Tag: black
riots

If Riots Aren’t The Answer, What Is?

It is impossible to justify the violence, looting, arson and vandalism that took place in Minneapolis and other cities after the death of George Floyd at the hands of police. Smashing windows, torching buildings and plundering stores do nothing to improve police behavior or help the African American community. They amount to useless destruction.

Impossible to justify, yes. Impossible to understand? Not at all. Police have participated in a quiet riot against black people for generations.

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White Men Are The Real ‘Special Snowflakes’

White Men Are The Real ‘Special Snowflakes’

The white nationalists I sometimes encounter on Twitter have an expression for militant liberals like me who care about the greater good, the suffering of the vulnerable, and the liberties guaranteed to everyone by the Bill of Rights.

It’s: “Special snowflake.”

It’s supposed to be a put-down, like I’m too delicate to handle being told “the truth” about “how things really are” by men (usually men) who “aren’t afraid to tell it like it is.” If I object to his slur-filled bile-spewing, then I’m too fragile.

Like a snowflake.

I don’t make a habit of engaging with white nationalists. It comes with being a newspaper columnist. The bigotry isn’t always obvious. After I wrote about Samuel Jared Taylor, a Yale alum who’s now among the most influential white nationalists, a concerned reader wrote to ask: “Don’t you care about your own people? What is happening to us?”

By “your people,” he meant white people.

And yes, I am.

I’m concerned that the real special snowflakes are not racial minorities, Jews, Muslims, women, or LGBTQ people. These are among the toughest people I have met, people who have endured all manner of stigma that by accident of birth I have not endured. Indeed, by the same accident, I merely have to be mediocre to be great. Meanwhile, my female and non-WASP counterparts must be great to be mediocre.

But these people are tough. It’s white men I worry about.

We are special snowflakes.

Westport is sponsoring an essay contest on the topic of white privilege. Its diversity council is encouraging schoolchildren to look inward and consider the sociopolitical advantages of being white. Westport is overwhelmingly white as well as affluent. It’s worth noting the topic was not racism.

To the surprise of organizers, white privilege turned out to be touchy-touchy. The touchiest were white men. News of the contest sparked outrage on social media. Westport resident Bari Reiner, 72, told the AP that he was “offended” by the question of white privilege. “It’s an open town,” he said. “There are no barricades here. Nobody says if you’re black or whatever, you can’t move here.”

That’s true, but why “offended”?

Asking Westport schoolchildren to consider white privilege is like asking the sons and daughters of billionaires to consider the wealth and power they were born into. Yes, white privilege is not necessarily material privilege. But socially and politically speaking, being white is a huge advantage. All white men are born on third base. But most of us think we hit a triple.

When reminded of this, however, our feelings are hurt. You have to understand: We’re sensitive. We’re special.

Like a snowflake.

Westport has not cornered the market in sensitivity. Plenty of white men, and plenty of white men who voted for President Donald Trump, exhibit similar sensitivities.

After Trump ordered a ban on immigrants from seven Muslim countries, National Public Radio went to upstate New York, where I grew up and where most of my family still lives. A reporter found a guy rejoicing over the Muslim ban. Why?

“I feel that if a Muslim woman wants to move into this country, she needs to leave her towel home,” he said, according to the NPR report.. “Because the reason this country is here and safe today is because of Jesus Christ. We were one nation under God.”

If a man claiming to be Christian was confident in his faith, and was confident in the Constitution’s protection of his free exercise, there wouldn’t be much need to worry about Muslims, no matter how many hijabs they wear.

Living in a diverse society is hard work, and reconciling differences demands courage. One way to begin is by sponsoring an essay writing contest. Topic: How to help white man understand what’s going on.

We may be like snowflakes.

But we don’t have to be.

John Stoehr is a lecturer in political science at Yale and a New Haven resident.

IMAGE: U.S. President Donald Trump is greeted by Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R) as he arrives to speak at a congressional Republican retreat in Philadelphia, U.S. January 26, 2017.  REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

South Carolina Officer Charged With Murder, Accused Of Shooting Fleeing Man

South Carolina Officer Charged With Murder, Accused Of Shooting Fleeing Man

By James Queally and David Zucchino , Los Angeles Times (TNS)

DURHAM, N.C. — A South Carolina police officer was charged with murder in the shooting death of an unarmed black man after police obtained a video that showed him unleash a volley of gunfire while the victim ran away, officials said.

North Charleston Police Officer Michael Thomas Slager was charged Tuesday in the death of 50-year-old Walter Lamer Scott. The charges were filed less than an hour after the city’s mayor and police chief received a cellphone video that appears to show Scott fleeing as Slager fires at least eight shots in his direction.

