sheshe2
sheshe2's JournalThe Two Men I Admire Most...In Conversation (updated)
As soon as I saw this, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven 
Barack Obama and David Simon talked about The Wire and our failed war on drugs.
I also have to note that, in the midst of this conversation, President Obama points out something that I wrote about a few weeks ago:
In the private sector the question is blurrier. An outright ban on hiring people with criminal records is considered to be a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Some states are banning asking about a criminal record on an initial employment application. But in practice, there are plenty of ways around that. Employers are allowed to consider a criminal record as part of a larger application.
That increase from 13% of the population in the early 90's to 20-22% more recently is a direct result of our war on drugs and "get tough on crime" policies that disproportionately affect people of color. And it is likely a huge factor in explaining why the unemployment rate for African Americans has typically been double the rate for whites. From a systemic standpoint, this is where we find the intersection between anti-racism efforts, criminal justice reform and policies to address wage stagnation. What affects one affects all.
http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2015/01/unpacking-last-stage-of-economic.html
the fact that one of the reasons why the Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) remains low is that our over-incarceration during the war on drugs has produced a record number of Americans with felony records (mostly brown and black men).
UPDATE: Question: Why would President Obama do this interview now? He's laying the groundwork and setting the stage. Somethin's up.
http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-two-men-i-admire-mostin-conversation.html
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President Barack Obama - The Right Man For This Moment In History
Many people who come to this site have also expressed that if only this president had experienced cooperation and support he could have accomplished so much more. I also share in these sentiments. But I think it's very important to note and to realize that the resistance President Obama has faced is exactly what needed and needs to take place. You can't treat an infection or an infestation unless you know that it's there and if you don't get down to the root or the cause it will continue to fester. This infection or infestation can only continue to survive in the shadows and the darkness where it is able to do it's damage. As soon as it is exposed to the light of day it wants to scramble back as hide in the shadows.
Another important understanding about this resistance that is now being exposed is that the resistance will want to rise up to the level of that which it is facing. Another way of expressing this is that the depth of goodness and intelligence and strength that exists in the person of Barack Obama has called forth a barbaric and primitive resistance that attempts to be as potent as the force that it is opposing. What this means is that the presidency of Barack Obama has exposed this massive amount and degree of vulgarity that we are seeing in this country. It is being brought out of the shadows and it is now being fully exposed to the light of day.
Many people who come to this site have expressed the similarity we see today to the time of the Civil War. That war manifested due to a rise in tension that necessitated some major event to take place to attempt to address that tension. The Civil War was fought by the Confederacy in large part to prevent exactly what has taken place today where we see a man of color living the White House in the position that can be seen as the most powerful person in the world.
Damn good read http://www.thepeoplesview.net/main/2015/3/15/president-barack-obama-the-right-man-for-this-moment-in-history
#Ferguson town leadership was running a multi million dollar racketeering & extortion scheme
Where are the arrest warrants for those involved in the shake down of poor black people in #Ferguson Missouri? In a city with a population of 21,000 people, 16,000 have outstanding warrants. Nearly everyone was criminalize. The police and courts made it a crime to exist in black skin. We live in a country where a state government is running a multi million dollar racketeering & extortion scheme targeting black people & no one is arrested. Kwame M. Kilpatrick was convicted of racketeering, fraud and extortion but Ferguson town leaders got severance pay. It’s disgraceful when those in power see a crime and squeeze their eyes shut because the racketeer & extortionist have white skin. But when you’re white, it’s alriiiight.All of the bogus arrest records should be thrown out. The Ferguson leadership ran a straight GANGSTA racket. They use police to target poor blacks, arrested them and then the courts shook them down for money, gave then criminal records which was sure to keep them from voting and they’d stay in power…until Darren Wilson murdered Michael Brown and the corruption was exposed.
