Who was there to protect the innocence of a black teenager walking on the street in Ferguson Missouri? That’s what he did. That’s what started the process that ended his life. He walked on the street, and he was shot multiple times by police for doing that.
Michael Brown’s innocence and his life were taken by a barrage of bullets fired by a police officer and now that police officer’s guilt is being protected by the Ferguson Police Department.
Police said death threats prompted them to withhold the name of the officer, who was placed on administrative leave after fatally shooting 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, where the incident has stoked racial tension, rallies and a night of looting.
Investigators have released few details, saying only that a scuffle unfolded after the officer asked Brown and another teen to get out of the street. At some point, the officer’s weapon fired inside a patrol car, police said.
“The local authorities have put themselves in a position — hiding names and not being transparent — where people will not trust anything but an objective investigation,” Sharpton said during a news conference in St. Louis where he was joined by Brown’s parents.
He also echoed pleas for peaceful protests by the NAACP and Brown’s father, Michael Brown Sr., who told the crowd: “I need all of us to come together and do this right. … No violence.”
“Get the fuck on the sidewalk.” That is how it all started. Not, “Please move onto the sidewalk” or “How about you kids walk on the sidewalk” but “Get the fuck on the sidewalk.” And they want respect. The police that is. Would you respect that?
So another person, another black man was killed by a police officer. This time it was because he was walking on the street and not on the sidewalk. The last time a police officer yelled at someone for walking on the street it was probably 1950. But in 1950 a police officer wouldn’t be caught cursing at someone. What happened? They used to go out of their way to be polite even if the person they were dealing with wasn’t. They would use phrases such as “please, thank you sir, thank you ma’am.” They would do what they could to de-escalate a situation if one were to arise.
Not anymore. Now they curse at two black guys because they dare to walk on the street with few or no cars on it, instead of the sidewalk. When they tell this officer that they aren’t but a minute from grandma’s house, he flings open his door and proceeds to escalate the situation. The way a criminal might if someone doesn’t want to hand over their property.
This officer (I can’t call him by his name because the Ferguson police department won’t tell us who the killer is). Oh you can bet your sweet ass that if one of those guys had killed the officer the entire universe would have known their name instantly. Anyway, the officer then, by every account other than his own of course, tries to pull 18 year old Michael Brown into the police car. Then his gun comes out and his shoots at Brown. This wasn’t enough of a penalty for walking on the street though. No, he then gets out of the car and shoot Brown again, in the back. Still not enough punishment for walking on the street. When Brown puts his hands up and is several feet away from the officer, the cop shoots several more times, leaving Brown in a pool of his own blood.
This is the description, if you believe everyone other than the nameless officer, of an execution. A cold blooded killing. Brown’s friend who was walking with him, Dorian Johnson, told this story as did a neighbor that was watching from her apartment. Basically the same story from a totally different angle.
But even though we all get into the details, we shouldn’t get too caught up in them. I mean a mostly white jury will probably believe the word of the white officer who did the killing rather than any black witnesses anyway. Just as Ferguson, Missouri is 75 percent black with a police force that is 94 percent white. So the details are tangential from the real story here, which is another police officer killing an unarmed person. Remember this officer like all officers also has a tazer gun as well. That is supposed to be used..well…for unarmed suspects who are physically threatening to the officer. Still even in that instance the threat has to be real and provable.
Michael Brown was walking on the street. Eric Garner who was choked to death on Staten Island, was selling loose cigarettes. Neither had any type of weapon on them. There are many other cases, as we are now learning even out of Ferguson, where officers shot someone countless times or tazed them countless times, leading to the person’s death.
We are seeing police in military gear now in Ferguson. They are in camouflage…camouflage! Tell me what vast desert or jungle they are working in that they need camouflage. What war are they fighting that they need this gear along with the tanks that are designed and meant for places like Iraq and Afghanistan?
Is this what we are paying for? To live in this kind of world? This paranoid, us vs. them mentality that these police forces have. Are we to be occupied by them? People have been protesting in Ferguson. They have been attempting to exercise their constitutional rights and yet there are the police, telling them they have no right. They have been tear gassing people who are on their own property chanting slogans at the police. This is what we are all paying for.
