Black Lives Matter Is Not Actually About Black Skin

Sandra Bland, Michael Brown Jr., Eric Garner and now Sam Dubose.

These are the black lives that might have mattered if they were not quite so black.  I'm not actually referring to their skin color, though I'm certain that melanoma played a role in their deaths.  I'm referring to their black characterizations that quickly became the narrative reason why losing these lives didn't really matter as much because of THC in the blood, taking or selling tobacco products or driving without a license.

When the young white lady got killed by a Mexican illegal, Fox News ran that story as though little white girls in America are getting accidentally killed by Mexican illegals every day but we just don't hear about it.  The criminal that admitted to the crime was sufficiently blackened for his five time, illegal return to America, while the victim and her family were treated with the grace and dignity that they deserved.  Her background wasn't publicly besmirched like Trayvon Martin was after George Zimmerman took his life.

The real idea of black lives matter is the notion that a white boy suspected of murdering the Emmanuel 9 gets the kind of dignity that Sam Dubose was begging for when he asked University of  Cincinnati  police officer  Roy Tensing to simply run his name and confirm that he was a licensed driver who lived in the area.

Was Dubose concerned that a minor incident was quickly escalating towards the demise he endured when he tried to start his car and drive away? Officer Tensing was forcibly attempting to remove the driver from his car  just as Dubose appears to think to drive away instead of standing clear of the door and requesting the driver to exit the car as is normal procedure with non-violent confrontations. If there was any damage to Tensing's arm that happens from the car pulling away (he claims a tingling in his arm after the incident), it appears to happen after Tensing has already shot Dubose in the head and as his limp body presses on the accelerator which then forces Tensing to the ground when the car takes off. Apparently, driving without your license was concerning enough to this officer to the degree of forcibly figuring out why.

When Walter Scott ran away from an officer for reasons that only he could answer if he were still alive, his fleeing was about to be characterized as fleeing while struggling for the officers taser gun if a video didn't change the story.  The video bleached away the blackening of Scott that made the previous explanation of a long distance kill shot from the back plausible somehow.

Black lives matter is an attempt to stop making black people responsible for being church going people who are also in church at the time they get killed type church going people: who also have family that are full of grace and dignity in the face of hate and terror, before we feel the compassion it takes to empathize with the black legislators in South Carolina who reminded us for years that the Confederate message and the flag was both offensive and dangerous.


White Lives and Lion's Lives Matter Too?!?!

Black lives matter is a recognition that no man would persist to achieve something for someone else that they don't insure exists for themselves.  Black lives don't seem to matter at times because no lives really matter that much any more. What appears to be white derision towards disadvantaged blacks is more accurately described as subjugation of blacks in the pursuit of the green.  Poor people of every color are unfortunate victims of capitalism's engine. Post blackening the reputation of the victims of oppression is often times more about economics than racism. yet to fix this we must recognize that our weakest links are not responsible for the persistence of perception.

 This is a hard thing to digest because how exactly do you repair innocent victims from being stuck at the wrong end of the lens? If you have a blackened view of black people, it doesn't matter how pure white or young and innocent they actually might be.  Even 12 year old Tamir Rice couldn't get a customary "drop the gun or we'll shoot" command that could have saved his life.  Without this horrendous video, God only knows how blackened the reputation of this 12 year old boy would have been beyond the blame of being too old looking and playing with a pellet gun in the park which white boys apparently have never done.  Without the bleach of video, Rice would have been blackened with an accusation of pointing the gun at police to justify his killing.

Sam Dubose is the most recent killing and the Cincinnati prosecutor is trying the officer with murder.  He probably should be trying for a conviction that could be achieved, like manslaughter because the battle is now over whether or not this black man, who had no license and could have been driving away with the officers hand stuck in the car, deserved to die since the officer feared for his own life.  Because of the blackening of people who deserve better, half of America will see this video one way and the rest another.

Black lives matter is the dream of the day when most of us will see Dubose, the only one who didn't have a lethal weapon, fleeing the escalating aggression posed by the only person who did have a lethal weapon and see the exact same thing. What a dream.

WARNING!!  THIS VIDEO IS GRAPHIC

FULL LINK TO 27:52 CHEST CAM VIDEO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FicsKuLfpiw

I Support The Police Brutality Protesters...But I Stand With The Police

WE may not be too interested in running out to vote in high percentages during elections that a black man is not a presidential candidate on the ballot, but America is full of courageous and proud advocates for change.

