Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
Helen Thomas, Dead Woman Talking
Always erascible and ever irreverent, 89 year old journalist, Helen Thomas ends a stellar career in disgrace and infamy. Her crime has been judged by a jury of her peers and her sentence is death. No one will give her a lethal injection or place her in a gas chamber to breathe in noxious fumes. Her death will come more slowly and painfully than either of these methods.
She won't die from the shame of having her good name besmirched or being villified in the press. Her death will be by her own hand. She will be felled by that most evil of all executioners: retirement. Without looking at statistics, I know that many people die shortly after or before retirement.
The prospect of day after day of inactivity is fatal for many, usually men. Women seem to have other things to because most women, even those with careers, always had a second job as homemaker. It's that duty they can still look forward to after retirement. While men most likely centered their lives around work and when they no longer work, have nothing to do.
Thomas lived her life like a man in that regard. She did one thing. Work. And now that her job is no longer tenable due to a few thoughtless words, she probably won't live too long after she reaches her ninetieth birthday in August - if she makes it until then. The irony is that once she's dead all will be forgotten and forgiven and her illustrous career will be celebrated in her absence by the very peers who past judgement on this dean of journalism who walked away from her profession wearing the scarlet A of anti-semitism.
I wonder will they leave an empty chair in the front row of the White House press room in her honor?
She won't die from the shame of having her good name besmirched or being villified in the press. Her death will be by her own hand. She will be felled by that most evil of all executioners: retirement. Without looking at statistics, I know that many people die shortly after or before retirement.
The prospect of day after day of inactivity is fatal for many, usually men. Women seem to have other things to because most women, even those with careers, always had a second job as homemaker. It's that duty they can still look forward to after retirement. While men most likely centered their lives around work and when they no longer work, have nothing to do.
Thomas lived her life like a man in that regard. She did one thing. Work. And now that her job is no longer tenable due to a few thoughtless words, she probably won't live too long after she reaches her ninetieth birthday in August - if she makes it until then. The irony is that once she's dead all will be forgotten and forgiven and her illustrous career will be celebrated in her absence by the very peers who past judgement on this dean of journalism who walked away from her profession wearing the scarlet A of anti-semitism.
I wonder will they leave an empty chair in the front row of the White House press room in her honor?
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
TRIBUTE TO MLK: A PLAY ABOUT HIS LAST DAYS
MOSES AT GETHSEMANE
A One-Act Play
By G. Joyce Chatman
CHARACTERS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
Quartet – two men and two women of African-American descent, in their mid-to-late 30s
who portray various roles throughout play
MARTIN – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., African-American male in his late 30s
SETTING
Memphis, Tennessee, in late March, early April of 1968
SCENES
Scene 1: Beale Street, the afternoon of March 28, 1968 after a march led by Dr. King that ended in a riot
Scene 2: The home of Ralph and Juanita Abernathy where Martin and Coretta King have joined them for a fried fish dinner the same night.
Scene 3: Dr. King’s room at the Lorraine Hotel the evening of April 3, 1968
Scene 4: Dr. King’s room at the Lorraine Hotel the next afternoon
SCENE 1:
[Open on “march” as Quartet members break into chatter.]
- Dr. King! They’re breaking windows
- The police are arresting looters!
- A bunch of young thugs!
- Somebody paid them to do it!
- Should we keep marching?
- Dr. King! What should we do?
[Quartet exits and MARTIN moves forward.]
MARTIN
Infamous this day in Memphis, city of my demise. Not since I sat in the belly of the whale that was the Birmingham jail have I know such despair. Beale Street’s blue today, corrupted by youthful greed and impoverished need. But I can’t sing the blues! I only know the words of hymns and the melodies of spirituals. This street that shared its secrets with Elvis gives me no victory, no joy, no success today. Perhaps, like him, I should have skulked through the night to come and take from you all I need and not pay the Beale, but get paid like those who loot and destroy you, oh, great bastion of the blues. (sings) “Jesus, please forgive me. This is not the fight I seek. Jesus, please forgive me. This is not the fight I seek. I’ve done all you said. Held my peace and turned the other cheek.” Take me away from here where shattered glass cracks my voice crying out for justice, but not my resolve, not my spine. I stand determined and unafraid of violence and will not foster it. Bayard, you taught me well Ghandi’s way of waging peace! The great Mahatma taught me that non-violence is the only form of peaceful resistance, but Bayard Rustin unarmed my guards. Never can I raise a hand or a fist in anger in this fight. Never can I wield a weapon or strike a blow. Never can I lead a march that becomes a riot. God, deliver me from this tempest in Memphis! This is not my march. This is not my day. Memphis, you will not steal my dream like Elvis stealing notes from Beale Street to write his own ticket and become the King of Rock & Roll. Here in his kingdom, he rules. And I cannot dethrone him in the name of justice. Were there truly grace in this land – this home of a king, but not this one so named – there would be justice. And I would not be here to endure the injustice of having my methods mocked, my nonviolent protest disrupted by violence – outrageous but not outraged. No, this violence, calculated down to the dollar, knows no anger; only avarice. And I am outraged by its lack of rage. There is no real violence here, just mindlessness. A mob of mercenaries follows me, but I will not lead them that lead me to my own destruction by their wanton willingness to compromise our cause for a few dollar bills. Beale Street has forced me to sing the blues and leave a march defeated. Not beaten, not bowed, but far from victorious. I leave today to return, armed with righteousness and real wrath that needs no violent expression. I go with God from this place of disgrace, from the land of the free fall into the depth of despair to the home of the Braves. Atlanta, I return to your welcome arms! Your sanctuary will be my respite. Your love will be my solace, my peace; be still on this Beale Street so blue – my Waterloo? No, I am no tyrant bringing down destruction, conquering through war. I am but a servant of the Prince of peace, engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience; walking in the very footsteps of my Savior. I walked in those footsteps to Selma and to Washington and they will lead me back here to Memphis.
SCENE 2:
[Quartet enters and starts talking]
- Your husband didn’t say much during dinner.
- He’s just tired. Maybe he’s feeling better since he ate.
- He sure ate a lot!
- Well, he said he wanted some fish. Come calling me talking ‘bout, “Juan, why don’t me and Ralph just buy some fish and you and Corie can cook it for us instead of us going out to eat tonight?” Funny how men are always finding things for us women to do!
- Isn’t it?
- That’s a wife’s duty – to serve her husband. Says so in the Bible.
- Here you go again, talking about Paul. Did Paul have a wife?
- No, but what difference does that make?
- A lot! How can some man who’s never been married make the rules about marriage?
MARTIN
[Has been standing in the center of the Quartet, but moves away for monologue and Quartet exits once he starts speaking]
I hear them talking, laughing, their chatter clutters my ears, making them itch. I know they’re talking, but I don’t know what they’re talking about; because no one is talking about what happened today. They avoid talking about it because they don’t want to upset me. But they upset me more by not talking about it- pretending none of it happened. But it did happen and there is no amount of small talk, joviality, or fried fish that can erase that fact. This day was not my dawn of triumph, neither was it my twilight of defeat. This day remained neutral in the struggle, not taking sides. These twenty-four hours are not my enemy any more than are the misguided youth who tried to shatter a dream on Beale Street and were only able to shatter glass. I do not regret this day nor can I revere it. I just remember it as a lesson in tactics and tenacity. Yet, despite this degree in strategy so recently earned, I will have no victory march in this city without great sacrifice. What more can you take? You already ravished Beale Street, leaving it a relic while your King grew rich from the music he pirated there. Perhaps it is fitting that Beale Street finally exploded in fury today after years of singing the blues for the profit of others. I don’t condone the violence, but I understand it. As a race, we have forgiven so much. But the burden of that forgiveness is a heavy one straddling our backs and pushing us down. I’m not complaining, Lord. I know you brought us here in the hold of slaveships because you had a purpose for us being here. Considering that the people who enslaved us called themselves your servants, maybe you brought us here to show them who you really are. We sure found out in those cotton fields and on those auction blocks. Yes, we discovered the Lord of Moses and created America’s first original art form to express our spirituality. Pharoah let us go, but we are still trying to get to the Promised Land. I know we’ll get there some day. My faith in the Lord tells me we’ll get there and it won’t be much longer. It’s just years, months, weeks, days away. And this day – this day in Memphis will not stop us from getting to the land of milk and honey; the promise of the American dream, my dream.
