This Unarmed Black Man Is Lucky to be Alive

"Every time I hear that a policeman has killed another unarmed black man in the United States, I think about how lucky I am to be alive.

My first interaction with police occurred in the fall of 1995, a few months after I arrived from Kenya. I had just bought my first car. One evening, my cousin asked me to drive him and three high school friends -- two white girls and a white male -- to a video arcade in Milpitas, California. As I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed a police car behind me. The officer followed us as we circled the parking lot looking for a spot. I parked the car, got out and began to walk towards the door.

Two hours later, we left the arcade. As I drove to exit, I noticed a police car behind me. As soon I got on the street, I saw red and blue lights and heard a siren. Before I could pull over, bright flashlights shone directly in my face through the windshield. I stopped in the middle of the street.

An officer on a megaphone began orders. "Turn off the engine. Put hands on your head. With your right hand, roll down your window. Reach over with your right hand and open the door from the outside. Step out of the car. Slowly. Walk backwards."

After a few steps, two officers tackled me to the ground violently and handcuffed me behind my back. They went ransacked my pockets. When they were satisfied that we were not criminals they told me that someone had reported that a vehicle resembling mine was stolen.

For the next 10 years, I didn't protest dozens more cases of such harassment and maltreatment by police. I kept quiet because because I didn't know that as an immigrant I had any rights."

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: FIFA and the World Cup (HBO)

Cleveland Reaches Settlement With Justice Department Over Police Conduct - NYTimes.com

"CLEVELAND — Cleveland has reached a settlement with the Justice Department over what federal authorities said was a pattern of unconstitutional policing and excessive use of force, people briefed on the case said Monday.

The settlement, which could be announced as early as Tuesday, comes days after a judge declared a Cleveland police officer not guilty of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a car’s two unarmed occupants, both of them black."

Restoring Memoriam to Memorial Day - NYTimes.com

"As David W. Blight, a professor of history and the director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition at Yale wrote in The New York Times in 2011, during the final year of the Civil War, a racetrack was converted to an outdoor prison for Union captives; “at least 257 died of disease and were hastily buried in a mass grave behind the grandstand.”

Blight wrote: “After the Confederate evacuation of Charleston, black workmen went to the site, reburied the Union dead properly, and built a high fence around the cemetery” and the freed people, “in cooperation with white missionaries and teachers, staged a parade of 10,000 on the track.”

He continued: “After the dedication, the crowd dispersed into the infield and did what many of us do on Memorial Day: enjoyed picnics, listened to speeches and watched soldiers drill.”

Blight concluded: “The war was over, and Memorial Day had been founded by African-Americans in a ritual of remembrance and consecration. The war, they had boldly announced, had been about the triumph of their emancipation over a slaveholders’ republic. They were themselves the true patriots.”

This is the history from which this holiday springs: honoring sacrifice. And honoring sacrifices can exist apart from endorsing missions. Many of our veterans have given life, and increasingly, limb for this country, and that must be saluted."

Rise in Suicide by Black Children Surprises Researchers - NYTimes.com

"The suicide rate among black children has nearly doubled since the early 1990s, while the rate for white children has declined, a new study has found, an unusual pattern that seemed to suggest something troubling was happening among some of the nation’s most vulnerable citizens."  Why would anyone be surprised by this.  As Black children integrate in predominantly white and often racist environments pressures on them rise exponentially.  Being Black in America is hard,  being a Black child in a predominantly white environment can drive a child to suicide.   Racism is real folks.  Unfortunately a large portion of White Americans still choose to live in serial rather than look into a mirror.

NYTimes: Public-Sector Jobs Vanish, Hitting Blacks Hard

“Compared to the private sector, the public sector has offered black and female workers better pay, job stability and more professional and managerial opportunities,” said Jennifer Laird, a sociologist at the University of Washington who has been researching the subject."

Irish gay marriage referendum: Yes campaign set for victory - Telegraph

"The people of Ireland are waiting to find out the results of a historic referendum on the introduction of gay marriage, with yes campaigners now increasingly confident of victory.

