OSCAR GRANT: WE HAD BETTER STRENGTHEN OURSELVES!!!
Do police departments view the fractured and internal hatred of ourselves as license to do anything; to just assault, shoot and kill our young men? I knew Oscar Grant's killing would be important and so are so many others that I wrote about in the book.
BLACK MEN STOP! excerpt:
THE OUTSIDE
"I woke up New Years Eve 2008, clicked on the news only to hear another report of a Houston area policeman's shooting of a young black man. 23 year old Robbie Tolan, son of ex Cincinnati Reds player, Bobby Tolan
On the same night, New Orleans police shot 22 year old Adolph Grimes 14 times, 12 times in the back. Nine undercover plainclothes narc police officers approached him in his car parked a half block from his grandmothers front door,
It was just a few hours later, on New Year's Day, in Oakland, California, that three Bay Area Rapid Transit Police held an unarmed 22 year old black male suspect, Oscar Grant, face down on the ground while one of them shot, and killed him. We all saw that video and its great evidence for most reasonable people, but I have no confidence in any internal investigation. I am certain the police will claim that Grant had a third arm coming out of his back trying to shoot at them....or something just as utterly ridiculous.
Everyone all over the world remembers one of the first video demonstrations of this kind of police work. It was of the Rodney King beating by Los Angeles Police on March 3, 1991. The video was graphic and captured the obvious beating of King by Los Angeles Policemen. It was video taped by a private citizen. That video display, however, did not provide enough evidence against these guys. We all know the result. These policemen were exonerated. There were riots which erupted in Los Angeles the day that the four white police officers, who beat King, were found not guilty. Again violent protest as a result of the obvious appearance of unfairness.
Police have continued their assault and videos demonstrate it. The list is long, and the pain and suffering of families immense.
But, just being black and in a public place puts us at risk for getting harassed, injured or killed by police. You do not have to be a criminal, have a criminal record, sell or use drugs, be a member of a gang, or carry a gun. Most of us do not commit crimes. Just being black, especially young and a male, makes you a target.
I was writing at my desk, about 3:00 in the morning, when I got a frantic call from my 20 year old son, who at the time was a third year student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, the Alma mater of greats like, civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, social activist, Julian Bond, actor, Samuel L. Jackson, film director and producer, Spike Lee and attorney, Jeh Charles Johnson, named by President Obama to be General Counsel for the United States Defense Department.
In a phone call that a parent always fears getting, especially parents of black children, he frantically told me, “Mama, I didn't do anything, but the police put me in the back of their police car while they searched my truck!” I was drunk from the fear. It was turning into anger. I hurried and got into my vehicle and drove as fast as I could to the scene.
On the way, as my tears fell, I tried to tell myself to remain rational and calm. Even though it was less than 3 miles away, every block was excruciating...."
We have got to be able to trust each other, because we are still under assault by the pressure of racism in our country. This evil continues to bear down on us, daily. While most Americans would like to believe, or pretend, it is a paragraph in the history books, it is still a painful reality in this 21st century, despite this country's decision to elect a black man for president, and the media's use of “post racial era” to describe this historic event.
We've got work to do to organize our families and our communities. It may be 2010, but we have become weakened, much of the time, by our own doing. From Dr. King to President Obama we have continued to chip away at the social and moral relevance gained by the giants of the past, killing our lives with guns and violence, the prison cells; emotionally by hurting the hearts of the children left to fend for themselves; the large numbers of our children dodging violence daily, in failing schools, left with unprepared mothers without the discipline and protection of their fathers. All of this weakens us!!
We will continue to be marginalized and ignored by other citizens, the government, the criminal justice system and by police on the ground, because they just think we don't care about us! They board up their walls so they don't have to see or hear those temporary efforts of a struggle; wait until we take that fury back to our own corners and use it against each other.
You are either the source of the damage or the solution for recovery.
Gail Smallwood, author
BLACK MEN STOP!
http://facebook.com/blackmenstop
http://twitter.com/blackmenstop
http://blackmenstop.ning.com
PROLOGUE:(COPY LINK)
http://api.ning.com/files/0H2pLz10bnFiexqd...