Huffington Post: To give some context as to how truly extreme this is, a comparison may be useful. In 2014, the Boston Municipal Court System, for a city of 645,000 people, issued about 2,300 criminal warrants. The Ferguson Municipal Court issued 9,000, for a population 1/30th the size of Boston’s.
Ferguson and the Modern Debtor’s Prison
Debtor’s prisons are supposed to be illegal in the United States but today poor people who fail to pay even small criminal justice fees are routinely being imprisoned. The problem has gotten worse recently because strapped states have dramatically increased the number of criminal justice fees….Failure to pay criminal justice fees can result in revocation of an individual’s drivers license, arrest and imprisonment. Individuals with revoked licenses who drive (say to work to earn money to pay their fees) and are apprehended can be further fined and imprisoned. Unpaid criminal justice debt also results in damaged credit reports and reduced housing and employment prospects. Furthermore, failure to pay fees can mean a violation of probation and parole terms which makes an individual ineligible for Federal programs such as food stamps, Temporary Assistance to Needy Family funds and Social Security Income for the elderly and disabled.
Read More: http://3chicspolitico.com/2015/03/16/ferguson-town-leadership-was-running-a-multi-million-dollar-racketeering-extortion-scheme/
POTUS just dropped the Mic for the ages.
Ambassador Gaspard @patrickgaspard
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POTUS just dropped the Mic for the ages.
3:50 PM - 7 Mar 2015
Vox ✔ @voxdotcom
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Read the full transcript of Obama's rousing, emotional speech in Selma: http://vox.com/e/7932126?utm_campaign=vox&utm_content=chorus&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter …
3:52 PM - 7 Mar 2015
Ambassador Gaspard @patrickgaspard
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POTUS speech at Selma was a love letter to America.
3:51 PM - 7 Mar 2015
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Trymaine Lee ✔ @trymainelee
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THIS photo of Obama and John Lewis in Selma yesterday. The long arc of 50 yrs ago bent toward his presidency. (WashP)
12:24 PM - 8 Mar 2015 Selma, AL, United States
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B_iHqDAXEAAjC44.jp
Breathtaking #Selma50
6:56 PM - 7 Mar 2015
http://theobamadiary.com/2015/03/08/a-tweet-or-two-229/
This weekend brings tears to my eyes and hope in my heart, may we bend toward justice.
Everybody Matters
I want our actions to tell every child in every neighborhood, your life matters, and we are committed to improving your life chances - as committed as we are to working on behalf of our own kids. I want future generations to know that we are a people who see our differences as a great gift, that we’re a people who value the dignity and worth of every citizen -- man and woman, young and old, black and white, Latino, Asian, immigrant, Native American, gay, straight, Americans with mental illness or physical disability. Everybody matters. I want them to grow up in a country that shows the world what we still know to be true: that we are still more than a collection of red states and blue states; that we are the United States of America.
President Barack Obama, State of the Union, January 20, 2015
Talk...meet walk.
More Here~ http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2015/01/everybody-matters.html
"If We Do It All Together, We'll Be Okay"
On this day every year I get overwhelmed with all the articles written about Martin Luther King. He was a great - and very complex - man who is worthy of our attention.
But to keep myself grounded, this article written by HamdenRice is something I always go back to. I hope he won't mind if I quote it at length. I'm thinking I'll make this an annual tradition.
At this point, I would like to remind everyone exactly what Martin Luther King did, and it wasn't that he "marched" or gave a great speech.
My father told me with a sort of cold fury, "Dr. King ended the terror of living in the south."
Please let this sink in and and take my word and the word of my late father on this. If you are a white person who has always lived in the U.S. and never under a brutal dictatorship, you probably don't know what my father was talking about.
But this is what the great Dr. Martin Luther King accomplished. Not that he marched, nor that he gave speeches.
He ended the terror of living as a black person, especially in the south.
More Here:
http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2015/01/if-we-do-it-all-together-well-be-okay.html
Follow the HamdenRice link as well, it is a great read.