Enough is enough. The “investigation” into this execution by cop must be taken out of the hands of some of the same people who are at least partially responsible for what happened to Michael Brown. The conflict of interest is too great. Those same police cannot be allowed to tear gas people who are protesting. It’s time for the Feds to be sent in, to take over in every aspect. Justice must be served.
What we are seeing has taken us back to before the civil rights act. The United States is going backwards. Yes, none of us are immune to this current police brutality, but lets face it, I’d rather be white than black right now. These are no longer “isolated” incidents, it’s an epidemic. If we keep on fooling ourselves into believing it’s anything other than this, we are doomed as a society.
I am white and the police have lost my respect. I see a police car now, even here in San Francisco and my heart drops. Could this be the time I’m involved in an “altercation”? Maybe because I’m crossing in the middle of the street? Or maybe this is when I’m a witness to some horrible case of police brutality. This is why all good cops needs to be as outraged as I am. They are not the enemy but they are being seen as the enemy because of what their fellow officers are doing. And in many cases they are backed up by other cops simply because of that “thin blue line” bullshit.
Dorian Johnson said the officer looked shocked after the first shot, as though he was surprised by what he had done. Then he took a little time before walking over to Brown and shooting him dead. Seems as though the officer felt he should finish the job so Brown couldn’t tell everyone what happened. That last line are my words not Johnson’s.
What happened in Ferguson was an execution. A murder in cold blood. Make no mistake if we are silent, if things don’t change and justice isn’t served, one of us is next.
When I got out of college in 1982 a friend of mine, Michael “Smooth” Carrington, and I became a comedy team called Bob and Smooth and embarked on a grand adventure to New York to become stand up comedians. Our home club was the Comic Strip on Second Avenue and we did the late, late, late night spots that all budding comics have to cover to hone their craft and not embarrass themselves in front of too many people. By 1983 we were finding a modicum of success, had played some important clubs in New York and had done some out-of-town touring. It was a magical time.
In the fall of 1983, some of the Comic Strip regulars started an improvisation group that performed on Monday nights. Word quickly spread and we were performing before some pretty decent crowds and, if I can be so bold, the troupe was pretty darned funny.
In October, Robin Williams showed up and said that he wanted to perform with us. Turns out that he was in New York to film the movie, “Moscow on the Hudson” and had heard of the improv group. Of course, he knew all about the Comic Strip, which, with the Improv and Catch a Rising Star was one of the big three clubs for comedy in the city. To say that we were thrilled was an understatement and of course we all wanted to perform with Robin, which made for some interesting choices once the improv games commenced.
What I clearly remember was that Robin Williams was both one of the most confident, and one of the most scared individuals I have ever met. When we were on stage together (tickles me to get to say that) his was a comic beast who spewed funny lines (and some unfunny ones) as easily as most people breathe. He was a joy to work with because, well, anything was fair game, any word was acceptable and any clunker could be turned into a laugh.
I particularly remember Williams’ eyes while we interacted with him. His face and body might be in overdrive, but his eyes were very nurturing, giving us a look that said, “it’s OK, just say what you want and have confidence in the joke.” It was a terrific feeling because those of us in the improv group were certainly very nervous to be on stage with him. If one of us said something particularity inspired, those eyes smiled and winked (without winking) and he would take off with whatever line we had fed him. He was also generous while being a straight man, feeding us lines like comic t-ball stands that we could easily hit out of the park.
Of course, we all wanted to be on stage with Robin Williams and that led to some interesting turns. We played an improv game called tag, which is pretty self-explanatory; two people start a scene and then another comic tags one on stage, the scene stops, that comic leaves, and the new comic takes over. What happened was that we would all tag each other and leave Williams on the stage for an extended time (not that he minded), but it looked like a tutorial with eager comics approaching the guru and giving him lines that he would manically churn into his own private routine. The audience didn’t care. Neither did we.
