Long before Nelli Ruotsalainen protested on I-93, Massachusetts government decided to eliminate the breakdown lane and use it for rush hour traffic. That is not on Nelli Ruotsalainen, that is on us.
The government's concern is that the Interstate 93 protest in Milton broke the way we provide public safety services. In fact, we know of not one death nor one injury caused. I'm not saying it couldn't have happened, I'm saying it didn't.
That we act as though it did or that the protestors are solely responsible for inhibiting south shore ambulance access to level one trauma care is a load of carp. Rhode Island has a level one trauma center that is closer to Easton than Boston. An ambulance could have gone to Rhode Island-- it was even closer-- or used the HOV lane or the Mass Pike or medevac.
We could also make Interstate 93 safer for patients in ambulances by restoring the breakdown lane and instead of having commuters use it, reserve it for emergency vehicles.
29 people arrested in Boston after #BlackLivesMatter protest shuts down a major highway http://t.co/KBFNjkv326 pic.twitter.com/OxJTC5TevB
— MTV Hip-Hop (@mtvhiphop) January 15, 2015
Here is a lunch counter that back in the day (1960s) didn't serve black people. When these black men came in and sat down, the counter closed for the day 'in interest of public safety.' Let that sink in.
It is 'public safety' Mayor Walsh, State Police and Boston news channels cited as the basis of their principled objection to the protestors' method. I'm not calling them racists. I'm saying they're falling for the same poorly reasoned but emotionally powerful excuse to condemn the protestors' method and "righteously" punish protestors for their "dangerous" expression-- their speech. The protest was a massive disruption. If the facts still count, they did not endanger anyone: No one was injured.
These guys inconvenienced me. I couldn't even get my ham sandwich that day. #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/FXOeeKIR5q
— Robin (@caulkthewagon) January 15, 2015
The civil rights leaders we roundly approve of now, like Martin Luther King Jr, did not have popular support for his protests. He was viewed as threatening, albeit less threatening than Malcolm X, a Bostonian. (Also MLK went to BU for his doctorate.)
The black kids that sat at lunch counters were not hailed as heroes, they were challenging the status quo and everyone wanted them to find another way to make their point.
It wasn't until people across the country saw the use of state violence to suppress civil rights protests such as marching from Selma to Birmingham, that the public changed their minds.
These protests wont work the same way, they don't count on state violence to change public opinion. Instead, they're saying we will disrupt until the issues are addressed.
We have a forward thinking legislature. Between December 3 and January 15, three state legislators have written bills that address the issues.
Now if we could get Marty Walsh to recognize that Bostonians who are black and who are not criminals and who live in Dorchester and Roxbury and who do not want to be stopped repeatedly by police because they're "suspicious" should be able to have that. Let's figure out a way.
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Comments
Don't forget that
By mplo
Sat, 01/17/2015 - 5:04pm
The early to mid 1960's were much, much different times, with definite, concise goals, and concise strategies to achieve them. I don't advocate state-sanctioned violence, or individual violence which also can and does result from such activities, and it's too bad that people really did get beat up or whatever, in the process.
I disagree with the notion, however, that the blacks who had sit-ins at lunch counters to break the status quo weren't regarded as heroes. Maybe they weren't by a certain element of people, but there were plenty of people who considered them courageous for standing up and having these sit -ins.
goals I've heard discussed
By Anonymous
Sat, 01/17/2015 - 9:57pm
Although these are legitimate goals,
By mplo
Sat, 01/17/2015 - 10:50pm
resorting to the kinds of tactics that the protestors have resorted to, imho, is NOT the way to reach those goals. As other posters have succinctly pointed out on here, it's just going to turn more and more people off.
Police brutality, especially in poor and non-white communities is a huge problem. Not enough is done to bring cops who overreach and abuse their power to justice, and change is needed, but the kind of tactics that the protestors have been resorting to, especially the blocking of interstate highways, has really detracted from this issue in a big way.
the cause is legit
By Anonymous
Sun, 01/18/2015 - 8:33pm
You're saying the cause-- the goals are legit.
You're saying protestors should find another way to advocate because their tactics will be ineffective because the key to their success is getting more popular support for the cause.
So, you'd prefer that they
By lbb
Mon, 01/19/2015 - 10:47am
So, you'd prefer that they use the sort of tactics that people can comfortably ignore forever, is that it?
No need to answer, I think we all get it.
Wait on time
By Anonymous
Mon, 01/19/2015 - 11:31am
???
By dmcboston
Sun, 01/18/2015 - 6:00pm
"Stop killing unarmed black people (apparently it happened almost once a day, every 28 hours) "
OK, so it happened a hundred or two hundred times since last summer? Damn, where's the media? If this is true, why isn't it on every channel?