SCENE 3:
[One member of Quartet enters; he speaks, then exits]
-Dr. King, you sure you don’t want to go to the church with us?
MARTIN
Ya’ll go on. I need some time. [hums “In the Garden” as he prepares to pray]
Moses couldn’t come to the garden because his death had no agony. It was a peaceful passing. Were mine to be, I would not know Gethsemane. But its trees call me to pray under their branches, sit in their shade amid the cool breezes rustling through their leaves. There to make a solitary pilgrimage to my God’s throne. [he kneels to pray] Moses, I join you on Ararat. Now, I know your exultation and your terror. God, how cruel to bring us to the top but not the other side. Only such a God would let your humble servant see the fruit of all his labor, knowing he will never taste it. I thank you for this view [stands] standing on the mountaintop. I can see the future of my people, much like Moses seeing Israel with its own state. I see my people in places of power, ruling this land; making laws and enforcing them; building banks and running them; teaching in ivy league schools; managing Fortune 500 companies; owning, managing, and coaching major sports franchises; dominating the armed forces as generals and admirals; filling the House and the Senate and even the White House – my people in high places- higher than any mountain ever scaled by man. Lord, let me rest on the mountaintop for all eternity, like Moses, watching my dream unfold into full-fledged reality. It was not one man’s dream, but the dream of all humankind. You gave me the vision, now they will have the reality – those future generations who come after me and live the dream. Mountain, I must leave you and your forward vision. I return to Gethsemane to pray [kneels] and I will leave there in peace – ready to face the fate that awaits me. [Quartet re-enters and walks over to MARTIN]
- Dr. King! They’re asking for you at the church. They want you to speak! Come on, I’ll take you! [Two of them rush out]
SCENE 4:
MARTIN
[Pacing back and forth when Quartet comes in]
Where have you been all day, Andrew?
- You know I was in court all day.
You’re supposed to be where I can reach you! [laughs and picks up pillow and hits him with it]
- Hey, don’t hit me with that pillow! [others stop singing and grab pillows and hit him] Ya’ll stop! [one member of the quartet turns to MARTIN]
- Dr. King, we’ve got to get ready to go.
All right, go on outside so I can get dressed. [Quartet exits] Lord, I feel like getting dressed for battle! I know we’re just going out for dinner, but I feel good- better than I’ve felt in a month. I feel so good, I hate to see the sun go down. I want that sun to keep shining and the moon to just keep still tonight. This should be a night without darkness – one that shines for all eternity. God bless this day as it turns toward twilight and let it end in peace. I know this day is a special day and will be remembered as will this great city for its part in today’s history. It was one single day that brought infamy to Memphis, so let this day bring it glory. Let this day be a day of rejoicing and recompense forevermore. No more weeping and wailing in Memphis! Oh, they’re still singing the blues on Beale Street and its distortion in Graceland, but tonight we’ll be singing hymns of joy in this beautiful city where poor people stand united. Memphis, the bell of the South, God gave you this day to make history. Historical times are not new to you. You’ve had your place in the history books, but you are about to write a new chapter in those same books whose pages are smeared with the blood of those whose history they record. Let this latest chapter be bloodless, oh great city. And if blood must be spilled to provide ink to write your story, let it only be a drop. Lord, I feel like marching to Zion! [exits, then, suddenly, a gunshot is heard offstage]
-finit-
A One-Act Play
By G. Joyce Chatman
CHARACTERS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
Quartet – two men and two women of African-American descent, in their mid-to-late 30s
who portray various roles throughout play
MARTIN – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., African-American male in his late 30s
SETTING
Memphis, Tennessee, in late March, early April of 1968
SCENES
Scene 1: Beale Street, the afternoon of March 28, 1968 after a march led by Dr. King that ended in a riot
Scene 2: The home of Ralph and Juanita Abernathy where Martin and Coretta King have joined them for a fried fish dinner the same night.
Scene 3: Dr. King’s room at the Lorraine Hotel the evening of April 3, 1968
Scene 4: Dr. King’s room at the Lorraine Hotel the next afternoon
SCENE 1:
[Open on “march” as Quartet members break into chatter.]
- Dr. King! They’re breaking windows
- The police are arresting looters!
- A bunch of young thugs!
- Somebody paid them to do it!
- Should we keep marching?
- Dr. King! What should we do?
[Quartet exits and MARTIN moves forward.]
MARTIN
Infamous this day in Memphis, city of my demise. Not since I sat in the belly of the whale that was the Birmingham jail have I know such despair. Beale Street’s blue today, corrupted by youthful greed and impoverished need. But I can’t sing the blues! I only know the words of hymns and the melodies of spirituals. This street that shared its secrets with Elvis gives me no victory, no joy, no success today. Perhaps, like him, I should have skulked through the night to come and take from you all I need and not pay the Beale, but get paid like those who loot and destroy you, oh, great bastion of the blues. (sings) “Jesus, please forgive me. This is not the fight I seek. Jesus, please forgive me. This is not the fight I seek. I’ve done all you said. Held my peace and turned the other cheek.” Take me away from here where shattered glass cracks my voice crying out for justice, but not my resolve, not my spine. I stand determined and unafraid of violence and will not foster it. Bayard, you taught me well Ghandi’s way of waging peace! The great Mahatma taught me that non-violence is the only form of peaceful resistance, but Bayard Rustin unarmed my guards. Never can I raise a hand or a fist in anger in this fight. Never can I wield a weapon or strike a blow. Never can I lead a march that becomes a riot. God, deliver me from this tempest in Memphis! This is not my march. This is not my day. Memphis, you will not steal my dream like Elvis stealing notes from Beale Street to write his own ticket and become the King of Rock & Roll. Here in his kingdom, he rules. And I cannot dethrone him in the name of justice. Were there truly grace in this land – this home of a king, but not this one so named – there would be justice. And I would not be here to endure the injustice of having my methods mocked, my nonviolent protest disrupted by violence – outrageous but not outraged. No, this violence, calculated down to the dollar, knows no anger; only avarice. And I am outraged by its lack of rage. There is no real violence here, just mindlessness. A mob of mercenaries follows me, but I will not lead them that lead me to my own destruction by their wanton willingness to compromise our cause for a few dollar bills. Beale Street has forced me to sing the blues and leave a march defeated. Not beaten, not bowed, but far from victorious. I leave today to return, armed with righteousness and real wrath that needs no violent expression. I go with God from this place of disgrace, from the land of the free fall into the depth of despair to the home of the Braves. Atlanta, I return to your welcome arms! Your sanctuary will be my respite. Your love will be my solace, my peace; be still on this Beale Street so blue – my Waterloo? No, I am no tyrant bringing down destruction, conquering through war. I am but a servant of the Prince of peace, engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience; walking in the very footsteps of my Savior. I walked in those footsteps to Selma and to Washington and they will lead me back here to Memphis.
SCENE 2:
[Quartet enters and starts talking]
- Your husband didn’t say much during dinner.
