Where Is The Outrage When Blacks Destroy Our Own Lives and Property?

Where Is The Outrage When Blacks Destroy Our Own Lives and Property?

Another police involved shooting of a Black male. More coverage of an African-American community being destroyed by African-Americans accompanied by the usual deflection of blaming “systematic racism” for the atrocities.

This time, the chaos happened in Milwaukee, Wisconsin when law enforcement officers shot and killed an armed man. Protesters burned six businesses, including a gas station, and threw rocks at police, leaving four officers injured, seven police vehicles damaged and 17 people arrested.

According to reports, 23-year-old Sylville K. Smith and another person were driving through a north-side neighborhood and were pulled over by police. Both persons fled the car and a footchase ensued. It ended when an officer shot Smith after ordering him to put down his gun.

In all fairness, it is reasonable to question the police version of the incident given that there is a proven track record of killing unarmed black males and authorities trying to cover up evidence in support of their law enforcement officers but my complaint focuses more on the actions some of my African-American brothers and sisters think are justified.

Darryl Riles
DK Riles

 

I grew up in Chicago, Illinois on the South side. I lived in the Robert Taylor Homes (otherwise known as the “projects”) in the early 1960’s when true segregation and racism was common. Like many others, my parents and grandparents caught the brunt of the extreme prejudices that existed and fought to make sure the next generation would have better opportunities than they had.

My parents stressed a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King’s ” I Have A Dream” speech:

” I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

I live by that philosophy even today but when I see violent protests in our neighorhoods, another King quote comes to mind:

” Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. I am not unmindful of the fact that violence often brings about momentary results. Nations have frequently won their independence in battle. But in spite of temporary victories, violence never brings permanent peace.”

To me, rioting and protesting when a cop shoots down a person of color but not raising the same type of hell when some thug kills anyone is insane. When I watch our so called Black leaders show up on television to rant about the white man’s oppression but offer no real solutions or motivation for us as a people to aggressively stand against those in our own community who do much more damage on a daily basis, it pisses me off.
The most troubling aspect of this whole dilemma to me occurs when those of us who have managed to find success despite bigoted obstruction are ridiculed, belittled, and even attacked as “acting or talking white” by fellow members of our race. It makes it very difficult at times to give back when you are ostracised for doing well.
Destroying your own neighborhood will do nothing for the economic developement that area may need. No business owner is going to invest there for fear of losing everything. You can’t attack law enforcement then turn around and call them for help when some
idiot is attacking you.
Finally, we are fortunate to live in an age where a black man can succeed to be President of the United States = something our ancestors could never fathom – or aspire to be the best at whatever he chooses to be. Learn how to beat back racism by voting in the right people, challenge those within your community to fight back against those who seek to make it a warzone full of drugs and violence. Don’t keep waiting for some magic solution.
As those who came before us proved, it is only when we look within ourselves that any positive change can come about for us as a people. Let’s start by comfronting those who want to destroy the communities we live in.

Are You Missing Obama Yet?

Are You Missing Obama Yet?

Much of the 2016 Presidential campaign season has centered on whether Hillary Clinton is trusted enough or Donald Trump has the temperament to be commander-in-chief. There doesn’t seem to be much change in their attempts to alter the narrative concerning how people view them on the public stage. As far back as 2005 when Hillary and Bill Clinton attended Trump and Melania’s wedding ceremony as VIP guests it sure looked like all four had a pretty good time.

The billionaire businessman has, over the years, given at least $100,000 to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation and  made multiple cash donations  to Hillary Clinton’s various political campaigns before this one.

At the first GOP debate back in August, Trump was asked what he “bought” with those donations of his to the Clintons. His answer sounded much the same as usual:

“With Hillary Clinton? I said, ‘Be at my wedding.’ And she came to my wedding. You know why? She had no choice because I gave.” The Donald boasted.

Clinton gave her familiar parsed and glib take on the subject when asked about it shortly after.

