let the games begin!

an anonymous flier circulating in african-american neighborhoods in philly says that voters with outstanding arrest warrants or traffic tickets will be taken into custody by undercover policemen if/when they show up to vote on election day. of course, the authorities are doing everything that they can to reassure everyone that this claim is completely and utterly false -- but unfortunately this incident has kerosene all over it.

who knows where else this is happening in the country?

americans want to believe that we live in the land of the free and the home of the brave but anyone that's paying attention knows that this isn't the case. truth be told, this great land of ours has always had a long-standing tradition of keeping certain basic inalienable rights away from very nearly everyone, while a particular segment of the population has always enjoyed those rights. a part of what it means to be american is to not only acknowledge that those rights are for all of us -- not just the priveleged few or those who feel that they are especially entitled to them -- but to actively do something about it when everyone isn't accommodated.

i have often wondered if there were ever a moment in this country's voting history when absolutely every american went to the polls and voted for the president of their choice without having to deal with any kind of voter intimidation, threats, violence or abuse. i have often heard stories from my 92 year old african-american south georgia-born father about what it was like in the rural south of his childhood when it was election season, and what they did to us -- how they terrorized us. in my mind, our national african-american museum (that's right -- we don't have one!) would be filled with video commentary and testimony from him and his contemporaries, so we could all hear the stories that fill my parents kitchen/den whenever my father waxes somber and reflects at length about What Happened Then. wouldn't that be something.

think about it: white men are the only people in this country that have always had the right to vote and own property. even when they were indentured servants -- over half the white people who came to this country in the 17th and 18th century from places like england, scotland, and germany were indentured servants -- those basics were given to them as a matter of course when they worked their way out of their debt contract, if they were men.

and yes, i could go on about white women and white privilege and white entitlement but that's another conversation.

all i want to say is ths.

we don't live in a democracy. we live in a corporatocracy with neofascist overtones -- one that has everyone running around looking for parking, eating their way into a pre-diabetic coma with fried, heavily processed foods and hating on minorities, immigrants, people of color and anyone else that's "different." while we distract ourselves with the garbage we eat and the garbage we watch on television and the garbage we listen to on the radio, the economy goes to hell and hundreds of thousands of people go to the war that is hell.

now, who's going to be the national commentator to call george w. bush a neo-fascist? who's going to run the word "jingoism" up a flagpole and let it fly right next to the stars and stripes? (if you look hard enough, you'll see it there anyway.) who's going to toss a 2 for 1 coupon for that new chicken bisquit from mcdonald's into the garbage and have a shot of wheatgrass and a healthy salad instead?

i'm convinced that real change amongst the people starts with diet and excercise. you know what the first sign of malnutrition is? apathy.

let the games begin.

double yikes

what a hot stinking mess. a 22 year old rookie cop named patrick pogan (only 2 or 3 weeks on the job) slams into a peacefully protesting biker named christopher long out of nowhere, then lies about it in his written report, saying that the biker tried to run into him. his daddy is a retired cop that didn't hesitate to stick up for his foul behavior, so evidently this is the family business.

of course, they took his gun and his badge and now he's riding a desk. i'll bet you a dollar and a twinkie that he gets transferred to another precinct when all of this quiets down. he needs to get fired, with a quickness -- before he kills somebody.

read all about it here.

racial profiling, leonardo blair and the NYPD

i don't understand how any thinking american can possibly believe that we live in a democracy, that the system in place is fair and just (if we have the same level of education and experience, shouldn't we all get paid equally?) or that white privilege and racial profiling don't exist. i don't think there's any way that we can fix the problems in this country if we aren't willing to acknowledge them.

i know plenty of black men that have had this happen to them. for the sake of the entire NYPD, they'd better hope and pray that it never happens to me.

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'NY Post' Reporter's Racial Profiling Suit Counters 'Post' Editorial
By Joe Strupp
Published: May 07, 2008 3:32 PM ET NEW YORK

On the same day that a New York Post editorial claimed racial profiling was not a growing problem, one of the Post's own reporters filed suit against the city claiming to be a victim of such profiling. Leonardo Blair, 28, a Post staffer since May 2007, filed the lawsuit in U.S District Court in Manhattan, according to a copy provided by the New York Civil Liberties Union. The complaint claims Blair was subjected to racial profiling while walking from his car to his home in the Bronx on Nov. 28, 2007.

A Jamaican immigrant and graduate of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, Blair claims he was harassed by police while walking along the street with his then-fiancee. In the lawsuit, he alleges that Officer William Castillo, one of several defendants the reporter names, stopped him due to his dark skin color and without cause. "Officer Castillo angrily demanded of Mr. Blair whether he spoke English," the suit stated. "Mr. Blair, surprised by Officer Castillo's mocking tone, replied under his breath in Spanish that he did not."

Eventually, after being frisked, Blair was arrested, the complaint states. "Mr. Blair was not engaged in any illegal or improper activity, and nothing in his behavior or conduct would provide the basis for reasonable suspicion that he was engaging in any wrongdoing," the lawsuit contends. “Leo Blair was handcuffed and hauled to a precinct house for simply walking down the street,” said Donna Lieberman, NYCLU executive director. “Walking while black is not a crime, and yet every year hundreds of thousands of innocent New Yorkers are stopped, searched and interrogated by the police for doing just that. For justice in our city to be truly just, the NYPD needs to start treating all New Yorkers fairly, regardless of the color of their skin.”

Blair said in a statement: “The only reason why I declared to these officers that I was a reporter for the New York Post, that I was a graduate of Columbia University, is because I wanted it to end. I should not have to pull on cards to be respected as an individual.” Blair was issued two summonses, one alleging he disobeyed a lawful order and the other alleging he made “unreasonable noise.” A judge dismissed both summonses on Feb. 8, NYCLU stated. The NYCLU, in a statement, said it "is asking the court to issue a declaratory judgment that the defendants violated Blair’s constitutional rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. It also is asking that all records of Blair’s arrest, including those entered in the NYPD’s massive stop-and-frisk database, be sealed or expunged."

A New York Police Department Public Affairs spokesperson said the department does not comment on lawsuits. Ironically, the lawsuit was filed the same day that the Post editorialized in defense of police who have come under fire for alleged racial profiling. The issue was recently raised again after statistics released earlier this week revealed that New York City police stopped more people on the streets during the first three months of 2008 than during any quarter in the six years the police department has reported such data.

"Police overreach? Well, consider this: Last week, a killer said to be wearing a 'Team Fresh' gang T-shirt fatally stabbed an 18-year-old who was standing his own front porch. Isn't it a pity that the killer didn't encounter a stop-and-frisk team on his way to the scene of the crime?" the Post editorial said, in part. "Taken another way: How many young men didn't fall victim to weapons confiscated by the teams? A lot, we'd guess. If cops stand down, as critics demand, it'll be welcome back crime and chaos. And good-bye, peaceful New York."

Editor Col Allan and Editorial Page Editor Bob McManus did not immediately return calls from E&P seeking comment.

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Joe Strupp (jstrupp@editorandpublisher.com) is a senior editor at E&P.