[lbo-talk] corporate executives speaking up

Eugene Coyle e.coyle at me.com
Tue Apr 28 16:13:17 PDT 2015


There was a lot of publicity about the corporate executives who spoke up to protest Indiana's attempt to legalize discrimination.

But I haven't seen much about the son of the owner of the Baltimore Orioles who made a strong statement in response to a sports broadcaster complaining about the Orioles keeping the fans in the ballpark after the game a few days ago.

The sports broadcaster argued that " ... protests should not violate the basic freedoms of non-protestors."

Here's the response, copied from Huffington Post:

John P. Angelos, Orioles chief operating officer and son of team owner Peter Angelos.

Angelos agreed that protests first and foremost should be peaceful, but said the economic policies that are (in his view) devastating cities and communities like Baltimore were his "greater source of personal concern."

We've pulled together the tweets for you (emphasis ours):

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 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.

John Angelos (Source: Twitter) 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 focused 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 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 one 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 is makes inconvenience at a ball game irrelevant in light of the needless suffering government is inflicting upon ordinary Americans.



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