Turn-out has been high, and as celebrating crowds gather at Dublin Castle, it appears that, rather than learning result, they will instead be awaiting confirmation of the scale of the victory for the yes campaign."

NYTimes: G.M. Inquiry Said to Find Criminal Wrongdoing

"Justice Department investigators have identified criminal wrongdoing in General Motors’ failure to disclose a defect tied to at least 104 deaths, and are negotiating what is expected to be a record penalty, according to people briefed on the inquiry."

Obama’s Twitter Debut, @POTUS, Attracts Hate-Filled Posts - NYTimes.com

"But it took only a few minutes for Mr. Obama’s account to attract racist, hate-filled posts and replies. They addressed him with racial slurs and called him a monkey. One had an image of the president with his neck in a noose."

Amtrak Passenger Claims DEA Agent Straight Up Stole $60 From His Wallet

Heuser told his story to Conor Friedersdorf of The Atlantic, explaining that he was on a train in Reno, Nevada, earlier this year when a DEA agent knocked on the door of his sleeper car and began interrogating him about trafficking drugs.

According to Heuser, the agent proceeded to intimidate and bully him into complying with an unreasonable search of his belongings. When Heuser resisted the violation of his Fourth Amendment rights, the agent pressed harder, eventually forcing him out of the car while officers looked through Heuser's backpack and other possessions. When he returned, something was gone.

“I found my backpack moved and open, and my wallet, which was set down on the room table, had $60 missing,” Heuser told The Atlantic.

The DEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Department of Justice, the parent agency of the DEA, says to report complaints about employees or programs by calling (800) 869-4499 or online.

Much of the criticism of civil forfeiture has been focused on instances of law enforcement officers taking cash -- and often fairly small sums of cash -- they suspect is tied to criminal activity. The process doesn't require law enforcement to have any proof of a connection to a crime, and allows them to file charges against the property itself, often purely on the basis of that property's existence. Have $1000 in your car while driving on a highway that police consider a hot spot for drug dealers? Carrying cash in a backpack through a train station? That's drug money to some police officers, no matter what you say. They'll take it and you'll have to fight a legal battle to prove it wasn't.



Amtrak Passenger Claims DEA Agent Straight Up Stole $60 From His Wallet

Six Baltimore police officers indicted in death of Freddie Gray - The Washington Post

"Six Baltimore police officers were indicted Thursday in connection with the April death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old who suffered a fatal spine injury while in police custody, touching off a wave of protests and riots across parts of the city.

The expected grand jury action leaves the most significant charges in the case unchanged, and moves the case from the lower District Court and into Circuit Court.

The officers, each of whom faces multiple counts, now also face a charge of reckless endangerment, Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said at a press conference Thursday. Charges of false imprisonment against three of the officers are no longer part of the case."

Of Bikers and Thugs - NYTimes.com

"In Waco, the words used to describe the participants in a shootout so violent that a local police spokesman called the crime scene the bloodiest he had ever seen included “biker clubs,” “gangs” and “outlaw motorcycle gangs.”

While those words may be accurate, they lack the pathological markings of those used to describe protesters in places like Ferguson, Mo., and Baltimore. President Obama and the mayor of Baltimore were quick to use the loaded label “thugs” for the violent rioters there. That the authorities have not used that word to describe the far worse violence in Waco makes the contrast all the more glaring.

The words “outlaw” and “biker” while pejorative to some, still evoke a certain romanticism in the American ethos. They conjure an image of individualism, adventure and virility. There’s an endless list of motorcycle gang movies. A search for “motorcycle romance” on Amazon yields thousands of options. Viagra, the erectile dysfunction drug, even has a motorcycle commercial."

Of Bikers and Thugs - NYTimes.com

"According to The Waco Tribune-Herald, “officials have found 1,000 weapons tucked into kitchen areas, vehicles and toilets,” and those weapons included chains with padlocks, pocketknives, assault knives, batons and even an AK-47. They also found body armor.

But the tone and tenor of the rhetoric the media used to describe this event — particularly early on — were in stark contrast to the language used to describe the protests over the killings of black men by the police.

