And this is where Marc Lamont Hill and Tara Setmayer comes in. During a segment onCNN, they had a war of words:

Blaze host Tara Setmayer squared off with CNN’s Marc Lamont Hill, arguing that Gray’s arrest was a singular case of police misconduct, not an incident in a wider problem of systemic police mistreatment of African-American suspects. “You don’t have to put a race card on everything,” she said.

Hill wasn’t having it. “Black people die every day at the hands of law enforcement,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what color the officer is. The only color that matters is blue…. State violence against citizens is a problem. State violence against poor people is a problem. It’s disproportionate. When you look at the number of black people that die at the hands of law enforcement in proportion to their demographic percentage, we’re overrepresented in police killing. That’s not a coincidence.” [1]

On Hill’s side, there is the understanding that Black people have a wide spread problem with police issues. On Tara Setmayer’s side, there is the problem that police just weren’t doing their jobs. Sadly, they are actually arguing when they mostly agree with each other.

Marc Lamont Hill Wins the Debate

The issue that needs to be addressed is that Marc Lamont Hill is absolutely correct in most (not all) of his affirmations. White it seems that many write Hill off as a “race baitersupreme”, there has always been underlying issues with the police dealings with Black people in Baltimore. With a high rate of killings by police, added to the “zero tolerance arrest” policy being upheld, Black people in Baltimore see the police as adversaries. Adding on the fact that the police has had these issues for decades should set off an alarm. TheNAACP had to get an investigation into the police as far back as 1980. So, Marc Lamont Hill knew what he was talking about.

The problem with Tara Setmayer’s argument is that she didn’t come prepared to actually defend her premise. She came with a lot to say but didn’t back it up with any worthwhile facts. Meanwhile, she wanted to argue against a situation where the facts, figures, and the burden of evidence has existed for more decades than many want to admit. It is safe to say that this was not Tara Setmayer’s battle to win.

We can call Marc Lamont Hill a “race baiter” all you want. We can even question some of the things he said (Gray was never shot; I’m need to see some numbers dealing with those middle class black people being harmed as well). What we can’t say is that Marc Lamont Hill wasn’t telling the truth.

Tara Setmayer was Also Correct (Short Sighted)

Still, can we just collectively say that Tara Setmayer was right about one thing: Baltimore has a policing problem? The city has paid about $5.7 million since 2011 over lawsuits claiming that police officers beat ups alleged suspects [2]. Even sadder, many would think that these people “brought it upon themselves”. Yet, seeing that the victims ranged in age from 15 years old all the way up to 87 years young, age is nothing but a number [3]. Tara Setmayer did recognize that the police have an issue with handling their business without giving someone a black eye or broken bones.

I just hope that she recognizes the race issue within all of it before it is too late. It needs to be noted that most of these suspects that won lawsuits were Black [4].

Marc Lamont Hill and Tara Setmayer Need a Common Ground

Both Marc Lamont Hill and Tara Setmayer should come to an impasse. They are both arguing over the same initial issue: police brutality. Yet, they both want to address the obvious racial disparities that exist. Tara Setmayer shouldn’t have even argued against something so painfully obvious. In addition, Marc Lamont Hill needs to make sure the facts check everything before he mentions it. In the end, this debate would have been worthwhile if the problem wasn’t already obviously one sided.

The post Freddie Gray: Marc Lamont Hill Argues with Tara Setmayer appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Or as courageous. I think I remember when cops had courage. Been a while though. Now when an “assailant” is 25 feet away with a knife, and that assailant is on crack or heroin or meth and can barely speak or move, it’s OK for a cop to shoot that person 15 times. Come on, you only do that if you want to kill someone. If you’ve just been waiting for your chance. Maybe that’s why you became a cop in the first place.

According to the police chief in St. Louis that kind of action is actually protocol these days. When a guy who is shaking and frail is within 20-25 feet with a knife, even a Swiss Army knife, he is considered to be “life threatening” to the officer. An officer who is armed with a baton, mace, taser, a bullet proof vest and a gun. I’m no hero but I wouldn’t consider that to be “life threatening” to myself…without all of that weaponry and armor. I would probably look to just knock the guy out when I got my chance. But if I were a cop I would opt for the safer route and just mace the guy. If he kept coming which is highly doubtful, I would go to the taser. End of story.

