Showing posts with label race relations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label race relations. Show all posts
Friday, October 26, 2018
We should all judge Megyn Kelly, but let's also remember...
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
#BoycottStarbucks
Well, no.
It is karmatic payback that a few years after Starbucks' ridiculously pretentious program to fix racism by writing "Race Together" on coffee cups will now be seen as racist after a YouTube video surfaced of two black men being arrested in a Philadelphia chain over trespassing.
What actually happened? (The story is ongoing.) Apparently two black men--clean cut but wearing street cloths--walked into a Starbucks and took a seat. One asked for the restroom code and was denied because neither he nor his friend had purchased anything. They were waiting for a third man, you see, and they were about to have a business meeting. They were asked to buy something or leave. They refused to buy anything and they refused to leave. The police were called. The police showed up, and asked the non-customers to comply with the manager's orders and leave. They still refused. They were arrested for trespassing, and the arrest was caught on tape and the story went viral.
There's a misconception that trespassing is when you break into a car and steal an iPad. If a business manager asks you to leave and you don't, it is criminal trespassing. If you were denied service, you can sue. These black men weren't denied service. Nor were they practicing a political protest, like the lunch counter sitters of the 1960s. They were engaged in a pissing contest with a white person or American society or the concept of private enterprise, and they lost. Nothing was resolved. They missed out on their business meeting and got arrested.
[Disclaimer: I have been a Starbucks bum numerous times in my life. I sit alone at a table, using the free WiFi. I will always give up my table if a customer needs it. I don't bring additional black guys with me.]
Starbucks bums are a serious problem (okay, not serious), and we should not allow liberal activists to change the subject from the rights and responsibilities of business owners to insure their actual customers are treated well. Though we should all be treated equally by our government, we are not all equal in a private business. Those who spend the most money should receive the best service to encourage repeat business. Those who spend the least should be treated with civility. Those who don't spend at all should be told to fuck off. Welcome to capitalism, bitch!
In my life, I've seen just as many black bums and black customers at various Starbucks throughout Los Angeles. And if you don't notice the bums because they're black makes you racist, not the manager who called the police on them. You must not be looking at black people outside of your preppy friends. When you really hate someone, you don't condemn their behavior. You just ignore them.
This is the bigotry of low expectations. You expect white people to act a certain way, but black people are to be given wide latitude to act like jackasses--whether it's smoking marijuana, saying "nigger" or being unemployed. It is the point where tolerance becomes condescension. This is similar to the Trayvon Martin case in that what began as an episode of racial profiling escalated. The manager shouldn't have called the police so quickly. However, he might not have noticed that the black men were there for only a few minutes. She might've thought they had been there for a half hour or an hour. She didn't notice them because she's colorblind.
Starbucks is worried that this boycott will be a campaign taken upon by their white liberal customers--the ones who spend hundred of dollars a month at their branches. The corporation could draw out this issue, and though it would be factually right, it would lose the PR war. The corporation is sending their employees to sensitivity training and paying these men's tuition. "See? Not racist!"
Now this former manager is going to sue Starbucks for wrongful termination, and the corporation will probably give her a few thousand dollars to go away. She wasn't properly prepared by corporate in the art of being taken out of context.
If a boycott does occur, the people who will suffer most are the people whose incomes are tied to tip jars. The CEO and other high-ranking officials--who never opening condoned racial profiling--will be mildly impacted. The black baristas will suffer the most, as their tips will fall off a cliff. Hardworking black men and women will suffer to protect the "rights" of bums. Good job, liberals. Fixing racism like champs!
It is karmatic payback that a few years after Starbucks' ridiculously pretentious program to fix racism by writing "Race Together" on coffee cups will now be seen as racist after a YouTube video surfaced of two black men being arrested in a Philadelphia chain over trespassing.
What actually happened? (The story is ongoing.) Apparently two black men--clean cut but wearing street cloths--walked into a Starbucks and took a seat. One asked for the restroom code and was denied because neither he nor his friend had purchased anything. They were waiting for a third man, you see, and they were about to have a business meeting. They were asked to buy something or leave. They refused to buy anything and they refused to leave. The police were called. The police showed up, and asked the non-customers to comply with the manager's orders and leave. They still refused. They were arrested for trespassing, and the arrest was caught on tape and the story went viral.
There's a misconception that trespassing is when you break into a car and steal an iPad. If a business manager asks you to leave and you don't, it is criminal trespassing. If you were denied service, you can sue. These black men weren't denied service. Nor were they practicing a political protest, like the lunch counter sitters of the 1960s. They were engaged in a pissing contest with a white person or American society or the concept of private enterprise, and they lost. Nothing was resolved. They missed out on their business meeting and got arrested.
[Disclaimer: I have been a Starbucks bum numerous times in my life. I sit alone at a table, using the free WiFi. I will always give up my table if a customer needs it. I don't bring additional black guys with me.]
Starbucks bums are a serious problem (okay, not serious), and we should not allow liberal activists to change the subject from the rights and responsibilities of business owners to insure their actual customers are treated well. Though we should all be treated equally by our government, we are not all equal in a private business. Those who spend the most money should receive the best service to encourage repeat business. Those who spend the least should be treated with civility. Those who don't spend at all should be told to fuck off. Welcome to capitalism, bitch!
In my life, I've seen just as many black bums and black customers at various Starbucks throughout Los Angeles. And if you don't notice the bums because they're black makes you racist, not the manager who called the police on them. You must not be looking at black people outside of your preppy friends. When you really hate someone, you don't condemn their behavior. You just ignore them.
This is the bigotry of low expectations. You expect white people to act a certain way, but black people are to be given wide latitude to act like jackasses--whether it's smoking marijuana, saying "nigger" or being unemployed. It is the point where tolerance becomes condescension. This is similar to the Trayvon Martin case in that what began as an episode of racial profiling escalated. The manager shouldn't have called the police so quickly. However, he might not have noticed that the black men were there for only a few minutes. She might've thought they had been there for a half hour or an hour. She didn't notice them because she's colorblind.
Starbucks is worried that this boycott will be a campaign taken upon by their white liberal customers--the ones who spend hundred of dollars a month at their branches. The corporation could draw out this issue, and though it would be factually right, it would lose the PR war. The corporation is sending their employees to sensitivity training and paying these men's tuition. "See? Not racist!"
Now this former manager is going to sue Starbucks for wrongful termination, and the corporation will probably give her a few thousand dollars to go away. She wasn't properly prepared by corporate in the art of being taken out of context.
If a boycott does occur, the people who will suffer most are the people whose incomes are tied to tip jars. The CEO and other high-ranking officials--who never opening condoned racial profiling--will be mildly impacted. The black baristas will suffer the most, as their tips will fall off a cliff. Hardworking black men and women will suffer to protect the "rights" of bums. Good job, liberals. Fixing racism like champs!
Saturday, June 13, 2015
Black Like Rachel Dolezal?
She is a "wigga." It means "white nigga." Really, this is an unfunny Mrs. Doubtfire-type situation. This is a white person who has been engaged in a long scam to pass as a Negro--and, really, that's the opposite of how this is supposed to work!
Why would she do this, the media have asked breathlessly? I can only think she had an early love of black culture, and she wanted to help black people, so she figured the best way to help them was to live as one. (The NAACP has numerous whites in its membership.) The alternate explanation is that she is a dingbat. Whatever the reason, that she thought she could continue the lie in he Internet Age is what's incredibly bizarre. She started to lie, and got caught in the lie--like someone running a pyramid scheme, her only way out was exposure, death or prison. Exposure was the best way out for her.
