The executive vice president of the Baltimore Orioles is speaking out about the rioting that threatened the safety and lives of his fans, only instead of condemning it, John Angelos justifies the unrest by saying that a lack of jobs is the reason for it all.
Over this past weekend, police and officials at Oriole Park at Camden Yards advised fans to stay inside the stadium and not leave as rioters swarmed around outside the venue on Saturday and Sunday. On Monday, violence forced the team to postpone the game against the White Sox.
But despite the mounting incidents of property destruction and the attacks on police and fans during the continuing riots, the Orioles’ Angelos, son of the billionaire owner of the team, is not all that upset at the threat to his fans or the unrest in his city.
Responding to a local reporter who lamented over the riots on his Twitter feed, the baseball executive initiated a long series of Tweets of his own to explain his position on the matter. Deadspin’s Tom Ley assembled the Tweets in a transcribed form:
Brett speaking only for myself I agree with your point that the principle of peaceful, non-violent protest and the observance of the rule of law is of utmost importance in any society. MLK, Gandhi, Mandela, and all great opposition leaders throughout history have always preached this proper precept. Further, it is critical that in any democracy investigation must be completed and due process must be honored before any government or police members are judged responsible.
That said, my greater source of personal concern, outrage and sympathy beyond this particular case is focused neither upon one night’s property damage nor upon the acts group but is focued rather upon the past four-decade period during which an American political elite have shipped middle class and working class jobs away from Baltimore and cities and towns around the US to 3rd world dictatorships like China and others plunged tens of millions of good hard working Americans into economic devastation, and then followed that action around the nation by diminishing every American’s civil rights protections in order to control an unfairly impoverished population living under an ever-declining standard of living and suffering at the butt end of an ever-more militarized and aggressive surveillance state.
The innocent working families of all backgrounds whose lives and dreams have been cut short by excessive violence, surveillance, and other abuses of the Bill of Rights by government pay the true price, an ultimate price, and one that far exceeds the importance of any kids’ game played tonight, or ever, at Camden Yards. We need to keep in mind people are suffering and dying around the US and while we are thankful no on was injured at Camden Yards, there is a far bigger picture for poor Americans in Baltimore and everywhere who don’t have jobs and are losing economic civil and legal rights and this makes inconvenience at a ball game irrelevant in light of the needless suffering government is inflicting upon ordinary Americans.
This union-styled spin on the riots may not come as a great surprise since Angelos is a dedicated liberal and has in the past strongly supported such left-wing causes as the ACLU, many Democrat Party apparatuses, abortion mill operators Planned Parenthood, and Amnesty International.
Additionally, John’s father, Orioles owner Peter Angelos, is a long-time union activist, a former liberal Baltimore politician, and a trial lawyer who made his billions suing companies such as Phillip Morris.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com
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