Now cops seem to shoot when someone yells “Boo.” Well especially if it’s a black guy yelling. If this is the case why do we even need cops? Any civilian can kill someone for little or no reason. Where does the training come in? With cops like these we might as well just have law of the jungle and kill each other. Who needs them? Who needs to pay them with our tax dollars? Hey, speaking of which why aren’t conservatives screaming about our socialist police department being out of control and over militarized? Why don’t they want our police force defunded like Obamacare? I mean I haven’t heard a word, a whisper, have you? 

I digress. We call our cops “warriors” these days but I’ve never seen warriors so cowardly. Like when they shoot at a black woman in a car full of kids because she might have been breaking the speed limit. I mean how dangerous she is! Or when they beat a black woman into submission on the side of the road because she isn’t “obeying.” Or when they beat the crap out of the wrong guy and charge him with “bleeding on their uniforms”. That’s YOU Ferguson PD. Or when they choke a guy to death because he is selling cigarettes on the street. Or when they shoot an unarmed black kid six times because well..who knows.

I could write 100 paragraphs about the 21st century cop and how afraid they are to use their brains or fists or less lethal weapons because someone standing 25 feet away without a firearm is considered a “threat.” Example after example of police “overreach”, of escalation instead of a calming deescalation which is what they are paid to do. Escalation usually means homicide. Sometimes it’s tear gassing an entire crowd because one guy threw a bottle…of water. Once again I’m no hero but I will take the “water bottle challenge” and allow 20 cops to throw bottles of Evian at me and if I survive, all of those cowardly cops (and I don’t give a shit if they were under the command of Ron Johnson) that tear gassed pastors and woman and children, lose their jobs. How about THAT challenge?

I mean cops with helmets and shields and tanks and guns and mace and tasers and they gas an entire crowd because of thrown bottles? And yes there were many journalists who reported that it was only the bottles that got the the cops going…into their default escalation mode. What courageous officers of the law we are hiring! Yes WE are hiring and paying them which means WE can fire them? Right conservatives? I mean you guys would agree with that right?

So here is one of our modern day heroic cops. He continues his complaining and racist ways on twitter. I’m not going to get into all of the disgusting things he says about Eric Holder or the people he is supposed to be “protecting and serving.” I only have one question…why not find another job? I mean he hates being a cop so much, complains about everything he has to deal with so why not quit? Nobody is forcing him to be a cop, and nobody forced him to become a cop. It’s a lifestyle choice.

Our cops are also getting dumb and dumber. When you start to push, threaten and arrest journalists, point your weapons at them and have them overhear you bad mouthing protesters, you really can’t be too intelligent. I mean your I.Q. can’t be very high. Speaking of which, here is an example of what I’m talking about. It is indeed possible to be “too smart” to get hired as a cop in the USA. I’m guessing they don’t have these regulations in any other country. It takes a certain kind of dumb to actually lose the support of the mainstream media!

Then there is the cop who pushed CNN’s Don Lemon. How did this loser get hired in the first place? It’s not like he is able to hide his grotesque beliefs. Maybe it’s because the people who hired him have similar beliefs. These are some of the same cops who were enforcing those protest rules in Ferguson. Like walk but don’t stop. So the protesters couldn’t take a breath and stand in one place without getting harassed by the police. I don’t seem to find any clause in the First Amendment which says “Freedom of speech, except no standing still while exercising those freedoms.” Or “Freedom of the press but only in designated areas as assigned by local police.” Can you? If so send those clauses along to me please.

Where are all of those Second Amendment purists screaming and yelling about all of the First Amendment violations? I can’t seem to find them anywhere. They believe a group of white people protecting a rancher from having to pay taxes is “patriotic” but black people protesting the murder of an unarmed teenager is not. A German Journalist had to come to Ferguson to realize, as so many Americans are finally, at long last realizing, that the USA is not a free country. That all of those heroic soldiers really died for nothing, for shit. Bet hey, because of “freedom” right conservatives?

Speaking of Germany, police officers in that ENTIRE country shot off 85 bullets in a full YEAR. In the U.K. it was three shots, half of the number of bullets Mike Brown was hit with. In Iceland the first civilian ever was just killed by a cop. The entire country is in mourning. This is civilization, this is freedom, this is real law enforcement.

