Tag Archives: Race

Urban Threshold Response to Guiliani

Rudy Giuliani caused a racial firestorm by stating that White cops are needed in Black communities because 93% of Blacks killed in America are killed by other Blacks. He is trying to justify the militarization of Black communities by perpetrating the same old racist fear tactic of the so called “Black Crime Menace.” The term “Black on Black Crime” is just a racist propaganda catch phrase used by the mainstream media to imply that Black people are inherently violent to ignore poverty and inequity. The fact is that crime is a matter of proximity and opportunity, so most crime is White-on-White, Black-on-Black, Brown-on-Brown, etc. Equally important, it must be noted that high crime rates have more to do with class than race. Crime has always been higher in poorer areas across all racial and ethnic lines. Furthermore, when one analyzes ”arrest records and conviction records” by race one must take into consideration the unfair Draconian Rockefeller drug laws. Additionally, Whites commit a large percentage of crime as well but it is not reported a lot in the media. In fact, the actual number of rapes, arsons, child molestation cases, bank robberies, etc are higher among whites. And the White on White murder rate is just as high at 87% according to FBI crime stats. The majority of the poor in America are White, thus most Whites don’t reside in the suburbs. Many of them live in poorer areas and trailer parks. In the last 7 years there has been a 127% increase in Meth addition in those poor White regions which has resulted in a huge spike in crime in those areas.  Since whites commit more crime numerically speaking, due to the fact that there are more whites in America, then shouldn’t those crimes be reflected daily in the general mainstream media. But on the contrary, the media only focuses mostly on so called “Black Crime” to paint the Black male as PUBLIC ENEMY #1. 

Only a very small percentage of the Black population participates in criminal activity. “In America, the perception is that crimes committed by White people are explained as deviations of the individual but have nothing to do with their race. However, crimes committed by Blacks or Latino’s are somehow attributed to the whole race,” states news columnist and political analyst Edward Whyckoff Williams. Furthermore, let’s break down inner city street crime beyond the so called stats. Most of the murders taking place in major cities like NYC and Chicago are gang related and drug related. It has nothing to do with race. Gang related crime has been a problem going all the way back to the 20′s, 30′s, 40′s, 50′s and 60′s. During those times the gangs were Irish, Italian, Jewish, Polish, etc. The murder rate among those gangs was very high. They were responsible for thousands of murders. In fact, the White gangs during those eras invented the whole concept of drive by shootings. The gangs of the past focused on robberies and burglaries. When the White gangs of the 20′s, 30′s, 40′s, 50′s and 60′s were slaughtering each other by the thousands, the media did not label it as “White on White Crime.” Instead, they classified it as “Gangland Crime.” Today, most of the street gangs are Black and Hispanic. They focus more on drug dealing and gun running as a way to finance their criminal enterprise. However, instead of isolating the gang menace, the mainstream media focuses on all black males as the face of crime. Hence, they label it as “Black on Black Crime” when it is really mostly “GANG RELATED and DRUG RELATED CRIME.” The system refuses to eradicate the gang problem because the gangs fuel the multi billion dollar Prison Industrial Complex by supplying it with a steady stream of 1st time and repeat offenders. The real problem with inner city crime is the Gang menace and not all Black males. 

The fact is that the vast majority of Black Americans are law abiding and hard working individuals. Since 2000, the disposable income of Black Americans has risen to an astounding $1.2 trillion dollars. (Just Research It). Black Americans have made great strides in the fields of science, invention, finance, etc. Just log on to http://www.BlackInventor.com and see the myriad of Black American Inventors and scientists who have changed the world. In fact, Black Americans run some of the biggest companies in America. Did you know that the CEO’s of the $24 Billion McDonalds, the $23 Billion Xerox, $22 Billion Merck & Co, $20 Billion American Express, Red Lobster, Olive Garden and Jamba Juice are all Black American?

The mainstream media will never show positive images of Blacks on a regular basis. Positive images have a positive impact and negative images have a negative impact. Pretty soon you will see martial law in Black neighborhoods and the militarization of Black communities. You will see Black folks being arrested in mass numbers and placed in interment camps. And you will not hear an outcry from the general public because people have been conditioned, programmed and brainwashed via the mainstream media propaganda machine to believe that Blacks are public enemy #1.

