Missouri lawmakers filed more than sixty bills inspired by last year’s protests, but only court reform passed into law, according to an Associated Press analysis. One of the bills that failed to move through the statehouse sought to make Missouri’s use-of-force laws compliant with a 1985 US Supreme Court decision. Other bills would have made body cameras mandatory and require special prosecutors to investigate officer-involved shootings. Last year, activists accused county prosecutor Bob McCulloch of being too close to law enforcement to objectively handle Wilson’s case.

Furthermore, the Washington Post reports that:

So far this year, 24 unarmed black men have been shot and killed by police – one every nine days, according to a Washington Post database of fatal police shootings. During a single two-week period in April, three unarmed black men were shot and killed. All three shootings were either captured on video or, in one case, broadcast live on local TV.

Those 24 cases constitute a surprisingly small fraction of the 585 people shot and killed by police through Friday evening, according to The Post database. Most of those killed were white or Hispanic, and the vast majority of victims of all races were armed.

However, black men accounted for 40 percent of the 60 unarmed deaths, even though they make up just 6 percent of the U.S. population. The Post’s analysis shows that black men were seven times more likely than white men to die by police gunfire while unarmed.

The latest such shooting occurred Friday, claiming Christian Taylor, 19, a promising defensive back on the Angelo State University football team. Police said Taylor crashed an SUV through the front window of a car dealership in Arlington, Tex., and was shot in an altercation with responding officers. The case is under investigation.

The disproportionate number of unarmed black men in the body count helps explain why outrage continues to simmer a year after Ferguson — and why shootings that might have been ignored in the past are now coming under fresh public and legal scrutiny. (Emphasis added)

One year after the death of Michael Brown, the Black Lives Matter Movement has failed, for the most part. People are still marching, protesting and engaging in civil disobedience in Ferguson and around the country. That proves that the movement has not achieved its objectives. The End Racial Profiling Act has not been passed. In fact, a bill to protect lions and other wild animals is a greater priority in Congress than the End Racial Profiling Act. That is an obvious sign of failure. While unarmed movement members are arrested for engaging in civil disobedience, killers like Darren Wilson and George Zimmerman continue to walk free and armed white militia patrol the streets of Ferguson looking for trouble from the black natives. That is not success. That is failure. As previously stated, the brutal police continue to harass and kill unarmed black people. Recent examples include the killing of Walter Scott, Freddie Gray and Sam DuBose. Our lives still don’t matter.  Again, the movement has failed miserably.

Certainly, the movement’s catch phrase “Black Lives Matter” has become a popular slogan. That slogan has generated a much needed national discussion. Even that discussion has detoured into discussion about how “all lives matter.” More importantly, slogans alone are a poor substitute for actual substantive reforms. Discussions are just that, discussions. Discussions are not actions. Clearly, the movement has gained publicity. Nonetheless, publicity without a focused purpose, other than 15 minutes of fame, is meaningless. Publicity for the stake of publicity accomplishes nothing.

For example, this past weekend, purported Black Lives Matter activists Marissa Janae Johnson (a former Sarah Palin supporter) and Mara Jacqeline Willaford interrupted Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders’ speech. Ms. Johnson’s “I don’t give a f***” attitude is childish and unsophisticated. Unfortunately, that is not the first time that Black Lives Matter activists have interrupted a program. They also interrupted Al Sharpton’s Justice for All march.

It is just plain stupid to attack, alienate and discard allies, especially when your movement is funded by the same white progressives that you criticize. By the way, black organizations should be funded primarily by black people. Anyway, the Black Lives Matter Movement should collaborate with Al Sharpton and other prominent civil rights leaders and organizations. Potential allies like Sanders have the power to pass laws to address the problems of police brutality and racial profiling. Instead of interrupting fellow progressives, the movement should be interrupting the police who harass and kill black people. Instead of interrupting organizations that have the same goals and objectives, the movement should be interrupting a Congress that is more concerned about slain lions than slain black people.

Marissa Janae Johnson’s and Mara Jacqeline Willaford’s actions expose another fundamental flaw of the movement, its leaderless and decentralized nature. Such a structure breeds chaos and rogue action. If it is to be successful, the movement needs more structure and more discipline. Otherwise, it will be another short-lived moment just like the Occupy Wall Street movement. It will be here today and gone tomorrow. Rather than having an arrogant “know-it-all” approach and attitude, the movement should learn effective strategies from civil rights veterans and black power veterans.

Instead of engaging in such juvenile publicity stunts, the movement must present a clear set of demands to elected officials and candidates. The movement must demand that all politicians pass legislation that is in accord with those demands. Instead of just tweeting and marching, the activists should be conducting effective and massive voter registration and education drives. If we do not vote, we cannot complain about politicians not implementing reforms. If we do not vote, we cannot complain about juries and grand juries letting killers like Darren Wilson and George Zimmerman go free. Through the vote, we are able to serve on juries and render justice.

