From Omar Simpson:
It still amazes me when I hear people act shocked that black men feel a need to band together to protect themselves. “Protection?” they say, “Protection from what? You’re livin’ in the U.S. of A!” Others say, “Can’t we all just get along?”
Hell No we just can’t all just get along! Not if the price of us “getting along” is this society willfully ignoring the abuse and killing of innocent black men. Black men like me, my family’s sons and all the others that live in constant fear of brutalization by the authorities. So what is a law abiding brother to do? If I want to be law abiding, I’m likely to fall victim of the police. I can’t seek their help.
Should I just sit in a corner hoping I’ll never need 911 and hope I’ll just be left alone by those that are criminals? How well do you think that would work? One look on Baltimore’s crime websites, blogs, and newspapers will tell you that. As a law-loving black man, I’m damned if I do and I’m damned if I don’t! If I’m law abiding, I apparently must give up my right not to be harassed…forever. If I stay away from the cops, I gotta deal with any thugs and killers on my own. Why are we stressed? Really?
You wonder why brothers in Baltimore and so many others elsewhere are upset, rioting and breaking things? It’s the ongoing, never ending frustration of dealing with this crap with no resolution in sight…ever. The frustration from knowing that in a year or two, I’m going to have to sit my 12 year old down and blow up his world by telling him that there are ignorant people that hate him for no reason and that they will and can hurt or kill him without any ramifications or justification. Every parent of a black male child knows this fear, knows “The Speech”…we’ve all received it once we became teens.
So excuse me if I don’t jump up and down and celebrate this “Perfect Union.” It won’t be perfect until it honors ALL people equally. It won’t be perfect until it values black, white, Asian, Hispanic, straight, gay, trans and every other person that only God had the wisdom and power to create! Black men will continue to be slaughtered until they are valued for the wonder of God they are…just as you are. As long as black men are demonized, ignored, abused, hated and killed NOTHING good will come our way. Only fools throw away their blessings and when we throw away people, we are throwing away our blessings.
Form Packs for protection and self-preservation. Get a video cell phone and keep it on you at all times.
Be friendly to all, but foolish to none.
Peace to All.
Omar Simpson, Esq.
Wow! I guess they just let anyone write an article on here??? My man, u got more to worry about with black men killing black men then you do getting killed by police!! This s#$ t we r seeing is forging more support FOR law enforcement than anything else and showing how violent that thug culture can he! ! No one even cares about the original protest or ’cause’….they became their own worst enemy!! But hey…..u just keep supporting that….
“As long as black men are demonized, ignored, abused, hated and killed NOTHING good will come our way.”
No, as long as black men think they can live outside the law and without taking any responsibility for their actions they will be demonized, ignored, etc. And the more they kill each other, the better. Less criminal scum to ruin this once great country.
“You wonder why brothers in Baltimore and so many others elsewhere are upset, rioting and breaking things? It’s the ongoing, never ending frustration of dealing with this crap with no resolution in sight…ever.” – You’re right Omar, that CVS played an integral part in the slaying of Freddy Gray. So did those Liquor Stores and the other businesses that were looted. So did that woman that got yanked out of her car! Omar, the “pack” is whacked! Now here comes the National Guard. Curfews will be instilled. More people will be subject to more violence and freedoms will be restricted. Guess what? When its all said and done, Freddy Gray will still be dead and a lot of innocent people and businesses will have to pay the price for his misfortune. My biggest disappointment from your most recent letter Omar is you didn’t even call for an end to the violence that voices such as yourself could and should do. Instead you offer reasoning and excuses for why this is all happening. Your right Omar, you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. In this situation, you’re damned because you didn’t. Think about it…….
You’re an attorney? Seriously? Because that’s about the worst argument I’ve ever heard. Take responsibility for your own actions. How’s that for an idea? Stop committing crimes, and you won’t be thrown into a patty wagon. Brilliant! True colors are showing with the “people” who live in baltimore. This is who they are. Omar, when was the last time you called 911 for help, and had the police come and beat you up? Let me guess… Never. Quit blaming.
The Liberal Progressives have done a phenomenal job of high jacking the African Americans. His explanation is exactly what the problem is. No personal responsibility for anything. Wake up folks and prepare yourself for the impending battle. It’s coming!!