Speaking of bizarre, one episode of Glee has the evil Sue tearing apart New Directions by pointing out how different they all are, insisting that they should be outraged. It ended with Mr. Shue pointing out that "we're all minorities." This makes no fuckin' sense. We can't all be minorities. There are numerous situations where everyone feels like "the other," but you're still NOT A MINORITY. Being a minority--whether the status is based on race, religion, sexuality or disability--is not a matter of temporary discomfort but of being permanently held apart by others. There's also the problem of whether being openly gay makes you a minority--just as there's an issue with whether spending a few thousand dollars on intrusive surgical procedures makes you a woman.
According to the US government, to be a part of a Native American tribe, you only need to be 1/16TH(!) of that tribe. Seriously--look it up yourself. You only need to be 1/16th Cherokee, for instance, to claim to be Cherokee. So your great great grandma knocked boots with an Injun? Congratulations! I can only imagine this was to keep the tribe's numbers large, but it's quit ridiculous when you think of it as a matter of race.
Race is arbitrary and often situational--and 50% dependant on everyone else's view of you as your self-image. Major productions now put out a casting call for someone who "looks Asian" (or, Asian) in order to skirt modern anti-discrimination laws. An Asian will be hired, now--maybe Emma Stone--but they must appear as tolerant and inclusive as possible. Because there's no discrimination in the entertainment industry. Outside of Hollyweird, there's wide disagreement on how to classify Obama. Generally consensus, in America, is that the President's black. The "one drop" rule makes no sense; if you're part black and LOOK black, you're black--and that's a better rule. If you can pass--pun alert!--it's a gray area. You wouldn't want to deny your ethnic heritage, but if you haven't lived your life being viewed as a black person, are you really a black person? The short answer is you're not black, no.
But how do I feel about affirmative action? My viewpoint has changed quit a bit over the decades. Racial set-asides have been illegal for awhile now, and I loathe people who imply that they're still a thing. We have been talking about a point system for awhile now, so let's raise the question: Should being a (real) minority entitle you to a leg up not given to a proud white guy?
My niece is 75% black. She certainly looks blacks. She will spend the remainder of her life as a black girl and a black woman. And I don't want my niece to lose an opportunity because some blue-eyed, blond kid who's 1/8th Navajo wants the opportunity too. ("Hey, we're both minorities!")
In summary, I no longer support affirmative action because white people--including white liberals--will cheat the system. Capitalism is the best economic system since it plays off humanity's desire to be superior to others. Conservatives have won because they're so terrible, lacking optimism in minorities or the human race in general. Good job.
Why would she do this, the media have asked breathlessly? I can only think she had an early love of black culture, and she wanted to help black people, so she figured the best way to help them was to live as one. (The NAACP has numerous whites in its membership.) The alternate explanation is that she is a dingbat. Whatever the reason, that she thought she could continue the lie in he Internet Age is what's incredibly bizarre. She started to lie, and got caught in the lie--like someone running a pyramid scheme, her only way out was exposure, death or prison. Exposure was the best way out for her.
Speaking of bizarre, one episode of Glee has the evil Sue tearing apart New Directions by pointing out how different they all are, insisting that they should be outraged. It ended with Mr. Shue pointing out that "we're all minorities." This makes no fuckin' sense. We can't all be minorities. There are numerous situations where everyone feels like "the other," but you're still NOT A MINORITY. Being a minority--whether the status is based on race, religion, sexuality or disability--is not a matter of temporary discomfort but of being permanently held apart by others. There's also the problem of whether being openly gay makes you a minority--just as there's an issue with whether spending a few thousand dollars on intrusive surgical procedures makes you a woman.
According to the US government, to be a part of a Native American tribe, you only need to be 1/16TH(!) of that tribe. Seriously--look it up yourself. You only need to be 1/16th Cherokee, for instance, to claim to be Cherokee. So your great great grandma knocked boots with an Injun? Congratulations! I can only imagine this was to keep the tribe's numbers large, but it's quit ridiculous when you think of it as a matter of race.
Race is arbitrary and often situational--and 50% dependant on everyone else's view of you as your self-image. Major productions now put out a casting call for someone who "looks Asian" (or, Asian) in order to skirt modern anti-discrimination laws. An Asian will be hired, now--maybe Emma Stone--but they must appear as tolerant and inclusive as possible. Because there's no discrimination in the entertainment industry. Outside of Hollyweird, there's wide disagreement on how to classify Obama. Generally consensus, in America, is that the President's black. The "one drop" rule makes no sense; if you're part black and LOOK black, you're black--and that's a better rule. If you can pass--pun alert!--it's a gray area. You wouldn't want to deny your ethnic heritage, but if you haven't lived your life being viewed as a black person, are you really a black person? The short answer is you're not black, no.
But how do I feel about affirmative action? My viewpoint has changed quit a bit over the decades. Racial set-asides have been illegal for awhile now, and I loathe people who imply that they're still a thing. We have been talking about a point system for awhile now, so let's raise the question: Should being a (real) minority entitle you to a leg up not given to a proud white guy?
My niece is 75% black. She certainly looks blacks. She will spend the remainder of her life as a black girl and a black woman. And I don't want my niece to lose an opportunity because some blue-eyed, blond kid who's 1/8th Navajo wants the opportunity too. ("Hey, we're both minorities!")
In summary, I no longer support affirmative action because white people--including white liberals--will cheat the system. Capitalism is the best economic system since it plays off humanity's desire to be superior to others. Conservatives have won because they're so terrible, lacking optimism in minorities or the human race in general. Good job.
Saturday, January 3, 2015
Officer cameras could be defeated by a sticker.
Last year at the Metro/7th subway stop (for non-Angelenos, that's a hub that connects several rail lines, including the hellish passage into Compton), I saw two sheriff deputies--white or Latino, a male and a female--deputies conversing with a mentally ill black man, who was quit animate about some point. (It is safe to say that they were arguing about fare non-payment.) The fellow raised his hands high above his head, and that was the cue for the male cop to tackle him. The two went to the floor, and the female deputy joined in and arrested him. To my knowledge, no one died during that arrest. And though someone could've been killed, the deputy made the judgment call that he needed to end this confrontation. From my distance, it looked like police brutality.
The cops in the Eric Garner case were attempting to grab Garner by the wrists, but he waved them off. (Garner, who was 6-3 and over 350 pounds, had a history of resisting arrest.) It is a myth that Garner wasn't trying to resist arrest at the time of his death--though no loose cigarettes were found on him--he was clearly arguing with the cops on scene. He clearly didn't want to be arrested or touched. (I don't like being touched either, by the way. However, I can also recognize that the cops are allowed to touch me in a non-sexual manner in order to aid their investigation.) In Officer Pantaleo's brilliance, he thought to use a chokehold on the much larger adversary. It was a dick move, and it was against NYPD policy. In hindsight, the cops should've tried harder to negotiate a favorable outcome. There will be a million dollar settlement going to Garner's family. But none of that changes the fact that it wasn't a murder.
Let's get the terminology correct. "Homicide" means an unnatural death, not murder. Jeffrey Dahmer strangled over ten black men to death--he murdered black men, and he often used strangulation. Dahmer was not a cop trying to arrest anyone. He had the motive of needing to assert control and an incredibly bizarre fascination with death, leading to one of the most bizarre true-life American horror stories of the 20th century.