[Originally posted at New Possibilities]

The post One year later, the #BlackLivesMatter Movement is a Failure appeared first on Madness & Reality.

I went home for the holidays and went over a family friend’s house for Kwanzaa, a tradition that seems to have been birthed in my early childhood and has truly grown and expanded beyond what I could even imagine, and I brought this up with close family and friends asking “Where is the movement?”  I kept hearing a lot of people describe things in motion, but I never heard a movement.  In cities across the country I watched churches and other groups march from here to there carrying signs, and I also saw them do it with police protection as they gathered or walked.  Something about that just didn’t sit right with me.  I kept searching for the end-game as I watched these rallies. While people could print t-shirts that read “I Can’t Breathe” (the famous last words of Eric Garner) or construct placards with “Black Lives Matter” on them and show up at a time and place and join a rally of like-minded people, for me that does not constitute a movement.

I wrote an open letter to the Church of God in Christ, the historically black Pentecostal denomination, asking that they stage a protest in St. Louis last November as their annual convention was taking place a mere 12 miles from protests in Ferguson.  Suffice it to say, they focused on other things. Part of that open letter stemmed from the fact that I was yearning for some type of coalescence around a few good actionable ideas.  As the conversations around police wearing body cameras came about, I remember thinking that this is a pretty simple demand and that protests be geared for something like this: demanding a state legislature mandate that all police departments across the state have body cameras within the next three years.  Again, I never saw that either.

It bothered me that I never saw, and still haven’t seen, any tangible actions emerge from this so-called movement.  It bothers me because while I agree with the sentiments and the ideologies of Black Lives Matter, I can’t see how any of it has any staying power.  And by staying power, I don’t see it as a change agent for the revolution of the system.  One of the reasons the protests surrounding the Jena 6 were so effective was because there was a very clear goal: the charges against Mychal Bell and others need to be reduced from attempted murder and they need to be tried as juveniles, not adults.   And simply, the protests ended after that goal was accomplished.

Part of the issue with the protests surrounding Black Lives Matter is that the name itself isn’t an actionable phrase nor is it easily accessible phrase to the masses.  In the not so distant past we’ve seen instances of citizens founding movements, political and cultural in nature that don’t fall into the trap of Black Lives Matter.  One of the earlier one’s from this time period was the Christian conservative movement of the Moral Majority.  While I fundamentally disagree with the politics and found that their ideologies stands in direct opposition of black lives mattering, their organization and mobilization is worth noting.  For one, they had a generic name that allowed accessibility of the masses.  Inherently, words like “moral” have a wide appeal and in a populist culture, who doesn’t want to be part of the “majority.”  This was part of why the Tea Party movement actually has a few wins in their column.

The Tea Party, unlike the sentiments around Black Lives Matter, understood what leadership could do for a movement.  The energy behind the Tea Party allowed them to crown political popes like Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and even regular citizens like Joe the Plumber to be titular figureheads as use outlets like that of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity to spread their ideology.  The recalcitrant and oft repeated thinking that Black Lives Matter is a “leaderless movement” is the example of cognitive dissonance over what really is required of a movement.  Their effectiveness is also helped by the singular anti-focus on Barack Obama.  From the moment he was sworn into office, there was a contingent that was laser focused on opposing his every turn.  Even when the move to make him a one-term president failed, the ways in which they assumed office with each mid-term election completely flipped congressional control from blue to red.  There is no laser focus associated with Black Lives Matter.  From one moment it focuses on police brutality and the next moment it’s focused on the broad problems associated with poverty.

Part of what makes a movement is that there is an end goal by which the motions are moving toward.  In 2008, Barack Obama did something that the country hadn’t seen since the Moral Majority buoyed Ronald Reagan to re-election in 1984 and formed a political movement from one of the country’s major two parties.  The sheer mass of people who came together to vote for him was simply astounding.  “Yes we can” was a rally cry that allowed for a rainbow coalition of people from varying walks of like to get what that meant and to be a part of that “we.”  Rightly so, the conservatives tried to punch holes in such a nebulous slogan, but at the end of the day, you can’t take away the good feeling that saying “Yes we can” provides.

Chanting “Black Lives Matter” is a statement of anger.  While anger can fuel protests, anger doesn’t have the emotional sustainability for a movement.  To declare “I can’t breathe” is echoing the death knell of people who are about to expire and they don’t exist as life-giving words that can propel the inner-workings of a movement.  The righteous indignation of Black Lives Matter is very righteous; a noble ideology whose consciousness is revolutionary in and of itself.  However, the problem with it is that it requires a type of creative rhetoric that refuses to engage the masses for the sake of what appears to be personal aggrandizement.  I think it’s hard to say that the leaderless leaders of Black Lives Matter are in it for themselves, but it does bear questioning just how much are they in it for the long haul.