Those young folks in Ferguson might be changing the world. At the least, the town of Ferguson will never be the same again and the rest of the world has taken notice.  Eric Garner triggered bi-partisan disgust, but even he only achieved this stature aided by a long history of police violence towards black men. WE know it is a problem, but due to laws that limit the reporting of such violence- and no video before Rodney King got caught on camera- all of America has been free to sweep their police violence dirt beneath a carpet.  Michael Brown Jr. could have become the villain that Darren Wilson supporters believe him to be, but a spray of bullets from Wilson's gun insured that his body alone would represent a dirty carpet that lives in every community of color.  When, at last, the carpet was pulled up from the filthy concrete, a cloud of dusty memories spread throughout a horrified world waiting in anticipation for a sign of something other than the same foggy feeling of injustice.

They are still waiting.

Within all of our confusion over who is most worthy of blame when black men lay dead in the streets at the hands of police, most agree to the presence of a problem and one that prisons are exacerbating, not curing.  Love 'em or hate 'em, the police officer unions are sworn to the protection of officers just as the officers are supposedly sworn to the protection of the communities they police.  In an increasingly violent society, the promise to be officers of peace has evolved into cops who promise Friends and Family that they will do everything they can to get home alive.

When the mission evolves from preserving the peace to getting home alive, trigger fingers grow itchy.  Nationwide, violent crime is on a sharp decline- just don't tell that to someone who was a recent victim.  They may be alive today because of a cop who answered the 911 call. But let's not get it twisted.  We pay taxes for the benefit of such things, so those who choose service careers do so with an understanding that society will find someone to do the job simply because it must.  Conflating the prevalence of black deaths by cops to nothing more than a Human Resource issue seems extremely simplistic, but is diversity hiring and/or diversity training the key to quieting the thousands of protesters around the world? As we work to change the face of policing, do we run the risk of running off good cops while starting a manhunt to remove bad ones? At what point do we put all lives in greater danger while protesting against the unreasonable deaths of  a few too many black men?

In principal, I stand with the cops because I know too many good ones to stand anywhere else, and standing on the other side of the man with the gun and an itchy trigger finger is how you get shot in the first place.  We live in a world full of racial distrust and ethnic biases.  These biases reveal themselves in all aspects of society so it seems peculiar that we don't expect these things in the realm of law enforcement as well.  The remedy for racially motivated killings by law enforcement is similar to the remedy for reducing the unusually high suspension rates for black kindergarten children versus white children of the same grade level.  Blacks represent too small a percentage of inhabitants in America to be so heavily incarcerated, or killed by cops, or suspended from kindergarten compared to other racial groups.

The Chain of Humanity is only as strong as its weakest link.
Lets focus on the chains that bind us together.

So what is the answer?

Faith and Family.  WE all have (or need) families and we mostly pray to the same God if we pray at all. The effectual, fervent prayer of like-minded people must come to bare if change is to occur. Things WE have in common are the only chains that bind us. In the end, WE will only be as strong as our weakest link, so our strength will come from the kind of Faith WE can share.  If blacks unnecessarily killed by cops are humanized by the tears of their mourning families, the cops must too be humanized by the tears of joy from the children who hug their policing parents when they survive another dangerous night of law enforcement.

In God WE trust?!  Through faith and family we live and thrive. 

God Bless America!

The Question Still Remains. WHY DO WE HAVE THIS REPORT?

As the conspiracy theories mount regarding this bizarre series of events, try this one on for size.

This portion of the convenience store theft report (see below) was amended by the officer who took over this case the Monday following the killing of Mike Brown (2 days later).  First question is, why does anyone need to take over the cigarillo case which is listed as a 48.99 loss to the convenience store, but no names of the convenience store workers or notes saying they would pursue this crime. This case should have been shut before it needed to be open, not reassigned so that multiple statements could be entered for a case that died the minute the victim refused to press charges.

The bigger concern is why would the confirmation of the two individuals names be added to an incident that the merchant didn't care to pursue, and since the names were clearly added on Monday by the newly assigned cop on this case, why did this newly assigned cop need to officially name the cigarillo suspects?  The original officer did not include these names.  This eyewitness of Browns dead corpse could have been made by the merchants who are the only people who laid real eyes on the thief.  Apparently, this newly assigned cop has better vision when it comes to turning unknown perpetrators into confirmed dead people by video imaging alone.  As you read this report, it seems as though Johnson is added simply from his televised interviews and not from him admitting to a crime that the video would have cornered him on anyway. Why couldn't they simply force Johnson to admit his involvement in the video taped crime.  BECAUSE THE CASE SHOULD HAVE BEEN CLOSED, since the merchant refused to testify, yet notes are continuously being added.