Maybe we need cops who aren’t afraid of their own shadows. We don’t need super heroes or anything, just people who aren’t 300 pounds, who can run or use their hands to protect themselves in situations where someone doesn’t have a gun. Where the training and the laws REQUIRE them to use the mace or the taser when the suspect has a knife or a bat and is 30 feet away. Cops who can disarm and apprehend without discharging their weapon 6-15 times. Maybe this is what we need.

By the way I love firemen. They put out fires, unlike the police, who ignite them.

The post Police Violence: When Did Cops Become so Trigger Happy? appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Just because I hold someone in high esteem, however, does not mean that I won’t be critical of their views that are just plain absent of truth.

Morgan Freeman And the Interview

In a recent interview with Don Lemon, Morgan Freeman made it known about his feelings toward wealth distribution. Promoting his new series Through The Wormhole off of the Science Channel, Freeman sung the praises for Obama on his approach to income inequality. After that, things got dicey:

Asked by Lemon if race plays a role in wealth distribution, Freeman answered, “Today? No. You and I, we’re proof. Why would race have anything to do with it? Put your mind to what you want to do and go for that. It’s kind of like religion to me, it’s a good excuse for not getting there.” [1]

Lemon, in response, noted how much he did not like to continue to talk about race all of the time [2]. In short, it seems that these two men agree on something: they would rather not talk about race as it stands in America.

Morgan Freeman and His Confusion

In fact, they are tired of talking about race as it is. For me, I am tired as well. The only problem is that the issue exists. The other problem is this: Morgan Freeman, for all of his knowledge, has no clue what he is talking about. And I can break this down for you with five easy facts. Pay attention:

1.)    The wealth gap has widened since the recession: As of 2010, white families, on average, earned about $2 for every $1 that black and Hispanic families earned. This ratio has remained constant for three decades. As measured by assets, like cash savings, homes and retirement accounts, minus debts, like mortgages and credit card balances — white families have far outpaced black and Hispanic ones. Before the recession, non-Hispanic white families, on average, were about four times as wealthy as nonwhite families: by 2010, whites were about six times as wealthy.

2.)    The dollar value gap has grown as well: By the most recent data, the average white family had about $632,000 in wealth, versus $98,000 for black families and $110,000 for Hispanic families. Meaning: whites have more wealth than others (on average).

3.)    The housing downturn helped caused this madness: housing downturn hit black and Hispanic households harder than it hit white households. Many families bought houses before the downturn just to be saddled with expenses because the homes lost value.

4.)    Who lost the most wealth? Not whites: All in all, Hispanic families lost 44 percent of their wealth between 2007 and 2010, the Urban Institute estimates, and black families lost 31 percent. White families, by comparison, lost 11 percent of their wealth.

5.)    Morgan Freeman and Don Lemon are outliers: They do not have to worry about these burdens because they do not go through them. They have wealth. They are pretty “safe” when it comes to the recession. So, for them to actually speak on collective experiences that they are absent from can be troubling. One should not be a weatherman if all they experience is sunshine with glasses of lemonade.

I respect Morgan Freeman’s achievements and even his opinions. However, he had no clue as to what he was talking about. Maybe next time, he could make suggestions for building wealth outside of the housing market. Or, maybe he could actually do his homework. In summary, this is just another example of asking someone a question about a subject they have no knowledge, wisdom, or understanding of.

Morgan Freeman, I love you like a grand daddy. But please talk what you know and know what you talk.

The post Morgan Freeman Knows Little About Race and Income Inequality appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Awww poor baby. Guess his fake white privileges have run out.

Don’t see his Judge-Daddy or arrogant big brother riding to his rescue, which is usually a clear family sign in most instances, that the troubled one really is a fuck up, despite what they said in public, and they just want him to go away, too.

George Zimmerman flexed his inner TuPac Shakur by saying that “Only God Can Judge Me.”

Georgie says he is also suffering from PTSD but how would he know that since he told reporters his doctor no longer allows him to schlep in through the back door. He’s so famous now.

Man..homeless, no food, suffering PTSD, and so famous he has to wear a bullet proof vest, because he can no longer afford body guards.