Presidential candidate and Baltimores darling… Dr Ben Carson should address this head on
OJ you should seek his help.
In this country we have a place that is not bias to anyone who wishes not to follow law, its called Jail.
Get our state legislator to stop beating the drum to 60 years of democratic majority policies, regardless, have our judicial system and Baltimore city jury actually convict criminals to jails that we can expand and build new for much needed extra room for inmates.
I don’t get the racial bias? Baltimore City elected official are nearly 100% African American. Things that make you go “hmmmm”?
It’s not about black or white. When was the last time Baltimore had a vibrant economy? Late 50’s/early 60’s and then the job losses skyrocketed in the 70’s. Blaming Democrats for Baltimore’s ills is useless. The city I grew up in, Chester, Pa, (95 North about 50 miles from B-More) was Republican until recently. Chester is usually ranked as number 1 or number 2 as poorest small city in the US. Why? Shipyards and industry closed, population moved out leaving behind only those who were barely hanging on in the good times, let alone the bad. Baltimore had good economic times under Democrats also but people are so partisan they can’t see the bigger picture. All the cities ever cited pretty much were one industry cities, Detroit – Auto’s, Gary – Steel, and lack of a diverse economy killed them, not this party or that party. Maybe with the 1200 jobs Amazon is bringing in we’ll see an uptick in employment numbers.
Well it took 50 years to get a CVS and it’s gone in one afternoon. Looks like another 50 years of check cashing stores with bullet proof glass and lake trout carry out.
Praise the Lord.
Imagine if:
Your entire community was transplanted to work without compensation and failure to perform was met with capital punishment.
For generations your entire community was treated as property and not as an equal human being.
Then finally your community was permitted to leave captivity, but were given no supports and rarely provided a job.
For several more generations your community continually had to fight to just be given a voice in who governs you. Even still your community was treated as second class citizens with unequal access to schools and public services.
It is only within the last few decades your community has been given equal access to schools and other services (albeit merely on paper), but because of your long-term marginalization, the economic needs and career skills of your people are nowhere near what is necessary to be successful in the twenty-first century. The resources necessary to close this gap and the value placed upon them by those who have those resources are nowhere near what is needed. As a result, members of your community are rarely provided opportunities to improve their way of life.
So what do you today? You have nothing to lose. You have a family to feed. How do you survive? And what do you do when you are the regular target of police and those police appear to have intentionally injured, perhaps murdered, an unarmed citizen in your community? As an uneducated, angry, afraid, drug-addicted teen-ager that is the product of the sequence of events described above, you decide to let your frustrations out and burn down an entire city.
Is this acceptable behavior? Absolutely not, not for a civilized culture. But does a civilized culture ignore an entire segment of its population? Absolutely not. So, as history as a guide, is what we are seeing in Baltimore an expected result of hundreds of years of ignoring an entire community of people? Of course it is. So we should probably prepare for more of this.
It is time we change how we integrate all members of our population into our culture. This requires massive resources, which does not just include giving money to these communities. It includes capital investment and massive job projects. Without a comprehensive plan, the currently strategy of government assistance will only subdue the masses for so long. And those masses will ultimately end up at your doorstep as they did for many in Baltimore last night.
If you want to not live in fear of the police, I would submit to you the following rules to follow:
1. The police are the authority so when they give you an order, FOLLOW IT and keep your mouth SHUT.
2. If the police approach you, do NOT get an attitude and comply with their request.
3. If the police approach you, take you hands out of your pockets and keep them in PLANE SITE.
4. DO NOT ATTACK, ASSULT or RUN from the police.
5. Do not carry guns or drugs on your person PERIOD.
6. BE POLITE and show the police some RESPECT.
7. You need to GIVE respect to GET respect.
8. If you are unsure why you were stopped try asking a question like “excuse me officer, can I ask why
am I being stopped today?”
9. Remove your sunglasses, put out your cigarette and hang up your cell phone while talking to police.
10. DON”T PLEA YOUR CASE TO THE POLICE, that is what courts are for.
If you are guilty than shut the hell up because you should only be pissed at yourself for being dumb enough to be caught and not at the officer that was smarter than you.