But Williams also appeared scared at times. Perhaps it was the fear that all comics experience when they’re thrown into a new situation without a script and need to be funny. Sometimes he would continue to talk even though what he was saying was not very funny, hoping that the next thing out of his mouth would get the crowd going. There were also periods when he would disappear. It was difficult when we played the tag game, but in others he would say one thing and then withdraw, and he’d have this blank, scared look on his face. It didn’t last long, but I noticed it. He also was one of those comics who was always “on,” telling jokes but never revealing himself to any of us. I certainly understand that this might have been a function of his not knowing any of us, but my experience with comics who are always doing material is that they really don’t know what else to say.
And for all of his fame, even in 1983, he came to the Comic Strip alone, left alone and always said the same thing when he went out the door. He had one of those huge down jackets that were fashionable in the 1970s and 80s and he would hold it close to his chest when the night was over and say, “I’ve got to go home and feed this thing.” Not terribly funny, but that’s what he said.
I also saw Robin Williams utterly destroy another 1980s comic, Eddie Murphy in a performance that. looking back on it now, anticipated their career trajectories. At the time, Murphy was a star on Saturday Night Live and his two movies, “Beverly Hills Cop” and “Trading Places” had put him on the mega-star map. The Comic Strip was also Murphy’s home club, (the club’s owners were his managers), and he was using it to test out and hone material for his first national tour. The other club’s comics, including me, stood in the back to see what Murphy had, and for the most part it was funny, but not spectacular.
In the middle of his routine, though, Murphy made a big mistake. Robin Williams was in the audience and Murphy asked him to come up on the stage and improv with him. Murphy never had a chance. Williams ran comic rings around him and was so stunningly funny that the audience didn’t want him to leave. Murphy took back the stage, but the rest of his routine paled in comparison to what we had just seen.
My favorite Robin Williams story, or at least the one that I can connect to him personally, came after Williams finished filming “Moscow on the Hudson” and didn’t perform with us anymore. One of the other improv games we played was called Expert, where 5 or 6 comics sit on stage and the audience tells us what subject we are experts in. We were then free to adopt a personality and, hopefully, be funny (I was an expert on water, hubcaps, and WD-40). A comic named Rob (I forget his last name) had a character he created named Dr. Vinnie, a crude, rude, sexually obsessed Brooklyn pseudo-doctor. He was very funny and performed the character every week that Williams was with us.
A couple of weeks later, Rob came into the Comic Strip and was very excited. He gathered us around and told us that he and his girlfriend were dining at a large restaurant across the street from Lincoln Center when Williams entered the restaurant. Of course, the place began buzzing as patrons noticed who had just walked in. Williams surveyed the scene, noticed Rob at one of the tables at the far end of the restaurant, and at the top of his lungs bellowed, “Look! It’s Doctor Vinnie!”Imagine ebing in a restaurant and a star recognizes you.
That was Robin Williams. He was accessible and aloof, confident and unsure, always looking for the funny and frequently finding it. I will leave the psychoanalysis of his demons to those more qualified than I to discuss them, but his untimely death has me thinking about the shortness of life and making sure that we experience what we can.
I will say that I consider myself extraordinarily lucky to have crossed paths with him and I will never forget those few weeks in the fall of 1983.
If there is nothing to hide, then why is the Ferguson police trying to stop the media from broadcasting the events following the police killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager in Missouri?
The Huffington Post is reporting that Journalists encountered a threatening response from police as they tried to cover the protests in Ferguson, the Missouri town that has been upended by the police killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager.
While there was a spate of looting on Sunday night, Monday’s demonstrations were peaceful. Protestors faced tear gas and rubber bullets from officers trying to break their ranks up. At the same time, police told local media to get out of the area.
MoveOn has seen this game played out before and it is a game perfected by right-winged media nuts like Rush Limbaugh and politicians like John McCain.
So when Hillary Clinton joined that same right-winged talking-point and condemned Obama for not arming the rebels in Syria, effectively calling the president’s decision not to arm “stupid,” MoveOn stepped in and issued this warning to Clinton “and any other person” wishing to get the Democratic nomination in 2016.
The statement was on Tuesday by Ilya Sheyman, the executive director of MoveOn Political Action.
