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July 4th Riot


Seabreeze

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I don't mean to sound hateful at all, but come on. It's our own fault that these idiots are roaming the streets and causing trouble? Get real!

Social justice would be these same youths/people coming and thanking those of us who pay taxes that support their welfare families. Social justice would be a thankyou to their teachers each day who put up with their crap in the hopes of educating them and giving them a better life. Social justice would be for them to write into the Observer praising the subsidized mass transit system that allows them to move about the city. Social justice might even come as a kind word to the health care clinic worker who tries to take care of these folks when they are drug addicted, pregnant at 14, or riddled with STD's.

Until we can see some of THIS Social Justice, I'm in favor of a little social injustice. Punish the criminals and ride them for the rest of their lives until they straighten up, move out of town, or cease to exist.

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Against my better judgment I watched local news last night. There was actually one worthwhile story though. Councilman Wallace Turner was interviewed and clearly stated that the only way to prevent future 4th of July disturbances is for the community to come together and address the causes behind the bad behavior. Until the economic, educational, and social injustices towards minorities in this town are addressed the anger will continue to fester and become increasingly disruptive.

Pray tell what injustices are those that justify people being shot? And what economic, educational and social injustices have the people who are angry experienced that any other non-minority poor person haven't also experienced? Discrimination has been outlawed, affirmative action has been embraced by most major corporation and almost every University awards generous incentives to minorities. But people are still shooting other people. Take some of that frustration and energy and devote it to using the opportunities now available, not on killing and violence. That's the lazy man's solution.

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Thank you Voyager for your levity. ;) I personally don't think this is the forum to even go there re: social issues the role it plays on the crime we're seeing.

Cinco, thanks for choosing to acknowledge that my cousin's experiences in an empathetic way. It does suck that the guys felt unwelcome Uptown but when they came back around the way, one of the neighbors hooked them up and they had a blast.

As far as what can be done that is tangible and more immediate, I have a few suggestions:

  1. A larger police presence

  2. officers on bikes & motorcycles roaming the crowd

  3. loudspeaker announcements of when the area needs to be cleared to set the crowd's expectations ahead of time

  4. barricading certain streets to only allow foot traffic

  5. banning of bags and bottles at the event site

  6. de-emphasizing the presence of riot geared police as (imo) it presents a hostile face unnecessarily and sets up an us vs them vibe.

  7. monitoring crowd as they enter the area through various checkpoints to stop troublemakers w/ illegal contraband before they can cause problems

  8. immediate & strict enforcement of public conduct requirements - which should happen at all events anyway.

sadly, i agree with your points pertaining to this event... except #6. if all the other points were put into place, riot gear police be expected. i mean the security procedures we are describing, while necessary, seem like they would still create an us vs. them vibe. as for me and my family if i had to go through all this BS just to watch 20 min of fireworks... well we wouldn't. but you are right... this should be implemented next year and in the future... until maybe one glorious day... there will not be the need.

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if all the other points were put into place, riot gear police be expected.
Not really. I mean I think the gear ups the ante in a way that the other measures don't.

as for me and my family if i had to go through all this BS just to watch 20 min of fireworks... well we wouldn't.
I don't think it would be too bad espeically if handled properly but I hear what you're saying. Maybe a mix of a few would work.

As far as how it will affect next year's event. Before I even heard about the trouble I had no intention of going to the 4th celebration. My fiance had already caught a whiff of what my cousins eventually experienced and didn't feel it was the place for us. The subsequent shootings only further served to seal his opinion that it would be an unwelcoming/inhospitable environment during the event and a dangerous place after. Personally, I thought we should have all gone and not let the ignorant of any sort win but most weren't game. In terms of Charlotte, its a growing city and there will be some bumps & bruises along the way as it learns to deal. I doubt this will affect Charlotte's reputation, I don't believe its national news that there was a non fatal shooting at the tail end of a 4th of July event.

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I find it fascinating the CCCP describes the events of July 4th 2006 as such:

"The show was a wonderful success," said Michael Smith, president of Center City Partners, which staged the display. "Following the show, there were some behavioral problems."

LOL, I guess we are fortunate that he doesn't forecast the weather.

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I know this is going to sound really lame, but I am honestly a bit depressed about the entire situation. I hate being made to feel scared in the town that i love. I was feeling so good about the show, and how everyone could come out together and enjoy our beautiful city. Such a beautiful night ruined.....

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I know this is going to sound really lame, but I am honestly a bit depressed about the entire situation. I hate being made to feel scared in the town that i love. I was feeling so good about the show, and how everyone could come out together and enjoy our beautiful city. Such a beautiful night ruined.....

I don't think it sounds lame at all. I feel the same way. Heck, my car just got broken into last weekend as well, for the second time. Maybe it's time for some vigilante justice, Bronson style! :lol:

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Social justice would be for them to write into the Observer praising the subsidized mass transit system that allows them to move about the city.

This should be the job of all in the metro area, as mass transit benefits everyone, and not just those who ride it.

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  • 3 weeks later...

For anybody who might be interested, here's an article that gets into some detail on how the NYC police department operates:

http://www.city-journal.org/html/16_3_ny_cops.html

Although the NYC crime rate dropped substantially in the 90s, it dropped even more, by 30%, from 2000 to 2005. Anybody know how that compares to Charlotte?

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Ah, The City Journal, a favorite publication of mine...

One of the things that NYC doesn't do is community policing - working with the community to prevent crime. That is what Charlotte should do. Lay the hammer down and put the minor troublemakers behind bars and send a strong message to those potentionally on the fence.

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Anybody read Freakonomics? Acording to the book's author, University of Chicago professor Steven Levitt, police practices/changes had little to do with the drop in crime in this country in the 1990s. All is tied to an important Supreme Court decision in 1973.

I think that whole issue isn't as cut and dry as Levitt makes it out to be. Figuring out stuff like that involves very complex and sensitive statistical models which are easy to foul up, even by very intelligent people, which Levitt certainly is.

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