My Heart Bleeds for Breonna

by with No Comment CultureFeaturedRace Relations

My heart bleeds for Breonna, and every Black woman in this country. A country where Black women are betrayed at every turn. 

No justice (no peace)? 

How do you explain Breonna’s murder and a 6-month investigation that renders no charges or indictments directly related to her murder? 

A Black AG, who just spoke at the Republican Convention last month, who’s also on Trump’s shortlist to replace RBG on the Supreme Court, wants us to believe he’s sincere in his attempt to bring justice? He wants us to believe that it actually wasn’t a no-knock warrant, they just decided to do it at 12:30 am in the middle of the night? That every one of Breonna’s neighbors except 1 failed to hear them announce themselves prior to entering? Despite the officers being in plainclothes when they entered the apartment and Breonna’s boyfriend assuming it was a home invasion, he shouldn’t have acted in self-defense and opened fire with his legal firearm… and because he did, the officers were justified in returning fire? 

That’s that. “We sympathize with the family… so much that we’re going to give you $12 million dollars of your fellow neighbors hard-earned tax money.”

To make this horror story even worse, no drugs were found in the apartment, and the actual (no knock) warrant in question targeted another individual who was in police custody prior to the raid. 

Case closed. A young Black woman with dreams and aspirations… murdered by the state. No justice. 

Breonna deserved better. Black women deserve better. And until this country, specifically law enforcement and our criminal justice system, start treating Black women with basic humanity, respect, and dignity, these systems and institutions deserve hell, their budgets need to be re-examined, and distrust will only grow as more people witness the bold and corrupt state that literally gets away with cold-blooded murder. 

BLACK LIVES MATTER.

Similar Read: Breonna

Breonna

by with One Comment CultureFeaturedRace Relations

Blank.

Injuries: None

Forced Entry: No

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A black woman was murdered by a team of police officers in Louisville, KY while she was asleep over 90 days ago. What you have just read is the sum of the police report filed by the precinct after that incident. 

We now know that, according to Breonna’s mother, the boyfriend called her at some point during or after the ordeal, afraid to tell her Breonna was dead while the apartment was hit with a hail of bullets by unannounced officers trying to serve a search warrant, not realizing they were in the wrong apartment. Her mom rushed to the apartment complex in the middle of the night and recalls she was sent to the hospital by an officer on the scene telling her that “the ambulance with the girl” was already on its way. 

She waited… 2 hours… to be told that there was no record of anybody by that name at said hospital. When she returned and was able to speak to a detective who, after waiting a few more hours, asked her if Breonna had any enemies, or if she and her boyfriend did drugs, or were having any relationship problems – ya know, typical “black issues” that could later become an alibi for the police. They. Tried. To frame. A sleeping. Woman. For her own. Death. 

Sidebar: The past couple of months have caused me to personally reassess several areas of my life and the world around me. Where do I go from here and how do I address this “new normal” during a worldwide pandemic that is snatching the lives of black and brown people at astonishing rates because research is never done on how pain and diseases affect OUR bodies. While the higher-profile deaths of more black men AND women at the hands of officers, and those pretending to be law enforcement have made me feel inept in other ways. The perceived value and worth of a black body in 2020 seems to be less than the ⅗ of a human being that we were once offered. I was feeling like I needed to crawl deeper into my safe space in order to preserve my own existence. And then a friend, a black man in my community offered these words of unsolicited encouragement that became the elevator and awakening that I didn’t know I needed to hear: “thank you to you, and all women of color, who have always taken on the black man’s issues without even batting an eye. And we as black men haven’t always been there to protect you and say thank you. So for all men let me say thank you. You and the rest of black women don’t have to do what you do.” This diatribe, this tribute, though mere words over a quarantined distance, is what all black women need to hear from black men daily- if not several times a day- to begin filling the ditches dug in our souls. Beginning with the watery graves of the revolting slaves, who preferred to jump to their deaths in the Atlantic Ocean rather than be a slave in the new world. 

As we stand at the time of this article being published, the officers have yet to be arrested or held accountable for Breonna Taylor’s death, as if she was just collateral damage on a call-gone-wrong. A bullet hole in a wall, or door broken down, furniture flipped over. As a black woman, I am left literally speechless and in shock. What am I to make of any of this? How can anyone justify an ambush- a murder- in this way? Thank you, king, for delivering a statement that reminds me of my priceless contribution to this earth, because some days I truly wonder… Is it that, in this big, wide world, to some people black women are just…

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Similar Read: Are We Surprised?