Everybody wants him or wants to do him harm…victimized for life.

What a life…what a life.

Of course Trayvon Martin is just dead.

Think about that for a moment.

Trayvon the candy-loving kid, who forced Georgie Z to get out of his car, led him into a dark place, where Georgie had to pull his gun and shoot because the candy loving kid was beating his ass.

Ass whippin’ from a kid…..makes you wonder how George suddenly found the balls to announce that he was willing to climb into a boxing ring with a Black man to make some money to pay off his massive lawyer debt from trial.

Georgie Z wants ya to know that he is not a racist either. He has black relatives, and he is the real victim here and he’s not sorry for pulling the trigger. He was exercising his god-given rights as a fake white man in the United States of America, and only God will judge him.

Yep..Calling on God…true sign of a guilty man.

Georgie Z…may you live long and never prosper…

The post George Zimmerman’s Pity Party.. appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Many interpreted his rant about personal responsibility within the black community as a cure for centuries-old institutionalized racism to be downright ridiculous. So much so that Lemon’s comments sparked the Twitter hashtag #DonLemonLogic, whioch to date is one of the most epic trending topics since #TavisSmileyWeeps. Lemon has been dragged so hard on social media that him being openly gay, it should be a hate crime.

Check this out from Jay Smooth:

Here’s the full letter below:

I got a chance to see what you said over the weekend about black America. At first I thought it was Fox News, but then I remembered you’re a CNN dude. I have nothing against Fox News, as Roger Ailes is my man, but the gospel you were preaching sounded like O’Reilly and Hannity were pulling your strings. Thank goodness my political director, Michael Skolnik, was on the show to stand up for African-Americans, because conservatives love when we blame ourselves for the conditions that have destroyed the fabric of the black community. I respect your courage on many other issues, but I can’t accept that you would single out black teenagers as the cause of their own demise because they don’t speak the King’s English or wear belts around their waistbands.

Hip-hop language and clothing styles are expressions of frustration with the status quo. Young people sagging their pants today is no different than young people rockin’ afros, dashikis or platform shoes in the ’60s and ’70s. And many of those rebellious youth grew up to be quite successful… bell bottom-wearing, pot-smoking, Barry Obama became the President of these United States of America and a long-hair, anti-war activist named John Kerry became Secretary of State defending our country in more creative ways than just using violence. They were knee-deep in a rebellious culture, and did anything but integrate into a world that they saw is filled with problems that needed fixing, filled with challenges, or in their mind, with problems that they could fix. And now they are fixing them.

When this country closes 50 schools in black communities and continues to build more prisons, I know that young people see through the institutionalized bullshit that is laid out in front of them every single day of their lives. The lucky ones, like you and me, owe a real explanation of the problems in our community to the ones who are still living in struggle, not some old, conservative talking points left in the garbage from Mitt Romney’s campaign. I understand personal responsibility far too well, but you can’t ask them to pull up their pants and then stand idle as they fear getting shot in the heart by wannabe cops while walking home to watch basketball games.

If you want to tell the rest of America this weekend when you go back on CNN how we fix black America, tell them to re-start the “War on Poverty.” Tell them to end the failed “War on Drugs” that has cost this nation over one trillion dollars and unjustly incarcerated a generation of black men. Tell them to support the President’s plan for universal Pre-K, so no child enters elementary school having to play catch up with the other children who are fortunate enough to go to pre-school. Tell them make college affordable and obtainable for young students who come from low-income families. Tell them that the right to a healthy life should be universal and not just for the fortunate few. And lastly, tell them that young black men and women don’t just need “role models” or “mentors,” they need “sponsors” who are willing to offer them a job.

I want the black kids to grow up and be like you. I want them to know that their imagination is god inside of them and I want all kids, but especially black kids, to have the freedom to dream as well to create their own language. After all, without their jazz, blues, rock n’ roll and now their hip-hop, America wouldn’t even have a language of its own, much less a culture. (source)

I have a lot of respect for Simmons. I respect him not only as a pioneer in Hip Hop; but more so for his philanthropic work and dedication to issues which negatively impact the lives of all youth. As someone who has made millions from catering to youth culture, what Simmons does is commendable. That said, for me, what he said to Lemon in his open letter carries a lot of weight. Why? Because unlike an aforementioned rapper, for Simmons, his presence isn’t his charity. That said, as well-intentioned as Lemon was two weeks ago, it was great to see him offer some clarity.

