The Insanity of it All

NiteLifer meets Jason Johnson

You know what fellow students, I am down here in N’awlinsfor the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention and it has been an eye opening and educational experience.  I have thoroughly enjoyed myself and learned quite a bit.

One thing I learned, sadly, is that despite being in Office for 200+ days, the Trump administration still can’t get even the easiest of lay ups right!  I attended a panel discussion last night on the troubling trend of police involved murders of innocent Black men.  On the initial panel was, and the focus was on, the mother of Philando Castile and the aunt of Alton Sterling.  Moderated by Ed Gordon, the emotional stories of these women of courage was brought home and made real by the stories these women detailed to the gathered audience of journalists from around the country.  Young or older, new to reporting or seasoned veterans of this craft, all were mesmerized by the reality of what happened to the two young men whose lives were taken so unnecessarily at the hands of people who had a badge and chose to take a life as the initial course of action.  Philando Castile’s mother was particularly engaging as she pointed out that the officer who shot her son, AFTER being informed by Castile that he had a permit to own and carry his gun, did so several times while an unarmed woman and child were in the car.  A collective chill went through all our spines when we grasped the gravity of that deadly encounter as well as the aftermath that happened following the murder that was captured on camera and broadcast live via social media by Castile’s girlfriend.  Then we all listened in horror as Alton Sterling’s aunt told us how the police department came to her sister’s house and let her watch the full unedited video of the murder of Mr. Sterling and how since then the protests and demonstrations have resulted in further injustices by other police departments here in the “great state of Louisiana”.  And this is important to note because following these heart wrenching firsthand accounts of  how easily loved ones were taken from their families by the police, the follow up panel was joined by the invited whirlwind of foolishness that is Omarosa (whatever her last name is these days).

Make no mistake, the room was filled and abuzz because we were also there to see what Miss Omarosa was there to say in defense of the administration she works for. To be clear her job is really just to give her Massa, President Donald J Trump, some cover to say his cabinet and administration is diverse.  Ed Gordon started the initial panel by explaining that he has attended other events where Omarosa was on the dais to take the slings and arrows for her employer.  He commended her beforehand for her bravery and cautioned the crowd not to fall victim to the urge to act out.  When “Miss Thang” arrived she did so to little fanfare and to be honest, she initially seemed ready to participate.  However, that quickly, no, immediately changed after she recounted her story of losing her father and brother to street violence and tried to frame HER story as in some way akin to what not only the two ladies had been through and are still dealing with.  The crowd turned and turned on her verbally when she tried to hijack the panel and commiserate along with them. 

Protesting Omarosa's shenanigans

When Gordon calmed the crowd and told her he would not allow things to turn into a mess, the reality TV celebrity that she is, came out.  It was a total train wreck after that.  Acting every bit the petulant child that her Massa Trump is when he does not get HIS way, Omarosa stood up and confronted Gordon face to face to attempt a power play move on the stage.  I can only imagine what was going through the minds of the other panelist on stage.  The night before I had met with Dr.Jason Johnson to ask what his plan was to confront her and he assured me that he himself would not be drawn into a staged show with her so that others could “watch monkeys fling shit at each other”.  I admired his resolve at that moment but know that while things were unfolding in front of all of us in that ballroom, he could not have been anything but disappointed.  I was uncomfortable with the way Ed Gordon allowed her to pivot from the what he was trying to get her to speak on which was, “what is your role in this administration and how can you, or are you even trying to, work some kind of influence with President Trump to do SOMETHING, to deal with this national crisis”.  Again she pivoted and tried to turn the discussion back towards herself and her own story.  She became so irate that she sat down and pulled out her (probably unsecured) smartphone to replay what Gordon had asked her to show that she wasn’t “here for this”.

Look, others have and will report on and detail how all of that 15 minutes of madness went down, but what I would like us to keep focused on is, what those two women and others like them have to say about how their families have been torn apart by the disturbing trend of cops getting away with murdering Black men and women without repercussions.  But what strikes me most is that Omarosa could easily have said to the gathering, “the administration is working hard to make changes in how we engage law enforcement practices across the country and will continue to facilitate changes.  Despite the ill fated attempt to make light of a serious issue by the President recently, we are seriously committed to ensuring that all American citizens are treated fairly and equitably by law enforcement”.  But as is the administration’s collective way of doing things, she didn’t even attempt to apologize, engage with or work with those who were there to try and help understand what our country has become.  At some point someone needs to remind her and her boss/ Massa, Dear Leader, “Bitch you work FOR us, you are now an employee of the taxpaying citizens of the United States of America!”

