Bedlam is here.
NYC, and the US, has been plunged into darkness. Not literal darkness, but what’s happening is extinguishing the light of freedom.
What started as peaceful demonstrations, marches, rallies, and sit-ins, over the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a Minnesota police office has quickly spiraled out of control.
But the legitimate protests have nothing to do with all this crime being committed. Let’s be honest.
New York City is under curfew, beginning at 11 PM. Only essential workers are permitted to be out of their homes.
AMC Movie Theatre Vandalized. Image Credit Eden Pictures License By CC 2.0
Tomorrow the curfew will begin at 8 PM.
Right now, the stores are being broken into and looted across the rest of the boroughs, cars are being set aflame, and the state of the situation is dire.
CVSes. Michael Kors. The Herald Square Macy’s. Duane Reade. Foot Locker. The Nintendo store at Rockefeller Center. Nike Flatiron. Aldo. Microsoft. Best Buy. Broadway Gamestop. And plenty more.
Watchful Cops. Image Credit Eden Pictures License By CC 2.0
So this is what a revolution looks like? Nah; this is just opportunistic looting, not anything more.
Go to the rallies for George Floyd if you want to make a difference. And keep going. Don’t let rioters scare you into staying home.
Why stop when there’s free Nike athletic-wear to steal? Fresh new sneakers at Foot Locker? Now no other way to put it, but that’s truly lame.
ATM Machine Broken Into. Image Credit BrechtBug License By CC 2.0
It’s just materialism. How is it “woke”?
If these fake social justice warriors wanted to help, they’d donate the stolen goods to poor kids in their own neighborhoods and be Robin Hoods and heroes. But that’s not what this is about.
If I want kicks I’ll drive my cab and earn the money. Or work extra hours in my cousin’s deli to get more maudala.
But to rob and steal? I got cheddar. I went to college. I drive my car because I am my own boss and proud to own my own business.
How are families going to feed their kids? How are the elderly going to get their meds?
“Mexican businesses are being looted in Chicago.” -Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray)
Mexican businesses are being looted in Chicago. pic.twitter.com/74KKNg3z2o
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) June 2, 2020
Looters Robbing Mexican Store
Many who were formerly with sets and crews now own businesses and they’re no longer little kids running wild. Respectable members of society. They run charities. They’re artists. Musicians. You name it.
We should hope George Floyd’s family finds true justice. Now how’s stealing video games going to accomplish that? SMH
Staten Island is a place all its own, and so far it’s been relatively calm here with nothing out of the ordinary.
Are we really that far advanced and didn’t even realize it? Maybe so.
The rumors of flying saucers landing in the dump no longer seem so strange. If I were a traveler from another galaxy, why would I go seek out a bad vibe?
I’d jump off the ship and call car service (never an Uber!) to the Mall, walk over those smelly garbage dunes, and have my driver pick me up in front of Macy’s and bring me over to Arlington to kick it with the chill Harbor or West Brighton kids.
As it is I had to come here alone on a plane when I was thirteen. But I was accepted. Because racism is dead on SI. I went to public schools. I found why America is where people come to.
Maybe sometimes there’s violence on Staten Island on the North Shore (OK, it’s a lot of the time) but nobody’s so lame as to steal video games pretending it’s about social justice.
Scheming, a petty beef, and standing up are all different. Staten Island should secede from this world. We seem to get it. Others just be faking it.
We took to the streets for Eric Garner and made something happen. Erica Garner was a saint! She didn’t see in black and white (or brown, don’t forget us!), she lived MLK’s dream. She didn’t hate all police! Funny how now she’s gone. Can’t we have even one social role model who doesn’t somehow end up dead? It is just not fair.
No one here cares if I’m Sri Lankan, Black, White, Puerto Rican, Mexican, or a Jew. Or a Muslim. Or a mix of all of them. In my hood you come correct and that’s that. I made a lot of friends over the years. First driving car service. Then working at a store. Now I work for myself.
How did that violence, in the name of equality, work out for you, Springfield, Flatbush, Ferguson and everywhere else there had been riots in years past?
The proof’s in the pudding and we got the officer fired here on Staten Island. And with peaceful, intelligent, protest from the heart.
President Trump has called for the military to assist local police in the effort to quell rioting nationwide. I only care because my cousins all are serving right now. That’s three men and one woman, first generation American, and it’s a shame to send them into American cities when they should be dealing with other countries and the nastiness there.
In this instance, in order to maintain civil order, our President probably does have the authority. In the U.S.,there is a longstanding tradition of not using troops on the American soil, but there are exceptions. I am a citizen and I know this.
The National Guard has already been deployed in Boston. While the National Guard is under state Governors’ control, ultimately the President can order guardsmen anywhere, if need be. Right now President Trump is asking Governors to activate the guard.
Shout outs to TNO, TNB, HG, HE, OTA, PC, YPC, FSC, ONT, TVSQ, RMT, DFC, KIC, TEC, VRS, TA, HFS, Gaten Island, VGL, LOB, FBI, BTS, AC, GB, LK, MS13, PC, TBV, old school and young g**s, blue, red, gold, black. Peace forever to Aava Gang, Sri Lanka. I’ve met a lot of people over the years driving car service and hanging out on the block.
Teamwork, friends. Right now is no the time for squabbles. Our color is GREEN. Don’t get confused.
Do your part. I don’t care if you got a walker at this point. Stand up! Swing your cane if need be! We don’t need the National Guard out here.
Hold it down, kids. THESE ARE OUR STREETS. Anyone from “outside” should be left eight miles and running. You know what to do. Protect lives and property.
Make it a like a real-life video game or martial arts movie and defend Shaolin from the invaders. No running these games out here on us, son.
Do like the religious Jews out in Brooklyn and take care of our neighborhoods so the police don’t have to even get involved.
Don’t even think about looting at my people’s stores. And I don’t mean just my race when I say my people. I mean all the people I know and love of all the races and religions.
We won’t wait for the police to solve our problems. You’ve been warned. Stay off our island. You heard?
Out here the police know us by name and I don’t want officers being troubled by these foolish people who claim to do good but really do wrong.
Let the police chase the careless paper chasers in the game. Or fake protesters who make the real ones look bad in the other boros.
I love my new homeland and am thankful I was accepted as I am. I don’t care if this is the last place standing. We need to do what other places fail at.
I will stand with my brothers and sisters to make sure we have stores to go to after COVID lockdown is lifted.
Derek Chauvin for prison 2020! Black Lives Matter! Unity and Love! Equality!
From one island paradise to the next. Keep Staten Island safe.
Much gratitude and many thanks to Staten Islanders news org for letting me print this. I know I have my own style and I appreciate that you only edited the grammar and didn’t remove what I had to say.
