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Racism

Macklemore Speaks up Against Racism in America

“Eric Garner, Mike Brown. Very sad situations. Very, very sad situations. Situations that left so much frustration in me, watching these injustices happen again,” Macklemore said. “It was one of those moments of ‘How is this happening again right now?’ If there’s anything positive that has come out of their deaths — if there’s anything positive — I believe it has brought attention to injustices that have been plaguing America since the jump. Racial profiling. Corrupt judicial system. Police brutality. These are things that now have attention. Now people are talking about these things. Which is great. People are mobilizing. I’ve been inspired by the mobilization.”

As for his place in the movement, Macklemore acknowledged that it was a bit complicated in a lengthy answer about race relations in America and his standing as a white male rapper within the discussion:

For me, as a white dude — as a white rapper — I’m like, how do I participate in this conversation? How do I participate? How do I get involved on a level where I’m not coopting the movement or I’m not making it about me, but also realizing the platform I have and the reach that I have, and doing it in an authentic and genuine way. Racism is uncomfortable to talk about. White people, we can just turn off the TV when we’re sick of talking about racism. We can be like, “Oops, I’m done.” It does not work that way for everybody, but that’s way we can do. White “liberal” people want to be nice. We don’t want to mess up. We don’t want to be racists. We want to be like, “We’re post-racial and we have a black president and we don’t need to talk about white privilege. It’s all good, right?” It’s not the case. I was talking to somebody the other day, and they said to me, “Silence is an action.” It is my privilege that I can be silent about this issue. And I’m tired of being silent about it. I’ve been silent for a long time about it. Because I didn’t want to mess up. I didn’t want to say the wrong thing. I didn’t want to offend anybody. But it is so imperative right now that we have this race conversation in America. If we’re going to progress. If we’re going to move past this. If we’re going to work together — truly work together — we have to get past that awkward stage of the race conversation, step up and just have it. I don’t where that starts, other than just speaking about it. You just have to start talking about it. As a white person, we have to listen. We need to listen, direct the attention to people of color on the ground mobilizing, listen to those people, and take some direction on how we can actually make this conversation happen.

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Bill O'Reilly Featured Martin Luther King 111 Racism

Bill O’Reilly – Black People Should Wear T-Shirts saying, “Don’t abandon your children” – Video

The racist over at Fox News expressed his solution to all the problems black people face here in America. According to Bill O’Reilly, black people should learn to not get pregnant at 14 and, oh yea, black people don’t take care of their kids, so they need to learn to do that too!

O’Reilly’s guest was Martin Luther King III, the son of civil rights icon, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And while discussing some of the problems faced by blacks, Martin Luther King III suggested that a unifying message is what America needs at this time of racial intolerance. But O’Reilly wasn’t about to preach a unifying message to anybody, he was more intent on proving how racist and ignorant he really is.

O’Reilly offered his solution for blacks in America – “Don’t abandon your children. Don’t get pregnant at 14. Don’t allow your neighborhoods to deteriorate into free-fire zones. That’s what the African American community should have on their T-shirts,” he said. You know, cause abandoning children and getting pregnant at 14 is definitely a black thing.

Why anyone goes on this idiot’s show is something I’ll never understand. But they go on anyway, and they sit through the idiocy as O’Reilly strokes his own… racist ego!

Video

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Domestic Policies Express Yourself Healthcare Immigration ISIS Mike Brown News Politics Racism

Is It Just Me?

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.

Is it just me?

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

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Featured Mike Brown Mike Brown Shooting Racism

KKK Warns Ferguson – “Lethal Force” Will Be Used on Ferguson Protesters – PIC

Thangs can always get worse, and anytime the KKK is involved, things usually will get worse.

In preparation for the upcoming decision on whether to charge Darren Wilson for the murder of 17 year old Mike Brown in Ferguson Missouri, the local KKK has put out this flyer to the residents of Ferguson, letting them know that they will be killed if Wilson is freed and the ensuing protests get out of control.

“We will use lethal force as provided under Missouri law to defend ourselves,” the flyer reads.

Frank Ancona, the imperial wizard of the local chapter spoke with The Riverfront Times, saying that the protesters are driving more people to join the KKK.

“These Ferguson protesters are the best recruiters since Obama. Normally we might hear from ten people a week in Missouri, and now we’re hearing from more like fifty people a week. Sometimes, depending on these news stories, we get 100, 200 calls in a day.”

The decision on Wilson is expected anytime this month. Recent reports suggest that he will not be charged with any wrongdoing in Mike Brown’s death.

Flyer

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Barack Obama Racism

CSPAN Republican Caller Refers to Obama as “that nigger Obama” On Air – Video

CSPAN got an earful of racism on Thursday when a Republican caller called the network to advise Republicans on their next move in Congress.

“I would just like to say, that the Republicans — and I’m a Republican — please do not overreach,” the caller began. “I know they’re going to overreach but I’m telling you, if you advocate for the repeal of Obamacare and you get too extreme, then Hillary Clinton will be elected President in 2016.”