I am concerned with how sarcastic the "hands up" movement is. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, BLACK MEN, DO NOT COME AT POLICE WITH YOUR HANDS RAISED!!! (There.) When the cops want you to come over, they will ask you to come over. You can yell and curse at cops all you want from the comfort and anonymity of the crowd. When the cops are talking to you, check your attitude. NO SUDDEN MOVEMENTS. Any number of these shooting incidents have been caused by racism, yes, but also by black men oblivious to how they are perceived by others. YOU KNOW that you're a nice guy, but the cops don't know this.
There is an unfortunate anti-authoritarian attitude among so many American blacks that leads to self-destruction. American doctors so often just don't want to be subjected to the argument or accusation that they are attempting to enforce an Anglo-centric standard of beauty onto blacks. (I'm not making this up: Doctors refuse to tell black people to lose weight.) "Fat" is certainly a relative term, to be clear; there is a stigma among African American girls of being "boney." Mo'Nique has built an entire persona around criticizing "skinny bitches." Meanwhile, diabetes is striking down blacks and numerous blacks seem confused as to the cause. Libertarians tell us that blacks should be allowed to eat whatever they want--and the government shouldn't pay for poor blacks' healthcare. Thank God for Michelle Obama, in all seriousness. Can you imagine the accusations of racism if Laura Bush had told black women that they were too damn fat?
The use of video footage "proves" that it was a murder. We are overly reliant on video footage and not logic--if the cop wanted to kill Garner, he would've shot him. If you're planning to brutalize a suspect, you wouldn't do it while a camera is rolling. You would turn the camera off. (Advocates of officer-mounted cameras tend to ignore that the cops will be able to cover up the lens with a sticker. Or experience "battery failure" or "forget" to wear it--I can go on.) You wouldn't do it on a public street, in broad daylight. The image of this arrest is haunting, certainly. However, if he hadn't died, this never would've made the news. What makes the video haunting is that he did actually die after proclaiming that he was about to die.
Garner should've yelled: "I'm experiencing shortness of breathe." Rather he yelled: "I can't breath." Garner was not an educated man, and he used more common vernacular to describe his current health state. The cops, lacking much medical knowledge ("shortness of breath" being a red flag for a health crisis) and well-attuned in the art of BS, assumed he was faking it. They weren't really strangling him. They weren't really roughing him up--no healthy man should've been injured during the course of THAT arrest. Numerous rightwingers, bizarrely, are still using this as proof that he was faking it: If you cannot breath, how can you say that you cannot breath? Science!
This death brings to mind the late LAPD Chief Daryl Gates, who proclaimed in the early '90s that so many black men were being killed during chokeholds not that his people were using too much force but that "black people didn't respond to chokeholds like normal people." This statement has two potential meanings: Black men are so belligerent that they end up being accidentally killed or that black men are biologically unable to withstand a few seconds of strangulation. In either case, Gates was throwing out a nonsensical and fairly racist justification for his people's actions. You can be right and completely tone-deaf to the person whom you're explaining your logical conclusions to, and Gates's political idiocy led to the LA Riots. The use of chokeholds was abandoned for nightsticks...which led to the beating of a suspect named Rodney King, which led to the Riots. Thus both a controversial police tactic and the attempt to rectify a controversial police tactic led to the Riots.
According to the coroner: Contributing factors to Garner's death included bronchial asthma, heart disease, obesity, and hypertensive cardiovascular disease. Garner was not going to live a long life. He didn't follow doctor's orders--or he was never given doctor's orders. He also didn't listen to the cops, having been arrested multiple times--including for resisting arrest. His death was not entirely caused by his bad decisions, both legal and medical. He suffered an attack from overzealous law enforcement officers.
Still not murder.
The cops in the Eric Garner case were attempting to grab Garner by the wrists, but he waved them off. (Garner, who was 6-3 and over 350 pounds, had a history of resisting arrest.) It is a myth that Garner wasn't trying to resist arrest at the time of his death--though no loose cigarettes were found on him--he was clearly arguing with the cops on scene. He clearly didn't want to be arrested or touched. (I don't like being touched either, by the way. However, I can also recognize that the cops are allowed to touch me in a non-sexual manner in order to aid their investigation.) In Officer Pantaleo's brilliance, he thought to use a chokehold on the much larger adversary. It was a dick move, and it was against NYPD policy. In hindsight, the cops should've tried harder to negotiate a favorable outcome. There will be a million dollar settlement going to Garner's family. But none of that changes the fact that it wasn't a murder.
Let's get the terminology correct. "Homicide" means an unnatural death, not murder. Jeffrey Dahmer strangled over ten black men to death--he murdered black men, and he often used strangulation. Dahmer was not a cop trying to arrest anyone. He had the motive of needing to assert control and an incredibly bizarre fascination with death, leading to one of the most bizarre true-life American horror stories of the 20th century.
I am concerned with how sarcastic the "hands up" movement is. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, BLACK MEN, DO NOT COME AT POLICE WITH YOUR HANDS RAISED!!! (There.) When the cops want you to come over, they will ask you to come over. You can yell and curse at cops all you want from the comfort and anonymity of the crowd. When the cops are talking to you, check your attitude. NO SUDDEN MOVEMENTS. Any number of these shooting incidents have been caused by racism, yes, but also by black men oblivious to how they are perceived by others. YOU KNOW that you're a nice guy, but the cops don't know this.
There is an unfortunate anti-authoritarian attitude among so many American blacks that leads to self-destruction. American doctors so often just don't want to be subjected to the argument or accusation that they are attempting to enforce an Anglo-centric standard of beauty onto blacks. (I'm not making this up: Doctors refuse to tell black people to lose weight.) "Fat" is certainly a relative term, to be clear; there is a stigma among African American girls of being "boney." Mo'Nique has built an entire persona around criticizing "skinny bitches." Meanwhile, diabetes is striking down blacks and numerous blacks seem confused as to the cause. Libertarians tell us that blacks should be allowed to eat whatever they want--and the government shouldn't pay for poor blacks' healthcare. Thank God for Michelle Obama, in all seriousness. Can you imagine the accusations of racism if Laura Bush had told black women that they were too damn fat?
The use of video footage "proves" that it was a murder. We are overly reliant on video footage and not logic--if the cop wanted to kill Garner, he would've shot him. If you're planning to brutalize a suspect, you wouldn't do it while a camera is rolling. You would turn the camera off. (Advocates of officer-mounted cameras tend to ignore that the cops will be able to cover up the lens with a sticker. Or experience "battery failure" or "forget" to wear it--I can go on.) You wouldn't do it on a public street, in broad daylight. The image of this arrest is haunting, certainly. However, if he hadn't died, this never would've made the news. What makes the video haunting is that he did actually die after proclaiming that he was about to die.
Garner should've yelled: "I'm experiencing shortness of breathe." Rather he yelled: "I can't breath." Garner was not an educated man, and he used more common vernacular to describe his current health state. The cops, lacking much medical knowledge ("shortness of breath" being a red flag for a health crisis) and well-attuned in the art of BS, assumed he was faking it. They weren't really strangling him. They weren't really roughing him up--no healthy man should've been injured during the course of THAT arrest. Numerous rightwingers, bizarrely, are still using this as proof that he was faking it: If you cannot breath, how can you say that you cannot breath? Science!
This death brings to mind the late LAPD Chief Daryl Gates, who proclaimed in the early '90s that so many black men were being killed during chokeholds not that his people were using too much force but that "black people didn't respond to chokeholds like normal people." This statement has two potential meanings: Black men are so belligerent that they end up being accidentally killed or that black men are biologically unable to withstand a few seconds of strangulation. In either case, Gates was throwing out a nonsensical and fairly racist justification for his people's actions. You can be right and completely tone-deaf to the person whom you're explaining your logical conclusions to, and Gates's political idiocy led to the LA Riots. The use of chokeholds was abandoned for nightsticks...which led to the beating of a suspect named Rodney King, which led to the Riots. Thus both a controversial police tactic and the attempt to rectify a controversial police tactic led to the Riots.