In Waco, the words used to describe the participants in a shootout so violent that a local police spokesman called the crime scene the bloodiest he had ever seen included “biker clubs,” “gangs” and “outlaw motorcycle gangs.”

While those words may be accurate, they lack the pathological markings of those used to describe protesters in places like Ferguson, Mo., and Baltimore. President Obama and the mayor of Baltimore were quick to use the loaded label “thugs” for the violent rioters there. That the authorities have not used that word to describe the far worse violence in Waco makes the contrast all the more glaring.

The words “outlaw” and “biker” while pejorative to some, still evoke a certain romanticism in the American ethos. They conjure an image of individualism, adventure and virility. There’s an endless list of motorcycle gang movies. A search for “motorcycle romance” on Amazon yields thousands of options. Viagra, the erectile dysfunction drug, even has a motorcycle commercial.

While “thug life” has also been glamorized in movies, music and books, its scope is limited and racialized. It is applied to — and even adopted by — black men. And the evocation is more “Menace II Society” than “Easy Rider.” The pejorative is unambiguous."

Big Banks Plead Guilty To Market Manipulation, Will Pay $5.8 Billion

The age of multibillion-dollar bank fines with no admission of wrongdoing is over. The Justice Department announced Wednesday morning that five banks pleaded guilty to market manipulation, while also paying billions of dollars in fines.Barclays, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan and the Royal Bank of Scotland admitted to illegally distorting foreign exchange markets. The banks formed what they called "The Cartel" and aimed to set a key currency marker, known as "the fix," at mutually beneficial values.

Recommended read from Salon.com: "The result of the breakdown of the white biker family": #WacoThugs perfectly encapsulates what's wrong with response to Waco shooting

"On Sunday, two rival biker gangs engaged in a massive shootout outside a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, Tx. resulting in nine deaths and at least 170 arrests. Although the media had become accustomed to covering protests inFerguson and Baltimore using descriptors like "thug" and "riot," they chose to use less loaded words like "melee" and "scuffle" to depict the events in Waco. Police response in Waco was also dramatically less aggressive than it was in Ferguson and Baltimore.

The country noticed these disparities and took to Twitter using the hashtag #WacoThugs to emphasize some of the most blatant issues of racial bias in coverage and policing. Here are some of the best"

Ex-UN Ambassador Andrew Young Hurt as Cement Truck Crushes Car - NBC News.com

Are whites racially oppressed? - CNN.com

"Many white Americans have lived under the assumption that if they worked hard, they would be rewarded. Now more white Americans are sharing unemployment lines with "those people" -- black and brown, Wise says.

"For the first time since the Great Depression, white Americans have been confronted with a level of economic insecurity that we're not used to," he says. "It's not so new for black and brown folks, but for white folks, this is something we haven't seen since the Depression."

SHOCK CLAIM: HACKER HIJACKED PLANE

"A SECURITY RESEARCHER kicked off a United Airlines flight last month after tweeting about security vulnerabilities in its system had previously taken control of an airplane and caused it to briefly fly sideways, according to an application for a search warrant filed by an FBI agent.

Chris Roberts, a security researcher with One World Labs, told the FBI agent during an interview in February that he had hacked the in-flight entertainment system, or IFE, on an airplane and overwrote code on the plane’s Thrust Management Computer while aboard the flight. He was able to issue a climb command and make the plane briefly change course, the document states.

“He stated that he thereby caused one of the airplane engines to climb resulting in a lateral or sideways movement of the plane during one of these flights,” FBI Special Agent Mark Hurley wrote in his warrant application (.pdf). “He also stated that he used Vortex software after comprising/exploiting or ‘hacking’ the airplane’s networks. He used the software to monitor traffic from the cockpit system.”

Black Man Found Hanged From Tree in Greensboro, Georgia - NBC News.com

Nothing suggesting foul play?  

"A black man who'd recently been questioned in connection with the death of a white woman was found dead hanging from a tree Monday morning in rural Greensboro, Georgia, police said. Local and state investigators said there was nothing to immediately suggest foul play."

