Just Saying...: Dylann Roof - Troubled Youth or Domestic Terrorist...

Just Saying...: Dylann Roof - Troubled Youth or Domestic Terrorist...: By Mildred Robertson Troubled youth.   That’s what the media has to say about the terrorist who calmly entered a place of worship…sat b...

Dylann Roof - Troubled Youth or Domestic Terrorist -You Decide

By Mildred Robertson

Troubled youth.  That’s what the media has to say about the terrorist who calmly entered a place of worship…sat beside his intended victims for at least an hour, and then with malice and forethought brutally slaughtered nine innocent human beings.  He said he wanted to start a race war. But politicians, media and others hesitate to call it a hate crime.

This is only one example of the pathology that governs race relations in the United States today.

In this supposedly post-racial society, obvious inequities are overlooked much as the emperor’s nakedness in Hans Christian Andersen’s fable went not unseen, but unacknowledged. At least until someone had the strength of character to speak the truth.

So the Boston marathon murderer was immediately identified as “a terrorist”… and that was an accurate description. But Dylann Roof is no less so. He took innocent lives for no reason other than to make a sick, demented point.

While sages agree that the Boston marathon killers’ actions represented the intent of the entire Muslim religion to destroy America – Roof’s rampage, they say, represented the hateful intent of a lone murderer.

While Roof’s action occurred under the backdrop of a state that fought tooth and nail for the right to fly the Confederate flag and continues to do so today even after this heinous crime, few in South Carolina are comfortable calling this a hate crime.

While the South Carolina and American flags fly half-mast, the Confederate flags still flys high; irreverent to the lives of nine more Black people snuffed out by racism, hatred and bigotry. South Carolinians walk daily on paths named with great pride after what I would call ‘infamous” heroes of the Civil War.

The killer, demonstrating his ignorance as well as his bigotry, claimed he must carry out this heinous act to keep Blacks from taking from White Americans. Ignorant, because it was, in fact White America that wrested this land from the Native Americans who were its first inhabitants… bigoted because it was the slave master who brutally raped Black women stolen from the bosom of Africa, ripped black babies from the arms of their mothers and sold them to parts unknown and beat and murdered Black men who would object. 

 No one wants to talk about these facts.  But they are a festering wound that is reopened every time a Black youth is shot while walking in a neighborhood where he has every right to be….is manhandled for swimming in a pool…is choked to death on the street for alleged minor misconduct…is shot down in broad daylight for infractions that might not even result in a night in jail.   

And then there is the flip side…where a Black woman is jailed for defending herself from a known abuser…or the manner in which Mr. Roof was apprehended in comparison with the brute force used against Blacks who have committed far lesser crimes or no crimes at all.

Until America has the strength of character to cry out “the emperor has no clothes;” until we as a nation admit that there are inequities and disparities that relegate an entire race to second class citizenship, then race relations will continue to spiral down to the point that Mr. Roof will get what he prays for. A nation so divided that we take up arms against one another.

The march for justice in Ferguson

FROM FERGUSON TO JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI  

As told to me by: Mary Ratliff, President – Columbia Chapter NAACP &
NAACP Missouri State Conference of Branches

We had already walked 50 miles when we approached the small town of Rosebud. The police who escorted us on our journey told us we would have to get back on the bus that travelled with us. It was too dangerous for us to walk down the streets of Rosebud, they said. But we refused.
 

In a town that must have a population of 500, at least 400 hundred of them were in the streets, yelling and mocking and threatening us. As I walked down the streets of Rosebud, looking into the twisted faces of men and women spitting evil epithets, one woman, old, obsess and full of hatred chased us from corner to corner with a sign that read “all this for one dead nigger.”

No, this was not Selma Alabama in 1960, but the route between Ferguson Missouri and its state capitol, Jefferson City.

The Missouri State Chapter of the NAACP organized the 120-mile march to protest the decision of the Grand Jury not to indict Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot Michael Brown down in the streets of Ferguson. NAACP National President/CEO Cornell William Brooks, who led the march, said that we had promised to have feet on the ground the entire 120-mile march, and we were not going to allow the hate that Rosebud Missouri represented stop us. I echoed his sentiments, and other marchers vowed that they too would march through Rosebud Missouri, with heads held high.

We had planned for a moment such as this. Adolphus Pruitt, I^st Vice President of the Missouri Conference and I worked diligently to lay the groundwork for the protest. We had explained to those marching that they could not fight back if attacked because all the media would cover was the violence connected with the march; not the violence that precipitated the march in the first place.

This was, perhaps, the most difficult part of the journey. Although we planned for it, we didn’t really expect it.  Not like this. I had flashbacks of Bull Conner, fire hoses and dogs. That was all that was missing to make this circa, 1960.