According to the coroner: Contributing factors to Garner's death included bronchial asthma, heart disease, obesity, and hypertensive cardiovascular disease. Garner was not going to live a long life. He didn't follow doctor's orders--or he was never given doctor's orders. He also didn't listen to the cops, having been arrested multiple times--including for resisting arrest. His death was not entirely caused by his bad decisions, both legal and medical. He suffered an attack from overzealous law enforcement officers.
Still not murder.
Saturday, December 6, 2014
#Ferguson Redux
If Bill Cosby were in Ferguson, the first thing he would do is rape someone.... Then the second thing he would do is criticize blacks.
I was a young child during the LA Riots back in '92, and though I didn't participate in those riots, I can tell these present riots are for rank amateurs. Like the rioters out here, they're not demonstrating outrage so much as damaging other people's property. The rioters aren't violent enough to be revolutionaries and are not peaceful enough to be protestors. They are posers--pseudo-revolutionaries--and most hate the cops more than they have been victimized by the police. They hide amongst the legitimate protestors, so really, I would just stay home. The rioters are ruining the legitimate points that you might be making about racial profiling and police brutality. And here's what's going to happen: Business people will not want to build in Ferguson--not for a decade--and the land will become blighted. And this wouldn't be the cops' fault. Because one black guy was killed in self-defense, this place is going to get worse, not better. There is no dialogue--and any dialogue that might occur would lead to shouting and mutual recriminations. Cops come and go, but these riots will last long in Missourians' (Missourites'?) minds. Long after Wilson is dead, the history books will speak of those assholes who burned down a piece of Missouri.
Of course, this really isn't about the one black guy. The media--especially the rightwing media--are attempting to condense this into a Mike Brown/Ferguson PD issue. We are supposedly recovering from the worst recession since the Great Depression--a recovery that has largely benefited the wealthy/middle-class more than the poor. In 2014, some people still cannot believe a brown guy named "Hussein" could have been born in America. Voter ID laws (that prevent blacks from voting) are good but gun control laws (that might protect blacks' right to stay alive) are evil. Screwdrivers and hoodies are burglar tools. Don't film cops because they're shy.
These systemic issues do not change certain problems with the DA's case: Scanning the grand jury transcript, the pro-Brown witnesses did not understand that their recollections were wrong. They didn't see lies as lies, and they repeated what they thought members of THEIR community wanted to hear: Brown had his hands up, and he wasn't fighting back. Some of the prosecution's witnesses didn't see what happened but were repeating hearsay. And the forensic evidence supported the defense. The video of Brown assaulting another man supported the defense. A grand jury could indict a ham sandwich, and thus the case for self-defense was so strong that Wilson does not have the culpability of a ham sandwich. (What does need to be explained was the apparent shift in the police's story that Brown was stopped for the violent robbery that he'd just committed, not walking in the street.)
Meanwhile Wilson does himself no favors by speaking. His conscious is clear, which are HIS exact words. (He said this--Google it!) Really? No regrets? I know almost nothing about Darren Wilson, but I can think up at least one thing that he did wrong in his life. I can think up one thing he did wrong. When you kill someone, you should show remorse for your actions--even if it was just in self-defense, not murder. Nope. He has no regrets. I like Darren Wilson a whole lot less now. He was once a good cop, but he'll never be a cop again.
The protestors are legitimate in putting forth the issue of police corruption. I have the creeping suspicion that whites would care a lot more about what's happening in Ferguson if a Chipolte were burning. The immaturity of the rioters has been used as an example of the animalistic behavior of blacks. Plus they probably voted for Obama, including the ones under 19.
The thug Mayor Rudy Giuliani exemplifies the problems with so many of the rioters' critics by pointing out this: Well, black people are always killing each other too--so why not agents of the government? He is a LAWYER! He should know that's not how the law works, damnit! Just because black guys are shooting each other doesn't give cops permission to shoot them too--y'know, get in on the action. Soon all Americans will run out of black guys to shoot. Then white people will have to start importing them--from somewhere.
Giuliani's points are based on the neo-racist notion that most black people agree with conservatives and that racism no longer exists. In antebellum America, slaveholders believed that blacks revolted not because they were legitimately outraged but because outside agitators (white liberals) were turning them against their benevolent masters. The police are totally honest and not racist at all. The "race hustlers" ( re Al Sharpton--always with Sharpton) and the media are tricking black people into believing the status quo is racist. Now there are rumblings that Brown's stepfather should be prosecuted for "inciting" these riots. (In his anger that the government just killed his son, he expressed support for tearing down the government.) Shockingly, in this story, only the black guy might end up being sent to prison.
Ferguson PD, demonstrating how big their balls are, have demanded the NFL should apologize to them for inflaming racial tensions after several Rams performed the "hands up" protest gesture. (Oh, and to the people of American, putting your hands up is a good call when confronted by the police--this movement is more sarcastic than I would like to see.) Of all the evils of the NFL, they are not causing riots. They are in the unenviable positions of having to choose between showing support for law enforcement and abiding by the cops' sheer stupidity.
Rudy Giuliani, however, is a certified asshole. Unlike Mitt Romney, it feels like Giuliani is an asshole to his own family, which makes him a very special asshole. He should go back to New York and try to exploit 9/11 some more.
I was a young child during the LA Riots back in '92, and though I didn't participate in those riots, I can tell these present riots are for rank amateurs. Like the rioters out here, they're not demonstrating outrage so much as damaging other people's property. The rioters aren't violent enough to be revolutionaries and are not peaceful enough to be protestors. They are posers--pseudo-revolutionaries--and most hate the cops more than they have been victimized by the police. They hide amongst the legitimate protestors, so really, I would just stay home. The rioters are ruining the legitimate points that you might be making about racial profiling and police brutality. And here's what's going to happen: Business people will not want to build in Ferguson--not for a decade--and the land will become blighted. And this wouldn't be the cops' fault. Because one black guy was killed in self-defense, this place is going to get worse, not better. There is no dialogue--and any dialogue that might occur would lead to shouting and mutual recriminations. Cops come and go, but these riots will last long in Missourians' (Missourites'?) minds. Long after Wilson is dead, the history books will speak of those assholes who burned down a piece of Missouri.
Of course, this really isn't about the one black guy. The media--especially the rightwing media--are attempting to condense this into a Mike Brown/Ferguson PD issue. We are supposedly recovering from the worst recession since the Great Depression--a recovery that has largely benefited the wealthy/middle-class more than the poor. In 2014, some people still cannot believe a brown guy named "Hussein" could have been born in America. Voter ID laws (that prevent blacks from voting) are good but gun control laws (that might protect blacks' right to stay alive) are evil. Screwdrivers and hoodies are burglar tools. Don't film cops because they're shy.
These systemic issues do not change certain problems with the DA's case: Scanning the grand jury transcript, the pro-Brown witnesses did not understand that their recollections were wrong. They didn't see lies as lies, and they repeated what they thought members of THEIR community wanted to hear: Brown had his hands up, and he wasn't fighting back. Some of the prosecution's witnesses didn't see what happened but were repeating hearsay. And the forensic evidence supported the defense. The video of Brown assaulting another man supported the defense. A grand jury could indict a ham sandwich, and thus the case for self-defense was so strong that Wilson does not have the culpability of a ham sandwich. (What does need to be explained was the apparent shift in the police's story that Brown was stopped for the violent robbery that he'd just committed, not walking in the street.)
