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Blacks, Our Silence Is About To Kill Us
hey Tampa Police De-
partment has said there exists a code of silence among most Blacks. They basis for this philosophy is when a Black did anything criminal, other Blacks go silent. It makes no differ- ence how many other Blacks witness the act, their position is, “I have not seen nothing, heard nothing, and I don’t know nothing.”
That is the typical answer to the police. The reason for this excuse is the belief that Blacks will not get justice from the ju- dicial system. The second rea- son that is used is they are scared of retributions from the suspect’s family or friends. We certain have those reasons to be concern about. But, that kind of thinking is flawed, because it is about to get all of us killed.
Black communities are overloaded with all kinds of crime, including murder. In- cluded in these numbers are a lot of young Blacks. These young people are committing a
large amount of these crimes. They are engage in crime, shoot some body or get shot, go to jail and leave victims stranded in this world and we think we should be quiet.
I don’t think so. To keep quiet only allows for crime to continue and to grow. Black neighborhoods will continue to be heavy crime-infested areas where decent people don’t want to live.
We have got to realize and understand that Black skin does not give anyone the right to be exempt from the punish- ment of a crime. Shame on us.
We are so afraid of our neighborhoods until we are prisoners in our homes. Every house is equipped with an alarm, burglar bars or every kind of lock known to man. Yet, we continue to support the very thing we are trying to protect ourselves from and that is crime. Let’s get rid of it before it kill us all.
Call it snitching, ratting on
a brother, or call it anything else you want to call it. But, some of us call it taking back our communities.
Young Black men are openly committing crimes with no regard to witnesses. Why should they care about who sees them. They know we aren’t going to tell.
We need to take the confi- dence out of their eyes and re- place it with the fear that we aren’t going to take it anymore. Listen brothers and sisters it is alright to love Black people. Most of us are lovable and de- cent human beings.
Believe me, there are just a few lawbreakers in the Black community.
There are a whole lot of good Blacks who are upholders of the law. They represent a case of the bad controlling the good. This is not the way it is supposed to be. Love our Black brothers and Sisters. Counsel with them and help them when you can. But, we can’t look the other way when they are in- volved in crime.
We should partnership with the police to rid our communi- ties of crime and we would help them. The reason for our help is we want crime out of our neighborhoods. Crime may not kill us all, but it is taking its toll.
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Service Without Protection Is Suicide
rust! Nothing happens on the streets of Black Tampa
that somebody doesn’t know about. Behind closed doors, all secrets are discussed, but why not in the sun- shine? That is a question that needs sorely to be answered. So, we’re going to answer it.
Local police want to know. Why is it that amidst more than 40 murders in a span of months, no one has come for- ward to give even a mouth full of information? Not only is it frustrating, says police, but it’s infuriating.
It’s almost like telling would-be assassins, “COME ON AND KILL ME! YOU KNOW I WON’T TELL A SOUL!”
How in the world could a community of sane, law-abid- ing, mostly religious men, women, and children allow thugs and assassins to murder them at will and without response? Let’s look to local history for an answer.
There we might find sad stories of individuals who did indeed, contact police when they either observed or were victims of crimes. And what happened? Many of the citizens did not live to see another day. Why? Simply put, someone in the system leaked the source, and the source was dealt with.
Here’s another example: A young man cooperated with law enforcement even though he ended up doing jail time. While he was being inducted into the system, on his way to pick up his jail-uniform, for some reason, the corrections guard who would have walked with him stepped aside. And the young man was left alone. He died that day. Our book is full of stories like that.
No, people are not crazy, nor are they cowardly. But they have eyes and know what they see. Service without protec- tion is suicide. What part of that don’t we understand?
An Epic Fall From Grace
oraslongasIcanre-
member, it has always been the people who present the most immaculate images of perfection who harbor the darkest of vices. This is one of those facts about life that al- ways finds a way of proving it- self over and over again.
