Back in the 1930s the NAACP office in New York would hang a banner on the day after a lynching that said: “A man was lynched yesterday”. Their landlords put a stop to it, but it is a practice worth continuing here on this blog.
I wish I could say something profound about the death of Troy Davis, but my mind is too messed up right now. Of all the stuff written about it that I have seen so far, Karnythia on Tumblr put it best:
I have a lot of black men in my life that I love. My husband, my sons, my nephews, my friends…I’m crying right now so this may be scattered. Any of the men I love could be Troy Davis. My husband’s first brush with the law was at 13 when a cop beat him up. Didn’t arrest him. Didn’t even tell him why he hit him. He was playing with friends one minute & being beaten the next. Think about that for a minute. No crime was committed. The cop didn’t explain, and nothing happened to that cop for that incident. Sit with that for a moment. Now, let us consider that 7 of the 9 witnesses that originally testified against Troy Davis have reported police coercion as a factor. Let that sink into your soul for a second. Any of them could be alone, dying in pain, for a crime that no will ever be sure they committed. I look at my sons and I try to imagine the pain of knowing that they are hurting and I will not even be allowed to comfort them as they go into the dark and then I get hysterical. If you are feeling any kind of urge to claim race was not a factor in this? Don’t. Really, I need you to kindly shut the fuck up and let black people mourn this lynching. Let us come to terms once more with just how dangerous it is to be black in America. You won’t give us justice, so how about you give us some silence?
In some ways America has made huge progress on race, but in some ways not. The election of Barack Obama is an example of the former, Troy Davis, the latter. So hope and despair mix together.
I was reading “The Red Record” last night. About the only difference between a lynching and this is that white people did not get to keep any body parts to take home with them. Oh, and that this was carried out by the authorities themselves rather than a mob, all clean and professional and by the book, but personally I do not count that as progress.
I am not a baby, I know that life is not fair, that the world is profoundly screwed up. So stuff like this and Katrina does not surprise me or shock me. But it is still upsetting all the same and leaves me with a sickening feeling.
See also:
- Troy Davis
- Ida B. Wells – author of “The Red Record”
- Katrina
- “Get over it”
- just world doctrine
I feel you, Abagond!
(Expletive omitted; because I never write them.)
dbg
LikeLike
You know, I’ve tried to not let that sickness and anger get in but I’m having a tough time. The benefit of the doubt is such a powerful thing, and it doesn’t surprise me that it turned out how it did. They took his body, and that’s all they can take.
LikeLike
They took his body, and that’s all they can take.
That’s exactly what they wanted to take. That’s exactly what they’ll continue to take.
LikeLike
http://www.mercatornet.com/tiger_print/view/9714
LikeLike
Better check your sources reporter wannabe. Troy Davis’ jury had 7 blacks on board. SEVEN, a majority! Get your facts straight if you want to play news reporter and give words of wisdom. All you have done so far is perpetuate a lie. Why are you only showing Casey Anthony? What about OJ?
YOU are a part of the problem by trying to make this a race issue. Troy should NOT have been put to death because of suppression of evidence! I don’t care what color you are, you don’t want suppression of evidence in any trial, ESPECIALLY a trial for life!
From 1977 to present, there have been more White people executed than Black. There have been a total of 58 women of which 40, FORTY, were WHITE and only 15 black. For the men, over 56% are white while the other 44% are made up of Asian, Black, Latino, American Indian, and Other.
As long as people keep color separated, like the Black Fitness Blog, Black not White Dipped in Chocolate, etc that you have here, there will be racism. Until you can look at people as ONE member of the human race and stop all this black vs white, YOU will be part of the reason there are racists!
Billions of dollars have been thrown at the problem of poverty, ghetto and the projects. And yet the poor are still poor. It doesn’t matter what politician is in office, they all do the same thing, throw more money at it so it looks like something is being done.
