By... (I $hit you not!)... Time (Magazine) columnist
Abdul-Jabbar...
YES... the six-time NBA champion and league Most Valuable
Player!
(Also - according to Time - a celebrated author,
filmmaker and education ambassador - whatever an "education
ambassador" is.)
* * *
* *
The curfew has been lifted in Baltimore, and now all of
God’s children are once again tucked back in the snug routine of their daily
lives.
The black temper tantrum is over, America. We can all go
back to watching Castle boyishly charm his way through murder mysteries. Order
is restored.
* "CASTLE" IS A DAMN FINE SHOW!
Except...
* EXCEPT WHAT...???
Except as Sportin’ Life says in Porgy and Bess, “It ain’t
necessarily so.”
* YEP... UNFORTUNATELY... PROBABLY TRUE.
What happened in Baltimore isn’t just a one-and-done
situation. This wasn’t just a slight sprain in the ankle that we’ll be able to
walk off by morning. This was a violently shattered bone that will have America
limping forward on crutches for months to come, maybe even years.
One thing that history has taught us is that civil unrest
is rarely just about what incites the incident. From what information the
public has been given, Freddie Gray’s death seems like a malignant cocktail of
negligence and abuse, and the charges brought against the six officers seem to
confirm that. But we’ve seen this all before — many times.
So why now? Why Baltimore? Why Freddie Gray?
* UH... POST FERGUSON...?! (DUH!) OBAMA AND OBAMA'S
"JUSTICE" DEPARTMENT? (DUH!) A "CHOCOLATE" MAYOR IS A
"CHOCOLATE" CITY? (DUH!) DECADE UPON DECADE OF DEMOCRATIC PARTY
"RULE" OF THE CITY AND STATE...?!?! (DUH!)
The Baltimore uprising isn’t just about Freddie Gray. The
image of the cops carrying him, his legs dangling uselessly, his neck crooked
awkwardly is a visual manifestation of the impotence many African Americans
have felt over the past year as death after death of black people at the hands
of police keep adding up.
* THREE OF THE SIX COPS CHARGED ARE BLACK - ONE A FEMALE
BLACK OFFICER.
After each death there is the usual flurry of outrage,
protests, political promises, celebrity tweeting, and condemnation of
protestors.
* "PROTESTORS...???" REALLY...??? JUST... er...
"PEACEFUL PROTESTORS EXERCISING THEIR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS...???"
(*SMIRK*)
Then nothing happens until the next death, which is often
tragically close behind. About 70 unarmed blacks have been killed by police
between 1999 and 2014.
* AND HOW MANY UNARMED WHITES? (SERIOUS QUESTION; I'LL
LEAVE IT TO INTERESTED READERS TO RESEARCH THE ANSWER.)
The only thing that seems to change is that the list of
the dead keeps getting longer.
* THAT IS HOW TIME WORKS... IT GOES FORWARD...
(*ROLLING MY EYES*)
Baltimore is the most recent in a long, frustrating line
of protests that seem to vent anger, produce few substantial results, and
reveal a larger pattern of systemic injustice.
* THERE'S THAT WORD AGAIN - "PROTESTS."
(*SNORT*)
* "PROTESTS." "VENTING." (UH-HUH...)
For African Americans, it feels as if we are all gathered
together in the path of giant steamroller.
* INCLUDING THE THREE BLACK COPS...? INCLUDING ALL THE
OTHER BLACK COPS IN AMERICA...?
* HOW'BOUT LAW-ABIDING BLACKS? HOW'BOUT PRESIDENT BARACK
OBAMA AND FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA? (WOW... WHAT A RACIST BUNCH WE ARE, HUH?
WE EVEN WENT SO FAR AT TO MAKE A BLACK LEFTIST OUR PRESIDENT...
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF... CHIEF-OF-STATE... JUST TO... er... HIDE HOW RACIST WE
REALLY ARE.)
(*SNICKERING AS I ROLL MY EYES*)
We shout up at the driver to put on the brakes, but he
keeps shouting for us to get out of the way. But there’s no place to go. We
keep backing up and backing up. In Baltimore, it felt as though everyone’s back
was against the wall, and there was no place to back up to anymore. If shouting
doesn’t get the driver’s attention, maybe something more drastic will.
* JUST OUT OF CURIOSITY... WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE RIOTERS
(er... "PROTESTORS") WERE "BUSED IN" - WERE NOT BALTIMORE
RESIDENTS BUT RATHER "PROFESSIONAL PROTESTORS" - "RENT A
MOB" DIRTBAGS?
