Black and Brown people are not political pawns. The @NRA doesn't get to use us to prove a point-while repeatedly devaluing Black and Brown lives.— Brittany Packnett (@MsPackyetti) March 6, 2018
View my latest for @Mic.pic.twitter.com/HAuZMCehhC
In the wake of the tragic Parkland shooting, it's become clear that there’s a hypocrisy when we talk about America’s gun violence problem — @MsPackyetti explains for Mic. pic.twitter.com/cQ5jMWgfbP— Mic (@mic) March 6, 2018
Timothy Loehman, who immediately killed #TamirRice on first sight, was never arrested or charged. #YearWithoutTamir pic.twitter.com/5rZmdQakL8
— Ava DuVernay (@AVAETC) November 22, 2015
EYE was in the second grade on 11.22.1963 when the principal announced over the intercom President Kennedy had been shot. I didn't find out he died until I got home. The days that followed were very sad, I remember feeling sorry for Carolyn, John John, and Jackie Kennedy. I also remember being afraid for the leaders who tried to help African Americans. Sure enough, then came the assassinations of Martin Luther King,Jr, and Robert Kennedy . 
Just saying #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/2wDOnFJlwL
— Anon Trip (@Anontrip) November 23, 2015
First Donald Trump came for the MuslimsThe GOP is at a crossroads that will define its party for years. They can nominate Trump, a man who has demonized American minority groups, or choose someone who truly embraces American values. But if Trump is the Republican presidential nominee in 2016, they will have made it clear to America that the Grand Old Party is no longer the party of Lincoln, but the party of hate.You think?
Speaking of media bias... (via @RobTornoe) pic.twitter.com/8I0chQ9UpL
— Media Matters (@mmfa) October 29, 2015
Not many news agencies have reported, or even wondered why she was asked to leave in the first place. As it turns out she had momentarily looked at her phone during class, and apologized for it at the time. Nor have they wondered why the phone issue, which she had already put away, escalated to an administrator and then the now fired school resource officer who had a reputation around the campus as "Officer Slam" for his tendency to throw students to the ground, assaulted her in the first place. They say she was "disruptive and disrespectful" but witnesses state that she was arguing that she'd done nothing wrong, which actually she hadn't. Before Slamster even approached the student he had another student move his desk and clear a path, then removed the Chromebook that was on her desk - so he planned from the moment he entered the room to assault her regardless of anything she did or didn't do.
It's the white male dominated media.
Lacking these voices, the ability of the media to serve the public interest is itself compromised. “The news media is not only failing to serve the communities but the country at large when they fail to reflect what’s going on in communities of color,” said the late Dori J. Maynard, former President of the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, in a piece for The Atlantic regarding the failure of newsrooms to diversify. The type of coverage that gets chosen by editorial staffs then reinforces stereotypes rather than clarifying the news. This is apparent in the different ways white subjects and Black subjects are portrayed, such as Black victim Michael Brown, who “struggled with police before shooting,” versus white Aurora shooter James Eagan Holmes, remembered as a “brilliant science student.”EYE report.
“The way that the students and the teacher were so lackadaisical about the whole thing. Nobody screamed, nobody stood up,” she said. “It looks like something that’s been going on in that school for a long time.”~Jill Scott
“We’ve been in dialogue with the school district, the superintendent and anyone that will hear us concerning many issues,” said the Rev. Hugh Harmon, the chairman of the group, the Richland Two Black Parents Association (RTBPA). “The issue with a lot of parents is the disproportionate way in which expulsions and suspensions were being doled out to young men that look like myself.”
The group, consisting of nearly 6,000 parents, was formed about three years ago in response to parents’ concerns about punishments targeting black students. Monday’s arrest, according to the RTBPA, was simply the latest example.
“The unfortunate actions of this police officer has revealed what many African-American parents have experienced in this district for a very long time,” the group said in a statement Monday.
