Monday, October 24, 2016

Black Lives Still Matter



For the second time this year the Black Lives Matter banner went up over South Pleasant Street, the gateway to the heart of downtown.

Although this time, unlike 7 months ago, there was no fanfare whatsoever.

Maybe that's a good thing.

37 comments:

  1. I thought the rule was that only announcements for events could be hung.

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  2. Well the "Christ is risen" Easter banner does not announce an event (unless he plans to rise from the Town Common).

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    1. It announces Easter. The biggest and most important event in the Catholic religion. Hillary msy hate Catholics,, but you in Amherst celebrate diversity.

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  3. actually larry the "christ has risen" banner is an announcement, strictly-speaking. past tense is irrelevant. that amherst is promoting this wrong headed and racist movement is, although not shocking, a continued embarrassment.

    bill r.

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    1. From someone who never worries about being jilted or scoffed at - we DWI victims feel discrimination-too -sorry to " rain on you party heartys parade ... just say'n !!!

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  4. I'd love to see someone put up "Unborn Lives Matter"

    Why do I think that'd never be permitted?

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    1. Black lives matter except to other blacks who kill each other at an astounding rate. But that doesn't fit the narrative.

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  5. Headline in local massachusetts newspaper: "Black Lives Matter Honored at Smith College."
    Honored?? For what?? The 'pigs in a blanket-fry 'em like bacon" chant? Or the "...dead cops...now" march slogan?? And Amherst hangs their banner. Typical.

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  6. Minority women constitute only about 13% of the female population (age 15-44) in the United States, but they underwent approximately 36% of the abortions.

    According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, black women are more than 5 times as likely as white women to have an abortion

    On average, 1,876 black babies are aborted every day in the United States.

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    1. Sooooo- you Cons oppose any and all forms of family planning -and preach this -what do you then -EXPECT ? - would be the operative word ...

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    2. Abortion is not family planning. I believe the point Anon 1013 was making is that if there were more opportunities for women to have access to family planning services there would be fewer abortions. But those who rail against abortion also rail against family planning. They are not as much interested in justice for a fetus no bigger than a period on this page as they are interested in controlling women and their bodies. They are no better than the Taliban, in a way.

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    3. EXACTLY... My point-thank you-Cons cause abortion by rejecting family planning-Cons are soooo CONvolted on family planning !!

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    4. I personally have zero interest in controlling women and their bodies. Just in favor of not killing babies.

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  7. Totally cool.

    I am sure that the sign will help things along and calm race relations.

    People need to be reminded in just this way, that is how you build real respect, by looking at black people as a group, not as individuals.







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  8. Sooooo- you Cons oppose any and all forms of family planning -and preach this -what do you then -EXPECT ? - would be the operative word ...

    Ring goes on finger before panties come off.

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    1. There are the five o's again. Please! You're killing me.

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  9. People need to be reminded in just this way, that is how you build real respect, by looking at black people as a group, not as individuals.

    Please, PLEASE tell me this was sarcasm.




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  10. Ed, you don't live here. Try worrying about Maine, where you reside.

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    1. Once more with feeling: you do not need to live in Amherst to friend it's politics amusing.

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    2. Find not friend...sry.

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  11. Poor babies. Maybe we should provide trigger warnings and a safe zone, so that you don't have to view such an offensive banner.

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    1. It's not the banner that's offensive. It's the calling for the killing of cops by that group that's offensive.

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  12. "People need to be reminded in just this way, that is how you build real respect, by looking at black people as a group, not as individuals.

    Please, PLEASE tell me this was sarcasm."

    Perhaps we should look at this from a child's perspective, as they are the only ones that have the real capacity to learn anything about this stuff. The rest of us already have views and will bend our words to make sure we are not an outlier.

    I would assume a child learning would get the impression that black lives matter more and that we should make this stereotype based on the color of their skin. I hear the confirmation of race superiority and that stereotypes are useful/appropriate.

    What mom may say:

    "You see Billy, people that are black are not treated fairly and their ancestors...."