The protests in Baltimore were similar to the Boston Tea
Party in 1773...
* NOT REALLY.
(*SNORT*)
[Were similar to] the more than 200,000 people at the
Washington, D.C. National Mall to hear Martin Luther King Jr. in 1964...
* NAH...
...and the anti-war march of more than 500,000 on
Washington, D.C., in 1969.
* NOPE.
When people feel disenfranchised, helpless, and hopeless,
they will take to the streets to air their grievances.
* "AIR THEIR GRIEVANCES" = "ARSON?"
* EQUALS ASSAULT... BATTERY... PROPERTY DESTRUCTION...
LOOTING...???
* WOW... INTERESTING USE OF THE LANGUAGE BY MR. ABDUL-JABBAR.
However, this is where things get tricky for the American
public. Baltimore protestors weren’t just expressing their anger over the
treatment of Freddie Gray; they were expressing their frustration over living
in economic circumstances that makes them seem less than human to those in
power. Worse, they have little hope that these circumstances will change.
* NOT WHEN BLACK ILLEGITIMACY IS 73%.
During Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign, his
strategist, James Carville, had everyone working on the campaign focused on one
phrase: “The economy, stupid!” That phrase is the key to understanding the
anguish of the protestors in Baltimore. Though Baltimore is in the richest
state in the country, Maryland blacks’ median income is about $40,000 a year
less than the median income of the state.
* WHICH POLITICAL PARTY... WHICH IDEOLOGY... CONTROLS
BALTIMORE... CONTROLS MARYLAND...??? (JUST ASKIN'...) AND HOW LONG HAVE
DEMOCRATS BEEN IN POWER? FOR HOW MANY YEARS SINCE... LET'S SAY 1962, THE
YEAR I WAS BORN?
(*SPITTING ON THE GROUND*)
Baltimore is 63% black, and in 2013, the unemployment
rate for black men between 20 and 24 was 37%, compared to 10% for whites of the
same age.
* HEY... I HAVE AN IDEA! LET'S OPEN UP OUR BORDERS! OPEN
IMMIGRATION! IMPORT NO-SKILLED/LOW-SKILLED NON-ENGLISH SPEAKING
"WORKERS" BY THE MILLIONS! (HOW'S THAT SOUND AS A STRATEGY TO GET
BLACK AMERICAN CITIZENS THEIR "FAIR SHARE" OF EXISTING (AND FUTURE) EMPLOYMENT
OPPORTUNITIES...?!)
(*SPITTING ON THE GROUND A SECOND TIME*)
In Freddie Gray’s neighborhood, more than half of those
between 16 and 64 are unemployed.
* MORE IMMIGRATION! (HEY... LET'S BRING IN MORE
"REFUGEES" AS WELL... MUSLIM "REFUGEES" FROM THE MIDDLE
EAST... WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG...?!?!)
Life expectancy in the predominantly black neighborhoods
of Upton/Druid Heights is 63 years, while in the predominantly white affluent
Roland Park, about five miles away, it’s 83 years.
* HMM... I WONDER IF THE CRIME RATE - MURDER STATS - HAS
"ANYTHING" TO DO WITH THAT NUMBER...
(*SMIRK*)
And that’s just a small sample of the economic quicksand
that many black residents of Baltimore live on. How long can you politely ask
for someone to throw you a lifeline before the sand swallows you whole?
* UMM... YOU'RE RICH, KAREEM. YOU'RE A RICH, FAMOUS, INFLUENTIAL PUBLIC FIGURE. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE...???
* AS TO "LIFELINES..."
(*HEADACHE*)
* SOMEONE WANNA DIG UP THE STATS - THE NUMBERS -
CONCERNING HOW MANY TRILLIONS HAVE GONE TO WELFARE SPENDING SINCE LBJ's
"GREAT SOCIETY" TOOK FLIGHT IN THE 1960's?
* AND FINALLY... ONE MORE FRIGGIN' TIME... WHO'S BEEN
RUNNING THE "BLUE" CITIES... THE "BLUE" STATES... ALL THIS
TIME? (HINT: NOT CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS! NOT TEA PARTIERS! NOT LIBERTARIANS!)
(*SNORT*)
What’s even more frustrating for African Americans across
America witnessing the events is the blatant attempt of some in the media to
portray this as (1) the result of “thugs” who want to exploit Gray’s death to
stock up on some free TVs and (2) an anomaly that doesn’t represent America.
