Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 12-1-15 Edition

Black Christmas Season Trivia
They Just Can’t Be Trusted
Black Money Matters
R umor has it that an underground movement is afoot for Black people to keep their money held closely to their pockets and purses, this Christmas season as a companion movement to Black Lives Matter. Indeed, since many Americans have joined a backlash to the Black Lives Matter movements, rallies and push to re- duce police killings, some Blacks have decided to let their
money do the walking and talking.
Interestingly enough, one reader was overheard to say
that she would not be visiting any local shopping centers or stores to purchase any gifts this Christmas in memory of Laquan McDonald, young man shot by a Chicago po- liceman. She has decided instead, to give gifts of money, books, or handmade sweets or coupons for special treats or chores, as a protest of McDonald’s murder.
Several other readers indicated they would only buy coupon gifts from grocery stores, drug stores or gas cards for basic needs. Intent on making the impact of their spending power felt, no matter how small, they are choosing to “say that the institutionally condoned killing of young Black men (and women) in police custody must stop.”
While they are demonstrating the fact that “Black Money Matters,” we hope all Black Americans will buy their children at least one book for Christmas from a store that hires Black salespeople and managers. We know that Black minds matter, also. This holiday season, we thank you for allowing us to share your thoughts.
During the Christmas sea- son, have you ever wondered what was happening during the Christmas season in history? Well, I have, and I will share some of the historical facts I found while looking at some significant events in history that took place during the week pre- ceding and following Christ- mas. Of course, many of the events are worth celebrating, while others are sad. So it is with life.
On December 19th, Carter G. Woodson, the founder of Black History Week was born in 1875 and the first African Free School opened in New York. In 1852, Moshoeshoe (Moshesh), leader of the Ba- suto nation of South Africa de- feated the Dutch speaking Boers, and South Carolina se- ceded from the Union, leading to the Civil War in 1860 on De- cember 20th.
Four days before Christmas, Josh Gibson, a famous Amer- ican Negro League baseball catcher was born in Buena Vista, Georgia, and W. H. Sammons filed a patent in 1920 for the straightening comb.
400 days. That is how much time elapsed before the city of Chicago decided to release the video showing Officer Jason Van Dyke unloading 16 rounds into the body of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. Eleven of those rounds, allegedly, fired while McDonald was already on the ground.
The 13-month delay, it seems, was an attempt by Chicago officials to assist the “Windy City” in avoiding the same type of full-scale investi- gation and scrutiny of their po- lice force that places like Ferguson and Baltimore experi- enced after similar events where excessive force was used on sus- pects unnecessarily. They even paid the McDonald family $5 million, without the provocation of a lawsuit, in hopes, I assume that the pacifying gesture would make things go away.
Of course, their strategy failed. And now, through those recorded images, the world has become witness to the fact that the violence normally associ- ated with the northern Illinois metropolis isn’t just limited to the behavior of common street thugs. As it turns out, the area’s largest and most vicious gang wears badges and has the li- cense to kill.
On December 22nd, the At- lanta Urban League won the right for Black women to be ad- dressed as “Mrs.” In 1941, Dr. Chancellor Williams, histo- rian and author of “Destruction of Black Civilization,” was born in Bennettsville, South Car- olina.
America’s first female self- made millionaire, business woman and philanthropist, was born in Delta, Louisiana in 1867 on December 23rd. On that same day in 1815, Henry Highland Garnet, who was appointed as the U. S. Minister to Liberia in 1881, was born.
On Christmas Eve, many African American soldiers, pla- toon members fought and died in the Battle of New Orleans in 1814, but they held their posi- tion. Also, the Ku Klux Klan met in Pulaski, Tennessee to form their secret society in 1865.
Indeed, Christmas Day was both a happy and sad occasion in 1901 when jazz musician Cab Calloway was born. On Christ- mas night, Brevard County, Florida NAACP president Harry T. Moore and his wife, Harriett became Ku Klux Klan bombing victims while they
To use the cliche “here we go again” would be an understate- ment. If we were making a quilt made up of the names of all the men and women who were un- justly killed by members of law enforcement over the last 20 years, not only would it proba- bly be able to blanket an entire football field but, our fingers would be bleeding from engag- ing in the never ending process of sewing.
