‘Static’ Island
Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the starry, cool, soon to be sunny island of Nantucket! Great to be with you on this Thursday morning, the 4th day of December, 2014, a little before the six a.m. hour. The stars still shining en masse upon this little sand bar created 11,500 years ago by the Last Great Ice Age, and like many in this country–well, those who actually care about these kinds of things– tossed and turned most of the night, as the images of what happened to another African-American male in the United States of America, in this 21st Century America, kept haunting my slumber…
For yesterday, the world found out what American JUSTICE is rapidly becoming–A JOKE. Especially for African-American males, mostly under the age of 30. But in the case of Eric Garner, he was a grandfather and a father of six. You see about six months ago, a jolly forty year old black man was being harassed once again by some of NYPD’s finest, many of them are just that, allegedly selling ‘loosies’ (loose cigarettes) on a lonely street corner in one of New York City’s five boroughs, Staten Island. As the initial shakedown began, a random passerby videotaped the whole sordid affair, much to the chagrin of said NYPD.
What that video taped revealed to the world was that grandfather being taken down by an illegal (banned in 1993) choke hold by one of the officer’s in the arrest, one of nine on the scene, a choke hold that killed Eric Garner on the spot. The coroner would conclude that FACT later in the official autopsy.
The world watched that video in horror and was sure that the grand jury of 23 would find a ‘true bill’ to at least find probable cause to indict the police officer for any one of a number of crimes, especially considering that they had both a damning video and the fact that the coroner deemed the death a homicide.
Apparently there are two different sets of laws in this country–one for police officers who kill people and one for everyone else.
That IS the bottom line here folks. Please don’t you think twice about it, they don’t… Out in Cleveland–the scene of another horrible police on black crime, where a cop with glaringly bad review from his superiors (Google it if you don’t believe me!), gunned down a 12 year old boy playing with a toy gun by himself in a park, a young boy who was eulogized just yesterday as being “…full life”, hope there are a lot of snow balls in Heaven Tamir Rice! May you rest in peace!–they just buried that little boy yesterday and it has been just a little over a week since the Michael Brown ‘verdict’ out in Ferguson. Now this fiasco on ‘Static’ island.
New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio made a statement yesterday in New York that went a whole lot farther than ‘ole Governor Jay Nixon’s did out in St. Louis, hopefully keeping the ever growing protests as peaceful as possible. For it does no good to burn down buildings, destroy other people’s property or hurt innocent bystanders. The only way to really change things is through an all out community effort, shining a bright LIGHT from sea to shining sea, reigning in some of these out of date police force practices and policies that have turned regular urban (and some rural) settings into militarized zones, many U.S. citizens feeling as though they are captives of their own neighborhoods. Potential new victims in the town where they live, love, work and play, oh, and also pay their oppressors’ salaries. Feeling like when they step outside, it could be the last thing they do.
If we are going to keep militarizing our police forces then they should act like the military; acting honorably with a code of conduct, a code of ethics, a code of brotherhood and sisterhood-a ‘true bill’ feeling that we are all in this together, whether they like it or not.
And if they don’t–there’s the door!
Feeling like a captive and being in fear all the time is one hell of a way to feel. It truly is hell to live in fear, I should know. Citizens feeling sorry for their captors (Stockholm Syndrome) must stop. This police brutality and shooting first, asking questions later must also stop– NOW! This kind of behavior is almost Nazi like is it not?
“…this aggression won’t stand man!” (credit the film, “The Big Lebowski” and the great Jeff Bridges).
How many more of OUR citizens must die before WE address this ongoing and ever growing problem in our society? Assuming we still want to have a society. Perhaps that is really the message here folks“…you know the score pal, if you’re not a cop, you’re one of the little people”– a line taken from the film “Blade Runner”, circa 1982. A ’science fiction’ movie set in future Los Angeles, where it seems Ronald Reagan’s “Morning in America” never got the memo because only the wealthy can afford to stay out of the elements that seem to have taken a turn for the worse…
If police are afforded the right to kill at will, with no repercussions, then what’s next? It is a slippery slope when local police forces are more powerful than the U.S. Justice Department, as they continue getting tanks, anti-aircraft missals, sub-machine guns, highly explosive, rubber bullet and chemically laden grenades and more! from that same Federal Government. All sent to these police forces setting up shop as if we are about to be invaded by Russia.
“Nothing to see here folks!!”… just another black man killed on the streets of 21st Century America. A country where the value of some piece of crap Sony “Picture” is worth so much more than the life of a poor African-American man or boy–‘one’ just playing in the park by himself on a snowy day in Cleveland, or ‘one’ standing on a corner doing something ‘illegal’ (Garner had no ‘loosies’ on him when he died), or ‘one’ just walking down the street in the sleepy little town of Ferguson, Missouri, gunned down by a ‘man just doing his job’. Hor$e$hit! This question is one for the entire nation, and one that has not been addressed to this degree since the days of Bobby Kennedy in the middle part of the tumultuous decade known as the crazy 1960’s.
Bobby Kennedy spoke out strong regarding race relationships in this country. Speaking out in a time, much like today, when it was unpopular to do so. At least among many of his white ‘brethren’ at that time. In fact, after his assassination, one of the darkest days this country has ever felt or seen, his body was transported via rail car from New York to Washington. On that sad day, all along that railroad route for a thousand miles, were people of all races, creeds, colors, religions and persuasions. Yes sir, blacks and whites lined up to say their goodbyes to a man who stood up for them, for those who could not be heard, tears overflowing for the man, much like Martin Luther King, Jr., who made it his mission to protect and speak for those who did not have a voice. Those who were vulnerable, those in need of a champion.
Perhaps someday this country will WAKE UP and smell the roses. We have, collectively, so much as a people and for the most part we all get along pretty well most will tell you on this day in early December. But for most African-Americans, that is not so. WE have a responsibility to stand up to aggression of any kind. We have to become more transparent as a country. We must make sure the people we place in positions of power do not abuse said power, and make sure the police in this nation are policed themselves, becoming more responsible with the power we bestow and can take away.
WE the People becoming more intelligent and informed about how that POWER is doled out and to who.
May the Forces of LIGHT & LOVE come upon this great, diverse and thus strong nation and heal it. Bringing it closer to some kind of understanding of what a leader is and what a leader most certainly is NOT. For if you want history to look kindly upon your life, you know, ‘at the end of the day’, take a good look in the mirror and be honest with yourself. For peace begins and ends with ‘the man in the mirror’ and nobody else.
PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M
