The Trayvon Martin "Lynching"

Make no doubt about it, Trayvon Martin's murder (let's stop calling it a "death") was a lynching.  Once lynching's went out of fashion because they were "frowned upon", folks had to find a nicer, cleaner way to kill blacks.  You can't really call a lynching a "self-defense".  You can't really defend a lynching and say it was an "accident".  But the intention is the same.  Kill the black man or woman, publicly murder the black child, and intimidate an entire neighborhood or population; instilling fear is the goal, guided by racist motivations, desire to have power, and desire to have control.

Trayvon Martin was defenseless.  He was a child murdered by an adult.  The adult decided Trayvon was "suspicious" and hunted him down, motivated by the fact that "those assholes always get away with it."  Then he murdered Trayvon in public when all he was guilty of was walking while black.

He may not have been hung up in a tree, but he was essentially lynched.  No surprise knowing Florida's history of lynching blacks.

Anna Brown, a homeless woman from St. Louis, was also "lynched".  

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Anna Brown was homeless and had so much pain in her legs that she couldn’t walk.

When Brown, 29, refused to leave the emergency room at St. Mary’s Health Center in Richmond Heights, Mo., a suburb near inner St. Louis, the police thought she was on drugs and arrested her for trespassing. She’d already been examined, and a doctor said she was healthy enough to go to jail.

The police carried her into a jail cell by her arms and ankles, her body slackened. There were a couple of beds in the cell, but they left her on the concrete floor. A couple of officers stood by the door as she writhed and moaned, and then they walked away. “They thought she was a drug seeker,” an officer said later.

She had stopped moving within 15 minutes and was pronounced dead a short time later.

 The hospital claims they "acted appropriately".  It was much easier to think that she was a drug dealer, a hooker, or just trying to game the system; those sneaky blacks.  Easier to just take her to jail, ignore her, and then let her die.  How safe would you feel going to the hospital, knowing that others of your community would end up dead there?

But what about the police?  They wouldn't lynch a black man or woman, would they?  Often times, it was the police who were the ones arresting "suspects"... I mean "assholes"... who were suspected of committing crimes against whites.  Wouldn't want them to get away with it.  Justice by lynching; justice by ignoring them health care.  This was a murder, plain and simple.

Kenneth Chamberlain, a 68 year old marine veteran, was also "lynched", this time by the police in his own home.

Kenneth Chamberlain Junior has called for the prosecution of the officers who killed his father. After the meeting, he criticized police for refusing to release the name of the officer who fired the fatal shots. The police had responded to a false alarm from Chamberlain’s medical alert pendant. The officers broke down Chamberlain’s door, tasered him, and then shot him dead. 

Kenneth Chamberlain, Jr.: "You hear him asking them why are they doing this to him. He says, ’I’m a 68-year-old man with a heart condition. Why are you doing this to me? I know what you’re going to do: you’re going to come in here, and you’re going to kill me.’ You also hear him pleading with the officers again, over and over. And at one point, that’s when the expletive is used by one of the police officers." 

Amy Goodman: "What did they say?" 

Kenneth Chamberlain, Jr.: "Where they say, 'I don’t give a F.' And then they use the N-word. And then, as I said, ultimately, they bust down the door."

A 68 year old man, shot to death in his own apartment.  They may not have strung him up in public, but they sure as hell made his death public.  They decided his heart condition, combined with his being black, was enough reason to kill him, all the while using racial slurs.  And again, this murder, this assassination, was carried out by the police.

**********

With Barack Obama being elected president, and with the civil rights movement in our past, apparently we are in a post race world (*cough* bullshit *cough*).  Racism is alive and kicking its ugly head in violent, frightening ways.

And we want to talk about how American's aren't racist anymore since they elected a Black president?  We want to talk about how racism is dead?  How about the dead Trayvon Martin?  Anna Brown?  Kenneth Chamberlain?

They may not have been hung by a mob, but the end results were the same.  And the mob is defending George Zimmerman; the mob is defending the hospital staff; the mob is defending the police.

A new century, and the same old tired shit.