- He’s just tired. Maybe he’s feeling better since he ate.
- He sure ate a lot!
- Well, he said he wanted some fish. Come calling me talking ‘bout, “Juan, why don’t me and Ralph just buy some fish and you and Corie can cook it for us instead of us going out to eat tonight?” Funny how men are always finding things for us women to do!
- Isn’t it?
- That’s a wife’s duty – to serve her husband. Says so in the Bible.
- Here you go again, talking about Paul. Did Paul have a wife?
- No, but what difference does that make?
- A lot! How can some man who’s never been married make the rules about marriage?
MARTIN
[Has been standing in the center of the Quartet, but moves away for monologue and Quartet exits once he starts speaking]
I hear them talking, laughing, their chatter clutters my ears, making them itch. I know they’re talking, but I don’t know what they’re talking about; because no one is talking about what happened today. They avoid talking about it because they don’t want to upset me. But they upset me more by not talking about it- pretending none of it happened. But it did happen and there is no amount of small talk, joviality, or fried fish that can erase that fact. This day was not my dawn of triumph, neither was it my twilight of defeat. This day remained neutral in the struggle, not taking sides. These twenty-four hours are not my enemy any more than are the misguided youth who tried to shatter a dream on Beale Street and were only able to shatter glass. I do not regret this day nor can I revere it. I just remember it as a lesson in tactics and tenacity. Yet, despite this degree in strategy so recently earned, I will have no victory march in this city without great sacrifice. What more can you take? You already ravished Beale Street, leaving it a relic while your King grew rich from the music he pirated there. Perhaps it is fitting that Beale Street finally exploded in fury today after years of singing the blues for the profit of others. I don’t condone the violence, but I understand it. As a race, we have forgiven so much. But the burden of that forgiveness is a heavy one straddling our backs and pushing us down. I’m not complaining, Lord. I know you brought us here in the hold of slaveships because you had a purpose for us being here. Considering that the people who enslaved us called themselves your servants, maybe you brought us here to show them who you really are. We sure found out in those cotton fields and on those auction blocks. Yes, we discovered the Lord of Moses and created America’s first original art form to express our spirituality. Pharoah let us go, but we are still trying to get to the Promised Land. I know we’ll get there some day. My faith in the Lord tells me we’ll get there and it won’t be much longer. It’s just years, months, weeks, days away. And this day – this day in Memphis will not stop us from getting to the land of milk and honey; the promise of the American dream, my dream.
SCENE 3:
[One member of Quartet enters; he speaks, then exits]
-Dr. King, you sure you don’t want to go to the church with us?
MARTIN
Ya’ll go on. I need some time. [hums “In the Garden” as he prepares to pray]
Moses couldn’t come to the garden because his death had no agony. It was a peaceful passing. Were mine to be, I would not know Gethsemane. But its trees call me to pray under their branches, sit in their shade amid the cool breezes rustling through their leaves. There to make a solitary pilgrimage to my God’s throne. [he kneels to pray] Moses, I join you on Ararat. Now, I know your exultation and your terror. God, how cruel to bring us to the top but not the other side. Only such a God would let your humble servant see the fruit of all his labor, knowing he will never taste it. I thank you for this view [stands] standing on the mountaintop. I can see the future of my people, much like Moses seeing Israel with its own state. I see my people in places of power, ruling this land; making laws and enforcing them; building banks and running them; teaching in ivy league schools; managing Fortune 500 companies; owning, managing, and coaching major sports franchises; dominating the armed forces as generals and admirals; filling the House and the Senate and even the White House – my people in high places- higher than any mountain ever scaled by man. Lord, let me rest on the mountaintop for all eternity, like Moses, watching my dream unfold into full-fledged reality. It was not one man’s dream, but the dream of all humankind. You gave me the vision, now they will have the reality – those future generations who come after me and live the dream. Mountain, I must leave you and your forward vision. I return to Gethsemane to pray [kneels] and I will leave there in peace – ready to face the fate that awaits me. [Quartet re-enters and walks over to MARTIN]
- Dr. King! They’re asking for you at the church. They want you to speak! Come on, I’ll take you! [Two of them rush out]
SCENE 4:
MARTIN
[Pacing back and forth when Quartet comes in]
Where have you been all day, Andrew?
- You know I was in court all day.
You’re supposed to be where I can reach you! [laughs and picks up pillow and hits him with it]
- Hey, don’t hit me with that pillow! [others stop singing and grab pillows and hit him] Ya’ll stop! [one member of the quartet turns to MARTIN]
- Dr. King, we’ve got to get ready to go.
All right, go on outside so I can get dressed. [Quartet exits] Lord, I feel like getting dressed for battle! I know we’re just going out for dinner, but I feel good- better than I’ve felt in a month. I feel so good, I hate to see the sun go down. I want that sun to keep shining and the moon to just keep still tonight. This should be a night without darkness – one that shines for all eternity. God bless this day as it turns toward twilight and let it end in peace. I know this day is a special day and will be remembered as will this great city for its part in today’s history. It was one single day that brought infamy to Memphis, so let this day bring it glory. Let this day be a day of rejoicing and recompense forevermore. No more weeping and wailing in Memphis! Oh, they’re still singing the blues on Beale Street and its distortion in Graceland, but tonight we’ll be singing hymns of joy in this beautiful city where poor people stand united. Memphis, the bell of the South, God gave you this day to make history. Historical times are not new to you. You’ve had your place in the history books, but you are about to write a new chapter in those same books whose pages are smeared with the blood of those whose history they record. Let this latest chapter be bloodless, oh great city. And if blood must be spilled to provide ink to write your story, let it only be a drop. Lord, I feel like marching to Zion! [exits, then, suddenly, a gunshot is heard offstage]
-finit-
Friday, January 15, 2010
SMITE RUSH LIMBAUGH!
Every Rush Limbaugh listener who calls himself or herself a Christian or who knows how to spell the word has an obligation to let this hater know that he has crossed the line and will be smote for his insensitive and uncaring remarks. His telling charitable Americans not to give aid to Haiti because the President might benefit politically just goes too far in the interminal partisan war being waged in this country. Regardless of feelings about President Obama, the spirit of generosity that is an integral part of the American spirit should not be damped down in this political war.
Limbaugh's callousness and lack of sympathy for a country in peril is appalling. President Bush still gets credit for his efforts to stop AIDS in Africa and he should, even from people like me who didn't vote for him. Likewise, I did not vote for President Obama, but I support his efforts to help the Haitian people. How could any human being not want to help this devastated nation? This is a global effort and leaders of every nation that can provide aid are asking their people to support all efforts to help Haiti. President Obama, to his credit, went beyond partisan lines to ask former President Bush to join former President Clinton to lead efforts in this country, making him a class act and making Limbaugh look like the heartless hatemonger he is.
Christians, unite! Smite this man!
Limbaugh's callousness and lack of sympathy for a country in peril is appalling. President Bush still gets credit for his efforts to stop AIDS in Africa and he should, even from people like me who didn't vote for him. Likewise, I did not vote for President Obama, but I support his efforts to help the Haitian people. How could any human being not want to help this devastated nation? This is a global effort and leaders of every nation that can provide aid are asking their people to support all efforts to help Haiti. President Obama, to his credit, went beyond partisan lines to ask former President Bush to join former President Clinton to lead efforts in this country, making him a class act and making Limbaugh look like the heartless hatemonger he is.
Christians, unite! Smite this man!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Democrats Are Racist? No Kidding!
A new tell-all behind-the-scenes of the Democratic 2008 primaries has exposed some racially tinged comments made by prominent Democrats - namely Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and former President Bill Clinton - about then Senator Barack Obama. Having not read the book, I don't know who Reid's comments about Obama's un-Negro appearance and speech to. However, Clinton reportedly told deceased Senator Ted Kennedy that a few years ago Obama would have been serving them coffee.
