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Protesters finally get to shut an interstate
By adamg on Thu, 01/15/2015 - 8:02am
Protester chained to a barrel on I-93 in Milton. Photo by Curmudgeon Prophet.
After weeks of trying to evade police lines at highway ramps downtown and in the Back Bay in nighttime attempts to shut down a road, Black Lives Matter protesters managed to shut down I-93 this morning in East Milton Square and at Mystic Valley Parkway in Medford.
In East Milton Square, protesters parked a box truck on the side of the highway around 7:30 a.m., then jumped out with a banner and barrels filled with concrete with arm-sized holes for chained themselves into.
Col. Tim Alben of State Police tweeted:
Arrests will be ongoing at any and all locations where individuals have obstructed traffic.
At 9 a.m., State Police reported 17 arrests in Medford and 6 in East Milton Square.
State Police waving drivers around protesters with arms encased in concrete-filled barrels in East Milton Square; photo by Zoe Rose de Paz:
I-93 jammed; photo by Ben Menoza:
State Police overseeing the removal of concrete-filled barrels after protesters were cut out of them; photo by Zoe Rose de Paz:
That's a lot of troopers, Milton cops and firefighters; photo by Joseph Gugliotta:
Free tagging:
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Comments
why?
i don't understand the point of shutting down a highway. how does that help?
It Doesn't Help
It just makes them look like the insufferable crybabies that they are. Stunts like this negate their argument and proves they are out of touch with reality.
you definitely sound like a
you definitely sound like a nice, caring and reasonable person who is definitely very in touch with reality themselves that I'd love to spend lots of time chatting with.
except, you know, not.
Well.....suppose
You have a loved one who has a heart attack and needs to get to the Beth Israel ASAP. How would you feel riding in that ambulance? Feel like that would be enough reality for you?
Legitimately curious too, if
Legitimately curious too, if an ambulance was trying to get by and the protesters wouldn't let it, (or it couldn't get by because of the protest,) would they be held liable for whatever further complications arise?
southie thugs weren't held liable
A similar thing happened in southie, where people double parked illegally and the ambulance couldn't get to the patient (little girl) in time, so she died. No one was held liable and one trip to southie will show you nothing has changed. But Im sure people on Uhub will say illegal car storage is more important than civil disobedience.
?
Where exactly was this? When did this happen?
About 15 yrs ago. I believe
About 15 yrs ago. I believe it was gold street?
Gold Street Tragedy
This incident and tragedy was due to illegally parked cars. They were parked in a No Parking zone.
A fire started in a home. The fire department could not get down the street. Double parking was not the reason for it.
There is more to this sad tale, but I will leave it at this.
Oh, wow, I remember this. I
Oh, wow, I remember this. I can't believe no one was arrested, but I think it led to a big crackdown on Southie double parking.
Well!
If this:
really and truly was the case, I'd ordinarily say that it's all for the good, but it's too bad that somebody ended up losing their life before anything was done about the double/triple parking down in Southie.
If a loved one has a heart attack
and is on 93 at rush hour on any weekday you might as well kiss them goodbye
Oh, really?
You'd have a better shot without some moronic hipsters blocking the highways for their own personal agenda and to make themselves feel better for striking out for the one or two black people they actually know.
People do tend to get out of the way for an ambulance in traffic.
Your point, proven.
Edit: I misread your comment initially.
http://www.universalhub.com/2015/state-police-two-protesters-arrested-wh...
Get a helicopter
They decided the guy needed a Level 1 trauma center...so they packed him up in an ambulance at 8 AM and expected to drive the 40 minutes north to Boston Medical Center unimpeded on the SE Expressway at rush hour??
If he had 40 minutes, then they could have driven him to Rhode Island Hospital which is the same distance from Easton and also a Level 1 trauma center.
In another article, the fire chief is quoted as saying they would have made it there in 10 minutes even in rush hour traffic because "people are good at getting out of our way"...Except it's 25 miles from the accident scene to BMC, so to make it in 10 minutes they would have had to have AVERAGED 150 MPH! ( http://patch.com/massachusetts/easton-ma/i-93-protesters-block-easton-am... )
Instead, they settled for the closest ER and got him seen in 9 minutes, just not by a trauma center.
And his excuse for not using South Shore Hospital in Weymouth was that "24 was backed up into Brockton making side roads backed up"...Except the hospital he took him to is *right at 24 in Brockton*! If he made it there, the rest of hte way would have been wide open getting to South Shore Hospital, the hard part was already over!
This sounds like a fire chief who wanted to help push another "ambulance trapped by protests" story.
I won't
Judge this situation from THAT perspective, having not been there and having no experience in the field....but I was trying to agree with you in this thread.
