Friday, July 31, 2015

JUST MERCY: Broad Green Pictures lands actor MICHAEL B JORDAN

Broad Green Pictures recently got Michael B Jordan to agree to star in the movie "JUST MERCY" based on the best selling book of the same name.

Michael B Jordan Will Star In "JUST MERCY" 

This is fictional book takes you inside the system that destroyed Sandra Bland, Kalief Browder, and Natasha McKenna. The book helps you experience what it's like to be inside a system where the erroneous accusation of stealing a backpack at 16 (Kalief Browder) can put you in jail; solitary confinement to protect you from guards and prisoners beating you up; and then a suicidal frame of mind.  

And now a movie is being made of the book.
"The author of the best selling book, Bryan Stevenson, is an attorney with the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, an organization that offers free legal services to the poor.Presumptions of guilt, poverty, racial bias, and a host of other social, structural, and political dynamics have created a system that is defined by error, a system in which thousands of innocent people now suffer in prison." 

 


MICHAEL B JORDAN
  "Fruitville Station" The Oscar Grant Story
  "Fantastic Four" (In Theaters Soon!)

READ MORE:  http://variety.com/2015/film/news/broad-green-pictures-michael-b-jordan-short-term-12-director-1201537808/

Thursday, July 30, 2015

A WHITE SAVIOR UNDONE: ATTICUS FINCH



TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD author Harper Lee has written a new, highly anticipated book called GO SET A WATCHMAN after all these decades. Apparently, the white folk who love her because of her character "Atticus Finch" are maaad. 


Feeling Rebloggy
Harper Lee might be the most honest (or craftiest) white person who has ever lived in United States in regard to telling the truth about anti-black racism and about Whiteness in the country.


...Lee's latest novel, GO SET A WATCHMAN, have...many folks GAGGING. Because Lee merely reiterates the point so many missed in MOCKINGBIRD, only this time she makes it impossible to misinterpret.

You should see the comments sections all over the Internet.

There's so much "mad" you could power the entire world for year if you could find a way to harness the angry energy.

Americans don't like mirrors. And they'd risk the seven years of bad luck breaking them just to avoid looking into them.

Son Of Baldwin

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE OF THIS INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW  


Wednesday, July 29, 2015

SANDRA BLAND MURAL DEFACED

....IN LESS THAN 24 HOURS



ALL LIVES MATTER SUPPORTERS ARE systemic racism ignore-ers which in turn makes them systemic racism perpetrators

What "they" say doesn't matter.


What "they" believe matters.

And what "they" believe is shown by what they do.

And the extreme arm defaces what "they" all hate.

And what "they" hate is all talk of race and racism, which includes trying to address the inequalities which "they" refuse to acknowledge as existing.

And these "All Lives Matter" haters come in all shades and ethnicities.  Don't get confused by a little or a lot of melanin.
 

SAM DUBOSE: OFFICER THAT KILLED HIM FOR DRIVING WHILE BLACK IS CHARGED WITH MURDER


“[Tensing] wasn’t dealing with someone wanted for murder. He was dealing with someone without a front license plate,” Deters said, describing that offense as “chicken crap stuff.”

Reblog:
V
ideo from the officer’s body camera shows a routine traffic stop turning suddenly violent when DuBose leans toward the passenger seat and turns his ignition key, starting the car. Tensing then reaches into the car with one hand and, with the other, fires a single shot into DuBose’s head.

DuBose did not appear to be belligerent or aggressive toward the officer before the shot was fired, though his lawyer said Tensing feared he would be run over.

Tensing, 25, faces 15 years to life in prison if he’s convicted.

                                                                                     Cincinnati.com
READ MORE
http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2015/07/29/publish/30830777/


WARNING: VIDEO OF THE MURDER HERE  


http://www.vibe.com/2015/07/sam-dubose-video-officer-charged-murder/


MOMENT OF MURDER BLURRED IN VIDEO BELOW



BLACK LIVES MATTER IN CANADA


Feeling Rebloggy 
Hundreds of protesters shut down a portion of Allen Rd. for nearly two hours Monday evening to call for justice in the cases of two local black men killed by police in the past year.


The protest, organized by Black Lives Matter Toronto, started as a “day of action” rally around 5 p.m. at Eglinton Gilbert Parkette. The parkette, near Eglinton Ave. W. and Caledonia Rd., is steps from the building where Andrew Loku, a 45-year-old man from South Sudan, was fatally shot by Toronto police in early July....

