A Marine's message to America's police

I think gaining the attention of 30 police officers, most of which looked like much younger kids' faces...was probably less disturbing any peace than what those police officers may have otherwise been doing had they weren't distracted.

And I have to add that in this era of "everybody calls out everybody for stolen valor" ... this guy had a set of NUTS to do what he did...and that ladies and gentlemen might be good enough evidence for me that he is a Veteran.

Those of you who want to start questioning who he is are often doing so before you even bother to opine on his words. What ever happened to just applauding the words and caring less about the source?

As to his speaking passionately, or having a big heart----that is usually the key ingredient in making Grunts. People who didn't join for merely some college money or whatever other "what's in it for ME-s" but actually gave a shit about any real cause.

There are good and appropriate ways to redress your grievances. This did little to advance anything. The occupy protesters had anarchists, vandals, rapists and other criminal elements running with them. They were illegally trespassing and making a nucance of themselves. The police acted to restore order after a long period of time of doing nothing.

At some point, when you refuse to listen to the police, they will force their will. If you want to push it that far, be prepared to get roughed up, arrested etc. Peacefully protesting is a lost art in this country. Everyone seems to thing they can do whatever they like without concern. If the police step in to restore order, it is police brutality.

The good Sgt can stand on the corner and yell all he likes. His opinion is not better or worse than anyone else's. I would prefer to see a more disciplined approach that adds to a solution not an emotional outburst that does not advance the ball much, if any. This is the level of discourse we have in this country today.

What ever happened to the rights that we fought for?? Did I miss something?? Since when does this man, Marine or otherwise, not have the right to voice his opinion, particularly if he had just seen one of the seemingly unending bouts of Police 'roid rage? Was he loud? Yes. (Although, probably no louder than the officer with the bullhorn.) Was he opinionated, Yes. Was the crowd free to go on its way? Yes. There was no violence, and no call to violence. I have the feeling that some of the comments here are based more on private prejudice than the oath that was taken to uphold and defend the Constitution and the therein guaranteed freedoms of expression.

He has every right to voice his opinion, in a respectful and intelligent manner in the right setting to Affect change. Yelling at the faces of police who are there to do a job detracts from his purpose. Lets not forget, these officers need to be observant and vigilant for anything that might cause them or others harm, by having someone yelling at you keeps them from their focus elsewhere.

Since apparently I don't have 500 influence points to down vote your view, I have to agree with others about him and race. He did not mention it at all and never used it as a basis for his speech. Yes I will agree with his passion in speech but at the same time, we weren't there, but it still doesn't stop the fact he has a right for opinion. Cops lately have had a bad rep for stupid things they've done. But civilians, and retirees and veterans like Michelle Manhart, who stand up and show pride don't deserve belittling and race intised comments. He may be a marine, and I may be a Ssgt in the AF, but I got his back, it's not tough to beat and frighten civilians.

Btw, please don't start race issues on here and claim to what you wrote to be truth. To have worn a uniform with many other races and you lash out to lame blame on a race using certain current events, please leave it with Twitter and Facebook. We are a military community here that looks and rises above situations like this. We are all equal here no matter the race. If I could, I would down vote your comment again. It shows ignorance and biased choices as if you stole the entire statement from a fox website.

SSgt Raphael Montgomery, if you took it that way, I am sorry and I apologize for my poor choice of words. My comment was not meant as a comment about all blacks by any means.

My comment was about the anti-cop hysteria that we have seen arise in certain areas of the black community over the past couple of months that has been based in the false narrative put out by race hustlers and much of the media.

This Marine, if he really was a Marine, was reflecting this hysteria perfectly and was attempting to incite a riot. He was out of control while blaming the police for over-reacting or acting unjustly - while the police were being professional and behaving in a calm and rational manner. This is opposite of what this "Marine" was saying.

In fact, there is no data indicating that police shootings are on the rise; this is partially due to the lack of uniform reporting standards. However, recent studies have shown that police hesitate more in shooting blacks in confrontations than other races.

"…a mixture of police officers, combat veterans and civilians, were run through a random sample of 60 scenarios drawn from actual police encounters. The scenarios, using white, black and Hispanic actors, were projected in life-size high-definition video on laboratory screens.

Whether officers, veterans or civilians, the subjects consistently hesitated longer before firing at black suspects and were much more likely to mistakenly shoot an unarmed white suspect, the researchers found. And when they failed to fire at an armed suspect — a potentially fatal mistake — the suspect was about five times more likely to be black than white. The study’s 36 police officers were the lone exception in failing to fire: The suspect’s race wasn’t a factor in their decision not to shoot.

‘The notion that cops want to shoot anybody is a lot of baloney,’ said Dr. Klinger, who has interviewed some 300 officers involved in shootings. ‘But white officers are much more reticent to shoot a black man than a white man because, all things being equal, they know the social context in which they’re operating.’

By that theory, officers are more careful when confronting black suspects because they know a fatal shooting will open them to controversy."

Before going off half-cocked it is important to determine if one is reacting to truth or propaganda and public hysteria.

It is my opinion that this Marine was doing the latter, as appears to be common in those precincts.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/31/sunday-review/race-and-police-shootings-are-blacks-targeted-more.html?_r=0

SSgt Raphael Montgomery, I have given you 120 points with up votes and views of your profile to help you toward the 500 points you will need to give me a down vote, if that is still your desire.

Your opinion counts here, even if that means down votes.