Tag: Race Issues

War on Dr. King

Back in the days of the civil rights movement there was No one more central than Martin Luther King….and during this time the FBI  lead by the cross dresser, J. edgar Hoover,  spent many hours trying to discredit everything Dr. King tried to accomplish….they tried labeling him a Communist…..as a serial adulterer……and any other dirty trick they could think of at the time…….

A recent discovery may have been one of the dirtiest……

In 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. received an anonymous letter assailing him as an “evil” fraud and threatening to reveal all kinds of sordid details about his personal life. Unless: “There is only one thing left for you to do,” it concludes. “You know what it is.” As Yale professor Beverly Gage explains in the New York Times, King read the letter and concluded that it could only have come from the FBI and that it was J. Edgar Hoover’s way of getting him to kill himself. Historians have long known about the so-called “suicide letter,” but Gage has discovered an unredacted version in Hoover’s files in the National Archives, and the Times has published it here. (Though the newspaper redacts the name of a woman the letter writer calls one of his “evil playmates.”)

The letter also makes reference to an “enclosure” and says King should listen to it, suggesting that it could be an audio recording related to one of his affairs. Gage writes that Hoover isn’t the author—instead one of his deputies, William Sullivan, “apparently took it upon himself” to write it. For the record, the letter never explicitly says King should commit suicide, and some historians think the intent was to get him to step aside as a civil rights leader, not kill himself.

Character assassination is what we Americans do when we a confronted by someone that does not fit our little range of acceptable…..and the FBI does it better than most.

Dr, Kong basically flip-off the letter and as they say….the rest is history.

Do white people really know how to have more than one black friend? | Rebecca Carroll | Comment is free | theguardian.com

Thanx to the tragic death of Michael brown the country is having that awkward race conversation.  Don’t get me wrong I believe we have needed an honest conversation on race for decades and so far all we have done is talk and the crap still carries on and on……

News media has 3 white guys debating race….kinda like 3 men debating birth control…….we Americans truly want to have this conversation but none of us know how to have it……where to start……

I read a piece in the UK’s Guardian and thought it asked some interesting questions…I think we all need to read it…….and please let me know what you think……

 

Do white people really know how to have more than one black friend? | Rebecca Carroll | Comment is free | theguardian.com.

Who You Calling A Racist?

The situation in Ferguson and Staten Island and Louisiana have re-opened the conversation on racism…….of course no one will admit to being a racist, not even the hard core racist..but there is some scientific proof that we all maybe a little on the racist side…….

(Newser) – As America once again examines its race relations, Nicholas Kristof writes that it’s not the guys in white sheets we need to worry about. Instead of “overt racists,” we should instead focus on the “broad swath of people who consider themselves enlightened, who intellectually believe in racial equality, who deplore discrimination, yet who harbor unconscious attitudes that result in discriminatory policies and behavior,” he writes in the New York Times. That’s where the conversation needs to start.

Kristof cites a number of studies to bolster his point—video game players (including Kristof himself) are quicker to fire on a black person than a white person, doctors dole out more pain medication to white patients with a broken leg, etc.—but he stresses that the cause isn’t hopeless. The nation has made huge progress on race over the decades, and good training and smart policies (police cameras, for example) can help. But we must acknowledge that “racial stereotyping remains ubiquitous,” he writes. And the main problem is “people who believe in equality but who act in ways that perpetuate bias and inequality.” Click for his full column.

ME?  I will admit that I am a bit of a racist……but mine is a deep desire to understand what occurred in Vietnam and why…..the racial thing is a side effect of war……….I am not a violent person so I am not going out and commit some crime against those that I do not like or trust……and I try to curb my reactions and in my declining years it has gotten better….I do not want to take anything away from people…….mine is more that I search for the son-of-a-bitch that tortured me in 1968.

Please read the full article and then tell me what you think…is it accurate or not?

To further this line of thought….the HufPo has a great study about race and the media….it is well worth the read ….if you have the time…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/28/media-black-crime-rates_n_5728780.html?&ir=Politics&ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000016

Please take the time to read the articles……I think that we need to have a serious conversation on race……..I do not believe that we are having that as of today.

Thoughts?

Iberia Parish: Where’s Al?

We all know all  about Ferguson thanx to the media and thanx to people like Al Sharpton…..I find it uplifting that there are those ‘leaders’ that feel it necessary to force the public to address such injustice……but there is a problem at least form my point of view………the problem is selective concern……

(Newser) – Louisiana State Police say Victor White III died after shooting himself while handcuffed in the back of a police car in March, an assertion backed up by the Iberia Parish coroner’s office, reports NBC News. But White’s family isn’t buying the suicide story—mainly, they say, because White had a new baby with his longtime girlfriend, a steady job, and possible college plans, and because details in the recently released coroner’s report contradict the police report. “You can’t make me understand how my son took his left hand, when he was handcuffed behind the back, and shot himself,” Rev. Victor White II tells NBC. “I don’t believe a thing they’re saying at this point.”

White and a friend were reportedly picked up by the police after reports of a fight outside a local gas station; the station manager says the two were inside the store when the fight broke out. Cops let White’s friend go, but what happened next is where the story gets murky. A police statement said an “uncooperative,” handcuffed White “produced a handgun” and shot himself in the back while in custody, even though cops said no weapon was found on White during two recorded searches before the shooting. The coroner agrees that White shot himself but says the 22-year-old was shot in the front, that there were scratches on White’s face (the police said there was no physical altercation with officers), and that the bullet went through his right chest and out his left armpit—White’s family says he was left-handed, making the suggested scenario hard for them to believe. Click for more details.

Where are the activists that thought Ferguson needed to be brought to the forefront…..where are they for this incident?

Full Disclosure:  I do not watch the Rev’s show…..to me he is still a preacher and delivers a sermon every night not a news show……I am sure he has covered this issue on his MSNBC show….but where is he in person?  He had NO problem flying into Ferguson to help lead the opposition…….

I recently read a piece about Al Sharpton that I tend to agree with……check it out……..

http://www.salon.com/2014/08/26/al_sharpton_does_not_have_my_ear_why_we_need_new_black_leadership_now/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

Give me your thoughts on the piece or the post in general……Me?  I am beginning to think that Al goes where the ratings will be greater not necessarily the most pressing of stories….I may be wrong……but that is yet to be seen.