Protesters also expressed solidarity for Sandra Bland, a black woman arrested during a traffic stop in Texas and found dead in her jail cell three days later of an apparent suicide.


The Star


READ MOREhttp://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/07/27/black-lives-matter-protesters-shut-down-allen-rd.html

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

The Other Thin Blue Line: OFF DUTY BLACK COPS ARE AFRAID OF WHITE OFFICERS

Feeling Rebloggy 
All but one  [of the officers interviewed] said that, when off duty and out of uniform, they had been victims of racial profiling, which refers to using race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed a crime.

 The officers [interviewed] said this included being pulled over for no reason, having their heads slammed against their cars, getting guns brandished in their faces, being thrown into prison vans and experiencing stop and frisks while shopping. The majority of the officers said they had been pulled over multiple times while driving. Five had had guns pulled on them.

Reuters interviewed [a total] of 25 African American male officers on the NYPD, 15 of whom are retired and 10 of whom are still serving
Reuters 

Read More/See Video
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/23/us-usa-police-nypd-race-insight-idUSKBN0K11EV20141223 

Monday, July 27, 2015

OWNERSHIP OF BLACK WOMEN'S BODIES AS MEASURED BY 3 TV SERIES






OWNERSHIP OF BLACK WOMEN'S BODIES AS MEASURED BY 3 TV SERIES
Feeling ReBlOGGY
WHAT CAN BE GAUGED
BY THE RESPONSE TO
- SCANDAL 
- HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER
- EMPIRE

SCANDAL:

...Olivia Pope is a fictional character, a Black woman, who was not of a certain hue, who is portrayed as not only the show’s lead, but an intelligent, educated, sharp, beautiful, and desirable woman, who was (the last few episodes hint to the fact that it may not be over) involved in an extramarital and interracial affair with a United States President; was met with a plethora of insults. She was a slave, a bed warmer, race traitor, White man’s whore, and was seen as despicable....


EMPIRE: The response to Cookie Lyons, portrayed by Taraji P. Henson has been completely different than the response to Olivia Pope...

She gave birth to three sons for a man, and hustled–dealing drugs to help provide for him, and to help him jump-start his music career; and she eventually did 17 years in prison for him, 17 long years where he essentially abandoned her, leaving her youngest child, who was a baby when she was imprisoned....

No, Luscious did not bother to take Lil’ Hakeem on trips to visit with his mother. Where Luscious was the only man that she had sex with before going to prison...and still the man was not staying in touch and putting anything on her commissary!  Even after all of this, she still loves Luscious, and still let him back inside of her — literally.
Cookie is accepted and loved, because she was/is willing to continue a legacy of Black women suffering and putting themselves last...
HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER...

Read More: 
http://www.blackwomenunchecked.com/ownership-black-womens-bodies-can-gauged-response-scandal-get-away-murder-empire/

Sunday, July 26, 2015

TULSA STATE SENATE MAKES TEACHING BLACK WALL STREET MANDATORY

Senate Bill 1381 by Sen. Judy Eason McIntyre, D-Tulsa, and Rep. Jabar Shumate, D-Tulsa, passed by a vote of 33-6 and now heads to the House.
"School districts shall ensure that information concerning the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 is presented in high school courses in U.S. history or Oklahoma history," the bill states.
The measure would be effective July 1. McIntyre said no cost would be associated with it.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/government/senate-passes-bill-requiring-teaching-of-tulsa-race-riot-history/article_a50233b4-64b8-5520-ab81-6472c493a2c1.html#.VaCKTwz4mfs.facebook

The silver lining in some of the highly visible murders of black people is that identifying them as a white generated race problem makes it more blatant to white people that more black history needs to be taught to white children.

Dylann Roof is a prime example of what can happen when race based ignorance finally gets to the extremist in their midst.

I am glad the these two Black Americans that wrote the Bill were able to get this through their Senate.

May the idea of telling the true tale of Black American History spread across the nation.

Saturday, July 25, 2015

SANDRA BLAND'S FUNERAL TODAY


 I read a rumor that her mother requested an image with a candle and hashtags on social media today, in honor of her daughter, Sandra Bland.

Sandra Bland was a black woman, an activist, and seemed to be a profoundly empathetic human being. She was only 28 years old. She is dead due police brutality, a man in uniform abusing his authority under colors on the streets of Waller, Texas.

