they will become racists and be chased away into defense.

[nain rouge]

I don't get the point of having all the protests downtown. If you want maximum visibility and reach, the protests should be in the 'burbs. Royal Oak or Birmingham on a Friday night. Big Beaver in Troy during rush hour. Woodward in the 'burbs during peak hours. THOSE are areas that would get the majority of the metro area's attention.

Besides some Quicken Loans workers, who's going to care that you're protesting downtown? Most of the people down there are already sympathetic to the protests or don't care. Visibility is poor UNLESS there is a big sports game. Otherwise, you're wasting your time.

[RapBrown]

Actually those are all good ideas nain, I'm not putting them together, just telling you where they are.

[Bham1982]

IMost of the people down there are already sympathetic to the protests or don't care.

Not at Noel Night. People were laughing that the protestors were trying to connect the Detroit water shutoffs with the police incident in Missouri. It becomes a joke if you don't actually have a purpose, and just turn a protest into a laundry list of left-leaning causes.

They should go to police stations if they have a problem with the police. I don't see what Campus Martius, or Woodward in Royal Oak, or Big Beaver in Troy, has to do with supposed concern over police procedures.

[Gpwrangler]

I don't get the point of having all the protests downtown. If you want maximum visibility and reach, the protests should be in the 'burbs. Royal Oak or Birmingham on a Friday night. Big Beaver in Troy during rush hour. Woodward in the 'burbs during peak hours. THOSE are areas that would get the majority of the metro area's attention.

Besides some Quicken Loans workers, who's going to care that you're protesting downtown? Most of the people down there are already sympathetic to the protests or don't care. Visibility is poor UNLESS there is a big sports game. Otherwise, you're wasting your time.

Royal Oak and Birmingham would bring reinforcements and equipment they normally bring out for the Dream Cruise and it would be over before it started. They wouldn't block Woodward or Big Beaver for the protesters to cross either.

The Campus Martius protest was the only thing the media reported about Noel Night. The event was actually fun and not "marred" by the protesters at all.

[JBMcB]

The Campus Martius protest was the only thing the media reported about Noel Night. The event was actually fun and not "marred" by the protesters at all.

That's great news, good for the protesters. I'm all for getting out on the street and letting your voice be heard, but don't bother others doing their thing. The A-holes in Seattle were screaming at little kids trying to sing Christmas carols. That crosses the line from being concerned protesters to being self-centered whiny brats.

[Jimaz]

... The A-holes in Seattle were screaming at little kids trying to sing Christmas carols. That crosses the line from being concerned protesters to being self-centered whiny brats.

That sounds more like the act of agents provocateurs than conscientious protesters.

[G-DDT]

That sounds more like the act of agents provocateurs than conscientious protesters.

Oh, and believe me [[and if not, read your history) they do exist-maybe since before the Maccabeans. Early Christianity, Revolutionary times [[American, French, or otherwise), Union scuffles, Civil Rights movements, any activist movement since. That is why I stayed away from activism in the '90s. A lot of the wrong folks with egotistical, sloganeering, pointless effigyism [[remember the naked activists laying down in coffins in front of a Royal Oak fur-dealer?-yeah, no one is going to look past that to whatever ideology you espouse), and violent tendencies were in the forefront. They spoke the best and the loudest, and they seemed like the real and only deal [[I still recall one-who still has a current prominent weblog-ranting on a porch of a coffeehouse in Wayne State going on about Bobby Sands this and Bobby Sands that, and with all of the girls fawning at his feet. When I inquired-without a lick of contention in my voice-as to who Bobby Sands was, I got my head bit off, and the girls giving me dirty looks at my "pig-ignorance". Always a "shame on me" because I never joined DeMolay or something.).
Fact is, they aren't the real and only deal. They're there to deliberately misrepresent a cause and paint it out to be an unattractive, 2-dimensional thing. That is why only bad representations of Christianity [[like the recent brash of reality-show Amish-bashing) or the homeless [[as I stated before on other threads, most homeless are unseen, trying to stay afloat, not aggressively panhandling) hold prominence in our Western culture.
I recall how Anti-racist activists were so jolly after disrupting a Klan meeting in Ann Arbor. An activist pamphlet was handed to me with the [[almost staged) image of a huge Rastafarian kicking a scrawny skinhead on the ground [[and I say to myself "ooo boy, this ain't going to play out well"). Sure enough, I come home and the front page photo on the Detroit News was the same one with the title to the tune of "Violent Protestors Attack Peaceful Gathering".
I was so disturbed when the most prominent activists that belonged to a certain peace-oriented group [[I belonged to for over ten years) in Boston railed on acting in a violent manner during the Occupy movement [[I still recall a Michigan man calmly debating in the kitchen with two of the ranters-he obviously felt the way we in Michigan have always felt from repeated experience; we had heard enough of the violence in the Mid-west, and we were sick of it.). When I traveled to Cincinnati, Providence, Champaign, and re-established myself more in Madison, each chapter I visited were horrified at what I told them. Nothing of the sort was going on with the activities of our movement during the Occupy.
Beware of the Celebrities [[especially the ones who came out of the '60s undamaged or alive) in these efforts. They may be doing Bike activism or anti-corporate marches [[Philip Morris's "Truth"-oh Lord, I can't believe that tripe has resurfaced.). Yet, they are not on the level.