According to them
It stops "Business as usual" AKA it makes people at least talk about the protest and see that these people feel strongly about a subject. It also lets some of the minorities stuck see that some people are thinking about them. (Perhaps also thinking "Shit, I'm going to be late. This sucks.")
I'm not suggesting this is helping their cause but there is some logic to it regardless of if you agree or disagree.
While I'm not going to block traffic myself I can see their point. It's easy for the media and the public to pigeonhole this movement and if you read the comments at even normally tame UHub you can see a lot of racism. Police violence towards minorities (and others) is a real problem. Writing stern letters to the editor isn't going to solve this problem. If the cause was something else (Guns, Taxes, abortion, etc) you'd see a lot more support for stupid stunts like these -- at least from people outside of MA. When it's young people protesting police issues suddenly everyone writes it off as dumb misguided and board college kids.
When it's young people
But when you do crap like this, it doesn't help your cause at all, it just makes it more like a bunch of "dumb misguided and bored college kids"
Did you ever really support it?
Something tells me that if a traffic jam protest is all it takes for you to reject a movement against violent racism in Boston, you were never really here for "the cause" and probably never would be.
Honey
My respect for these protests went out the door months ago... It started to erode when they destroyed Ferguson. Sorry I don't believe rioting is a proper form of protesting or "sending a message" anymore.
The protests here were "cute" the first one or two.. after that, they are just a bunch of morons. Now stopping traffic? yeah what little support I had is now gone.
Sorry folks. Leaders have come right out and said "We want to hear your complaints and work with you" and these protesters just thumbed their nose at these leaders and just keep on protesting. They don't want to work to solve problems, they just want to protest.
Sorry you lost my support the minute you rioted and decided not to work with politicians to help fix some of these problems.
Noahh, neither you nor the
Noahh, neither you nor the couple of handful of college kids who delayed ALL RACES from getting to work on time get to define who opposes violent racism and who doesn't. Check your ego!
Their manifesto specifically
Their manifesto specifically states they are targeting white commuters who live outside the city but work in it, to make aware the troubles of minorities.
This is completely delusional and short sighted for a number of reasons. Firstly it assumes that people move outside of the city but continue to work there because they are racist, not because many people can't afford to live there or have families they need to raise outside or any number of reasons. Secondly, how many of these protestors actually live and work in the city, how long have they been there, what gives them any authority to represent all of Boston? Do they pay their way to live here, or do their student loans do? Do they believe only white people drive on 93 or live outside?
I'm sure all the minorities
I'm sure all the minorities stuck in traffic on their way to work are ecstatic about all the white people standing up for them, because of course, they lack personal drive and ambition and need college students to speak for them for a cause that surely they must be behind because their skin colour says so.
Except, of course, if any of those minorities happen to make over minimum wage, because then they are 1% scum and need to be arrested for their crimes against the lower class.
Here is my issue
and I actually agree with everything you stated above. Mayor Walsh has publicly stated multiple times he wants to sit down with the group and discuss the issues, to which their reply has been “We’ve always made our contact information public. All of our community organizers’ contact information is public. So I think the mayor has every available outlet to contact us”
I believe that Rev. Eugene F. Rivers III put it very nicely; “If these activists refuse to take Mayor Walsh up on his offer, they’re not serious. It’s that simple. This was just kids having fun masquerading as a political protest if they don’t.”
is this a protest directed at Mayor Walsh?
and if it is, why do it in Somerville and Milton?
just pointing out
there's not really a good place to access 93 on the north side of the city that's actually IN Boston.
but to answer your question, no, it's not really directed at the Mayor. it's more directed at the actual people in the cars that they're blocking. (a cool and good way to know the answers to your questions is to read the readily-available statement)
The readily available statement
Was it handed out to the people stuck in traffic with nothing better to do than to read it? Or were the commuters to somehow divine on their own that they should get on the internets and somehow track the statement down?
getting onto I-93 southbound within Boston city limits
there's an on-ramp at City Square in Charlestown.
that's... a pretty fricking
that's... a pretty fricking long onramp.
Southampton St.
There are several broken fences along Southampton St where you can literally walk down onto 93. Idealistic college kids wouldn't be caught dead there though.
NOBODY in their right minds
Nobody in their right mind(s) would be caught dead walking down in that area, or just shutting down an Interstate highway, for that matter.
I don't know
who they are directing the protest at, do you? Mayor Walsh is a high ranking public official with the authority to implement change in the city of Boston, so regardless of who this particular protest was directed at their stubbornness around the semantics of who should be calling who has discredited their whole argument, in my humble opinion (and in the opinion of leaders in the minority community as well, apparently).
