He made the news not because he chose to exercise his first Amendment rights to call for justice for Tamir Rice – the 12 year old who was killed by police for playing with a toy gun in a Cleveland park – Andrew Hawkins of the Cleveland Browns made news because he was attacked by the Cleveland police union for exercising those First Amendment rights.
Yesterday, despite being called “pathetic” by the Cleveland police union, Andrew Hawkins continued expressing his first Amendment privileges.
Sing. That’s right, Samuel L. Jackson wants you to sing this song instead of dumping ice water on your head.
Samuel Jackson – “All you celebrities out there who poured ice water on your head, here’s a chance to do something else. I challenge all of you to sing the ‘We Ain’t Gonna Stop, Till People Are Free’ song. Here we go.”
“I can hear my neighbor cryin’, ‘I can’t breathe.’ Now I’m in the struggle, and I can’t leave. Callin’ out the violence of the racist police. We ain’t gonna stop, till people are free. We ain’t gonna stop, till people are free.”
He used his constitutionally protected First Amendment right to speak his mind on the violence exhibited against blacks and other minorities by police, with his choice to wear a t-shirt calling for justice for Tamir. For this, Andrew Hawkins, the wide receiver for the Cleveland Browns, was slammed by the police union in Cleveland who called Andrew’s decision to wear the t-shirt “pretty pathetic.”
Well Andrew felt the need to express his feelings a little more that the t-shirt would allow, and on Monday, he called the press together and released this statement.
“I was taught that justice is a right that every American should have. Also justice should be the goal of every American. I think that’s what makes this country. To me, justice means the innocent should be found innocent. It means that those who do wrong should get their due punishment. Ultimately, it means fair treatment. So a call for justice shouldn’t offend or disrespect anybody. A call for justice shouldn’t warrant an apology.
“To clarify, I utterly respect and appreciate every police officer that protects and serves all of us with honesty, integrity and the right way. And I don’t think those kind of officers should be offended by what I did. My mom taught me my entire life to respect law enforcement. I have family, close friends that are incredible police officers and I tell them all the time how they are much braver than me for it. So my wearing a T-shirt wasn’t a stance against every police officer or every police department. My wearing the T-shirt was a stance against wrong individuals doing the wrong thing for the wrong reasons to innocent people.
“Unfortunately, my mom also taught me just as there are good police officers, there are some not-so-good police officers that would assume the worst of me without knowing anything about me for reasons I can’t control. She taught me to be careful and be on the lookout for those not-so-good police officers because they could potentially do me harm and most times without consequences. Those are the police officers that should be offended.
“Being a police officer takes bravery. And I understand that they’re put in difficult positions and have to make those snap decisions. As a football player, I know a little bit about snap decisions, obviously on an extremely lesser and non-comparative scale, because when a police officer makes a snap decision, it’s literally a matter of life and death. That’s hard a situation to be in. But if the wrong decision is made, based on pre-conceived notions or the wrong motives, I believe there should be consequence. Because without consequence, naturally the magnitude of the snap decisions is lessened, whether consciously or unconsciously.
“I’m not an activist, in any way, shape or form. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred I keep my opinions to myself on most matters. I worked extremely hard to build and keep my reputation especially here in Ohio, and by most accounts I’ve done a solid job of decently building a good name. Before I made the decision to wear the T-shirt, I understood I was putting that reputation in jeopardy to some of those people who wouldn’t necessarily agree with my perspective. I understood there was going to be backlash, and that scared me, honestly. But deep down I felt like it was the right thing to do. If I was to run away from what I felt in my soul was the right thing to do, that would make me a coward, and I can’t live with that. God wouldn’t be able to put me where I am today, as far as I’ve come in life, if I was a coward.
“As you well know, and it’s well documented, I have a 2-year-old little boy. The same 2-year-old little boy that everyone said was cute when I jokingly threw him out of the house earlier this year. That little boy is my entire world. And the No. 1 reason for me wearing the T-shirt was the thought of what happened to Tamir Rice happening to my little Austin scares the living hell out of me. And my heart was broken for the parents of Tamir and John Crawford knowing they had to live that nightmare of a reality.