Somewhere somebody got the idea that racism and racist speech is limited to the GOP. Democrats owned slaves too. They also segregated blacks from whites, not just in the South but in the North as well. Even among some of the most liberal Democratst there are probably some remnants of long-held stereotypes about race. I'm sure if the authors of Game Change had dug deeply enough they'd have found similar comments by other political icons including the now deified Ted Kennedy.
Of course the GOP political machine is at work making political hay out of information published just in time to further stall Reid's efforts to get a healthcare bill passed. Out for revenge for what was done to Trent Lott, they'll play this for everything it's worth. Of course our race neutral president will stay out of the fray unless pressed by the media to comment or maybe he'll just have another beer summit. Or maybe he'll get smart and take a tactic similar to the one taken by Toledo's newly elected mayor when the former called the dark-skinned man who was then the city's fire chief King Kong. Although he did not publicly repudiate the mayor, the fire chief retired and took a job as Ohio's Fire Marshall for two years before running for and winning the office if mayor as an independent.
Maybe the lesson to be learned from all this is that neither political party is free of racism in one form or another, although the Democrats' record on supporting and passing Civil Rights legislation makes any comparison to Lott's wish for no change in the status of blacks in America to Reid's preference for blacks who he thinks look and sound white ludicrous. Political correctness has disallowed people their personal and private biases which are no one's business unless they are used to influence or make public policy. I think both Reid's and Clinton's records show this not the case whereas not many Republicans have voting and legislative records that show support for civil rights.
The mistake blacks make is thinking people have to like us to do what's right. Had we not thought this, the majority of us would not have turned against Bill and Hillary Clinton during the primaries because they expressed biases they've probably always had but that never stopped them from supporting Civil Rights and racial justice in tangible ways. If we jump everytime the media exposes some politician's private prejudices, they'll have us hopping like frogs. Better to accept the possibility that people who don't know you may have pre-conceived notions about us usually perpetrated by the media. No, white politicians are NOT our friends whether they're Democrsts or Republicans. Get over it! They're our Congressional Representatives, our Senators, our Mayors, our Governors, and our public servants - emphasis on public.
Somewhere somebody got the idea that racism and racist speech is limited to the GOP. Democrats owned slaves too. They also segregated blacks from whites, not just in the South but in the North as well. Even among some of the most liberal Democratst there are probably some remnants of long-held stereotypes about race. I'm sure if the authors of Game Change had dug deeply enough they'd have found similar comments by other political icons including the now deified Ted Kennedy.
Of course the GOP political machine is at work making political hay out of information published just in time to further stall Reid's efforts to get a healthcare bill passed. Out for revenge for what was done to Trent Lott, they'll play this for everything it's worth. Of course our race neutral president will stay out of the fray unless pressed by the media to comment or maybe he'll just have another beer summit. Or maybe he'll get smart and take a tactic similar to the one taken by Toledo's newly elected mayor when the former called the dark-skinned man who was then the city's fire chief King Kong. Although he did not publicly repudiate the mayor, the fire chief retired and took a job as Ohio's Fire Marshall for two years before running for and winning the office if mayor as an independent.
Maybe the lesson to be learned from all this is that neither political party is free of racism in one form or another, although the Democrats' record on supporting and passing Civil Rights legislation makes any comparison to Lott's wish for no change in the status of blacks in America to Reid's preference for blacks who he thinks look and sound white ludicrous. Political correctness has disallowed people their personal and private biases which are no one's business unless they are used to influence or make public policy. I think both Reid's and Clinton's records show this not the case whereas not many Republicans have voting and legislative records that show support for civil rights.
The mistake blacks make is thinking people have to like us to do what's right. Had we not thought this, the majority of us would not have turned against Bill and Hillary Clinton during the primaries because they expressed biases they've probably always had but that never stopped them from supporting Civil Rights and racial justice in tangible ways. If we jump everytime the media exposes some politician's private prejudices, they'll have us hopping like frogs. Better to accept the possibility that people who don't know you may have pre-conceived notions about us usually perpetrated by the media. No, white politicians are NOT our friends whether they're Democrsts or Republicans. Get over it! They're our Congressional Representatives, our Senators, our Mayors, our Governors, and our public servants - emphasis on public.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Post-Obama Apocalypse
My grandfather died today. He didn’t live to see the end of the play. I’d hoped it would all end in time for him to know that he and all the others who brought this about had been forgiven, their sins expunged, their penitence served. I know I should burn his collection of Obama memorabilia, but it’s all I have left of him. He could never bring himself to get rid of it, even when it was banned and anyone found with possessing such materials could be arrested and imprisoned. Luckily, his cache of buttons, coins, posters, T-shirts, and books were well hidden – not in an attic or basement where they’d be easily found. These things have been buried under a tree for forty years. I dug them up a few days ago at his request. He wanted to tell me the story. I’ve heard it all before, but he wanted me to understand how he and his contemporaries let it happen.
“He was hope,” Grandpa said, looking at a photo of the deposed President on a campaign poster. “He made us proud to be American, to be black, to be men. Every word he said, everything he did was seen as divinely inspired by many of us. We thought God sent him to save our country and our people. Even after all the expansive programs he created started to fail, many of us believed in him. Some still believed in him when he left office in disgrace.” Grandpa paused not wanting to talk about the tawdry scandal that ended the first black presidency and that made Clinton’s dalliance with an intern look tame by comparison. In his former profession as a journalist, Grandpa said he and his colleagues joked that Clinton’s mistake was having sex with a woman. However, in early twenty-first century America where the religious African-American community that voted down same-sex marriages in California, Ohio, and several other states, there was little tolerance for “alternative” lifestyles, regardless of who lived them. Skipping the scandal, Grandpa talked about what happened just before and right after Obama left office.
“We accepted martial law as necessary because of the crime that ensued when police officers were laid off as city after city was decimated by debt and the failed economy, particularly in the President's hometown, Chicato. People had stopped fearing terrorist attacks following the annihilation of Pakistan and Afghanistan by Obama-ordered nuclear attacks. Although those attacks pushed Iran and Korea to arm themselves with nukes and inflamed other Muslim nations, as well as China and Russia, Al Qaeda, radical jihadists, and terrorist cells were disabled.” I remembered reading in my history books that Obama was heralded a hero when Ben Laden’s body was found among the radioactive rubble, causing even uncertain European allies to approve of the destruction of the two countries where the terrorists lived and trained for their attacks against the West. “Everyone was prepared for retaliation from Iran, China, Russia, or North Korea, but it didn’t come for decades," Grandpa said, continuing his historical account.
“Instead, due to budget cuts in cities all over the country, America was overrun by criminals who were often jobless, hungry young people who had no hope and robbed people on the street in broad daylight, using clubs, knives, and illegally purchased guns. Gun bans didn’t help and only disarmed law-abiding citizens. We demanded protection as more and more people were gunned down for a few dollars. We didn’t blink when the cameras were installed to monitor every street and alley or when the curfews were imposed. We felt it was necessary. Even when the military was sent into police the streets after being brought home from Iraq and Afghanistan, we thought it was for our protection. When they started searching our homes to see if we had guns, we still felt secure because most law-abiding citizens had turned theirs in as ordered by law. Then the protests started, at first just on the internet. Later, I found out anyone who sent or received any of the anti-Obama emails was put on a list of ‘subversives’ by the FBI.
