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minutes. Accord- ing to news re- ports, that’s the
amount of time that passed between East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania police Officer Michael Rosfeld’s official swearing in for duty, after his third week on the job, and when he pumped three fatal shots from his service re- volver into the back of 17- year-old Antwon Rose, Jr.
Since this unfortunate in- cident occurred there has been a lot of attention given to Rosfeld’s short tenure on the force before he registered his first kill. But, to me, that’s the most irrelevant part of this story.
I don’t believe Rose’s tragic death would be easier to deal with for his parents if a 20-year-veteran had gunned down their child un- justifiably. The only differ- ence would be that a cop, who’d been around that long, would have attempted to re- tire immediately following the shooting in an effort to protect his pension.
Whether or not the bullet came from a gun that was
freshly issued or one that’s been around for decades, the unfortunate end result was the same. An unarmed Black person was unnecessarily killed by a cop. A cop who, as it turns out, shouldn’t have been given a badge and a gun in the first place.
According to the lawyer for Rose’s family, Lee Mer- ritt, Rosfeld had a long his- tory of misconduct with other law enforcement agen- cies before he was hired by the East Pittsburgh Police Department. So, in light of that discovery, the question is, why would East Pitts- burgh allow Rosfeld to don one of their uniforms when they were already aware of his questionable behavior?
It stands to reason that any Human Resource ad- ministrator should have had some serious reservations about giving Rosfeld a posi- tion that would require him being armed, if his file was marked with as many red- flags as Merritt suggests.
The idea that these previ- ous transgressions were overlooked during a time
when most law enforcement agencies are trying to clean up their ranks means that whoever was doing the hiring in East Pittsburgh lacked ei- ther sound evaluation skills, was tone deaf or just didn’t give a damn.
Whatever the case, that person should be sitting right next to Rosfeld in the de- fendant’s box while also being charged with criminal homicide because that level of negligence makes he or she equally culpable.
I just hope that, when the trial starts, the jury will be able to see Rosfeld for his true nature. He wasn’t a po- lice officer trying to protect the community. He was a malicious coward who used his position to intentionally murder another human being without cause.
The irony in all of this, of course, is that Rosfeld now desperately looks forward to his day in court where he can argue that he did nothing wrong and doesn’t deserve to be punished.
Sadly, it’s the same op- portunity he wasn’t willing to afford someone else when he blatantly abused his author- ity by playing the role of Rose’s judge, jury and exe- cutioner.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bul- letin Publishing Company. You can contact Mr. Barr at: cbarronice@gmail.com.
Same Old Story
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C. Blythe Andrews 1901-1977 (1945)
C. Blythe Andrews, Jr. 1930-2010 (1977)
July 4th At The Border
e join people around the world in wishing
America a happy Fourth of July. But this time, let’s do things a little differently.
Instead of staying in the safety of our backyards or public parks complete with barbecue grills and ice- chests, let’s pack up our barbecued chicken, spare ribs, potato salad, baked beans, corn-on-the cob, and every other thing that makes our 4th of July memorable – and let’s head for the border . . . the Mexico-American bor- der, we mean. Once there, we can share all the bounties of a free nation celebrating its liberty in the midst of brown arms and brown faces filled with tears as fami- lies at our borders are torn apart presumably for demonstrating the same thing our picnic is about.
Oh, won’t it be fun to watch ICE in action as those jack-booted men and women merrily go about the busi- ness of stopping miscreants bent on sneaking across our sacred borders and into a land of Milk, Honey, Macaroni and Cheese! Hear the children’s screams. Thrill to their mothers’ moans. Then go back to munch- ing your barbecued chicken sandwich . . . dark meat.
We Americans – good or bad – have always prided ourselves on our love of liberty and freedom. Many times, we have been challenged to put our morals where our mouths are. Slavery challenged us. Segrega- tion challenged us. And now, on this current 4th of July, the hell that’s happening on our Mexico-American bor- ders calls us hypocrites. What shall we do? The world is watching. Meanwhile, our burgers are burning on the grill.
Warrior Women
any Black women
have always known that their gender did not de- fine their strength, limit what they could and could not do, define jobs they could do, or determine how they would be treated by men. Considering the heritage of Black women, we knew our foremothers ruled African kingdoms; served as soldiers in several kingdoms; worked from sun- up to sun-down toting cotton; birthing children and return- ing to the fields the next day, and all other work they were
forced to perform as slaves. Indeed, 17th century war- rior women called Agooji from the Dahomey were a small fighting force of women in South Africa that fought against the much larger As- ante and Yoruba (Da- homey’s chief enemy)
kingdoms.
The women were trained for weeks during which they had to crawl over razor-sharp two-inch thorns on branches of acacia trees at the end of the training. Dahomey is also known as “Black Sparta, a fiercely militaristic society bent on conquest” of their en- emies all along the Slave Coast of Africa. They were the only female soldiers in the world who then routinely served as combat troops except for their forerunners known as Gbeto.
There is speculation that the female warriors came into existence as palace guards to protect the king. Men were not allowed in the palace for fear they would attack the king. They were used as spies, disguising themselves as traders to analyze their ene- mies’ military strength and defense.
In many instances, the
Agooji were sent in after at- tacks on their enemy by the regular Dahomey troops. Heavy casualties and defeat often resulted for the warrior women. Yet, they raided vil- lages for the slave trade, ter- rorized French-controlled villages and burned enemy palm oil fields.
During the French-Da- homey Wars, the women war- riors used modern weapons, yet ultimately were defeated. The Agooji sometimes be- headed enemy victims and wrapped them in French flags and presented the heads to the king. When the king enter- tained guests, the Agooji demonstrated shows of force and executions of enemies.
Two fierce leaders of the East African Nyabingi priest- ess group, Muhamusa and Kaigirwa, organized and led armed resistance against Ger- man colonialists.
Of course, there were other brave warrior women whom we will write about in the future. However, for now, let us remember, salute, and honor all warrior women, es- pecially those serving in the U. S. military today. Harrambee!
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TUESDAY, JULY 3, 2018 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 5