PROPAGANDA IS THE FIRST STAGE OF ANY MAJOR MILITARY CAMPAIGN! According to the noted psychologist Dr. Umar Johnson “The Goal of Propaganda is to dehumanize the target population to justify aggression against those particular people.” War is being waged on the hood daily via biological warfare, economic warfare, environmental warfare, germ warfare, physical warfare, psychological warfare, and spiritual warfare. It is imperative that we understand what’s going on and fight back through boycotts and other means.

By Jesse Atkinson From Urban Threshold

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That Ferguson Case

The Ferguson case is a metaphor for what red state America really wants to do to Barack Obama. Instead, it’s open season on black people who are hated and demonized in these United States. Missouri is a former slave state that holds and perpetuates the legacy of slavery with its slave master mentality and ill treatment of black people. For example, Sundown laws required blacks to be off the street by sundown or face consequences. The Klan is still very active in Missouri to this day. Our country will fall if we remain divided by this cancer of racism. Let’s look at this issue from the lens of history. When you draft a Constitution that declares black people as property and only three-fifths human, you set the stage for inequity and dehumanizing subjugation that is perpetuated throughout generations.

Darren Wilson should have been indicted to stand in a real trial for the killing of Mike Brown. The Ferguson County Prosecutor, McCulloch deviated from normal procedure by putting the Mike Brown shooting case before a Grand Jury (a totally secret process which was constantly leaked in support of Wilson). McCulloch clearly advocated for the defendant based upon his remarks Monday night. His bias toward the police was manifest. The people of Missouri who support Darren Wilson or McCulloch’s handling of this case should be ashamed of themselves, but they won’t be — that includes Senator Claire McCaskill, Governor Nixon and the Ferguson County Prosecutor, McCulloch. Further, the anarchists that burned Ferguson Monday night should hold equal shame for destroying their own neighborhood. Those anarchists set back the cause of addressing the ongoing terrorism of the police-sanctioned murder of black people.

Unfortunately, anarchists played right into the hands of Missouri racists who timed the release of the Grand Jury decision to maximize the potential of a violent reaction. That’s why Govenor Nixon called in the National Guard before the decision, and that’s why the Governor has called up more troops. The crowd took the bait and did what was expected; the dominoes fell and so did Ferguson. It was a setup to rescue the image of the police and further demonize the blacks in Ferguson. In fact, the police press conference held early Monday morning was part and parcel of a PR campaign to rehabilitate the image of a racist, murderous and militaristic Ferguson police force that now feels further empowered to shoot to kill black people at will. I encourage people to keep protesting, but stop violence, looting, burning and destruction of property. This only strengthens the hand of bigots. Stay focused! Stay sane!

Bundy, Sterling and the Supreme Court

Affirmative Action Okay, here we go again. Right on the heels of the Supreme Court’s deplorable affirmative action decision we have more comments from old white men who apparently have a very low opinion or downright hatred of black people. Are we surprised?

The Roberts Court essentially ruled that racism no longer exists, then here comes Cliven Bundy and Donald Sterling. I continue to ask the question, if people could choose to be black in the United States of America, would they do so? Until the answer to this question becomes, “it doesn’t matter what your color…”, then affirmative action will be needed. Affirmative action does not only address inequities of the racist past, it addresses ongoing race inequities and perpetuated race hatred.

The recent shootings of Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis substantiate the risk of being black in America. Then there is Renisha McBride shot by a homeowner who thought her to be an intruder. Her car broke down at 2:30 a.m. in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, and because her cell phone was dead she knocked on a nearby door and was shot in the head and killed. Her family claims she was racially profiled. How about two black men in their sixties shot and killed in West Virginia while inspecting a newly purchased property. The shooter, Rodney Black, shot them at 2:30 p.m. because he thought they were breaking into a shed on a property that his family had previously owned. How about Roy Middleton, a 60 year-old black man shot by Florida police 15 times in his own driveway (13 bullets missed). He was mistaken for a car thief at the age of 60 ? He survived, but his leg was shattered. Kenneth Chamberlain, Sr., a 68 year-old, Marine veteran was killed by White Plains, New York police. He had a chronic heart condition, and the police were called by LifeAid, a medical alert service, to the public housing development where Chamberlain lived alone. He was shot with a stun gun and a bean bag gun and later died as a result. Police are recorded calling Chamberlain a “nigger” on a LifeAid tape. One of the worst incidents is the eight year old boy shot by a Dallas man, Brian Cloniger, simply because “he wanted to”. The child was playing tag outside a Dallas apartment complex and was shot by Cloniger who was arrested and held on $2.2M bond for the shooting, but he has admitted shooting the child. The child has undergone multiple surgeries and suffers from nightmares as a result of this hate crime.