Listen to How Langston Hughes Nailed Our Problem with Police Brutality 77 Years Ago
Read his tweets... "I don't feel protected by police" "I don't wanna die too young" #ChristianTaylor #Every28hours pic.twitter.com/R3eyJqN2Ad
— Hands Up United (@handsupunited_) August 8, 2015
KKK Chased Off, Find Safety In A Garage Before Cops Escort Them Out http://t.co/hJ3vd8ZLGl #ColumbiaSC pic.twitter.com/ucLjCnhjfa
— Jade Helm Commander (@Anomaly100) July 18, 2015
not an uncommon example of humanity in SC: Leroy Smith helps white supremacist to shelter & water as heat bears down. pic.twitter.com/GoF23r3mRe
— Rob Godfrey (@RobGodfrey) July 18, 2015
Justice Department report criticizes militarized response to #Ferguson protests: http://t.co/lBNvbs3ojx Hope it sparks national improvements
— Brian Kaylor (@BrianKaylor) July 6, 2015
25 Summer Shows Feat Black Artists, now open Baltimore protest photog @byDVNLLN @ LewisMuseum http://t.co/VcImeiasj6 pic.twitter.com/YSN0SHA0bC
— Culture Type (@CultureType) July 11, 2015
If ever a photo should exist to explain how we feel every day, from the moment we arise til we fall asleep. pic.twitter.com/m9hdWJ6TrU
— Clark Kent (@RevrendDoctor) April 26, 2015
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| Meet Toya Graham "The Baltimore Mother of the Year" praised for beating her child like a slave on national TV |
"He gave me eye contact. And at that point, you know, not even thinking about cameras or anything like that. That's my only son and at the end of the day I don't want him to be a Freddie Gray," Toya Graham said, referencing the 25-year-old man who died after mysteriously sustaining severe spinal injuries in police custody earlier in the month. His death has sparked protests throughout the city, with tensions boiling over Monday.What cannot be ignored is Toya Graham's statement about locking eyes with her son then losing it: “He gave me eye contact...And at that point, you know, not even thinking about cameras or anything like that.” That's why Freddie Graham was killed. The police lost it after Freddi Gray made eye contact with the Baltimore Police remember?
Remember the reason Gray was pursued in the first place? According to Deputy Commissioner Jerry Rodriguez, “A lieutenant begins pursuing Mr. Gray after making eye contact with two individuals, one of which is Mr. Gray.” After making eye contact….So if Toya Graham is the #BlackMotherofTheYear, what is Adrian Peterson? Remember him? Remember how the media and the #NFL reacted to him 'disciplining" his son? Remember his reasoning was that it was done to him and he was trying to teach his son respect for authority?
Probable cause from a Baltimore police officer has always been a tenuous thing. It’s a tenuous thing anywhere, but in Baltimore, in these high crime, heavily policed areas, it was even worse. When I came on, there were jokes about, “You know what probable cause is on Edmondson Avenue? You roll by in your radio car and the guy looks at you for two seconds too long.” Probable cause was whatever you thought you could safely lie about when you got into district court.
It’s incredibly easy to offer simplistic solutions like “I wish more parents were like the Mom in Yellow”. The complex issues that affect the African American community aren’t so easily answered. Those issues will continue to plague Baltimore and America forever. No amount of “beating them before the cops do” is going to change the color of black people’s skin.Freddie Grays mother is the Black Mother of the year.
Last December, when a grand jury declined to indict white New York City police officer Daniel Pantaleo for the choke-hold killing of Eric Garner, many Americans protested in grief. Much of the outrage was attributable to the persistent lack of justice for black men who die at the hands of police.
At the University of Michigan, three graduate students came together after emotional conversations on campus about the deaths of Garner and black teenager Michael Brown and decided to create Walking the Line of Blackness, a video that shares the voices and experiences of 16 students at their school who identify as black or African American.
The video was a collaborative effort that took place over the course of the spring semester, born of questions about how to drive the conversation forward into action, said Maron Alemu, one of the collaborators and a student at Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.
Eye don't blame Republicans for wanting to focus on foreign policy so they won't have to focus on what's happening right here in the land of the free and the home of the brave. SnarkRemember that 73 year old volunteer hobby sheriff who accidentally shot and killed an arrestee in Oklahoma when he thought he was pulling out his taser? Well, turns it the Sheriff's department seems to have falsified his training records. Ooops.