"My name was on that list because your great aunt sent an email to my dad who sent it to me. But it was my editorial that disagreed with but supported anti-Obama forces’ right to dissent that moved me up to the top rung of the list. I was just defending free speech, but it wasn’t long before people were being arrested for speaking out. My website was one of the first taken down as freedom of the press was completely eroded. Online newspapers and magazines that even questioned the President’s policies disappeared suddenly and those that openly opposed him, not only disappeared but their creators were tracked down and arrested. Yet as soon as one website was destroyed, another one was created and the online protests continued, despite efforts to either control or even destroy the internet. Years after Obama’s exile, it was revealed that he’d ordered the destruction of the medium used to spread his message of hope during his Presidential campaign. Public protests, meanwhile, were outlawed and all unauthorized assemblies were stopped by the military that arrested those who organized these events, spoke at them, attended them, wrote about them, or even observed them.
"People started disappearing and there were rumors that some were imprisoned and tortured and others executed. All were called ‘enemy combatants.’ The Patriot Act, which many had hoped Obama would repeal, was strengthened so that every constitutional right Americans had vehemently fought for, including the right to vote, was revoked.” Grandpa paused, his face contorted in pain as he remembered the nightmare he’d lived and that was now our nation’s history. “America had turned into a fascist government and Obama was its ruler. Just when he sat posed to pass a law that would make him ‘ruler for life,’ after outlawing elections due to ‘potentially unruly mobs’ gathering at polling places, the scandal was leaked by his most loyal press sycophants who didn’t have the restrictions that had been placed on the ‘less friendly’ media. Despite those restrictions and heavy monitoring of the internet, the story got out, although it was never reported on the broadcast news which continued to spew Gibbs’ propaganda, showing Obama with his children and his dog, despite having leaked the story in the first place.
"Once the scandal broke, black people took to the streets in numbers so large, the protests couldn’t be ignored. Even after the water hosing and tazzing started, others joined these anti-Obama protests. Finally, after months of using military tactics to attack his own citizens and creating anti-American sentiment throughout Europe, Obama was forced to step down by his own military leaders. However, once Biden was sworn in to finish out Obama’s term, the military stepped down as the law enforcers in the country. Obama’s final speech to the nation was so bitter and unremorseful, people booed their TVs.” I recalled having to learn that speech in school as an example of the result of the corruption of power. “His wife had already left him and returned to Chicago with his children. She was given a speedy divorce and by the time he boarded that plan with Oprah Winfrey, he was no longer married to Michelle. No one was surprised when he married Winfrey and her billions, safely in a Swiss bank account, or when he used her power and money to take over the African nation that became their home in exile.
"Most Americans weren’t even surprised when the Obamas joined the anti-American nations once called the axis of evil by George Bush, the President before Obama whose approval rating was the second lowest in history when he left office. We were surprised, however, that the fascism Obama put in place continued after he was gone. We supported the clean sweep of the Obama administration and the indictment of those who helped put him in office. Bided selected Hillary Clinton as his Vice, and they started dismantling the military control of federal government and returning control to the three branches of government. Once the Obama political team was imprisoned, Congress went after the journalists that were in the tank for Obama during and after the election, dismantling the news organizations of all three major networks and CNN. Fox had long been demolished by the Obama and administration following a long feud that began when they refused to air his speech to a joint session of Congress in the summer of 2009. The only broadcast news network allowed to continue was CNBC. Americans demanded the heads of those who’d supported Obama: Matthews, Olberman, and Maddow from MSNBC and Martin, Braziel, Borgia, Cooper, and Blitzer from CNN, in much the same way they went after congress members who voted for the Iraq War they supported.” Grandpa’s voice was a little bitter as he paused reflecting the demise of his chosen profession.
“Journalism and journalists were outlawed with the people’s approval because it was believed that we put Obama in office by convincing people that he was the man they believed him to be. They were right, of course. It was the media that overlooked his faults, never reporting his rants against anyone that criticized or opposed him, even though we all knew about them and sometimes even witnessed him. I saw him at the 2008 Democratic Convention making up to his wife onstage after his acceptance speech and wondered about it, then later found out from a fellow journalist that he lit into her earlier because their youngest daughter had talked over his scripted dialog when he was shown watching Michelle’s speech with a family in another location. Of course no one blamed Michelle for supporting her husband. Many even suggested she suffered from battered wife syndrome and women all over the world applauded her when she left him after finding out about his clandestine double life. When she ran as Hillary’s vice, it was a sure thing. No media hype was needed to elect the two spouses of the Presidents who’d put the country through the biggest two scandals since Nixon and Watergate.
"They were sympathetic figures, matching the mood and temperament of the nation and they were a shoe-in for election. Each served her eight years gracefully, repealing any of the laws remaining that took away our rights and restoring our democracy. Clinton commuted the sentences of the imprisoned journalists, the very ones who’d brought her down when she ran against Obama. However, neither President was able to restore America’s faith in the media, and journalists are still regarded with disdain and distrust. Anyone and anything associated with Obama is still loathed in this country. I think the Obama memorabilia is outlawed in deference to former President Michelle Robinson. But I want you to keep this so you can remember that it wasn’t a scam. We really believed in him. I know it was wrong of us not to tell the public the truth about him. We knew about his trysts and the rumors about the men who knew about his secret life from Rev. Wright’s church that turned up dead. We just wanted to keep his image pure. We just wanted to believe.”
I listened to my grandfather, trying to hide my own shame of being related to one of the journalists who helped elect Obama. I didn’t succeed because my grandfather looked at me pleading for understanding and absolution. He didn’t get either from me. How can I forgive him? I’ve been drafted to fight in the war against Obama and his allies, a war being waged on American soil. I will be going to boot camp in less than a week, then on to California to try to keep the enemies form advancing. That state is completely occupied by the enemy. Seismologists say the heavy mortar fire has created conditions for a massive earthquake. Luckily, my relatives in Northern California got out before the attacks from China and North Korea. They say they wanted to put America out of the movie business after that movie about the downfall of Obama was released last year and distributed worldwide, making over a quadrillion dollars. That say it’s just propaganda. Obama should know. It was propaganda that elected him and allowed him to almost become a dictator. Now, he and several Muslim nations, along with Russia are said to be preparing to invade the East Coast, which will divide our troops between the two coasts in defense of our nation.
I will bury my grandfather tomorrow and all of his Obama relics with him. Hopefully, some day someone will find those pieces of history and understand what I cannot.
July 4, 2048
“He was hope,” Grandpa said, looking at a photo of the deposed President on a campaign poster. “He made us proud to be American, to be black, to be men. Every word he said, everything he did was seen as divinely inspired by many of us. We thought God sent him to save our country and our people. Even after all the expansive programs he created started to fail, many of us believed in him. Some still believed in him when he left office in disgrace.” Grandpa paused not wanting to talk about the tawdry scandal that ended the first black presidency and that made Clinton’s dalliance with an intern look tame by comparison. In his former profession as a journalist, Grandpa said he and his colleagues joked that Clinton’s mistake was having sex with a woman. However, in early twenty-first century America where the religious African-American community that voted down same-sex marriages in California, Ohio, and several other states, there was little tolerance for “alternative” lifestyles, regardless of who lived them. Skipping the scandal, Grandpa talked about what happened just before and right after Obama left office.
“We accepted martial law as necessary because of the crime that ensued when police officers were laid off as city after city was decimated by debt and the failed economy, particularly in the President's hometown, Chicato. People had stopped fearing terrorist attacks following the annihilation of Pakistan and Afghanistan by Obama-ordered nuclear attacks. Although those attacks pushed Iran and Korea to arm themselves with nukes and inflamed other Muslim nations, as well as China and Russia, Al Qaeda, radical jihadists, and terrorist cells were disabled.” I remembered reading in my history books that Obama was heralded a hero when Ben Laden’s body was found among the radioactive rubble, causing even uncertain European allies to approve of the destruction of the two countries where the terrorists lived and trained for their attacks against the West. “Everyone was prepared for retaliation from Iran, China, Russia, or North Korea, but it didn’t come for decades," Grandpa said, continuing his historical account.
