December 6, 2014

‘Black lives matter’ to everyone — finally

A demonstrator protests recent grand jury decisions not to indict police officers in the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner at Boston Common in Boston on Thursday. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I am always trying to find a pony in the highest mound of filth. And the decisions in Ferguson, Mo., and New York City to not indict police officers who killed unarmed black men have given me much to work with. That the killers of Michael Brown and Eric Garner won’t even stand trial before a jury of their peers is offensive, not only to the deceased men’s families, but also to those of us who believe in the accountability that our criminal justice system strives for.

What has been thrilling to see, most notably after Monday’s decision in the Garner case, is that Americans of all stripes have been expressing their outrage wherever they can. What has warmed my aching heart this past week has been the faces and voices of the protesters. They aren’t just African Americans fighting for their lives and hoping someone will listen, let alone care. The protesters with their signs and chants of “Black lives matter” and “I can’t breathe” are the gorgeous mosaic of America and cut across every demographic.

The video of Garner’s chokehold death was as horrific as it was clarifying. It was a light-bulb moment, particularly for white Americans, about how the life of a black man could be taken for little reason and with little recourse. The #CrimingWhileWhite feed on Twitter is a stunning 21st-century confessional where contributors acknowledge privileges afforded them that no African American would ever think possible. I read antics by tweeters that literally made my jaw drop because of their brazenness and my head shake because of their ability to get away with it. Folks shoplifting (or “robbing” or “knocking over stores,” as some folks like to call it in Brown’s case), driving while drunk, assaulting officers, you name it — and then getting away with it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2014/12/05/black-lives-matter-to-everyone-finally/


Finally! Black Lives Matter!


http://colorlines.com/archives/2014/08/5_reasons_why_blacklivesmatter.html



[url=http://postimage.org/][img][/img][/url]





I Matter~



I Matter~


They Matter~


Fatherhood Matters~



This is my hope. And yes it will be revolutionary. Don't be afraid, embrace it. Black Lives Matter.

They aren’t just African Americans fighting for their lives and hoping someone will listen, let alone care. The protesters with their signs and chants of “Black lives matter” and “I can’t breathe” are the gorgeous mosaic of America and cut across every demographic.

Come on people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another
Right now

~the gorgeous mosaic of America and cut across every demographic are standing up to say no more. Black Lives Matter! I am told this will fizzle and die. I am told this revolution will be a blood bath from both sides. Will some die, yes they will because the cops are out of control. Yet change is coming, mark my words.

December 5, 2014

It is going to be a FUCKING REVOLUTION!

Buffalo Springfield -Stop Children What's That Sound

there's something happinin here
what it is aint exactly clear
theres a man with a gun over there








telling me I have to beware.

i think it's time we stop, children
what's that sound
everybody look what's goin down











there's battle lines being drawn



nobody's right if everybody's wrong
young people speakin there minds

[url=http://postimage.org/][img][/img][/url]


getting so much resistance far behind
it's time we stop,
hey what's that sound
everybody look what's goin down

what a field day for the heat
a thousand people in the street
singin songs that they carry inside
mostly say hurray for our side

?

?





?

Ssssh, what's that I hear? It's time we heard it. Past time. This could be the Revolution of our lifetime.

Let's~ UNFUCK AMERICA!

December 4, 2014

Thank You AG Holder!!!

For years now one of the things that has frustrated me about the "what have you done for me lately" Blackacademics has been their insistence that the Obama administration hasn't done anything for the African American community. That's why - back in 2011 - I started writing about DOJ's investigations into police brutality.

Today we learned that the investigation into Cleveland's Police Department has resulted in a finding that they have engaged in a pattern and practice of using excessive force. It is horribly sad that this finding comes too late to save the life of Tamir Rice. But perhaps we can take some small amount of comfort in the fact that previous investigations might have saved the lives of others. And hopefully this one will be part of finding justice for Tamir's death.

P.S. For those of you who - like me - are going to miss having Eric Holder as our Attorney General, this article about what he plans to do in the future is hopeful. And in 2 years, he's likely to have some company

But, I have to say; these are the kinds of issues that I’ve talked about with the President since his first days here in Washington, DC. I met him before he had been sworn in as a senator. We bonded over these criminal justice reform concerns and views of racial matters. We share a worldview...

http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2014/12/thank-you-ag-holder.html

November 29, 2014

Albert Einstein Called Racism “A Disease of White People” in His Little-Known Fight for Civil Rights

Albert Einstein’s activities as a passionate advocate for peace were well-documented during his lifetime. His celebrity as a famous physicist and one of the world’s most recognizable faces lent a great deal of weight to his pacifism, a view otherwise not given much consideration in the popular press at almost any time in history. However, according to a 2006 book titled Einstein on Race and Racism by Fred Jerome and Roger Taylor, the scientist was also as passionate about combating racism and segregation as he was about combating war. This facet of Einstein’s life was virtually ignored by the media, as was a visit he made in 1946 to Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, the first degree-granting college for African-Americans and the alma mater of Langston Hughes and Thurgood Marshall.