Eugene Rivers?
The guy who screamed how blacks should be ashamed of not voting (for Charlotte Golar Richie in particular) then admitted he hadn't voted since 1983? The guy who tried to shake down the new commuter-rail company? That Eugene Rivers? Nobody better you could find to quote?
Yes, that guy
The fact that he, of all people, is serving as the voice of reason here I think says something. And yes, I think the reasonable thing to do would be to take the Mayor up on his offer to sit down and discuss how this can go from a demonstration to actually implementing policy change, which should be their ultimate goal.
The problem is...
What policies do they want changed? They're against racism (Which most rational people are against), they're against police brutality (which again, most people are against and we haven't seen recently in Boston). What policy changes are they really hoping for? THAT's the reason they haven't met with Walsh, they don't have a real platform.
Slight correction
They might have a platform. It just doesn't happen to be in Boston. Or Milton.
BostonDog, thanks for
BostonDog, thanks for articulating the thinking of the protesters.
I have had a few conversations with folks who believe that "direct action" is the way to advance civil rights in the U.S. IMO, I think that the protesters are mistaken to think that the general population is not upset about police excesses. The fact is that police abuse of power has been a long-standing issue, going back many decades.
Police departments don't operate in a vacuum and well led departments, Boston included, have made numerous changes over the years indeed recognizing that there were problems
Ultimately it's public opinion that drives change in police agencies. This public opinion lives in the community and is subject to all human foibles - anger, racism and hate. It is only through public engagement that change occurs. Stopping someone trying to go to work, someone driving a sick relative to a Boston hospital appointment to show that you're angry is a ineffective method of engaging the public. Greatly worsening someone's morning commute simply makes them angry, it does nothing to open their minds to listening to other opinions
cheers
You captured how I feel on this. On some strategic-thinking level I had to sigh heavily when I heard about this on the radio this morning as I knew that when I got to the office there would be UHub and FaceBook commentary about running over these people, and folks didn't disappoint. I can only imagine the boards at boston.com or over at the Herald.
You just know that something like this is going to result in a huge loss of sympathy from a lot of uncommitted people, but then again, from their perspective, who gives a shit. Like you said, stern letters to the editor are not going to change anything. This makes them hard to ignore. The question now is whether things are so polarized that actually looking at policy and changing things becomes impossible. I have no clue what their next steps are, but hopefully this evolves out of this stage soon. But hey, at least they're not dumping tea in the harbor or something.
I (very briefly) glanced at
I (very briefly) glanced at the comments on the WCVB story and whoo boy was that a bad idea if you like to think that humans are a good and caring species.
Good and caring people?
I have a grip(s) ...... so I think I'll organize a similar protest(s) and shut down access to streets near your home, work, school, doctor's office, etc. You need to go food shopping? This would be a great time for a protest about (fill in the blank) .... late for work? Excellent time for a protest. And how dare you piss and moan! Mean people suck! You must be a hater!
yup
All the people who have been posting about the counter-protests they're going to do at Universities, welfare offices, in front of the homes of the protesters, etc... luckily their tenacity and commitment to a cause extends only to writing grumpy posts about running over protesters and organizing counter-protests.
Kudos to the folks who followed through on their demonstrations in support of police, not so much for the message but for the uppityness and energy to actually follow through and do something, as opposed to the majority of people.
Dumping tea into the harbor would be more sensible.
Dumping tea into the harbor would be a much more sensible tactic than the protestors are presently resorting to. That, imho would also get lots of attention, because it would really be a case of history repeating itself, if one gets the drift.
here's a pretty good tweet
here's a pretty good tweet that quickly describes some of the idea behind protests like this:
Okay, here's my issue
What of the people who think that people, regardless of the color of their skin, have nothing to fear from the police as long as they-
Don't assault the police
Don't resist arrest to the point that force is used
Don't run around with guns, be they real or fake, and if you do have a real gun, don't try to shoot the police
Yes, there needs to be a discussion about race and the legal system in this country, but it should be a two sided discussion, since currently there seem to be two views on the issue that aren't even in the same book, let alone on the same page.
Uh huh
Walk a mile in their shoes.
Plenty of black people don't assault police, don't resist arrest (and probably never had the chance to because they've never been even close to being arrested like the rest of us), and never even owned a gun.
Yet, if the cops "think they're acting suspicious" or they're in the "wrong part of town" (you know, the 4 zip codes where like 80% of the black people in town live), then they get stopped out of nowhere and questioned, poked, "patted down for (the cop's) protection", etc. This has nothing to do with the "rules for not fearing police" that you enumerated. This has to do with a false presumption of guilt before innocence. Then, if that's ramped up in *any* way due to the situation like they're tired of being stopped and patted down for no reason, they've got a toy gun in their hands, or they aren't happy about the handcuffs when they've done nothing wrong...then suddenly, their life is on the line? Bullshit. It wouldn't happen in Back Bay if that obnoxious wine thrower had tried to avoid being cuffed at the time, she wouldn't have expected her life to suddenly be forfeit.