“We were not friends.” she said.“I happened to be planning to be in Florida and I thought it’d be fun to go to his wedding, because it’s always entertaining.”
 Considering that Trump is slumping in the polls of key battleground states this week after enduring perhaps his worst two weeks on the campaign trail – and seeming not to care about it, one has to wonder if the conspiracy theories which orbit this contest may have some merit.
Could it be possible that Mr. Trump is indeed a plant by the Clintons to make the path to the presidency easier for Hillary?
One article I found interesting comes from  theindependentthinker2016. Just before Donald Trump announced his candidacy for President of the United States, he had a conversation with Bill Clinton.
 According to five different aids present for the conversation, Clinton encouraged Trump’s efforts to play a larger role in the Republican Party. Whatever happened in that alledged meeting answers many questions as to the Trumpster’s overall behavior.
From his alienation of women, minorities, Muslims, and practically anyone who doesn’t identify as part of his base of supporters, to the latest unhinged comment of  Obama being the founder of ISIS, there is very little doubt the GOP candidate just can’t adjust to being a “statesman”.
Lest we forget Hillary’s shortcomings, it should be remembered that she pursued the same course of action against Barack Obama during the 2008 election. Time and again she questioned Obama’s  legitimacy  to run for president. Bill Clinton dismissed the then-senator’s  2008 South Carolina primary win, and who can forget the infamous Bosnia “sniper fire” story ?

Whatever one may think of either candidate, it is safe to say they both have attempted to use  white nationalism as a means to garner votes from a once monolithic bloc. Clinton has only now realized this isn’t  how to win anymore while Trump and the Republicans can’t  bring themselves to embrace enough of the “others” to make this a competitive race.

Are you missing  Obama yet?

The End Of The “American” Way Of Life

The End Of The “American” Way Of Life

It took longer than expected but with the astonishing rise of Donald Trump, there is a fear among some that the “American” way of life is disappearing before our very eyes. The seeds were planted when Barack Obama was elected as the first person of color to the Presidency of the United States. Now, Hillary Clinton stands as the first women to be nominated for president by a major political party. She is also poised for election as the first women president of this country. Two decades ago, it was considered a goal no minority or women could ever hope to attain. There were novel candidates who ran campaigns but they were never taken seriously by the media or the populace. Obama’s election proved that long held beliefs by some that only white males possessed the ablilty to occupy the highest office in the land was not set in stone. Over the past eight years we have witnessed a continuous insulting of the President, his family, and policies as though there were some hidden agenda behind every decision. Let’s start with the “Obama is Muslim” whispering campaign which began during his 2008 run for president and was made famous by a female supporter of then GOP Presidential nominee John McCain and continues today with reports that Donald Trump surrogates are pushing that narrative during their effort to court the same hate-filled base. The conservatives who have been wringing their hands over Obama’s every decision eagerly lap up the constant conspiracy theories trotted out by right wing media – even when the stories have been fact-checked and proven false. Now, it’s  Hillary Clinton’s turn to face the same type of rumor and innuendo. From the Whitewater scandal to the Benghazi hearings, the notion of a female running for the highest office in the country and the most powerful position in the world rankles the GOP base to the point of voting for an  over the top Reality TV star in the hopes of preserving what they feel is the “American” way of life, whatever that means.

Trump supporters at rally for their nominee

What other persons understand when the slogan “Make America Great Again” is chanted by these die hard, predominately white citizens without a college education is a desire to return to the days of unfettered bigotry and privilege. They fear that if a African – American can be elected and then a woman, what’s to stop a Hispanic, Asian, or some other minority from doing the same thing? They would rather the whole country be destroyed than to watch equality immerse the masses. Why would they want everyone to believe that “all men are created equal” if that meant everyone had the same chance to reach the pinnacle of American leadership despite the fact these same people claim a particular love for the Constitution? They support Trump because they fear the end of their American way of life but so did the Native Americans when they were forced to concede to a new civilization.

Anonymous Courage: The Power Of Social Media

Despicable-Me-2-Minions-1200x1920-1680x1050I’ve been using social media for some time now but it wasn’t until recently that I really experienced what some have long expressed concern about.

To be fair, I have enjoyed having discussions and interaction via comment sections of various news outlets. They have been intense, knowledgeable, and most times respectable.

That presented an opportunity to discover an on-line news site which allowed me contribute articles which could inform and alert readers about the pressing issues of the day.

Those who were mentoring me on the advantages of social media stressed how increasing viewership could help in establishing your brand. Sites like Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, and other portals are essential to gaining exposure for your work.