Check it out below:

What are your thoughts?

The post Don Lemon Responds to Russell Simmons’ Criticisms appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Speaking of which, watch the following before continuing:

That said, check out Don Lemon’s diatribe below:

The post Don Lemon “No Talking Points” Puts Black Community On Blast appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Rachel‘s testimony and disposition on the stand during the George Zimmerman trial prompted a lot of discussion. She brought out people’s nasty (sexist, and colorstruck) Mean Girl fantasies and she gained herself a lot of supporters along the way. And while I’ll concede that the feisty young woman seemed to struggle with her diction and brought an aura of banjee girl realness to the interview (which has actually endeared her to people), I’m not interested in offering any critiques on her learning aptitude or measuring her intellectual capacity– (I believe her to be capable, regardless of what her struggles are). She acknowledged that it was difficult for her to express herself clearly sometimes and hinted of a possible speech impediment due to an underbite (that requires dental surgery), a challenge she says she’s dealt with since kindergarten; nonetheless I was able to grasp much of what she set out to convey. She’s 19-years-old, has been thrust into the spotlight in the midst of a terrible tragedy that took the life of her friend and school peer, but she seemed more relaxed and prepped for Piers Morgan’s queries.

Rachel was candid, she offered some compelling ‘T’, and she shared her story the best way she could.  In short, she kept it trill and more importantly, she gave us insight into who Trayvon was and humanized her friend in the face of those still trying to paint a stereotypical narrative about him as a dangerous thug—“Trayvon was a chill person. He loved his family, definitely his mother…”

As journalist Charles Blow opined in the second half of the segment, she was painfully honest in some areas of her interview, a brand of raw authenticity he believed lent to her credibility– (despite juror B37’s claim of not finding her credible or intellectually adequate, on Anderson 360). I did find her dissection of ‘Nigga’ vs. ‘Nigger’ problematic (she said nigga “doesn’t mean a black male” and that it could apply to “any man”), but her explanation is one harbored by many young people of Rachel’s generation and demographic, and it illustrated the generational disparity between older folk and millennials, and how some of us absorb the impact of the ‘N’ word—Rachel referred to the jury as ‘old’, in response to their inability to understand any of the phrases she used during her testimony… such as, “creepy ass cracka”.

Other significant highlights (in no particular order)…

Rachel said that Trayvon was unnerved and “creeped out” by George Zimmerman following him that night, and shed light on the ‘stranger danger’ concept parents teach their children: how it’s only natural for young people to run (as taught) when being followed by an unidentified adult lest they “be on the news as a missing person”.

Rachel says she suspected Zimmerman would be acquitted, but still found herself feeling “angry, hurt, disappointed, and confused” by it. That she felt Zimmerman’s stalking of Trayvon was racially motivated, and she believes he thought, “I’m gon’ get [one] tonight”. She says of her friend: “Trayvon was just trying to get home, and that’s a fact.”

Rachel expressed her disdain for Don West and suggested that, aside from the attitude she gave on the stand, “He’s lucky [my] parents taught me better, you don’t disrespect adults. He’s lucky I’m a Christian.”

She made it clear that her friend was not a thug like people are painting him out to be, divulged that he smoked weed, but that it made Trayvon “go hungry” not “crazy”, as was insinuated. Rachel says she has never witnessed any type of aggression from her friend, and that he was an all-around funny young man who got on well with people in their neighborhood.

And most compelling…

Rachel on the infamous instagram ice cream photo uploaded by Don West’s daughter?  “Look at the picture… they’re dumb blondes”, that “blondes are known for saying dumb things” where she’s from, and that she’s unfazed by their mocking.; and as for West’s theatrics? “He gotta get that check… it’s all about that check.”

Rachel said she didn’t attend Trayvon’s funeral, because she was overcome with shock, was shaken by his death, and hadn’t planned on attending a funeral that week.

When asked for her thoughts on George Zimmerman… the man who shot and killed her friend… Rachel said she believes him to be “weak”, “scary”, “hiding behind his father” and, “If [you] were a real man, [you’d] stand on that stand and tell what happened.”

