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As a kid I remember a big old van used by The Nottinghamshire

Police, which used to pick up the prisoners from Yates and other city pubs.

Black Maria - A black van, originally horse drawn,

for rounding up drunk and disorderly persons and for

conveying criminals from raided premises. It was a

large boxlike van with wooden benches along either

side, a barred rear door, and a step or two below the

door for climbing into the van. [Police term since

early XIX Am. Black because of the traditional color.

_Maria_ perhaps after Maria Lee, a black woman of

Boston ca. 1825. She is variously and vaguely

reported to have assisted police in rounding up

disorderly persons, hoodlums, and thieves. Through

the mist of unspecified reports she seems to emerge

as some sort of police informant, quick tempered and

powerful of body.

post-11-1133659738_thumb.png

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Having done a google search on Black Maria it came up with your theory on the black woman who ran a boarding house but then decided that it was a black race horse that was called Black Maria. It was one of the most prolific winners of its time. It was born in New York around 1826 and the author seamed to favour that explanation but said there needed to be further investigation.

A ;)

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My old school used ex-police Black Marias as school transport. A more uncomfortable way of travelling to North Wales for adventurous training has yet to be devised. Four hours sat on a wooden bench with no seat belts. Ouch!

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  • 14 years later...

Off for a stroll on the Forest have a look this 'Black Life Matters' protest, hopefully the gangs of Radford, St.Anns & Meders keep their distance or stay away & the police keep them on the Forest & stop them heading into the city centre & they all behave themselves?

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These happenings bring all kinds of memories flooding back I recall reading about how Marcus Garvey had struggled to draw international attention to racism.

Then there was Cassius Clay's stance when required to fight in Vietnam in 1966: "I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong ... They never called me nigger."  

Then there was Martin Luther King...…………………….

And so it goes on. 

Let us hope for the most peaceful outcome for all.

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I can accept and sort of appreciate peaceful demonstrations, although I’d never ever take part in one.  What makes me so angry is when things turn nasty like they did in London yesterday.  That poor policewoman and her horse.  Evil monster throwing a bike at that beautiful creature, hope they prosecute him as he’s bound to be identified.  The horse made his own way back to his stable apparently.   Then in Bristol today that statue was knocked down, rolled along the street and dumped in the river, what good has that done?   I’d never heard of Edward Colston until today, but have googled him since watching the news. Nottingham  hasn’t escaped the vandals either ...... graffiti daubed all over the Council House.  All these protestors do is put the majority (law-abiding citizens);totally against what they are demonstrating about.  

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It's a case of targeting historical figures who lived in different times with different values. We cannot change history, it is water under the bridge.

 

I could take it into my head to go out tomorrow morning and give every male I see a smack in the mouth on the premise that for centuries men prevented women being given the right to vote, own property or lead independent lives or because men regarded women as chattels.

 

Of course, I feel very sorry for those women whose lives were constrained by those attitudes but that is in the past (although some would say it still goes on!)

 

Perhaps I'll just smack a couple to make a point!

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Looking at those facing the camera it's difficult to believe they are 2 metres apart but you were there so I'll have to take your word for it...

 

Love the incongruity, " you lot stand in the rain and protest, we'll sit in a tent and make speeches". We all stand together brothers!!! providing of course it's not raining

 

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Not me, Jill.  I never did owt.  :Shock:  and neither did my grandparents as far as I know.

What I find more sinister about all this is that the trouble that led to this started in the US.  So why worldwide riots?  Seems to me as though the protesters are being used as useful idiots to destroy our respective country's  Maybe we should follow the money,  Who is inciting and paying for this?  I do not see it as just a spontaneous outpouring of sympathy.  Right on top of this outbreak when our populations are already suffering.  Apologies if this should have been posted in politics.  It just makes me angry.  We don't win converts to our cause by looting and wanton destruction.

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Whilst there may be local spontaneous protests there has to be, as Loppy says. an organisational element to bring so many out. Someone has to decide where and when but I have to say their motives are at times questionable and many seem to use a genuine and valid reason for protest to bring their own agenda...

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Gregory Boulevard was blocked for quite a while. Two PCSOs (one gormless the other fat) took time off from helping out with off street parking to wander down and ask those responsible to move the barricade "ever so nicely please": they were ignored. Real cops were noticeable by their absence.

 

The Evening Post's coverage is incredibly sympathetic almost as if there had been a corporate editorial instruction from the Reach Head Office.

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8 hours ago, bamber said:

The Evening Post's coverage is incredibly sympathetic almost as if there had been a corporate editorial instruction from the Reach Head Office.

 

I'd say that's an almost certainty. The newspaper are, like many jumping, on a bandwagon and showing what 'caring sharing' people they are, plus they're scared witless of the backlash if they are less than enthusiastic and dare to criticise by not singing from the same hymn sheet.

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Back on topic, Worksop nick did have a black maria, although it was painted white with a candy stripe down it. A transit van which worked when it wanted to. It stunk of cigarettes and bags of stale chips.  I drove it a few times and threw in the drunks on a Saturday, but to my recollection it was not that many at all. 

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Veering off topic again! I came across the latest Banksy today. I don’t know whether I’m the last to see it, but here it is ...

 

EA7-CF48-A-6803-461-A-8-BA3-8-D3-B7-A546

 

Whether or not you think he’s an “artist” he sure has talent and a way of expressing newsworthy items. I think his NHS new superhero was brilliant. Maybe he’s an “instant artist”, just relevant for a short space of time.

 

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