BLACK MEN STOP! excerpt:
THE OUTSIDE
"I woke up New Years Eve 2008, clicked on the news only to hear another report of a Houston area policeman's shooting of a young black man. 23 year old Robbie Tolan, son of ex Cincinnati Reds player, Bobby Tolan
On the same night, New Orleans police shot 22 year old Adolph Grimes 14 times, 12 times in the back. Nine undercover plainclothes narc police officers approached him in his car parked a half block from his grandmothers front door,
It was just a few hours later, on New Year's Day, in Oakland, California, that three Bay Area Rapid Transit Police held an unarmed 22 year old black male suspect, Oscar Grant, face down on the ground while one of them shot, and killed him. We all saw that video and its great evidence for most reasonable people, but I have no confidence in any internal investigation. I am certain the police will claim that Grant had a third arm coming out of his back trying to shoot at them....or something just as utterly ridiculous.
Everyone all over the world remembers one of the first video demonstrations of this kind of police work. It was of the Rodney King beating by Los Angeles Police on March 3, 1991. The video was graphic and captured the obvious beating of King by Los Angeles Policemen. It was video taped by a private citizen. That video display, however, did not provide enough evidence against these guys. We all know the result. These policemen were exonerated. There were riots which erupted in Los Angeles the day that the four white police officers, who beat King, were found not guilty. Again violent protest as a result of the obvious appearance of unfairness.
Police have continued their assault and videos demonstrate it. The list is long, and the pain and suffering of families immense.
But, just being black and in a public place puts us at risk for getting harassed, injured or killed by police. You do not have to be a criminal, have a criminal record, sell or use drugs, be a member of a gang, or carry a gun. Most of us do not commit crimes. Just being black, especially young and a male, makes you a target.
I was writing at my desk, about 3:00 in the morning, when I got a frantic call from my 20 year old son, who at the time was a third year student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, the Alma mater of greats like, civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, social activist, Julian Bond, actor, Samuel L. Jackson, film director and producer, Spike Lee and attorney, Jeh Charles Johnson, named by President Obama to be General Counsel for the United States Defense Department.
In a phone call that a parent always fears getting, especially parents of black children, he frantically told me, “Mama, I didn't do anything, but the police put me in the back of their police car while they searched my truck!” I was drunk from the fear. It was turning into anger. I hurried and got into my vehicle and drove as fast as I could to the scene.
On the way, as my tears fell, I tried to tell myself to remain rational and calm. Even though it was less than 3 miles away, every block was excruciating...."
We have got to be able to trust each other, because we are still under assault by the pressure of racism in our country. This evil continues to bear down on us, daily. While most Americans would like to believe, or pretend, it is a paragraph in the history books, it is still a painful reality in this 21st century, despite this country's decision to elect a black man for president, and the media's use of “post racial era” to describe this historic event.
We've got work to do to organize our families and our communities. It may be 2010, but we have become weakened, much of the time, by our own doing. From Dr. King to President Obama we have continued to chip away at the social and moral relevance gained by the giants of the past, killing our lives with guns and violence, the prison cells; emotionally by hurting the hearts of the children left to fend for themselves; the large numbers of our children dodging violence daily, in failing schools, left with unprepared mothers without the discipline and protection of their fathers. All of this weakens us!!
We will continue to be marginalized and ignored by other citizens, the government, the criminal justice system and by police on the ground, because they just think we don't care about us! They board up their walls so they don't have to see or hear those temporary efforts of a struggle; wait until we take that fury back to our own corners and use it against each other.
You are either the source of the damage or the solution for recovery.
Gail Smallwood, author
BLACK MEN STOP!
http://facebook.com/blackmenstop
http://twitter.com/blackmenstop
http://blackmenstop.ning.com
PROLOGUE:(COPY LINK)
http://api.ning.com/files/0H2pLz10bnFiexqd...
NUFF SAID SISTER!!!