Bobby Rush Takes a Stand

Today on the floor of Congress, Bobby Rush was escorted out of the session for wearing a hoodie.  Congress has rules of decor in which hats are prohibited, and apparently that includes wearing a hoodie.

Take a stand against racial profiling.  Take a stand in support of Trayvon Martin.

PEACE

Be Very Afraid

What do the current Republicans have that they are running for?
What policies do they have which they are in support?

Or are they simply running against something?

The party that wants to kill government?
The party that wants to end women's rights?
The party that wants to kill voter's rights?
The party that wants to hand the keys of our country to the wealthy corporations?
The party that wants everybody to be afraid of black people?


Are they now officially the party of fear?


Apparently so...



Be afraid!  In just two years, this country will turn into some dystopian, awful, post apocalyptic hell hole.  And it will all be because of that big, scary, Kenyan usurper, Muslim president.

Don't you see?  Being black is bad.  Shit, being half black is bad.  Being Muslim is bad.  Even being a fake Muslim is bad!  He stole the presidency, just so he could ruin this country with his failed policies.

It's SCARY.

Meanwhile, the rest of America wants to know.  Hey Republicans, what are you doing about jobs?  What are you doing about the environment?  What are you going to do about our failing transportation system?

Or are you just going to focus on taking away a woman's rights to her body?  Is that the solution to everything right now?

Oh I forgot, the solution to the country's problems is to be AFRAID.

PEACE


p.s.  Bonus points if you can point out the very very subtle subliminal messaging in the Rick Santorum advertisement.

Last source was a fake

I learned my lesson.  I will check my sources a little closer in the future.  Although I will say that it is a fine piece of extremely believable satire.

http://www.freewoodpost.com/disclaimer/

Mitt Romney Can Relate to Black People

Old story, but I just found out about it.  I think this is sad and funny at the same time.  Looks like the Southern Strategy is alive and well, blow the dog whistle for racist, conservative, white voters.  They'll come to your side every time.

While addressing a crowd in Alabama during the primary there, he made the following comments.

I understand how difficult it can be for an African-American in today’s society. In fact, I can relate to black people very well indeed. My ancestors once owned slaves, and it is in my lineage to work closely with the black community. However, just because they were freed over a century ago doesn’t mean they can now be freeloaders. They need to be told to work hard, and the incentives just aren’t there for them anymore. When I’m president I plan to work closely with the black community to bring a sense of pride and work ethic back into view for them. 

Don't let anybody tell you this is a "Romney" moment or that this happened on accident.  This was on purpose. Its a strategy meant to woo old school, racist white voters.  To anybody else with any sensibility, the comments are asinine, absurd, and racist as hell.

PEACE

Quick Note

Also, a quick note.  If you do follow, I haven't been posting much these days.  I haven't found too much inspiration to blog lately, so I don't want to just post "filler" material, kind of like the beef industry uses in pink slime.  As my inspiration returns and I find more to blog about, it will come.

I have also been blogging on the DailyKos website as a little side project called the "United States County Project".  It's my ultimate nerdiness coming out.  If you are interested in checking that out, click the link in this entry.  Soon I will start linking those diaries to this blog, even though the topic of those are unrelated to these blog entries.

Anonymous Exposes Ron Paul

This will be a short entry, more just a news update.  The hacker internet activist group "Anonymous" has recently exposed Ron Paul's ties to white supremacist groups.  Despite the campaign and Ron Paul's denial of these connections, the hacking of the website of the white supremacist group "American Third Position"
(A3P) reveals otherwise.

In addition to finding the usual racist rants and interactions with other white power groups, we also found a disturbingly high amount of members who are also involved in campaigning for Ron Paul. According to these messages, Ron Paul has regularly met with many A3P members, even engaging in conference calls with their board of directors.

On top of being on the board of directors of A3P, former Scientologist, and high ranking Ron Paul organizer, [A3P webmaster Jamie Kelso] also is the account owner of German nazi forums and store nsl-forum.org, rhs-versand.com. 

If you are trying to avoid being a racist or a white supremacist, this isn't the way to do it.  If you are claiming that you have no connections to these groups or that you can't control what your campaign is doing, this isn't the way to do this.

So is there anybody left willing to vote for Ron Paul?

PEACE