Meanwhile Wilson does himself no favors by speaking. His conscious is clear, which are HIS exact words. (He said this--Google it!) Really? No regrets? I know almost nothing about Darren Wilson, but I can think up at least one thing that he did wrong in his life. I can think up one thing he did wrong. When you kill someone, you should show remorse for your actions--even if it was just in self-defense, not murder. Nope. He has no regrets. I like Darren Wilson a whole lot less now. He was once a good cop, but he'll never be a cop again.
The protestors are legitimate in putting forth the issue of police corruption. I have the creeping suspicion that whites would care a lot more about what's happening in Ferguson if a Chipolte were burning. The immaturity of the rioters has been used as an example of the animalistic behavior of blacks. Plus they probably voted for Obama, including the ones under 19.
The thug Mayor Rudy Giuliani exemplifies the problems with so many of the rioters' critics by pointing out this: Well, black people are always killing each other too--so why not agents of the government? He is a LAWYER! He should know that's not how the law works, damnit! Just because black guys are shooting each other doesn't give cops permission to shoot them too--y'know, get in on the action. Soon all Americans will run out of black guys to shoot. Then white people will have to start importing them--from somewhere.
Giuliani's points are based on the neo-racist notion that most black people agree with conservatives and that racism no longer exists. In antebellum America, slaveholders believed that blacks revolted not because they were legitimately outraged but because outside agitators (white liberals) were turning them against their benevolent masters. The police are totally honest and not racist at all. The "race hustlers" ( re Al Sharpton--always with Sharpton) and the media are tricking black people into believing the status quo is racist. Now there are rumblings that Brown's stepfather should be prosecuted for "inciting" these riots. (In his anger that the government just killed his son, he expressed support for tearing down the government.) Shockingly, in this story, only the black guy might end up being sent to prison.
Ferguson PD, demonstrating how big their balls are, have demanded the NFL should apologize to them for inflaming racial tensions after several Rams performed the "hands up" protest gesture. (Oh, and to the people of American, putting your hands up is a good call when confronted by the police--this movement is more sarcastic than I would like to see.) Of all the evils of the NFL, they are not causing riots. They are in the unenviable positions of having to choose between showing support for law enforcement and abiding by the cops' sheer stupidity.
Rudy Giuliani, however, is a certified asshole. Unlike Mitt Romney, it feels like Giuliani is an asshole to his own family, which makes him a very special asshole. He should go back to New York and try to exploit 9/11 some more.
Saturday, October 4, 2014
On Mumia Abu-Jamal, SOG...and waiting for Goddard to not be stupid.
There's a saying in the criminal justice system: SOG (or SOP), which is an acronym for "some other guy." It's a catchall for anytime a defendant claims that he couldn't have committed the crime despite all evidence to the contrary. "I didn't shoot my wife--it was some other guy!"
Mumia's supporters have advanced this series of events: A black man matching Mumia's description but not Mumia entered the scene, after Officer Daniel Faulkner had stopped Mumia's brother in a traffic stop. He shot Faulkner, then he ran away, possibly leaving the gun behind. Somehow, Mumia got shot by Faulkner. Reading the Free Mumia movement's webpages, I am still confused as to how Mumia got accidentally shot.
There's a mental condition where a person believes that a loved one has been replaced by a replicate. It is called Capgras delusion. If possible, this is the case here, where everyone except the witnesses think someone else shot Faulkner, and the witnesses who did not confirm to Mumia's innocence were really witnessing a fake Mumia shooting Faulkner. The witnesses were thus wrong--or being coerced--into claiming the real Mumia murdered Faulkner. But no. It was the fake Mumia.
The police, seeing the downed cop and the wounded black man, decided the black man did the shooting. They proceeded to plant the same model gun (the model, a .38 caliber Charter Arms revolver, which Mumia also coincidentally owned) that the SOG had used, then they slid a shoulder holster on Mumia's body. To insure conviction, they told the witnesses what to say. He was tried by a racist kangaroo court. (It's biggest mistake, however, was probably allowing Mumia to defend himself. He was a political activist, not a lawyer. He delivered long-winded speeches and called character witnesses, but he could not dispute the evidence against him. He wanted to put the system on trial, but no sane judge would allow that; this was his trial.)
Why is Mumia such a cause celeb? Unlike most prisoners--whether white or black, regardless of era--Mumia is a well-spoken and literate man. A man of letters, and educated people can't possibly be "bad," academia teaches us. (Bad people speak incoherently and don't challenge conventional wisdom--wisdom like not inviting probable murderers to give speeches at your college.) The appearance of putting the Panthers or the Black Power movement on trial led to this backlash, even if it was necessary to establish a motive in the case. Philadelphia had notorious racial conflicts in this era, so it's easy to imagine that the judge and jury were trying to set up a heroic black man. Like Rodney King, Mumia came about at a time and place for Babyboomers to adopt him as a symbol of all that's wrong with policing and American racial relations, and the facts become irrelevant. Like all conspiracy theorists, his supporters first made up their minds about what happened, and worked backward to obtain evidence of their interpretation of events. Lack of evidence is evidence.
Mumia could never defend his innocence, so he has long positioned himself as a political prisoner. He is a martyr of American racism. Before he was about to be executed, he was prepared to die for America's sins. Give me a break! Of all the hundreds of thousands of blacks wrongfully convicted in our nation's 228 years, most of their crimes weren't as severe as murder--and most of them were factually innocent.
Mumia's supporters have advanced this series of events: A black man matching Mumia's description but not Mumia entered the scene, after Officer Daniel Faulkner had stopped Mumia's brother in a traffic stop. He shot Faulkner, then he ran away, possibly leaving the gun behind. Somehow, Mumia got shot by Faulkner. Reading the Free Mumia movement's webpages, I am still confused as to how Mumia got accidentally shot.
There's a mental condition where a person believes that a loved one has been replaced by a replicate. It is called Capgras delusion. If possible, this is the case here, where everyone except the witnesses think someone else shot Faulkner, and the witnesses who did not confirm to Mumia's innocence were really witnessing a fake Mumia shooting Faulkner. The witnesses were thus wrong--or being coerced--into claiming the real Mumia murdered Faulkner. But no. It was the fake Mumia.
The police, seeing the downed cop and the wounded black man, decided the black man did the shooting. They proceeded to plant the same model gun (the model, a .38 caliber Charter Arms revolver, which Mumia also coincidentally owned) that the SOG had used, then they slid a shoulder holster on Mumia's body. To insure conviction, they told the witnesses what to say. He was tried by a racist kangaroo court. (It's biggest mistake, however, was probably allowing Mumia to defend himself. He was a political activist, not a lawyer. He delivered long-winded speeches and called character witnesses, but he could not dispute the evidence against him. He wanted to put the system on trial, but no sane judge would allow that; this was his trial.)
Why is Mumia such a cause celeb? Unlike most prisoners--whether white or black, regardless of era--Mumia is a well-spoken and literate man. A man of letters, and educated people can't possibly be "bad," academia teaches us. (Bad people speak incoherently and don't challenge conventional wisdom--wisdom like not inviting probable murderers to give speeches at your college.) The appearance of putting the Panthers or the Black Power movement on trial led to this backlash, even if it was necessary to establish a motive in the case. Philadelphia had notorious racial conflicts in this era, so it's easy to imagine that the judge and jury were trying to set up a heroic black man. Like Rodney King, Mumia came about at a time and place for Babyboomers to adopt him as a symbol of all that's wrong with policing and American racial relations, and the facts become irrelevant. Like all conspiracy theorists, his supporters first made up their minds about what happened, and worked backward to obtain evidence of their interpretation of events. Lack of evidence is evidence.