The post Rachel Jeantel: ‘Angry, hurt, disappointed’ By Zimmerman Verdict appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Who are they? They’re people who are registered to vote, but have no real plans to actually get out and exercise that vote. Polls tout the “For Romney” people, the “For Obama” voters and the “undecided” voters. I would hedge a bet that the people who are GOING to vote have known who they were going to vote for, for months if not years. All Santorum jokes aside, I know I did.

What the polls don’t have is an accurate depiction of the people who are of the opinion that, “fuck you, the Electoral College makes votes in my state pretty much useless anyway,” or the “hell, I ain’t fond enough of EITHER of these assholes to vote at all” people.

Trust me, they exist.

The rest of most political discourse/debate between the candidates AND their backers is more a matter of the act of license to insult people once every couple of years without them getting quite angry enough to catch an assault charge. Some of those with lower self-esteem may need election cycles to get that kind of a thing out every once in a while, no? In the meantime, those “undecided” voters might represent the most valuable votes in what MIGHT have otherwise been a close race before a certain candidate began to display a tragic inability to NOT step on his own dick time after time.

The post Identifying the “Undecided” Voters and Why They’re Undecided appeared first on Madness & Reality.

As a person of color she’s right in acknowledging that racism is global; and, that the incident could have happened anywhere. However, to suggest that someone could have thrown peanuts at her and call her an “animal,” at the DNC like they did at the Republican convention is, well, sorta-kinda out there for me — personally, I think she was trying to remain as politically neutral.

According to this:

Carroll said no one took the names of the attendees who threw peanuts at her Tuesday on the convention floor and told her, “This is what we feed animals.” She alerted fellow camera operators, producers and CNN security. The head of the delegation — she was not certain of the state — told her the perpetrators must have been alternates, not delegates.

But Carroll, 34, said that as an Alabama native, she was not surprised. “This is Florida, and I’m from the Deep South,” she said. “You come to places like this, you can count the black people on your hand. They see us doing things they don’t think I should do.”

Carroll noted of the Republican convention, “There are not that many black women there.”

She said she wanted to thank CNN, which “has been behind me 100 percent.” Although she was stationed on the floor next to Fox News, the perpetrators “didn’t know what I was doing. I happened to be standing there,” near one of the delegations.

“I can’t change these people’s hearts and minds,” Carroll added. “No, it doesn’t feel good. But I know who I am. I’m a proud black woman. A lot of black people are upset. This should be a wake-up call to black people. . . . People were living in euphoria for a while. People think we’re gone further than we have.”

Carroll said she had received many requests for interviews and was in meetings most of Wednesday. “I was hoping this story would go away,” she said. “I’m not interested in talking to any other media about this.”

I’m not suggesting that their aren’t any racist Democrats; nor am I suggesting that there will be none in attendance at the Democratic convention in North Carolina next week. However, this is in fact the GOP we’re talking about here — a party that isn’t as welcoming to minorities even when it’s their own. Case in point, check out the following video to see what they did to a Republican delegate from Puerto Rico the same day Carroll was assaulted. This is the Republican Party; this is who they are. After all, this is the same party South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham who said the following belongs to: “We’re not generating enough angry white guys to stay in business for the long term.”

Kinda funny how they can embrace Condi Rice the way they do.

The post Black CNN Camerawoman Assaulted At RNC “Was Not Surprised” appeared first on Madness & Reality.

This from Talking Points Memo:

An attendee at the Republican National Convention in Tampa on Tuesday allegedly threw nuts at a black camerawoman working for CNN and said “This is how we feed animals” before being removed from the convention, a network official confirmed to TPM.

The CNN official declined to confirm specific details of the incident to TPM but generally confirmed an account posted on Twitter by former MSNBC and Current anchor David Shuster: “GOP attendee ejected for throwing nuts at African American CNN camera woman + saying ‘This is how we feed animals.’”

It is not clear whether the alleged culprit was a delegate or attending the convention in some other capacity.

In a written statement, CNN addressed the matter but divulged few details: “CNN can confirm there was an incident directed at an employee inside the Tampa Bay Times Forum earlier this afternoon. CNN worked with convention officials to address this matter and will have no further comment.”

Jeez, and to think this was only day one of the Klan rally RNC Convention.

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