Sunday, August 30, 2020

Last Call For Black Lives Still Matter, Con't

Trump gave the white supremacists already in our midst permission to be as racist as possible, to do as much psychic damage as they can on a regular basis. The only thing that will stop them is if enough of them get caught in the act.

An Arkansas sheriff resigned Friday after coming under fire over a leaked racist recording.

Sheriff Todd Wright of Arkansas County, about 85 miles southeast of Little Rock, resigned effective immediately on Friday during a public meeting on the incident at the county's Quorum Court, which is its governing legislative body.
The meeting, which was recorded live and posted on Facebook, was held after a local news outlet, the Pine Bluff Commercial, identified Wright as the man heard in a five-minute audio recording delivering a racist rant.

According to the local outlet, Wright is heard on the recording, which has been widely shared on social media, becoming upset that a woman he was with spoke to a Black person in a store.


Throughout the recording, the woman refers to the man as “Todd.” The man in the recording uses a racial slur against Black people about nine times.

Wright apologized at the court meeting for any offense his recorded remarks may have caused and said that he made those comments in the heat of the moment when he was "upset over certain things."

He also insisted he was not racist.

"That's not me," he said.

Following his remarks, a woman who identified herself as the mother of the man Wright disparaged in the recording said she doesn't know why Wright felt the need to call her son, whom she described as a hardworking man with two jobs, "names like that" over and over.

"I don't appreciate you calling him or anybody else the N-word," she said. "If you got problems, don't bring them to work."

It would have been the former Sheriff's word against that of a Black employee at a store and it would have been immediately dismissed. Later on, that Black employee would have been fired, and/or worse, faced an entire county's worth of angry deputies that would have absolutely found an excuse to put him in a cell, or put him in a grave.

See, that still might happen.

But the only reason that Black employee isn't already in the county lockup or in a pine box is because somebody recorded Todd's rant here. Because no matter how furious you get as a white person in America, you always, always have the option to take it out on the nearest Black person and make them suffer for existing in your white America, and odds are extraordinarily high that you will get away with it.

The more power you have, the easier it is to do things like this.

Brian Henry, mayor of the town of Pawleys Island and owner of Get Carried Away and Palmetto Cheese, is facing public backlash after posting that Black Lives Matter should be treated like a terror organization, among other comments that some have deemed racist and divisive.
In the aftermath of a double murder in Georgetown County on Monday afternoon, Henry publicly posted the following on Tuesday:

“I am sickened by the senseless killings in Georgetown last night.

“2 innocent people murdered. Not 2 thugs or people wanted on multiple warrants. 2 white people defenselessly gunned down by a black man. Tell me, where is the outrage? When and where will we begin rioting and burning down businesses in Georgetown. Answer is simple, it won’t happen. Because we live in a civil society, and it won’t change what happened. The victims’ families and friends will mourn and undoubtedly feel anger and confusion. Can’t imagine their pain. So why do we stand by and allow BLM to lawlessly destroy great American cities and threaten their citizens on a daily basis? Should they have a carte blanche license to pillage and destroy? Why? This has gone on too long. Rise up America. This BLM and Antifa movement must be treated like the terror organizations that they are. Law and order, protection of liberty, and the right of peaceful enjoyment. If we don’t have that, we no longer have a country. My wife cried last night when she read about these murders. I’m sure their family is devastated. This did not have to happen. Does the senseless murder of these people not matter as much because it doesn’t fit the media narrative. You are damn right their lives matter. And we should all be outraged and engaged to demand action and stem the tide of lawless fringe. We can’t stay silent anymore. All lives matter. There I said it. So am I racist now? I think not. How about the POS who just gunned down 3 defenseless white people? You be the judge.

“We need Law and Order. Now!”

Henry was referring to both Charles Nicholas Wall and his stepdaughter, Laura Anderson, being shot and killed after a vehicle collision on U.S. 521 in Georgetown County.

The Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office has charged Ty Sheem Ha Sheem Walters III, 23, of Moncks Corner, with two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and three counts of possession of a weapon during a violent crime. He made his first appearance in court Wednesday, where his bond was denied. Walters remains in jail at the Georgetown County Detention Center.

Now, Walters here is facing a double murder rap. He will get what he deserves.

But every other Black person in Georgetown County, SC just got put on notice that their lives are officially forfeit. Every Black person who's not Ty Walters is going to have to be taught a lesson by the Mayor here.

This time, the backlash against Black Lives Matter is going to lead to deaths. It's going to lead to lynchings. It's going to lead to Black bodies hanging like strange fruit. And in a Trump second term? It's going to be national.

As a law enforcement officer, the odds of getting away with it go up exponentially.

Just like the cops who killed Breonna Taylor here in Kentucky.

Unless you get caught on audio/video, that is, and the whole world sees it.

There's a reason why police want to outlaw recording cops.

Black Lives Still Matter.

Florida Goes Viral, (We Think Anyway)

Good news for parents, educators, and students in the Sunshine State: you don't need to know the number of COVID-19 cases in your child's school district because Florida county health departments and GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis are too busy covering for Donald Trump's failures in the most important battleground state in the nation.

After the first full week of classes in Duval County, school officials say they are still counting how many teachers and students test positive for the novel coronavirus. But, the district said, it can’t share those numbers.

The Duval County Health Department told Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) officials Tuesday they needed to get permission from the state level in order to tell parents and the community how many cases are in its schools.
On Friday, after multiple requests for answers, the Florida Department of Health said the information about the number of COVID-19 cases in schools was “confidential.”