Cite your source.
"Hold police who use lethal force accountable ".
Most 'cop shootings' are totally justified by the situation. Armed people (the police) confront a possible criminal situation. Maybe you could explain to the City what you mean by that. They already have an Internal investigation and the Suffolk County DA investigates. They would welcome your insight.
"Solve the conflict of interest between investigators of police-involved homicide, the police, and the District Attorneys office".
If it's a police shooting, the word 'homicide', by the MA definition, might be a bit premature, pending an investigation of the facts. Just because it's a shooting, doesn't make it a homicide.
"End racially disparate policing "
OK, um, I believe the City is open to suggestions...maybe look for illegal guns in the Blake Estates? Have you ever talked to a cop?
"Make the police force representative of the city it serves"
I don't think any of your one percenters would patrol Beacon Hill for what the City pays...
Every 28 hrs
By Felicity
Sun, 01/18/2015 - 8:40pm
This explains the methodology used to reach the "28 hrs" stat.
http://www.operationghettostorm.org/uploads/1/9/1/...
A rebuttal (and a rebuttal to the rebuttal.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/w...
Here's a list of 76 black men and women killed by police between 1999-2014. It doesn't include people killed by security guards or vigilantes i.e. Trayvon Martin. See methodology in first article.
http://gawker.com/unarmed-people-of-color-killed-b...
not what I've seen
By anon
Sun, 01/18/2015 - 8:12pm
FWIW the group that staged a demonstration in the red line car I was on quickly pivoted from Eric Garner and Black Lives Matter to the occupation of Palestine, the genocide of Native Americans, and wage inequality. They threw in some bad paraphrases of Marx for good measure.
I didn't see any actionable policy positions on improving the relationship between the police and the public, just sophomoric venting of rage at a cruel world.
Can we see some documentation of this?
By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 01/19/2015 - 12:10am
It sounds so wonderfully stereotypical and truthy ... a video, perhaps?
The same sort of
By gotdatwmd
Mon, 01/19/2015 - 11:12am
The same sort of indecisiveness was the essence of Occupy. I wholeheartedly believe his story.
Calling bullshit. Why don't
By lbb
Mon, 01/19/2015 - 10:49am
Calling bullshit. Why don't you just own up to the fact that you'd like all those uppity fillintheblanks to shut up and go away? Oh, and were you shaking your fist in outrage when "celebrating" Ohio State fans rioted after their team won?
improving the relationship between the police and the public
By Anonymous
Mon, 01/19/2015 - 2:04pm
Police commissioner Evans and Mayor Marty Walsh say community policing will improve the relationship between the police and the public.
In a CA town, body cams had a dramatic positive effect on decreasing complaints about police and reducing incidents of police use if violence.
I'm not saying it wouldn't
By gotdatwmd
Mon, 01/19/2015 - 3:02pm
I'm not saying it wouldn't work but that town is also 1/6th the population of Boston, has about 2000 less police officers and isn't a state capital.
I disagree with the notion,
By Jane
Sun, 01/18/2015 - 8:13pm
I disagree with the notion, however, that the blacks who had sit-ins at lunch counters to break the status quo weren't regarded as heroes. Maybe they weren't by a certain element of people, but there were plenty of people who considered them courageous for standing up and having these sit -ins.
Some of us consider the folks who risked their arms and commuter road rage to bring attention to these concrete, necessary demands to be heroes, too.
Jane
By Anonymous
Sun, 01/18/2015 - 8:45pm
Sit-ins
By Anonymous
Sat, 01/17/2015 - 9:53pm
Sit-ins:
There's a difference between "helping"
By Sally
Sun, 01/18/2015 - 8:48pm
and making yourself the public face of a movement. We all know that many white people--a lot of students, an awful lot of Jewish people--were deeply supportive of and actively involved in the civil rights movement, but they were not the leaders of that movement and there was a pretty conscious attempt to garner broad support without taking over things or giving the impression that they were in charge. There's a reason you're not posting iconic photos of white Columbia students at 1960s sit-ins and yet what your average Globe reader will remember from this event is Mr. White Hippie Dreadlocked Guy. There is no way that any remotely clued-in, media-savvy person should have allowed this.
First of all,
By dmcboston
Mon, 01/19/2015 - 3:24am
the 'Mr. White Hippie Dreadlocked Guy' was there. He is news. There are no black faces there.
'There is no way that any remotely clued-in, media-savvy person should have allowed this.'
This is part of the liberal dilemma. It doesn't fit the narrative.
It's a pretty stark contrast to the other protests we've seen
By Sally
Mon, 01/19/2015 - 11:52am
which have been predominantly black and certainly led by black organizers, so no, this is not about the "liberal narrative" it's about this particular action.