What makes this story even more troubling is that it’s been reported that the 13 officers who were present during the inci- dent met up at a local Burger King after the shooting to help concoct a cover-up to protect Van Dyke from prosecution. Their fictitious version of events stating that McDonald lunged at Officer Van Dyke with a knife, completely debunked by the dashboard camera footage.
I always hear current and for- mer police officers, during in- terviews, bring up the issue of trust as it pertains to the rela- tionship between law enforce- ment and the community that they serve. But what I can’t un- derstand is how they expect people to have faith in individu- als who, instead of upholding the law, often stand by and allow it to be bent to suit their
slept. How ironic that they should die on Christmas Day at the hands of a hate group that was born on Christmas
The day after Christmas, Jack Johnson became the first Black heavyweight boxing champion in 1908, and inventor J. M. Certain patented a bicy- cle parcel carrier in 1899, on that same day. In 1965, Dr. Maulana Karenga, a profes- sor and chairman of Black Stud- ies at California State University, Long Beach, created Kwanzaa as the first specifically African American holiday. The Afrocentric principle for that day is Umojo, meaning Unity.
On December 27th, Dr. Charles Drew, noted physi- cian, established a pioneer Blood Bank in New York City, in 1941, and Stewart and John- son patented a metal-bending machine.
On December 28th, Karen Farmer, a Detroit, Illinois real estate agent, became the first known Black member of the Daughters of the American Rev- olution (DAR) in 1n 1977. On that same day in 1905, Earl “Fatha” Hines, “Father of modern Jazz Piano,” was born in Duquesne, Pennsylvania.
Dear Readers, may some of the facts that I’ve shared with you today add a little wonder and joy to the beginning of this Christmas Season. And may we never lose the wonder and awe of our rich heritage. Merry Christmas and Happy Kwanzaa to all. Harrambee.
own best interests?
I guess it’s easy for a cop to
remove himself from the equa- tion and say, “it’s only a few bad apples that make the rest of us look bad.” But when you have the same kind of lies and deceit happening in departments all over the country (Ferguson, Bal- timore, New York, Los Angles, Columbia, S.C. and Chicago being the most recent examples of cities whose officers at- tempted to look out for their misbehaving comrades) it’s not hard to imagine that canker being a widespread infection.
This latest incident of cops coming together to protect one of their own, even when the in- appropriate actions of their partner resulted in the death of a child, leaves the profession with yet another black eye and continues to create a public re- lations nightmare for munici- palities who are already having a hard time recruiting qualified candidates to join their police forces.
And, until the day that they develop the due diligence to po- lice themselves as aggressively as they police everyone else, I think it would be foolish of us to ever believe that any one of these individuals, who swore an oath to serve and protect, has the capacity within them to do the right thing when it ab- solutely matters most.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bul- letin Publishing Company.
Anyone wishing to con- tact Clarence Barr can email him at: realityonice@yahoo.com.
Editorials
Sixteen Times In Fifteen Seconds
Finally, the specifics of what took 17-year-old Laquan McDonald’s life are coming to light. According to a po- lice video that had been withheld for more than a year, the shooting lasted no more than 15 seconds and in more than 13 of those seconds, Laquan was hit by police gunfire16 times . . .incredible, so most Americans would say.
What is even more incredible is the fact that an autopsy later revealed young Laquan’s body was not only riddled by bullets from an automatic weapon, but was riddled with PCP, a drug that police officers who have experienced it swear a suspect on PCP is as impervious to pain as if he were a bull-elephant hyped on methamphetamine.
Prior to his death, the young suspect had been seen slashing police car tires with a knife he refused to relin- quish. Yet, the idea of a human being shot 16 times in less than 16 seconds is numbing, even for us Americans who eat blood and gore for lunch.
So, what would you say if we told you ten of America’s top police agencies deploy automatic pistols fully capable of discharging 33 bullets on a rate-of-fire which equals 1,200 rounds in less than a minute? Would it move you to remember how a New York City man in 1999 was killed when police officers shot him 16 times in 4 seconds? Such is the technology, these days. But does technology trump humanity? Does it give a Chicago cop the right to gun down a teenager regardless of his color as if he were a dog or a rogue elephant?
Attorneys for the police officer argue young McDonald did commit a crime. But who committed the greater crime? Who must stand in judgment, a knife-wielding teen on PCP, the officer who killed him, the makers of the police weapon that spews death like a water pistol, or a so- ciety that is slowly losing its grasp of what is right or wrong? Furthermore, what would we do if what happened in Chicago happened here in Tampa?
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