Invited to Lincoln to receive an honorary degree, Einstein gave a lecture on physics but also bluntly addressed the racial animus that held the country in its grip, reportedly calling racism, “a disease of white people” and saying he “did not intend to be quiet” about his opposition to segregation and racist public policy. Lest anyone think the Nobel-prize-winning physicist was pandering to his audience, the Harvard Gazette offers a comprehensive summary of Einstein’s support of progressive anti-racist causes, including his personal support of members of Princeton’s black community (he paid one man’s college tuition), a town Princeton native Paul Robeson once called “the northernmost town in the south.”

Einstein formed relationships with several prominent black leaders—inviting opera singer Marian Anderson to stay in his home after she was refused a room at the Nassau Inn and appearing as a character witness for W.E.B. Dubois when the latter stood accused of “failing to register as a foreign agent.” But it was his 20-year friendship with Robeson that seems central to his involvement in civil rights causes. The Harvard Gazette writes:

Einstein met Paul Robeson when the famous singer and actor came to perform at Princeton’s McCarter Theatre in 1935. The two found they had much in common. Both were concerned about the rise of fascism, and both gave their support to efforts to defend the democratically elected government of Spain against the fascist forces of Francisco Franco. Einstein and Robeson also worked together on the American Crusade to End Lynching, in response to an upsurge in racial murders as black soldiers returned home in the aftermath of World War II.

http://www.openculture.com/2013/08/albert-einstein-civil-rights-activist.html


Albert Einstein And Segregation In America





“Einstein, when he arrived in America, was shocked at how Black Americans were treated. “There is separation of colored people from white people in the United States,” he said. “That separation is not a disease of colored people. It is a disease of white people. And, I do not intend to be quiet about it.”

And, he wasn’t. Although he had a fear of speaking in public, he made all the effort he could to spread the word of equality, denouncing racism and segregation and becoming a huge proponent of civil rights even before the term became fashionable. Einstein was a member of several civil rights groups (including the Princeton chapter of the NAACP).

http://nedhardy.com/2013/04/22/albert-einstein-and-segregation-in-america/

November 18, 2014

UNFUCK AMERICA! Blackness is not a threat.

Gov Jay Nixon activates the MO National Guard to #Ferguson in the event of unrest



I am so distressed. Governor Jay Nixon activates the MO National Guard and issues A State of Emergency based on what he THINKS black people may do at the announcement of the Darren Wilson Ferguson Grand Jury decision. OMFG! Preconceived notions!!! How in the living hell can police not have preconceived notions about black people when a Gov activates the National Guard based on the same idea?

The Klan protest, law enforcement gives them an escort. Black people protest, the National Guard is activated. A State of Emergency is issued! Black people can’t walk while black, drive while black, seek help while black, shop while black and now protest while black because black people protesting is a threat & dangerous for white society.

UNFUCK AMERICA! Blackness is not a threat.

Governor Nixon is not slick. He’s using the State of Emergency to violate citizens a right to protest because in a State of Emergency citizens can lose their individual rights. We see you, Governor Nixon!

Read More

November 16, 2014

Will pundits finally acknowledge President Obama's intelligence?

******Sigh~ This is posted in the Barack Obama Group. You are welcome to post if you follow our mission statement here~ Read More If you cannot, then GD----------------->Is that away. TIA************


|

Over the last six years what I've noticed is that when President Obama succeeds, pundits have tended to call him "lucky" and when he fails, they call him "naive." I've found both labels to not only be wrong, but offensive - based on how intelligent this President happens to be.

As a result, I've looked a little deeper into what his strategies might be. We all know that as a lawyer in Chicago, Barack Obama taught classes on power and conflict. From a pragmatic point of view, he's obviously thought more deeply about those topics than your average political pundit. So whether he succeeds or fails in his exploration of "the viability of politics to make change" (how Michelle Obama described his foray into politics), I've found it fascinating to assume his intelligence and try to understand what he's up to.

Here's a great quote in it from Michelle Obama:

...after he was elected to the U.S. Senate, his wife, Michelle, told a reporter, "Barack is not a politician first and foremost. He's a community activist exploring the viability of politics to make change." Recalling her remark in 2005, Obama wrote, "I take that observation as a compliment."

This is who he is and who he's always been. He affirmed that during the primaries in his great "Yes We Can" speech in New Hampshire.We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can withstand the power of millions of voices calling for change.

Read More


This column from Paul Waldman is one of the first I've seen in a very long time that goes a little bit deeper to assume President Obama knows what he's doing. In it, Waldman is exploring the possibility that Republicans will actually try to impeach the President over his upcoming executive action on immigration - even though their leadership knows it will come back to haunt them.

They [Republican leadership] really would be super-mad, not least because it would highlight their own impotence. In that state, they might well do something rash...And they'll be getting plenty of encouragement from the conservative media, for whom impeachment would be a ratings bonanza.

