Racial Profiling in the Name of the Lord. Let the church say Amen.

A screenshot taken from a viral video involving officers of the Huntsville Police Department

Here we go again.

You know the drill.

Young black men stalked, profiled, arrested (if lucky) for walking, shopping, seeking help, going to church, while black.

Neighborhood watch,  police (on or off duty) acted appropriately.

The latest case of racial profiling happened in  Huntsville, Alabama, nicknamed the Rocket City because of it's close association with the U.S. military and NASA.  Huntsville is also known for its abundance of churches.  A friend once described the city to a Canadian saying if you see something tall and it has a cross on it, it's a church, if it doesn't it's a rocket.

The Church pictured above is First Baptist Church,  it is a beautiful edifice not only on the outside but inside as well.  According to the Huntsville Police Department and reported by the media,  Joshua Chukwuedozie Ude, 23, was arrested in the parking lot of the church, located at 600 Governors Drive, after Huntsville police said he was questioned about disruptive behavior during a service inside. Police said he became uncooperative and refused to leave. 

According to a statement on the First Baptist Church website that is not what happened.  The young men were taking pictures of the outside of the church (no crime), an usher invited them to attend service, initially they declined (should have followed their first instinct), decided to take him up on the invitation to see inside, walked down to the front row, sat down, took some pictures, and left. Unfortunately, their appearance inside the sanctuary made some members nervous and they alerted HPD and that's when all hell broke out in the parking lot.

Why did the young men make some members nervous and HPD react they way they did?  For the answer, we have to look no further than THE  ATTACK MACHINE, who says "people  in Huntsville are giving benefit of doubt to a guy screaming he was arrested for going to church when you know that wasn't what he was stopped for."

What we know:

• These guys appeared at the church, took video, alarmed people.
• This guy was under arrest
• He is fighting them from the minute the video starts
• They were not going to let him go.
• He kicks them

Here is what we can assume:

• The cops were alerted to this incident, they did not just spawn out of nowhere
• The cops told this guy he was under arrest
• He was combatitve (sic)
• They were not there to “go to church”
• This guy will get a check.

Amazingly if this guy puts a bullet in these cops, the same people whining about this would be the first grieving for a fallen officer.

"This guy" didn't have a gun, he had a camera (thank God).  The only ones with guns were the police.  You know, the people who are trained to protect and serve?  Amazingly if these young men had run the police probably would have shot them and been acquitted.

Let's go back to the: These guys appeared at the church, took video, alarmed people declaratory statement. Why did these guys appearing at a church alarm people? Could it be the media enabled racial stereotype of the dangerous black man?  I could understand their fear if black men had a documented history of violence towards whites, you know like slavery, lynchings, and bombing churches.  

If there is any race of people who should fear another race of people and wonder if they are friend or foe,  it's black people.  What if black people automatically assumed every white person was a member of the KKK and wanted to bring back Slavery? 

"There is a mean spirit on the loose, not only in Alabama, but America, and that's what makes this election so important". Alabama State Senator Hank Sanders (D. Selma)

RedEye's Week in Review

We dodged one bullet this week, but got hit with another one.

 As TheSkepticOne said, I don't know what made  Chief Justice John Roberts vote the way he did but thank Gawd he did.  I guess he was too tired to go over to the "White" House of Representatives and slap some sense in The Craven 17 and 1 sell out, who joined with the republicans to hold the Attorney General of the United States in contempt of Congress for the first time in history.  Yee Haw!

The Talking TeeVee/Raido Pundit Heads, the Republican Presidential candidate(s), Republican Senators, Governors, and Congress Critters, all have access to quality affordable health.  They can afford to take their families on exotic vacations to.  They have multiple homes and cars.  They aren't worried about how they are going to send their students to college.    They are not  poor, but by the grace of God they can/could be. 

The Affordable Health Care Act is a live saver for poor Americans.  So why do the pro-life republicans have a problem with that?  I'm just asking....

Redeye's Sunday Shorts

Are the American people skeered to protest like the Egyptian people? Unlike the second amendment loving TeaPublicans, the Egyptian people staged a peaceful,persistent, nonviolent protest and they WON.

U.S. corporate media coverage of the unfolding events in Egypt provide little or no window into the true social and political dynamics of the country – who the actual popular actors are in this history-shaking drama. The author describes the people and movements behind the revolt.

TeaPublicans aka CPAC celebrates Black History month with a minstrel show. They tell me they thought Rep. Allen West (TeaPublican token, FL) was one of the waiters. Snicker

West is one of only two black Republicans in the House.
"You endured the relentless and hostile attacks from the liberal left, such as being called racist," West told the conservative activists. "Perhaps they should see who is standing here as your keynote speaker."

How can you tell the good democrats from the ones who are just republicans wearing blue t-shirts? Well, reaching across the aisle and voting with the republicans (not to be confused with the TeaPublicans) is a sign. H/T gradyw

The modern gop is armed and dangerous. I'd be careful about working with them. BTW, how come democrats, or so called democrats, are always the ones reaching out to republicans?

Attempting to repeal insurance reform would be bad enough. Attempting draconian budget cuts during a halting recovery from a deep recession would be bad enough. Making fools of themselves by wasting time reading selections from the Constitution while doing absolutely nothing to create jobs would be bad enough. Launching a war on women would be bad enough. Whining about deficits while proposing policies that would actually increase them would be bad enough. The entire Republican approach of knowing nothing and doing nothing, unless it is to attempt a return to the prevailing values of the Thirteenth Century, is so corrupt and irresponsible that it would defy credulity, were we not already so accustomed to it as to take it for granted. But it's even worse.

Just because the media said the Gulf coast beaches are safe for swimming and the seafood is safe for human consumption in the aftermath of the BP oil spill doesn't mean it's true. Video

Incensed over BP ads claiming that the spilled oil is gone and the Gulf's beaches are clean, Hurricane Creekkeeper John Wathen of Alabama set out to document the truth.

Welcome to my world redux. Cops beat the Crap out of Rutgers student.

Imagine this. You are asleep in a basement apartment with your roommate. You are both Rutgers students. One of you is white, the other an Arab American, and you are both 19. One of you has a father who was a cop. Police in New Brunswick, NJ have a warrant for a different student living in a different apartment in the same building. You have no police record. You are not identified on the warrant. It's 4:30 in the morning. Guess what happened next:

Redeye tiptoeing away from the computer to go pray for our children and our country.