Now, are our cops better than some place like South Carolina where that cop shot the guy just trying to retrieve his wallet during a traffic stop at a gas station? Sure, no doubt, and I'm glad for it. But don't act as if this shit doesn't happen here. The ink has barely even cooled on this report from October:
https://www.aclu.org/criminal-law-reform-racial-justice/boston-police-da...
And this is my thing
The indignities you cite, and they do happen all the time, need to be addressed. But when you have two sides basically screaming at each other, nothing will be forwarded. The police, first and foremost, need to realize that black people are not the enemy. As another important step, the minority community need to realize that the police are trying to do their jobs. Yes, policemen show up and abruptly shoot 12 year olds holding toy guns, which is horrific to all, but how to address the underlying issue? I don't see how blocking I-93 is going to help.
Of all the deaths one can cite over the decade, I would think the one notorious incident that encapsulates the problem minorities, and particular black men, deal with (and problems that the police encounter dealing with black men) is the Skip Gates arrest. Did the cop react badly because he was dealing with a black man, or did Gates react because he was a black man and thus more sensitive to slights (real or perceived) by white policemen?
don't false equivalence at me.
there is no "two-sided discussion" possible here. you say that people should have nothing to fear from police "regardless of the color of their skin" but that's not how the police in America work. Police in America were literally invented to keep poor non-whites in line.
Um, okay
You don't want to talk, get the fuck off my highway. We'll see you in 10 to 20 years when this crap comes up again because no one wanted to understand what the other side was thinking.
By the way, you do realize that there are police forces where there are very few non-white people, along with police forces all over the world? But don't let your rhetoric detract from reality.
That is a nice sentiment Tape, however...
This action has done more to damage opinions of the protesters than helped. I have been politically aware for nearly 40 years and have lived in the city and the suburbs. I have seen people, black, Asian, and white, move away from the threat of violence, mostly, but not all, black on black violence.
All the while I have seen people who preach block Whole Foods, free so and so cop killer, and Reverse the Dominant Paradigm, . In the end nearly all they have done is drive up real estate prices, forcing people, mostly lower middle class and working class black, white, Asian, and everyone else out of the city into the very suburbs where they were blocked from getting to work today, like me.
Thanks, I notice the Pike wasn't blocked. I guess you decided to force the middle class against you rather than the Wellesley, Needham, Newton, Weston upper middle class and the potentates of the city.
They don't care
They don't care if you like them. They're just tired of you not having to face the consequences of your ignorance of the problem. Maybe if they inconvenience your life even a LITTLE bit, it'll keep the issue in front of you (that they exist and this is going to continue happening until you accept that their issue matters).
That's all they want. The attention is all they want because you've lived your whole life without giving it any and it's only gotten worse not better.
My Ignorance?
Thanks bud for your assumption. Go talk to my grammar school classmate Michael Clogherty about ignorance. He wasn't shot and killed by the BPD in the Chinese Restaurant at the corner of Dix Street and Dot Ave back in 1990. Nope, not him. He was a funny guy, little messed up, but we can't talk to him about it, because the cops shot him dead.
Have a nice day.
Ignorance
How do you know John so well? or are these all assumptions? Much like the assumptions that the protesters have about all white people.
No. Wrong, Kaz.
I tend to side with Gene River's idea that the protestors should move beyond this stupidity, come into the communities here in the cities that're the most impacted by police brutality and by crime per se, and participate in the conversation that regularly takes place within such communities.
What's the point?
People who live in those communities don't need to be told about problems - they are living them every day.
People who commute on 93, the ones with most of the real power in our society, however, do not.
So i guess those people on 93
So i guess those people on 93 need to be told by occupy hippies blocking 93
This is the dumbest comment I have ever heard Adam make
They are right, it doesn't
They are right, it doesn't compare..... at all! It is insulting to compare loss of life to sitting in traffic.
okay, but blocking traffic really doesn't help matters any,
contrary to what you may think. Suppose a loved one, neighbor, co-worker or good friend of yours loses his/her life while the ambulance transporting him/her to the hospital due to a heart attack, stroke or other life-or death matter, dies en route to the hospital because the ambulance couldn't get him/her there in time, or, if that same person was caught in a burning building loses his/her life because the fire truck wasn't able to get there in time?