Not having institutional buy-in with Black Lives Matters creates a space where people can fill up TV and radio time to make monuments unto themselves while still claiming a movement.  Part of this has been performed in the way the institutional Black Church has not been involved tangibly in Black Lives Matter.  While there are numerous black churches across the American urban landscape who have been on message about the ideology behind it, none of them have made the next step in laser focusing on very specific issues in the communities from which they are located.  It stands to reason, however, that many of these churches have already been doing some of the work prior to last summer and they may very well continue doing that work, but none of them have emerged on a national level leading the charge.

My ultimate disappointment with Black Lives Matter is that it doesn’trequire people to change their level of consciousness, it only asks them to do so.  Hashtags and tweets to hundreds of followers only goes so far, most times its preaching to the choir.  Personally, I support hashtag activism because it is a way in which one can display personal sentiments.  But at the same time I recognize that a hashtag doesn’t have staying power.  While yes Black Twitter has had the power to actually get someone fired from the job, at least up until this point, it hasn’t displayed the power to effect systematic change.  Social media operates on the notion of partial anonymity and anonymity is not the hallmark of a movement: a movement needs a face.  This is why the comment sections on message boards and trolls flourish; they are disembodied thoughts that float throughout the ether seeking whom they may devour.  But the inverse is true as well, making a difference still requires the individual to personify themselves.  Tweets and Facebook status updates don’t have the power to be sacrificial lambs;  none of us can truly embody that black lives do matter if the only thing we offer up to sacrifice is our timelines.

This millennial generation that I am a part of seems to be more interested in claiming a movement with only less than 12 months of motion.  There seems to be a strong desire to stand in the tradition of the modern civil rights movement, yet divorce themselves from the institutional structures that supported that movement.  This dissonance exists because of the ways in which larger-than-life figures such as Jesse Jackson, Charlie Rangel, Bobby Rush, Al Sharpton, Andrew Young and others who exist on the local level have stood as impassable gatekeepers preventing institutional access favoring respectability speeches toward the youth rather than giving them tools of empowerment.  Rather now, we have a class of leaderless leaders in this generation who have inherited the wind; standing as gatekeepers to transient institutions whose building blocks are hashtags, retweets and likes.

Black lives mattering is bigger than social media.  It always has been, and it would do good for more people to realize that.  Social media is merely a tool to advance that ideology, it isn’t the movement itself.  Twitter strategies only go so far in the furthering of a goal, but as I’ve noted before, these protests have no real goal behind them.  It exists to memorialize the ones who have fallen by the side of the road either physically or spiritually as a result of institutional racism that fails to see that black lives matter.  For me, right now, Black Lives Matter is nothing more than the upheaval of lament and therefore it does have it’s place.  However that place is not as a movement, just a prolonged moment.

The post #BlackLivesMatter: Waiting on the Movement appeared first on Madness & Reality.

This is a question asked in W.E.B. Dubois’ treatise The Souls of Black Folk. The question doesn’t ask how does it feel to have problems or have the kinds of problems that some people can’t or won’t understand. The question directly asks how does it feel like to actually be a problem. This question is also the title of a book by Moustafa Bayoumi who gives an indepth look as to what it’s like to live in a time where being a young Arab or Muslim American is often judged as being the enemy. A threat. A terrorist.

Being a member of the “other”, especially if you’re black, you are not granted the privilege of being individuals, especially if a crime occurs. When a black person is so much as suspected of any crime, the whole race is suspect. If a black person was the suspect and there are white victims, the whole race is looked upon with disdain and mistrust, seen as the potential enemy of white folks who will seek another innocent white person to get back at them for slavery. It seems like it’s always slavery that’s the underlying reason white people believe is the reason for any black-on-white crime. But I digress.

I remember a few years ago back in 2008. A UNC Student named Eve Carson who had a potentially bright future ahead of her was robbed and murdered by two young black males. It was a major news story. A white woman was killed by not one, but two black men. I also remembered two words in one article I read. Racial tension. I hear and see those words often whenever there’s a story about an interracial crime. Usually when it’s black-on-white, that’s when a feeling of dread hits me, because I fear of repercussions for that area against the black community. When a black person commits a crime against white people, black people, not just those responsible, must be held accountable.