Today we learned of the crazy events that took place on the campus of the University of Virginia.  What has been the response from President Donald J Trump?  A tweet!  A tweet that said, “we ALL must be united & condemn all that hate stands for.  Let’s come together as one!”  Later in remarks made about the violence that resulted in one death, Trump said, “this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, many sides.”

Let THAT sink in on you for a little while, then take the totality of both events for what they are.

Why Black Lives Matter MATTERS

White America, White REPUBLICAN America, you are totally missing the point of what the real BLM movement is about. Let's change some words here and perspective here and see how you'd feel. What if instead of the alarming amount of Black people who have been killed ON CAMERA by police and those ACTING as cops, there was the same amount of say DOGS murdered this way?  Certain groups in America would be up in arms and totally blowing up. Michael Vick financed and owned dog fighting businesses. He personally killed losing dogs and kept those fighting dogs in inhumane conditions. People across the country held rallies, called for his arrest, protested at his trials, petitioned for him to never be allowed to play football again, sent him death threats!  Ray Rice had a fight with his then fiancé and hit her and knocked her out in an elevator in Atlantic city while both were drunk. And even though they both admitted culpability in the incident and moved on to still get married and sought counseling and he accepted full responsibility for what happened, he's been blackballed from the NFL and probably will never play the game again.

After those situations no one ever said "animal rights groups get too much attention" or "domestic abuse is a sexist organization that is seeking to divide the country". You know why?  Because Black people standing up and saying ANYTHING that makes White America nervous is viewed as a threat to the peace. Black Lives Matter is not a call to arms and is not a racist movement, the KKK is. Black people are trying to say "stop killing us as if we are less than dogs, as if we mean less than any woman who has ever been abused by her spouse, we deserve better". Those who have attacked police are just as wrong as those of you who think BLM is a racist movement. If all of YOUR nieces and nephews, sons and daughters, siblings and cousins were being shot when they were walking home from the store, standing on a corner, driving home from work, traveling to a new home, sitting in church praying, attending a party, or sitting in their homes watching TV, I bet YOU'D be screaming My Family's Lives Matter and begging people to pay attention that no matter what you and your family do, they SEEM to be targets and don't know where to go to feel and be safe!  No one would accuse YOU of being racist even if you said, "until you stop killing (fill in YOUR family's name) we (fill in your family's name) will stop patronizing your stores and banks and spending money". What they would say is, "that family man is doing all he can in a non-violent way, to draw attention to what is happening to his family. God bless him. 

Stop being afraid of the BLM movement and stop the call for ALL Lives Matter as a counter. We KNOW all lives matter, we just want to be counted IN the "all" and stop seeing our loved ones and those that look like us show up in more cellphone videos dying at the hands of those we WANT to serve and protect us; along WITH the "all".

No More Terrorists Allowed In

Honestly? George (Dubya) Bush was 110% right.  The terrorist do hate US for OUR freedoms...,  These people will stop at nothing to keep us from being comfortable and feeling safe here in our own country.  I have to take a page out of the Trump playbook and advocate for rounding up as many as we can that are already here and sending them away.  Too many folks want to make excuses or find an easy way to justify how things are now as a way to say it is OK not to go after them aggressively when the reality is fact, these people are evil and corrupt, they have hijacked and ancient religion and misrepresented what is written and used its teachings to justify the evil that they do.
The apologists and rationlizers will downplay what the terrorists are capable of because they want to embrace everyone and say things like, "you can't clump all these people in a bunch based on the actions of a few". But we all know that is just bull shit, right?  There is no justification for the atrocities that these people have done, continue to do, and will do again in the very near future.
If we just list out the attacks that have happened recently, you should be afraid to leave your home.

• Shooting up entertainment venues filled with civilians
• Infiltrating religious gatherings to kill those who share their religion
• Herding women and children together to kill them
• Videoing the wanton murder of people they have in "custody"
• Blowing up house of worship
• Plotting and calling for, the murder of political opponents and leaders
• Attacking protesters who don't follow their ideology
• Murdering babies
• Calling for the violent overthrow of the elected government
• Violently disrupting peaceful protests
• Use of social media to justify their evil and to recruit more to their cause
  