These protestors who insist on blocking traffic and/or shutting down interstate highways with speed limits of 55 miles per hour or greater, imho, are no different or better than people with right-wing causes (i. e. anti-abortion people, or pro-gun people), or those people down in Southie whose insistence on double/triple parking all over the place resulted in a young girl's dying in a house fire because the fire truck(s) couldn't get to the scene of the fire in time.
I was replying to the foolish
I was replying to the foolish tweet that was posted above. I did not think it indicated that I agree with these idiots at all.
I was thankful that my relief was not delayed too much this morning and I was able to home, unlike many other healthcare professionals in Boston. These people are disgraceful. How ignorant can you be to think that you are inconveniencing white people who; A. are racist, or B. do not care about racism, or more so, what people perceive to be racism. They inconvenienced everyone, prevented people from emergency medical care, they are not making a point. They are making people very angry, including the people that they claim to be protesting for. This is no way to get anything accomplished, these people are a joke.
Except...
the level of police violence against minorities here is nothing like it is NYC, St Louis, etc... at least in terms of actual, you know, murders. I feel like these people are protesting here about actions elsewhere mostly. I'm sure there are plenty of terrible racist cops in Boston just as there are terrible racists in Boston. I don't think the problem rises to the level justified by this protest.
What is true is that there are a lot of unsolved murders of young black guys, but I guess the goal here is to make sure that murder rate stays where it is and, if the protesters get their way, goes up as police withdraw from minority neighborhoods? Or what, are we bringing back the Black Panthers to deal with youth violence?
Can't wait for Robin to form a citizens patrol in Grove Hall to replace the police.
you do realize that murder is
you do realize that murder is one of zillions of different types of violence, right?
"police here in Boston haven't killed anyone, so they're totally non-violent." uh, what?
Two questions
Since you clearly know everything about all this.
1) is there an issue with violent crime in the minority neighborhoods, including many, many unsolved murders. I would say yes?
http://bpdnews.com/wanted-information-2014/
2) What's to be done about this?
I agree the police need to do better. However, I can't get past the impression that the protestors view the police as the number one threat against minority residents in the city. I'd argue indiscriminate youth on youth violence is a bigger issue but I don't live in those neighborhoods. Do you?
Why are we all ok with this many unsolved murders but close highways due to excessive force issues?
and...
The mayor has repeatedly and repeatedly asked to sit down with the protesters to no avail of them. So arrest them and slap a fine of them. If they don't want to talk about the issues, I don't feel bad about them and their cause.
i don't understand the point
I know, right? How do people even notice?
Who want's to join me....
In shutting down a few college graduation ceremonies this spring?
Nope!
Can't do that! These entitled punks can do whatever they want to you, but you can't negatively impact their lives in any way.
PLEASE
I absolutely love this idea. Please organize something and I'll be sure to spread the word and participate.
#workinglivesmatter
Block South Station and Back Bay
when they're all catching the train to CT, NY and NJ.
Protest and block access to clubs and coffee shops.
Protest and block access to Whole Foods and organic farmer's markets.
#alllivesmatter
Darling, most of the protests
Darling, most of the protests have gone through the Back Bay! Check your facts.
Wild Assumption
You guys are probably a ways off the mark if you think that these guys are all or even mostly college students.
These are largely people who have been shut out of that world by escallating costs and excessive loan gambits.
So, if you shut down college graduations, you would just be doing their work - and they might thank you for that, or just be amused at how they can conveniently manipulate you into doing their work for them by taking advantage of your zeal borne of knee-jerk assumptions.
As always, you know everything!
Please enlighten all of us.
Let me guess, while completing you morning triathlon you stopped and conducted individual interviews! Close?
Not all that wild
Swirly, have you seen the pictures going around of the protesters? Based on their likely ages they are very likely to be college students. The same ones who took the lead on the protests last month (which focused on Harvard Square, Tufts, etc, not Dorchester). So, no, it's not a wild assumption to make.
Likely ages means nothing
But, hey, you could go talk to a few of them about why they are out and around.
Nahhhh.
*headdesk*
Really, Swirly? Allow me to sum this conversation up via paraphrasing:
RichM: "Stupid college kids"
Swirly: "That is a WILD assumption with no basis in anything!"
Me: "Well, they're college-aged, plus considering the history of this movement locally has been based at local colleges and universities, so it's not really a wild assumption."
Swirly: "Because you were not able to personally walk to I93 and talk to these individuals this morning, then your perspective is completely invalid. Unlike me, who is able to personally relate to each and every thing on this blog through some anecdote that allows me to talk about everywhere I've lived or traveled, and everyone I have known in my life, which is pretty much everyone ever. My perspective is therefore immaculate, and yours, however reasonable and reasonably stated, is false."
