This is Same Stuff Different Day for Most in Black America

Frankly, I'm shocked that Skip Gates has the gall to be shocked.

Anyone who didn't already know that there is a different standard of policing in low-income and minority areas will learn absolutely nothing from this incident. It is apparent from the comments here that few people following this situation in the media or cyberspace have ever been accosted by the police simply because of what they looked like or where they happened to be. For a significant part of the population this is simply business as usual. And before it happened to Skip Gates, he was more or less blissfully unaware of the prevalence and pervasive nature of this type of police work.

And now in light of Dr. Gates personal experience, we will have yet another disjointed and eventually aborted attempt at dialogue about racial profiling. When the problem is not, at it's core, racial profiling. The problem is that we live in a police state; and most of us support the police state because we have been convinced by mainstream media and lying politicians that society is one short step away from anarchy and the only way to save ourselves is to outlaw everything, and allow the state power over freedom, life, and death. Of course, the people who support all the wars on various crimes, and the implementation of more and more laws believe this is the only way to keep themselves safe, and they further believe that only criminals suffer from the application of criminal law, and of course criminals deserve to suffer.

80% of the so-called "crimes" prosecuted are economic crimes. That is they are motivated or exacerbated by economic distress and difficulty. For example the police don't routinely run roadblocks in more affluent areas because they realize that affluent people are less likely to have status offenses like no insurance or unpaid tickets. These types of offenses criminalize poverty and have little if any impact on the state of law and order in any area. As example again, the only kind of insurance that is legally required is literally insurance to cover health costs in an accident, and in a country that should have universal health care, that type of insurance should be totally unnecessary. But having all these b.s. laws on the books gives the police an excuse to interpose themselves more or less indiscriminately into the lives of the people in the neighborhoods they are tasked to control. To pretend that these incursions against personal freedoms are somehow tied to a desire to lower crime rates is intellectually dishonest at best. It is common knowledge that affluent Caucasion Americans use and distribute the most illegal drugs, but it is equally well known that poor Black and Brown men are the overwhelming majority of those investigated and institutionalized in the fictitious war on drugs.

Dr. Gates wasn't a criminal, and yet he was made to suffer because of the mentality that permeates the police forces in America. It's a mentality that portrays them as the last line of defense against the ever encroaching hordes of murderers, thieves, rapists, and druggies. It's a fallacy, and the real problem is too many laws, and too many police unleashed on depressed and deprived neighborhoods in an obvious effort to keep those people in line.

clipped from www.huffingtonpost.com This booking photo released by the Cambridge, Mass., Police Dept., shows Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., who was arrested while trying to force open the locked front door of his home near Harvard University Thursday, July 16, 2009. Gates, a pre-eminent African-American scholar, is accusing Cambridge police of racism after he was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after police said he "exhibited loud and tumultuous behavior." He was released later that day on his own recognizance and arraignment was scheduled for Aug. 26. (AP Photo/Cambridge Police Dept.) Henry Louis Gates Jr. Arrested, Police Accused Of Racial Profiling

And In the category of "I couldn't have said it better myself", this article from Bob Herbert, and this one from Colbert King, are pretty much all the follow-up that is needed to this story. Hat tip P6 for both links

Makheru dropping knowledge

Obama’s Neo-Colonial Mission in AfriKa

Jambo.

Q. Is Obama better than Bush?
A. It depends how you like your imperialism – with a white face or a black one. (Stephen Gowans)

[It was “a message no pink-faced Western leader could have delivered without arousing resentment in Africa and politically correct abuse from hand-wringers at home,” Libby Purves, a columnist for the London Times noted.]

After reading President Obama’s interview with AllAfrica.com, and his speech in Accra, it’s crystal clear why he was chosen to sit on the throne of Anglo American Imperialism.

[I’d say I’m probably as knowledgeable about African history as anybody who’s occupied my office. And I can give you chapter and verse on why the colonial maps that were drawn helped to spur on conflict, and the terms of trade that were uneven emerging out of colonialism.] – President Obama

Anyone who is as “knowledgeable about African history” as the President claims he is, surely knows when he is deliberately revising history and distorting the truth.

[I think part of what’s hampered advancement in Africa is that for many years we’ve made excuses about corruption or poor governance; that this was somehow the consequence of neo-colonialism, or the West has been oppressive, or racism. I’m not a believer in excuses.]—Obama

Of course the colonial system reduced many Afrikan economies to monocultures, economies largely dependent on one cash crop (e.g. cocoa in Ghana), whose prices were then manipulated to destabilize the post-colonial governments of leaders like Kwame Nkrumah, thereby setting the stage for CIA organized coups all over Afrika, which sometimes resulted in assassinations, as was the case with the democratically-elected Patrice Lumumba in the Congo. And all of that was “somehow the consequence of neo-colonialism” which is no excuse for underdevelopment.

