In a report on December 27th by Counter Current News, Police in Beavercreek Ohio didn’t so much as slow down during protests at the Beavercreek Walmart that day, presumably due to the presence of armed citizens. This is in contrast to previous protests in which not only peaceful protestors, but civilians were being attacked by police.
Among those assaulted by police during previous protests, elementary school students, women pushing strollers on their way to shop, and a retired University of Dayton Law Professor had all been attacked. Reporters with Counter Current News, Alternative Media Syndicate, Greene County Herald, and local NBC 2 News were threatened by police for recording the assaults.
Ohio is a state that allows its citizens to openly carry firearms—a form of cruel irony when one considers that John Crawford was killed for carrying a toy gun. While the law varies between “open carry” states, Ohio’s laws allow citizens to possess firearms in public areas, including stores, without a permit as long as the firearm isn’t concealed. Crawford could have been carrying a real, fully loaded gun, and legally speaking there should not have been any call for alarm unless he was pointing it at someone.
Walmart surveillance video, John Crawford:
It is suggested that the reason why police felt they could get away with this brutality during previous rallies was because there were very few armed citizens present. By December 27th, Counter Current News reported that at least half of those present were carrying firearms, and things were, by all definitions, peaceful.
In NPR’s report, “’Guns Kept People Alive’ During the Civil Rights Movement”, it is argued that “passive resistance did not necessarily mean an unwillingness to use force to protect themselves from violence in other circumstances”. This argument refers to the roll of the armed civil rights leaders from the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s, as well as Martin Luther King Jr’s attitude towards firearms for protection (which wasn’t as clear as imagined), both of which have been downplayed over the years.
“I’m very much concerned with how the history of the southern freedom movement or civil rights movement is portrayed. And, I’m very conscious of the gaps in the history, and one important gap in the history, in the portrayal of the movement, is the role of guns in the movement. I worked in the South, I lived with families in the South. There was never a family I stayed with that didn’t have a gun. I know from personal experience and the experiences of others, that guns kept people alive, kept communities safe and all you have to do to understand this is simply think of black people as human beings and they’re gonna respond to terrorism the way anybody else would. The southern freedom movement has become so defined, the narrative of the movement has become so defined by non-violence that anything presented outside that narrative framework really isn’t paid that much attention to. I like the quip that Julian Bond made… that really the way the public understands the civil rights movement can be boiled down to one sentence: Rosa sat down, Martin stood up, then the white folks saw the light and saved the day.” – Charles E. Cobb Jr., author of “This Nonviolent Stuff’ll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible”.
Although several of the protestors present expressed that they personally do not like guns, their purpose was to support John Crawford. Each individual’s personal opinions and beliefs were put to the side to support this one cause.
“Considering there were a handful of folks who we were told had been going around discouraging people from attending because there would be more than just one mindset of people in attendance, the turn out isn’t half bad. This was real progress towards people looking past personal differences and keeping the focus on John and the details of his murder.” – Representatives from Yellow Springs Cop Block.
It cannot be clearly determined whether or not the lack of brutality on the police department’s behalf was due to the presence of armed citizens during the rally, however according to Counter Current News, it definitely seems to be a factor.
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Sources:
B.D.K., Moreh and Newsman, E.J. Counter Current News. Dec 27, 2014. (http://countercurrentnews.com/2014/12/police-stop-brutalizing-protesters-when-armed-citizens-show-up-to-support-john-crawford-rally/)
Butler, Albert. The Root. Aug 21, 2014. (http://www.theroot.com/articles/politics/2014/08/john_crawford_shooting_open_carry_for_whites_open_season_on_blacks.html)
NPR. Jun 5, 2014. (http://www.npr.org/2014/06/05/319072156/guns-kept-people-alive-during-the-civil-rights-movement)
I say its about time to take our country back, enough standing around, if they dont fear us now they will soon enough!
Thanks and how can I help?