“So, like I said, I made the conscious decision to wear the T-shirt. I felt like my heart was in the right place. I’m at peace with it and those that disagree with me, this is America, everyone has the right to their first amendment rights. Those who support me, I appreciate your support. But at the same time, support the causes and the people and the injustices that you feel strongly about. Stand up for them. Speak up for them. No matter what it is because that’s what America’s about and that’s what this country was founded on.”
“Selma,” the movie about the famed march by Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights activists, opens in selected theaters on December 25th and nationwide on January 9th, but already the cast of the show is living up to expectations, following in the footsteps of the man and the movement the show is based on – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Following the lead of the civil rights activist and more recently professional athletes like LeBron James and Andrew Hawkins, the cast of “Selma” wore the I Can’t Breathe t-shirt at the premier if the movie. “I can’t breathe,” were the last words spoken by Eric Garner, as he was choked to death by a New York police officer.
The photo is striking: David Oyelowo, who plays Martin Luther King Jr. in the film, stands in front of a crowd that includes director Ava DuVernay and co-stars Lorraine Toussaint, Wendell Pierce, André Holland, Tessa Thompson, Omar Dorsey, and more. Many of them play King’s fellow activists, the people who joined him in Selma, Alabama, in 1965 to plan what eventually became the famous march from Selma to Montgomery.
It’s the argument of racists, or ignorant people who refuse to acknowledge the fact that blacks and other minorities suffer considerably more profiling and sometimes death from some police officers. And that argument, that blacks kill blacks was on full display last night on Fox’s O’Reilly Factor.
Bill O’Reilly was interviewing Russell Simmons and the two were “discussing” the recent Eric Garner and Mike Brown grand jury decisions, when O’Reilly chimed in his ignorant talking point: “You are not acknowledging, astronomical crime rate among black men,” as if the fact that blacks die at the hand of other blacks, mean police brutality against the rest of the community is okay. Simmons came back with the argument that war on drugs program has also been detrimental to the black and minority communities.
But Reilly wasn’t hearing none of it, and the discussion quickly sunk to levels more familiar to Fox News and the O’Reilly Factor. “You have not been there condemning the black drug gangs for gunning down 13- and 14-year-old kids,” O’Reilly shot back at Russell, still trying to justify police brutality because “blacks kill blacks.” After the show reached the doldrums O’Reilly wanted, he told his guest, “You are so desperately wrong it pains me to talk to you.” Simmons shot back, “I feel the same way about you.”
Cleveland Cavaliers LeBron James made a statement tonight in Brooklyn by dawning an “I Can’t Breathe” T-Shirt before his team took on the Brooklyn Nets. James and other players were making their voices heard, showing their apparent displeasure at the grand jury that recently found no wrong doing when police officers applied an illegal choke-hold that led to Eric Garner’s death.
Before he died, Eric Brown was heard saying “I can’t breathe” as a police officer held him in a choke hold.
But of course, the owner is now saying that he didn’t mean any harm by offering the “Mike Brown Shots!”
Local TV station WDAF reported that Mug Shots, a bar in St. Joseph, Mo. whose motto is “where sarcasm is always free,” advertised a “Michael Brown” special of six shots for $10. Local residents protested at the bar after a photo of the advertisement circulated on social media, according to the report.
“It’s not meant to cause any harm,” the owner told WDAF on Saturday. “I should have thought a little bit more about it before I made it a shot special.”
WDAF did not identify the owner because he wished to remain anonymous to protect himself and his family. He added that he stole the idea from other bars in the area that referenced Brown, who was fatally shot by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo. back in August, and got a “good response” from it.
The apparently very self-aware owner offered a new deal, “The Owner of Mug Shots is an ***hole shot special,” on Saturday in an attempt to appease protesters who were unhappy with the reference to Brown.
On her Facebook post, Mary Kate Blankenburg, the Counselor at the Central Bucks West High School in Pennsylvania, threatened to kill all the protesters who were protesting the death of Eric Garner. Blankenburg wrote to “personally shoot every one of them!”
Her Facebook post has since been deleted, but of course screenshots of it was captured before the deletion occurred. Blankenburg wrote, “If my child cannot get to the Eagles game due to protesters, I will personally SHOOT every one of them. You’ve been warned idiots!!”
Blankenburg has since been suspended and an investigation is on the way. Central Bucks School District Superintendent David Weitzel in a statement said;
“We will take appropriate action once we learn all of the facts. I also notified the District Attorney’s Office on Sunday and we are working with them as they investigate this incident,” he said.