End the use of jailhouse informants - The Washington Post

Michelle Alexander

Most jailhouse snitches are lying. This is beyond obvious. Offer someone who is locked in a cage the chance to go free or win early release if they tell a story about a stranger - someone they've been told is guilty anyway - and what do you think will happen? What are the odds you'll get the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? The criminal injustice system is predicated on many fictions, but few are so blatantly inconsistent with the quest for truth and justice than the use of jailhouse informants.

End the use of jailhouse informants

A Texas bill would end such testimony in death penalty cases. But why not end it altogether?

www.washingtonpost.com

Details Released on Homeowner Shot by Police - NBC News.com

Details Released on Homeowner Shot by Police - NBC News.com

America’s dangerous “Exodus” fantasy: What’s lost in the Israel-Palestine debate - Salon.com

Now, his SUV bound for Sebastia is cutting through the West Bank, a land smaller than the state of Delaware but dotted with more than 600 checkpoints, earthen barriers, and other obstacles to normal travel. His detour and the incident that accompanied it are part of a system that hems Palestinians into ever more confined enclaves surrounded by Jewish settlements over which looms Israel’s military presence. Yet this kind of everyday humiliation and confinement remains unknown to most Americans. Despite the torrents of press coverage here about Israel and its relationship with the United States, the daily reality of half the people in a century-old conflict is essentially off the American radar screen.





America’s dangerous “Exodus” fantasy: What’s lost in the Israel-Palestine debate - Salon.com

Do we need President Obama to talk about race again? | MSNBC

Do we need President Obama to talk about race again? | MSNBC

When mixed-income housing replaces low-income housing | MSNBC

When mixed-income housing replaces low-income housing | MSNBC

Baltimore and US history of housing segregation | MSNBC

Baltimore and US history of housing segregation | MSNBC

Bobby Schmurda case brings complicated questions | MSNBC

Bobby Schmurda case brings complicated questions | MSNBC

Have race issues gotten worse or better? | MSNBC

Have race issues gotten worse or better? | MSNBC

Hateful police texts spur San Francisco probe

Dad Calls Cops on Son to Teach Him a Lesson, Cops Shoot Son Dead

"A father's attempt to teach his son a lesson for taking his truck without permission ended in tragedy Monday after a local police officer shot the teenager dead.

James Comstock told the Des Moines Register he called the police on his son Tyler after the latter took the former's truck in retaliation for refusing to buy him cigarettes.

Ames Police Officer Adam McPherson reportedly spotted the lawn care company vehicle and pursued it onto the Iowa State University campus, where a brief standoff ensued after Tyler allegedly refused orders to turn off the engine.

McPherson eventually fired six shots into the truck, two of which struck Tyler who was later pronounced dead."

Officer charged for incidents at pub where man fatally hurt - SFGate

"BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — A Buffalo police officer who was working security at a bar where a customer was fatally injured faces federal civil rights charges.

Robert Eloff was off-duty and working at Molly's Pub in Buffalo last May when the pub's manager pushed customer William Sager down a flight of stairs. Sager later died and manager Jeffrey Basil was convicted of murder."

The horrifying pervasiveness of police brutality - Black Politics on the Web

"Philadelphia: In March, the Department of Justice reported that even as crime has dropped in Philadelphia, police shootings have increased. Between 2007 and 2014, Philadelphia police shot 394 people; of these, 59 died — leading to what the DOJ called an “undercurrent of significant strife” between the department and the people it’s meant to serve. As so often happens, many of those shot were holding a cell phone, or putting a hand near their waist when they caught an officer’s attention.

Cleveland: When 12-year-old Tamir Rice was killed late last year, the DOJ happened to be winding up its investigation of Cleveland’s law enforcement; The Washington Post called the report “scathing.” Investigators documented horrifying shooting incidents, detainees being beaten while in handcuffs, unreasonable force used on people with mental illness or in medical crisis — and a consistent failure to investigate or discipline the officers involved. (The Week Magazine)"

- See more at: http://blackpoliticsontheweb.com/2015/05/08/the-horrifying-pervasiveness-of-police-brutality/#.dpuf

Muslim-Bashing Can Be Very Lucrative - The Daily Beast

"People keep asking me why does Pam Geller spew so much anti-Muslim crap? Is it part of her work as a pro-Israel activist? Did she once get food poisoning at a Middle Eastern restaurant? Is it simply because she really, really hates Muslims?