What the 2019 Election Results Say about 2020

by with One Comment FeaturedPolitics

Tuesday night’s election results have been spun by every pundit to project onto the 2020 presidential race. When put in context, some of the highlights are relatively meaningless. Matt Bevin’s loss in the KY governor’s race is not an accurate representation of the political dynamics in Kentucky. Bevin has repeatedly appeared on the list of the most unpopular governors in the country. It says something about the strength of the KY GOP to nearly carry an incumbent with a 2:1 unfavorable rating to a near tie with the setting Attorney General who is the son of a popular former governor. It also says something that the GOP swept the rest of the statewide races by landslide margins, including the election of the states first Republican (and African-American) Attorney General. In Mississippi, the Lt Governor defeated a popular 4-term Attorney General. People can quibble about the margins in these races, but the real story is not what happened in Mississippi or Kentucky. The election results that matter occurred in Virginia. 

For the first time in nearly 3 decades, Democrats control every statewide office and the state legislature. The political trend in Virginia has benefitted Democrats, but it is a similar trend in other states. George W Bush carried this state by 8 points in both of his elections. Before the 2006 election, the GOP had large majorities in the state legislature, both senate seats, and 2 of the 3 state constitutional offices. The growth of the DC metropolitan area in northern Virginia has fueled the blue resurgence, but the tide in suburban areas is a growing threat to Republican electoral prospects.

In the initial post-mortems of the 2016 elections, the media focused on the rural midwestern counties and communities that flipped from Obama to Trump, but they overlooked the counties and communities that flipped from Romney to Clinton. For all of the blue-collar working-class White voters that broke the Blue Wall of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, there were just as many college-educated middle-class Whites and Latino voters in suburban districts that stayed just beneath the media radar because it did not flip a Romney state to Clinton. While Trump’s margins in working-class states across the Deep South and Midwest were incremental improvements over Romney, he did significantly worse in Texas, Georgia, Arizona, Colorado, and Nevada. 

We are witnessing a seismic political reorganization around new issues that shatter the red/blue narrative that has lingered since the 2000 election. Some issues like abortion and guns will not be affected by this shift, but others like immigration, trade, and global relationships/competition will become the new litmus tests. States with a heavy reliance on international commerce and immigrant labor like Texas and Arizona will continue their transition into purple states, while rustbelt states with a skepticism of global influences like Kentucky, Iowa, and West Virginia will continue become more red. 

John Edwards spoke of ‘Two Americas,’ and while he was technically right, his analysis for why this exists is not. The ‘Two Americas’ are not necessarily the right vs poor, it is urban/suburban vs rural and old vs young. States with growing senior populations and states that have fallen behind in the technology revolution of the last decade are the real base for Trump’s political party. As the percentage of college grads increases, Trump’s grip on the state decreases. This trend started under Obama, but Trump has accelerated it. It also means Trump’s coalition cannot win a national election, but like 2016, it is possible for his opponent to lose it. 

Similar Read: The Trump Doctrine: What Ukraine Says About Trump’s Foreign Policy

Rich, White, and Male – The Perfect Recipe For Privilege

by with No Comment CultureFeaturedGen Z

By now, it feels like most everyone has seen the viral video of Covington Catholic High School student, Nick Sandmann’s encounter with elder of the Omaha Nation, Nathan Phillips at the Indigenous People’s March that took place in Washington D.C. Phillips sings and beats his drum as Sandmann (wearing a Make America Great Again hat, a well-known symbol of hatred) stands in an uncomfortably close proximity to him, staring him down and smirking tauntingly. The video was shared on social media and instantly sparked national conversation.

According to an article from The Washington Post, Nathan stated that he “felt threatened” by Sandmann and the group of teenage boys, some who were also wearing MAGA hats. As public outrage continued to increase, defense of Nick and his peers began to pour in as well. Some Twitter users — including Donald Trump — felt that the backlash was unfair.

However, other Twitter users were aware of the double standard that these defenses represent.

Donald Trump’s defense of Sandmann and his classmates is especially hypocritical, considering that he took out full page advertisements in all four of New York City’s major newspapers, calling for The Central Park 5 (a group of Black and Latino boys accused of rape and assault) to be given the death penalty. Even after they were exonerated by DNA evidence, Trump has refused to apologize. The difference between the boys at Covington High and The Central Park 5?