How much evidence does the John Roberts led Supreme Court need to conclude that race hatred in America is still alive. The real-life stories are some of the more overt and blatant examples of this hatred, but every day there are incidents and examples in corporate America, in sports and in society. Cliven Bundy is just an old, ignorant racist who was given a platform to spew his ignorance on FOX news. Sterling was simply caught on tape, but there was plenty of prior evidence to back up his ugly comments about black people. Many have disavowed Sterling for his comments and several sponsors have dropped their relationship with the Los Angeles Clippers. Bundy has had his 15 minutes of shame, so we’ll leave it at that.

The Boston Globe termed the recent Supreme Court 6-2 vote to uphold Michigan’s 2006 ban on affirmative action in higher education admissions as upholding the tyranny of the majority. Justice Sonya Sotomayor’s 58 page dissent (pp. 51-108) has been, of course, attacked and maligned by conservatives on the right. Sotomayor detailed the long history of racial discrimination in the United States by documenting the many ways that southern states, primarily, manipulated laws to ensure that black people were disenfranchised from the vote or remained separate and unequal. Justice Kennedy indicated that he could find “no infliction of specific injury” to restrict Michigan voters from banning affirmative action. In 2006, a majority of white Michigan voters voted in favor of the ban on affirmative action while the majority of blacks in the state voted to uphold affirmative action. Michigan is 80% white. The tyranny of the majority has indeed been upheld.

L. Jackson/04.28.2014

CBC Reacts to VRA Decision

BurnVRA

The Congressional Black Caucus Chairperson, Marcia Fudge reacts to the Supreme Court decision on the Voting Rights Act. I share Representative Fudge’s outrage and disgust at this racist decision perpetuated by the so-called high court. When Sarah Palin declared that it was time to “take the country back”, this is exactly what she meant. This decision from the Supreme Court is probably more than these hoods could have ever hoped. I only hope that people born after desegregation in this country see this decision as the wake up call that it is. Do not take for granted that the rights you have today will always be. We must ensure that the rights that we have gained through blood, sweat and tears are not lost, and that we further build upon and solidify those rights. There will always be hateful people who want nothing more than to control and subjugate people of color. Let’s not allow these haters to win. Do what you must to ensure that you have what you need to VOTE these haters out of office so they can never again nominate anything like a John Roberts, Antonin Scalia or Clarence “Thom”as.

The Gutting of the Voting Rights Act

If I were a tennis player, which I am not, and I had to score a match between the United States Supreme Court vs the American people, I would score it “50 No Love”. No, that is not a valid tennis score, but this week’s decision by the Supreme Court to cut out the heart of the Voting Rights Act is also an invalid score for bigotry, and it is utterly contemptible! There ain’t no love in it. Since the election and reelection of Barack Hussein Obama the racist and fascist elements of the United States have villified, demonized, obstructed, resisted, rebelled, practiced sedition, fabricated scandal, threatened impeachment, secession and physical ill will against our black President.

I can hear the conversation now, it probably went something like, “We must never again allow a black president to be elected. We gotta kill the Voting Rights Act! John Roberts is just the man for the job.” That probable conversation was neither videotaped nor recorded, but hope springs eternal that some whistle-blower was in proximity. Unfortunately, the John Roberts Supreme Court has proven to be all that it can be, disgustingly partisan, demonstrating judicial activism, and according to Justice Ginsberg, hubris. From the Citizens United decision to the VRA. The SCOTUS may have won this game for fascist-loving, right-wing Republicans and Tea Party bigots, but they will not win this match. You can read all about this recent SCOTUS travesty at The Grio.

This is the wake up call of our time. I challenge all Americans, but especially marginalized disenfranchised, neglected and poor people like never before to do what you must to vote. Get your documents in order now in preparation for 2014. Unjust laws and impediments are being crafted already, especially in Southern states, making it harder for people to vote. We must not be deterred. Do what you must and vote!