LINK TO THE FULL REPORT

After all of that minor madness, there still is this question of the statement that you see above and the one contradicting it made by the Ferguson police chief.  This Monday morning addendum says that "It is worth mentioning that this incident is related to another..." The chief of Ferguson now says it was NOT related  because Darren Wilson (the shooter), had no clue about the cigarillo theft. Yes, its worth mentioning this report so long as you release the incident reports that you are referring to.  As of now, they have yet to release the only report/s that matters in the death of Mike Brown and the only report that has been requested. Yet, we have mass proliferation of a strong arm theft report with several addendum notes made for nearly a week, before you give us what actually we asked for?  How many times do you need to reword a totally unrelated petty theft that was exceptionally cleared by a non-pursuant merchant  before it was permanently expunged by the death of the key suspect; which made any additional notes on this theft, especially his name, unnecessary  and impossible to prove anyway

Darren Wilson had no clue Big Mike was stealing, nor did America until the chief insisted we read this report.  However, this report directly mentions the only reports that we've been asking for in the first place. Wilson may not have known about this almost meaningless report before he shot Brown, but he better love it like a Bible right now. This report is possibly the report that keeps Darren Wilson from doing life in prison, because in Missouri, there will be less punishment for killing a strong arming cigarillo thief.

Now.  Can we get those other two reports.....please?

Even Eyewitness Testimony Can't Stop Incidents Of Bad Policing

Whenever we get another one of these unarmed black men killed by a cop, we lose a lot of rubber as we spin our wheels in the street trying to find the balance between trusting the men and women we depend on to serve and protect us, while the unavoidable truth is that no one can ever hire perfectly for any job.

Occasionally, police departments hire guys (sorry fellas, but its rarely ladies making these errors in judgement) that love weapons more than they love law enforcement or dislike minorities more than they love justice.  In certain toxic instances, they hire men with all of these traits.  There is probably no easy way to avoid these leaks in the system, and police unions become unfortunate shields for the worst of law enforcement's hiring mistakes.

It would be easy to chalk up the lost lives that will always come from the imperfect process of hiring, but the issue is bigger than Mike Brown from Ferguson or Eric Garner from New York.  I could Google names for hours of young black men that have died at the hand of law enforcement. Even worse, are the many nameless faces that never made it to the news; those forgotten ones that inspired certain residents of Ferguson, Missouri to loot a shoe store.

I know.  Retribution is a funny thing, but so is this unbreakable fear that America has of black men.  Especially young black men that embrace the entirety of hip-hop culture and go by the name Big Mike.  When Big Mike was alive, his 18 years of maturity was easily mistakable for grown man dangerous.  They called the kid Big Mike for a reason.  Apparently, the homicide of Big Mike took place in a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri similar to most suburbs of America.  These are the places in America where whites, who can afford it, run away from the places where too many non-whites start to inhabit.  It would be nice if I could characterize it in some way that doesn't sound so disparaging of those who run towards the suburbs. The truth is, anywhere you see a suburban area that is not predominantly white, it is usually the old suburban area that whites have long since abandoned in mass.  Areas like Ferguson, Missouri, where Big Mike took his last breath on earth, or Aurora, Colorado, where I spent my middle school and high school years.

The Denver Metro is a cluster of old school suburbs that evolved from  the main city. Instead of building neighborhoods that distanced themselves from the main city like they do with modern suburbs, metro area neighborhoods  like Denver, extend from the main city by design.  People in Colorado love Denver, even those that choose to live outside of its most active inner circle.  Aurora is one of the first of these offshoot cities with a vibrant history of military bases that anchored the city during its rise.  Lowry Air Force base was a key central part of Aurora before a recent  redevelopment and on the outskirts of the military base are several pockets of housing that offered various price ranges to the military families that occupied the area.

Directly across the street from the base is an upper crust slice of neighborhood that was said to be commonly owned by the officers.  The houses are noticeably nicer than all the others in the area, and only a few people we knew actually lived in these houses.  One of them was one of my closest friends.  His dad was an Air Force officer so he was fortunate to have a house inside of this little slice of heaven. Somehow, when I think back to my Mike Brown moments in history, it always seemed to be with this particular friend of mine, who was every bit as black and as nerdy as me, if not more so.

