And they continue to march

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once stated that "the protest march is the voice of the unheard".
As African Americans continue to march, it appears that to date, nobody has heard them. The riots in Baltimore proves two things. One; the riots do nothing but cause damage to the community and two; no voices will be heard because those who will listen are afraid to engage.

The property damage done by those who riot pales in comparison to the loss of the message that reasonable protests are supposed to convey. The media loves the visual drama of confrontations with police which includes looting, fires, and smoke canisters. But, as always the message is lost.

What is even more of a wasted effort is the debate and accusations of whether or not the police and National Guard used too much or too little force. It's the same old song and the rest of the country and the world only sees that there are more African Americans destroying their own neighborhood.

Mad Man wonders what would happen in a non violent protest where the media could enter the mass of people and actually hear and broadcast the true feelings of the protesters. Would this make a difference?

As stated in an earlier observation, in today's political environment, protests by African Americans for "Black Lives Matter" or the protests against Wall Street, or even the protests to get Loretta Lynch confirmed as U.S. Attorney General, none of this matters. It doesn't natter because those in political office are determined to hold onto their diminishing control of this country and the wealth that goes with it.

Maybe, due to the absurdly in the death of Freddy Gray and the fear of an all out and catastrophic riot, there will be charges filed against the police officers who murdered this young man. But, as all Americans have seen in recent incidents of Black men being murdered by police, nothing will happen, it will be reported by the press and Baltimore will get back to business as usual.

There is great discourse about death and destruction, but in reality the issue is that there is a concentrated effort by those in political office to keep certain people in our society poor. We can talk all that we want and complain until we are breathless, but in the end, it still gets back to the problem of politicians taking American's money, giving it to the rich while doing nothing for those from whom that money is extracted, (taxes).

Many poor people in other parts of the country, like some parts of the south, don't riot because they are not being murdered and to look at the situations in Ferguson, New York, and now Baltimore, the emphasis is definitely on color.

Unfortunately America has a Black President who is afraid to aggressively seek justice for these people or say anything at all for fear that he will be accused of playing the "Race Card". And sadly, Black men will continue to be killed, Black neighborhoods will continue to be impoverished, with no modern educational tools in any school, and the old political guard will continue to take people's hard earned money and give it to those who don't need it.

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Mad Man