 We cannot let her death be in vain. 

Friday, July 24, 2015

BLACK ACTRESS EPISODE 7 - Jennifer Lewis




30 SECONDS WITH A REAL ACTRESS: JENNIFER LEWIS

EPISODE 7:  In the season finale, all of Kori's problems come to a final head and she sees what the problem has been the entire time.

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Movie About Barack and Michelle's First Date: SOUTHSIDE WITH YOU

Feeling Rebloggy 
Here are the first images from Southside With You, a film inspired by the first date of future First Couple Barack Obama and Michelle Obama. 
Written by Richard Tanne, who also is making his directorial debut, the feature takes place in summer 1989 in Chicago, where the young associate (Parker Sawyers) woos his Michelle Robinson (Tika Sumpter) in a romantic dramedy about the couple’s early romantic encounters.

The eventful day took them from the Chicago Art Institute to a screening of Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing to the eventual first kiss, which occurred outside of an ice cream parlor (cue the “awws”).

More photos
http://variety.com/2015/film/news/photo-obama-southside-with-you-first-date-movie-1201538997/

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

BED TIME STORY FOR BLACK FOLK: How Black Skin In The White House Devoured The Republican Party

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, both, have been a lot bolder when speaking on race in his second term. He was even frank enough to use n-word when discussing race.  I think it's obvious he's not trying beg the republicans into bipartisanship anymore. President Obama, in my not so humble opinion, tried "negotiating" with the republicans way too long during the first term--even if it was to guarantee re-election. And I was quite aggravated after his first 6 - 9 months in office. But what do I know? I NEVAAAH thought he'd be elected twice)

Michelle? She even talked about the racism she and Barack endured on their way to the White House and while in the White House. And I didn't think I'd hear THAT story until she and Barack were out of office for a year or two. (That speech was awesome, by the way. Listen to it here:  http://thankherforsurviving.blogspot.com/2015/05/michelle-obama-tells-truth-about-racism.html)


Last week, President Obama told the NAACP that he has bipartisan support for Criminal Justice Reform. Even the way he said the words "bipartisan support" was different from the way he used to say them. The President mentioned "bipartisan support" like the republicans will come along for the ride or they won't.  And he's been moving without them already. He's been using his presidential power to  grant clemency to non-violent drug offenders. He's released a total of 89 non-violent drug offenders so far. He's simply not Mr. Nice Guy begging for support like he was the first few months of his first term.

Apparently, he lived and he learned.


Some folk are extremely critical of what's happened with "race relations" for various conflicting reasons that make little or no sense to me.



Chris Rock is right, of course. 

It seems worse to white people because, post-Trayvon, we've had Black Lives Matter around to bring cases to the nation's attention (so long as the victims are black and male.) Before Black Lives Matter, Freddie Gray might have died without anybody but a few scattered activists knowing his name. Now, there's a huge protest that lasts for days. Once those selling news figured out black death makes money, some news outlets seemed to start trying to get some outrage going on their own, reporting *the black, unarmed, and dead by white cop* every chance they got.

In other words, it seems worse to white people (and some black folk too) because black death used to be so local and relatively silent. 


Please note, from where I sit, the black internet leads the press. Now, we have more connection to one another through social media. And that has translated into the power, the power TO FORCE mainstream news to pay attention to black deaths.

In other words, we have Black Twitter.  The Los Angeles Times has even hired a Black Twitter Writer for their news paper.

Yes, because of fluctuating news coverage, it's hard to tell how much race relations have gotten worse. So much was going on in 1960s, 70s, 80s, and 90s that wasn't reported unless white police officers just happened to go crazy on somebody black or brown in front of news camera in those pre-cell phone camera days. Even if the police officer did act up on camera in the late 20th century, the incident might only be reported in "Emerge" Magazine.

On the other hand, I was totally expecting white racism to go buck wild when our first black president was elected. Most black folk were. Black people in the white house without the Prez saying or doing  A N Y T H I N G was enough to guarantee the white racists would be jumping up and down like popcorn on an open skillet. Most of us know it's no accident that the Tea Party went from some ignorant fringe group to a political movement strong enough to turn the previously, super organized republican party into a scrambled mess. (<---Didn't see that coming)

Honest to gaaawd, before and after the Clinton years I thought the democrats would be a disorganized mess forever. I thought the super-organized republicans would always be in control of the white house, congress, and the supreme court. After all, they got that rock head elected as president twice.