Mumia could never defend his innocence, so he has long positioned himself as a political prisoner. He is a martyr of American racism. Before he was about to be executed, he was prepared to die for America's sins. Give me a break! Of all the hundreds of thousands of blacks wrongfully convicted in our nation's 228 years, most of their crimes weren't as severe as murder--and most of them were factually innocent.
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Hey, white folk, stop saying "playing the race card." THAT'S racist too!
I have been reflecting on my own interaction with a cop, several years ago, at a Ralphs Downtown. I was looking around, minding my own business, and a middle-aged white woman in business attire said "hello" to me. Normally people don't say hello to me, so I was immediately confused. She was not particularly attractive, and I had no desire to have intercourse with her. She was not mentally deficient, so I saw no reason to return the greeting. I looked down and noticed that she had a shield on her belt, and I deduced that she was a detective with the LAPD. Here was my moral quandary: Do I smile back?Ultimately I did not smile at her--I did not know her, and I had no desire to know her. Nor did I make any clever pig jokes, which would've been rude. (She was slightly overweight, and it would've worked on several levels.) I maintained my moral principals, and I walked away without comment. I was not under arrest.
The reason for this quandary was not that I hate cops or that I hate white people. My problem was that she had a problem with blacks. She surely did not say "hello" to all the blacks whom she'd encountered, so she immediately characterized me as one of the "good ones," and she should say "hello" to at least one this morning to improve community relations. So, she was racially profiling me by being civil towards me--that's right--and I find racial profiling offensive.
I am not one of the good ones. I am one of the complicated ones. Like 15 million other black men, I live my life in accordance to the way that I have been treated. In turn, I treat all white people as individuals. I do not subdivide whites (or people) in accordance to morality, but on their current behavior towards me, understanding that this behavior might change based on the situation that they are in. We are all driven by our same base needs: foods, pooping and sex (and sometimes we do two of the three things at once, with the adventurous trying all three). In my life, I have encountered white conservatives who have divorced their views from racism (conservatives frequently lack self-awareness, and they associate things as "right" or "wrong" without acknowledging moral relativism) and white liberals who preach tolerance while in reality are massive tools.
I do not listen to rap music. I do not follow sports. I do not call all women "bitches" and "hoes" because I have not met every woman in the world, thus I am not qualified to assess how big of a bitch or how big of a ho every woman might be. I do not use the word "nigger." "Nigger"/"nigga"/"niggah" is exclusively a word for non-blacks to use on blacks... So blacks know whom to punch. This is just an easier way to live life.
Well, the police were just doing their jobs, so many might say. According to Sgt. James Parker, the cop caught on tape calling Watts a liar, they weren't interested in recording this, which further complicates matters. They just wanted her ID. Of course, Watts didn't know this. If they did tell her, it would've sounded like a trick.
Someone, somewhere calls the cops about public sex, then the cops come--maybe days later--then start asking people who it was. The cops didn't see anything. They are just rounding up interracial couples looking for "lewd conduct." (It's like the LAPD does not have history books--they're going o start accusing interracial couples of "lewd conduct." The department might be legally correct but lacking in COMMON SENSE. The appropriate thing was to pretend that nothing happened. They couldn't find the suspects, and there was nothing the police could do about it.) From her perspective, she was just a black woman standing on a street corner, then some cops come by and ask her to identify herself and, oh, they wanted to quiz her about her sex life. From the little I know about women, they do not appreciate being quizzed about their sex lives.
No, Watts probably was not trying to take a principled stand against racial profiling. She was trying to walk away from a situation that risked her embarrassment. (Ninety percent sure that the decision to have car sex was the boyfriend's idea.) She thought "sex offender"--and her career would be over, so as an existential mater, she could not risk TMZ learning that she was busted for car sex. She is not Eddie Murphy. (I'm using Murphy because he was a big celebrity when he was busted giving a ride to a transsexual hooker, not because they're both black. His career survived. He is a man.)
Was this cop doing his job? Probably. He was, about to leave no stone unturned in his investigation of car sex in Los Angeles. You can smell weed coming from open car windows as people drive by you, but Colombo here was going to stop the car sex.
My problem is that the police were doing their jobs, I suppose. They were behaving in a legally correct manner but were not exercising COMMON SENSE. This sergeant was being a dick, accusing her of "playing the race card," which exacerbated her mental anguish. Ignoring racism is perpetuating racism; most white Americans would still like blacks to ignore racism, which is why they've invented "playing the race card." Everyone else seems proud of the way this sergeant handled himself, without commentating on how he made the situation worse. He had a possibly mentally unstable woman, and he was either calling her a nigger or a liar. (I'm guessing he was calling her a liar.) He should've arrested her silently or not arrest her. He chose the most dickish path, and both handcuffed her and didn't complete his duties. Parker was doing the bareass minimum. In doing so, he kicked a hornets nest and wondered where these hornets came from. Finally her boyfriend--yeah, a white guy--broke the standoff and handed the cops her ID. He recognized that it was just easier. Personally, I would've liked to see them actually arrest her. She should've made the cops earn their pay.
The outrage should be the DOUBLE STANDARD. Paris Hilton--who had committed a bunch of crimes--was originally only required to serve TWO DAYS of a 45 DAY JAIL SENTENCE. Why? The jailers though she was "sad," and Hilton was so sad, the compassionate thing to do was to let her out of prison having served less than 5% of her jail time. This was such a glaring example of systematic misconduct that it caused a public outcry and Hilton had to be sent back to jail, which was also an extraordinary move. If Watts had been a cop herself or cop's daughter, she never would've been cuffed. No, she wouldn't have freaked out, because there would be no record of it. The cops knew her, and they wouldn't want to embarrass her by inquiring her about her sex life. The event would've been handled quietly. This is a different kind of police corruption than the "shoot you in the head and steal your drug money" variety.
But, above all, the thesis of this post, is that these cops were dicks.
The reason for this quandary was not that I hate cops or that I hate white people. My problem was that she had a problem with blacks. She surely did not say "hello" to all the blacks whom she'd encountered, so she immediately characterized me as one of the "good ones," and she should say "hello" to at least one this morning to improve community relations. So, she was racially profiling me by being civil towards me--that's right--and I find racial profiling offensive.
I am not one of the good ones. I am one of the complicated ones. Like 15 million other black men, I live my life in accordance to the way that I have been treated. In turn, I treat all white people as individuals. I do not subdivide whites (or people) in accordance to morality, but on their current behavior towards me, understanding that this behavior might change based on the situation that they are in. We are all driven by our same base needs: foods, pooping and sex (and sometimes we do two of the three things at once, with the adventurous trying all three). In my life, I have encountered white conservatives who have divorced their views from racism (conservatives frequently lack self-awareness, and they associate things as "right" or "wrong" without acknowledging moral relativism) and white liberals who preach tolerance while in reality are massive tools.
I do not listen to rap music. I do not follow sports. I do not call all women "bitches" and "hoes" because I have not met every woman in the world, thus I am not qualified to assess how big of a bitch or how big of a ho every woman might be. I do not use the word "nigger." "Nigger"/"nigga"/"niggah" is exclusively a word for non-blacks to use on blacks... So blacks know whom to punch. This is just an easier way to live life.