Many students from Lincoln University in Jefferson City had joined the march. One young student approached me and told me, “Mrs. Ratliff, I want to march, but they can’t spit on me, or hit me.” I told him it would be best if he were to ride the bus. I had to explain to him that those types of indignities, none of us wanted to bear. But if it happened, we would have to think of the greater good before giving in to our natural, human desire to meet violence with violence.  Straying from our commitment to non-violent protest would surely lead to confrontation, and possibly even death among ourselves or others.

We started our journey with about 60 marchers. The numbers rose and fell as we travelled the 120-mile stretch between Ferguson and Jefferson City. We had folks who would come out and walk with us in the evenings, and then go to work the next day.

Our only encounters were not with hatred. Along the way, groups of people would come out to greet us and wish us well. Many brought food and drink.  In Rosebud, even, one lone elderly lady stood on the side of the road and told us, “You are doing the right thing.”

By the time we reached the capital our numbers had swollen from hundreds to more than a thousand. What we saw on our journey from Ferguson to Jefferson City was both the worst and the best of humanity. The fact that this is not a post-racial society was crystalized in the tense moments when our movement came face-to-face with inbred racism that, if buried at all, lay only in a shallow grave. But we also saw people who looked pass the issue of race and saw the injustice in a system that is supposed to be designed to protect us all.

And that is really the issue. Not whether Mike Brown was a good kid or a bad kid. Not whether Wilson was a good cop doing his job to the best of his ability or a racist angered because a young black man defied him. The issue is whether our justice system can look at those moments when a life was extinguished on the streets of Ferguson Missouri and see neither man; only the acts that took place on that day, and determine whether those acts were just.

Thus far, our justice system has not been able to meet that standard. Until that standard is met, we will not stop. We cannot stop. We MUST not stop.  In the words of the old Negro spiritual, “I Don’t Feel No Ways Tired!”

 

Eric Garner Verdict, Saddening, but Predictable

ERIC GARNER, MIKE BROWN REPRESENT MODERN DAY LYNCHINGS
By Mildred Robertson

It is with wonder that I heard the decision of the Grand Jury in the Eric Garner murder case. According to the dictionary, murder, by definition is “the killing of another human being under conditions specifically covered in the law;”  “The unlawful killing of another human being without justification or excuse.” Based upon these definitions, the taking of Eric Garner’s life undoubtedly falls into the category of murder.

So how is it that a group of American citizens can come together and determine that it is okay for a man to be choked to death on the streets of New York with an unlawful chokehold, with witnesses looking on and with a video of the entire incident? What could have possibly gone on in that court room that convinced those jurors that what happened on the streets of New York on July 17, 2014 was lawful and justified?

Or was that not even a consideration?

Has America determined that the life of a black man has no value? Has America yet again determined that African Americans are less than human, and therefore do not deserve the protections afforded by our constitution?  Is it safe to say, that if you are black in America, and scare some white person because you’re black, or you’re big, or perhaps, even aggressive, that you are automatically some demon-possessed hulk against whom lethal force is appropriate?

You know, I said it was with wonder that I heard the decision…not surprise. I would have been surprised had justice been served.

As I read social media about this incident and others like it such as the cases of Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown, I am amazed at the lack of empathy from so many about a life snatched unnecessarily soon. It as though young black men have no right to expect to reach adulthood.

I liken the Mike Brown verdict, along with that in the Trayvon Martin killing, and certainly the Eric Garner case, as modern day lynchings, where whites—not all, but enough to be disturbing—view it as entertainment.

They seem to take pleasure in the social unrest, pointing to looting and rioting as an excuse for the murder, not seeing the connection between societal ills and the behavior of some who are hopeless. I say some, because some of the actions taken by protestors are opportunistic.

It saddens me that the media has allowed the focus to be moved from the issue of the injustice to these young men, to the clearly lawless actions of a few. Let the law handle the looters – but our nation must face the very real threat of a racial chasm that will tear us apart if we do not acknowledge the very real racial disparities that are alive and well in our country.   

I caution my white brethren who are so quick to defend these lawless actions of the police in the Eric Garner and Mike Brown cases. If given this type of leeway in the black community – who is next. If you sit by and watch them come for me—once they have completed that task, will they come for you? Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

 

Political and Civil Rights Icon Brad Thompson Urges North Carolinians to Vote

Why I'm going to Vote

By Brad Thompson

It seems that too many people are questioning whether their vote matters in this election. I am convinced that it matters a great deal and I am going to make sure that I vote. Early voting begins October 23rd and Election Day is November 4th. I will be in the number.

