Monthly Archives: August 2014
No White “Troops” in Black Communities ©
On this past Sunday, the headline in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch read: “St. Louis County police forces often don’t reflect communities.” A militarized, nearly all-white standing army in a Black community is an occupying force […]
Support for Ramsey Orta on September 5 ©
The chokehold death of Eric Garner would never have received national attention and outrage without the video-taping by Ramsey Orta of Garner’s murder. Before the video-tape can be admitted into evidence, Orta must lay the foundation […]
Emergency Meeting for Ramsey Orta ©
Rev. Al Sharpton had a powwow with Mayor William de Blasio and Police Commissioner William Bratton. Sharpton said that he agreed with Bratton’s broken windows policy if it was applied equitably. In the history of American jurisprudence, Blacks have never […]
“The Cost of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance” ©
When Thomas Jefferson penned the declaration of Independence, he had been a slave master and his common-law wife was Sally Hemings. He would pen Notes on Virginia which spewed group defamation against all persons of African ancestry including Hemings. Fortunately, Benjamin Banneker was literate. With […]
Letter to Governor Jay Nixon
August 25, 2014 Governor Jay Nixon Office of Missouri Governor P.O. Box 720 Jefferson City, MO 65102 Re: Appointment of a Special Prosecutor Michael Brown Dear Governor Nixon: Justice starts at the top and move speedily […]
Let the Dead Bury the Dead
I first talked to Rev. Al Sharpton in Howard Beach, NY after the racially-motivated killing of Michael Griffith in December 1986. Although he was in Howard Beach with a plan to finance our oppression, I was forced […]
Eric Garner: One and Done?
In my first year at the University of Georgia Law School, I had to enroll in “Master-Servant Law.” Servant was a euphemism for “slave.” The course was actually about slave law. Athens, GA was a bastion of slavery. The Cobb […]
Keep the Pressure on Cuomo and de Blasio
Keep the Pressure on Cuomo and de Blasio Although pressure should be diligently aimed at and kept on Cuomo and de Blasio, the right questions must also be launched and the right issues must be raised and directed at […]
Letter to De Blasio
Mayor William de Blasio City Hall New York, N Y 10007 Re: Ramsey Orta Dear Mayor de Blasio: I should be defined not as a “critic of the de Blasio administration” but as “a friend of justice.” I waived the right […]
The Elements of a Protracted Struggle “Honor thy [Revered Ancestors]” ©
Dr. William A. Jones “He who pays the piper calls the tune.” This is a well-known axiom. Dr. William A. Jones of Bethany Baptist Church in Brooklyn, NY expressed the substance of this axiom in a “different language”: “If you eat the […]