And I thought I understood why the republicans were destined to always win too.


Democrats are the party of "yes" and "change" (at a glacial rate) And there are 100 ways to say "yes." So there's always a bit of a mess when there are 100 ideas about doing one thing and you try to move forward. Conservatives, the republicans? They always want to say "no" and keep the status quo.  "No" is narrow. Therefore, "no" was always organized and seeming to speak with one voice.

But then there was this economic downturn in 2007. People start shouting "recession" and whispering "depression" Then BOOM!  All of a sudden it happened!!!  The white people got so scared of the coming depression that they'd vote for anybody who might save their houses, their banks, and free credit up again, even if the best guy for the job turned out to be black. My jaw dropped to ground and stayed there for months the day Barack Obama won the primary in Iowa.

Then, I blinked again and there was this black dude in the White House.  After a little while I understood why this came to pass:


Tuesday, July 21, 2015

BILL INTRODUCED TO TRACK ALL POLICE SHOOTINGS/ IN THE MEANTIME THERE'S GOOGLE NEWS



Feeling Rebloggy
A new bill aims to increase police accountability by requiring states to report all shootings by police officers to the Justice Department. 
The bill, introduced Tuesday by two Democratic senators, Barbara Boxer of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey, would cover both fatal and non-fatal shootings by police, as well as other instances of police using deadly force, the senators announced.
Time


READ MORE
http://time.com/3905617/senate-bill-police-accountability/


In the meantime Google News is getting better at tracking police shootings.


Feeling Rebloggy 

According to the Washington Post, 466 people have been killed by cops this year. The Guardian, which is also keeping track of police killings through it’s own database, has tallied 568. 
(A quick note: one reason why the The Guardian’s count is higher than The Post’s is because it counts all police killings, not just shootings....)
The Post and The Guardian are relying on Fatal Encounters and Killed By Police, two independent websites that track police shootings, to compile their databases, according to The Marshall Project. Those websites are using Google News, which allows users to set up custom searches of news topics and email those findings via “alerts...”

[However, the] media isn’t a reliable counter of police shootings because, well, it isn’t their job. And there is a chance that local media aren’t covering every shooting, either...
-Alternet.com 

READ MORE

http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/google-news-better-collecting-data-cop-killings-fbi

Sunday, July 19, 2015

IF I DIE IN POLICE CUSTODY...



SPEND 10X AS MUCH TIME ON A NATIONWIDE CHANGE TO OUR CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM AS YOU DO ON MY INDIVIDUAL DEATH...ESPECIALLY IF I GET NATIONAL NEWS COVERAGE


According the video link below and police led rumors on the  contents of the dash cam video, deficiencies have been observed in the handling of Sandra Bland. "Deficiencies" What a word to use? She's dead.

Clearly, police departments in this country need some sort of national oversight. Every citizen in this country needs to be able to see what they are doing to whom and make them answer for it. And we need to be able to see the patterns of abuse.

Driving While Black, for example, has a perfectly predictable pattern.  The black person is stopped for a traffic violation that is almost nothing. The white police officer assumes correctly that he or she can manhandle a black person for kicks or for having the audacity to back talk one of  massa's descendants or worse one of massa- wannabe- descendants.


ON "RESISTING ARREST," "ASSAULTING A POLICE OFFICER,"  AND KEEPING ONE'S HANDS TO ONE'S SELF
Police, not even the ones in Texas, should not be able to arrest people for "back talk" then call it "resisting arrest"  and "assaulting a police officer" when the person reacts with horror and shock.  

Eric Casebolt tried this with Dejerrica Becton (McKinney Pool Party) and the two teenagers who ran up to help her. This is something Casebolt would have been 100% successful in getting away with if he hadn't pulled his gun on a cell phone video. ( If Casebolt's not working at a new police department this year, I'll bet he will be within two or three years.)

It seems obvious to me that if a cop doesn't produce a solid charge that precedes "resisting arrest," he or she is abusing his authority to harass a citizen.  And if the charge that precedes "resisting arrest" is going to be "assaulting of a police officer" then the police officer should have to prove the citizen assaulted him or her ---BEFORE the citizen was touched in any way.

This might not be easy in all situations, but it is perfectly do-able in the traffic stop situation. Tell the person they are going to be arrested and step out of the car. If they hit the officer in the process, that's "assault of a police officer"

When you yank someone around and they struggle just before you say "you're under arrest," the part before the words? That's called "resisting assault" even if you're wearing a uniform.