Probably all the above, but one other thing is certain: Geller gets paid pretty well to demonize Muslims. I’m talking to the tune of $200,000 a year. True, that might be walking around money for Donald Trump (who actually bashed Geller this week for her draw the Prophet Mohamed cartoon contest), but that puts her in the top 5 percent of all Americans in terms of annual income. Now, $200,000 doesn’t make a person rich these days (although the $9 million in combineddivorce settlement and life-insurance paymentsshe reportedly got certainly qualifies her). But for what she does, it’s handsome pay."

Officers making headlines due to excessive force have troubled pasts

"Many police officers across the country who have killed, choked or beaten black men in high-profile abuse cases over the past several months have more in common than just the uniform. They also have disturbing professional histories.

Officers, whose names who are now discussed in nationwide conversations of police brutality, often had prior complaints against them or behavioral concerns that were either ignored or did not prevent them from continuing to be employed by their various police departments."

4 killed when small plane crashes on I-285 in DeKalb

4 killed when small plane crashes on I-285 in DeKalb

Free Speech vs. Hate Speech - NYTimes.com

"But it is equally clear that the Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest in Garland, Tex., was not really about free speech. It was an exercise in bigotry and hatred posing as a blow for freedom.

That distinction is critical because the conflicts that have erupted over depictions of the Prophet Muhammad, most notably the massacre of staff members at the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in January by two Muslim brothers, have generated a furious and often confused debate about free speech versus hate speech. The current dispute at the American chapter of the PEN literary organization over its selection of Charlie Hebdo for a freedom of expression courage award is a case in point — hundreds of PEN’s members have opposed the selection for “valorizing selectively offensive material.”

Uncensored - Key & Peele - Negrotown

NYTimes: N.S.A. Phone Data Collection Illegal, Appeals Court Rules

NYTimes: N.S.A. Phone Data Collection Illegal, Appeals Court Rules

LAPD Chief: No Evidence To Justify Police Killing Of Unarmed Homeless Man

"LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said Wednesday he has yet to see evidence that would justify one of his officers fatally shooting an unarmed homeless man near Venice Beach."

If Black People Lived As Long As White People, Election Results Would Be Very Different | Mother Jones

"With the mortality rate for black Americans about 18 percent higher than it is for white Americans, premature black deaths have affected the results of US elections, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Michigan and the University of Oxford."

Lawrence to journalists: Stop saying 'thug' | MSNBC

Lawrence to journalists: Stop saying 'thug' | MSNBC

Recommended read from Salon.com: "It’s pure authoritarianism": Glenn Greenwald exposes the link between Baltimore's uprising and the NSA

"It got lost in all the hubbub of the uprising in Baltimore, as well as the addition of a few more candidates to the 2016 presidential election, but according to reports from multiple sources last week, it's looking more probable than ever that the so-called Patriot Act will not be reauthorized until after it's undergone some privacy-protecting revisions. The distance between vague promises in a report and an actual change to the bill's infamously broad language is considerable, of course. But absent the waves of outrage inspired by leaks from former CIA contractor Edward Snowden — whose collaboration with Salon alum and Intercept founding editor Glenn Greenwald recently led to an Academy Award — it's hard to imagine reformers ever getting even this close."

Bernie Takes Aim At Big Banks

"WASHINGTON, May 5 (Reuters) - Bernie Sanders, a self-described socialist U.S. senator who has launched a bid for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, said on Tuesday he will introduce a bill to break up the biggest banks, a position far to the left of the party's front runner, Hillary Clinton.

Calls for Wall Street's largest firms to be cut down were numerous after taxpayers spent billions of dollars to prevent the financial system from collapse during the 2007-09 financial crisis, but they have since gradually died down.

Sanders faces long odds against Clinton's fund-raising might, and his views might help position the former secretary of state and first lady more as a moderate and buttress her efforts to attract money from banks' deep pockets.