What happened last night in Baltimore was not about police abuse, perceived or real. That was simply what sparked the violence. The solution to ending the violence cannot be solved by just improving interactions between police and the community. Instead the solution will require a major shift in how the affected communities are integrated into society as a whole. You cannot expect these communities to integrate themselves. They have few of the tools necessary to make that happen. Society as a whole needs to make that happen and see the value in doing so. The millions of dollars in damages and costs associated with the events last night would be better served in improving those communities. Either invest now, or invest later. In the end, we will all have to pay for their successful integration.
Invest in the community. That’s what has been the mantra for years, and for years money has been invested over and over again with very little to show for the investment. A few communities have indeed been reformed with the help of investment dollars, however those that have been successful were a result of the community making the commitment to change from within. Without that commitment, nothing will change regardless of the investment in dollars made by others. It will just be money down a dark hole and Baltimore is a classic example.
That SHUT UP and FOLLOW ORDERS is ridiculous. Police work for US, say it again, Police work for US. They tell me to shut up, we will be spending time in court. I will be respectful and YOU must earn MY respect. You are the civil servant who is impeding my freedom, so you better be civil to the citizens you are charged with Protecting and Serving. Attitudes like yours are why we have seen trust in Law Enforcement drop rapidly since 9-11 when everyone was on your side (if you are an LEO/EMT/FF). If you as a civilian are stating this, read the Bill of Rights and Constitution and wonder why you can travel 3000 miles in this country and are not required to have one piece of ID on you. You are giving up your rights, earned by thousands who died and hundred of thousands, like me, who served to protect you from enemies, foreign AND domestic.
Okay, I’ll bite.
Exactly what will we be going to court for if I tell you to, “Shut up”?
No, I don’t work for you. Your name does not appear on my paycheck. I work to protect people LIKE YOU from people LIKE YOU.
Check your facts, it is indeed a law in many states that you “must carry ID” when of a certain age – wherever you are in those 3,000 miles.
Your initial statement said it all, if you remain respectful then you should get treated the same. Don’t put ALL LEO / EMT / FF into a single bucket. I mean, isn’t that what you are asking of everyone else with regards to “black men”?
Please state the MD or US law that requires me to carry an ID when I am walking around? The SCOTUS would be very interested in your take on that. I agree one can be detained (not arrested) for no ID ‘IF’ there is suspicion, however that is a fairly onerous undertaking to prove in court for someone just walking down the street. Since you internet state you are an MSP, you don’t need to protect me from people “like me” unless you have an unhealthy fear of somewhat chubby Engineers. Nice generalization though. As for the court item, Freedom of Speech, specifically when dealing with government reps at all levels. I don’t like pissing contests so I’ll leave it at that. I appreciate the work you do and am respectful to police but I do like that to be a 2 way street. The very idea of anyone being silenced as the first line of contact disgusts me to my core. Stay safe and be careful out there.
Never stated I was MSP, but thank you for the laudatory comments about our work.
For the record, I have an unhealthy fear of EVERYONE. That is what has kept me alive for over 20 years, a clean record, and zero founded complaints about racism or anything else criminals tend to cry when caught doing wrong.
Each state has their own interpretation of the Stop and ID, Obligation to Identify, what have you. If I made an assumption that ALL states require, then I apologize and blame it on old age.
Since I work here, and no longer pay MD taxes, I will share this:
Del. Code Ann., Tit. 11, §§1902,1321(6)
I never silence people immediately. People want to tend to talk…and talk…and talk. The more they talk, the more evidence you can gather or the more you realize just how dumb some people are. Since I record everything, sometimes it makes for good training.
Five – Unless you have a friend nearby with a smartphone and is recording what happens when you get stopped, I suggest you keep you mouth shut and politely answer any questions the officer asks you. Baltimore has paid out 5 million dollars in lawsuits in the last few years from police abuse. This is remarkable when you consider the state had capped the payments to $200k each. In virtually all of those cases the internal investigations found the officers innocent but the juries found otherwise.
There are issues in Baltimore for sure. Personally, I think they center around the war on drugs. Back in the eighties Kurt Schmoke as mayor had it right: school choice and end the war on drugs. Currently we have lousy schools and an ‘us versus them’ attitude all through the city. The drug war has turned some Baltimore communities into Vietnam villages of the 60’s.
