It's been 5 years since the Mother Emmanual AME Church Massacre

#SayTheirNames

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Remembering the 9 people murdered at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston 5 years ago today. Praying for their families, communities, and city.

Let there be Love. pic.twitter.com/4AYIG4g9NI

— Be A King (@BerniceKing) June 17, 2020

EYE am sorry but the only thoughts and prayers EYE have are for me and mine

Today in Making America Great Again

What happens when the President blows wind into these sales is Parkland, Florida. White supremacy has a body count. https://t.co/zN8lySDI5O pic.twitter.com/SemmTAuKqm

— Dave Zirin (@EdgeofSports) February 15, 2018

Let me say right off the bat EYE am more afraid of the police, Republicans, tRump supporters and white males than EYE am ISIS, Immigrants, #BlackLivesMatter, and Dreamers.

White nationalist militia says Parkland school shooting suspect was member of their group

 The GOP and tRump can take their #fake thoughts and prayers and shove them where the sun don't shine. 

Five Righteous RedEye Rants on #IndigenousPeoplesDay

EYE am pi$$ed about so many things on this day that EYE don't know where to start.  Warning, this rant is going to make some of you uncomfortable, and for that EYE offer no apologies.  If the rant fits, deal with it. If it doesn't apply to you, shrug.

RedEyeRant #1   Outside Investigators say the shooting of Tamir Rice not criminal because police officer Tim Loehmann acted properly within the constraints of his training.  You want to know how EYE know this is some straight up Bull Crap?  Because Dylan Storm Roof… the suspected killer of the Charleston Nine… was apprehended safely, given a bullet proof vest, and flown back to South Carolina on a private jet.  If law enforcement officers are trained to roll up on black men/women/children, shoot first and ask questions later that is a, strike that, the problem.

RedEyeRant #2  Cops Taser kneeling black councilman in Texas Town where Sandra Bland was arrested, and, it just happened to be the same cop that was involved in the arrest of Sandra Bland.  Coincidence, or a pattern of behavior?  See, this is what happens when you give some high school losers a gun,  a badge, and some authority.

RedEyeRant #3  Here we go again. A  Mississippi family wants answers after man dies in holding cell. EYE am sure they will get the answers they are looking for after the police investigate themselves. Snark

RedEyeRant #4  You didn't see it on TeeVee, or read about it in the mainstream press because it didn't involve a bunch of anti Obama, gun toting, Confederate Flag waving Tea Party people, or government issued, taxpayer funded military weapons, or Donald Trump, but Thousands of people peacefully assembled in Washington D.C. on the 20th Anniversary of the Million Man March to demand #JusticeOrElse or #NotOneDime will we spend. This is what happens when we dare complain about

RedEyeRant #5  The white, male, dominated media is responsible for this sad, sorry, state of affairs. Yes,  EYE said it.  When they can't make us look bad they don't show us at all.  They coddled, enabled, and mainstreamed the racism with their media driven racial stereotypes, now they are wringing their hands and trying to figure out how to put the Genie back into the bottle.  It's the media that are cowards when it comes to discussions about race.  IMHO it all started when the media forced President Obama to renounce, reject, and repudiate Reverend Jeremiah Wright and Louis Farrakhan. The white male dominated media  refuses to allow to have an honest and open discussion about race because that would be too much like right.  If the media were liberal we wouldn't be in this mess.  

RedEye Rant Over and Out.  For now.

Charleston Massacre

In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. ~~Martin Luther King, Jr.

A couple of days ago, the haze of shock began to lift for me, and I began to feel, really feel, the reality of yet another horror, the horror of the Charleston massacre. One of the first details to emerge was that of the grandmother, Felecia Sanders, who played dead and shielded her 5-year old granddaughter with her body. When I heard that, I thought of another beautiful, vivacious 5-year old I have watched grow, and I remarked to her grandmother that the survival story made me think of her granddaughter.



There is so much to be said, it is difficult to know where to start. Some things are obvious, of course, like the white privilege with which the admitted terrorist murderer, Dylann Storm Roof, is being treated, in contrast to alleged loosie vendor Eric Garner, who may not have broken any NY state law, making the Staten Island grand jury's exoneration of Officer Daniel Pantaleo all the more odious. It's murder on camera without consequences.

If #MotherEmmanuelAME church had treated #DylanStormRoof like First Baptist Church treated Joshua Chukwuedozie Ude they would be alive today.

A screenshot taken from a YouTube video involving Huntsville police officers arresting a man outside a church via al.com

Let's recap.  Remember Josha Ude, the 23 year old grad student from Africa who had the misfortune of sightseeing while black?

Huntsville police spokesman Harry Hobbs said off-duty officers arrested 23-year-old Joshua Chukwuedozie Ude on Sunday, Oct. 27, on charges of resisting arrest and criminal trespassing, following reports of disruptive conduct during a church service at First Baptist Church, located at 600 Governors Drive.
Here's the complete police statement from Hobbs:
"Church members contacted officers working at the church regarding suspicious behavior by Ude and his two adult male companions. Witnesses told police that the three men entered the church after the 11 a.m. service began. One of the men remained in the sanctuary hallway while Ude and another man walked to the front row and began videotaping the pastor and congregation. The three men left the church building on their own accord before the service concluded.
Police approached the three men as they left the building to inquire about their activities. During that conversation, Ude became uncooperative, refused to leave, and was subsequently arrested. Ude's companions, who were also detained by police, videotaped the arrest, posted it to You Tube within 30 minutes and contacted local media. The video does not show the events leading up to Ude's arrest."
"Initial review of the posted videotapes indicate the officers used appropriate techniques under the circumstances,"Chief Lewis Morris said. "However, I have instructed our Internal Affairs division to investigate any alleged use of excessive force during the arrest of Mr. Ude."

In all fairness First Baptist Church said that's not exactly what happened.

On Sunday, October 27th, three men were observed taking photographs outside the church of the mosaic on the front of our building. One man entered the building, was welcomed by our ushers and invited to join the service which was already in progress. Initially, he declined, but later two of the three young men entered the sanctuary approximately 40 minutes after the service had begun, walked down the center aisle and sat in the front pew. Our pastor, Dr. David Hull, was already preaching the sermon at this point. One of the men removed a cell phone and appeared to be videotaping and/or taking photographs. At no time were the men confronted or asked to leave the service. They remained in the service for approximately 10 minutes, at which time they got up, walked out the center aisle and left the service. The third young man remained in the hallway engaged in conversation with our ushers. After leaving the building on their own initiative, an incident occurred in the parking lot involving the young men and uniformed police officers.
First Baptist Church has received many inquiries from concerned members of the public, especially pertaining to videos of the incident which have been posted to YouTube by one or more of these young men. Some have speculated that First Baptist Church asked these men to leave the service because of the way they were dressed. First Baptist Church did not ask these men to leave the service at any time. First Baptist Church welcomes all people who wish to worship and attend our services, and does not have any type of dress code.

You can watch the entire take down here, but if the good people of Charlestons' Mother Emmanuel AME Church had profiled Dylan Strom Roof instead of welcoming him into the house of the Lord with open arms they might be alive today.

EYE am back.