Milwaukee...?

[Ultralight]

I have been reading up on the situation in Milwaukee. I am not sure what happened or is happening.

There are a lot of conflicting reports.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/08/15/490047439/second-night-of-unrest-in-milwaukee-following-police-shooting-saturday

Anyone else feeling confused about these goings-on?

[iris lilies]

What are the elements you find confusing?

cop shoots black man, predictible chaos ensues.

a nice two year anniversary event for Michael Brown.we had our own mini-riot last week to celebrate.

[Ultralight]

What are the elements you find confusing?

cop shoots black man, predictible chaos ensues.

Come on now... I think there is more to it that that. I would say your vague oversimplification is as confusing as all the reports, rumors, and opinions in the news on the situation.

[bae]

Anyone else feeling confused about these goings-on?

Nope.

[CathyA]

It was a black cop too. And it sounds justifiable. Lots of angry people with big chips on their shoulders......whether they're justified or not.

[Ultralight]

Nope.

Elaborate.

[Ultralight]

And it sounds justifiable.

I have heard conflicting reports about this...

[LDAHL]

I live about half an hour (on a good day) from the scene (the Sherman Park neighborhood of Milwaukee). The basic parameters were two suspects (black) running from a traffic stop. One suspect is shot and killed by a police officer (black) when he refused to put down his weapon (stolen). Rioting, arson and looting ensue (along with some legitimate protest). The local news was saying somewhere between 100-300 people involved.

Milwaukee is often referred to as one of the most racially segregated big (or at least biggish) cities in the country. I have often heard, however, that Sherman Park was considered to be a model of diversity for the rest of the city. My wife and I periodically work at a food pantry run by a fearless nun in a different neighborhood that is much worse (lousier housing stock and no stores worth looting that I can see).

Based on what I know, I'm inclined toward CathyA's assessment of the situation.

[frugal-one]

Supposedly, the black man who was shot was pointing an assault type weapon (with about 22 rounds of ammo on him) at the police. Sounds justifiable to me too.

[bae]

Elaborate.

You asked a simple yes-or-no question: "feeling confused about these goings-on?"

I responded - Nope. I'm not confused. I don't follow the day-by-day, minute-by-minute Internet newsfeed, such things are far removed from my life. For incidents involving crime/drama/rioting, I like to wait for the dust to settle and the evidence/facts/analysis to emerge, and not get all riled up by the #hashtag-of-the-moment to rush to some judgment or opinion.

That said, one of my fire engineering/firefighter "near miss" incident-reporting system newsletters this morning reported that firefighters responding in Milwaukee were shot at. And the same newsletter also reported that several other departments throughout the country are starting to issue body armor to fire and medical first responders.

So, if I *had* a kneejerk reaction, it would be this - when your society has reached the point where you are shooting at fire and medical responders....

[CathyA]

Yes, I heard that the "victim" had a gun with more bullets than the gun the policeman had. Police have to make a split-second decision on whether to shoot or be shot. Yes, in some cases, they are wrong........or have less than good judgement, but this situation sounded justified. But jumping to conclusions and creating mayhem and destruction before you even know the facts (the protestors), says to me that they're mad about other things, but choose to pile it on the police.

[LDAHL]

Yes, I heard that the "victim" had a gun with more bullets than the gun the policeman had. Police have to make a split-second decision on whether to shoot or be shot. Yes, in some cases, they are wrong........or have less than good judgement, but this situation sounded justified. But jumping to conclusions and creating mayhem and destruction before you even know the facts (the protestors), says to me that they're mad about other things, but choose to pile it on the police.

The Milwaukee Police Chief has said about 20-25 seconds elapsed from the time the cop unbuckled his seatbelt to when the shooting took place. I take more time than that making coffee in the morning.

[Teacher Terry]

I have lived in Milwaukee and while a great city it is very segregated. I had to drive through a horrible neighborhood to get to grad school. My sister lived there in the 60's and said the riots were horrible when she was trying to get back and forth to work and there was a night time curfew, etc. Things won't get better until we solve some of our social problems such as high unemployment rates for minorities, gangs, absence of fathers, poverty, etc.