“Instead, due to budget cuts in cities all over the country, America was overrun by criminals who were often jobless, hungry young people who had no hope and robbed people on the street in broad daylight, using clubs, knives, and illegally purchased guns. Gun bans didn’t help and only disarmed law-abiding citizens. We demanded protection as more and more people were gunned down for a few dollars. We didn’t blink when the cameras were installed to monitor every street and alley or when the curfews were imposed. We felt it was necessary. Even when the military was sent into police the streets after being brought home from Iraq and Afghanistan, we thought it was for our protection. When they started searching our homes to see if we had guns, we still felt secure because most law-abiding citizens had turned theirs in as ordered by law. Then the protests started, at first just on the internet. Later, I found out anyone who sent or received any of the anti-Obama emails was put on a list of ‘subversives’ by the FBI.
"My name was on that list because your great aunt sent an email to my dad who sent it to me. But it was my editorial that disagreed with but supported anti-Obama forces’ right to dissent that moved me up to the top rung of the list. I was just defending free speech, but it wasn’t long before people were being arrested for speaking out. My website was one of the first taken down as freedom of the press was completely eroded. Online newspapers and magazines that even questioned the President’s policies disappeared suddenly and those that openly opposed him, not only disappeared but their creators were tracked down and arrested. Yet as soon as one website was destroyed, another one was created and the online protests continued, despite efforts to either control or even destroy the internet. Years after Obama’s exile, it was revealed that he’d ordered the destruction of the medium used to spread his message of hope during his Presidential campaign. Public protests, meanwhile, were outlawed and all unauthorized assemblies were stopped by the military that arrested those who organized these events, spoke at them, attended them, wrote about them, or even observed them.
"People started disappearing and there were rumors that some were imprisoned and tortured and others executed. All were called ‘enemy combatants.’ The Patriot Act, which many had hoped Obama would repeal, was strengthened so that every constitutional right Americans had vehemently fought for, including the right to vote, was revoked.” Grandpa paused, his face contorted in pain as he remembered the nightmare he’d lived and that was now our nation’s history. “America had turned into a fascist government and Obama was its ruler. Just when he sat posed to pass a law that would make him ‘ruler for life,’ after outlawing elections due to ‘potentially unruly mobs’ gathering at polling places, the scandal was leaked by his most loyal press sycophants who didn’t have the restrictions that had been placed on the ‘less friendly’ media. Despite those restrictions and heavy monitoring of the internet, the story got out, although it was never reported on the broadcast news which continued to spew Gibbs’ propaganda, showing Obama with his children and his dog, despite having leaked the story in the first place.
"Once the scandal broke, black people took to the streets in numbers so large, the protests couldn’t be ignored. Even after the water hosing and tazzing started, others joined these anti-Obama protests. Finally, after months of using military tactics to attack his own citizens and creating anti-American sentiment throughout Europe, Obama was forced to step down by his own military leaders. However, once Biden was sworn in to finish out Obama’s term, the military stepped down as the law enforcers in the country. Obama’s final speech to the nation was so bitter and unremorseful, people booed their TVs.” I recalled having to learn that speech in school as an example of the result of the corruption of power. “His wife had already left him and returned to Chicago with his children. She was given a speedy divorce and by the time he boarded that plan with Oprah Winfrey, he was no longer married to Michelle. No one was surprised when he married Winfrey and her billions, safely in a Swiss bank account, or when he used her power and money to take over the African nation that became their home in exile.
"Most Americans weren’t even surprised when the Obamas joined the anti-American nations once called the axis of evil by George Bush, the President before Obama whose approval rating was the second lowest in history when he left office. We were surprised, however, that the fascism Obama put in place continued after he was gone. We supported the clean sweep of the Obama administration and the indictment of those who helped put him in office. Bided selected Hillary Clinton as his Vice, and they started dismantling the military control of federal government and returning control to the three branches of government. Once the Obama political team was imprisoned, Congress went after the journalists that were in the tank for Obama during and after the election, dismantling the news organizations of all three major networks and CNN. Fox had long been demolished by the Obama and administration following a long feud that began when they refused to air his speech to a joint session of Congress in the summer of 2009. The only broadcast news network allowed to continue was CNBC. Americans demanded the heads of those who’d supported Obama: Matthews, Olberman, and Maddow from MSNBC and Martin, Braziel, Borgia, Cooper, and Blitzer from CNN, in much the same way they went after congress members who voted for the Iraq War they supported.” Grandpa’s voice was a little bitter as he paused reflecting the demise of his chosen profession.
“Journalism and journalists were outlawed with the people’s approval because it was believed that we put Obama in office by convincing people that he was the man they believed him to be. They were right, of course. It was the media that overlooked his faults, never reporting his rants against anyone that criticized or opposed him, even though we all knew about them and sometimes even witnessed him. I saw him at the 2008 Democratic Convention making up to his wife onstage after his acceptance speech and wondered about it, then later found out from a fellow journalist that he lit into her earlier because their youngest daughter had talked over his scripted dialog when he was shown watching Michelle’s speech with a family in another location. Of course no one blamed Michelle for supporting her husband. Many even suggested she suffered from battered wife syndrome and women all over the world applauded her when she left him after finding out about his clandestine double life. When she ran as Hillary’s vice, it was a sure thing. No media hype was needed to elect the two spouses of the Presidents who’d put the country through the biggest two scandals since Nixon and Watergate.
"They were sympathetic figures, matching the mood and temperament of the nation and they were a shoe-in for election. Each served her eight years gracefully, repealing any of the laws remaining that took away our rights and restoring our democracy. Clinton commuted the sentences of the imprisoned journalists, the very ones who’d brought her down when she ran against Obama. However, neither President was able to restore America’s faith in the media, and journalists are still regarded with disdain and distrust. Anyone and anything associated with Obama is still loathed in this country. I think the Obama memorabilia is outlawed in deference to former President Michelle Robinson. But I want you to keep this so you can remember that it wasn’t a scam. We really believed in him. I know it was wrong of us not to tell the public the truth about him. We knew about his trysts and the rumors about the men who knew about his secret life from Rev. Wright’s church that turned up dead. We just wanted to keep his image pure. We just wanted to believe.”
I listened to my grandfather, trying to hide my own shame of being related to one of the journalists who helped elect Obama. I didn’t succeed because my grandfather looked at me pleading for understanding and absolution. He didn’t get either from me. How can I forgive him? I’ve been drafted to fight in the war against Obama and his allies, a war being waged on American soil. I will be going to boot camp in less than a week, then on to California to try to keep the enemies form advancing. That state is completely occupied by the enemy. Seismologists say the heavy mortar fire has created conditions for a massive earthquake. Luckily, my relatives in Northern California got out before the attacks from China and North Korea. They say they wanted to put America out of the movie business after that movie about the downfall of Obama was released last year and distributed worldwide, making over a quadrillion dollars. That say it’s just propaganda. Obama should know. It was propaganda that elected him and allowed him to almost become a dictator. Now, he and several Muslim nations, along with Russia are said to be preparing to invade the East Coast, which will divide our troops between the two coasts in defense of our nation.
I will bury my grandfather tomorrow and all of his Obama relics with him. Hopefully, some day someone will find those pieces of history and understand what I cannot.
July 4, 2048
Friday, March 27, 2009
What's Wrong With This Picture?