The silence from white activists, elected officials, public figures, and citizens has been deafening.
| But, but, Eric Harris has a criminal record.... |
Fear can protect us but it can also cause us to act irrationally and do things that we wouldn’t normally do. Fear is the linchpin in the narrative that police officers use to justify their use of force, particularly deadly force. If an officer of the law or any private citizen for that matter is in fear for their lives from a confrontation with another person then under the law, they have the right to use deadly force to protect themselves.The question is why do the police fear black men/women/children?
Get the facts about police violence in your community to make the case for change.At least 100 unarmed black people were killed by police in 2014, more than any other race.
Where you live matters. A black person in St. Louis is 5x more likely to be killed by police than a black person in New York City. A black person in Florida is more than 2.5x more likely to be killed by police than a black person in Georgia.
It's not about crime rates. Despite the fact that Newark and St. Louis have similar crime rates and demographics, police killed 4 black people in St. Louis and zero in Newark in 2014.
We knew it was coming, North Charleston Police have released video footage to justify the murder of Walter Scott.It doesn't have to be this way. One black person was killed nationwide in Canada in 2014. There are more black people in Canada than Missouri.
"Scott was 'wanted for a 'family court warrant'! He is a horrible father, a criminal, why make him a victim when Officer Slager is the real hero!"Snark
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Breitbart News is reporting that Georgia Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) President Sam Mosteller has been suspended from the organization following his call for Black families to “exercise their Second Amendment rights” by arming themselves against police.There's just one little problem, Sam Mosteller didn't call for Black families to "exercise their Second Amendment rights by arming themselves against the police. THIS is what he actually said.
“We’re going to have do something in our community to let the rest of America know that we are not going to be victimized by just anybody whether it be police or folks that decide that Black people are thugs and we need to control the Black community.”Mosteller is calling for black folks to exercise their Second Amendment right to protect themselves FROM the police, not AGAINST the police. Words matter. And what is wrong with African Americans exercising their rights? There is no out cry when whites exercise their right to protect themselves.
He goes on to say, “You know, the SCLC stands for nonviolence, but nonviolence hasn’t worked in this instance. You stand there, (police) shoot. You run, they shoot. We’re going to have to take a different tack. Nobody is protecting the Black community! I am going to advocate, at this point, that all African-Americans advocate their 2nd Amendment rights.” In addition to calling on families to arm themselves, Mosteller is also organizing recalls of the sheriffs of all counties where unarmed Black people have been shot by police.
Gun sales in and around Ferguson, Missouri, have soared in recent weeks, as the city waits to find out whether a local police officer will be indicted for shooting an unarmed teenager in August, according to CNN. A grand jury investigation into the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown is expected to reveal its findings sometime this month, putting many residents who fear riots in the wake of the ruling on edge. Some gun shops near Ferguson have seen gun sales double or even triple in recent days, local radio reported.Despite public opinion to the contrary blacks have a long tradition of taking up arms to defend themselves of racial violence.
“This is very abnormal,” Steven King, of gun retailer Metro Shooting Supplies in nearby Bridgeton, told KMOV News radio. “With all the rumors on the Internet, they are saying every neighborhood is unsafe, there is a possibility of a strike in any neighborhood.”
“active self-defense against violence,” is a tradition that developed alongside nonviolent resistance, and that “even before slavery had been outlawed, Black Americans took up arms when their lives and livelihoods were threatened.”Well we can't have black folks defending themselves when their lives and livelihoods are threatened in America.
The historical record provides compelling evidence that racism underlies gun control laws -- and not in any subtle way. Throughout much of American history, gun control was openly stated as a method for keeping blacks and Hispanics "in their place," and to quiet the racial fears of whites.So there you have it, if we want comprehensive gun control laws all black folks have to do is start exercising their Second Amendment rights....
If supporters of the right to keep and bear arms want their pleas to be heard in their proper context, they might consider talking a little less about Valley Forge and a little more about Jim Crow — and attempting to fill their ranks with people who have known much more recently what tyranny really looks like.Eye am just saying.....
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| H/T Living Blue in Florida |