The boys at Covington High are White.

Nick and his classmates that attended the Indigenous People’s March wearing MAGA hats and making racist gestures have been made out to be victims of persecution. Defenders say that the general public is being too hard on them because they are just children. However, when Black children are murdered by the police, they don’t receive this type of empathy. When 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot and killed within seconds of police arrival at the park that he was sitting in, he was blamed for his death and repeatedly referred to as a man, a reminder that victimhood and youthful innocence are often denied to Black children. This is similar to the murder of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who at the time of his death was no more than a couple of years older than Sandmann, who is a junior in high school. After being shot and killed in Ferguson, Missouri, many did not perceive Brown to be a victim or anyone’s child. Michael Brown was blamed for his death for a variety of factors, including his height, weight, and an allegedly checkered past that led the New York Times to refer to him as “no angel.” Michael Brown, unlike Nick Sandmann, was not given the chance to make a television appearance and tell his side of the story. He, like Tamir Rice, was denied humanity even in death. Childhood is something that Black children are routinely stripped of, yet it is given to white children in abundance.

White male privilege allows Nick Sandmann to antagonize a Native American man and be given the chance to do a segment on the Today Show. His wealth — another form of privilege — is what allowed his family to hire a PR team to spin the story. White male privilege is what allows him and his peers to be defended due to their youth, meanwhile, Black children are told they deserve bullets, and Brown children much younger than them are separated from their parents, then locked in cages while being told they deserve to be there. The second chances, forgiveness, patience, and protection that White males like Sandmann, along with Brock Turner and Brett Kavanaugh are often given, are not provided to children of color. White children often have racist behavior written off as nothing more than a “youthful indiscretion”, while Black and Brown children are often jailed or killed for actual mistakes made during our youth. We as a society must continue pushing back, demanding accountability, and working to dismantle the system of white supremacy that allows such privilege to exist. As long as white privilege continues to be upheld in this country, White boys like Nick Sandmann will continue to escape facing consequences for their actions, and we will continue to suffer as a result.

Betrayal of the Coal Miner

by with No Comment Uncategorized

No, coal is not coming back.

Among President Trump’s many campaign promises was to bring coal back, claiming to increase jobs to miners who are unemployed. Experts disagree, and cite a number of reasons, not the least of which is that other forms – including natural gas, hydroelectricity, and solar – have replaced coal as a viable and sustainable source of energy.

This is nothing new. Alternative sources of energy have been outpacing coal for years now. While federal regulations aimed at improving public health increased the pace of decline, experts say that natural gas is largely to blame. Cheaper and cleaner than coal, natural gas has increased in market share, forcing out coal as the dominant source of energy in this country.

The entire coal industry employed around 53,000 in 2016 – 25,000 of which are directly related to the actual mining and processing of coal. The industry has seen a nearly 39 percent decline since its most recent peak in 2008. Coal makes up a very small percentage of total employment numbers in this country.

The problem with this empty promise is that the vast majority of coal mining jobs are isolated to small pockets of Wyoming, West Virginia and Kentucky, where some 585 million tons of coal are extracted and processed. This means that miners are concentrated in very small areas where it is just about the only game in town. This puts those who work in the mines in a very precarious position. Most employed in the mining industry come from generations of family members who also made a living that way. This small section of the labor force saw Trump as the hero of the coal miner. So far, his actions have been anything but heroic.

The main driver of the promise, however, is that Trump has friends in the coal industry. Coal magnates like Wilbur Ross, the current commerce secretary, have been tight with Trump for years. Ross was the owner of the Sago Mine at the time of the explosion in 2006, killing 12 miners. He is also indirectly responsible, along with other investors of a failing mine they purchased, for stripping the health benefits of miners – some of which had black lung disease. Trump, Ross, and other billionaires are no friends of the people. Their sole goal is to line their pockets without a thought to the people whose lives are destroyed in the process.

It could be that Trump and his supporters genuinely believe that coal mining can come back into favor. This is dangerously delusional and patently unrealistic, and the laughable and completely bogus campaign of “clean coal” is intended to bolster that belief.

The bottom line: Trump is selling a bill of goods. There is no possible way that coal can come back to employ all those who have suffered in the wake of the decline. But some organizations are trying to help the coal miners train for and find skilled work in other sectors. But, Trump is seeking to axe those programs, putting unemployed miners in greater jeopardy.