Sorry I watched the video and I don’t really get what went on. Why was Crawford walking around the store with the gun? What was he trying to do with it? I mean if he was planning on buying it why didn’t he just go to the register and pay for it instead of walking around playing with it in the isles? Sorry if this sounds callous I mean no disrespect.
Apparently store video shows that many people picked up that gun throughout the day since it was sitting on a shelf unwrapped. The reason this happened was because the 911 caller lied and said that Crawford was pointing it at people ( which video confirms he was not and which the caller now admits he was not ). Ohio is open carry so it would have been perfectly legal for him to be carrying a real weapon in that store.
Seriously, you can’t think of any reason someone would walk around with an item and not go directly to the register? It’s pretty clear from the video he was looking at the shelves. Sometimes, people buy more than one item at a time from a store.
how about an NRA type commercial putting attention on gun rights and legal carrying, like a group of armed Black Panthers walking down the street in the direction of a group of armed rednecks coming from the other direction, they meet, locking of squinting eyes back n forth, one redneck walk out front to meet the group of blacks, “hey man, nice AR10 ” They all start talking showing each other’s guns back and forth. ‘THE NRA DEFENDING THE 2ND AMENDMENT FOR 250 YEARS’
im not even from the us but that would be an awesome commercial
Did anyone else notice the fat white chick who probably called the police in the first place? Racist obvious is racist if that’s what she did. And did anyone else notice how it was clear they shot first instantly and gave NO orders whatsoever which is a violation of police conduct. They are not supposed to shoot until after giving orders, suspect not complying with orders, and then suspect making a hostile movement. It sucks that I actually enjoy hearing about police getting killed more than any so called criminal. Perhaps this is because the police are just licensed criminals now… -_-
Police are trained in self preservation. And with how many people hate them rather than not they have every reason to be. A vast percentage of America has become children again. Because the police stop you from breaking the rules, they are treated like parents. They “never understand” and “just want to stop you from living your life” and all “abuse their power”. Now in the event you have chilchildren, do you let them do everything they want? If someone pulls a gun on you and you’ve already been told the person has pointed it at several others are you really willing to chance losing your life, the life your child’s parent, the life of your mother’s beloved baby? And after you hit the floor what then? What if 17 more people hit it after you because you didn’t take the shot? Now 18 people are dead as opposed to 1. And no matter what gets written on your tombstone you’ll be the piece of shit that didn’t protect someone else’s baby to everyone your family, who by the way is laying in bed night wondering why you didn’t save yourself, but it was because you were too afraid you would be seen as a racist, or seen as abusing your power. No one ever stops to actually think about why a cop shoots someone. And regardless of what you think standard police protocol is, it doesn’t change the fact that anyone that points a gun or anything that even remotely resembles a gun at someone else that you KNOW has a loaded gun either has a death wish or is just stupid. You don’t have to be demanded to not point it at someone to know it’s a bad idea especially when someone else has one. I don’t care if Ohio IS open carry, that doesn’t constitute aiming at people as the caller stated (regardless of the validity of the statement) to the 911 call taker the person was doing. The call taker and the officer were both fed misinformation by the caller, they went into the situation with bad information. We’ve all made decisions based off things we were told that ended up not being true. Here’s a hint, 911 dispatchers and police officers DO NOT HAVE CRYSTAL FUCKING BALLS they go into every situation blind at the mercy of the information they are given by the caller.
We at Anonymous North Texas have been doing this for a little while. At #OpRomperStomper we formed a coalition of members of the New Black Panther Party, Open Carry Activists (not officially involved as Open Carry Texas), Anons, Socialists (to yell at the socialists ~ lulz) and other activists. At #OpSafeWinter and #OpHungerGames we formed a coalition with Come and Take It (CATI), DON’TCOMPLY.com and Gun Rights Across America. In doing this, we raised and served over 150 pounds of meat along with other GMO free foods. We had hundreds of clothes to give away.
Finding our strengths and not directly attacking a group that hasn’t directly attacked you is by far more advantageous.
~O~