Before you attack my snarky paraphrase, allow me to directly quote you:
Did YOU go out and talk to each of these people today on both sides of the city? I would guess not, so I can only imagine that in your mind, educated guesses about the protesters that YOU make are acceptable. Educated guesses that OTHERS make are worthy of derision.
I've said this before, and I'll say it again: I think you're unfairly attacked at times, but you sometimes deserve the smack you get on this board with your attitude.
Thank you, Craig
What a well-written and accurate post!
Swirly's silence
Speaks volumes...
and is music to the ears
and is music to the ears
No...
You don't seem to get it. They refuse to listen to anyone and insist on engaging in protests that could potentially put the lives of people they claim to be protesting for in danger. We all know why they're protesting, and I'm not saying there isn't room take issue with certain elements of law enforcement's interaction with civilians. However, they have no right to keep people who are urgently trying to get some where from getting where they need to be.
Please transcribe your
Please transcribe your conversations with the commute blocking protesters so we could understand why they are impeding people getting to work and ambulances getting to hospitals. I would love to hear it. Thanks, swrrls!
swrrly
citations, please!
Error!
Several people were premising their future plans on the assumption that these were all a bunch of college students.
I challenged them on that.
I don't have to come up with the data because I'm not the one making assumptions here - you are. If anyone needs to "prove" anything, you do, and they do.
But, hey, I'm sure they would welcome protests at colleges because there is a problem in many campuses of cops harassing minority students, and such "anti college student" protests would just work for their cause.
Swirly
Please go protest by stopping traffic on the Tobin. And then jump.
That's a cause we could all get behind.
Nice, nice! This is how all
Nice, nice! This is how all arguments should strive to evolve to. What a world we live in.
it reaps
what it sows
Hey
why don't you relax, ya psycho.
Oh no!
A few old people giving boring speeches won't happen and I'll still get my degree in the mail anyways...what will I ever do!
No you're not, you're never
No you're not, you're never going to DO anything, you're going to stay in your house, anonymously pouting behind a computer screen. But I'll keep my eye out for your graduation ceremony protests, just to prove my point.
Scum...
Yeah, stop people from getting to their jobs. That's a great way to win hearts and minds. These protesters have gone way too far. Shut 'em down!
ALL lives matter
Not only are people on their way to work, they're on their way to doctors appointments. My cousin is late to his chemo appointment at MGH. Every life is important. Enough protests. Find a more productive way to promote the cause.
Next thing you know, they'll
Next thing you know, they'll be disrupting bus service on the T and screwing up my lunch break by taking over the counter at the deli! Stop this nonsense now and get back to being good, compliant citizens, people!
Seriously, while I don't particularly support their goal of stopping traffic on Interstates and I don't think their tactics are always aimed at the right targets, I am just pleased to see that we as a country are beginning, just beginning, to remember how to protest again.
And...
...this is not how to do it. As another poster said, it's not just people trying to get to work. No one has the right to keep others from getting to the medical care they need. So no, this is not how to protest.
There are more constructive ways of protesting,
and the protestors are acting rather destructively, as opposed to constructively, imho. I could understand their rallying around and blocking:
A) Justice departments.
B) Court Houses.
maybe.
but the protestors really have overstepped their boundaries, especially by shutting down I-93.
Marty Walsh should step in
And invite them to discuss how the city can work with them on this issue, and take it seriously.
Oh wait, he did. And they told him to stuff it.
Did you notice where the protests were?
Why bring Marty Walsh into this?
Sure did notice
Also noticed where the commuters were going, for the most part. Into the city. It's not like they're blocking the Daniel Webster Highway....
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2014/12/14/walsh-frustrated-by-lack-of-dialog...
I hope they try to block Route 1 on Sunday in Foxboro
Poof - No more protesters!
Hahah, murder
You witty cad.
Ha Ha
You see the protesters, if they were true to their passion, would try to block the road, but see passion has its limits, mostly when they know they would fail.
Well, they did block the train to Gillette before the last game
The Pat's fans were on the
The Pat's fans were on the train and unable to get off. If protesters blocked Route 1 Foxboro, I bet it would be a different story.
And yet...
Except for the parts where they did exactly that at last week's game. Wouldn't surprise me one bit if it were to happen again this weekend, especially now that they have a blueprint for success which is borderline-impossible to prevent without millions of dollars worth of extra police details. (Which I have little doubt will happen, and the cost blamed on the protestors)
And I'm not sure exactly where you get off pissing and moaning about their lack of passion, when in the same breath you're cackling with glee at the thought of running them down with your car for having the gall to delay you for several precious minutes on the way to watch a football game.