Most people still can’t, or won’t, grasp the racism that reeks whenever black people are seen as a collective problem that must always pay whenever a few of their own fuck up. A lot of people avoid being called the r-word by excusing it with statistics, so-called “facts” that they’ve found most likely at a racist conservative website that exaggerates numbers to prove their point. After all is said and done Whiteness is nuanced, blackness is not

On the other hand, white people are granted the privilege of individuality no matter how often or how heinous a crime is. Whether it’s a school shooting, a bombing, serial rape or even mass shootings, white people are given the third degree and had their culture questioned, nor are they given stern lectures to “do better” by those who unofficially appoint themselves as guidance counselors for the whole race.

It has been a few days since the Biker shootout in Waco Texas that claimed nine lives, injured over a dozen more and led to the arrest of over a hundred bikers. The media treated the bloodbath with kid gloves, turning it into a singular incident where it was an isolated tragedy and not part of a string of white-on-white crime where more than a few lives are usually taken.

However, the same media treated the protests in Baltimore and Ferguson as if it was a warzone. Protests themselves became riots. Protestors became looters. Animals. Thugs. The peaceful anger and uprising vanished within the news media’s sensationalism and racism and became an outbreak of black pathology unfolding before America’s eyes.

No matter what, black people are constantly seen as the problem in America. It’s safe to say that no matter what we do, our faults end up overshadowing our accomplishments as well as overall humanity and individuality though the eyes of the white racist mindframe that continuously sees itself as innocent and normal while it sees blackness as criminal, pathologic and something to be feared and taken care of mostly by imprisonment or brute force.

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CIVIL UNREST

There are those that would have you forget that this country was founded on civil unrest and violence. There are those  that would have you believe that the events leading to this country’s  Revolutionary War were inane and non-violent in nature when in fact the opposite is true.  Digs and all kinds of  shade have been thrown at the protesters in Baltimore, Ferguson, NYC,  Oakland, and elsewhere aided and abetted by the media. Invoking the imagery of the “thug”  to describe ALL protesters and to diminish the serious problems that are the underlying causes of so much civil unrest in this country right now.

SONS OF LIBERTY

Early in the summer of 1765 in Boston,  a number of shopkeepers and artisans who called themselves The Loyal Nine, started preparing for taking action against the Stamp Act. These weren’t the leading men of Boston, but instead workers and tradesmen. The Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament in 1765 and resulted in taxes being levied on any piece of paper that was used by the American Colonists. Newspapers, Shipping Papers, contracts, any legal documents, licenses and even playing cards were subject to this tax. The money was earmarked for troops that were stationed in the Appalachian Mountains. The colonists were upset by the idea that up till that point taxes were used to promote commerce and in this instance they were being used to raise monies for purposes that the colonists had no say so about and the precedent of taxes being created outside of the colonies for various reasons was seen as a road they did not wish to go down.

This group which is by some fondly remembered as the “original patriots” engaged in various acts of civil disobedience and violence.

In August of 1765 they hung an effigy of Andrew Oliver – Commissioner of Stamps with a boot sticking out of it with a devil. A symbolic reference to the Earl of Bute. When the local sheriffs were ordered to remove this display they declined to do so as crowds had gathered and later that evening would commence to throwing stones at Oliver’s house while the occupants were still in there. Eventually they would set fire to and ransack the house through the rest of the night. Included in that evenings activities were beheading the effigy and setting that on fire also.

In an ongoing show of Civil defiance of the Stamp Act – newspapers even after the law went into effect refused to obtain the “stamp” and pay the tax associated with it.

Somehow with all the events and actions of the Sons of Liberty being well documented – it has somehow been overlooked in the rush to brand the current protesters as unruly mobs of thugs. The actual history of the founding of this country actually would encompass behavior that would  fall into that same category.

CINCINNATI RIOTS OF 1829

Between 1820 and 1829 the African American population in Cincinnati grew from 700 to over 2,000 causing great concern and fear  for the white, middle-class residents who they felt were
creating a hazard in their city :

“The rapid increase of our black population, is of itself a great evil, night walkers, lewd persons, and those who lounge around without any visible means of support,”

These residents actually petitioned local officials to remove the black citizens citing their poor living conditions were a “fire hazard”.  In the midst of this in 1826 a group of white men formed the OCS – Ohio Chapter of the American Colonization Society whose sole purpose was to spread misleading and defamatory propaganda claiming that blacks were a threat to society.

Sound familiar?

These lovely citizens also took it upon themselves to petition the local government to enforce a  “Black Code“. Enacted  originally in 1807 – this “code” required black residents to pay a $500 bond  which would serve as proof of their “respectability”.