2015 Year of Resistance
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FB # Black Lives Matter
Kids Take Part In Ferguson Protests (PHOTOS)
Children in Ferguson have been protesting along with their families since the shooting of Michael Brown on Aug. 9. They have joined the marches day and night, sporting T-shirts in support of Brown and often holding their arms up in protest, chanting, "Hands up! Don't shoot!" They have also participated in art tributes to Brown and helped with community food drives.
Protests erupted in this St. Louis suburb after officer Darren Wilson shot 18-year-old Brown, who was unarmed, on Aug. 9. After some violent clashes between police and demonstrators, things now seem to be calmer.
Here are some of the children who have taken part in activism in the wake of Brown's death:
(Photos by Emily Kassie for The Huffington Post)
On the afternoon of Aug. 23, protesters march along Canfield Drive, where Michael Brown was shot. They passed a truck of food donations being given to the community by Crisis Aid International, the St. Louis Police and Ferguson Mayor James Knowles.
A young boy blows up a balloon to add to a tribute for Michael Brown on the afternoon of Aug. 23. The tribute is on Canfield Drive, where Brown was shot on Aug. 9 by officer Darren Wilson. Many children contributed balloons, toys and pieces of artwork to the memorial.
Two children add balloons to the tribute on Canfield Drive for Michael Brown on Aug. 23. The tribute consists of a line of roses along the road, leading up to a sign that reads "Hands Up Don't Shoot, August 9, 2014 RIP Michael." Around the signs were flowers, candles and toys.
Read More http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/24/kids-ferguson_n_5701867.html
For the children. They are the future.
America
It should be beautiful...It can be beautiful. We can do this. We can. I know we have it in our hearts and our souls. We can do it we just need to try a little harder. We need to talk and listen and really want this. Change is never easy, is it? You have to want it and we damn well have to fight together to get it.
"http://vimeo.com/18429639
America the Beautiful
Words by Katharine Lee Bates,
Melody by Samuel Ward
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
http://www.scoutsongs.com/lyrics/americathebeautiful.html
Breathe, because I can't. I am in shock.
The NYPD now explains why they are so mad at The Mayor in an Op-Ed, poor babies so sadly misunderstood. Two of their own died and that hit them hard. They say it was a senseless killing, and it was. I agree, it is sad and I mourn those families. Needless and senseless killings. Yet you could not put off your childish act of disrespect toward the mayor for your fallen members at their funerals. You could not give it a day to attack you did it there. That was juvenile and ugly.
Oh, then you doubled down in your so called grief for your fallen minority brothers. You attacked the Mayors black wife. WTF? She wore jeans? No she did not, she has more respect for the fallen minority members that you ever will.
So. Let us take this a step further. How the hell do you feel about Eric Garners death!!!!! Where is your OP about this vile murder. When do you people stand up and speak up on this?
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/08/opinion/the-nypd-protests-an-officers-view.html?ref=opinion&comments&_r=0#commentsContainer
How the hell do you think the BLACK COMMUNITY FEELS ABOUT BEING DEMONIZED, DEMORALIZED AND, AT TIMES, LITERALLY UNDER ASSAULT!
I can't breathe~ 17 times he said this.
His daughter lies in the place that he died for 17 minutes.
I can't breathe I can't breathe I can't breathe I can't breathe I can't breathe I can't breathe I can't breathe I can't breathe I can't breathe I can't breathe I can't breathe I can't breathe I can't breathe I can't breathe I can't breathe I can't breathe I can't breathe..................................................................
And they weren't done yet. They go on here. Holy Mother of Gawd. Deep breathe here. There audacitity to make this all about them and not the dead BLACK MEN THEY THEY ARE MURDERING AT AN ALARMING RATE!!! THIS IS ABOUT THEM? THEY ARE TONE DEAF!!!!
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/08/opinion/the-nypd-protests-an-officers-view.html?ref=opinion&comments&_r=0#commentsContainer
We have lost our immortal souls.
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