http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/25/chicago-homan-square-former-justice-officials-call-for-investigation
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
MN Timberwolves Profile Fans by Race, Class
MN Timberwolves profile fans by race, class
By Rashard Zanders, Twin Cities -- A disturbing event happened last Friday at the Target Center towards the end of the MN Timberwolve's narrow victory over the Phoenix Suns that doesn't match the feel-good vibe the team is selling with the pending return of franchise builder Kevin Garnett.
I occasionally get home game tickets from a friend who is a season ticket holder. His work schedule prevents him from going to most of the games so he gives pairs of game tix away...often to me since I am the biggest hoops junkie in the coffeehouse we frequent. Last Friday night I was too unenthused, even with the news of KG's return, to go to the game. So I gave both tickets to my friends E and his rabid KG fan bud, A.
Granted, these are not the best seats in the world...upper bowl...view semi obstructed by a guard rail...but hey, free is free and I enjoy an NBA experience now and then.
Given the fact that the Timberwolves rarely sell out it is common for fans at the game to bunch in, or upgrade, to better seats that sit empty, but are closer to the action. The first time I did this I did so with the permission of a cool usher whom I had notified of my desire to upgrade seats. If the original ticket holders did eventually appear I would just go back to my assigned seat.
Of course, many upgrade without getting the nod from team reps.
Nonethess, despite KG's announced return, Friday's game was no sell-out. Thus E & A decided to upgrade to seats in the lower bowl to begin the game's second half. And as casually as that, they were presently seated amidst the higher priced seats just a few rows from the action.
And then things got ugly. I am paraphrasing as best as I can from the account E gave upon returning from the game:
E & A, both white, admittedly looked like yuppies at the game; collared shirts, slacks, dress shoes. Seated behind them were two other white keen dressed in hoodies and jeans. In front of them was a Black couple..actually, they weren't there as a couple until about five minutes remained in the game.
According to E& A they took, and enjoyed the upgraded seats without hassle, despite not being in their assigned ones in the upper bowl.
The two white men in hoodies and the black couple in front were accosted by security and ushers two and three times respectively during the second half: each time showing their ticket stubs to confirm that they were indeed in the seats they paid for.
The stubs did not satisfy them. Ushers and security returned again and again asking the same people for the same proof they had just minutes ago produced. E and A noticed that off all the folks in their section, that they were the only ones out of place, and no one said a word to them.
When the ushers returned a third time to check the black couple's tickets...E & A could remain silent no more. A decided to confront the usher and pointedly (literally) poked him in the chest several times, and informed him that they had been sitting in that section without tickets. The conversation became more heated..Authority hates being called on their hypocrisy in public. Eventually, more security types descend on the section, and proceed to escort E and A, the couple, and the two men in hoodies out of Target Center.
Folks, this is the real Minneapolis; the true face of "Minnesota Nice" is best expressed "Minnesotan Ice". As local media and civic leaders continue to spin an image of the Minneapolis as some kind of miracle, those in the know know it is a mirage, full of more racial disparities in employment, health, economics, education than almost every other state. In Minneapolis the miracles don't extend people of color, nor the poor -- mirages do however
Eventually, E & A sojourned to a nearby Scottish bar and shook it off over multiple brews and single-malt scotches, but the harm is done. KG or no KG, the Timberwolves organization has lost some fans.
Much is being written locally and nationally about the positive impact KG will bring to the 'wolves' locker room, full of young and athletic talent that could transform the long suffering franchise into a perennial championship contender in a few short years.
Hopefully, he can have an equally powerful impact on the subtly bigoted culture the team apparently wants to promote, and make it a franchise that welcomes all fans, regardless off class or race.
Rashard Zanders is a freelance writer "living" and working in the Twin Cities. He can be reached at 872.228.4179 or via email at rashard.zanders@gmail.com.