 We do not have to look beyond our own borders in North Carolina to see the debilitating effect of not participating. Voter Suppression has turned into Voter Intimidation with Americans for Prosperity distributing misinformation to voters about  their status. We have elected to not participate in the Affordable Care Act denying hundreds of thousands of people access to health care. We have cut education by $500,000,000 leading to larger class sizes and fewer teachers. We have now  sunk past Mississippi to the lowest state in support for education in the country. We have eliminated the Racial Justice Act. We have ended the Low Income Tax Credit for families that really need it. We have cut the length and the amount of  unemployment compensation. This has been led by a reactionary General Assembly that in a few years is seeking to dismantle years of progress. Is this the price we are prepared to pay? When is enough enough?

 I am not so jaded as to feel that everything is made right by voting. It is not. But it is one place where our capital is equal. A vote counts no matter who places it. People we care about are being hurt daily by these misguided public policies. It must stop. And if casting my ballot leads to the ending of this, I will cast my ballot. It is not for the brave people who fought so hard, even gave their lives, for our right to vote. It is for me and my children that I do it. It is for those of us who live today and for those who will follow us.

 This is too important to be taken for granted. I hope everyone who can will vote.

North Carolina GOP Internal Battles Stall Short Session

By Mildred Robertson

A Herculean battle is raging in North Carolina as opposing forces struggle for domination in the North Carolina Legislature.

You might think it is the Moral Monday demonstrators who have been a thorn in the side of the Republican-led legislature since the 2012 elections; calling for voting rights, women’s rights, Medicaid expansion and a number of other social imperatives.

 Or it is possibly the North Carolina Public School teachers who have been both lauded and reviled during this legislative session by those who think that many, perhaps most, are unworthy of their pay, or should work harder for it, or don’t need extra hands in the overcrowded classroom.

No, you say, it must be the women of North Carolina who must give over their health decisions to their bosses and travel half-way across the state to find the health services they need.   Or could it be environmentalists who are appalled at the slipshod manner in which the legislature has moved forward with plans to begin fracking in the state.

Surely it must be the unemployed struggling to hold on to their homes and feed their children while their weeks of eligibility are whittled away.

Well, recent polls by both the conservative group Civitas and the left-leaning Public Policy polling say none of these groups have great love for the 2014 North Carolina Legislature. But the battle between these groups and the Republican-led legislature pales in comparison to the battle within the ranks of the NC GOP itself. A three-way tug-of-war between the House, the Senate and the governor have all but paralyzed the state.

While one would think that a party that controls both chambers and the governor’s mansion would whiz through the short session, piling up victories as the opposing party gnashes its teeth and beats its chest in defeat, not so in North Carolina. In fact, the Democrats have ordered popcorn and a coke as they watch the GOP implode.

The short session, which has languished into July, has produced few victories for the GOP as they battle each other with the vigor of mortal enemies. A budget battle has positioned the GOP in opposition to educators and state workers. The move to use lottery earnings to fund teacher pay raises has enraged many on the religious right. The GOP appears baffled as to how to address Medicaid issues. They cannot even decide how much of a short-fall to anticipate, much less how to rectify it.

It would seem that the NC GOP would be relishing its victory over redistricting, voting rights restrictions, budget cuts, reductions in unemployment benefits, and the taking of both chambers of the legislature and the Governor’s mansion. But let us not forget—they are the party of “No.”

 It turns out they know how to fight much better than they know how to legislate, and so they fight one another.

What Does it Take to Be a "Traditional" North Carolinian?

Guest Commentary
By: Brad Thompson, President BTA Public Relations

It seems that after 400 years, more than 250 of those in slavery, and almost 50 years since the passage of the Voting Rights Bill, and after the Savagery on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, after the loss of life of courageous Americans in not only the Civil Rights struggle but the Wars in which we participated, we still have not earned the right to be considered "American". How far do we have to go before we can be recognized as "traditional"?

House Speaker Thom Tillis has again let the "cat out of the bag" on his thinking on who represents the "true" North Carolinians. And make no mistake about it, you (minorities) are not included. No pretty words can cover the fact that "traditional" means "white only".

That offends and should not be taken lightly.

I am happy Rev. Earl Johnson and the RWCA in Wake County called attention to this with a Press Conference. They should not be the only voice heard in response to this thinking. It is understandable why the General Assembly is able to enact such repressive legislation with the "leadership" thinking as it does.

 We have come too far to turn back. "Forward Ever, Backwards never".

Brad Thompson is President, and Principal Consultant for BTA Public Relations. A former Mayor Pro-Tem of Raleigh, NC and State Director of the Office of U.S. Senator John Edwards, Brad brings to the team more than 25 years of marketing, outreach and political organizing experience. He has successfully managed marketing programs and political campaigns at the local, regional and state levels. He has extensive awareness of and relationships with principals and organizations throughout North Carolina and the Southeast and is often consulted on strategy and major policy issues, particularly those affecting the African American community. Brad specializes in new market and partnership development and in team building. Brad is a graduate of NCSU in Engineering Operations where he was a Herbert Lehman Scholar.