And when I say a police officer needs proof of "assaulting an officer," I mean body camera or dash cam proof. Any cell phone video the police want, they should request a copy of it from an independent body like the ACLU. They can watch and/or help the citizen send the video to the ACLU.  There's an app for that.

And if the person originally stopped for something as minor as jaywalking or a turning signal violation does not have a record that includes violence or a documented history of mental illness that includes violence, there should be an investigation by some organization that lies outside the state.  That is, common sense says that anybody arrested for assault and resisting arrest should have a charge worthy of assault and resisting arrest for.

Sandra Bland's lane change without a signal wouldn't be one of those charges.

Contrary to how we're being treated, black skin is not synonymous with violent insanity.  That was the unofficial verdict in Mike Brown's case, right?  He just went crazy during a jay walking stop and punched Darren Wilson for no reason.  This is the unofficial verdict that's being pushed in Sandra Bland's case as well.   One of the reasons this bill of goods is able to be sold over and over again is because we don't have a national agency to govern our police departments.

A national agency would be able to have a mission statement (?) that makes it clear that the person with the most responsibility for what goes wrong in these minor law violations will always be assumed to be the person with all the authority, the police officer.  As a result of this mental shift, when there is a disparity between the law violated (turning signal) and resulting behavior (assault an officer and resisting arrest) there should be a requirement that a report be to be filed.

And while a preliminary paper investigation based on such a report took place, that officer should have to give up all his weapons (service and home weapons) and be put on desk duty until the paper investigation comes to a conclusion or is escalated.

When the investigation takes more than two weeks, the officer should be put on leave without pay.

If an officer is investigated two or three times for minor violations that turn into a unjustifiable knee on the neck arrests or bullets fired, there should be loss of job, some sort of suspended sentence charge that results in the permanent loss of  his or second amendment rights.

If there are immediate consequences for a ridiculous escalation of violence and the officers knows they bear the burden of proof within this new systems, then police officers will be the ones that want the body cameras and dash cams to be a nationwide requirement.

These are the non-racial steps we need to take to ensure that the person with the most authority is the most at fault for situations that escalate from turning signal violation to "resisting arrest"   We can make it a given that there will be immediate consequences for stupidity and escalating violence while you are doing a job that requires you carry a gun.


If we already had this in place...

Driving While Black Assaults wouldn't be nonexistent. But they would be greatly reduced.

Mike Brown might still be here if Darren Wilson had known there would be consequences.

Sandra Bland might still be here, too.

Skip Gates would likely still be led out of his own home in handcuffs, but the officer abusing his authority would know he had one strike against him and two left to go before he lost his job.

We need to make a national organization happen. We need disparities between the initial non-violent law broken and a violent arrest to result in immediate consequences for police officers.



IN THE MEANTIME:

Saturday, July 18, 2015

SANDRA BLAND: DASH CAM WILL SHOW VIOLATIONS, GRAND JURY WILL BE CONVENED



"There were law enforcement violations during the traffic stop of a woman who ultimately was found dead inside a Waller County jail cell. That's according to a preliminary review by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
According to the DPS, authorities spotted violations of the department's procedures and courtesy policy in dash cam video showing a state trooper's interactions with Sandra Bland on July 10 in Prairie View
The deputy involved has been assigned administrative duties pending the outcome of an investigation."

Waller County District Attorney Elton Mathis said at a Friday afternoon press conference that Bland’s body was not discovered for up to 90 minutes. Under the commission’s guidelines, every inmate should be checked on hourly.... 
Mathis said he will take the case to a grand jury. The earliest that could happen, he said, would be in August.

Protests will continue:  “We believe she would have been here for us,” said the Rev. Hannah Bonner, “so we’re going to be here for her.”

LILA AND EVE hits MOVIE THEATERS TODAY


Preview in this link: http://thankherforsurviving.blogspot.com/2015/06/viola-davis-jennifer-lopez-are-lila-and.html   

President Obama First Sitting President To Visit Federal Prison


President Obama has followed up on his promise to visit a federal prison this week.