--
Rashard Zanders
http://soundcloud.com/rashard-the-invisiblemaan
http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=76465828&trk=tab_pro
872-228-4179
Thursday, February 19, 2015
how to plant false evidence according to police who do it regularly
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/officer-reveals-planting-evidence-lying-part-game/http://thefreethoughtproject.com/officer-reveals-planting-evidence-lying-part-game/
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Monday, February 16, 2015
Who protects us from the bankers?
http://www.theguardian.com/news/2015/feb/12/hsbc-files-swiss-bank-hid-money-for-suspected-criminalshttp://www.theguardian.com/news/2015/feb/12/hsbc-files-swiss-bank-hid-money-for-suspected-criminals
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
JRW to remain city champs.
Editor's note: Some media in Chicago spent a disproportionate amount of time "investigating" JRW while the city itself crumbles, TIF funds are misappropriated, neighborhoods go without city services....smdh. It is a pattern of mainsteam media nationwide to tear down and vilify Black achievement...Look at the advantages white schools in the catholic league had over Mendel back in the day....kids from St. Rita, Laurence, Fenwick, had been playing and working out with those coaches since 6th, 7th grades. By the time we took the field as frosh we were going up against kids with two-three years experience on us... never any press about that.
http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/7/71/359465/mitchell-jackie-robinson-west-will-remain-citys-champs
http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/7/71/359465/mitchell-jackie-robinson-west-will-remain-citys-champs
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
nyt: Lynching in the USA
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/02/10/us/history-of-lynchings-in-the-south-documents-nearly-4000-names.html
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/02/10/us/history-of-lynchings-in-the-south-documents-nearly-4000-names.html
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/02/10/us/history-of-lynchings-in-the-south-documents-nearly-4000-names.html
Monday, February 09, 2015
"Unfortunately, the American people are mostly OK with torture, and Christians poll consistently in favor of the same tools that crucified their Lord."
by Rev. Rich Lang
With CIA torture and militarized police, it’s time for churches to use the pulpit to demand change
Dec 31, 2014, Vol: 21, No: 53
The release of the Senate Intelligence Committee report on the CIA’s unconstitutional torture campaign, the CIA’s lies to Congress and its illegal spying on Congress ought to be a moment of repentance throughout the country. Unfortunately, the American people are mostly OK with torture, and Christians poll consistently in favor of the same tools that crucified their Lord.
Nevertheless, it seems to me that Christian clergy, perhaps now in our own last gasps of moral clarity, ought to see clearly that the American people are moving into a time of great moral squalor. Clergy ought to be teaching their congregations to discern the “signs of the times.” That is, we are no longer living in a democracy, but an oligarchy, where we’re ruled by a few; we’re no longer a nation of laws, but a nation of permanent war that supersedes law: we’re no longer free, but increasingly monitored.
It is my hope that clergy will address the state from the pulpit and, in its spiritual work, demand:
1. President Obama end the official “state of emergency” and “Continuity of Government” operations, which allows the government, in the face of a catastrophe, to continuing operating, procedures put into effect after 9/11
2. That we release Chelsea Manning and the dropping of all charges against Edward Snowden, and other truth-tellers who have released illegal state secrets
3. That we dismantle the CIA as a consequence of its pattern of lying to the American people
4. That we close Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and, as an act of penance, the return of the land to Cuba
5. That we end solitary confinement in domestic prisons, as a prelude to a complete overhaul of our own domestic — racist — penal system
6. That we sever the link between local policing and military armament
7. President Obama appoint an independent prosecutor, with subpoena powers, to investigate the chain of command that allowed these abuses to become policy. Given America’s disregard of the U.S. Constitution, perhaps that prosecutor should be under the protection and authority of the United Nations.
Further, it is my hope that clergy and their churches will:
8. Open our buildings for communities to congregate for the purpose of organizing resistance to and protest of the lawlessness of the state
9. Renounce American imperialism and its wars, teaching our parishes the ways of nonviolent resistance, while counseling our congregants to renounce participation in the armed forces and intelligence agencies of this lawless state
10. Use sacred story to connect the dots between imperial war and domestic repression.
The Church should teach its congregations to act as truth tellers and defenders of those who are called to protest and resistance.
All of this amounts to penance, a true remorse for becoming an unjust empire.
I think it’s time for the American church to re-read how Christians endured communism, colonialism and apartheid. (Blacklogic.blogspot editor's note: How he left out slavery is perplexing) Our task will be to endure unleashed military-capitalism. It is a time of warning, and the future will unfold through our faithfulness — or lack thereof.