Well, the police were just doing their jobs, so many might say. According to Sgt. James Parker, the cop caught on tape calling Watts a liar, they weren't interested in recording this, which further complicates matters. They just wanted her ID. Of course, Watts didn't know this. If they did tell her, it would've sounded like a trick.
Someone, somewhere calls the cops about public sex, then the cops come--maybe days later--then start asking people who it was. The cops didn't see anything. They are just rounding up interracial couples looking for "lewd conduct." (It's like the LAPD does not have history books--they're going o start accusing interracial couples of "lewd conduct." The department might be legally correct but lacking in COMMON SENSE. The appropriate thing was to pretend that nothing happened. They couldn't find the suspects, and there was nothing the police could do about it.) From her perspective, she was just a black woman standing on a street corner, then some cops come by and ask her to identify herself and, oh, they wanted to quiz her about her sex life. From the little I know about women, they do not appreciate being quizzed about their sex lives.
No, Watts probably was not trying to take a principled stand against racial profiling. She was trying to walk away from a situation that risked her embarrassment. (Ninety percent sure that the decision to have car sex was the boyfriend's idea.) She thought "sex offender"--and her career would be over, so as an existential mater, she could not risk TMZ learning that she was busted for car sex. She is not Eddie Murphy. (I'm using Murphy because he was a big celebrity when he was busted giving a ride to a transsexual hooker, not because they're both black. His career survived. He is a man.)
Was this cop doing his job? Probably. He was, about to leave no stone unturned in his investigation of car sex in Los Angeles. You can smell weed coming from open car windows as people drive by you, but Colombo here was going to stop the car sex.
My problem is that the police were doing their jobs, I suppose. They were behaving in a legally correct manner but were not exercising COMMON SENSE. This sergeant was being a dick, accusing her of "playing the race card," which exacerbated her mental anguish. Ignoring racism is perpetuating racism; most white Americans would still like blacks to ignore racism, which is why they've invented "playing the race card." Everyone else seems proud of the way this sergeant handled himself, without commentating on how he made the situation worse. He had a possibly mentally unstable woman, and he was either calling her a nigger or a liar. (I'm guessing he was calling her a liar.) He should've arrested her silently or not arrest her. He chose the most dickish path, and both handcuffed her and didn't complete his duties. Parker was doing the bareass minimum. In doing so, he kicked a hornets nest and wondered where these hornets came from. Finally her boyfriend--yeah, a white guy--broke the standoff and handed the cops her ID. He recognized that it was just easier. Personally, I would've liked to see them actually arrest her. She should've made the cops earn their pay.
The outrage should be the DOUBLE STANDARD. Paris Hilton--who had committed a bunch of crimes--was originally only required to serve TWO DAYS of a 45 DAY JAIL SENTENCE. Why? The jailers though she was "sad," and Hilton was so sad, the compassionate thing to do was to let her out of prison having served less than 5% of her jail time. This was such a glaring example of systematic misconduct that it caused a public outcry and Hilton had to be sent back to jail, which was also an extraordinary move. If Watts had been a cop herself or cop's daughter, she never would've been cuffed. No, she wouldn't have freaked out, because there would be no record of it. The cops knew her, and they wouldn't want to embarrass her by inquiring her about her sex life. The event would've been handled quietly. This is a different kind of police corruption than the "shoot you in the head and steal your drug money" variety.
But, above all, the thesis of this post, is that these cops were dicks.
Saturday, August 30, 2014
#Ferguson
There's this weird belief among black Americans that if you win the fight--with the cop, or another citizen--you won't go to jail. No, black people of America, if you win the fight, you'll go to jail longer. When the cops molest you like Thandie Newton in "Crash," you should sue. (Hope you win, by the way.) When they try to arrest you, you let them arrest you and you sort it out later. When a cop pulls you over, it is not a good time to discuss race relations in America or offer the cop a critique of his job performance--you keep your hands on the wheel. If the cop is particularly bigotted, he would've shot you several minutes ago. He's probably just an average white guy trying to do his job, and he will be offended by your suggestion that he's what's wrong with America today. (And, hey, he just pulled YOU over for committing crimes--so fuck you!) When a cop pulls you over, Al Sharpton isn't going to help you because he isn't there. The ACLU isn't going to help you. The NAACP isn't going to help you. When a cop pulls you over on a deserted road late at night, it's you and a white guy and the white guy has a gun. So be cool. You know you're a great human being, but the cop doesn't know you--and that's the point of being strangers. You both believe that you're "good," but the difference between you kids is there's a 100% chance that the cop has a gun.
The anti-authoritarian streak amongst American blacks gets in the way of common sense, regrettably. The looters, and the protestors offering the looters cover, are at times living in their own reality. They are clinging to the original narrative where Brown is another Trayvon Martin, caught Walking While Black--and any evidence that contradicts this notion is part of a larger racist scheme to undermine blacks. They cling to the original story that Brown was about to be abducted by a white cop, and was only trying to defend himself against the cop. Brown, a gentle giant, tried to flee, then was shot. Then Brown was left begging for his life as the cop shot him some more. "They executed him!" is the popular refrain, and going by the original witness statements, this seems to have been the case.
However Brown was more than a hundred pounds heavier than Martin. Brown was actively committing several crimes while a real cop (not a loon pretending to be a cop) pulled him over, for committing an actual crime. Most importantly, Brown was caught on tape LITERALLY assaulting a man in the minutes he allegedly assaulted the man who claims he shot the black man in self-defense.
The anti-authoritarian streak amongst American blacks gets in the way of common sense, regrettably. The looters, and the protestors offering the looters cover, are at times living in their own reality. They are clinging to the original narrative where Brown is another Trayvon Martin, caught Walking While Black--and any evidence that contradicts this notion is part of a larger racist scheme to undermine blacks. They cling to the original story that Brown was about to be abducted by a white cop, and was only trying to defend himself against the cop. Brown, a gentle giant, tried to flee, then was shot. Then Brown was left begging for his life as the cop shot him some more. "They executed him!" is the popular refrain, and going by the original witness statements, this seems to have been the case.
However Brown was more than a hundred pounds heavier than Martin. Brown was actively committing several crimes while a real cop (not a loon pretending to be a cop) pulled him over, for committing an actual crime. Most importantly, Brown was caught on tape LITERALLY assaulting a man in the minutes he allegedly assaulted the man who claims he shot the black man in self-defense.
Now Brown's family supporters are claiming the police have released this tape in order to advance the conspiracy against Brown and blacks in general. This tape, in their minds, proves nothing, since Wilson didn't stop him for the shoplifting that he'd just committed. This is where I get off. This is getting stupid--stupid on several levels. It's possible that the police department didn't want to be seen as slandering a dead kid, and it's possible that the police just recently connected the dead giant black guy with a bunch of cigars on him with the report of the giant black guy who recently robbed a store of a box of cigars. (Not all blacks guys walk around with a box of cigars, just so everyone knows. That's not a thing.) The suggestion that the tape was released as part of a master plan to make Brown look bad is stupid--partly because the police force is not smart enough to have master plans--and neither was Brown, apparently, who sacrificed his life for $50 worth of tobacco.
Far from innocent, Brown was a bully. (I am not using the word "thug.") Like Rodney King, he is becoming an unwarranted martyr of police brutality. His family might've loved him dearly and he could've had a bright future ahead of him, but the reality of the situation is that Brown was not a gentle giant, as his family's lawyers are now spinning him in anticipation of their lawsuit, but he was an occasionally violent petty thief. He made at least one bad decision that day, which was a strong arm robbery. Whatever else happened next, his bullying behavior undoubtably contributed to his death.