Secretary Clinton, and any other person thinking about seeking the Democratic nomination in 2016, should think long and hard before embracing the same policies advocated by right-wing war hawks that got America into Iraq in the first place and helped set the stage for Iraq’s troubles today. These hawkish policy stances are also threatening to undermine the peaceful international resolution of Iran’s nuclear program.
Voters elected President Obama in 2008 to bring the war in Iraq to an end. MoveOn members will continue to stand with elected officials who oppose military escalation that could put us back on a path to endless war.
In a recent interview with The Atlantic, Hillary Clinton, a potential candidate for the Democratic presidential nod in 2016, made a swipe at President Obama’s foreign policy decisions, implying that the president has acted stupidly in some of his foreign policy decisions.
“Great nations need organizing principles, and ‘Don’t do stupid stuff’ is not an organizing principle,” Clinton is quoted as saying.
One member, or former member of the Obama administration has taken offense to Clinton’s summarization of President Obama, and he strongly voiced his opposition on twitter.
In response to Clinton’s knock against the President, David Axelrod tweeted, Just to clarify: “Don’t do stupid stuff” means stuff like occupying Iraq in the first place, which was a tragically bad decision.
Following the untimely passing of Robin Williams – one of America’s greatest and most beloved entertainers – President Obama and The First Family issued the following statement.
Robin Williams was an airman, a doctor, a genie, a nanny, a president, a professor, a bangarang Peter Pan, and everything in between. But he was one of a kind. He arrived in our lives as an alien — but he ended up touching every element of the human spirit. He made us laugh. He made us cry. He gave his immeasurable talent freely and generously to those who needed it most — from our troops stationed abroad to the marginalized on our own streets. The Obama family offers our condolences to Robin’s family, his friends, and everyone who found their voice and their verse thanks to Robin Williams.
Having put out more than 10 albums in 20 years, JOE has become one of R&B’s most accomplished and popular singers with seven Grammy nods along the span of his career. Singles such as “All The Things (Your Man Won’t Do),” “All That I Am,” “No One Comes Close” and “I Wanna Know” established Joe as a bona fide hit-maker who has sold more than 15 million albums worldwide. Moreover, his work with Mariah Carey (“Thank God I Found You”), Big Pun (“Still Not A Player”) and G-Unit (“Wanna Get To Know You”), shows that Joe is a much sought-after collaborator with some of music’s biggest and best artists. Joe’s most recent offering, Double Back: Evolution of R&B, debuted as the #1 R&B album in the country on Billboard’s “R&B Albums” & #4 “Top 200” charts this past summer. With that success, Double Back has produced a top five single with its first release “I’d Rather Have A Love”. With a new label deal in place PLAID TAKEOVER/BMG CHRYSALIS and new management, with veteran music executive Gerald “Plaid” Isaac, JOE is already gearing up for a successful 2014. The top-selling R&B singer is currently in the studio putting together magnificent songs in preparation for his new commercial album 2014, summer release entitled “BRIDGES”. The lead single & video, “Love & Sex Pt. 2,” features the incredible and equally beautiful Kelly Rowland of X-FACTOR/Destiny’s Child fame and is currently impacting radio and TV heavily. In support of his new release(s) JOE will be touring the US, Europe, Asia and abroad.
The sad news of Robin Williams apparent suicide at the age of 63 is still settling in. As we fondly remember the movie moments the comedian gave us, others are looking back on how he personally touched their lives. For his part, The Roots’ drummer Questlove posted an Instagram of Mork and Mindy-era Williams and shared his story about the band meeting the actor on one fateful elevator ride. Read his full statement below:
Man. The smallest gesture can mean the world to you. Robin Williams made such an impact on me and didn’t even know it. He named checked all of us in the elevator during the 2001 Grammys. I know y’all think I do this false modesty/T Swift “gee shucks” thing to the hilt. But yeah sometimes when you put 20 hour days in you do think it’s for naught and that it goes thankless. Grammy time is somewhat of a dark time simply because you just walk around asking yourself is it worth it or not: all the sweat and blood. I just felt like (despite winning grammy the year before) no one really cares all that much for us except for a select few. Especially in that environment I’m which people treat you like minions until they discover what you can do for them…if you’re not a strong character you run the risk of letting it get to you.