    What Billy hears:

    "Wah, Wah, Watch what you say and you owe black people because Wah, Wah,"

    What Billy thinks:

    "Ice cream, I didn't do anything, Bobby hit me, don't I matter, but mom said I cannot say that to a black person"

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  13. Cops are killed by blacks at 18.5 x the rate that blacks are killed by cops. Does anyone hang the Blue Lives Matter banner over Pleasant Street? Stop the BLM madness.

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  14. Black lives don't matter any more than anyone else's. Or any less either.

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  15. Billy learns the soft bigotry of low expectations exacerbated by lingering resentment over situations where he feels he wasn't treated fairly (and wasn't).

    All affirmative retribution and the rest does is create yet another generation of racism. Well-intended persons of all races need to learn from history and consider the implications of Reconstruction.

    After the (First) US Civil War, anyone who had fought for the Confederacy (which was all White males) was totally disenfranchised, and this was 50 years before the 19th Amendment. All Federal/State/Local offices were held by Freedmen, and this was problematic because the Freedmen were illiterate.

    It had been against the law to teach a slave to read (for a REASON) and nothing much was done about it. Remember this was before TV, radio, telephones, and MP3 files -- everything except face-to-face conversations was written text. They didn't have basic math skills, either.

    Now what most US History texts tend to overlook is how we shifted from Reconstruction to Jim Crow, they essentially jump from 1865 to 1965 without mentioning any of the stuff in the middle. History is messy and it is difficult to feel sorry for former slave owners (although most White Southerners hadn't owned slaves)

    My point: Billy hasn't done anything, and is quietly pissed about being punished.

    There is a large cadre of pissed-off White Males in this country,and people need to be aware of that. Billy wasn't born a racist, but he's being made into one.

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    1. Little Billy here. Leave me out of your grown-up bickering. Just gimme that Snickers bar, and lay off the lectures.

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  16. Dr ed...is your source for information on reconstruction "Birth of a Nation"? you are a twit! Illiteracy was not the problem...except in your case. Dr. my ass! No way you should be teaching anyone Anything! Oh right...you're not.

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  17. Is it just me or is the statement "Black Lives Matter" a completely apolitical announcement. This banner signifies that we, as a town, believe Black lives matter. Is there anyone in town that believes that Black lives don't matter? If so, the problem isn't the banner.

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  18. It is not the slogan. Or the banner. It's the nature of the "movement." Yes black lives matter. But they have callee for the killing of police. "...fry 'em like bacon." "...dead cops... now!" I cannot support any person or group which marches to those slogans. But Amherst does? This White House does? Smith College does? Do you not see why leftists are despised?

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  19. It is just you anon 6:02...of course " black lives matter" as a statement is not apolitical or else it would not be a rallying cry for protesters. Your statement that it is apolitical is political but you knew that.

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  20. Yeah...What's going on there?

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  21. Just flew into BDL seated with a grievance monger from another university, headed to UNass for a conference on Social Justice and 21st Century Policing. This must be the occasion for the inflammatory banner uptown. L

    In any case, "the work" over coming days at UMass will focus on "improving policing in the community."

    Seems to me most of what's needed is really to improve the attitude toward police by just a few within the community

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  22. Grievance monger, eh? Takes one to know one.

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  23. MassLive reports that The U.S. Marshals Service on Tuesday arrested Soknang Chham, 33, of New Salem, on a warrant in Flagstaff, Arizona. He is charged with one count of murder and one count of armed assault with intent to murder.
    Soksot Chham, 35, also of New Salem, was also taken into custody on a warrant and has been charged with being an accessory after the fact to murder.
    The men are believed to be brothers, according to Mary Carey, a spokeswoman for the Northwestern district attorney's office.
    The arrests came after investigators learned the two had left Massachusetts on a bus bound for Phoenix. Both men will appear in an Arizona court to see whether they intend to challenge their extradition back to Massachusetts, Carey said.

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  24. Glad they got the alleged killer.

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