The shooting will probably be the latest turn in a national discussion on police use of force and race relations, following police killings of unarmed men last year in New York, Cleveland, and Ferguson, Missouri. Slager is white.

“It’s not about race. It’s about power,” attorney L. Chris Stewart, who is representing the Scott family, said in a telephone interview with the Los Angeles Times. “That officer thought he could just shoot this man. He thought Mr. Scott was expendable.”

The clash between Slager and Scott followed a traffic stop Saturday. A video of the incident, made public Tuesday by the Post and Courier newspaper in Charleston, S.C., appears to show Scott running when Slager opens fire.

In the video, Scott, wearing a green T-shirt, appears to drop something near the officer’s feet and sprints in the opposite direction. The officer fires seven times, pauses, and then fires an eighth round as Scott slumps to the ground.

The officer then walks slowly toward Scott’s prone body and begins yelling, “Put your hands behind your back,” the video shows. Other officers are then seen arriving as the person behind the camera mutters the word “abuse” as well as profanities.

Scott was initially wanted on a Family Court warrant, according to the Post and Courier report.

The video differs drastically from an account Slager gave Monday. In a statement released through attorney David Aylor, Slager claimed Scott began to wrestle for control of his stun gun after a routine traffic stop.

Slager said he “felt threatened and reached for his department-issued firearm and fired his weapon.” North Charleston Police Chief Ed Driggers said Tuesday that Scott had been struck with a stun gun during the clash.

In a brief phone interview, Aylor told the Timeshe removed himself as Slager’s attorney Tuesday. He would not say why.

Members of Scott’s family broke down Tuesday after watching a video of the shooting at their Charleston home, Stewart said.

The family plans to file a wrongful death suit against the city and Police Department, according to Stewart. The attorney declined to identify the person who recorded the shooting, describing him only as someone who happened to be passing by.

Stewart believes the video is the only reason Slager is facing criminal charges.

“It would have just been the standard story of a police officer giving his version and that would be the end of it,” he said. “In this case, this officer gave his story, and it turned out not to be true.”

The FBI in South Carolina is investigating the shooting, according to a spokeswoman for the Justice Department.

It is likely the FBI investigation would concern whether Slager violated Scott’s civil rights. Federal investigators launched a similar inquiry last year, after Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black man, in the St. Louis suburb.

Driggers, the police chief, appeared visibly upset as he discussed the shooting with reporters on Tuesday.

“It’s been a tragic day for many,” he said.

Slager was fired from his post as a North Charleston police officer Tuesday, a city spokesman told the Times. The officer had been with the department for five years and previously served in the U.S. Coast Guard. In the statement he released Monday, Slager said he had never before faced disciplinary action.

It was not immediately clear how many times Scott was shot. Slager was taken into custody by agents with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division on Tuesday, but calls to an agency spokesman were not immediately returned.

Slager was booked into the Charleston County Jail about six p.m. local time on a murder charge, according to online jail records.

The person who recorded the incident brought the video to Scott’s family, who turned it over to state law enforcement officials, North Charleston Mayor R. Keith Summey told reporters.

Driggers and Summey both said North Charleston has 343 police officers, and they referred to the shooting as a mistake made by a single member of the department.

“The one does not totally throw a blanket across the many,” Driggers said.

Acknowledging tension in the city, pastor Thomas Dixon urged residents to remain peaceful if they decide to take part in demonstrations.

“We’re calling on the community to, in light of this revelation, to remain calm, honor the wishes of this family,” Dixon said during a news conference. “The family has asked specifically that the death of this young man not be dishonored.”

Scott was engaged to be married and worked for a trucking supply company, Stewart said. The attorney said Scott was driving a used Mercedes he had recently purchased from a neighbor and was on his way to buy parts for the car when Slager encountered him.

Scott, who served four years in the Coast Guard in the 1980s, had no arrests or convictions for violent offenses in recent years, Stewart said. He is survived by four sons, ages 16, 21, 22 and 24.

Victory Abroad, Discrimination At Home: The Story Of The Harlem Hellfighters

Victory Abroad, Discrimination At Home: The Story Of The Harlem Hellfighters

“In 1919, the 369th infantry regiment marched home triumphantly from World War I. They had spent more time in combat than any other American unit, never losing a foot of ground to the enemy, or a man to capture, and winning countless decorations. Though they returned as heroes, this African American unit faced tremendous discrimination, even from their own government. The Harlem Hellfighters, as the Germans called them, fought courageously on—and off—the battlefield to make Europe, and America, safe for democracy.”

In the Harlem Hellfighters, author Max Brooks and acclaimed illustrator Caanan White bring this history to life. From the enlistment lines in Harlem to the training camp at Spartanburg, South Carolina, to the trenches in France, they tell the heroic story of the 369th in an action-packed and powerful tale of honor and heart.”

Photo: Amazon.com