“This is about race,” he added. “The Republicans hate that nigger Obama.”

Host Steve Scully quickly cut off the caller after he dropped the racial slur.

“Okay, I’m gonna stop you there,” Scully said. “We’re not gonna use that kind of language.”

“You can certainly make your point, but you cross the line when you use language like that,” he added. “And so to our viewers and listeners, I want to apologize.”

So yea, if you thought racism had something to do with the votes for Republicans on Tuesday, you might be right.

Video

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north carolina Racism

Teacher Tells Class She Would “Kill All Black People” If She Only Had 10 Days To Live

Kimberly Ashcroft

The mother of one of the students Camden County High School in North Carolina contacted authority and reported what her child heard from teacher, Ms Cynthia Ramsey.

According to the information the student told her mother, the teacher was discussing her ‘bucket list,’ and told the class that if she only had 10 days left to live, “she would kill all black people.”

“I was completely shocked,” the mother, Kimberly Ashcraft said in an interview with WAVY TV. “I asked her again, ‘Are you sure that was what you heard?’ I could not have imagined a teacher saying that.”

The teacher Cynthia Ramsey was briefly suspended without pay but has since been back in the classroom, “teaching.”

According to the superintendent Melvin Hawkins, an investigation is being conducted, the results of which would be kept secret because “this is a personnel issue, and it is confidential until resolved.

“I was very disappointed to hear that she was back in the classroom so soon,” Ashcraft said.

A local Sheriff told the TV station that other students heard and confirmed the events as relayed by the mother. The Sheriff also stated that he has turned over all evidence to the District Attorney’s office and the fate of the teacher will be decided by that office.

Video

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Featured Halloween Racism

Halloween Decoration Shows The Lynching of a Black Family – PIC

Yes, the year is 2014 and this despicable display is still considered funny and lighthearted by some. The people displaying the decoration on their property in Fort Campbell Ky. claimed they did not mean to cause any hard feelings with their display.

As you can see from the picture above, three black figures are hanging from a tree. One male, one female and one child. A fourth figure of another child has a knife in its back and is seen on the ground apparently trying to help get the male figure down. The sign carried by the black male figure is not legible in this photo.

Someone in the community took a photo of the display and forwarded it to Clarksville Now. Fort Campbell Public Affairs was also notified and after an investigation was conducted, the owners of the display removed it an offered an apology to the community.

“Displays of an offensive nature are not reflective of Army values and the family-friendly environment provided for employees and residents of the Fort Campbell community,” said Brendalyn Carpenter with Public Affairs.
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Mike Brown Mike Brown Shooting shooting

The Mike Brown Saga – Will We Win, or Will We Lose?

For some of us this is about winning an argument and nothing more. Some would say he was a human being who lived in a country that believes in the freedom to walk down the street without getting six bullets pumped into his body by a police officer.

Others would say he was a thug, and they will quickly point at a video showing him allegedly robbing a convenience store. And although the video had nothing to do with him being killed, these people would say that the video somehow proves that he was a thug, a strain on society, a young man who chose not to listen to the orders of  a police officer and therefore, deserved the officer killing him… in the free country.

One of these groups will win their argument and he will either be remembered as a human being, a teenager with a mother and father still weeping his loss. A boy who had birthdays, dreams and heartbreaks. For these people,  Mike Brown will be remembered as a human being. He will be remembered as a a teenager with a soul who made mistakes like any other teenager, but like any other teenager, he too deserved to live.

Or, Mike Brown will be looked upon as the ruthless thug who disobeyed the orders of a cop. A thug whose crime began when he literally walked in the streets of this “free” nation. Or maybe, just maybe his crime actually began when he was born and society saw the color of his skin. And maybe because of that color they disregarded his humanity, his birthdays, his dreams and his heartbreaks. And because he wasn’t a human in their eyes they associated his teenage mistakes with thuggery. And they thanked the officer for cleansing the streets of Ferguson. These thug creatures must die.

In the end, one of these groups will have justice, whatever justice means these days. And that justice will either lead to real changes between the police and the communities they’re supposed to protect, or that justice will lead to more Mike Browns and a society stuck in the quicksand of intolerance, a society drowning in its own racism.

As we wait to see who wins…

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Barack Obama Racism

This Freedom Loving “Patriot” is Taking his Obama Hate to A New Level – Video

Here is Drew Walker. A self proclaimed racist, a Teapartier, a Republican. Walker also calls himself a “true patriot,” who is willing to kill all who have the nerves and audacity, those who exercise their FREEDOM to have a different political ideology than he does. Those Liberal infidels must die, apparently.

This freedom loving Republican “patriot” is especially angry at the democratically elected president in the White House, a man he refers to as a
“worthless, f*cking Muslim goat-raping *ss.”

The bigotry and utter racism in this Republican is epic folks. If you proceed to watch this video, consider yourself warned.

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Racism

Racism From The Boston Herald – Obama and “Watermelon Flavored Toothpaste”

The Boston Herald thought this was funny when they decided to run it this morning, but the backlash is real, and the online publication is now trying to erase their dumb racist mistake.