The President gave a brief speech during or after his visit with inmates at El Reno Federal Penitentiary in Oklahoma.  He repeated some of the same commitments and goals he talked about while speaking to the NAACP. He also talked about what some of the intimates said to him. Apparently inmates spoke about their own responsibilities for  being where they are; gratitude for the schooling they have available to them while in jail; and on what kinds of things might have stopped them from making wrong turns earlier on their life path.
* * * * *
As far as President Obama's criminal justice reform platform goes, restoring the right to vote to those who have paid their debt to society is one of the most important points to me. Taking into consideration the recidivism rate, maybe that right shouldn't be the restored the day you get out of prison. But you certainly shouldn't have to pay by losing your voting rights forever.

Wouldn't the people who have made mistakes and redeemed themselves have the most to offer as far as criminal justice reform goes? Many people who have been to prison do make contributions already. But if they were restored to full citizenship and seen as legitimate outside their neighborhoods, maybe one or two or twenty would rise to national prominence. Maybe those one, two, or twenty would be able to make broad sweeping changes that actually make sense.

Maybe those one, two, or twenty, feeling the faith of their nation behind them because their full citizenship is restored will have confidence enough to go back to school then cure cancer or invent ways to use green sources of energy much more slowly. There are people coming out of prison and doing these now. But there could be more if they didn't have to jump over hurdle after hurdle built by people who see them as lesser human beings.

Those of us who are black, have experienced something parallel if we didn't go to an all black school. A part of the brain and energy is spent dealing with unacknowledged racism of white people while in college. That extra energy is expended daily.  How much bigger does that extra expenditure of energy have to be if you are an ex-convict, with fewer citizenship rights, moving among people who don't see you as good, safe, or whole?

You and I, those who have not been swept up into the criminal justice system in any serious way, can only guess at some of the things that need to be fixed pre-jail, during jail, and after jail. Those that have been there know, don't they?  And I don't know about you, but I am especially interested in pre-jail, preventing people from becoming frustrated or hopeless or just going along to get along and winding up in jail.

 




Friday, July 17, 2015

WHY BLACK TWITTER IS BIGGER THAN ANY ONE STORY

Feeling Rebloggy
From July 16, 2015



"For the past 18 hours, many Twitter feeds have flooded with people who are feverishly trying to get #SandraBland to trend nationally. The hashtag was created to raise the public profile of an Illinois woman who was arrested in Texas during a routine traffic stop on July 10th, then found dead in a jail cell three days later. In the time it's taken for that effort to gain traction, her photo has circulated; a recent, informal video of her calling for citizens to record police misconduct has gained viewers; and people are tweeting at their most respected journalists, wondering when to expect their Sandra Bland reporting...."

The Los Angeles Times has hired a new Black Twitter reporter. His name is Dexter Thomas.

~ Rolling Stone Magazine


READ MORE
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/black-twitter-contains-multitudes-20150716

Thursday, July 16, 2015

SANDRA BLAND: PETITION THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TO TAKE OVER

THE INVESTIGATION OF BLAND'S DEATH FROM THE TEXAS RANGERS


"Bland's mysterious death has triggered Internet uproar and an online campaign petitioning the U.S. Department of Justice to take over the investigation from the Texas Rangers."

This seems absolutely critical to me. This woman was slammed to the ground so hard, her hit the ground so hard that she couldn't hear.  She was proactive on social media on the behalf of black people. It sounds to me like they flat murdered her. It's my opinion that we may never find out if we don't take the investigation out of Texas Ranger's or Texas ________'s hands.

Too much has happened to black people in that state over the decades for me to believe anything else.

Viola Davis & Jennifer Lopez are LILA AND EVE


IN THEATERS ON JULY 17TH
 
"I JUST WANT JUSTICE
 FOR THE ONES WHO TOOK MY SON."

"SO LET'S GET IT!"
LILA AND EVE
"YOU THINK I CARE 
ABOUT GETTING OUT ALIVE?"
Watch the trailer
It looks like this "Lila and Eve" performed well at Sundance. So far it's scheduled to be in theaters on July 17th. I'm gonna be there!

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

SANDRA BLAND DIES AFTER DRIVING WHILE BLACK STOP



What Happened To SANDRA BLAND?


Not long after landing a new job, whe was pulled over for a turn signal violation while changing lanes in Waller, Texas. She was arrested for resisting arrest. They put her in jail for 3 days.

And, now they're saying she committed suicide.