NAACP Criminal Justice Fact Sheet

Here are some of the facts from the NAACP Criminal Justice Fact Sheet:

  • African Americans now constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated population
  • African Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites
  • Together, African American and Hispanics comprised 58% of all prisoners in 2008, even though African Americans and Hispanics make up approximately one quarter of the US population
  • According to Unlocking America, if African American and Hispanics were incarcerated at the same rates of whites, today’s prison and jail populations would decline by approximately 50%
  • One in six black men had been incarcerated as of 2001. If current trends continue, one in three black males born today can expect to spend time in prison during his lifetime
  • 1 in 100 African American women are in prison
  • Nationwide, African-Americans represent 26% of juvenile arrests, 44% of youth who are detained, 46% of the youth who are judicially waived to criminal court, and 58% of the youth admitted to state prisons (Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice).

A recent University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee study has found that Wisconsin has the highest black male incarceration rates. This is an epidemic that goes unreported. The prison industrial complex is alive and well in the United States. Stay tuned for more on the American Correctional Association (ACA). Why did incarcerations begin to spike in the 1980’s?

When Too Few Minorities Are Too Many – The Conversation – The Chronicle of Higher Education

http://chronicle.com/blogs/conversation/2013/05/02/when-too-few-minorities-are-too-many/

This article in the Chronicle is a must read. White entitlement, one might think, is a thing of the past, but in the age of the Barack Obama presidency we see that it’s alive and not well at all. In fact, it continues to be a pathology for our nation. As an African American I am most disturbed by this piece. It further solidifies in my mind how much black people are still hated in these United States. Education in America continues to be a an area of racial intolerance and bigotry, whether it be elementary, secondary or post-secondary in its manifestation.

There has been much focus in recent years on for-profit higher education, and mostly negative. But, non-profit higher education institutions, both public and private, should take heed to ensure credible and safe access to higher education for minority students or run the risk of losing them. In fact, there is a much higher percentage of minority students attending for-profit schools these days. These students will go elsewhere, and that’s the bottom line. People are not paying hefty tuition rates to be harassed or to be made to feel less than because of the color of their skin or ethnic origin. As demonstrated by this article, an education does not connote character.

On The Economy: Sequester, Revenues, and Timing

Lets Make a Deal

Jared Bernstein’s blog On The Economy breaks down how the Republicans could have had a much better deal on spending cuts a few months ago. A combination of timing and GOP sedition are bringing the country to the economic brink, yet again. Republicans refuse to govern with the first black President. How many more scenarios like this do we need to draw this conclusion?

Oscar: And the Winner Is…

oscar

I wonder how many people were shocked last night that Quentin Tarantino won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. I, personally, was rooting for Tarantino who has a history of making feel-good, yet bloody, retribution films, e.g., Kill Bill Vols. 1 & 2, Inglorious Basterds and now Django. Now, the Donald is mouthing off that Django Unchained is “racist”. Although, I think DT is absolutely wrong in his assessment, I will say that it takes one to know one.

One of the highlights for me was Dame Shirley Bassey’s singing of the classic Bond flim theme song, Goldfinger. I love James Bond films. My guilty pleasure. The biggest surprise of the night was the presentation of Best Picture to Argo by the first lady Michelle Obama. The right-wingnuts were making all kinds of stupid and racist comments on Twitter about the First Lady’s appearance. As usual, Mrs. Obama looked great and was, in my opinion, the icing on the cake.

I cannot get out of this post without mentioning Ang Lee’s, Life of Pi, which won four Oscars total, another suprise to many. I really enjoyed this film and found it visually stunning (saw it in 3D even). You must see this film in 3D. It’s no wonder it won for Cinematography and Visual Effects. Ang Lee films are beautiful.

The Oscars overall were better this year than in years past, but I could tell that Seth McFarlane’s jokes were not landing well with many of Hollywood’s elite in the audience. His reference to certain Hispanics Hollywood actors looking better in appearance than their accents sounded was ignorant and in poor taste. Apparently, his list of offenses during the show were numerous. If the Oscars bring him back next year, he needs to work on producing smarter, less juvenile material.

Dorner and the LAPD

A must read is Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner piece about the former cop, now fugitive, Christopher Dorner. The manhunt for Christopher Dorner may uncover more than just his whereabouts. Apparently, there is still a lot of dirt going on inside the LAPD.

Per reports from the Associated Press, Christopher Dorner is now dead.

AP VIDEO: Manhunt for rogue ex-LAPD officer ends in flames at cabin: http://apne.ws/X74ukh – VW

BREAKING: Sheriff’s spokeswoman says charred human remains found in rubble of burned cabin in California http://apne.ws/XyQVxl