One element I didn’t know about involved joining other social media groups that shared your passions and interests so I began looking for the sites I could participate in. There are hundreds of sites on the internet which cover virtually any subject you can imagine. Some encourage open involvement, others require that you become part of a select group. I made choices based on the site’s topic, requirements and volume of information available.

A website dealing with abortion caught my attention because the issue is very sensitive to me. It was a closed group where you could express opinions and exchange ideas with only those who subscribed.

On my first day, I came across an article detailing legislative opposition against abortions which had been promoted by the pro-life movement. I added my take on the situation through the comments section and waited to see if it would generate a response.

Initially replies stayed along the lines of support and disagreement about my comment.   As the day wore on however, I was exposed to a site that seemed composed of people whose only purpose was to write inflammatory, profanity – laced juvenile insults that had little to do with the subject at hand and offered practically no insight.

What alarmed me was the sheer number of participants who joined in the conversation merely to inject their venomous rants meant to simply trash someone on a personal level.

Hate on the internet!!!
So much anger and hate on the internet!!!

This led me to wonder – if those same people had a face-to-face  conversation, would they have dared to use the exact language they seemed comfortable stroking on a keyboard? Would the bravado and narcissism be on display so willingly? Probably not.

Which goes to show not only some individuals lack of morals, but of courage also. Too often we see on websites and pages those who would never use such vitriol in the real world because such behavior would bring serious consequences almost immediately.

So be forewarned, in a world connected by technology, there is an ever increasing chance that the words you choose will either be uplifting or bring about your downfall because all eyes are on you !!!

 

 

 

Gun Company Finally Faces Justice In Sandy Hook Massacre

After years filled with grief, victims and survivors of the Sandy Hook Massacre may force gun companies to finally face justice for their part in the tragedy. A Connecticut judge has ruled that a lawsuit against the manufacturer and seller of the weapon used in the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 can proceed.

Gun companies had sought to dismiss the lawsuit filed by nine victims’ families and a survivor, which names Remington Arms, maker of the Bushmaster AR-15 rifle( model XM15-E2S),which gunman Adam Lanza used to kill 20 children and six adults at the school in Newtown, Conn.

Thursday’s ruling is a victory for the survivors and families of shooting victims who filed the lawsuit. Previous efforts to hold gun manufacturers responsible for mass shootings had been blocked by Senate Republicans, who insisted that any gun safety measures would take away a gun owner’s right to bear arms.

Lawyers for the gun companies had pointed to a federal law that prevents certain lawsuits against gun makers when those guns are used in a crime. Those companies could still try to get the lawsuit thrown out based on the merits of the case.

Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis ruled that the law does not prevent lawyers for the families of Sandy Hook victims from arguing that the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle is a military weapon and should not have been sold to civilians who don’t live in an enviroment to use it.

In December 2014, a lawsuit was initially filed in the state court of Connecticut, two years after the victims were gunned down at the elementary school in Newtown, Conn. It then went to a federal court before being shifted back to a state court last fall, in what’s seen as a possible advantage for the lawyers representing plaintiffs, who are acting on behalf of 10 victims. .

Now that the case has been cleared to move forward, the plaintiffs are seeking damages and an injunction against selling the AR-15 rifle. Both sides are due back in court on Tuesday.

Perhaps a more encouraging sign was the verdict reached in the Badger Gun case in Wisconsin last year.

In October, a jury found that Badger Guns, a firearm shop in suburban Milwaukee, broke federal law when it negligently sold a gun that was used to shoot and injure two officers to a “straw buyer”, someone who illegally purchases a weapon for someone else.

Lawyers for the shop invoked the protection statute, which was passed in 2005 and received forcible support from the NRA.

The controversial statute has been used to dismiss several lawsuits, including one brought earlier this year by the parents of one of the 12 victims of the 2012 Aurora, Colorado shooting.

President Obama has fought for gun control laws that would prevent some people from getting weapons but has met with resistance from the National Rifle Association, the GOP and idiots in the media. It’s exciting that some states have decided that they’re mad as hell and won’t take the killings anymore without letting gun makers share the pain their product creates.

Now that the case has been cleared to move forward, the plaintiffs are seeking damages and an injunction against selling the AR-15 rifle. Both sides are due back in court on Tuesday.

Assault rifle used in Sandy Hook shooting