Four cops killed by an African-American parolee in a city where cops have killed several African-Americans in the past several years and some people actually believe that evens the score? Obviously, the people who feel this way live by the "eye for the eye" Old Testament laws and not the "turn the other cheek" New Testament fulfillment of those laws. If people in Oakland, California, knew anything about Old Testament law, they might not be so quick to sanction mass murder! I realize the killing of Oscar Grant by a BART cop, the fourth such killing in Oakland I believe enrages African-American citizens, but are there people there really glorifying murdering police officers in retaliation? How can anyone really believe it's o.k. to kill people to avenge the death of someone else? It may have something to do with the U.S. being one of only a couple of Western nations that have a death penalty. Or it may have something to do with something else. I don't understand. However, there are some people who seem to have this all figured out according to their own beliefs. Read the following takes on the cop murders and the people killed by the BART cops from the right and left:
March 25, 2009
"Blacks in Oakland celebrate racially motivated murder of four white police officers."
Council of Conservative Citizens News Team(CofCC.org)
"San Francisco Area Black Newspaper praises killing of four white police officers. Calls the killer one of the 'heroes in the human rights struggle for Black people in America.'
The slaughter took place in the Bay Area, the same vicinity as the 1973-1974 'Zebra Killings.' The Zebra Killers and Nat Turner’s band who killed 60 white people in 1831, are among the most prolific serial killers in US history.
The Zebra Killings were carried out by a Nation of Islam splinter group, known as the 'Black Angels of Death.' They awarded points to members for the number of whites killed. The exact number of victims is unknown, but many police officials have put the number at 72.
From View from the Right.
A friend in law enforcement in the Bay Area wrote me,
There were massive parties all over Oakland celebrating the shooting that night. During the interviews on TV there were 20 or 30 people in the background screaming 'F*** the police!' and 'They got what they deserved!' It was everything the officers could do to restrain themselves.
Bay View, a radical rag which calls itself a 'National Black Newspaper,' celebrates the mass murder as 'what some in the Black community see as a day of heroic resistance against the police,' under the headline, 'Police 2, Oakland residents 4.'
A columnist for the paper, Jean Damu, writes, 'When the full story is finally told and, though not likely freely admitted by many, deep within the spiritual thinking of numerous African Americans, an emotional candle will be lit in memory of Lovelle Mixon.'
How many within the black community resonate to these views? More than complacent whites would like to believe, I suspect.
The behavior of blacks in Oakland mimics that of blacks in St. Louis when a black spree killer murdered two cops, three Kirkwood City council members, and the mayor. The killer’s family members defended him on the news and many local blacks openly celebrated the murders."
"Oscar Grant Killed in Cold Blood by BART Cop"
International Communist League
"OAKLAND, January 12—Seething anger against rampant, and routine, humiliation and terror at the hands of the racist cops was ignited in Oakland, California, over the coldblooded execution of a 22-year-old black man, Oscar Grant, by a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) cop on January 1. The killing of Grant was a shot literally heard round the world in multiple video clips by other passengers in the station which were streamed online.
'We Are All Oscar Grant,' declared signs and chants at a January 7 protest of more than 700 people—including blacks, Latinos, Asians and whites—outside the Fruitvale BART station where Grant was killed. Pointing to the Zionist military onslaught in the Gaza Strip, other signs called to 'End Government Sponsored Murder in the Ghettos of Oakland and Palestine.' Rage and despair in the face of the tired appeals for 'calm' and deadly illusions in 'police reform' peddled by black elected officials and preachers exploded in the streets of downtown Oakland later that night. The Partisan Defense Committee—a class-struggle, non-sectarian legal and social defense organization associated with the Spartacist League—sent a protest letter demanding that all charges be dropped against the more than 100 protesters who were beaten and arrested by an army of riot-equipped cops.
While his cops fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters, black Democratic Party Oakland mayor Ron Dellums promised to bring the Oakland Police Department into the “investigation” of Grant’s murder. That will be a gigantic boost to the cover-up machine that BART has already set in motion. In 2002, three cops from the notorious Oakland police gang, the 'Riders,' which was unleashed as part of the racist 'war on drugs,' were completely exonerated of 60 counts of savage beatings and frame-ups. Meanwhile, the Oakland cops continued to gun down young black and Latino men with impunity. In this case, the BART cop who killed Grant has opted to resign while the Feds and California attorney general Jerry Brown are intervening to try to keep a lid on 'tensions.'
At the Oakland protest, placards from the ANSWER coalition, led by the reformist Party for Socialism and Liberation, called to 'Jail Killer Cops!' In your dreams. The capitalist rulers are hardly going to jail their own police guard dogs. And, even if one cop were charged and imprisoned, it wouldn’t stop police brutality and terror. The cops serve, together with the military and the prisons, as the core of a state whose purpose is the repression of the working class and oppressed by any means necessary. From the December 31 shooting of Robbie Tolan, who had been forced to lie down in the driveway of his family’s Houston-area home, to the killing of Adolph Grimes III, who was shot 14 times—12 times in the back—outside his grandmother’s house in New Orleans on New Year’s Day, racist cop terror runs rampant in capitalist America.
For its part, the International Socialist Organization (ISO) has responded to the spate of cop killings under Dellums’ 'stop crime' reign with the argument that: 'Rather than spending millions hiring more inexperienced cops, what would make a real difference in tackling crime would be to hit it at its roots—poverty—by rebuilding Oakland’s crumbling schools and providing decent-paying jobs that would give Black, Latino and poor Oakland residents a real opportunity' (Socialist Worker, 14 August 2008).
The ISO’s cringing faith in the capitalist rulers to provide money for jobs, education and health care at the expense of their repressive apparatus serves only to mask the true nature of this system. Those whose rule is based on exploitation shell out to those they exploit and oppress only what they can realize back in profit. And the racist rulers of America have no use for a whole generation of black youth who were once kept on the bench as a 'reserve army of labor.' Now what U.S. capitalism offers them is jail, a slow death from disease, malnutrition and drugs, or a fast one, gunned down on the streets by the cops or killed in the prison execution chambers of America.
The situation cries out for revolutionary leadership, to organize the social power of labor and unite behind it all the oppressed in a struggle for state power that gets rid of the whole racist capitalist system and opens the road for genuine freedom for all. This is the class-struggle perspective put forward by the Bay Area Labor Black League for Social Defense, which is fraternally allied with the Spartacist League/U.S."
Both sides are stoking the fires of hate and neither, at least in the above articles is being objective. Both are pushing their own political agenda, otherwise, the article written by the right would have also talked about the number of lynchings of blacks by whites and the article written by the left would have mentioned the killing of whites by blacks. I did find an observation made by an African-American citizen of Oakland that mirrors my own views on this latest American tragedy:
"The shootings [of the four police officers] are a tragedy of epic proportions, and should never have happened. Someone wrote that the system failed him [Mixon} and that city leaders failed him, and I suggest his family failed him. I’m a single father, was raised in Oakland and am currently raising a teenage daughter in Oakland. It’s all about personal choices. When he had the choice to use a gun and go to prison or go home to his family, he chose to use that gun and go to prison. He chose to miss a date with his parole officer, which showed he was not a good candidate for parole. I mean what’s a parolee that’s trying to straighten up his life doing carrying an automatic pistol and then firing it at two officers because they pulled him over? And then he runs to his sister’s house and gets an assault rifle and shoots three more cops, wow! He had the opportunity to be educated, but didn’t take advantage of it. (I took my Oakland education and went to law school.) There certainly is a time and place to voice grievances over the behavior of some Oakland police officers, but Lavelle Mixon was no Oscar Grant. As such, he cannot be a martyr for the good black men that are killed wrongly by officers under the color of authority. Oakland has a high crime rate, which Mr. Mixon has contributed to on at least two known occasions. Oakland has a high poverty and a high unemployment rate, but Mr. Mixon didn’t appear to be trying to bring himself and his family out of poverty. In sum, here is a man that shunned educating himself, and instead of trying to get into college, and out of the “hood” decided that being a gangster was more cool, and we all know what happens to gangsters" posted by Cave Man 3/27/09 on NEWS ONE for Black America.