Posted by Anonymous,
By gotdatwmd
Sun, 01/18/2015 - 3:10pm
Posted by Anonymous, naturally.
I was just going to say...
By Sally
Sun, 01/18/2015 - 3:16pm
Not sure what's going on here but as a long-time reader/commenter and a huge fan of UHub, I think the last thing we need here is Anonymous editorializers.
Agreed. This is a propaganda
By anon
Sun, 01/18/2015 - 3:39pm
Agreed. This is a propaganda piece by someone who isn't Adam. This is shady. Adam, are you paying attention?
Yep, paying attention
By adamg
Sun, 01/18/2015 - 4:02pm
I'm the one who put it on the home page.
Anonymous is not the hacker group but some long-time UHub poster who grabbed that as a user name before I thought to lock it down for use only by anonymous users (which is why they go as anon). Anybody can get an account here and post "articles" in addition to comments on stuff I post.
I put it on the home page because I thought it was an interesting counterpoint to all the articles about how horrid those people were to shut down a major road at rush hour. Obviously, many (most?) people won't agree with what he's saying, but I thought it worth at least considering.
I think
By Sally
Sun, 01/18/2015 - 5:03pm
there's been plenty of argument and counterargument but as I've mentioned before, while I've been an unwavering supporter of #blacklivesmatter and the protests that have gone on in Boston, NYC, etc. I was completely dismayed by the way this whole protest was executed. It's been cringe-worthy from start to finish--alienating and enraging a vast swath of people by targeting ordinary commuters without drawing any connection between the action and the injustice (it's not as if black people are banned from driving on 93 or living in the suburbs), having the entire thing run and executed by a bunch of privileged young white people, and now trying to draw comparisons between these protestors and...black people who sat in at lunch counters and marched on Selma? Really?? Honestly...the pretension here is jaw-dropping. Until the Mass. Staties start up with the dogs and firehoses, Anonymous and his or her ilk should shut. their. traps with the self-aggrandizement. Really. Please just stop.
it's not as if black people
By Jane
Sun, 01/18/2015 - 8:17pm
it's not as if black people are banned from driving on 93 or living in the suburbs
Actually, have you heard of red-lining? It's not just luck and coincidence that led allowed white flight to stay so... white.
Yeah, thanks.
By Sally
Sun, 01/18/2015 - 8:54pm
I've heard of redlining. Were they protesting redlining? No. Again...no comprehensible connection between the activity and the topic at hand.
Actually...
By dmcboston
Mon, 01/19/2015 - 3:36am
...redlining is more insurance-based. No insurance, no bank loan. No bank loan, no fixing up of the house. House goes downhill, rest of neighborhood hurts. It's a spiral.
I'm not a social justice warrior, but I am an old warrior. I fought that battle and I have the file cabinet to prove it.
One must bear in mind that "redlining" was created
By mplo
Mon, 01/19/2015 - 6:46pm
in order to ensure that blacks and other non-whites couldn't buy housing outside of the "red-lined" area(s). Inotherwords, the "redlining" of certain areas was done in order to keep the black and other non-white homebuyers ghettoized, if one gets the drift.
Blacks and other non-whites who found better housing just afew blocks outside the "redlined" areas were denied the FHA (Federal Housing Administration)-insured loans, and forced to stay within the "redlined" zones.
Sally's says the protestors fail to draw a connection between..
By Anonymous
Sun, 01/18/2015 - 8:52pm
Sally says the protestors fail to draw a connection between the action and the injustice(s) they want address(ed.)
Was there one or more statements of purpose published in the Boston Globe? I heard they didn't mention it until the 12th paragraph. If the protestors are counting on the press to get their message out, it's not working well.
Well, exactly...
By Sally
Sun, 01/18/2015 - 9:09pm
These are young people--how do they not understand the importance of visuals, quick impressions, headlines, a message that's short enough to be summed up in a tweet, preferably a bumper sticker? If anyone is expecting their "mission statement" (buried or not in a newspaper article( to be the main avenue of communicating their message, then they need schooling in basic marketing and media.
Sorry for the rant, but again...this is a cause I support. I'm frustrated at seeing it lose momentum due to mishandling.
And how exactly are you
By lbb
Mon, 01/19/2015 - 10:52am
And how exactly are you "supporting" the cause, Sally? What concrete actions are you taking? Or are you just awarding yourself a get out of jail free card for your "get off my lawn" attitude?
Honestly?
By Sally
Mon, 01/19/2015 - 11:58am
None of your gd business, but I should've expected you to turn up with your usual ad hominem BS. Now can you please get back on topic and offer a single way in which this protest advanced its cause? Just one?