“In the interest of public health in Florida, the Surgeon General instructed County Health Departments to provides [sic] school districts with information regarding COVID-19 cases in their schools. However, this information is considered confidential,” a Florida Department of Health spokesman said in an emailed statement.

The health department said school districts have been advised the information about COVID-19 cases in schools is confidential, per state law. But, the spokesman added, the department does not regulate school district operations.

Healthcare law experts who spoke to News4Jax have denied that the statute cited by Florida health officials applies to school systems.

The Florida Department of Health did not respond to questions asking if or when it will give school districts approval to publish the data. The health officials also didn’t give a specific date for when they plan to release the updated copy of the data themselves.


“Unfortunately, that’s not a question that I have a solid answer to. I can’t really predict how the state’s going to manage the request and manage the process,“ said DCPS Director of Communications Tracy Pierce.

DCPS, which reported four coronavirus cases in its schools before being asked to stop, said it believes the information should be available for parents.

“We feel very strongly that families need to know this information. Particularly parents, because they are making enrollment, attendance decisions based on this information. It’s the district’s stance that we want to provide it,” said Pierce. “We have engaged our own attorneys assigned to the school system and we are now in the process of doing what the DOH advised that we do. Which, is to seek the permission of the state department of health because again, you know, if I were a parent with a child in school right now, I would want to know because that’s going to impact the decisions I make.”

The snag in districts reporting COVID-19 cases in schools comes after the state accidentally published a draft report of school-related cases. The data, however, was complicated and would not give a clear picture of successful mitigation or of outbreaks within a school or school district.

The draft report was taken down quickly after being published on Monday but showed cases were being counted based on where a staff member or student lived and not based on the location of the school where the person attended or was employed.

Nine weeks until the election, and you think any county health department in Florida is going to be able to publish the number of COVID-19 cases in schools?

You live in America.  America doesn't work like that.  Shut up and praise Dear Leader and Governor DeSantis for their great work in protecting you and your family from the Invisible Enemy™.

Your kids bringing home COVID-19 is nothing you need to worry about, citizen. If you're still alive in November and not dying in a hospital, vote for the GOP. Everything is fine. Enjoy Florida's beaches, restaurants, and theme parks today!

Sunday Long Read: A History Of Police Brutality

Police brutality and unaccountability have been with us a long time, and it hasn't always been Black folk as the victims, and it hasn't always been in the South or in the Midwest, or even NYC. Ten years ago, Native woodcarver John T. Williams was shot and killed by Seattle police, and the journey to justice for his brother Rick has been a long, lone road.

THE BROTHER’S WORDS COME TO HIM AT NIGHT. They come clear and strong, no matter what sounds roil off six-lane Aurora Avenue and through the motel room window. They come to him in the morning, on the bus as it hammers south into the city. And as he sits on the patch of grass in the shadow of the Space Needle, where he carves nearly every day. Wherever Rick Williams is, whatever he’s doing, if anger or rage or even revenge fills his mind, the words of his late brother John put out the storm.

He first heard them more than 50 years ago, when he was 14. John was nine. “I want you to say ‘peace,’” the younger brother said, “and I want you to learn peace.” Unusual thing for a child to say, enough that the words stuck with Rick through the decades.

They came to him again on the afternoon of August 30, 2010, when a cop told him another officer had shot his brother to death. “Say peace.” “Learn peace.” Hard concepts to juggle in the moment. Even harder once the details came to light.

As the city learned of his brother’s final moments, so did Rick. How Seattle police officer Ian Birk—unprovoked, gun already drawn—rushed up to 50-year-old John T. Williams, who was hearing impaired in one ear, losing his eyesight, and held only a pocketknife and a piece of cedar, the tools of his trade. How Birk commanded Williams to drop the knife and, seven seconds into their encounter, fired five bullets, four striking and killing the woodcarver. How when other officers arrived they could see that the knife on the ground was closed.

Protests began almost immediately, Seattle’s streets a preview of the scenes a decade later, of Black Lives Matter and the long hunt for justice for those murdered by police. During the inquest, Officer Birk told jurors a story that contradicted that of eyewitnesses. Williams was menacing, Birk said, in attack mode, seconds from lunging with the knife.

The inquest left no one satisfied. At least one witness would remain traumatized for years, by both what she saw in the moments of the shooting and the lack of justice afterward. On the question of whether Officer Birk should be charged with a crime, the decision lay in the hands of the King County prosecutor. The choice he made haunted him in subsequent reelection bids, made his stomach burn whenever he talked about it. Most significantly the U.S. Department of Justice opened an investigation into the SPD’s discriminatory policing and overall use of force.

This one was hard to read. So often have the lives of Black and Indigenous persons of color ended the way John T. Williams's life did. I'm tired of it, the stress hurts some days, the wondering, the fear.

The only way accountability comes is to demand it.

Through it all, Rick Williams, the older brother turned family spokesman, clenched his jaw in every hearing, through every bad thing he heard about John, every time he saw a cop on the street and was expected to act like there was no bad blood. He held back his rage as much as he could, held it back even as he watched, like everyone else in the city, again and again, the video.

Enemies Of The People, Con't

Village press still think Trump is their friend, and that he doesn't mean all this "Enemies of the People" stuff at rallies like in New Hampshire yesterday?

Think again, folks.


Bomb threat, made live on camera.  Just casually walks up.  "To wake Joe Biden up from his fucking nap and his pudding."

Next time, maybe it's not just a threat.  Maybe it's a live device. Maybe it's not a bomb threat at all, it's a jackass with an AR-15. Bang bang bang.

Maybe you guys should treat Trump and his cult followers like the threats they are.