This particular Sunday we were walking backstage and had to ride the elevator to the backstage area and we piled inside when suddenly this voice just said “questlove…..black thought….rahzel….the roots from Philadelphia!!!! That’s right you walked on this elevator saying to yourself “ain’t no way this old white dude knows my entire history and discography”….we laughed so hard. That NEVER happened to is before. Someone a legend acknowledged us and really knew who we were (his son put him on to us) man it was a small 2 min moment in real life but that meant the world to me at the time. Everytime I saw him afterwards he tried to top his trivia knowledge on all things Roots associated. Simply because he knew that meant everything to me. May his family find peace at this sad time. I will miss Robin Williams. #RIP.”
Williams was found by police early Monday morning in his Tiburon, California home. An initial coroner’s report notes suicide as the suspected cause.
Any chance to dig at the Obamas and you will find Fox News leading the way. Neil Cavuto thought he could throw in said dig by interviewing Super Bowl Champion, Seattle Seahawks Quarterback, Russell Wilson. Wilson went on Fox News to discuss his partnering with United Way and their effort to help eliminate childhood hunger.
An effort that should have been acknowledged and praised, but at Fox, everything is politics and politics is dumping on an Obama. Cavuto tried and failed to get Wilson to talk bad about the Obamas, in this case, Michelle Obama.
“Well, Russell, what are we doing wrong then as a nation though with this urging them to eat healthy or set up these school lunch programs where they’re urged to eat healthy. I mean, Michelle Obama’s trying. Many argue that she’s getting to be too much of a food police mommy,” Cavuto said. “Be that as it may, whatever she’s doing isn’t working and I’m wondering what you’re doing that is working. What’s the difference?”
“Well, the first lady, I have so much respect for her. I was able to meet her and the President, obviously, you know when we went to the Super Bowl, we won the Super Bowl and got to go to the White House,” Wilson said. “You know, I think at the end of the day, you know the kids, it’s tough to eat healthy. You know, I remember when I was a little kid I was always struggling trying to eat healthy.”
Robin Williams will be missed. He brought a special piece of joy to the world.
Beloved actor Robin Williams was found dead on Monday, police reported.
He was 63.
The apparent cause of death was suicide, authorities said.
Williams was best known for his starring roles in classic comedies like Mrs. Doubtfire and Jumanji. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Dr. Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting. He rose to fame while playing Mork the alien in the TV show Mork & Mindy, a Happy Days spinoff.
Most recently, Williams had starred in the new CBS sitcom ‘The Crazy Ones.’ It was cancelled after just one season.
Susan Schneider, the actor’s wife, released the following statement to the New York Times’ Dave Itzkoff:
“This morning, I lost my husband and my best friend, while the world lost one if its most beloved artists and beautiful human beings. I am utterly heartbroken. On behalf of Robin’s family, we are asking for privacy during our time of profound grief. As he is remembered, it is our hope that the focus will not be on Robin’s death but on the countless moments of joy and laughter he gave to millions.”
This is how easy it is for Republicans and conservatives to call for President Obama’s impeachment. And there calls are usually based on factless emotional outbursts.
Conservative legal activist Larry Klayman warned on Friday that President Obama and his allies “have created a new type of affirmative action where Muslim terrorists have more rights than our own military and our country as a whole,” arguing that the “Mullah in Chief” is siding with terrorists.
“The situation has reached an intolerable point, and it is time to either impeach Obama or find some other legal means to rid the nation of his treasonous and harmful ways,” he wrote in WorldNetDaily.
And as always, no proof is necessary to make his fact less claim. And with that fact less claim, Larry called for Obama’s impeachment.
“Obama must now be held legally accountable for his treason, either through impeachment or some other legal means. The nation finally must be rid of this tyrant, who allows our own best and brightest to be sacrificed at the altar of his Muslim roots and sympathies,” he said.
We use cookies to improve your experience on our site. By agreeing to this, we can analyze browsing behavior and unique IDs on this site. Declining or revoking consent may affect certain features.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