In June of 1826 – notices were sent out to black residents that they had 30 days to secure the bond or be forced to leave the city.  Black residents already seeing the writing on the wall were already preparing to leave the city to re-establish their community elsewhere. While their original plans looked to secure property in rural Ohio to found their own city  things didn’t work out that way. in 1829 two representatives from the black community were sent to Canada to survey land for relocation and starting a new settlement. While they were away the local paper issued an ultimatum for the black residents to vacate the city immediately. A request for an extension of time was met with growing hostility of the local  white residents against the black citizens. From August 15th to August 22nd of that year mobs of whites attacked black homes and businesses. The police offered no protection from these mobs and the mayor refused to call an end to the violence.

– Charles P Wright Museum of African American History

ELIJAH P. LOVEJOY

A minister and resident of St. Louis MO, Elijah Parish Lovejoy was a very vocal abolitionist who used his pulpit as well as his newspaper to express his views against slavery and on abolition.  His printing press was destroyed  no less than three times by angry mobs who disagreed with his views on slavery and his abolitionist stance. After the  third time he moved to Illinois to continue his work there and set up his paper The Alton Observer to continue to express his abolitionist views. In 1837 his warehouse was attacked by a mob wielding guns – gun fire broke out and Mr. Lovejoy was killed in a hail of bullets.

White on White crime – who knew?

MEMPHIS UPRISING 1866

The evening of April 30th 1866 found four police officers walking down Causey Street encountering several blacks who they proceeded to force off the sidewalk. During this encounter one of the blacks fell and one of the officers stumbled over him.  This led to the officers drawing their weapons and proceeding to pistol whip the blacks there. The confrontation resulted in a stalemate and both parties withdrew. The next day another confrontation took place when several blacks were arrested on South street for being “boisterous and noisy”. This confrontation between some black soldiers and police resulted in one officer being shot in the finger and another officer being shot and later dying from his wounds.  The police withdrew initially but would soon return with reinforcements. They then proceeded to fire on a  completely unrelated crowd of blacks – shooting men women and children.

The city recorder – John C. Creighton, arrived at the corner of Vance and Causey Streets and told the white mob which had assembled there that they should arm  themselves and kill every Negro and drive them out of the city. That night Blacks were hunted down and assaulted, robbed and or shot by police, firemen, and any white citizen who chose to join in. Blacks houses were searched under false pretenses, and then set on fire. All met with little or no resistance by blacks.

On May 2nd a posse comprised of police and citizens would again commence to indiscriminate attacks on blacks in South Memphis. Men women and children were shot down without mercy and no quarter given.  Blacks were trapped in their homes that were set on fire by these mobs. Some were forced and or thrown into buildings and homes that had been set on fire. As the attacks usually occurred at night, many were shot in their beds. This mayhem continued till May 4th and probably stopped as most blacks by then had taken off to hide in the country.

The mayor of Memphis at the time:  The Hon. John Park – was excused for his lack of intervention and not actively trying to stop the riots by friends who claimed “he was too intoxicated at the time to realize what was going on”.

None of those who participated in these acts of incredible violence and mayhem have ever been charged even though their identities were well known.

SO WHO ARE THE REAL THUGS?

Again sound familiar? Why  this term is being  thrown around so cavalierly? Do people not know the history?

There are way too many examples of this throughout this countries history. Wrapped into the selective amnesia of a certain segment of this country is the convenient forgetfulness of the violence that they perpetrated upon anyone who got in the way of their Manifest Destiny.  They would brand people as thugs and forget the  Boston Tea Party – where material goods namely Tea were thrown overboard in a show of deviance against The Stamp Act and included the likes of

There are those  that would have you conveniently forget. The mainstream media has led the charge in branding those who protest against the inhumane treatment and conditions they are forced to live in as looters, thugs, miscreants and of no account and unimportant.

BALTIMORE AND BEYOND

There are many who want to say well that happened back then and it has no bearing on anything taking place right now.

Then  you have Ferguson, and Baltimore, Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, Darrien Hunt, Rekia Boyd, Miriam Carey, Michael Brown, Victor White III, Walter Scott, Sean Bell, Amadou Diallo, Kathryn Johnston, Eleanor Bumpurs, John Crawford III, Oscar Grant, Aiyana Jones, Johnathan Ferrell, Kenneth Chamberlain Sr., Andy Lopez

And to all the countless others who’s names we don’t know-their families and supporters…

So who tell me again, who are the REAL thugs…??

Stay Woke People….know your history…

Here is a good place to start:

Riots In The United States

Originally posted at The Good Black Woman

The post Baltimore Riots: Historically Speaking, Nothing Has Changed appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Justice Department lawyers will recommend that no civil rights charges be brought against the police officer who fatally shot an unarmed teenager in Ferguson, Mo., after an F.B.I. investigation found no evidence to support charges, law enforcement officials said Wednesday.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and his civil rights chief, Vanita Gupta, will have the final say on whether the Justice Department will close the case against the officer, Darren Wilson. But it would be unusual for them to overrule the prosecutors on the case, who are still working on a legal memo explaining their recommendation.