Both attitudes exhibit the kind of racial profiling that is at the heart of the
problem in the first place.
* BUT... BUT... BUT... IT WAS MOSTLY BLACK THUGS EXPLOITING
GRAY'S DEATH TO STOCK UP ON "FREE" (LOOTED) STUFF WHILE DESTROYING
PROPERTY AS THEY WENT - NO...?!?!
(*HEADACHE*)
* HEY... KAREEM... IF IT MAKES YOU FEEL ANY BETTER...
THERE WERE WHITE THUGS INVOLVED TOO. (THE KEY WORD BEING "THUGS.")
* HELL... RIOTS - BALTIMORE, FERGUSON, ELSEWHERE - MOSTLY
BLACK, BUT PLENTY OF WHITES - PLENTY OF WHITE COLLEGE KIDS... WHITE GRAD SCHOOL
STUDENTS ALSO, NO DOUBT. ASIANS... HISPANICS...
(*SHRUG*)
* HOW'BOUT "CRIMINAL PROFILING." THAT'S WHAT I'D
CALL IT.
A Bob Gorrell political cartoon shows a black man in a
hoodie and with the stubble of the terminally unemployed, holding up a sign
that says: “#BLACK LIVES MATTER (but police, private property and public safety
DON’T!)” A Rick McKee cartoon features another black man in a hoodie wearing
sunglasses and holding a box with a giant flat-screen TV. Behind him, the city
is burning. He says to a little boy, “I burned your neighborhood and looted
your stores so that you can live in a more just and fair society. … You’re
welcome.” Both of these cartoons exemplify the simple-minded—and racist idea
that looters and protestors are the same because they’re black and live in the
same place.
* TAKE IT UP WITH GORRELL AND MCKEE. BEGGING YOUR
PARDON... I'VE HAD ENOUGH ARGUING ABOUT CARTOONS OVER THE PAST COUPLE DAYS.
(*RUEFUL SMILE*)
Protestors want to promote a political agenda, while
looters want swag. Clearly, looters are criminals hurting the cause of the
protesters and should be arrested and prosecuted.
* CLEARLY...?!?! WELL... GOOD FOR YOU MR. ABDUL-JABBAR!
(BETTER PARAGRAPH 20-SOMETHING THAN NEVER!)
(*CLAP...CLAP...CLAP*)
But when you lump them together and call them all
“thugs,” you don’t have to listen to the real issues. It’s the adult equivalent
of jamming your fingers in your ears, closing your eyes, and humming loudly.
* YA MEAN HOW FOR 20-SOMETHING PARAGRAPHS YOU LUMPED THE
THUGS IN WITH THE NON-THUG SINCERE PROTESTORS?
(*SNORT*)
The chorus of pundits proclaiming shock at the riots is another
version of indignation not supported by history. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer said it was
“hard to believe this was happening in a major American city.” He then added,
“I don’t remember seeing anything like this in the United States of America in
a long time.” How could a journalist not remember the recent riots in Ferguson,
Los Angeles, and New York?
* IF ANYONE EXPECTS ME TO DEFEND CNN AND WOLF BLITZER...
(*GUFFAW*)
America was born out of protest.
* NO. WE WERE BORN OUT OF REVOLUTION... THEN OUT OF THE
FAILED ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION.
We felt economically suppressed and politically
repressed, and we changed things.
* WHAT'S THIS "WE," PILGRIM...?! NEITHER YOU
NOR I HAD A DAMN THING TO DO WITH IT!
Slaves weren’t freed by benevolent leaders wanting to do
the right thing.
* ULTIMATELY... YES... THEY WERE... FIRST BY THE
BRITISH... THEN BY US... THEN BY THE RUSSIANS...
* FOLKS - FEEL FREE TO GOOGLE WHERE SLAVERY EXISTS
TODAY... (FORWARD MR. ABDUL-JABBER YOUR FINDINGS!)
No one gave the American worker better and safer
conditions out of gratitude for a job well done. Vietnam veterans didn’t get
their benefits from an Agent-Orange-denying government by sitting at home
waiting patiently. Each time, Americans took to the streets to be heard.
* PROTEST AND RIOTING ARE TWO VERY DIFFERENT THINGS.
I suggest we all pay attention to what’s happening in
Baltimore, because it’s very likely that unless the economic and injustice
issues raised there are addressed in a meaningful way across the country, we will
be seeing many more Baltimores throughout the election season.
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