Just Another dead Nigger
“…Death is no stranger to Black folks. We've been dying ever since we got here…” *
The story had a familiar ring to it. A young Blackman has been killed by the Police in New York. Sean Bell who was just 23 was out on his stag night when the car he was travelling in was shot over 50 TIMES by some animals in human skin dressed as New York Police officers. And to think we thought the Met Police officers who shot Jean Charles De Menezes, seven times, were trigger happy.
What in Gods name will make supposedly trained Police Officers fire over 50 shots at a car whose occupants were not armed? If there was an exchange of fire then perhaps there could be some argument for their excessive firing. But there was none, they three occupants of the car were not even carrying a knife. So what caused the Policemen (animals not policemen) to want to kill all three men? I will tell you what made them open fire; because they were Black.
This will not be the first time that an innocent Black person will be killed by the Police in America. In 2001, Timothy Thomas an UNARMED Black teenager was shot by a White Police officer. In 2000, Patrick Dorismond another UNARMED Black man was killed by the police. In 1999, in an incident that shocked all decent people, four white police officers shot an UNARMED African immigrant Amadou Diallo over 40 times.
It will seem that the mantra of the Police in the United States is “when you shoot at a Black man, make sure you kill him”. There is nothing like shooting to incapacitate. It is “shoot to kill” simple. After all it will be one less Nigger on the street. It is when things like this happen that I thank God that at the very least, I live in a society where there is the rule of Law and where the Police will not pump 50 odd bullets in you simply because of the colour of your skin.
I have always believed that there is something sinister and evil in the heart of middle white America as far as Black people are concerned. You only need to scratch the surface to reveal the bigotry and rabid hatred of Black people by the Law Enforcement agencies in America. Should this be a surprise? No I will say. Why? because these agencies are populated by KKK loving Cops.
Not too long in the violent history of the United States, it was common practise to hang Black men. This was a period during which Black people were hung from the nearest trees just for the fun of it. Then such hangings were public events, hundreds and sometimes thousands, including men and women turned up to enjoy the spectacle
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4316715.stm
http://withoutsanctuary.org/main.html
http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/african/2000/lynching.htm
The killing of Sean Bell is simply a carry over of the bad old days when groups of white people in America killed black people for recreation. If Sean Bell were white he will be alive today. This is the sad reality of life in the US.
*Taken from Die Nigger Die: A Political Autobiography by H. Rap Brown
Tuesday 28 November 2006
Friday 24 November 2006
Furthering a Negative Stereotype
Just the other day, I don’t know why, but I got thinking about Spike Lee’s master piece; Malcolm X. I remembered the masterful display of Denzel Washington. I kept thinking about Malcolm X talking about the dictionary definition of the word “Black”. Malcolm X was very critical of the dictionary entries under the word Black. Just out of curiosity, I decided to check the meaning of the word in a dictionary. After all in this age of advancement and Political Correctness, it might have a more positive meaning. Or so I thought.
According to Dictionary.com, black, amongst other negative descriptions, is “without any moral quality or goodness; evil; wicked: His black heart has concocted yet another black deed.” It also goes on to describe Black as “deliberately; harmful; inexcusable: a black lie”. In all, there were 35 descriptions for the colour black, all save one or two were negative (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/black).
Compare this to the same definition of the word “white”. There were 42 definitions, ALL of them were positive. White is described as “morally pure; innocent” (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=white). I was stunned, how can this be? But then I should have not expected any better. You only need to open your eyes and ears to see and hear the constant vilification of Black people in the British media. Why do they hate us this much?
Sometime ago, I was on an IT training course and it was one of those rare moments when majority of the course participants were black. The Instructor was white and he had a horrible time trying to explain the spam filtering functionality of the product he was teaching. Even though the course materials clearly stated “Blacklist” and “Whitelist” for banned and allowed items into a network, he was too embarrassed to use the words instead he chose to refer to them as “Banned” and “Allowed”. “ Why is he getting embarrassed” one of the black attendees asked me during coffee break, “after all it simply reflects the thinking of white people, they never want black people inside…” Inside where? I wanted to ask him. But I understood what he meant.
I might not go as far as saying all white people want to “keep black people out”. But I do know that the British media is geared towards portraying Black people in the worst possible way. The media is always quick to point out that the suspect is “black”. Another favourite term is “Operation Trident is…” This is another way of the media saying the crime was by a Black person (http://www.stoptheguns.org/whatistrident/index.phpP. This phrase has also been used in cases of stabbings. Why is there no special Police unit for predominantly white crimes?
What I cant seem to understand is how the media is able to individualise white crimes but generalise crimes committed by Black people. Anytime there is a Black on Black violence, the Police will always appeal to “Community Leaders” or “members of the community”. In a case of “white on white violence” there is only an appeal for witnesses. No mention of “community”. Do they really think we hold tribal meetings every day after work or something?