They Blocked a Train, Not Individual Cars
You have all taken the T. When a train is stopped you have to rely on the messages of the driver to appraise you of the situation since you are not looking forward. It could have been a dead deer on the tracks for the train instead of a photo op. The train was stopped for 4 minutes by the way. Big deal. This is called nearly everyday on most commuter rail lines.
If you try to stop individual cars, filled with people who have had a few in them it will be a different story.
Millions of people will be watching the AFC championship game, 60,000 will be going to Foxboro. This game will be the national focus for nearly 4 hours. If they try to protest there, the results will be different. Many, many people will get hurt, not by me, nor do I condone it, but Chuck from Palmer might have a different idea.
Nonsense
To stop "individual cars" you just have to stop about 4 cars (2 lanes plus 2 shoulders) and the rest will have to stop behind them.
Chuck from Palmer may be an insane Pats fan, but he's not a homicidally insane Pats fan. If he is, then maybe it's best they helped identify this in him before he killed a less public and obvious target.
What did I do?
I even have some black friends in Springfield!
Blueprint for success?
They stopped cops from killing unarmed black men? Everywhere? Or just on those train tracks?
Yawn
They blocked the Pats train to Foxboro last weekend. Nobody died. They got noticed, held the train for the same length of time that Michael Brown laid on the ground before anyone approached him to check his vitals, then let the train through.
And they still made it home
in time for the season premiere of "Girls".
Irony
They block a train filled with people going to support a team made up of black and white players united for a common goal.
Equal but separate
Yep and those same black players will tell you that even though they're treated the same on the field and revered by millions: When they step off the field, put on civilian clothes, and try to go home, they're eyed by every cop who sees them in a fancy car. They tell their kids to never interact with police for fear they'll end up shot. Their millions don't protect them from the color of their skin if they're not wearing their jersey.
http://www.espncleveland.com/common/more.php?m=49&post_id=40811
Yeah, it was a long time ago, but ...
Dee Brown.
Every cop?
Just like every black man is a criminal?
Keep drinking the Koolaid...
"Racism! Racism everywhere! Racist white people! Racism!"
Shaq and Tubs Barkley didn't get the anti-cop meme
Apparently Shaquille O'Neal and Tubs Barkley didn't get the professional athlete anti-cop meme. Keep reciting it though.
Many of this morning's protesters look like graduates of the Occupy Movement. Did Sen. Elizabeth Warren "create much of the intellectual foundation" for the I-93 protests too?
Also, the protesters last Saturday did not block the Patriots train. They merely stood on the tracks while train was making its scheduled stop at Route 128 station or whatever it's called now.
Educate yourself
I dare you to read this and think about what it says:
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/eric-garner-racial-profiling
DUMB ASS
PUT A COUPLE OF TRAFFIC CONES OUT
AND LEAVE HIM ON HIS OWN
An 18 wheeler
Coming at him doing 65 mph should clear him outta there pretty fast.
Why don't they choose to block
Blue Hill Ave?
Blue Hill Ave
What would be the purpose of blocking Blue Hill Ave? It's not nearly as busy as 93.
because the people who live
because the people who live near Blue Hill Ave. deal with what the protesters are protesting every day. they already know.
That is not protesting.
It's terrorism.
i hope you're joking
i hope you're joking
Tell that to
the patient in the Eascare Ambulance that was affected by these fools.
Pump the breaks...
Please do not disrespect those who have actually experienced real terrorism by making silly comments like that.
No problem
Sorry the guy was held up, but he's in no way a victim of terrorism. Anyone who thinks other wise is just ignorant.
Not according to our FBI
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/terrorism/terrorism-definition
Domestic Terrorism also includes
"Involve acts dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law;"
So anyone who is speeding on the highway is a terrorist. Good to know.
Then the Boston Tea Party was
Then the Boston Tea Party was terrorism too. "Terrorism" is used so much it's lost all meaning.
Annoyism
There was an annoyist attack on 93 this morning claiming thousands of victims who had to sit and fume for many, many minutes.
Clearly you are either with us or you stand with the Annoyists.
this comment is terrorism.
this comment is terrorism.
AlertNewEngland reported that
AlertNewEngland reported that an ambulance was stuck in the protesters' traffic. These ignorant protesters have no shame and are giving legitimate protesters a bad name.
So, what do you think -
So, what do you think - Criminal Trespass?
Do any of these protesters drive this road normally? Are they aware of how many ambulances go through here, shuttling patients in need of advanced care from hospitals on the South Shore, South Coast, Cape, and Islands?
Oh, well, at least they have Quincy Medical Center as an alternative destination when Boston is inaccessible.