A decision by the Justice Department would bring an end to the politically charged investigation of Mr. Wilson in the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown. The Missouri authorities concluded their investigation into Mr. Brown’s death in November and also recommended against charges.

But a broader Justice Department civil rights investigation into allegations of discriminatory traffic stops and excessive force by the Ferguson Police Department remains open. That investigation could lead to significant changes at the department, which is overwhelmingly white despite serving a city that is mostly black.

Benjamin L. Crump, a lawyer for Mr. Brown’s family, said he did not want to comment on the investigation until the Justice Department made an official announcement.

“We’ve heard speculation on cases before that didn’t turn out to be true,” Mr. Crump said. “It’s too much to put the family through to respond to every rumor.”

At this point, bloggers, activists and civil rights organizations must escalate and intensify our demand that a special prosecutor be appointed in Ferguson. We must relentlessly continue to demand that a new grand jury be convened. We must blog, petition, march, agitate and disrupt until that happens. This grave injustice cannot stand.

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We all know what would happen if those mofos were black. Let’s not go down the usual path on this one. Okay, let’s go down this path since “they” want to go to the same damn place. Let’s take a look at other forms of hypocrisy where a crisis ain’t a crisis depending on who you ask.

Recently, VH1’s Queen of Ratchet Reality TV Mona Scott-Young concocted another poisonous series where black women fight each other at least once per season. The name of the show was called Sorority Sisters, a reality show that examined the goings-on of several women from a couple of national black sororities. Well, needless to say, certain folks, including black Greeks, especially black sororities , condemned the show to the ground. Boycotts were started and before you know it, it became a horrible memory.

As a member of a Greek organization myself, or rather my alter ego, I too was appalled after seeing only five minutes of that crap fest. However, it was same nauseating feeling I got after catching a glimpse of Love and Hip Hop (L&HH) or Real Housewives of Atlanta (RHOA). I can’t stand shows that reduced black people to stereotypes, and most of reality TV, and their “starts” don’t relent on doing just that.

But the problem I saw was that some black Greeks who were chanting for the death of Sorority Sisters would tune in to L&HH, RHOA and other ratchet-based shows the next day and talked about what they saw on Facebook and Twitter. Something didn’t register. How was ‘Sisters’ different from the rest?

And we’ve seen people fight on reality shows who aren’t black. Yet, somehow it’s worse when we do it. We all know it’s a sign of anxiety when we see stereotype threats in public. But how come white people can get down and dirty and not be judged? One word: white privilege.

I’ve seen other examples where people pick and choose their outrage and vilification. Bill Cosby’s serial rape scandal drew ire from many people and sparked conversations about rape and sexual assault. Both are serious topics indeed, but I don’t recall anyone saying one word about Stephen Collins and his admitted serial child molestation claims. I don’t recall the subject of domestic violence being as important with our resident nutjob Charlie Sheen getting his ass in the news for his bullshit against women, but it became an immediate topic for discussion when Chris Brown came into the picture. And when it comes to terrorism, I guess it matters who the terrorists and the victims are. No one seems to care about the thousands of African people murdered by Boko Haram, but they stopped and mourned for the victims of the Charlie Hebdo attack. Not saying that we shouldn’t converse or stand up against injustice, but why are certain people victims, villains, and why are topics only as important as who plays those roles according to us? (Yeah, I fall into that trap too.)

Activism shouldn’t require any half-stepping where where you pick and choose your battles in a war that involve people across boundaries. Violence, rape, poverty, any and all issues that effect all groups should not be seen a problem of one group, nor can people be satisfied taking on a small part of the issue and feel like they are better than everyone else. Black people are not the only ones who deal with rape and violence, nor are we the main causes behind them. (That’s for all you racist jackasses, especially you so-called liberal types out there, who delight in highlighting black crime but don’t speak about white crime and think you love your whiteness just for that.) If you want to fight for a cause, act on it. If you want to condemn an issue. Act on it. But don’t wait until a certain person, especially a brotha or sista, is the main character and feel like you’re some kind of hero of the story. Ain’t no half-stepping there.

The post Riots: It’s Never Wrong, Unless Black People Do It appeared first on Madness & Reality.

I must admit: lately, our relationship has been pretty awful.

These past few years have been tumultuous at best. What the world has seen is the utmost disdain for anyone claiming to be African American. What is worst is the acceptance of the murder/manslaughter/slaying ofAfrican Americans with very little judicial recourse. Even worse, there have been more conversations to either shut us up, derail our concerns, or unrightfully incriminate us to make these actions justified. It seems that this “freedom” you promised through my bravery may be a broken possibility.

Then again, you did enslave my ancestors and only “emancipated” us through a dubious proclamation. I am still not sure I am legally a full human being.