He was the military family kid that lived on the nicer side of the street. There were a few other black kids that lived in the same area, but they were lighter skinned black kids of mixed race.   When we first got confronted by questionable policing, it was in this 6 block neighborhood where my friend lived. The shakedown  was the basic 'what are you doing in this nice area' kind of shakedown, but a shakedown no less. This might have been one of the last pieces of white sanctity nestled inside of the rough edges of north Aurora, but it was nestled, not isolated like a true suburb.  Shakedowns in other parts of Aurora were very prevalent at the time.   Aurora, once the suburban refuge to neighboring Denver, had begun to lose all of its non-minorities to South Aurora and other areas not called Denver or North Aurora.  Unfortunately, the staffing of Aurora police officers in the 80's is much like that of Ferguson, Missouri today, not reflective of the community that it attempted to serve.

We were two blocks away from his home, probably walking back from hooping on the military base.  Colorado had finally given in to the lottery ticket craze and someone had discarded a loser on the sidewalk along our route home. 30 seconds after we picked up that ticket, a police car pulls up to us and stops us to ask us what we were doing in the area.  The answer of heading home didn't fit the pre-planned agenda for this stop, so he proceeded to take down names and check for warrants.  The few black dudes that lived on the outskirts of this small community probably did have warrants, so his shake of the dice had a reasonable expectation of luck.  When he crapped out so quickly on two high school nerds that actually did live nearby, he was none too happy that I requested his name, badge number and a reason for the stop.  As I recall, he accused us of littering (the lotto ticket was a loser remember) and made sure we never got the rest of that information.

The next time I got a police shake down, I was a sophomore in high school and responsible for pulling off the Sadie Hawkins (girls ask the guys) dance for our class.  While dressed in shirt and tie, myself and that same friend of mine and another young black gentleman in a shirt and tie, had to move the school soft drink machine into the gym for the dance.  I guess there could have been three black burglars in shirt and tie trying to steal a soft drink machine behind a well populated school, with no get away car just as the cop suspected of us.  The white students who were holding open the door for us came quickly to declare that they were pointing guns at the sophomore class president and his most likely to succeed friends, but even the teacher that soon arrived could not digress this overly aggressive act of policing.

The first incident occurred in broad daylight, but the latter was in the dark, backside of the school gym.  From the street view, I respect that this cop might have thought that he had unveiled something nefarious.  Whether he really had a call about someone matching our descriptions or simply used it to quell the embarrassment of the moment is hardly of a concern to me.  In the process of trying to keep people safe, innocent people occasionally endure shake downs (see; airport travel).  My concern is for the unbridled passion at which this officer went about his business.  When police officers regularly treat innocent people as guilty until proven otherwise, they eventually end up with fatal errors in judgement.

To the credit of old school cops, they were more likely to beat young blacks down and leave them to get home on their own instead of shooting them dead.  Now, gun culture and the prevalence of guns creates hypersensitive cops that trust the laws to acquit them against shootings more than they trust the people they are sworn to serve and protect.

Will chest camera's  improve police accountability?

Where do these quick triggered tendancies come from?  Lack of diversity in leadership positions, especially in communities where diversity represents the community at large. These environments demand leaders who reject typical hiring behaviors to insure that diversity, of gender and ethnicity, becomes a priority of leadership itself.  Diverse hiring within diverse communities is a central component for what defines good leadership. White cops, educators, judges....leaders, will never develop minority sensitivity running from intimate minority interaction like working side by side with them every day.  In fact, hiring black officers to police their own neighborhoods seems to be the loudest bone of contention from the more controlled of the angry Ferguson protesters.  Must we always use tragedy to foster the changes that are abundantly apparent long before the tragedy occurs? As we speak, Ferguson police officials seem focused on discrediting the eye witness accounts which drastically differ from the statement of the officer who pulled the trigger in this death (his name has yet to be released in fear for his safety).

In  the wake of the choking death of Eric Garner in New York, NYC, public advocate Letitia A. "Tish" James, is leading a change that includes police with video cameras abreast.  While some cops clearly hate the idea, others, especially those who've  been involved in justified shootings, see this as a way of clearing the name of good cops who get illegally targeted while justifiably performing in the line of duty.

I can hear all of you privacy advocates screaming in the background.    Do chest camera's further exacerbate  our limited privacy? The answer to that question is rather easy.  Integrate or video tape.  The choice is yours.