August 24, 2014

Blackonomics

Praying and Fasting in Ferguson                                                                     
By Jim Clingman

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Remember the Jena Six?  Some 15,000 to 20,000 protesters went to Jena, Louisiana in 2006 to demonstrate against injustice.  After all the speeches, threats, marches, and church rallies, the people went home and nothing really changed.  The prosecutors did their thing and the system rolled right over Mychal Bell and the other five defendants.  It was business as usual.  Did we learn anything from Jena that we can apply in Ferguson?

What will take place in Ferguson when the protesters leave?  What happened in Sanford, Florida when they left?  What has happened in Staten Island since Eric Garner was choked to death and the marches have ended?  The latest report says the prosecutor is still trying to “collect the dots,” much less connect the dots, and most have forgotten about Garner and his family and moved on to Ferguson, as it now becomes the crisis du jour for Black people.

Eleven years ago Kenneth Walker was shot and killed by a police officer on I-185 in Columbus, Georgia.   He was in a car that was pulled over by mistake.  He was on the ground, unarmed, when a police officer shot him twice in the head.  After protesters and marchers went home, the officer was acquitted.

There are many instances of Black men killed by police with impunity.  So what’s my point?  Well, as I watched the church services and listened to the speeches in Ferguson, I eagerly awaited the speakers’ solutions.  I could have missed it, but I never heard a solution that centered on economics.  I heard the obligatory voting solution, in light of an embarrassing 12% turnout among Black voters, but an “I Voted!” sticker will not stop a policeman’s bullet, and voting alone will not change our condition in this nation.

I also heard the praying solution, and I do believe that prayer changes things.  However, I am suggesting that the folks in Ferguson and all across this country not only pray but fast as well.  That combination will definitely create change.

Be clear now; I am not talking about giving up food for a period of time.  The kind of fasting I am suggesting is a “product fast,” which does require doing without and less buying; but isn’t the cause worth it?  Maybe the “leaders” who came to Ferguson were afraid to call for a product fast because they could lose a check or a contract or an endorsement or their status among corporate giants.  Capitalism can tolerate marches that call for voting and prayer, but it has a great deal of angst when a decline in consumption and sales occurs.

“Black-Out” Days and other shotgun approaches are nice gestures but have no overall affect; they are simply more symbolism without substance.  They make you feel good but won’t cause anyone to change.  Folks just go out the next day and buy what they want.

A product fast is quite different.  For instance, Black folks consume a lot of soft drinks, gym shoes, liquor, fast foods, and other items we don’t think we can do without.  Just stop buying some of these products until corporate CEO’s tell the politicians who would tell the governors who would tell the mayors and prosecutors who would tell the police chiefs who would tell their officers to stop violating our rights.  You better believe their voices will be heard.

Money runs politics, and when campaign donors are against something they will get results from the politicians they support, especially when their bottom-line is adversely affected.   For example, can you imagine Starbucks CEO, Howard Schultz, Coca Cola CEO, Muhtar Kent, Pepsi Cola CEO, Indra Nooyi, NBA Commissioner, Adam Silver, Nike CEO, Mark Parker, McDonald’s CEO, Donald Thompson, Diageo Liquor’s CEO, Ivan Menezes, and even Anheuser Busch’s CEO, Thomas Santel, standing before national media and calling for an end to injustices against Black people?  Nothing personal against these companies; it’s just as they say in war, “collateral damage.”  But the damage would stop when the folks who run this country speak out.

Al, Jesse, and others have been marching for decades, and we got Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, Timothy Thomas, Nathaniel Jones, Kenneth Walker, Patrick Dorismond, Amadou Diallo, John Crawford, Ezell Ford, and nameless others.

Stop the insanity of doing the same thing and hoping for different results.  We need leaders who are unafraid to call for economic solutions, not leaders who will hurt you if you get between them and a news camera or microphone.  Get the folks who are really in charge of this country to speak out, and we will see a positive change.  Start your local Prayer and Fasting campaign now; and use the money you save to build businesses, create jobs, and recreate real Black communities.

August 25, 2014

Youth Leadership Will Determine Next Moves in Michael Brown Case
By Hazel Trice Edney

Ending another night of protests in the Michael Brown shooting last week, this young man strikes the
pose of marchers who repeated the chant, "Hands up! Don't shoot!" Brown was laid to rest at a funeral Monday as the nation
awaits a grand jury's decision on whether to indict the shooter, Officer Darren Wilson. PHOTO: Hazel Trice Edney/Trice Edney News Wire

Casket of Michael Brown, surrounded by clergy, civil rights leaders and family, including his mother, Lesley McSpadden (in red dress). PHOTO: Lawrence Bryant/St. Louis American

Casket taken to cemetary in a horse-drawn carriage, symbolizing royalty. PHOTO: Lawrence Bryant/St. Louis American

FERGUSON, Mo. – (TriceEdneyWire.com) - A young Black mother pushing a toddler in a stroller decided to reach out to four White police officers standing near the West Florissant Ave. sidewalk as protestors, a few blocks away, marched peacefully after the police shooting death of unarmed teenager Michael Brown.

Two weeks after the August 9 shooting,clashes with police had calmed down significantly. After exchanging greetings with the officers, the mother leaned the stroller back and coaxed the child to speak.

“Say thank you for your service…Say thank you for your service,” the woman encouraged. Instead, the toddler, who was about 3, said what was least expected. She leaned forward in the stroller and asserted: “Hands up. Don’t shoot.”