What is worse than that lack of love is the unrequested and unexpected support that we have seen worldwide. It says a lot when there are Palestinians holding up signs in reference to being shot over skin color. You have different races that have demonstrated empathy for our condition. Beyond them seeing Americans, they see human beings. And no human being should be subjugated to the conditions we have dealt with.

And I am not saying that there hasn’t been support for Black people here: there has. There have been plenty of demonstrations for the sake of justice. Most recently, there has been a demonstration where tear gas was used to calm a “violent” crowd in Berkley, California (sigh). So, there are more than just Black people taking a stance in America. Plenty of Americans see what the issue is and want it to be resolved.

But we have to agree on this: Black people are seen as the problem of America and not as the victims of America’s problems. Our race is seen as the scourge of the nation and the plague of the plain. The collective condescension for our skin color is not something to be bottled up as “complaining”. Sometimes, the “race card” is being played because the spades game being played with our lives calls for isms. In short, Black people will forever be seen as the cause of our own problems.

In short: America hates Black people. And no relationship should exist with hate. Thus, Black people in America desire to be divorced.

Now, how this divorce is going to work will be dicey. Plenty of us will opt to leave the country altogether. There are many of us that will go to another country just to live and survive. Heck, plenty are quickly considering “going back to Africa” like Pino in Do The Right Thing said we should do. So, many of us just plan on outright leaving.

Still, it makes no sense for us to keep trying to deal with a society that does not value us. The police brutality cannot be a surprise when you have historically used the police to lynch us, murder us, and destroy our communities. Historically, police have assisted in the death and character defamation of Black people. Also, there are times where policemen were KKK members. It is extremely hard to feel safe in a society where the law upholders can/will kill you without recourse.

Remember that time where we have our own successful communities? Remember that moment when we had Rosewood (before you burned it to the ground)? Remember Black Wall Street (before you burned it to the ground)? Remember the mass exodus of Blacks to East St. Louis that led to a massacre? Of course you don’t. You have worked hard to rewrite history to favor Black people being inferior.

And it is more than the killing of our people: it is the overall inconsiderate treatment of Black people. There are numerous problems:

• Economic disenfranchisement
• School-to-prison pipeline
• Elimination of historical significance through lacking documentation
• Media misleading many minds

And plenty of other issues that I didn’t take time to name.

There are those that want to hold onto this “American dream” that you have promised them. You can keep those Black people. You can keep Charles Barkley, Ben Carson, Larry Elder, and the rest of their ilk. The rest of us? We know that you don’t want us. So, we would like to be allowed to be left alone and live our lives separate from these issues we never asked for (nor deserve).

I’m not sure HOW we are going to do it. But, I know it needs to happen.

No reason to be in a relationship built on making Black people, like me, miserable.

No Love Lost Cause No Love Was Given,

Mark A. Harris

The post Dear America: Black People Want A Divorce appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Somebody needed to say it…..

The post Rev. Al Sharpton Gets Called Out By Ferguson Protestors appeared first on Madness & Reality.

But then, you have the usual oppositional comments from those who likely don’t know what it’s like to be a part of “the other”. From the obviously racist to the naive hypocrisy glaring in the phrase “Violence never solves anything.”

Yeah. Violence never solves anything per sae, but it’s a hell of a sure fire way to get what you want. Besides, if you use that phrase to condemn the protesters against a racist, oppressive system, but stand behind Darren Wilson, you’ve proven to be the biggest hypocrite since Bill Clinton.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, or have allowed to school system to brainwash you, you would know that violence gave birth to this country. America, as you know it, would never be what it is without the genocide of the First Nation people, the brutal kidnapping, enslavement and holocaust of Africans and their descendants, the bombing of other nations, including those in Asia and the Middle East, the oppression of Blacks, keeping out immigrants from below the southern boarder and all forms of systematic violence against poor people, including whites.

But alas, I’m not supposed to bring all that shit up, because that would be blaming the ever-innocent white man. It’s all ancient history. So, that doesn’t matter. There’s no need to bring it up. Funny, how some people consider the past irrelevant whether it’s 500 years ago, 50 years ago or five minutes ago when it concerns forms of white racism.

Crime and violence are not exclusive to black culture just like terrorism is not a part of the Islam faith, nor is the word “illegal” is not used as an adjective against a person of color from another nation. History shows that white culture – like it or not – throughout history has been the leader in those sins. Maybe it’s past time to own up and pay up.

And if you think this is another case of blaming the white man, go ahead and think that, because that’s probably what needs to happen. White men are not as innocent as they proclaim themselves to be. If you’re stupid enough to link terrorism with Islam, then don’t be shocked when we link the KKK with Christianity.