 When their evil is exposed or condemned they rush to justify it by invoking God's will or twisting facts to keep the populace frightened and scared.  Their actions are predicated on that, they plot to do what they do just because they know that the end result will justify the sacrifice of lives on both sides, just to advance their agenda.  The idea that America is evil comes from these people, these terrorist, these anarchists.  Yet, no matter what they do, no matter what we call them, or what they call themselves, the bottom line is, they are all evil and need to be stopped.  How can you do evil things and then call OUR government "evil" for using drones to track your movements?  Your actions NEED to be tracked by drones and those drones NEED to have the capability to take your sick asses out!  Be afraid of what American do to you, because we should be doing MORE.
Oh, and these terrorists I am wailing against?  These people are not ISIS, or ISIL, they are the crazed people here in America who shoot up schools, churches, movie theaters, and people on the street.  Police are targeting civilians regardless of the race of these victims, but as we see more and more young Black Americans die at their hands, the religious Right takes to the social media space to find justifications.  When children are murdered inside an elementary school right before Christmas, the NRA leadership and their more ardent supporters try and re-frame the reality to make it seem as though this heinous act is either a hoax, or just the work of someone "crazed".  When a hooded Black child is murdered while trying to defend himself from an terrorist, intent on doing evil things, that terrorist became a celebrity and continues to do evil things to this day.  No one has arrested or taken him off the streets because the story was framed to make him a hero, though nothing he did that fateful night was justified nor legal.  When a terrorist walks into a church in South Carolina, sits and prays with a group of God loving fellow Christians who have accepted him with open and loving arms, his betrayal and murder of those same people actually has caused some of the people on outlets like Fox News to jump up and scream, "It was NOT racially motivated, he is sick".  Never mind that survivors of that horror have detailed how this terrorist said Black people are evil and his own history reveals that he hated Blacks. 

Time after time, terroristic acts are perpetrated on Americans here in "the Homeland" by terrorists who were born and raised here, and yet we are constantly pointed to people who aren't "us" as the ones to be feared.  Don't talk to me about posting a flag on my Facebook page to support Paris or France; we are under attack right here at home.  Was it so long ago that Tim McVeigh blew up a federal building and day care filled with babies that we have forgotten what the REAL face of terrorism looks like HERE in America?  And no, by writing this I am not excluding what Black Americans are doing to Black Americans on the streets  ourselves, that is just a subject for another time.  I will address that and I will again, pull no punches.
But for now? To Hell with not bringing in refugees for fear THEY will become a threat, let's go after the ones that are here now, and put an end to the terrorism we already face at home every day.

EDITOR'S NOTE:
On November 23rd, armed masked terrorists hunted down and shot five members of a Black Lives Matter group who were peacefully protesting the police involved shooting of a young Black man in Minnesota. Read the rest of the story here. 

Right and Wrong Has No Color Line

So if you REALLY REALLY know ME you know that I'm all about calling it like it IS; I don't just call an issue by the social media, news media defined "lines". These days we are being divided along color or political lines at every turn. #BlackLivesMatter is real, but it's not mutually exclusive to the idea that #AllLivesMatter as well. It is important to keep in mind that though the latter is true, what has been documented across this country since the days of slavery is that there is an underlying belief in this nation that a Black life is far less important than a White life. That holds true on both sides of the color line. We Blacks have become desensitized to the value of Black lives almost to the same level as some Whites have. When it comes to police involved killings of Blacks, we have to keep in mind that not all cops, White or Black, are bad and not all are good. You can't arbitrarily condemn ALL cops for the actions of some. You can't arbitrarily DEFEND cops based on "they put their lives on the line every day" mantra that is so quickly trotted out by the #FoxNews pundits who immediately seek to draw lines on any issue that could remotely be framed down racial lines. Truth be told, just as in your life or on your job or in your social circles, there are people who are just WRONG right out the box. Whether they are incompetent or just evil, some people should not be doing the jobs that they do.

I say all this to present this case to you.

 Cops Who Killed Autistic First Grader Arrested for Murder, One Had Prior Indictment for Rape

Again, #BlackLivesMatter and there is nothing wrong with the President saying so. He's the President of this country, not the President of Black America. There is nothing wrong with a candidate, Republican or Democrat saying #AllLivesMatter because though the former is true, the reality that we seem to have forgotten, is ANY life, no matter the color of your skin, SHOULD BE PRECIOUS. White cops in some places are targeting Black citizens but guess what? In some places bad Black cops are targeting Blacks as well and some cops are just targeting PEOPLE! A license to carry a badge is not a license to hunt and kill other people!  So whether you are Black, White, Hispanic, Asian or whatever, this story should not only sicken you, but reinforce what as a child you should have learned, wrong is just wrong and no one should be hunted by those who are SUPPOSED TO serve and protect us!