Quincy Medical NOT an Option
Not really, anyway. The hospital itself has shut down. The ER is still open, but its kinda limping along.
I live in Quincy, in fact not far from Quincy Medical. Still I have gone to Carney or sometimes Milton Hospital for emergency care for years now (which are also relatively close, and seem to give better care).
In any case, the East Milton mess is currently impacting roads around Quincy Medical, Carney, and Milton.
http://dictionary.reference
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/facetious?s=t
See entry #1
So should the state always
So should the state always keep one lane totally off limits to commuters in case an ambulance comes through? Because in my experience all the lanes can be not moving just due to rush hour traffic. Are those commuters, many of whom could have driven to a commuter rail station, being self obsessed, not caring enough about the ambulance people to just take the T with all those 99%ers, instead adding to the traffic which blocks ambulances?
Math
Right, so it's the 1% that drive to work on 93 each day. That's a big 1% based on traffic figures. But hey, anyone who has a job and a car must be rich. Those assumptions make you look silly and don't do a thing to help your cause.
Isn't the purpose of
Isn't the purpose of protesting to get people to talk about it and hear your side of the story. So people are talking about it but they aren't saying anything about their side of the story. So what is the point of protesting then?
The protestors aren't interested in hearing the other side.
They're into their own agenda. Only THEIR opinions matter.
I love the "not helping their cause" argument
"Yes, I would totally listen to their arguments and acknowledge their points but I was inconvenienced, so now I wish them dead."
I'm sold.
People don't want to listen
People don't want to listen to people who are disrespectful and antagonize them first, who'da thunk.
Guess what
Most people already agree with them racism is bad. Get of the damn expressway and figure out some ways to combat it.
Ha
So then you understand exactly how young black guys feel when they get harassed by cops. Excellent.
Bill Hicks - Pick up the Gun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ6kMWA2WRk
Guess they dont consider that
Guess they dont consider that the people that may be going into Boston for medical treatments ,like chemo ect.
Who cares?
This is a silly simple minded argument. Using scary buzz words like "chemo."
I had 3 years of chemo and numerous surgeries and numerous other medical treatments. Hospitals will wait, reschedule, accommodate if you're late or have to cancel.
I can empathize with an ambulance that's been blocked, but a chemo infusion isn't urgent.
It may be inconvenient, but so is having your son, brother, father murdered by shitforbrains cops.
Who the hell cares what YOU think, Felicity??
You're dead wrong on this one, babe! Chemotherapy is a necessary treatment for a life-threatening illness, and one missed or delayed treatment could spell the difference between life and death and/or a full recovery. You're just lucky because you probably didn't have these super-mammoth protest-related delays caused by a bunch of spoiled middle and upperclass college kids who insisted on dramatizing their points and their cause by shutting down interstate highways and blocking traffic, generally.
At least their timing could have been worse
You're sitting there burning $2.19 gas instead of $3.59 gas
go chain yourself to a college classroom door
the people on 93 most likely are heading to work...the issue is education as to why minorities are more likely to be unemployed....so the protesters should protest at colleges not on highways!
At least they are still active
Whether this was a constructive stunt or not (and if this is all they are doing they should be directing time and money elsewhere) the cause is still important. Many aspects of policing and the justice system need serious reform. Race is a big aspect of it but by no means the only aspect. Hopefully they will integrate Black Lives Matter into further calls for widespread reform.
A few looks at this blog from the Washington Post should give people some ideas if they think things are fine as they are.
So
"Many aspects of policing and the justice system need serious reform. Race is a big aspect of it but by no means the only aspect."
Why are people only talking about one side of a two sided issue? Why isn't any of the blame being placed on the community?
Other minority groups seem to be do rather well, why is that?
"Why are people only talking
"Why are people only talking about one side of a two sided issue? Why isn't any of the blame being placed on the community?"
because it actually is a pretty one-sided issue, if you don't buy into false equivalencies.
Yes
Michael Brown, who had just shoplifted from a store and assaulted the clerk at said store, attacked a police officer while the officer was sitting in his car. The police officer shot Michael Brown as he feared that Mr. Brown would attack him again.
Pretty one sided.
Or, we could be having that overarching discussion on how white society at large views black men and the underlying reasons for it.
Alternatively
Alternatively:
Something happened in Ferguson, between Michael Brown and a police officer. We don't know the full details and never will. Looks like the shooting was justified, according to what we've seen.
A bunch of people didn't think so, and chose to protest.
The police responded to the initially peaceful protests by dressing up like soldiers and acting like an occupying army, escalating the situation into a full-on riot, arresting and threatening journalists, trying to keep the press away, etc.
In other words, the big deal here is not the shooting of Michael Brown, it's how the police acted in the aftermath.
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