So, pardon me and other folks when we tell you to stuff that fake pacifist shit up your ass when you support government actions that take the lives of so many people. Violence is an American as apple pie, and so many of us are ravenous for it. Do yourself a huge favor, and deal with that shit and own up to it before you make a colossal ass out of yourself.

P.S. I almost forgot. Some of you lose your shit after sports events like Hockey or mundane things like pumpkins, as it seems. You have a problem with violence going on in your community with murder-suicides, serial killings and sexual assault. So, how can you tell us that violence doesn’t solve anything when your people are still using it for insignificant events and pathological hatred against your own?

Go ahead. I’ll wait for your weak-ass argument.

The post #Ferguson: The “Violence Never Solves Anything” Argument appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Darren Wilson resigned as a police officer. Why do people think this is some kind of victory? Did you really expect him to go back to work as a Ferguson police officer? Seriously? And why would he bother when he can now make six figures for an interview? This is America folks. Where you can kill a black kid and justified or not (NOT!) you will then become a millionaire through interviews and book deals and film rights. Not to mention the right wing talk radio show Wilson will probably be offered as he fits in perfectly with all of the talentless slobs in that business.

This is your capitalist system at work. No laws that make this illegal. A cop can actually kill someone on purpose if they want, because they get away with almost anything, with the knowledge that they can then quit their shitty job that nobody with a brain would want anyway, and become rich. What a country! These are the times when I want to get the next flight available and head to any other country. I truly need to get out of this lunatic asylum.

There were reports that Wilson may have received a half million for the ABC News interview with George Stuffituphisass. Georgie boy asked the obvious questions, feigning true emotions as he inquired about Wilson’s actions and if he would do anything differently. He went through the motions of asking about Brown being far away from Wilson when he shot him several times or with his hands up, but basically he just allowed Wilson to tell his side. Hey, who else did that without question? Oh yeah, Bob McCulloch!

The interview with ABC wasn’t an exclusive. Meaning the killer, Wilson, now has an agent who negotiated the deal, and other news agencies can also pay six figures for future interviews. It’s just that ABC was the most aggressive whore this time. To think I used to work for them. Makes me feel like I need one of those showers they gave to Karen Silkwood at the nuclear power plant.

But there will be other media whores that will throw big money at Wilson. Meanwhile Michael Brown’s family is left with nothing. No son and no justice. Yes the more money Wilson makes the more they can get from him in a civil suit but that’s even a long shot since a jury won’t side against a cop even in that setting. Against O.J. Simpson yes, a cop no. Funny how all of those white people who were up in arms about Simpson getting off are so joyous about Wilson getting off.

Meanwhile this sham of a verdict with the Grand Jury, which every legal scholar has torn apart especially since the transcripts were released, has really brought the usual right wing vicious scum out of the closets. None worse than Rudy Giuliani who continues to live in 1990’s New York City when his police department was regularly violating the civil rights of blacks. He won’t stop talking about black on black crime which he incredulously correlates to the need for an all white police force. Also he won’t talk about how the people who commit those crimes almost always go to jail, unlike cops who commit crimes. Black on black crime, which has gone way, way down takes place in black neighborhoods as white on white crime takes place in white neighborhoods. Makes sense no?

Look, let’s remember who Rudy is shall we? He is the guy who bullied the New York City emergency response center into One World Trade Center after the first terrorist attack there even though the people who knew better were against it. We know what the result was of his power grab. He also took away vital firefighting gear which led to the deaths of many fire fighters on 9/11. Because you see Rudy always gets what Rudy wants.

But wait there’s more. He is also the guy who hired Bernie Kerik as police chief. Kerik the felon. He also recommended the soon to be felon for Homeland Security Director! This is Rudy Giuliani. A man who is still worshiped by some idiot New Yorkers yet despised by his own children. A guy who cares more about the welfare of the New York Yankees than  Americans.

Anyway I truly digress. Darren Wilson is becoming rich. Rich off the killing of Michael Brown. Can you just imagine what Brown’s parents are going through? I can’t. They have to hear about these interviews, maybe even watch them. I hope they don’t. Wilson’s story would be given zero stars by any reviewer if it were made into a film because it is that unbelievable, actually laughable if the result wasn’t so tragic. But seriously folks, even if you are brain dead enough to buy his depiction of the events that led to him killing Brown, you can’t believe that he should become rich over someone else’s death. To make money that he wouldn’t make in a full career as a cop from one or two interviews.

Or maybe you are so brainwashed by the out of control capitalist system you live in that you think it’s all just fine and dandy. If so I feel sorry for you and have disdain for you in equal measure. This is one of those things that truly would never happen in any other country.

A uniquely American disgrace.

Mike.Caccioppoli@yahoo.com

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