It now appears that the Ferguson Police Department was trying to cover-up a legitimate shooting, which is actually the weirdest of possible scenarios. This is also the best proof of their corruption: Not that they murder black men, but because they are so tone deaf to the public and the very laws that they are supposed to enforce--they fail the spin. They still have not released photos of Wilson's injuries. I imagine Wilson was pretty bruised-up, and we will see that when the photos are released in the next few days or possibly several years. However the polce department hasn't relased the photos yet because...they're idiots. This tape and Wilson's record are the reasonable doubt. No fair jury in America, after seeing this tape, would convict Wilson of murder or even manslaughter now.
But that leads us to what happened. Here is one scenario, and it's only one possibility: Brown, believing that Wilson was stopping him for the violent robbery THAT HE JUST COMMITTED, tried to attack the cop through the window of his car. (The witnesses, with their own anti-cop bias and their desire to protect a neighborhood guy, thought that Wilson was somehow trying to pull the giant guy into his car--which as well as being physically impossible, would mean that he was trying to abduct an almost 300 pound black guy for reasons still unknown.) Wilson felt that this big guy was trying to grab his gun, so he shot him. Brown retreated, having just been shot. He raised his hands in surrender. However Wilson, not understanding that the fight was over--full of adrenaline and possibly having suffered head trauma--assumed that Brown was about to charge him again, so he began shooting Brown some more; alternately, Brown might have really tried to charge Wilson again. Brown was shot so many times because he was still on his feet; the wound at the top of his head suggests that he was falling downward and forward at the time.
Either way, no charges will be filed against Wilson. And trying to file civil rights charges against him would be folly due to the lack of racial aminosity from Wilson. Obama is sending Holder to try to calm down the black citizens, not because Obama hates cops. These are Obama's "I feel your pain" moments and are, if anything, condescending towards blacks. Like Obama's "beer summit," It is ultimately an empty gesture, and rightwingers need to shut the fuck up about Obama's attempts to heal the racial divide, however superficially. Rightwingers have no ideas, just criticisms--or claiming that we should stop talking about racism since talking about racism makes people racist, of course.
Either way, no charges will be filed against Wilson. And trying to file civil rights charges against him would be folly due to the lack of racial aminosity from Wilson. Obama is sending Holder to try to calm down the black citizens, not because Obama hates cops. These are Obama's "I feel your pain" moments and are, if anything, condescending towards blacks. Like Obama's "beer summit," It is ultimately an empty gesture, and rightwingers need to shut the fuck up about Obama's attempts to heal the racial divide, however superficially. Rightwingers have no ideas, just criticisms--or claiming that we should stop talking about racism since talking about racism makes people racist, of course.
Assuming that Brown normally led a law-abiding life, I'm not sure what mental situation Brown was having that led him to attack that shopkeeper. What I do suspect is that if Brown had tried to run away, obeying all traffic laws, he would've goen away. Rather Brown vacillated between attacking the cop and making a get away, and this indecision cost him his life.
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Some Darwin Awards 2014 Nominees and One Also-Ran
I'm going to let you all in on a little secret. Whenever anyone anywhere does anything stupid in this world, the first thing black Americans think is: Please don't be a black person. Lady tries to rob a convenience store naked from the waist down? "Don't be a black lady." Knock-out game? "Don't be black kids." Mayor caught smoking crack? "Don't be Marion Barry." (Fortunately that time was Toronto Mayor Bob Ford.) This thought came to my mind immediately upon learning that a kid had tried to hitch a ride to Hawaii in the wheelwell of a commuter jet, miraculously surviving the bitter cold and thin air of high altitude travel in an unpressurized container. This guy surely Googled how to sneak into a commuter jet's wheelwell but he didn't Google what would happen if you fly 20,000 feet in a non-pressurized compartment--where survival of the journey becomes more unlikely than possible. It turns out this kid originally came from Somalia, and though I do not know what desperation this young man was going through that made him think that this was a viable option, but it doesn't change that this was a dumbass move, and he barely avoided winning a Darwin Award.
When someone does something extremely dumbass, and the result of their stupidity is their own death--and they have failed to reproduce--they are to be nominated for the Darwin Awards. As dark as it might be to think about, really, it's for the best that some people don't have children. Outside forces did not cause their deaths--they'd brought it on themselves.
Also this week loon Bryon Smith was convicted of first degree murder in the deaths of two teens who had broken into his home. Like the George Zimmerman case, this defies traditional criminal charges: This is where the victim became the perpetrator, and the victim becomes wholly unsympathetic--and the one man left standing could control the narrative. The castle doctrine should've provided Smith with more authority to kill the intruders--a portion of self-defense erraticism that I actually support. However this guy was undone when he told the truth--he didn't attempt to whitewash what he'd done with conflicting accounts--unlike Zimmerman. Smith clearly tortured those kids--and clearly he should've either lied afterwards or claimed some mental ailment. (Plus they were white.) His inability to stage a cover-up has led to his arrest for the crime.
What is disturbing besides the kids' deaths was the way in which the mainstream media are covering it: Emphasizing how "innocent" and "popular" the white kids were--while burying the fact that they were breaking into homes when the shooting occured. Further they were shot multiple times wheras Trayvon Martin was shot once (Still, the same media that didn't question why Zimmerman had called the police when he didn't see the black kid commit a crime is now not questioning why the pretty white kids had broken into at least one home. The media bent over backwards to make a white girl look innocent while bending over backwards to make a black guy look guilty.) In all likelihood, they were trying to rob Smith's place, and their fun exploration into criminal behavior was interrupted a genuinely damaged individual with guns. What was a home invasion robbery was turned into a juvenile rite of passage because the criminals did not fit the profile and out of fear of appearing insensitive to the dead kids' families. Smith will pay for his crimes for the remainder of his life; but the media's coverage of this case has been inexcusable too.
When someone does something extremely dumbass, and the result of their stupidity is their own death--and they have failed to reproduce--they are to be nominated for the Darwin Awards. As dark as it might be to think about, really, it's for the best that some people don't have children. Outside forces did not cause their deaths--they'd brought it on themselves.
Also this week loon Bryon Smith was convicted of first degree murder in the deaths of two teens who had broken into his home. Like the George Zimmerman case, this defies traditional criminal charges: This is where the victim became the perpetrator, and the victim becomes wholly unsympathetic--and the one man left standing could control the narrative. The castle doctrine should've provided Smith with more authority to kill the intruders--a portion of self-defense erraticism that I actually support. However this guy was undone when he told the truth--he didn't attempt to whitewash what he'd done with conflicting accounts--unlike Zimmerman. Smith clearly tortured those kids--and clearly he should've either lied afterwards or claimed some mental ailment. (Plus they were white.) His inability to stage a cover-up has led to his arrest for the crime.
What is disturbing besides the kids' deaths was the way in which the mainstream media are covering it: Emphasizing how "innocent" and "popular" the white kids were--while burying the fact that they were breaking into homes when the shooting occured. Further they were shot multiple times wheras Trayvon Martin was shot once (Still, the same media that didn't question why Zimmerman had called the police when he didn't see the black kid commit a crime is now not questioning why the pretty white kids had broken into at least one home. The media bent over backwards to make a white girl look innocent while bending over backwards to make a black guy look guilty.) In all likelihood, they were trying to rob Smith's place, and their fun exploration into criminal behavior was interrupted a genuinely damaged individual with guns. What was a home invasion robbery was turned into a juvenile rite of passage because the criminals did not fit the profile and out of fear of appearing insensitive to the dead kids' families. Smith will pay for his crimes for the remainder of his life; but the media's coverage of this case has been inexcusable too.
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