AMERICA MIGHT BE GETTING WORSE!!

This is an exceptionally  rough time to search for any silver lining in the dark cloud that is America.  It seems that every day a white (paranoid) cop shoots an unarmed black person because the cop was “in fear for his life” due to the very presence of the African American.  It also seems that every other day, some District Attorney goes out of his or her way to make sure that the cop doesn’t get indicted for what- in many cases our eyes can clearly see- is at least manslaughter. 

Even as the state sponsored slaughter of African Americans continued, the Senate Intelligence Committee released its report on government torture of detainees.  For those who believe the United States government to be a paragon of morality and fairness, the report was shocking.  It detailed the spectacular cruelty inflicted on detainees, including sleep deprivation, rectal feeding/hydration, stress positions (forcing to sit/stoop/stand in extremely stressful, unnatural positions for hours at a time) and waterboarding, just to name a few of the techniques involved.  The report further stated that 26 persons were tortured who were subsequently found to have done absolutely nothing wrong.

In an effort to magically create some sort of positive spin on the report, President Obama praised the United States for our capacity to admit when we make mistakes.   Therein lies the rub.  Even as New York City mayor, Bill de Blasio, whose wife is black, spoke of instructing his son on how to interact as safely as possible with police, responses were coming.   The mayor of the city has to warn his child about interacting with the police who are charged with that son’s protection.   One can only imagine that, given Obama’s commentary on admitting our mistakes and the awful killing of Eric Garner for selling loose cigarettes-not rape-not murder- selling loose cigarettes-  the police union and leadership would praise de Blasio and vow that unarmed and  NOT dangerous civilians would not be killed by police.  One would think the police leadership would take this opportunity to raise itself up, dust itself off, seek redemption and a higher level of professional comportment for itself that in and of itself, would result in greater respect and cooperation from the public, especially the African American public. Yes you would think that.  And you would be wrong. 

Patrick J. Lynch,  President of the patrolman’s benevolent society, said police feel  “they were thrown under the bus,” by the mayor.  He said the emphasis should have been on telling people not to resist arrest.  Someone should have remembered that this is the same police department that murdered Amadou Diallo back in 1999.  Police fired 41 bullets at Diallo, striking him 19 times, in the vestibule of the building in which he lived.  The reason?  They mistook his wallet for a gun!  Diallo had no criminal record and was not suspected of having committed any crime. 

The mayor of at the time of the Diallo killing, Rudy Guiliani, apparently continues his strong advocacy of killing unarmed blacks, based on his reaction to the Diallo and Garner killings.  Even as such stalwart conservatives as Charles Krauthammer and Bill O’Reilly condemned the lack of indictment in the Garner case, Guiliani, along with Sean Hannity, defended the police action and lack of indictment.  Guiliani also criticized Di Blasio’s reaction to the lack of indictment.   For every step society tries to take forward toward a more just and equitable society, there are people like Guiliani and Hannity (Not to mention their many followers) who will fight the fight to maintain all that is wrong and hated about America.

As if the racism, the killing of unarmed black folks and the torture of detainee weren’t enough, the Republican Congress, with help from the Democrats, just passed a 1.1 trillion dollar budget that eviscerates Dodd Frank.  Dodd Frank was the legislation that, in essence, stopped banks from gambling with tax payer dollars (the practice that caused the last great recession).  The Republicans also slashed the budget for the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and raised limits on campaign contributions.  The Republicans held the government hostage (a shutdown loomed)  to get their way.

But the most distressing aspect of the budget morass was the fact that there appeared to be one lone voice-crying in the wilderness, trying to defend everyday people.  I’m sure many of the black folks reading this will know exactly about whom it is I am speaking.  You got it- Elizabeth Warren.  The Obama White House helped push the budget through. 

www.williamgriggs.net

 

PROSECUTORS DON'T PROSECUTE WHEN POLICE KILL

I was more than a little nervous as I approached the soul food restaurant to speak with my mentor, the greatest of all ghetto philosophers, Cleophus Leroy Jackson.  I was afraid he’d be so angry over the recent failures to indict policemen who killed unarmed black males that he might not even want to talk with me or, worse yet, , turn his wrath on me. 

“Hey, College Boy,” He grinned when I walked in.  “Come have a seat, he waived his arm expansively, welcoming me to his booth.  Gingerly I stepped forward.  “You seem to be in a good mood.” I said meekly.  “I thought you’d be angry about the Ferguson and New York cases of cops getting off without even having to go to trial.”

“Man, I caint begin to tell you how upset I am about that.  We are gone have to deal with those situations on an ongoing basis, not just get mad for a few months and go back to everyday life.  But even if the outcome is wrong, I really get excited whenever I see excellence at work in any arena and the defense attorney in Ferguson was absolutely amazing!  I mean, even though he tried to hide it, you could tell how enthusiastic he was about finding ways to contradict the prosecution witness before the grand jury.  He was almost gleeful when he took all that time to break down how and why his client, Darren Wilson, got off.  Later on we found out he had his assistant, Kathi Alizadeh, give the grand jury an outdated, unconstitutional statue that helped the policeman.   I don’t know how the prosecutor let them get away with it, but the dude and his staff were brilliant.”

The defense attorney? I asked sheepishly.

“Yeah, the whole thing was brilliant.  But I never knew defense attorneys had so much clout.  I thought it would have been the prosecuting attorney who would come out and read the decision of the grand jury.  But the defense attorney had the prosecution so bamboozled they didn’t even ask the grand jury for an indictment!  Perry Mason wasn’t that tough!   Instead of the prosecutor coming forward and telling whether or not there would be an indictment, the defense attorney came out and bragged on how he got the officer off without an indictment. 

Do you remember the defense attorney’s name? 

Yeah, it was Robert McCulloch.  Why?

He was the prosecutor.

“Never mind.”

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The reactions to these highly publicized murders of black folks by police have highlighted how truly complicated issues have become in America.  The issue of white police beating and killing black folks is highly racial, yet a large minority of the protesters on behalf of the black victims have been white and other non-blacks.  Conversely, we can always depend on certain Negros, like Charles Barkley, to uphold the killing of black folks.  We can always depend on racist white folks and Fox News to uphold the killing of black folks.  We have seen former New York mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, along with Sean Hannity and many of the usual suspects spew their racist nonsense regarding these events.  But we have also seen Fox conservative stalwart, Bill O’Reilly, and GOP House leader, John Boehner come out strongly against the random execution of black folks by police. 

Maybe the issue isn’t as complicated as white vs. black and conservative vs. progressive.  Sometimes, just maybe, the issue comes down to right and wrong. 

www.williamgriggs.net