[JBMcB]

That sounds more like the act of agents provocateurs than conscientious protesters.

Wow that agent provocateur group is really sophisticated. Turns out they were actually running the protests, as one of the protest organizers specifically said their goal was to bother people at the tree lighting ceremony.

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/komo/...rs-5922596.php

[Wesley Mouch]

Protest today in Detroit,MI: Campus Martius Park at 12:03pm http://fergusonresponse.tumblr.com

Let this 'War on Cops' play out, and hope for black America will again fade. Without justice, there is no peace. Without policing, there is no justice in our city. It may be that these couple of cops are valid examples. Maybe they are racist and should be convicted. I don't see the evidence, but maybe. But what i do know is that we very much need cops who don't just sit in the patrol cars, watch crime, and eat donuts. We want cops who do engage in their communities. Call out bad behavior. Challenge troublemakers. Protect the innocent and the good against the common criminals who assault and steal.

I'm all in favor of holding police to very high standards, and holding those guilty accountable. I'm not in favor of lynch mobs in reverse, demanding the head of a cop because he might be racist and was put at risk for his life and now his career because of the reckless actions of a common criminal.

[RapBrown]

here ya go: Don't give up & never give in. "You just have to besteady." -President Obamahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuQYQCEd5X4 …

[RapBrown]

LISTEN: If you ever wondered what you would do if you were alive in the CivilRights Movement, NOW IS THE TIME to find out. NOW. RIGHT NOW

[Danny]

March on protestors, take your words of justice to the streets. Block all main roads. Michael Brown and Eric Garner will not die in vain. This civil war will go on until our governments will listen and the police force follow their prime directive protocols. Keep your eyes on the prize.

[Gpwrangler]

March on protestors, take your words of justice to the streets. Block all main roads.

Hopefully there are enough police who care enough to block traffic for those you are inciting. And remember your posts are public.

[nain rouge]

Not at Noel Night. People were laughing that the protestors were trying to connect the Detroit water shutoffs with the police incident in Missouri. It becomes a joke if you don't actually have a purpose, and just turn a protest into a laundry list of left-leaning causes.

Exactly. They didn't care. Protesting in a half-abandoned/empty city just isn't an effective approach. I remember during Occupy Detroit, people going to an event at the Fox or what have you would take bemused strolls through Grand Circus Park. Just like it was amusing for people walking around the protesters on their way to the DIA on Noel Night.

Block Main Street in RO on Friday night, and you'll make a statement.

[Willi]

How about NOT acting like a criminal, gangbanger, theif, hoodlum, sketchyasf#¢¥, pain-in-the-ass for law enforcement......maybe then you won't be "hassled" !!!!!!!! !!!! !!!!

[Cincinnati_Kid]

How about NOT acting like a criminal, gangbanger, theif, hoodlum, sketchyasf#¢¥, pain-in-the-ass for law enforcement......maybe then you won't be "hassled" !!!!!!!! !!!! !!!!

So Eric Garner deserved to die for selling single cigarettes??