Under the Sanders proposal, regulators on the existing Financial Stability Oversight Council would compile a list of institutions that are 'too big to fail' and implicitly rely on government support during a crisis.

"If an institution is too big to fail, it is too big to exist," Sanders said in a statement."

John Oliver: Baltimore Riots & Bud Light on Last Week Tonight

"Freddie Gray while in police custody, the story has been "handled by the media with all the deft, not-at-all racist touch that they’ve become known for," Oliver said.

A hilariously painful clip of Geraldo Rivera confusing a protestor with Russell Simmons in an interview was pretty bad, but seeing Brian Todd of CNN make the same mistake with the same protestor (and pushing it even when corrected) pretty much clinched Oliver's case.

"Geraldo, you do realize that when African Americans stand together as one, that does not mean they’re all literally the same person, right?" Oliver said.

On top of that, Oliver ripped into judges who set $500,000 bail for a protestor charged with misdemeanor crimes for breaking car windows, more than the police officers charged with Gray's death. There was really only one way that could possibly make sense, Oliver said.

"In fact, the only explanation for his bail being set that high is that, just like Geraldo Rivera and that guy from CNN, judges in Baltimore can’t look at black people without seeing millionaire Russell Simmons."

Soledad O'Brien Says Journalists Need To Stop Using The Word 'Thug' To Describe Baltimore Protesters

"Former CNN host Soledad O’Brien said Sunday that the word "thug" has become the new N-word, and said journalists need to think twice before using the term to describe protesters in Baltimore.

O’Brien appeared on CNN's "Reliable Sources" to discuss the media's and politicians' use of the word to label protesters in Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old who sustained fatal injuries while in police custody. Even President Barack Obama used the word last week while speaking about people involved in riots.'

Scalia and Alito: Have You No Sense of Decency, Sirs?

"In the recent marriage equality case, Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Antonin Scalia argued that marriage equality opens the door to polygamy, underage sex, and incest between brothers and sisters. This is the modern equivalent of McCarthy red-baiting and deserves the same response.

The cruel, illogical, heartless and hateful arguments of Alito and Scalia give considerable support and inspiration to right-wing groups who literally demonize our sisters and brothers and sons and daughters who seek only to marry their same sex partners just like the rest of us. "

Sweet Honey In The Rock - Ella's Song

Geraldo confronted about Fox News coverage of Baltimore

Baltimore Cop To Demonstrators: 'I'm Here For You'

How Many Like Baltimore's Freddie Gray Have Been Killed in Police Custody? | Mother Jones

"At least 4,813 people died while in custody of local and state law enforcement between 2003 and 2009, according to the latest available report, published in 2011. Sixty-one percent of those deaths were classified as homicides.

As I reported last August in Mother Jones, the BJS collects data on what it calls "arrest-related deaths" that occur either during or shortly after police officers "engage in an arrest or restraint process." The agency reports that 41.7 percent of those who were deemed to have been killed by police while in custody were white, 31.7 percent were black, and 20.3 percent were Hispanic. (Others died from intoxication, suicide, or by accidental, natural, or unknown causes.)"

The U.S. has "5 percent of the world’s population, 25 percent of the world’s known prison population." — Jim Webb on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2014 in a conference. Webb says U.S. has 5 percent of world's population, 25 percent of its "known" prisoners

"This Is What Happens When You Call The Cops" This rap video is to often the truth. We must make change by electing Mayors, Prosecutors and Sheriffs whose allegiance is to ordinary people and live near the people they police. They must not be people controlled by big corporations or the entrenched power elite.

http://facebook.com/robhustle

Posted by Maq Moyer on Sunday, November 30, 2014

Man Who Filmed Freddie Gray's Murder Arrested

Continuing activism after the cameras leave | MSNBC

Continuing activism after the cameras leave | MSNBC

Framing rioting as political protest | MSNBC

Framing rioting as political protest | MSNBC

All eyes are still on Baltimore | MSNBC

All eyes are still on Baltimore | MSNBC

Marc Lamont Hill shows love to the Black Revolutionaries of Baltimore on...

