Page 4 - Florida Sentinel 6-18-19

Editorial/Column
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F. T. P.
don't know about any- one else but, personally, I'm having a hard time right now viewing cops in America as anything other than a group of racist a--holes. For society's sake I'm hoping that my perception is inaccurate. But overwhelming evidence suggests that, if I am wrong, it's only by a handful of offi-
cers.
I say this because it does-
n't seem as though a week can go by without footage being released showing some out of control member of law enforcement abusing his or her authority. And, 99% of the time, the person on the receiving end of the mali- cious behavior is an individ- ual of color.
The most recent example of one of these incidents took place in Phoenix, Arizona, where a Black couple became the latest victims of police brutality. The unfortunate episode occurred after a manager at a Family Dollar Store notified authorities that the couple, and their two small children, had engaged in shoplifting from the estab- lishment.
According to the store manager the couple was, al- legedly, responsible for steal- ing a toy doll. Acting on that information, two Phoenix deputies tracked down the
duo and confronted them at their apartment complex.
In the disturbing video you can see one deputy throw a Black male onto the back of a police truck while handcuffing him and using a tremendous amount of force to kick his legs apart. While this was going on another deputy approached the cou- ple's car, with his gun drawn, and ordered the woman (who was six months preg- nant) and her two children out of the vehicle.
The deputy then com- mands the woman to put down her 1-year-old child so that he can apply handcuffs to her as well. Since the woman didn't want to place her child down on hot con- crete unattended, she was forced to give her child to a complete stranger in order to comply with the deputies command. She was then handcuffed and handled just as roughly as her male coun- terpart.
When it was all said and done it was discovered that the couple had done nothing wrong and, as a result, they weren't charged. This means that they were beaten up, embarrassed and had their children traumatized for a .99 item that they didn't take in the first place.
Now the couple is suing
for $10 million. It is a signif- icant amount, but far less than what they actually de- serve for the way they were unnecessarily mauled.
These types of stories al- ways bother me because whenever I hear about cops mistreating people, seem- ingly for sport, it reminds me of bullying. Growing up you're taught to always fight back against those who go out of their way to take ad- vantage of you. But how are you supposed to defend yourself against individuals who, not only, have been given the green light to phys- ically harass you, but who also have the backing of the local governments who em- ploy them?
This is an issue that, re- gardless of what's going on politically or socially, never appears close to being re- solved. And, I imagine, the only way it could truly be rectified is if a generation of Blacks finally comes along who'll be willing to do what- ever it takes to change a dy- namic that has permanently positioned us on the losing half of the equation.
Until then, like the man who dies a thousand deaths because of his cowardice, I suppose we'll continue to have front row seats to our own funerals as those who wish us harm maintain a foot upon our backsides without the least bit fear of repercus- sions.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bul- letin Publishing Company. You can contact Mr. Barr at: cbarronice@gmail .com.
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C. Blythe Andrews 1901-1977 (1945)
C. Blythe Andrews, Jr. 1930-2010 (1977)
Willie Robinson: Heir Of A Legacy
erhaps, you’ve never heard of the Jackson House
in Downtown Tampa at the edge of legendary Central Avenue. . . the place where James Brown stayed whenever he came to town and was denied lodg- ing at white five-star establishments... the hideaway for the likes of Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, and B. B. King.
Or maybe, you’ve never heard the story of how jazz- great Ella Fitzgerald woke up one early bright morning, stumbled into the dining room of the Jackson House and on a wrinkled sheet of paper wrote down, “A tisket, a tasket, I lost my yellow basket,” a jazz anthem that made Ella Fitzgerald famous . . . and all of these things and countless more things happened in the myr- iad rooms of the place called the Jackson House, owned by a Black woman who would become legend in Tampa history.
And who was the mother of a young man who grew to be respected as a man of dreams and guardian of Black Tampa’s fragile, yet beautiful history.
His name was Willie Robinson, and he died, just the other week. But, before he died, and while he lived, every day of his life he reminded us of the majesty that was known as the Jackson House that served as home away from home for the celebrities of Black societies.
We salute Willie Robinson, who would not let us for- get that Tampa was the home of the Twist dance craze . . . that his mother’s house was the so-called Black White House of what was known as the Harlem of the South.
Indeed, Willie would not let us forget how great we had been and could be, once again. “Central Avenue Remembered” became the title of a poem that was used as a shooting script for a documentary shot on-location at the Jackson House.
But now, Willie Robinson is gone, yet, his spirit still waits for the day when a Broadway show featuring Cen- tral Avenue and his grandmother’s castle will take the Straz by storm.
And sitting in the audience, smiling his famous big- toothed smile will be the reborn spirit of Brother Willie Robinson . . . “a tisket, a tasket . .!”
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