Del. Code Ann., Tit. 11, §§1902 does NOT require you to carry any sort of identification. The code states, “(a)?A peace officer may stop any person abroad, or in a public place, who the officer has reasonable ground to suspect is committing, has committed or is about to commit a crime, and may demand the person’s name, address, business abroad and destination.”
As far as I can tell from a cursory search, there is NO state in the union that requires you to have Identification on you when you leave your home.
You sound white. Maybe when you are reincarnated a black man…You’ll get it.
Isn’t this the same politician that advised poor blacks, browns and whites to form gangs just about a week ago?
Hey Omar, why form packs? Just tell your friends and family members to join the Bloods, Crips, Black Panthers or the BGF. Problem solved?
The black community are being there own worst enemy. First they are the leading killers and victimizers of their own membership. There are countless examples where once proud and beautiful neighborhoods were reduced to crime ridden slums once they became predominately black.The facts don’t lie. Now they are “protesting” to show the country that they are victims of unwarranted police arrest and brutality. They figured they could do this by trying to burn down the city of Baltimore. They are using the Freddie Gray incident as the justification for their actions. That incident is still under investigation. If there was a criminal wrong doing I hope that their are harsh punishment(s) imposed. The current civil disobedience taking place is clearly just an excuse for opportunists. Unfortunately, all too many blacks feel they are entitled to do anything, anytime they please. They are developing a belief that they should not be arrested especially by white police. The only thing they have accomplished is re-enforcing a negative public perception of the black community. I feel sorry for the great many law abiding members of the black community. They have to be thoroughly humiliated by the actions of these thugs. The thugs that you are seeing in the media are the type of individuals that the police deal with on a daily basis.
I was appalled last evening when I heard many Baltimore politicians and newscasters say this isn’t the Baltimore we know. I don’t know where they have been, because this is exactly the Baltimore that we all know. Every morning we wake to the news about how many have been shot, knifed or otherwise killed. Baltimore is and has been out of control for years. When are the citizens and the politicians going to admit publically that there are groups in the city who are criminals and that is all they care about. They will hide behind race or anything else to get what they want. Watching our police officers getting hit with bricks and stones not only infuriated me, it also was the signal that the decent people in Baltimore had better understand how race issues are manipulating our media and politicians. My answer last evening would have been for the police to have clubbed the hell out of anyone who through potential deadlly missiles at them.
Even my main main – The Crusher of Souls (SoulCrusher – the original) couldn’t argue with that.
And I love to argue, but I’m not going to argue this one………
Not to stir the pot or anything – but exactly how many angry protests are going on right now in Tulsa after the 73 year old “Reserve Sheriff” accidentally shot a 44 year old man?
None.
Zero.
Zilch.
No windows broken. No businesses destroyed. No looting, no theft, no burning police cars. No stones / rocks / bricks being thrown.
Makes you really wonder what the hell we have to look forward to if THIS is the “future”. This will have an adverse affect all around. Tourism will drop, businesses will close, insurance rates will increase. Dumb.
Pure and simple – they are idiots and are acting out for the simple reason to raise hell. They don’t care what the cause is…which is exactly why it is hard to take people from the inner city seriously. Wonder why people cross the road when a “black man” is on their side? History.
Omar, it would be nice if you got involved and shared your sentiments to the reply instead of simply sending in a letter.
Omar;
Those of us with lower amounts of melanin in our skin have to have “the talk” with our kids too. It goes something like this;
http://takimag.com/article/the_talk_nonblack_version_john_derbyshire/print#axzz3GI9gsZPX
Omar Simpson, Esquire…”As a Law-Loving Black Man…? I am questioning you on your Law-Loving as a person, a Lawyer, regardless of your color of skin??? You encourage all that is WRONG…who were/are your friends, co-workers, one skin, one love? You are part of THE problem!! You are “Creating” the great divide…can you honestly look yourself in the mirror and say you are For The “People” or do you only work on behalf of your own color/race?? Do you see how ludicrous you are leading your path of destruction for yourself and providing a segregated enforcement of beliefs? What is your “OATH” as a Lawyer!?