Obviously mimicking the chants she’d heard hundreds of times during the days of protests following the shooting, the child simply said what came to her in the moment. The stunned mother whisked her away as the smiles of the officers faded.

It was a lighter moment after a night of mostly peaceful protests that followed several chaotic nights mixed with looting, peaceful protests and militaristically violent responses by the police. Yet, it was a moment that perfectly illustrated how youth – children, teens and young adults - appeared to suddenly wake up to the struggle for racial justice in America and began to lead.

“I think it has opened your eyes to everything, makes you see things a little bit differently…I’m glad that instead of just sitting at home watching history, I’m a part of it,” said Gabriele Hanson, 19, who graduated high school this year and is preparing for college. “It makes you not want to let it pass by, you want to pay attention to it. You want to watch CNN, you want to watch the news and see what’s going on in the world instead of just letting it pass you by on Instagram and Twitter and everything. You want to focus."

Her sister, Dominique Hanson, 16, says the protest has been “definitely life changing.” She said it has taught her that “if you do have a voice, you have to stand for something.” And she has learned much from the Michael Brown killing, she said, “You don’t have to be doing anything to like get in trouble or get killed so, yes, definitely, you want to be more careful and open up your eyes to more things.”

Meanwhile, Brown was laid to rest on Monday at a funeral service that seated 2,500 at the Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church, plus up to 5,000 with an additional overflow room. His parents, Lesley McSpadden and Michael Brown Sr., had asked for a day of quiet and mourning, therefore there were no open protests. The Rev. Al Sharpton, who did the eulogy, pleaded for protestors not to loot, but rather allow Brown's death be remembered as the moment of change for police-community relations in America. The church was packed with who's whos of civil rights, clergy, and Hollywood; including Rev. Jesse Jackson, Bishop T.D. Jakes, Pastor Jamal Harrison Bryant, Dr. R. B. Holmes, Spike Lee and Tom Joyner.

On Canfied Drive, only four blocks from the site of the protests, a make-shift memorial with flowers, teddy bears, candles and a trail of hundreds of red roses were set in the middle of the street in the spot where Brown lay dead for more than four hours August 9. Well into the night, teens and adults drive or walk by to pay their respects. There, one of his closest friends, Paul Norfleet, 17, talked to this reporter about the friend who liked to be called “Mike-Mike”.

“I never thought anything like this could happen,” said Norfleet. He said it was hard to even get Brown to go outside.  “He wasn’t really out here in the streets. He used to stay in the house a lot. So, we used to try to get him out of the house because he didn’t like to come out,” he said.

He continued his memories: “We used to go out to the malls and stuff and we used to record music. But other than that, he just stayed in the house. He didn’t do nothing for real. … I’d just go to his house and sit in the basement every day and record music…That was a cool moment too.”

Amidst the protests, some youth marched with their faces covered with bandanas for fear of backlash on their jobs or careers.  “A young man got gunned down less than five miles away from where I grew up and where I live,” said a young man with his face partially concealed. “This is my city and I mean, I’m all about change and standing up and fighting the power.”

Fareed Alston, a St. Louis-based film-maker, said the initial protests were “almost cinematic” in the way police treated the protestors.

“Once we get out here, we become fugitives, almost like marshal law. They can search you, they can arrest you, there can do whatever they want. There’s no rebuttal,” said Alston, whose arms were wrapped in bandages covering severe abrasions from a fall during clashes between police and protestors.

Alston said the protests were not just focused on the killing of Brown. That was only a spark, he said.

“Now it’s grown to be a movement of people who are sick and tired of being abused by the police. They’re angry, but they’re intelligent. They’re orchestrated. People are forming solidarity,” he said.

“Enough is enough. At the end of the day, they know right from wrong,” says Devante Whitfield, 20, holding a sign that said “Don’t shoot. Black men are people too.” Nineteen-year-old Donta Hall said the whole situation has taken him by surprise. “I never really thought anything like this could happen.”

Many came from other cities to stand in solidarity with Ferguson because of the national scope of police shootings. A group of young men from Milwaukee, Wis., visited the Michael Brown memorial site.

“Right now we’re dealing in Milwaukee with the case of a young man who was shot 15 times at Red Arrow Park for resting in the park,” said Tory Lowe, 38, designated by his friends as their spokesman. “The business district thought it was bad for business.”

According to Milwaukee news reports, the Milwaukee police chief has still not said why the unarmed Dontre Hamilton, 31, was killed four months ago. He was apparently shot 15 times by the police.

Lowe credits the youth for rising up in the Ferguson shooting and taking action that got media attention even beyond the first few days of the Trayvon Martin shooting.

“What these young people did was they rose up and they reacted. And now, all eyes are hear because of that. If they had only been peaceful, this could have been just one of the things they would have swept under the rug. But, they caused severe damage,” Lowe said. “The nation pays attention when young people rise up. This is where the fight is for injustice. The media is here. We want body cameras on these cops. We want for officers to be fired and not just set aside when these acts happen. This is a time to pass legislation to get what we want from these lives being lost.”

As the funeral service for Brown took place on Monday, his parents called for a day of silence and calm. If the grand jury decides not to charge Officer Darren Wilson in this case, another decision will then be made.

Lowe concluded: “If they don’t indict this man it’s going to be up to the youth to decide. This is a youth movement and the people of Ferguson are going to decide how they are going to react. Right now, the civil unrest says they are not going to react too positively to them not putting this man away.”

August 24, 2014

To Be Equal 

Stop the War on Young Black Men in America
By Marc H. Morial