Video of arrest included

http://abc7chicago.com/news/road-trip-for-suburban-woman-ends-in-jailhouse-death/853139/

THE POWER OF SYMBOLS: BROOKES SLAVE SHIP INFOGRAPHIC & AMERICAN SWASTIKA

THE SYMBOL THAT WAS THE 1789 BROOKES SLAVE SHIP INFOGRAPHIC


"In 1789, 7,000 copies of the print of the slave ship ‘Brookes’ were printed by the Quaker printer James Phillips. Showing sections of the ship and the inhumane way in which slaves were stowed, this drawing and variations on it became one of the most iconic and shocking images of the movement.


Brookes Ship

"The diagram above, which visualizes an overcrowded slave ship, was an early example of graphic design that has the power of words.


If you had to compile a list of the most important infographics in the history of western civilization, this cutaway chart of the 18th-century Brooks slave ship would rank right up there with..."


-DATAVIZBLOG






http://datavizblog.com/2013/03/09/dataviz-history-the-slave-ship-chart-that-kindled-the-abolitionist-movement-1788/


Images and graphics are symbols that have power.


The Brookes Slave Ship Infographic was powerful tool in the abolitionist movement. If black people were the head of the spear that ended slavery then black people together with racial others were the shaft of that spear. And the people that made up the shaft of the spear came together thanks, in part, to the Brookes Slave Ship Infographic.

Flags are powerful symbols that draw people together, as well. That's why they are flown whenever and wherever men go to war.
(warning - war images https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz3sZiVAO0k)



AMERICAN SWASTIKA



That's why it was treasonous to our own anti-racism cause to let that confederate flag fly anywhere in this nation. That flag was made for a confederate army determined to keep us as slaves. The flags designer stated that this was so. Furthermore, that flag disappeared for decades. It was resurrected as a symbol of the hateful south as push back against the Civil Rights Movement.   The flag removed from the statehouse in South Carolina wasn't raised there until 1961 or 62.



Some black people do not believe it, but this country is ours too. The blood of my people is in the soil via the revolutionary war, the civil war, and 400 years of  formal and informal slavery too. We have more of a right to this country than most others here, in fact. Some of the structures our ancestors built still stand, including that White House the that so many Tea Party members are seething over because a black man resides within it.

And the wealth that is here? We built that too.
Texas
Dejerrica Becton, McKinney Pool Party
Police Brutality Against A Minor
Having our free labor for so very long gave the United States a financial leg up on damn near every other free country in this world.

It may not be good that we are the sole world power, but I claim this country for me and mine because we earned it. Don't let anybody brainwash you into believing different. This country is our country.
Florida
Trayvon Martin
Murder Justified By Stand Your Ground


And that white terrorist symbol that is the confederate flag shouldn't be allowed to fly anywhere on it. That confederate flag is an insult. And it still has power even now. 


Forget Dylann Foot. 
Florida
Marissa Alexander
Jailed For Standing Her Ground
Against Admitted Domestic Abuser


Did you know that, with the exception of May, it appears (from flawed data) that the unarmed black dead are disproportionaly killed in the south? Other than the New York/New Jersey area the rest of the unarmed, black dead are fairly evenly scattered across the country. 

Did you know that 8 out of 10 states with the most hate groups are also co-located where it's popular to fly that confederate flag a.k.a. "the South"? 
http://247wallst.com/special-report/2015/07/09/10-states-with-the-most-hate-groups/

Symbols are presented to communicate something. They stand in place of speeches given earlier, books written earlier, and dozens maybe even hundreds of ideas. They have power to inspire us toward good or evil. And 
I wouldn't be surprised if every last flag in this country has done both.

But the flag that we have not recovered(?) as being representative of our entire country, the one that does not represent our America, the one that represents the people that favored our continued enslavement and torture is gone.


VirginiaNatasha McKenna
Tasered To Death While Handcuffed
I'm more relieved than happy about this.

I believe that Bree Newsome's sacrifice will be more than symbolic in the future. I believe that Black Twitters #TakeItDown efforts will be as well. Getting that flag down will eventually be seen as one of a first few steps toward a true thriving freedom for all people of color.

It's up to all of us to keep it moving.



South Carolina
Walter Scott
Shot In The Back During A Traffic Stop



News Site Count of Those Killed By Policehttp://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2015/jun/01/the-counted-police-killings-us-database


Missouri (A Former Confederate State)Mike Brown
Shot MultipleTimes During A Jay Walking Beef
(Described as insane crazy n-word sans any proof of insanity)



All Racism Is Not Equal The Racists (Conscious or being one or not)
Who Hold This Symbol Close
Support Racist Extremists Who Kill Us
At A Higher Rate Of Speed