Video Immediately After Michael Brown Shooting Supports Story That Brown Had Arms Up When Killed

Ken AshfordRacial HomicidesLeave a Comment

Two contractors have come forward saying that they witnessed the Michael Brown shooting, and that Michael Brown had his hands up in the air, thus not posing a threat, when he was shot. Normally, you could discount this eyewitness testimony, coming more than one month after the shooting. Except that they are saying it…. on video… just after the shooting occurred.  In … Read More

Officer Go-Fuck-Yourself

Ken AshfordRace, Racial HomicidesLeave a Comment

I swear.  These must be the dumbest cops alive.  I mean, don't they realize the complaint against them is that they are too quick on the draw?  That they are failures as cops by drawing high-powered guns on unarmed civilians? Yet, this cop goes right ahead and does it.  In front of cameras.  And then he points his gun at the … Read More

Brown Shot Six Times

Ken AshfordCrime, Racial HomicidesLeave a Comment

… and it looks like the fatal shots were the last two, which hit him on the top of the head.  Apparently, while falling forward.  NOT at close range. The New York Times has the details. Meanwhile last night… another night of clashes.  Although law enforcement is better (the Missouri State Police are not provoking lawlessness like the St. Louis County … Read More

Michael Brown Implicated In Cigar Robbery

Ken AshfordRacial Homicides1 Comment

This morning, police identified Darren Wilson as the cop who fatally shot Michael Brown. They also released surveillance photos showing Michael Brown shoplifting some cigars and man-handling the store owner.  This all took place hours before the shooting. I'm not sure this changes the issue (although I know for many bigots, this is all they need). Brown was an unarmed … Read More

No Question. The Ferguson Police Are Thugs

Ken AshfordClass Warfare, Racial HomicidesLeave a Comment

I've withheld writing about the fatal shooting of Michael Brown.  For those distracted by other news stories, Michael Brown was to start college this week. Instead, his parents are planning his funeral. On August 9th, Mr Brown was shot several times and killed by a policeman in Ferguson, a suburb near St Louis, Missouri. The police say the black 18-year-old attacked … Read More

We’re Back

Ken AshfordGay Marriage, RaceLeave a Comment

Lots of things I wanted to write yesterday, but Typepad got dinged by another denial-of-service attack.  Pretty frustrating for them, but more so for me.  This is happening too often. So now it all seems like old news — Oregon flipping on same-sex marriage, for example. One story I was following — because it takes place in New Hampshire and … Read More

Not An Apology

Ken AshfordPopular Culture, RaceLeave a Comment

“I’m not a racist," Sterling said. “I made a terrible, terrible mistake. And I’m here with you today to apologize and to ask for forgiveness for all the people that I’ve hurt.” Okay, that's a good start.  Except it wasn't ONE terrible mistake.  After all you were being sued for discrimination, which was mistake one, and then to make racist … Read More

Bundy Tries To Apologize

Ken AshfordRaceLeave a Comment

He got a decent start on CNN Friday morning, saying "Maybe I sinned and maybe I need to ask forgiveness and maybe I don’t know what I actually said." Take out the three "maybe"s, and he would have been home free.  But instead, Bundy continued: If I call — if I say negro or black boy or slave, I’m not — if … Read More

Darling of The Right, Cliven Bundy, Expresses His Views About Race….

Ken AshfordRace, Right Wing Punditry/IdiocyLeave a Comment

…. and they are just about what you would expect: Republican politicians began backtracking on their support of Nevada anti-government rancher Cliven Bundy after the New York Times caught Bundy making racially-inflammatory remarks blaming African-Americans for willingly submiting to dependency on federal assistance. “They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton,” Bundy … Read More

Racism Ended With Rosa Parks Incident, Says GOP

Ken AshfordRace, RepublicansLeave a Comment

This is nice … Today we remember Rosa Parks’ bold stand and her role in ending racism. pic.twitter.com/uxIj1QmtkU— RNC (@GOP) December 1, 2013 Think Progress points out that the celebration of the end of racism may be a tad premature: Some research contends that “racism cost the president more than five million votes in 2008 and 2012″ and a 2012 survey from the … Read More

Remember, It’s Not Racism

Ken AshfordRace, Right Wing Punditry/IdiocyLeave a Comment

Richard Cohen Today’s GOP is not racist, as Harry Belafonte alleged about the tea party, but it is deeply troubled — about the expansion of government, about immigration, about secularism, about the mainstreaming of what used to be the avant-garde. People with conventional views must repress a gag reflex when considering the mayor-elect of New York — a white man … Read More

Finally, The DOJ Steps In

Ken AshfordElection 2016, Local Interest, RaceLeave a Comment

Justice Department to sue North Carolina over voting law By Holly Yeager, Published: September 29 | Updated: Monday, September 30, 12:01 AM The Justice Department will sue North Carolina on Monday over the state’s new voting law, according to a person briefed on the department’s plans, the latest move by the Obama administration to counter a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that officials have said threatens the voting … Read More

No, MLK Was Not In The GOP

Ken AshfordHistory, RaceLeave a Comment

“Most people don’t talk about the fact that Martin Luther King was a Republican.” That’s a quote from Ada Fisher, a Republican National Committeewoman from North Carolina, that was published without qualification or correction this week by ABC News. Fisher is wrong on two fronts. First, many people talk about the “fact” that King was a Republican. It is asserted incessantly … Read More