In an attempt to poke fun at the Secret Service and the recent intruder who broke into the White House a couple weeks ago – the intruder reaching much further in the building that originally thought – the Boston Herald ran this cartoon showing the intruder taking a bath and the President brushing his teeth. The intruder asking the president if he tried the “watermelon flavored toothpaste.”

With their obvious racism out of the bag and a huge backlash from the public, Jerry Holbert, the man responsible for the cartoon, apologized, saying he is no racist and the obvious racism was not intended.

“To me, I was completely naive or innocent to any racial suggestion. I wasn’t even thinking along those lines at all. I was thinking about myself, I was thinking I really like watermelon.”

He said his inspiration came from a tube of children’s toothpaste left in his house by his son’s girlfriend. “I also apologize to anybody that I offended. This was not my intention at all.”

Then the paper issued its own apology, while saying they “stand by Jerry.”

“His cartoon satirizing the U.S. Secret Service breach at the White House has offended some people and to them we apologize. His choice of imagery was absolutely not meant to be hurtful. We stand by Jerry, who is a veteran cartoonist with the utmost integrity.”

The Tweet.

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Mike Brown Mike Brown Shooting Racism trayvon martin

Men Without a Country: Mike Brown, Trayvon Martin, My Father and Me

I posted the first part of this post which was originally published on The Daily Beast. This is definitely a must read for all.

“I can pretend to belong here better than Trayvon and Mike Brown were ever given the chance to. But however hard I try, however well they treat me, I know this is not my country.”

When my father first came to this country as a graduate student, there was an incident where he and a friend were walking home and were suddenly confronted in a parking lot by a group of apparently intoxicated students in a car, driving around them in circles, shouting threats and racist catcalls.

My father’s friend counseled him to ignore it, to wait for them to get their jollies and leave, that this is just the kind of thing that happens once in a while.

My father waited, and they didn’t leave, and then my father picked up a rock and said, “I’m counting to thirty and if they’re not gone by then this rock is going through their windshield.”

Luckily, they tired of the sport and peeled off around when my dad hit fifteen. It’s good for me that they did—had the rock gone through the windshield, had glass flown in a thousand bright shards across the asphalt, had the driver slumped over, bleeding, and the car doors swung open and his friends stormed out filled with anger, had police been called and charges been filed—well, I probably wouldn’t be here.

If by chance one of those students had been a Zimmerman, carrying a firearm for “self-defense” against “violent criminals” armed with rocks, I very definitely would not be here.

There was a moral to this story when my father told it to me, a moral that I hated more than any of the other morals that came attached to his other anecdotes.

It was a moral that explained many things. It explained, for instance, why he never went to parent-teacher association events, never integrated himself into “the community.” Why he consistently obeyed Rule #1, a rule that my friends’ white suburban parents had never considered—a rule I would not hear from others until I actually met people who’d grown up urban and poor when I got older—Never Talk to the Cops. (In the Bill of Rights it’s actually Rule #5.)

Why he urged me to choose a career specialization based on objective assessment of skills and achievements, one where success was quantifiable, one whose practitioners were organizationally indispensable. To take an “Asian” job like engineer, scientist, programmer. One where there was little room for subjectivity, where the personal impression of the interviewer counted less. To stay away most of all from fields where I would be judged purely based on how well people could relate to me, like direct sales, like middle management, like the performing arts.

To never, ever, ever put my livelihood in a position where I depended on white people liking me.

Because it was a lesson he learned the night that some random drunkards decided that terrorizing two pedestrians in a car, swerving toward them again and again, would be fun—would have no legal consequences because the cops wouldn’t care, would have no moral consequences because the victims didn’t matter.

A lesson he learned every time he was pulled over for a speeding ticket, or pulled aside by the store detective and asked to turn out his pockets, or quietly scoffed at and eyerolled at by a customer service rep for his accent.

That lesson was:

This Is Not Your Country.

You can live here. You can make friends. You can try to live by the law and be a decent citizen and even maybe make a lot of money.

But you will never, ever belong. You will never, ever be one of them. And you must never, ever trust them.

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Featured Racism

Police on Blacks – “I wish someone would pull a Ferguson on them and take them out”

And now another episode of racism from the people hired to protect and serve us. Today’s episode comes from a police officer in Baton Rouge Louisiana.

Michael Elsbury, who has been with the department for about 15 years, still faces a criminal investigation even though he resigned, said Cpl. Don Coppola, a Baton Rouge Police spokesman.

The allegations surfaced Wednesday when NAACP state President Ernest Johnson said he was shown a series of text messages with racial slurs that purportedly had been sent by Elsbury to a friend outside of the Police Department.

The texts were given to police “by a girl, a friend” of Elsbury’s, Police Chief Carl Dabadie said Thursday night.

Part of the string of texts read: “I wish someone would pull a Ferguson on them and take them out. I hate looking at those African monkeys at work … I enjoy arresting those thugs with their saggy pants.”

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