What makes the media to assume that as a Black person you should know what other black people in your area are doing? Why is the average Blackman perceived as a gun totting, rapist and drug dealing mugger? Some might say it is because most drug dealers and muggers are black. If that be the case, why then is the average middle aged white man not perceived as a paedophile? After all majority of the paedophiles are middle aged white men.
Some time ago a study was carried out amongst young Black and White children. This was aimed at knowing just how they felt about the two races. Even the Black children did not want to be Black. How can you blame them when “black” in this country has been portrayed so negatively? One can only just imagine the damage that such negative stereotyping is doing the psyche of young black children. As said by Margaret O'Brien Caughy, Sc.D, an assistant professor at the School of Public Health at the University of Texas Health Science Centre at Houston
Racial socialization can be described as the practice of communicating messages about race to children "who are black in a society in which being black has negative connotations," …. Depending on parents' values, racial socialization can emphasize achievement, morality, racial equality and self-esteem; the minority experience, including awareness of discrimination; or black culture
Sadly it is not only the white media that have furthered the negative black stereotype. Trevor Phillips, the supposed head of the useless CRE (Commission for Racial Equality) I must stress that anytime this man opens his mouth, it is to change foot, sometime ago suggested that Black boys be taught in separate classrooms. It is baffling how he arrived at this conclusion. It is no wonder that Ken Livingstone, The Mayor of London and a white man said Trevor Phillips was so right wing he could be BNP. If we need to change how people perceive us, we need to start from home.
According to Dictionary.com, black, amongst other negative descriptions, is “without any moral quality or goodness; evil; wicked: His black heart has concocted yet another black deed.” It also goes on to describe Black as “deliberately; harmful; inexcusable: a black lie”. In all, there were 35 descriptions for the colour black, all save one or two were negative (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/black).
Compare this to the same definition of the word “white”. There were 42 definitions, ALL of them were positive. White is described as “morally pure; innocent” (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=white). I was stunned, how can this be? But then I should have not expected any better. You only need to open your eyes and ears to see and hear the constant vilification of Black people in the British media. Why do they hate us this much?
Sometime ago, I was on an IT training course and it was one of those rare moments when majority of the course participants were black. The Instructor was white and he had a horrible time trying to explain the spam filtering functionality of the product he was teaching. Even though the course materials clearly stated “Blacklist” and “Whitelist” for banned and allowed items into a network, he was too embarrassed to use the words instead he chose to refer to them as “Banned” and “Allowed”. “ Why is he getting embarrassed” one of the black attendees asked me during coffee break, “after all it simply reflects the thinking of white people, they never want black people inside…” Inside where? I wanted to ask him. But I understood what he meant.
I might not go as far as saying all white people want to “keep black people out”. But I do know that the British media is geared towards portraying Black people in the worst possible way. The media is always quick to point out that the suspect is “black”. Another favourite term is “Operation Trident is…” This is another way of the media saying the crime was by a Black person (http://www.stoptheguns.org/whatistrident/index.phpP. This phrase has also been used in cases of stabbings. Why is there no special Police unit for predominantly white crimes?
What I cant seem to understand is how the media is able to individualise white crimes but generalise crimes committed by Black people. Anytime there is a Black on Black violence, the Police will always appeal to “Community Leaders” or “members of the community”. In a case of “white on white violence” there is only an appeal for witnesses. No mention of “community”. Do they really think we hold tribal meetings every day after work or something?
What makes the media to assume that as a Black person you should know what other black people in your area are doing? Why is the average Blackman perceived as a gun totting, rapist and drug dealing mugger? Some might say it is because most drug dealers and muggers are black. If that be the case, why then is the average middle aged white man not perceived as a paedophile? After all majority of the paedophiles are middle aged white men.
Some time ago a study was carried out amongst young Black and White children. This was aimed at knowing just how they felt about the two races. Even the Black children did not want to be Black. How can you blame them when “black” in this country has been portrayed so negatively? One can only just imagine the damage that such negative stereotyping is doing the psyche of young black children. As said by Margaret O'Brien Caughy, Sc.D, an assistant professor at the School of Public Health at the University of Texas Health Science Centre at Houston
Racial socialization can be described as the practice of communicating messages about race to children "who are black in a society in which being black has negative connotations," …. Depending on parents' values, racial socialization can emphasize achievement, morality, racial equality and self-esteem; the minority experience, including awareness of discrimination; or black culture
Sadly it is not only the white media that have furthered the negative black stereotype. Trevor Phillips, the supposed head of the useless CRE (Commission for Racial Equality) I must stress that anytime this man opens his mouth, it is to change foot, sometime ago suggested that Black boys be taught in separate classrooms. It is baffling how he arrived at this conclusion. It is no wonder that Ken Livingstone, The Mayor of London and a white man said Trevor Phillips was so right wing he could be BNP. If we need to change how people perceive us, we need to start from home.
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