San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick decided to again sit down during the singing of the national anthem due to his stance against this country’s unfair, unjust and racist treatment of African Americans and people of color. And in the process, a firestorm has erupted on line and off line. Many support his stance and others decry that it is unpatriotic. Some question his motives. Others say that he should do more than just a silent protest. Then there are others who say the silent protest is inappropriate. Regardless of what persons think about Kaepernick’s actions, he has every right under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to protest in the manner that he chooses. It is really a mild form of protest—except that Kaepernick is a public sports figure. And that is causing the hail storm of comments and controversy. Kaepernick’s stance came about from his concern of police killing black people and people of color with impunity while continuing to receive … [Read more...] about Colin Kaepernick Did the Right Thing
race
Why Charleston Church Killings Are All About Race
Dylann Roof goes into Emanuel African Methodist Church, a historically black church, kills the Pastor and 8 persons during Bible study and some people raise the gun control issue. I understand about guns and gun control legislation. The facts of the Charleston church killings are about race hatred in America. And any discussion of gun control in these particular killings dilutes and diminishes the real reason of racial hatred towards blacks. No one ever said 911 was about faulty security checks in airplane flying schools from which the terrorists learned how to fly airplanes but never learned how to land them. No one said Columbine school killings and the Boston Marathon bombings were about making home grown bombs. No one said the 1963 killings of 4 little girls bombed at a Birmingham church was about bombs. To be black in America means being a target for terrorism and hatred whether blacks want to be or not. Being black in America means no place feels safe without … [Read more...] about Why Charleston Church Killings Are All About Race
How the Law Affected Rachel Dolezal’s Thinking on Race
When I first heard about Rachel Dolezal, now former President of the Spokane, Washington NAACP chapter, I didn’t know what to think about her perceived appearance changes from that of a white woman to successfully posing as a black one, until outed by her parents. As I read further about her, I realize the law played a significant part in her changes. Rachel Dolezal, for those who haven’t kept abreast, has been masquerading, my words, as a black woman, for the past several years after leaving Howard University where she obtained a Master’s degree. On the other hand, she tells Matt Lauer on the Today Show that she identified as being black since as early as grade school. Law suit records filed by Ms. Dolezal in 2002 shows she considered herself to be white. While at Howard University as a graduate student, she filed a law suit against Howard for alleged discrimination against her as a white woman. In 2005, the D.C. Court of Appeals ruled against her case for alleged … [Read more...] about How the Law Affected Rachel Dolezal’s Thinking on Race
America is so Post Racial Since Selma that it Hurts
There is no denial that the U. S. has changed for the better in terms of racial relations since the Selma March 50 years ago when blacks were tear gassed, beaten with bully clubs, bitten by dogs while some lost their lives fighting for the right to vote. For those who deny that racial change has occurred in 50 years, listen and speak with Congressman John Lewis as he challenges those to walk in his shoes over the last 50 years. There is a difference between racial change and racial harmony as the “post racial” word suggests. I first heard the term post racial when President Obama was first elected in 2008. And even before his election, there were clear signs that while America would elect an African American president after the failed Bush years, they would not always respect him on account of the color of his skin. The racially polarizing politics of the country since President Obama’s first election have made it possible for many Americans to express publicly their … [Read more...] about America is so Post Racial Since Selma that it Hurts
DOJ Finds Rampant Racial Bias with Ferguson Police
The U.S. Department of Justice has learned what probably the residents of Ferguson, Missouri knew all along—that the majority white Ferguson Police Department engaged in a pattern and practice of violating the constitutional rights and civil rights of African Americans in Ferguson. While the Justice Department report will not be released until Wednesday, portions are said to reveal a scathing racially biased system against blacks. What is known so far more than aptly reveals why the residents of Ferguson were especially overcome and boiling over with anger and raw emotions this past summer over the killing of unarmed Michael Brown. Michael Brown was one person of many others targeted in a city full of racial bias by its police force. The numbers are startling to say the least and show a pattern of what amounted to rampant civil rights violations. The African American population of Ferguson is 67%. 93% of all people arrested were African American. 90% of all tickets and … [Read more...] about DOJ Finds Rampant Racial Bias with Ferguson Police
Ferguson is a Reminder of Our Ugly Past
The events unfolding in Ferguson surrounding Michael Brown’s death, the investigation and the Grand Jury procedure brings back a time when the credibility of African Americans were brought into question in court proceedings. Historically, there were periods in American history when a black person could not by law testify for or against a white person. A white person’s credibility was deemed superior to that of a black person. Blacks were not reliable persons to testify. And at many other times since then, the deck has often appeared stacked against a black person when faced with going up against the word of a white person. In the Brown case, several black eyewitnesses say they saw Officer Darren Wilson shoot Brown while surrendering with his hands up. There has been from the beginning what appears to be a case of black testimony as juxtaposed with the majority white police force and Prosecutor McCullough. In a community that is majority African American, the witnesses who … [Read more...] about Ferguson is a Reminder of Our Ugly Past