Barack Obama knows all this, of course. He obviously feels that the particular immigration steps he's contemplating are the right thing to do, and he understands that Republicans are never, ever going to pass a comprehensive reform bill that would be remotely acceptable to him. But he also knows that taking executive action will drive them batty, making some kind of emotional outburst on their part more likely. Which would end up being good for him and bad for them.

Read More

BOG

November 9, 2014

My Father~ He slipped quietly away from me this morning

[url=http://postimg.org/image/padbgestp/][img][/img][/url] 1922~2014

Not a perfect man, yet he was my father and I loved him. He passed away in his sleep early this morning. We knew it was almost time. All day yesterday family, that were well enough, arrived to sit with him. I had four hours alone with my dad. I held his hand and said goodbye as I looked out the window, watching the sun shine through the brilliant autumn leaves. None of us knew, he would die hours after the last one of us left.

In the last year he never knew my sister or me. He had reached the final stage of Alzheimer's disease. He never knew me, yet I know he loved me.


Omaha Steve posted this Op for me almost thirty days to the day of my Fathers passing. It was so very kind of him. There is a video at the link of Glen Campbell, his final ballad is called “I’m Not Gonna Miss You”. Glen Cambell is reaching the finale stages of Alzheimer's Disease.

&feature=player_embedded

http://betterment.democraticunderground.com/1017220580#top


Here are the words~


http://www.metrolyrics.com/im-not-gonna-miss-you-lyrics-glen-campbell.html

I'm still here, but yet I'm gone
I don't play guitar or sing my songs
They never defined who I am
The man that loves you 'til the end
You're the last person I will love
You're the last face I will recall
And best of all, I'm not gonna to miss you.
Not gonna miss you.
I'm never gonna hold you like I did
Or say I love you to the kids
You're never gonna see it in my eyes
It's not gonna hurt me when you cry
I'm never gonna know what you go through
All the things I say or do
All the hurt and all the pain
One thing selfishly remains
I'm not gonna miss you
I'm not gonna miss you

It's is a cruel disease. You sit there and watch the light slowly fade away and the memories turn to dust. Tears~

Someone suggested that I write down one memory so that I don't forget, so I will do it here then print it. I was my dads baby girl and a tomboy to boot~ He had a trucking company and would take me along with him. He would lift me up high and put me in the cab of the truck with this huge window spread before me and I could see the whole wide world. It was just my dad and me, on top of the world and laughing out loud, we could be anything. I was about 5 at the time. Yes that is my fondest memory by far~

October 27, 2014

There was a gun in my house

Preliminary reports from yesterday's school massacre is that the shooter had just broken up with his girlfriend, one of his victims. When a gun is present in a household with domestic abuse, women are 5 times more likely to be murdered with it. When a gun is present in the house, even without domestic abuse, a woman is 3 times more likely to be killed with that gun. It's a simple fact: gun access to angry people means dead people.

Found on FB: https://www.facebook.com/thereprimandproject?hc_location=timeline

There was one when I was growing up. As a teen, my sister had already left for college when my mom came to my room. She handed me a manila envelope and asked me to hide it. I asked her what it was, she said it's your fathers gun. I was never sure if it was fear for herself or fear that he would commit suicide. I suppose it was a toss up...yet I think it had more to do with suicide. There was abuse, yet there were suicide attempts that we the children were in front row seats for. Weren't we lucky.

My brother committed suicide 7 years ago. My sister and I were stronger, we survived.

My marriage, a gun there as well. I found it when I was remaking the bed one morning. It was tucked under the mattress on his side of the bed. I went cold when I pulled it out. Yes there was spousal abuse both verbal and physical. We had not been married long, yet we dated for years. It took me little time to walk out the door.

I was done with it. Did I have a lot of support, in the end with my leaving? Yes. Yet it is a quite crime that happens to so many women. You just don't talk about it. You are silent

Sssh~ don't tell.

October 17, 2014

You may trod me down in the very dirt, But still, like Dust I'll rise

They can say,
Anything they want to say,
Try to bring me down,


[url=http://postimage.org/][img][/img][/url]

But I will not allow anyone to succeed hanging clouds over me,
I will not face the ground



And they can try
How to make me feel that I,
Don't matter at all,
But I refuse to falter in what I believe or loose faith in my dreams



'Cause there's,
There's a light in me,
That shines brightly,
They can try,
But they can't take that away from me
From me



There's an inner peace I own,
Something in my soul that they can not possess
So I won't be afraid and the darkness will fade

Tell me what I believe or loose faith in my dreams,
'Cause there's a light in me,
That shines brightly yes















They can't take this
Precious love I'll always have inside me,

?



They can try but they can't take that away from
Me
From me
No no nooo
Me

October 12, 2014

Am I Next?

Stolen Lives




Please



Thank you 3ChicsPolitico.
http://3chicspolitico.com/2014/10/11/photo-gallery-fergusonoctober-justice4mikebrownrally/