The irony of this quote is that yesterday — one day after celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day — a grand jury decided not to indict Officer Randall Kendrick for the shooting death of Jonathan Ferrell. In the event that this is your first time reading about this case, do yourself a favor and read what I wrote last September to play catch up. However, if you’re short on time, it’s important to know that Ferrell was shot 10 times by Kerrick while attempting to find help after crawling out of a badly mangled car after an accident. Kerrick was charged with voluntary manslaughter, but for now, as Charlotte’s WCNC reports, Kerrick has escaped a formal indictment in the shooting death of Ferrell.

Oh, I forgot to mention that Ferrell was black, and that Kerrick is white.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A partial grand jury has decided not to indict Officer Randall Kerrick for the shooting death of Jonathan Ferrell.

 

Kerrick was accused of voluntary manslaughter following the fatal shooting of former Florida A&M football player, Jonathan Ferrell, in September. Authorities have said Kerrick fired 12 shots, 10 of which hit Ferrell.

 

The case went before a partial panel on Tuesday for the charge of voluntary manslaughter. The true bill of indictment was returned with a “no” when the grand jury members were asked if Officer Kerrick did, against state law, feloniously kill and slay Ferrell.

 

In a rare move, the jury attached a handwritten note asking the District Attorney to file a lesser charge against Kerrick.

Definitely watch this video:

I’m disappointed because I was for sure that given the police dashboard camera video evidence, a grand jury would return with an indictment. It’s like the expert in the video above said, the bar is so low for a grand jury that they almost always return with an indictment. I am confused, however, because it isn’t clear whether they did review the video as evidence. Or, as WCNC also pointed out, the attorney’s for both sides aren’t aware of what evidence was reviewed. Furthermore, to add to my confusion, I’m wondering why there was only a partial grand jury. Hopefully this wasn’t part of the usual okie doke.

Jonathan Ferrell

At any rate, there’s nothing that I or anyone can do today to change yesterday;s outcome. What we can hope for is that Attorney General Roy Cooper will be successful when he resubmits the case to a full grand jury soon, as he said he would. Until then, my hope is that the outcome of this case isn’t yet another example of just how little value the bodies of black folk hold in the eyes of the law.

I’m not sure how I feel about a lesser charge as suggested, but something is better than nothing, right?

The post Officer not Indicted in Jonathan Ferrell Fatal Shooting appeared first on Madness & Reality.

The North Carolina GOP official who was asked to resign Thursday over a racially charged comment he made in a “Daily Show” interview doesn’t regret the remark — rather, he thinks the Republican Party has “no guts.”

Don Yelton was asked to resign his post as a Republican precinct chairman after criticizing “lazy black people that wants the government to give them everything” in a Wednesday interview about North Carolina’s voter ID law with “Daily Show” correspondent Aasif Mandvi.

Appearing on Asheville radio station WWNC Thursday, Yelton accused the show of taking his comment out of context with a cut-and-paste editing job.

Don Yelton

“They created an illusion that I was just personally had an agenda against the blacks, tried to make it talking about racism rather than the real issue of illegal voting,” Yelton told host Pete Kaliner, dodging the question of whether or not his interview advanced his case for voter ID laws.

Asked if the comment was worth making, Yelton said yes, because it made him realize the Republican party has “no guts.”

“I’ll resign my position as precinct chair gladly, I’ll give it up — the heck with it, I don’t want to be part of a group that is that mealy-mouthed and that gutless,” he later added. (source)

That’s right, you keep it real as any good ole boy from the south would do. That’s right. You go all out and you don’t hold back. Instead, you toss around a few n-words while you complain about how the Republican Party leaders have “no guts,” for not supporting your not-so-nice words about “lazy black people that wants the government to give them everything,” in yet another interview — this time with TheWrap.com. Why? Because that’s how a Republican is supposed to represent in what some consider the most progressive state in the south. Yes, because nobody does it better than Don Yelton when it comes to putting the red in red state and redneck. After all, Yelton just said what they all believe and think, no? I’m only asking because as Yelton — and pretty much every right-winger who makes racist comments — said, his comments were taken out of context. And lord forbid if the liberal media would do such a thing.

“When a n—– can use the word n—– and it not be considered racist, that’s the utmost racism in the world, and it’s hypocrisy,” he said.

[…] He told TheWrap.com that his local Republican party, which he had called “gutless” for asking him to resign, should have spun his “Daily Show” interview to show the party accepts all points of view.

“They can turn it into a positive if they want to,” Yelton said. “The party does not try to control the speech of individuals. That’s the point they could have made. You have to let people have an opinion.” (source)

Now watch the following video from Rachel Maddow:

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For some of you reading this I realize that the following story sounds like some sort of urban legend. But the sad reality is that it isn’t; and, right now as you read this there is a family in Charlotte, North Carolina trying to make sense of this inexplicable incident. An incident which as with encounters with police for people of color may go, seems all too common. But hey, perhaps we should spend our energy focused on George Zimmerman rather than state-sanctioned terrorists to whom we entrust our lives and safety each day. I mean, surely if someone black gets shot and killed by the cops he had it coming, right? You know, even if they might not be wearing a hoodie and toting Skittles and Ice Tea?

Johnathan Ferrell killed by Charlotte, North Carolina police officer while seeking assistance after car crash.

Officer Randall Kerrick, 27, of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) in North Carolina is facing charges of voluntary manslaughter after fatally shooting Jonathan Ferrell, 24, a former Florida A&M football player who had apparently been seeking help after surviving a major car crash early Saturday morning.

CMPD officials called the shooting “excessive.” “Our investigation has shown that Officer Kerrick did not have a lawful right to discharge his weapon during this encounter,” said CMPD Chief Rodney Monroe in a statement. “It’s with heavy hearts and significant regrets it’s come to this… Our hearts go out to the Ferrell family and many members of the CMPD family. This is never something easy.”

The Charlotte Observer reports that the car crash was so severe that Ferrell likely had to “pull himself out” of the wreckage. He then walked to the nearest house, about a half mile away, to seek assistance. But the local resident whose home Ferrell arrived at was frightened that he was attempting to burglarize her after not recognizing him.

The resident then made a 911 call and three officers arrived at the scene.According to police accounts, Ferrell, who is African-American, acted “aggressively” and charged towards the officers. Officer Thornell Little of the Hickory Grove division of the CMPD responded with an unsuccessful attempt to fire his Taser at Ferrell. Police say that when Ferrell continued to charge toward the police, 27-year-old officer Randall Kerrick discharged his weapon several times, eventually killing Ferrell.

Monroe said that he did not believe Ferrell had threatened the woman who placed the 911 call, and that Kerrick’s use of excess force was unwarranted, according to the Charlotte Observer. No signs of alcohol were found at the scene of the wreckage, although officials said an official toxicology report will take weeks. (Source: Think Progress)

Watch the video below:

That said, let’s not get caught up in the misdirection blame game as it is always easy to do so. Instead, let’s focus squarely on the actions of the police officer in question. Which if you ask me, judging from the fact that he was charged rather promptly acted irresponsibly and excessively. Because as I mentioned before, this outcome is all too common when people of color — and in particular black men — who encounter police officers. So again, while many of you are worried about the whereabouts of George Zimmerman, it might be a better idea to be concerned about “Officer Tackleberry” out there on patrol. Because from where I’m sitting, police shooting black men happens far more frequently than we acknowledge. But hey, don’t take my word for it; yes, I’m just another biased black man caught up in the mix trynna’ make a dollar out of fifteen cents.

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Anyone seeking to limit the sale of assault weapons must reckon with the fact that millions of Americans own guns that might be classified as one, and for many it is no more exotic than, say, a motorcycle or sports car, from which they derive a similar satisfaction.

“It’s very stress-relieving,” said Chad Knox, a paramedic who shoots targets and hunts small pests with a semiautomatic rifle on his 40 acres in Marietta, Ohio. “Some people crochet, some people shop, some people shoot guns.” .

Mr. Knox owns an AR-15 style rifle, a 55-year-old design based on a military weapon that has become notorious because it was used by gunmen in a series of mass shootings in recent years, including the attack in Newtown, Conn., last week.

Outlawed for a decade by the federal government, certain models of the AR-15 could again be forbidden if President Obama can persuade Congress to restore the federal assault weapons ban that expired in 2004, as he has indicated.

But to many owners of military-style semiautomatic rifles, who reject the term “assault weapon,” the AR-15 and its brethren do not evoke fearsome images of attacks on people. They use their guns for target practice and hunting small game like rabbits, squirrels and coyotes.

They also say that as a self-defense weapon, the AR-15, which is based on the military’s M-16 and M-4, has its limits: It cannot be carried in public, and in the home it is potentially less accurate than a shotgun. (read more)

[imagebrowser id=7]Now it’s not clear whether the fundraiser was planned well before the Newtown, Connecticut shooting. However, if in fact it was, the fact that the Tea Party group isn’t too apologetic for its perceived insensitivity and disrespect at least in social media circles by its release of a formal letter, says a lot. In a post that answers the question: Why are we going ahead with the great gun giveaway? Asheville Tea PAC, Jane Bilello, Chair writes:

The horror at Sandy Hook Elementary is beyond comprehension. Our hearts are broken and our nightmares renewed at such senseless loss of precious life. We are sickened that this could happen. How can this tragedy and the other massacres that have taken place be prevented? How can we protect ourselves and the most innocent among us from the deranged and the murderous evil minds that prey upon the defenseless? Is gun control the answer?

In 1994, The Gun-Free Schools Act was passed and implemented in 1995. Since the Gun-Free School Zone Act there has been a 370% increase in the rate of school shooting deaths. Yet, the United States homicide rate has decreased by 14% since GFSZA was enacted. Why is the murder rate decreasing where conceal carry laws are in place, but those murdered on educational property has quadrupled where guns are banned? Areas where victims are disarmed attract violent predators. The data from the Gun-Free Schools Act bears this out.

Why is it that these mass murders occur in Gun Free Zones? Recent memory includes Columbine, Virginia Tech, the Aurora Theater, and now Sandy Hook. They are rural, unprotected, and Gun Free Zones. Ever wonder why the schools in the worst neighborhoods in our inner cities do not fall victim to mass murderers? They would be met with metal detectors and armed guards. They wouldn’t get very far. The evil minded and the deranged pick easy targets – the disarmed – to do the most damage. They do not obey Gun Free Zone signs. They do not obey gun control laws. They acquire guns illegally. There are current laws that prohibit the mentally unfit from owning a gun, yet those with the intent of causing mayhem, find a way. More gun control is not the answer. And, in case you have forgotten, you have a right to protect yourself, your property, and those in your care.

So, why are we, as a society, not having an honest conversation and a debate about the effectiveness of gun control? Why do we blame all gun owners for the act of one deranged person? Guns are how we avoid talking about the dark side of human nature that will never be eradicated. The best we as individuals can do is to protect ourselves and those we hold dear. (read more)

So as we await the NRA’s official press conference in anticipation of them supporting the tightening of regulations. May I suggest that we don’t hold our collective breaths. At the end of the day, it is quite clear that nobody in America is serious about gun control — and the more we talk about it, the more guns are swiftly flying off of store shelves. So what should we do? I say let them have their guns; yes, forget about an assault weapon ban. Yep, allow them to fulfil their sense of security so as to sleep better at night. I know, sounds crazy, right? Well, not so much if government mandates that gun owners insure their instruments of death or face a tax should they fail to, much like is deemed Constitutional by the Supreme Court with the Affordable Care Act under the commerce clause. Let them keep their guns, but make it more costly. After all, freedom ain’t free, right?

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There’s no way I’m going to believe that this woman had no idea that her ex-boyfriend was living in her attic for at most two weeks after being released from prison for stealing her car. Yep, and this is the ex-boyfriend with whom she dissolved a relationship with some twelve years ago. The same guy who couldn’t keep it together because of his drug addiction, and several run-ins with the law. The same ex-boyfriend who did some work on her house about a year ago, who wrote her from prison while serving time for stealing her car. Oh, and she wishes to remain anonymous as well?

ROCK HILL Tracy, a single mother of five children in Rock Hill, never considered reuniting with the 44-year-old man she broke up with more than 12 years ago, despite claims of a new lifestyle and other “jailhouse talk” he penned in letters to her from prison.

Drugs, followed by his decision to rob a flower shop, tore their one-year romance apart, she said.

“That was it,” said Tracy, who asked that her last name not be used. “I never looked back.”

But it wasn’t “it” for her ex-boyfriend, whom she discovered living in her attic Sunday morning, a year after he helped install new doors on her home after most of it burned in a fire.

Tracy, a nurse, spent Saturday with her children, ages ranging from 3 to 20, and “didn’t see anything out of the ordinary” when they returned home. After nightfall, Tracy sat in her bedroom using her laptop but couldn’t shake the feeling that “something just ain’t right.”

She heard strange noises and noticed insulation falling from the ceiling. Her older sons went to investigate but couldn’t find anything.

Around 2:30 a.m., the noises persisted and Tracy, unable to sleep, saw nails in the ceiling fall to the floor.

She thought “there was some poltergeist stuff going on,” she said.

Tracy called her nephew, who quickly came to the home and went into the attic. Her nephew walked to the far end of the attic, passing over a jungle of heating and cooling ducts, boxes, photo albums, toys, cassettes and a “timeline” of memories to find a man sleeping inside a heating unit.

The post North Carolina Mother Finds Ex-Boyfriend Living in Her Attic 12-Years After Breakup appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Not to mention the conversation between my graddaddy with my twin and I when we were (maybe) 10 years old. We were out with him and there were a couple of gentlemen who were, um… ‘together’ and my brother and I started making jokes at their expense… My granddad explained that they had done nothing to us and, in such, were due AT LEAST the respect due to any other human being. He started the lesson (which was surely longer than the above sentence) with “boy…” which meant that he was not pleased with our behavior. Needless to say, that approach has followed us on into adulthood. Sure, we’re macho men who still get our hands dirty, drive manual transmissioned cars and raise (somewhat) traditional families, but we allow people the personal respect to at least be indifferent to how they live their lives, so long as they play us the same.
Sure, my brain-to-mouth (or keyboard) filter often errs to the ragged edge of couth or politically correct or even mature sometimes, but dammit my intentions are usually good.

Anyway, looking deeper into the amendment, it not only carries the redundant banning of something that is already illegal, but goes on to remove legal recognition of domestic unions/partnerships. The language I am seeing used in support of the amendment is to “protect the union of marriage from activist judges,” which again is striking up a fight that shouldn’t need to be fought in the first place, but why in the hell are we needing to cut off the lines of benefits/support for (yes, even heterosexual) unmarried couples WITH this? Healthcare benefits, right to make emergency room decisions, childcare, domestic violence protections and more stand to be lost on people if this amendment is passed.
I actually got into it with a friend-since-12 on Friday over this one. He is a son of my churches former pastor, and is now a pastor himself and he went into this one with blinders fully on. When called on it, he never changed direction or even addressed any other issue than the gay marriage thing. I wound up leaving the conversation.

With the vote coming up on May 8th and knowing that I would be at work, and not wanting to take a 10 month-old out to the polls, my mom and I went to early voting on Saturday morning. She tagged along not because she wanted to vote or particularly even understood the measure, but when I mentioned Friday’s discussion with my friend (whom she knows as well) on the way home from work, she started with “yeah, I’d been meaning to ask you about that” and I explained the measure and what it attempted to accomplish on its surface, what it would mean to people around us, and what it would ACTUALLY accomplish in the name of claiming something that already exists anyway. Her response? “well, that’s fucking wretched! What time are you going to vote tomorrow?”

To be totally honest, I gave about a damn about ANYTHING else on my state’s primary ballots this year, and I do not even feel bad about that. With an incumbent president for whom I already planned to vote, I had no real plans to even VOTE in the primaries. I make no qualms that I randomly pushed buttons matching names I saw in my neighborhood on the way to the polling station only 2 miles away until I saw the “AGAINST” on amendment one; and as a black Christian male, I proudly voted against it. I was very much, in spirit and intentions, with the Triad People of Faith on this one, to the point where if anyone had offered to put one of their signs in my yard, I would have gladly and graciously supported it. Perhaps giving more clarity to my “Jesus was a Liberal” post from before, there is literally ZERO amount of out-of-context scripture that I would then or will from now allow me to vote for anything as damaging to families as NC’s Amendment One would be.
In the end, bigotry and zeal won out and an amendment that will conspire to screw a lot of people after people voted with their preacherman and his cronies instead of their informed consciences, but I know how I voted and I am vocally proud to say it.

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A good friend and longtime reader hit me up this week and mentioned that North Carolina was attempting to right their wrongs by compensating women who were sterilized via a Eugenics program. I kinda knew that this was the practice in many states back in the day, but when I really looked into it this week, I was surprised to find that this was the practice in 33 states total. And of course, these programs targeted poor, disenfranchised, and uneducated women and men; yes, and of course most of them were Black.

More surprising to me, was the fact that this practice was allowed to continue up until 1974 in the state of North Carolina. Some of these women were told that they would lose their public assistance should they refuse to be sterilized. Quite naturally, for many poor women, this was a life or death decision
RALEIGH, N.C. — Nearly 35 years after ending the country’s most active post-war sterilization program, North Carolina is the only state trying to make amends to thousands of people who cannot have children because of eugenics-inspired theories about social improvement.

Next week, victims and their relatives will tell their stories to a state task force considering compensation to victims of sterilizations that continued into 1974. Roughly 85 percent of victims were women or girls, some as young as 10. North Carolina has more victims living than any other state because a majority was sterilized after World War II, said Charmaine Fuller Cooper, director of the state Justice for Sterilization Victims Foundation.

Eugenics programs gained popularity in the U.S. and other countries in the early 1900s, but most abandoned those efforts after World War II because of the association with Nazi Germany’s program aimed at racial purity. However, North Carolina’s expanded, with sterilizations peaking in the 1950s and early 1960s. About 70 percent of the state’s 7,600 sterilizations occurred after the war, state figures show.

Overt rationalization for the programs ranged from protecting the potential offspring of mentally disabled parents to improving the overall health and intellectual competence of the human race. Before the atrocities of World War II, it was seen by many — both blacks and whites — as a legitimate effort to improve society.

“Sterilization was always a cost-cutting measure,” said Paul Lombardo, a professor at Georgia State University’s College of Law. “The argument was, anybody who generates social costs shouldn’t be allowed to have children.” (source)I did some more digging and then I found the following story by CBS, which  features one of the victims of this practice in the state of North Carolina. Her story I’m sure is not unique; and, as heart-wrenching as her story happens to be, I’m pretty sure there are others with similar tales which have affected their lives. This week state officials heard testimony from many victims, but the following testimony, is a must see. Seriously, check it out:

 WATCH CBS STORY HERE,  HERE & HERE

Now, as you know, I’m not a woman: and obviously, I’m not able to bear a child. I also know a few women who for medical reasons aren’t able to bring children into this world; and. The few that I know would love nothing more than to be able to have children; and in all honesty, for them, this is a source of pain. Having said that, being a man, I can only imagine what Elaine Riddick is feeling today. A rape victim at the age of 14 that produced a child? Being labeled promiscuous by folks who don’t know you?, Then being “punished” by having your natural ability to have children away ? Can you imagine having to deal with this, or even being her?But yet some asshole who today reads a story involving what they deem “bad parenting” will always have the audacity to suggest that some parents shouldn’t be allowed to have children.

[…] Researchers estimate more than 60,000 people nationwide were sterilized during the 20th century as part of government programs. Even in states without sterilization laws, the procedures still occurred on local or informal levels. That means the real number could be 100,000 or higher, Lombardo said.

Among the 33 states with eugenics programs, North Carolina’s was unique. The state had the most open-ended law in the country, allowing doctors and social workers to refer people living at home to the state Eugenics Board for possible sterilization. In every other state, Lombardo said, people had to be either institutionalized or jailed before they could be sterilized.

According to research done by University of Vermont professor Lutz Kaelber, North Carolina averaged about 300 sterilizations per year between 1950 and 1963. (source)

Elaine Riddick Sterilized At 14-Year-Old

I tell you one thing, North Carolina shouldn’t be the only state willing to compensate the living victims of this inhumane and dangerously racist practice. But, it’s good that they have stepped up to the plate to attempt to right their wrongs. Having said that however, I don’t think $20,000 is compensation enough. But I suppose something is better than nothing when you consider that these were mostly poor Black women who were victimize zed by the social engineering schemes of the wealthy and influential ruling class.

Maybe if the people of the pro-life movement who often cite abortions today as nothing but an extension of eugenicist programs of old as they bash Planned Parenthood got involved, women like Elaine would be offered more money. I hate to politicize this, but since the safest place for Black babies is in the womb as they say. One would think they’d put forth the effort to see that satisfactory reparations are made. I Don’t know, but you’d think they’d care enough to.

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