Tuesday, June 9, 2015

The Courage of The Collective--Community Leaders Seek Justice for Tamir Rice


The Courage of The Collective. Without Community, there is no Liberation. Justice for Tamir Rice. 

A group of community leaders, clergy and civil rights activists on Tuesday plan to announce they've filed affidavits seeking charges against two Cleveland police officers involved in the killing of 12-year-old Tamir Rice.
The group, led by the Rev. Jawanza K. Colvin and Case Western Reserve University professor Rhonda Williams, plans to use an obscure state law that allows citizens with knowledge of the facts of a case to compel a judge to issue an arrest warrant.
The group is expected to file several affidavits Tuesday seeking charges of murder and manslaughter against officers Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback for their roles in the Nov. 22 shooting outside Cudell Recreation Center. The move is an attempt to sidestep Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty who will present the case to a grand jury, a process that could take weeks.

Community leaders and attorneys for Tamir's family have complained about the length of the investigation, now nearing its sixth month. The investigation was turned over to McGinty's office just last week after the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department announced it had completed an independent fact-gathering investigation.

Friday, April 24, 2015

The Culture of Madness: Little Boys with Big Guns, and Girls literally Gone Buckwild.

There are so many who will point the "usual suspects" fingers in this true american tragedy: parents, failing schools, the easy availability of guns, lack of youth programs and community centers. There will also be renewed calls to curb the alarming violence in video games, TV and movies. The usual chatter we've heard for years over what are the root causes for our black and brown boy's fascination with guns and careless apathy for suicidal self-genocide. 

These images of an alleged 13 and 14 year old boy boldly flashing a high-calibre killing device should send freezing chills down your spine and unbridled anger through your entire being; because this is utter madness! Instead of a basketball or baseball glove, our boys are now posing with their seemingly most prize possession of respect and power, a big gat.

As you continue to digest the faces of the boys, you come to a realization that they are only following what they think is how they are supposed to behave. In other words, they are emulating the hoods and gangsters that they see just about every waking hour. The culture of gangster-politic has already seeped deeply into the ressesses of their sub-conscious and has taken over how they see the world and more importantly, themselves.

And don't think that teen girls are immune to this disease of madness. Here's a recent video of an extremely violent free-for-all between girls at a High School in the south. Things got so out of control, even the security officers couldn't stop it. 

So what about the kids who go to school to try to get an education and have to be confronted with this insanity every day? How can you feel relaxed enough to learn when there's the tension and threat of violent eruptions at any moment? Another question begs to be answered is why is it mostly blacks shooting or fighting with other blacks? 

What does this say about the feeling of self-worth and self-esteem that they have for themselves? It seems more like a viral blanket of self-hatred than anything else. Just look at how these girls seem to literally want to beat each other without mercy. How they viscously punch, kick and even stomp each other. It makes you ask the question: to these kids, Do Black Lives Really Matter?