Put up or shut up
By lbb
Mon, 01/19/2015 - 1:47pm
You get to say it's none of my "gd" business. You don't get to proclaim claim your alleged support for the cause at the same time you're saying that other people are doing it ALL WRONG, and then tell me it's none of my"gd" business what that support consists of. You went there, ya know? So either claim to be a "supporter" or don't, I don't care, but if you do, expect to be asked to show your bona fides.
AAAAAAAAAAAAH yes
By CaptObvious
Fri, 01/23/2015 - 10:53am
The holier than thou protester, who thinks anyone who isn't chaining themselves to the freeway isn't doing enough.
You need to learn something about how change happens. It doesn't happen by calling the people that are sympathetic to your cause bad names.
But keep up the good work, Ibb.
I'm honestly less likely to support this cause simply because I know people like you support it.
Thanks Adam
By Anonymous
Sun, 01/18/2015 - 8:14pm
Thanks Adam for putting this post on the front page. I know this is not a popular position because, in my opinion, many many people have already bought into the argument that the problem with the Interstate 93 protest was the public safety implications not that it was a huge inconvenience or an unpopular cause or illegitimate protestors-- some of these arguments put forward by officials from the state police to Mayor of Boston to Boston Police Commissioner.
I had a lot to say on the your thread about the woman Marty Walsh fired for protesting but then I had leave and go work on a project. So I didn't know you put this on the front page. Thank you for that. If I have more energy for Universal Hub commenting after the Pats game, I'll jump back in. Go Pats.
Of course Adam's paying attention.
By dmcboston
Sun, 01/18/2015 - 5:29pm
He comments here quite a bit. I doubt someone could post a story without his noticing.
If you bothered to look, it's
By datadyne007
Sun, 01/18/2015 - 3:43pm
If you bothered to look, it's not any anonymous poster... it's the registered user Anonymous, who has been active on here commenting and posting articles for 6 years 9 months.
I missed the Guy Fox mask too
By Markk02474
Sun, 01/18/2015 - 3:50pm
Adam, need photos/icons for registered users! (joke, please don't!)
Fawkes...Guy Fawkes.
By anon
Sun, 01/18/2015 - 6:56pm
Fawkes...Guy Fawkes.
I don't own one of those, a Guy Fawkes mask.
By Anonymous
Sun, 01/18/2015 - 8:16pm
Isn't it funny how people try to discredit you by association?
Not to discredit
By Markk02474
Mon, 01/19/2015 - 12:30pm
The mask is just the uniform of the group calling itself "Anonymous". When you call yourself Anonymous, you gain ownership of all associated with it. You picked the user name.
Now, I see why you inferred Guy Fawkes from my UHub name
By Anonymous
Mon, 01/19/2015 - 12:38pm
Yes, that's a false inference in my case.
But note
By nm
Sun, 01/18/2015 - 4:21pm
'Anonymous' is their log-in name, so while one may think this is a confusing choice of handle, they don't really fall into the same box as the more common anon contributor, and are just as identifiable as 'gotdatwmd', 'Sally' etc etc.
ps - if you are taking issue with anybody apart from Adam posting stories: sorry, misinterpreted your comment.
As a long-time reader
By 02132
Sun, 01/18/2015 - 4:57pm
As a long-time reader/commenter and a huge fan of UHub, you should be able to recognize the handle of another long-time reader/commenter (clearly differentiated from posts by unverified, anonymous users), as well as the fact that Adam promotes user posts and blogs to the front page quite often.
The only thing that's going on here is the same thing that has been going on here since the site began.
It's not.
By Sally
Sun, 01/18/2015 - 5:08pm
Sorry, no--if someone wants to ID themselves as "Anonymous" why would I bother to recognize them as anything but, uh...Anomymous?
And of course--is is Adam's site and he's free to post anything he chooses. But what I've seen him post before from other commenters is news, not opinion. That I think this particular opinion is hopelessly weak and unsupported fuels my irritation, no doubt, but I'm just saying--I'm not interested.
Don't waste another second being unhappy about what I write
By Anonymous
Sun, 01/18/2015 - 9:18pm
Let me introduce myself. Hi, my Universal Hub friends call me anonymous. I've been around here for 6 years.
You think this post is "hopelessly weak and unsupported" and it "fuels my irritation" (I think the word you're looking for is aggravation) and you're "not interested." Hey, don't waste another second of your time being unhappy about what I write.
I found it mildly annoying...
By dmcboston
Mon, 01/19/2015 - 3:40am
But then again, that's why I'm here.
Long live freedom of the press.
Yeah
By Anonymous
Mon, 01/19/2015 - 3:51am
I don't care.
If I cared about how you feel
By Anonymous
Mon, 01/19/2015 - 4:12am
If I cared about how you feel about my post, it would be schadenfreude that you were annoyed but really, I don't care.
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