@JooHyun_Kang: Mother of #EricGarner on why Cuomo must enact #SpecialProsecutor executive order now. #BlackLivesMatter https://t.co/9YqIG4mwcJ

@JooHyun_Kang: Mother of #EricGarner on why Cuomo must enact #SpecialProsecutor executive order now. #BlackLivesMatter  https://t.co/9YqIG4mwcJ

Chad L. Coleman Unleashes Rant on NYC Subway, Identifies Himself as The Walking Dead and The Wire Actor | E! Online.

This is how America makes many of us feel all to often.   This is not the easiest place to live in for those whose ancestors built this country off the sweat of their labor and lives and we're never compensated.  Settlers and later immigrants from Europe benefited but we did not

A Culture Of Racism: The Staten Island PD And The Tea Party Congressman

Saturday, May 2, 2015

Rep Grimm and NYPD Captain Peter DeBlasio

"I grew up in New York in a neighborhoodthat was largely Italian. New York, likeAnytown, USA, has its own version ofracism.  It is not the kind you hear in thepost-Jim Crow South; it is more “ethnic.”  Conversation amongst high school friendsincluded racial epithets in Italian, veryoffensive to African Americans, thrownaround casually.   It almost seemed normalto hear the word “ moolignan,” Italian foreggplant (technically Mulignane; could becombination of Moolie and hooligan) or“spic” for a Hispanic person."

I grew up in this racist culture,  experienced the racial epphitetsbon on a daily basis and suffered the violence that came along with this brutish behavior. I was the only Black kid in my class from the third to the 12th grades.

Nigeria Says It's Rescued Nearly 300 Women and Girls From Boko Haram | Mother Jones

"Two-hundred girls and 93 women have been rescued from a Boko Haram stronghold in the Sambisa Forest, the Nigerian Armed Forces said Tuesday. They could not immediately confirm if the girls rescued were among those captured in Chibok last year—TIME is reporting that, indeed, they are not—however, writing on Twitter, the NAF said only, "the freed persons are now being screened and profiled. We will bring you details later."

In April 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped more than 

Marilyn Mosby Is What Baltimore Needed

""No crime had been committed by Mr. Gray," she said. The officers "illegally arrested Mr. Gray."

Mosby was in her element at the press event. She repeatedly batted away questions about her personal feelings on the matter, saying it wasn't relevant. She also dismissed the idea that there is a conflict of interest in her conducting the investigation since her husband, Nick Mosby, is a Baltimore city councilman who has spoken out about the riots spurred by Gray's death.

"I uphold the law," she said flatly. "He makes the law."

The most racist places in America, according to Google - The Washington Post

"Where do America's most racist people live? "The rural Northeast and South," suggests a new study just published in PLOS ONE."

Adios, Spartan. Hello, Microsoft Edge browser - CNET

Adios, Spartan. Hello, Microsoft Edge browser - CNET

Police arrest the man who caught Freddie Gray's arrest on video

"BALTIMORE — The man who recorded video of Baltimore police officers arresting Freddie Gray was himself arrested on Thursday, according to reports.

Kevin Moore, whose video of the arrest was widely circulated, said he has faced intimidation from police since April 12 when police apprehended Gray."

This is the same type of police thug like behavior which was confronted by the man who filmed the Eric Garner police strangulation on TV.  They arrested him twice,  he said he was framed,  and while in Rikers Island Jail rat poison was found in his and other Inmates in his cell block's food.  American policing culture is corrupt and has been since it's formal inception in the 19th century.   The average IQ of an American police officer is 104.  Officers generally are not college educated and were not good students in high school.  They come in large part from the white working class,  the most openly bigoted element in American society.  We must change this culture. 

The riot in Baltimore is the only reason these murderous police were charged,  unlike on Staten Island where Eric Garner was strangled to death on video and no one was charged or where 12 year old Tamir Rice was murdered by an officer while harmlessly playing with a toy gun.  The Baltimore riot raised the decision cost for American Society.   As rapper Jasiri X poignancy said a few months ago.  "Do we need to start a riot?"