On December 9th, Winston-Salem resident Travis Page died after being handcuffed by four Winston-Salem police officers. After being handcuffed. It’s a story all too familiar — a young black man dies — not in a shootout with police — but while under police custody. It is irrelevant what Travis Page did or was accused of doing. Unless he was attacking police … Read More
60 Years Ago Today
A black lady sat on a bus. No, not Claudette Colvin. The one who came nine months later, on December 1, 1955. Yeah, Rosa Parks. The lighter-skinned one. That whole thing was planned, you know. Rosa Parks (who died in 1995) wasn’t a nobody; she was an activist. She knew the bus driver too. Knew him to be a real jerk. … Read More
The Murder Of Laquan McDonald
It was murder. Plain and simple. But let’s start with the account from the police union, as described to the Chicago Tribune in October 2014: “He’s got a 100-yard stare. He’s staring blankly,” [Fraternal Order of Police spokesman Pat] Camden said of the teen. “[He] walked up to a car and stabbed the tire of the car and kept walking.” Officers remained … Read More
NC Senator A Member of The KKK?
Anonymous is at it again. The hacking group claimed last month to have hacked multiple KKK Twitter accounts, and obtained some membership rosters of the KKK. This list includes a number of other prominent politicians across the country. Anonymous said it would be unmasking Klan members around the anniversary of the Ferguson protests. Here is the full listing of political … Read More
Trump Draws Analogy Between Black Protesters And Isis
We need a strong leader- and fast! https://t.co/UVhbC0JNxD — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 14, 2015 And here is what he linked to… We need a strong leader- and fast! A video posted by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on Oct 14, 2015 at 8:29am PDT Trump is saying, in no uncertain terms, that if Sanders can’t stand up to black … Read More
KKKKids: Where Are They Now?
Almost 10 years ago on this blog, I wrote about Prussian Blue – the name of the rock group comprised of two twin sisters, Lamb and Lynx Gaede, who sang songs about white pride and nationalism and had a huge following among white supremacists. Here is what they looked like then: As I wrote then, the two girls had been nurtured from … Read More
For The Black Lives Matter Files
I suspect stories like this fly under the radar an awful lot, and nobody even knows about it: A young black man arrested by police in Portsmouth, Virginia, on the same day that one of the city’s officers fatally shot an unarmed black 18-year-old, has been found dead in jail after spending almost four months behind bars without bail for … Read More
Terrible Live Shooting On TV This Morning
Troubling video (not bloody, but shocking) Unbelievable shooting on live TV in the Roanoke area this morning. Prayers to my friends at WDBJ7. pic.twitter.com/q8ob9mI8VL — Jacob Wycoff (@4cast4you) August 26, 2015 Both the reporter and the cameraman are dead. During an interview on CNN, General Manager Jeffrey Marks confirmed that today was Parker’s last day with the station. Marks also … Read More
Meet Campaign Zero
I, among others, have wondered aloud what the Black Lives Matter movement actually wanted beyond just being “listened to”. After all, I argued, black people are dying, and while raging against the machine might feel cathartic, it is not actually going to result in concrete changes. Hillary Clinton made this point as well when she met with BLM activists. She … Read More
The Dishonest Attack On Shaun King
I saw this story bubbling a couple days ago, and even the mainstream media was touching it. Certainly, Fox was. It has to do with the race of a #BlackLivesMatter activist named Shaun King. In the blogosphere, Breitbart “News” seems to have launched a virulent attack Shaun King, alleging that he’s been lying about his heritage like Rachel Dolezal, and is … Read More
Does BLM Want To Change Minds Or Change The Law?
Last week I gave a full-throated defense of myself and others who had taken issue with the tactics of Black Lives Matter. This came in the wake of a Seattle political event involving Bernie Sanders, where two BLM activists took the stage as Sanders started speaking, and effectively hijacked the agenda (as well as hijacking Sanders). Sander never got to … Read More
Straight Outta Beating Up Women
I’m looking forward to seeing the N.W.A. bio-pic “Straight Outta Compton”, but I’m not surprised that the former N.W.A. members deal with the misogyny issue by, well, not acknowledging it. Ice Cube recently was asked about it and he said that he doesn’t understand why “upstanding ladies” would come to the defense of the “bitches” and “hos” referred to in … Read More
Even The Gun Nuts Don’t Want A Piece Of This
A few days ago, I mentioned the presence of armed white people — the Oath Keepers — present on the streets of Ferguson during the racial tensions. They were there, they said, the protect a reporter from the ultra-right wing website, InfoWars. Except now we learn that Infowars denies knowing these guys or what they’re doing. Maybe that’s true, maybe … Read More
Pissing On Your Best Friend
Earlier this week, I got in — not one but two — debates with good progressive friends about the wisdom of the BLM movement shutting down Bernie Sanders speaking at a Social Security and Medicaid event last Saturday in Seattle. It’s a lot of ground to cover, but I read something by Hamilton Nolan (whoever he is) at Gawker that … Read More
Has Ferguson Gotten Better?
One year after the arrest and killing of Michael Brown, a young unarmed black man, Ferguson seems to be in deeper trouble than ever. Several investigations, including one by the DOJ, found that the police officer did not act improperly in the shooting of Michael Brown. BUT the DOJ found that the police department was ethically un-diverse (compared to the … Read More