Rev. Rich Lang is the pastor of University Temple United Methodist and can be contacted through http://utemple.org
Saturday, February 07, 2015
Friday, February 06, 2015
from Huffpost: Angela Davis on Policing in America
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/summer-noble/angela-davis-speaks-on-ra_b_6601260.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000047
"Why the mobilizations now?" Davis asked. Some would assume it's because so many black men and boys have been killed within a short amount of time; however, she reminded us that the issue of black men being targets of police violence is not a new occurrence, and it is important to correct the notion that it is. "There has been an unbroken line of racist police killings since the era of slavery." Davis declared."
Wednesday, February 04, 2015
HuffPost: Dick Gregory FINALLY gets star on "Walk of Fame"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/04/dick-gregory-the-walk-of-fame_n_6614396.html
Listen to him when he speaks. I have so much respect for our elders.
Listen to him when he speaks. I have so much respect for our elders.
Monday, February 02, 2015
Minneapolis's insidious policing practices exacerbate racial disparities....don't drink the MN nice kool aid!
and minneapolismn.gov.....
http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/public/@council/documents/webcontent/convert_271602.pdf
http://www.crimeandjustice.org/researchReports/Low%20Level%20Offenses%20in%20Minneapolis-%20An%20Analysis%20of%20Arrests%20and%20their%20Outcomes.pdf
"Hightlights of findings....
For the select low level offenses in Minneapolis, the rates for receiving a citation or being
arrested in 2001 were:
o Whites: 1 in 60
o Blacks: 1 in 4
Blacks were 15 times more likely than Whites to be either arrested or cited.
Significant racial disparity occurs at point of contact between police and citizen.
Disparity is not as evident as cases move forward from point of contact between police and
citizen, but is still found at some points of time in the process and is also extremely skewed
given the race of those who enter the process.
Conviction rates for arrests are very small.
21.9% of all people arrested were convicted (Black 19.3%, White 25.9%).
Less than a third of the people charged have felony and/or gross misdemeanor convictions.
Over 70% of the people charged have no prior convictions or only misdemeanor convictions.
Multiple arrests of people who have no or few convictions occur much more frequently for
Blacks than Whites."
crimeandjustice.org
http://www.lsej.org/documents/118871Tab%20Charging.pdf
"The study compares the tab
charging mechanism to the other allowable methods by which a
criminal charge is brought against a defendant. The study then
discusses why tab charging tends to aggravate the racial
disparity endemic to the Minnesota criminal justice system."
Concerning police methods of arrest Minneapolis and how they exacerbate racial disparities.
http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/public/@council/documents/webcontent/convert_271602.pdf
http://www.crimeandjustice.org/researchReports/Low%20Level%20Offenses%20in%20Minneapolis-%20An%20Analysis%20of%20Arrests%20and%20their%20Outcomes.pdf
"Hightlights of findings....
For the select low level offenses in Minneapolis, the rates for receiving a citation or being
arrested in 2001 were:
o Whites: 1 in 60
o Blacks: 1 in 4
Blacks were 15 times more likely than Whites to be either arrested or cited.
Significant racial disparity occurs at point of contact between police and citizen.
Disparity is not as evident as cases move forward from point of contact between police and
citizen, but is still found at some points of time in the process and is also extremely skewed
given the race of those who enter the process.
Conviction rates for arrests are very small.
21.9% of all people arrested were convicted (Black 19.3%, White 25.9%).
Less than a third of the people charged have felony and/or gross misdemeanor convictions.
Over 70% of the people charged have no prior convictions or only misdemeanor convictions.
Multiple arrests of people who have no or few convictions occur much more frequently for
Blacks than Whites."
crimeandjustice.org
http://www.lsej.org/documents/118871Tab%20Charging.pdf
"The study compares the tab
charging mechanism to the other allowable methods by which a
criminal charge is brought against a defendant. The study then
discusses why tab charging tends to aggravate the racial
disparity endemic to the Minnesota criminal justice system."
Concerning police methods of arrest Minneapolis and how they exacerbate racial disparities.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
