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Monday, June 22, 2015

VIDEO: REVEREND CLEMENTA PINCKNEY FROM PBS DOCUMENTARY "AFRICAN AMERICANS"

THE REALITY THAT FAR TOO MANY BLACK AMERICANS STILL FACE

Yes, Black America Fears The Police.  Here's Why. 

by Nikole Hannah-Jones, March 5, 2015

(zoom to 125%)

Excerpt:

""Someone was just shooting on the beach," she said, between gulps of air, to the person on the line.
Unable to imagine whom she would be calling at that moment, I asked her, somewhat indignantly, if she couldn't have waited until we got to safety before calling her mom.


"No," she said. "I am talking to the police."


My friends and I locked eyes in stunned silence. Between the four adults, we hold six degrees. Three of us are journalists. And not one of us had thought to call the police. We had not even considered it.
We also are all black. And without realizing it, in that moment, each of us had made a set of calculations, an instantaneous weighing of the pros and cons.


As far as we could tell, no one had been hurt. The shooter was long gone, and we had seen the back of him for only a second or two. On the other hand, calling the police posed considerable risks. It carried the very real possibility of inviting disrespect, even physical harm. We had seen witnesses treated like suspects, and knew how quickly black people calling the police for help could wind up cuffed in the back of a squad car. Some of us knew of black professionals who'd had guns drawn on them for no reason.


This was before Michael Brown. Before police killed John Crawford III for carrying a BB gun in a Wal-Mart or shot down 12-year-old Tamir Rice in a Cleveland park. Before Akai Gurley was killed by an officer while walking in a dark staircase and before Eric Garner was choked to death upon suspicion of selling "loosies." Without yet knowing those names, we all could go down a list of unarmed black people killed by law enforcement.


We feared what could happen if police came rushing into a group of people who, by virtue of our skin color, might be mistaken for suspects.


For those of you reading this who may not be black, or perhaps Latino, this is my chance to tell you that a substantial portion of your fellow citizens in the United States of America have little expectation of being treated fairly by the law or receiving justice. It's possible this will come as a surprise to you. But to a very real extent, you have grown up in a different country than I have.
As Khalil Gibran Muhammad, author of The Condemnation of Blackness, puts it, "White people, by and large, do not know what it is like to be occupied by a police force. They don't understand it because it is not the type of policing they experience. Because they are treated like individuals, they believe that if ‘I am not breaking the law, I will never be abused.'"  ............


Continue reading and Read entire article HERE

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

CONGRATULATIONS TO AUTHOR FRANK R. ROSS


This past Sat,May 30,the African Canadian Ass.sponsored my trip to. Toronto,to lead the awesome historical unity dance...
Posted by Author Frank R. Ross on Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

RICHARD T. ANDREWS: THE REAL DEAL PRESS: JUNE 2015

We've come to enjoy The Real Deal Press.  Please check out the June issue "Michael Brelo verdict, Muslim-bashing publisher runs for Bedford school board, how to create a new middle class, East Cleveland school supt. looking to double-dip, Ohio Realtists coming to town, African Dance & Drum Fest, Karamu Centennial, black president for Union Club, sclerotic Ohio Democratic Party, much more …" R.T. Andrews


Please read and download HERE