General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI wonder if Baltimore will change the dynamics of the 2016 Election...
Like 1968, it presents the Republicans with an opportunity to appeal to non-urban voters with a "law and order" pitch, particularly Chris Christie who's campaign is likely to sink otherwise.
HereSince1628
(36,063 posts)I suppose you've noticed this, so to state the obvious, we have a national problem with policing, it's reliance on violence, threats of violence and illegal non-judicial punishment as application of pain has spread as a justified means of obtaining compliance.
It's a crisis of governance that de facto, if unintentional, has institutionalized denial of rights guaranteed not only by law but also by the Constitution. If anything should be part of the narrative of the campaign, this -should- be.
Ms. Yertle
(466 posts)The lo-fos are hearing the mayor saying "space to destroy" (not in context,) seeing destruction, looting, fires, etc., hearing of very few arrests, seeing cops retreating (and thinking of stand-down orders,) and it makes the authorities seem ineffectual. Not good.
deutsey
(20,166 posts)I grew up in Cambridge in the '70s, so I wasn't there when the riot happened (although one of my earliest memories is visiting my grandparents there and my grandfather driving me and my family through the area destroyed by the riot...it was the only way to get to where my grandparents lived).
This book, Civil War on Race Street, gives an excellent overview of one of the country's civil rights hotspots in the '60s and how it led to Spiro Agnew aligning with the New Right.
From Amazon.com:
Civil War on Race Street, so named because Race Street was the road that divided blacks and whites in Cambridge, Maryland, is a detailed examination of one of the most vibrant locally based struggles for racial equality during the 1960s.
Beginning with an overview of Cambridge, particularly its history of racial and class relations, Peter Levy traces the emergence of the modern civil rights movement in this city on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Catalyzed by the arrival of freedom in 1962, the movement in Cambridge expanded in 1963 and 1964 under the leadership of Gloria Richardson, one of the most prominent (and one of the few female) civil rights leaders in the nation.
In the years after her departure from Cambridge, the movement went into decline until 1967, when it underwent a brief revival that culminated with a riot allegedly incited by black power spokesman H. Rap Brown.
In the wake of the riot, blacks and whites in Cambridge sought to rebuild their city and return to a politics of moderation. However, Spiro Agnew, then governor of Maryland, used the riot to advance his political career and the fortunes of the New Right, thereby garnering the attention of the public (as well as Richard Nixon) and achieving the vice-presidency in 1968. At the same time, H. Rap Brown saw his influence and that of the civil rights movement decline.
http://www.amazon.com/Civil-War-Race-Street-Cambridge/dp/0813028159
FLPanhandle
(7,107 posts)Anecdotal, but most of the reaction around work today has shifted to support for the police, wanting a crack down, no mention of the victim, etc.
pampango
(24,692 posts)If that happens again this summer and next then perhaps the politics of 1968 will be relevant. Otherwise, while republicans love to campaign on law-and-order and will do it one way or the other, I don't think it will be much of a difference-maker in the 2016 election.
Lurks Often
(5,455 posts)By the time the elections roll around the vast majority of the country will have forgotten about what is happening in Baltimore, for that matter most of the country will have forgotten about Baltimore by the 4th of July.
Now if there is rioting next summer, that may change things, who it helps will depend on who the nominees are and how they respond.