Most certainly this student of Afrikan history would not dare to mention the devastating impact that the Structural Adjustment Programs of the IMF have had on Afrikan economies and governance.

However of all of the fork-tongued words spoken by the President, these words capture the essence of his Gobellian propaganda:

“The West and the United States has not been responsible for what’s happened to Zimbabwe’s economy over the last 15 or 20 years.”

So the United States and the United Kingdom did not renege on the Lancaster House Agreement. The United States did not enact “The Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act” in 2001, and President Obama did not renew that Act in March 2009.

[The Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act states that U.S. sanctions will remain in place against the Zimbabwean "government" [euphemism for "the people"] until the U.S. president certifies that the "rule of law has been restored in Zimbabwe, including respect for ownership and title to property. . . and an end to. . .lawlessness."] –Connie White

[President Obama talks of the last 15-20 years as if the problems bedeviling the continent started then. Why the last 15-20 years? Is it because that’s when he developed an interest on the continent? The US system of segregation which started centuries ago is still affecting black people in that country; some of whom live in absolute poverty in a country seen as very rich by the rest of the world. The Apartheid system in South Africa left a dent which the current Government is still battling with. The land problems in Zimbabwe and elsewhere on the African continent started many years ago, not 15-20 years ago.]—Africa Speaks

The objective here is not to absolve Robert Mugabe of his mistakes, the first of which was trusting the Anglo American imperialists by signing the Lancaster House Agreement. However, problems of this magnitude cannot be solved without a clear objective analysis of the historical situation. And on that account, the student of Afrikan History, President Obama, was an abysmal failure or a deliberate liar.

The President also painted a false picture of Afrikan American reality:

“In my country, African-Americans – including so many recent immigrants – have thrived in every sector of society. We have done so despite a difficult past, and we have drawn strength from our African heritage.”

While it’s true that many Afrikan Americans have made enormous material progress since the Civil Rights Movement, that assessment does not capture the total picture. Afrikan Americans are currently suffering Great Depression levels of unemployment.

[The differences in unemployment rates are even more dramatic when broken down by race and age. For example, white men's unemployment rate in June was 9.5%, while black men's was 17.8%. For white women it was 8%, and for black women, 13.1%, according to the U.S. Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Here's a sampling of unemployment rates in June for various groups:

• Black men 20 and older: 16.4%.
• Black women 20 and older: 11.3%.
• White men 20 and older: 9.2%.
• White women 20 and older: 6.8%.
• Black males age 16 to 19: 50%.
• Black females age 16 to 19: 40.6%.
• White males age 16 to 19: 26.5%.
• White females age 16 to 19: 23.5%.]—Market Watch

And these numbers don’t capture the totality of unemployment because they are based on the U3—the official unemployment rate. I would like to see these numbers crunched for the U6 which gives a broader, although not total, scope of unemployment in America.

The Ghana Speech can be read here:

http://enduringamerica.com/2009/07/11/transcript-obama-speech-in-ghana-11-july/

Obama Talks to AllAfrica at the White House:

http://www.africaspeaks.com/blog/?p=2703

Obama’s neocolonial mission in Africa by Ann Talbot:

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jul2009/pers-j16.shtml

As always, your responses and challenges are welcome and appreciated.

Bado Mapambano, Makheru

He's Baa-aack!

When Goodell sits down with Vick, there will be stern admonishments by the commissioner, sober mea culpas by the player and, at some point, when Vick signs a contract, guardedly hopeful talk of second chances by the new team. And what will the fans' response be? We hope he's reformed, we hope he's sincere, we hope to hell he doesn't mess up again. But what we really hope is that Michael Vick gives us our thrills on those magical Sunday afternoons this fall.
http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1157660/1/index.htm

One Last Thought On The Legacy Of Michael Jackson

clipped from www.huffingtonpost.com Bury the Never Ending Myth of Jackson as Child Molester The settlement under extreme duress must not sully his name and place as an honored American icon. The myth of Jackson as child molester must finally be buried. Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His weekly radio show, "The Hutchinson Report" can be heard on weekly in Los Angeles on KTYM Radio 1460 AM and nationally on blogtalkradio.com No charge stirs more disgust, revulsion, and pricks more emotional hot buttons than the charge of child molestation. The accusation stamps the Scarlet letter of doubt, suspicion, shame and guilt on the accused. The accused can never fully expunge it. There is simply no defense against it. Jackson and his attorneys knew that when it came to the charge of child molestation the presumption of innocence, or even actual innocence, is tossed out the window The myth of Jackson as child molester never hinged on evidence or testimony to substantiate it, but solely on the settlement.