“The content of the post does not in any way reflect the beliefs or values of the Central Bucks School District.”
At a news conference in Cleveland today, Samaria Rice, mother of the slain 12 year old boy shot to death by police a couple of weeks ago, called for justice for her son and revealed that her daughter was also handcuffed by police after they killed her son Tamir.
Rice said that when she got to the park where her son was shot, she found her 14-year-old daughter, who was also at the park that afternoon playing, handcuffed in the back of a police car. When Rice later reunited with her daughter, the young girl said police officers tackled and handcuffed her once she saw her younger brother lying on the ground, bleeding.
When Samaria arrived and saw her youngest child shot and her daughter in the back of a police car, police officers warned her that if she didn’t calm down, she’d be placed in the police vehicle as well.
The family’s attorney, Benjamin Crump, argued that if there is enough probable cause, “we don’t need to have another grand jury.”
A classic case of the blame the victim mentality. We will be foolish to expect anything more from Fox News.
In light of all the protests going on these days with people speaking out against police brutality throughout this country, Fox has decided to take a different look at the reason minority communities are being victimized and murdered by some police officers and according to Fox host Jeanine Pirro, minorities are to blamed.
Reading a question from a poll conducted by Fox News to her viewers on her television program, Justice with Judge Jeanine, Pirro asked the question? “Do police need to be retrained on how to be sensitive to the minority community.” Pirro said the response from Fox viewers was “overwhelmingly in favor of law enforcement,” and she also read some of those results to her audience.
Pirro quoted Fox viewer ‘Jeff’ who wrote, “Why is it always necessary to tip toe around the minority community,” with ‘Larry’ writing, “No. Enough is enough. The general public needs to be more sensitive to the police and show them the respect they deserve.”
Pirro added, “I agree.”
Viewer ‘Jordan’ disagreed, saying.”Yes. Those cops were racially profiling,” setting off a condescending Pirro who said, “Hey Jordan, you don’t even know what racial profiling is.”
Is it just me, or does it still not feel like the holidays yet? Perhaps the warmish, wet weather we’ve had here in the Northeast is partly to blame, or maybe it’s that the calendar has jammed the buying season into one less week this year because of a late Thanksgiving. Yes, yes, Chanukah, for once, is neither early nor late, which is rare for a Jewish holiday, but I think there’s something more than this going on in the country that’s partly clouding the season.
We have other things on our minds. Ferguson. Staten Island. ISIS. Oil prices. Wages. Equality issues relating to gender, age, sexual preference and orientation. Supreme Court arguments over worker disability rights and whether someone can post noxious, threatening dreck on Facebook, call it rap, and never mind the effect on the intended target. Even sports won’t let us relax and enjoy, what with players being suspended, unsuspended, arrested, concussed and, heaven forbid, involved in some of the aforementioned social issues. Why can’t they just be like Mike and play the game?
It seems as if the country is a bit more serious than normal this holiday season, weighing the price of our freedoms against the responsibilities that come with them. We’re looking at race and wondering why we still have problems and why whites and African-Americans still have such differing perspectives on how they are treated by police, the courts, storekeepers and mall security. We’re looking at income inequality and wondering why companies that make billions can’t lead by example and pay workers what they are worth, which is a wage that allows them to live a decent life. We’re looking at who is an American and how we can make sure that people who live here and contribute to their families and communities can stay here without the fear that the government is going to deport them because of a long-ago action. In short, we’re looking at justice and trying to make sure that everyone gets it because more than any other freedom afforded us, justice must be applied equally at all times.
In the end, I think this makes us stronger, and makes the season of giving that much more important. When we discuss, protest and even engage in some civil disobedience, we are reminded that we have given ourselves the greatest gifts of all: to live in a free society where we can air our concerns and make others realize that many groups in the United States are uncomfortable and unwealthy and insecure, and that each of us is responsible to make sure that every citizen is safe. That way, we can give other gifts, the material ones, knowing that we have done our part to make this a better country. The holidays we are about to celebrate are religious, but we need to remember that our national religion is democracy, and as such, we must all practice it.
So although it might not feel like the holidays just yet, I’m a little more optimistic that this season will see us do more good for ourselves and our neighbors.
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