March 25, 2009
"Blacks in Oakland celebrate racially motivated murder of four white police officers."
Council of Conservative Citizens News Team(CofCC.org)
"San Francisco Area Black Newspaper praises killing of four white police officers. Calls the killer one of the 'heroes in the human rights struggle for Black people in America.'
The slaughter took place in the Bay Area, the same vicinity as the 1973-1974 'Zebra Killings.' The Zebra Killers and Nat Turner’s band who killed 60 white people in 1831, are among the most prolific serial killers in US history.
The Zebra Killings were carried out by a Nation of Islam splinter group, known as the 'Black Angels of Death.' They awarded points to members for the number of whites killed. The exact number of victims is unknown, but many police officials have put the number at 72.
From View from the Right.
A friend in law enforcement in the Bay Area wrote me,
There were massive parties all over Oakland celebrating the shooting that night. During the interviews on TV there were 20 or 30 people in the background screaming 'F*** the police!' and 'They got what they deserved!' It was everything the officers could do to restrain themselves.
Bay View, a radical rag which calls itself a 'National Black Newspaper,' celebrates the mass murder as 'what some in the Black community see as a day of heroic resistance against the police,' under the headline, 'Police 2, Oakland residents 4.'
A columnist for the paper, Jean Damu, writes, 'When the full story is finally told and, though not likely freely admitted by many, deep within the spiritual thinking of numerous African Americans, an emotional candle will be lit in memory of Lovelle Mixon.'
How many within the black community resonate to these views? More than complacent whites would like to believe, I suspect.
The behavior of blacks in Oakland mimics that of blacks in St. Louis when a black spree killer murdered two cops, three Kirkwood City council members, and the mayor. The killer’s family members defended him on the news and many local blacks openly celebrated the murders."
"Oscar Grant Killed in Cold Blood by BART Cop"
International Communist League
"OAKLAND, January 12—Seething anger against rampant, and routine, humiliation and terror at the hands of the racist cops was ignited in Oakland, California, over the coldblooded execution of a 22-year-old black man, Oscar Grant, by a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) cop on January 1. The killing of Grant was a shot literally heard round the world in multiple video clips by other passengers in the station which were streamed online.
'We Are All Oscar Grant,' declared signs and chants at a January 7 protest of more than 700 people—including blacks, Latinos, Asians and whites—outside the Fruitvale BART station where Grant was killed. Pointing to the Zionist military onslaught in the Gaza Strip, other signs called to 'End Government Sponsored Murder in the Ghettos of Oakland and Palestine.' Rage and despair in the face of the tired appeals for 'calm' and deadly illusions in 'police reform' peddled by black elected officials and preachers exploded in the streets of downtown Oakland later that night. The Partisan Defense Committee—a class-struggle, non-sectarian legal and social defense organization associated with the Spartacist League—sent a protest letter demanding that all charges be dropped against the more than 100 protesters who were beaten and arrested by an army of riot-equipped cops.
While his cops fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters, black Democratic Party Oakland mayor Ron Dellums promised to bring the Oakland Police Department into the “investigation” of Grant’s murder. That will be a gigantic boost to the cover-up machine that BART has already set in motion. In 2002, three cops from the notorious Oakland police gang, the 'Riders,' which was unleashed as part of the racist 'war on drugs,' were completely exonerated of 60 counts of savage beatings and frame-ups. Meanwhile, the Oakland cops continued to gun down young black and Latino men with impunity. In this case, the BART cop who killed Grant has opted to resign while the Feds and California attorney general Jerry Brown are intervening to try to keep a lid on 'tensions.'
At the Oakland protest, placards from the ANSWER coalition, led by the reformist Party for Socialism and Liberation, called to 'Jail Killer Cops!' In your dreams. The capitalist rulers are hardly going to jail their own police guard dogs. And, even if one cop were charged and imprisoned, it wouldn’t stop police brutality and terror. The cops serve, together with the military and the prisons, as the core of a state whose purpose is the repression of the working class and oppressed by any means necessary. From the December 31 shooting of Robbie Tolan, who had been forced to lie down in the driveway of his family’s Houston-area home, to the killing of Adolph Grimes III, who was shot 14 times—12 times in the back—outside his grandmother’s house in New Orleans on New Year’s Day, racist cop terror runs rampant in capitalist America.
For its part, the International Socialist Organization (ISO) has responded to the spate of cop killings under Dellums’ 'stop crime' reign with the argument that: 'Rather than spending millions hiring more inexperienced cops, what would make a real difference in tackling crime would be to hit it at its roots—poverty—by rebuilding Oakland’s crumbling schools and providing decent-paying jobs that would give Black, Latino and poor Oakland residents a real opportunity' (Socialist Worker, 14 August 2008).
The ISO’s cringing faith in the capitalist rulers to provide money for jobs, education and health care at the expense of their repressive apparatus serves only to mask the true nature of this system. Those whose rule is based on exploitation shell out to those they exploit and oppress only what they can realize back in profit. And the racist rulers of America have no use for a whole generation of black youth who were once kept on the bench as a 'reserve army of labor.' Now what U.S. capitalism offers them is jail, a slow death from disease, malnutrition and drugs, or a fast one, gunned down on the streets by the cops or killed in the prison execution chambers of America.
The situation cries out for revolutionary leadership, to organize the social power of labor and unite behind it all the oppressed in a struggle for state power that gets rid of the whole racist capitalist system and opens the road for genuine freedom for all. This is the class-struggle perspective put forward by the Bay Area Labor Black League for Social Defense, which is fraternally allied with the Spartacist League/U.S."
Both sides are stoking the fires of hate and neither, at least in the above articles is being objective. Both are pushing their own political agenda, otherwise, the article written by the right would have also talked about the number of lynchings of blacks by whites and the article written by the left would have mentioned the killing of whites by blacks. I did find an observation made by an African-American citizen of Oakland that mirrors my own views on this latest American tragedy:
"The shootings [of the four police officers] are a tragedy of epic proportions, and should never have happened. Someone wrote that the system failed him [Mixon} and that city leaders failed him, and I suggest his family failed him. I’m a single father, was raised in Oakland and am currently raising a teenage daughter in Oakland. It’s all about personal choices. When he had the choice to use a gun and go to prison or go home to his family, he chose to use that gun and go to prison. He chose to miss a date with his parole officer, which showed he was not a good candidate for parole. I mean what’s a parolee that’s trying to straighten up his life doing carrying an automatic pistol and then firing it at two officers because they pulled him over? And then he runs to his sister’s house and gets an assault rifle and shoots three more cops, wow! He had the opportunity to be educated, but didn’t take advantage of it. (I took my Oakland education and went to law school.) There certainly is a time and place to voice grievances over the behavior of some Oakland police officers, but Lavelle Mixon was no Oscar Grant. As such, he cannot be a martyr for the good black men that are killed wrongly by officers under the color of authority. Oakland has a high crime rate, which Mr. Mixon has contributed to on at least two known occasions. Oakland has a high poverty and a high unemployment rate, but Mr. Mixon didn’t appear to be trying to bring himself and his family out of poverty. In sum, here is a man that shunned educating himself, and instead of trying to get into college, and out of the “hood” decided that being a gangster was more cool, and we all know what happens to gangsters" posted by Cave Man 3/27/09 on NEWS ONE for Black America.
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