As long as people want to depend on the govt, the govt will make sure they keep on depending on them! Put a stop to it and pull these people out of poor lives they lead and show them what success can do for them. Don’t listen to Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton, two men who never graduated seminary school, one never even went! They make their millions keeping racism alive! Before you start thinking all the things they want you to think, keep in mind that 12.6% of the population are Black, and yet Obama won the election. That’s a lot of white votes.
You want to help Black people? Then tell them to get that education and make something of themselves! Tell them to listen to what Dr. William Cosby has to say about our Black youth and their parents. Teach them to stop trying to be so different that you alienate yourself! Look at all the years that have gone by where people say the same things you’ve said. It’s like it gets handed down from one generation to the next. It’s time to break free! Learn from the past what hasn’t worked and work on what does work!
LikeLike
@ Gods Warrior – Semper Fi!
I could also tell ppl to stop depending on the government by rising up and destroying the buildings that house prisoners and “keep them poor”. Build a better society. But that would be disruption.
I could tell them to go to school and do better for themselves, but when they get skrewed over by school as many students do, that would be “their fault for not doing better”.
Troll, be gone.
You and I both know the answer isn’t as simple as just do better. We are partners in this mess. Blacks can’t “Do Better” alone.
LikeLike
“From 1977 to present, there have been more White people executed than Black. There have been a total of 58 women of which 40, FORTY, were WHITE and only 15 black.”
That still means that Black women account for 25 percent of all female executions, Black women are only 7 percent of the US population.
“For the men, over 56% are white while the other 44% are made up of Asian, Black, Latino, American Indian, and Other.
“
Again, lumping all of these groups together still means that Black, Asian, and Latino men only account for 18 percent of the US population, but account for 44 PERCENT OF ALL MALE EXECUTIONS?????!!!?. STILL OVER REPRESENTED!!!
“As long as people keep color separated, like the Black Fitness Blog, Black not White Dipped in Chocolate, etc that you have here, there will be racism.
”Until you can look at people as ONE member of the human race and stop all this black vs white, YOU will be part of the reason there are racists!”
So what about TV shows, movies, magazines such as Two and a half men, Dexter, Mad Men, Bridemaids, Cosmopolitan, etc. etc. etc. that have ALL WHITE CASTS OR IMAGES?!?!? All white = all members of the human race are represented in your mind right?
“Billions of dollars have been thrown at the problem of poverty, ghetto and the projects. And yet the poor are still poor.”
Are you implying that all of this money was spent only on Black people? Last time I checked the MAJORITY of the poor and people on public assistance in this nation were WHITE!!!
“Don’t listen to Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton, two men who never graduated seminary school, one never even went! “
Who should us simple minded Negros listen to? People who think and act like you? Furthermore, it is an insult to think that all black people listen only to these two individuals as a source of information and action….remember it is the media, that is owned and controlled by who, WHITE PEOPLE, that give them the attention and platform to speak in the first place ……
“You want to help Black people? Then tell them to get that education and make something of themselves!”
Do all White people go to college? Do all White people speak proper English? Does having an education, in this economy, guarantee that you will make something of yourself? I rest my case…
LikeLike
“From 1977 to present, there have been more White people executed than Black. There have been a total of 58 women of which 40, FORTY, were WHITE and only 15 black.”
That still means that Black women account for 25 percent of all female executions, Black women are only 7 percent of the US population.
“For the men, over 56% are white while the other 44% are made up of Asian, Black, Latino, American Indian, and Other. “
Again, lumping all of these groups together still means that Black, Asian, and Latino men only account for 18 percent of the US population, but account for 44 PERCENT OF ALL MALE EXECUTIONS?????!!!?. STILL OVER REPRESENTED!!!
continued
LikeLike
“As long as people keep color separated, like the Black Fitness Blog, Black not White Dipped in Chocolate, etc that you have here, there will be racism.Until you can look at people as ONE member of the human race and stop all this black vs white, YOU will be part of the reason there are racists!”
So what about TV shows, movies, magazines such as Two and a half men, Dexter, