The truth is that the number of police officers killed in the line of duty, relative to last year, is down dramatically. That said, I view the assault on Black Lives Matter as yet another attempt to grab ratings by creating this faux outrage.

MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry used her platform to host leading activists to respond to the backlash. Monica Dennis, Regional Coordinator for Black Lives Matter NYC and community organizer Nyle Fort joined Melissa Harris-Perry to discuss.

The post WATCH: Black Lives Matter Responds to Cop Killing Backlash appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Prosecutors in North Carolina will not seek a retrial of a police officer charged in the shooting death of an unarmed man, according to a letter from the state attorney general’s office.

Officer Randall Kerrick of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department was charged with voluntary manslaughter after he shot and killed Jonathan Ferrell, a college student and football player, in 2013.

 

A judge last week declared a mistrial after the jury could not reach a verdict.

 

Prosecutors made their decision after speaking with jurors from the original trial. They said they will submit paperwork for dismissal of the charge.

 

“In consideration of the jurors’ comments, the evidence available to the State, and our background in criminal trials, it is our prosecutors’ unanimous belief a retrial will not yield a different result,” said the state attorney general’s letter to the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office.

 

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said at a new conference on Friday that he still stands by the decision to bring the case to trial.

 

“The loss of Jonathan Ferrell’s life is a tragedy — it should not have happened,” Cooper said. “Our prosecutors have talked with Jonathan’s mother about this decision. It was the right thing to bring this case before a jury and seek a conviction, but now we need to listen to what the jury said.”

This is a disgrace. It is an act of cowardice. Instead of having the fortitude to retry the case, the prosecution caved under pressure like some weak chumps. The prosecution should have presented the case to a new jury and let the jury decide. In lieu of that, Attorney General Roy Cooper essentially decided the case for them.

Despite all of the pleasantries and phony expressions of concern, his message is loud and clear: Jonathan Ferrell’s life does not matter. Black lives do not matter.  They never have, and probably, never will.  Now, another black man is dead, and another white killer cop walks free. In fact, Randall Kerrick will probably be rewarded for killing Jonathan Ferrell. Kerrick will probably receive thousands of dollars for interviews.

Unfortunately, we are to blame for this outcome as well. We allowed ourselves to be pacified by a grand jury indictment and a trial. We lost focus and fell asleep at our post. For a second, we were deluded. We actually thought that justice was in sight. We stopped protesting and blogging about this case.

With virtually no pressure from the public, it was easy for the prosecutor to decide not the pursue the case. The prosecutor made his announcement on a Friday for a reason. Sadly, many of our people are more concerned about going to the club than they are about pursuing justice. By Monday, it will be business as usual and no one will give a damn about our brother Jonathan Ferrell.

[Originally posted at New Possibilities]

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Might I remind you, the Republican party has lost the popular vote in 5 of the last 6 presidential election cycles. But hey, keep hope alive.

Yes, because this, like 2012, is the, “We’re tired of this n*gger,” and now, “Anybody but that Clinton b*tch,” election campaign. You know, the typical bigoted tripe and weaponized stupid that fuels the ideological bankruptcy that is the Republican party. Just look at the current frontrunner!

The best thing that could have happened during tonight’s debate on FOX would have been a group of GOP voters screaming, “Black lives matter!” But, that didn’t happen; nor did I ever expect it to. Hell, the Republican party has given no fucks about black people since slavery. If they did, maybe, just maybe, there would be at least some form of general consensus about the value of the lives of black people, other than the racist dog- whistle political pandering to its knuckle-dragging base.

You know, the ones angry and brave enough to shoot and kill black people at churches and the occasional movie theater? Yes, they’re included in that group of America-loving patriotic voters.

But, we expect Republicans to care all of a sudden?

My man Charles D. Ellison makes a good point on The Hill:

We haven’t really seen a true #BlackLivesMatter “win” — oh, yeah, save embarrassing moments for presidential candidates suddenly forced to rescript already scripted messaging. Yet, embarrassing moments and taped rants that go viral don’t necessarily mean group empowerment. It’s all momentary face-saving and low hanging fruit. Calibrating a talking point can be briefly fulfilling, but is the candidate really in your pocket? Sure, those moments are currently forcing folks on both sides to not forget about black voters, but the jury is still out on whether that’s forced any significant realignment on the issues beyond mere wedgie-inspired statements that “yes, OK, OK, you got me, stop, it hurts … Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter!”

 

But, what’s the policy pledge beyond that? Is anyone saying they’ll push or sign a law that forces rigorous national policing standards or demands totally enforced federal tracking of police brutality or gives real teeth to Justice Department audits of state and local agencies? And what’s the plan to combat linked issues such as crumbling schools, high poverty and systemic housing segregation once they get elected?

 

With one known national weekend convention in Cleveland under its belt, there is no real sense of what the big plan or mission is. When you ask, organizers are unresponsive. Some are outright dismissive: either you’re in or you’re out (a strange feed-the-crowd mindset for any social justice movement pushing for universal equity, fairness and transparency). Keep inquiring or offering insight on the essential political mechanics, and it becomes a generational shutdown (that’s “old school”) or visceral the-system-can-kiss-my-ass anarchy (“we tried that already” when, um, sorry, no, you really didn’t). Or, ask more and you are slowing down momentum and attempting to dismantle the cause, even if the questions are coming from a good place.

 

But these are important questions; decisive questions that will determine if it’s a one-hit wonder like its Occupy Wall Street cousin or whether it can really last. Will there be a sophisticated, multi-state voter registration and mobilization campaign in 2016? Is there a robust national political action committee in the works? Are you relying on conditional grants or are you raising the kind of grassroots money that makes public officials – and the law enforcement bosses they hire or approve – wet their bed at night when they think about it?

 

Graduate students from Yale University and the University of California, Berkeley recently conducted the first “randomized’ field study that showed what we sort of knew all along: “money equals access to candidates.” So, what’s your government relations or lobbying effort on Capitol Hill since, with Republicans controlling both chambers of Congress, lots of bills are being introduced but not much has passed (well, you’ve got the feds tracking police shooting data now, but what good is that if loosely enforced?). Several senators ban together on legislation in response to Cecil the Lion’s death — including one of only two black members of the Senate — and you’re wondering why they haven’t pushed anything yet on #BlackLivesMatter?

 

People might be talking about #BlackLivesMatter. But do candidates, policymakers and influencers really fear it? If not, you’ll still find yourselves frustrated and faced with the same issues and the same folks in power with no change of guard or policy in sight.

The fact that there were black folks on social media who were upset because‪#‎BlackLivesMatter‬ wasn’t acknowledged at the GOP debate, on FOX News – I repeat, on FOX News – made me laugh really hard. Like, really hard. I mean, it’s FOX News! They practically lynch black people on live television over there, for fuck sake. Okay, so I’m only kidding; but just a little.

Some were even more upset that the name Tamir Rice wasn’t even mentioned, although the debate was held in the very city where he was killed by a police officer. Which is really a joke when you think about the fact that Cleveland, Ohio is a blue collar working city long ignored by the Republican party since its industrial manufacturing heyday. Tamir Rice? Are you kidding me?

Hell, thanks to Republicans in congress, we can’t even get a jobs bill to land on the desk of President Barack Obama that would surely bring joy to the many unemployed black people in America. But yet y’all are upset that a bunch of REPUBLICAN candidates running to become president of these United States had the gall to ignore the lives of black folk?

Newsflash: It’s the Republican party! They haven’t given a damn about black people since the cause was ending slavery. And, this was at a time when the GOP was largely a party of northerners before realignment after the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. But hey, perhaps the cause is better served by tweets of righteous indignation, rather than crafting and advancing real policy positions for which we can hold elected officials accountable. But, of course, it’s a lot easier to sit around waiting around for that hope and change will magically rain down upon us from the White House before Obama leaves office. You know, anything that’s not like actual work to build political influence outside of the silly hashtag that issues an ultimatum to the Democrats.

Yeah, good luck with that…

And while you’re doing just that, do remember that it is the Republican party leadership that’s trying their damnedest to make it harder for people of color – and black people in particular – to cast votes. Oh well, I suppose black lives do matter after all.

The post GOP Debate Gave “No Fucks” About #BlackLivesMatter appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Yes, he lied.

It could be argued that Sandra Bland would still be alive if she was never arrested. Which, may be a natural stance for one to take. But again, for now, the focus should be on the violation of her rights; and, it should be used as a teachable moment. Why? Because if we continue to walk away from these stories without learning anything – other than that some cops lie – then I’d say that we’ll forever be in trouble.

Look, it’s important to know your rights. Equally as important is knowing how to articulate and exercise your rights in any encounter or exchange with law enforcement. That should be the only thing that comes out of your mouth in situations when you encounter the police. How or the manner by which you choose to do so is totally up to you. However, I would advise anyone reading this to do so in a calm and respectful manner. Not that to do so will determine whether you’re arrested or not. But, nonetheless, let’s just say that doing so helps to make what for many exists as a very tense situation with much suspicion and implicit biases on both sides of the fence.

This may sound like victim-blaming, but it isn’t. That is unless you’re content to walk away not learning tools that could be the difference between life and death. And, I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of seeing this stuff in the media without the proper discussion of the rights of citizens involved in police encounters. Which is sad, because you shouldn’t have to be a card-carrying member of the ACLU to understand.

And, if this bothers you like it does me, just imagine how many times similar situations play out across the country without ever making the news. Sandra Bland being dead of an apparent suicide should not be yet another one of those squandered moments.

We can march and protest all we like until our feet fall off. But, until we start teaching people that they have a constitutional right to never talk to the police – yes, it’s called the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution – or, answer questions from police officers without an attorney present. Then and only then can we have conversations about police accountability without having silly debates about the behavior of citizens like Sandra Bland, over whether it contributed to her demise when the issue happens to be overzealous lying ass cops with a penchant for abusing their authority.

To be honest, Sandra Bland’s “attitude” didn’t lead to her demise. Instead, it was her failure to follow a lawful command per the 1977 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Pennsylvania v. Mimms to exit her car that as probable cause for her arrest. Yes, Sandra Bland had every right to voice her displeasure with the officer in whatever manner prior to being ordered to exit her car. But make no mistake, though it may be hard to say amid all the noise, that’s the reason Sandra Bland was arrested.

Her arrest had nothing to do with her refusal to put out her cigarette when she was asked by the officer. And yes, she was asked and not commanded to put out her cigarette. The officer made a request, and she was within her right, at that point, to refuse to acquiesce. To some this may have seemed like a big no, but it isn’t.

Having said hat, as a person of color, I’d be remiss if I didn’t emphasize the importance of not talking to the police, or answering any of their questions. It’s important to allow them to do their jobs while keeping your mouth shut during a traffic stop except to ask, “Am I being detained, or am I free to go?” If you feel the need to challenge the conduct and actions of an officer, you’re better off doing it by filing a complaint with his superiors – or even filing a lawsuit – rather than having an argument about it in the street. Nine times out of ten, should you choose to do the later, you will lose.

Because there will not always be someone with a camera-phone or even a working police body cam around it’s important to keep the following tips in mind:

• Always keep your hands where they can be seen – make no sudden moves
• Never completely roll your window down
• If asked to exit your car, be sure to lock your doors after doing so
• Do not consent to a search – they have to ask you
• Most importantly, keep your mouth shut

Moving along…

By now I’m sure you’ve seen the video of Sam DuBose being killed by a University of Cincinnati police officer, Ray Tersing. As was the case in the murder of Walter Scott in South Carolina, thanks to video evidence, we now know that like the officer, in that case, this officer has also lied about the incident. What we also know is that at least two other officers on the scene have also lied under oath to a grand jury.

Thankfully, as I mentioned, because of video evidence, the truth of this incident is out. Without it, it would have been easy to sweep the death of Sam DuBose under the rug. Without video evidence, Sam DuBose would have been just another thug who had to be killed because he posed an imminent threat to the life of a police officer.

Because of video, we now know that the officer lied.

Additionally, we can see clearly – thanks to the video – that Sam DuBose didn’t have an “attitude”, nor was he belligerent when he communicated with the officer. So yes, because of this, it can be argued that whether or not one gives a cop “attitude” like Sandra Bland, for people of color the outcome always seems to b the same. That would be, that we’ll always end up dead or in jail. It’s a rather cynical position, to be sure.

However, it is for this very reason why a change in policy beyond the use of body cams is necessary. Without the appointment of citizen review boards with full subpoena powers, there’d be no oversight and accountability.

And, of course, we cannot afford to have situations like the ongoing extra-judicial execution of citizens of any color, by the police, to continue. At some point, the change we seek has to go beyond angry social media outbursts, and disruptions by protestors in public spaces. It’s one thing to get the attention of the world if only for a moment.

However, it’s another thing to propose specific policy positions, for which we can hold the feet of politicians on the state and local level to the fire.Without it, there’ll be more stories like these for the media to pimp for profit; and for bloggers like myself to write about. Frankly speaking, I’m sick of it all. The silly conspiracy theories about dead people in mugshots. The debates about personal responsibility. The fight over whether the killing of an African lion is more important than that of cops killing black people.

Yes, I’m fucking sick of it all.

Now watch the following video and learn something:

The post Sandra Bland and Sam DuBose: Two Different Outcomes appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Yet, her death was ruled a suicide. And by suicide, I mean right after the police manhandled her for a minor traffic offense and put her in jail. And I’m not saying she didn’t commit suicide. What I’m saying is that situations like this is all too common.

Meanwhile, the man that took the video of the incident was told to leave. And then there is this info to ponder:

A statement released by law firm representing Bland’s family reads, “The family of Sandra Bland is confident that she was killed and did not commit suicide. The family has retained counsel to investigate Sandy’s death.” A relative has asked Twitter users to use the hashtag #JusticeForSandra “so that our family cam get justice for her.”

Waller County District Attorney Elton Mathis has acknowledged the concerns of those who say she would not have committed suicide and suspect that her death involved foul play by law enforcement authorities.

“I will admit it is strange someone who had everything going for her would have taken her own life,” he told NBC station KPRC in Houston. “That’s why it’s very important a thorough investigation is done and that we get a good picture of what Ms. Bland was going through the last four or five days of her life. [1]

From the video and the accounts from her friends and family, there is something terribly wrong. Still, this isn’t some random event. Black female demonization is becoming the norm.

Sandra Bland and Other Black Female Victims

The bigger problem isn’t that Sandra Bland dies mysteriously from a suicide that made no sense for her commit. Nor is the bigger problem of some type of mental health issues going undiagnosed. The bigger problem, from my standpoint, is Sandra Bland isn’t alone. The bigger problem is that Sandra Bland is another name to add to the long list of Black females that have died in confrontations with the police.

Let me rattle off some names:

Gabriella Navarez, Aura Rosser, Michelle Cusseaux, Tanisha Anderson, Alexia Christian, Meagan Hockaday, Miriam Carey, Janisha Fonville, Natasha McKenna, Sheneque Proctor, and Kindra Chapman.

All of them died from some sort of confrontation with the police. A few of them actually died in police custody while in jail (for whatever reason deserving or not). All of these situations have one thing in common: police incompetence.

Sandra Bland Should Be At Work Today

All of this brings about one simple conclusion: Sandra Bland should be alive today. Whether she did commit suicide is something I cannot answer. However, a lot of this situation could have been alleviated if the police handled their business a lot better. Then again, this is just another added life to the laundry list of Black females that die within police custody. It remains to be seen how all of this plays out within the history of Black female demonization.

[Originally posted at Chocolate Covered Lies]

The post Sandra Bland and Black Female Demonization appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Yet, when famous people disagree, it seems that much worse. Maybe it’s the fact that millions are going to see it. Or, it could have to do with the fact that many expect a lot of them to be much smarter. In any case, there are times where people in the spotlight show just how damning their words can be.

Don’t believe me? Let me show you two case examples.

Exhibit A: #BlackLivesMatter confused by Raven Symone

This isn’t surprising to see coming from Raven Symone. She is the epitome of “black woman disagreeing for the sake of playing devil’s advocate”. Oh, and I was putting that nicely. There are times where I think she is completely clueless or trying too hard to be profound. Other times, I just think that her paychecks play a part in the fallacies she play into. Whatever works for her ego or pocket book, I suppose.

Let me get into where she disagreed with #blacklivesmatter:

“I understand what the ‘Black Lives Matter’ hashtag means. It came in conjunction with everything that was going on with the police in Ferguson. You have to be sensitive in that statement, but he is right, all lives matter… I think you have to open yourself up. It should be all lives matter.” [1]

This comment was in response to her defending the Democratic presidential candidateMartin O’Malley. He stated that “All Lives Matter” during the discussion of police brutalityagainst Black people at a rally. He was met with boos. And rightfully so: would you announce “all rapes matter!” at a forum for healing female rape victims? Exactly.

Exhibit B: Stephen A. Smith vs. #Blacklivesmatter

Now, Stephen A. Smith is another situation altogether. He just doesn’t care what people feel about his opinion. As stubborn and bullheaded as he is, Smith still has some common sense about him. Yet, when it comes to #blacklivesmatter, it doesn’t seem that common sense stayed the common denominator for his words.

Okay, Stephen A. Smith. I understand where YOU are coming from as well.

No More #Blacklivesmatter Exhibits

Alright, I’m going to break this down for those that have very little understanding of what #Blacklivesmatter means and why Raven Symone and Stephen A Smith are full of shit. So, let’s get to it.

#Blacklivesmatter = in life, black lives should matter to everyone. This is not to excuse other races. However, Black people tend to go through a lot of things that make it seem like our lives are meaningless. Especially in situations where we are at the prey of powers that are over us, black people are people just like everyone else. So please, just treat us like soul vessels that you would want to be treated as. Sounds fair, right?

#Alllivesmatter = everyone should be treated fairly no matter what their race, creed, sexual preference, gender, age, or whatever it is that would separate them from the greater majority may be. People have rights. People should actually be able to exercise those rights like politicians exercise their jaw muscles. No one should be greater than the other.

All explanations aside, Raven Symone doesn’t understand that Black people are having too many issues with reminding the world that WE ARE PEOPLE. Of course #alllivesmatter. However, people say #blacklivesmatter because it seems that so many of us forget that fact. And this is truly a problem when those that are here “to protect us” typically want to regard us as less than human.

So, yeah: Raven Symone can have a seat. I will be her personal usher.

Stephen A. Smith is off because he is playing the respectability politics game. You see, he wants to make “being black” synonymous with “people killing each other”. What he, and many others tend to miss, is that crime is about proximity. Thus, most crime is going to be intraracial. So, people tend to commit crimes against people they deal with. Since Americais pretty segregated, that should explain the high percentage of “race on race crime”.

To be serious, if people want “black on black crime” to decrease then there have to be certain measures taken to mitigate the crime. Or, Black people can start committing crimes against other races. Pick which one you want.

#Blacklivesmatter like #Alllivesmatter

If he can’t see between the lines with that one, then I can’t help Smith. Nor can I help anybody else that feels the need to mention “black on black crime”. Everyone should have an issue with people to mistreat Blacks. Personally, I would hope that people would understand this. However, they don’t. Sadly, I bet someone will read all of this and give some type of rebuttal.

Oh, well. #Blacklivesmatter just like #Alllivesmatter.

[Originally posted at Chocolate Covered Lies]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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.

Second, wait until any protests begin while hinting that a riot will come.

Third, cover the protests objectively at first, also while hinting that a riot will come.

Fourth, there will likely be some rioting going on, mostly by outsiders. If so, focus your coverage on the violence most of the time. The public will interpret it as a massive riot if more coverage is given. While doing so, refer to the rioters as looters and thugs and make them the focus of your news coverage. That way, the public will assume the color of those people and will conclude those people are black so that negative stereotypes will arise.

Fifth, have on-the-ground reporters cover most of the violence as opposed to the actual peaceful movements that greatly outweigh the violence. Have them interview certain people, mostly leaders of the protests, and ask them the wrong questions to make them seem a little insane depending on their responses.

Sixth, never report on the why’s. The origins are not important in sensationalizing a protest for ratings gold. Also, never report on why certain protesters have become violent, especially if the cause is racism.

Seven, and this is especially useful if you’re from a conservative media base, report any instances of black-on-white violence. If there are none, make them up. Use pictures if necessary. Cover those incidences, real or made-up, intensely as if it is a widespread epidemic. Have a ‘race war’ slant added to it.

Eight, report on any government actions such as sanctions and curfews to make it seem like the violence is out of control and that things will be in order even though more oppression will be implemented on the people.

Nine, never do the same if white people riot over a ballgame. Cast them in a more positive light. Never refer to them as ‘thugs’ or ‘animals’. And, above all else, make sure the story gets very little coverage. Make it seem that it doesn’t happen quite often and that it’s not as dangerous as when black people riot.

Ten, never, ever report on any positive moments during the protests. If need be, make it is one giant clusterfuck of nonsense and chaos that shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Try to make black people seem like the bad guys when coverage the protests, and you will have the perfect mainstream news coverage that will further destroy race relations in America!

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