This time around it came in the form of newly released in- formation involving the Bill Cosby rape allegations that surfaced a few months ago. Ac- cording to the transcripts from a sworn deposition given by Cosby, while settling a sexual assault civil lawsuit ten years ago, the comedian admitted under oath that he often pur- chased Quaaludes, a narcotic that acts as a hypnotic sedative, to give to women "he wanted to have sex with."
How his statements, which were given under the premise of legal confidentiality, were deemed public record is be- yond my scope of understand- ing. But, now that they've been uncovered, Cosby's own words seem to validate the claims of more than 25 women over the last 40+ years who've accused the beloved comic of slipping them drugs before tak- ing advantage of their uncon- scious bodies.
The irony of this bombshell of information is that the proverbial hammer and nails used to seal the coffin contain- ing what's left of his once pris- tine reputation were provided by the same joke-telling tongue that made him famous.
Up until this point, I imagine many of the people reading this held out hope that the allega- tions leveled against the enter- tainment icon were part of a vicious smear campaign de- signed to destroy the legacy of a successful Black man who be- came a symbol of inspiration for so many. But as it stands now the man, who refused to play the role of villain on screen, appears to have been one of the biggest off.
What makes this level of im- proper behavior such a heavy burden for "The Cos" to bear is the way he lived his life. This is a man who spent a large part of his time in the spotlight scolding others on how to act accordingly, completely em- bracing his adopted role of moral compass to the masses.
The fact that he was, essen- tially, a serial rapist while offer- ing harsh criticism of his contemporaries like Redd Foxx and Richard Pryor for their profane language and
drug use not only mocks the wholesome image Cosby spent decades cultivating, but it also makes him look like the biggest hypocrite ever. So much so that, if Cosby were a metaphor, he would be the guy holding a hand full of stones in- side of a house with a hundred broken windows.
While the shock factor of this story is not what it would have been 20 years ago, considering all of the craziness we've wit- nessed recently, I have to admit it still leaves me highly disap- pointed. Even though I know that human beings are hope- lessly flawed, I like maintaining the ideal that at least one of our heroes is truly made out of the cloth they present to the world. And every time it's proven that they aren't, it's like being punched in the stomach.
The one thing I believe we can take from Cosby's epic fall from grace, that will help us in the future, is the grim realiza- tion that even those who we perceive as the most beautiful among us may be hiding some unattractive warts. And, as long as we can remember that those who we admire aren't as perfect as we may want them to be, it makes dealing with what we see when their masks begin to crack a little easier to handle.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bul- letin Publishing Company. Anyone wishing to contact Clarence Barr can email him at: realityonice @yahoo.com.
CCC: Hate With Political Connections
(Part Two)
iven their history of connection, Republican presiden-
tial candidates who received political campaign funds in 2015 from the so-called Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC) have been up for a nasty surprise. Obviously, the CCC (hopefully no connection to the KKK) has been embedded in Southern Republican politics for decades and views the Republican philosophies more aligned with their own. In- deed, Earl Holt, III, rumored CCC president, has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Republican candidates and Conservative campaign committees over the past three years.
An outgrowth of the old White Citizens Councils (anti Civil Rights and pro-segregation groups), the CCC was formed in the 1950s and 1960s to oppose the Civil Rights Movement.
Politicians such as former Senate Majority whip Trent Lott (Mississippi), Congressional Representative Bob Barr (Georgia), Haley Barbour (governor of Mississippi 2004- 2012) and others have spoken to the group and were fea- tured in photographs with members of the group.
Recently, it was revealed that presidential candidates Ted Cruz, Rick Santorum, and Scott Walker, and Rand Paul’s po-
litical campaign funds had received donations from CCC president Holt. Reportedly, at least 23 Republican governors, state and local congressional elected officials and political hopefuls returned $36,000 in campaign contributions from Holt. At least one elected official, Ohio’s state treasurer, Josh Mandel, refused to return a $1,500 donation to his campaign.
Hate finds bedfellows in high places, including legislatures and Congress. But the problem with hate is two-pronged: It is single-minded, and it never sleeps.
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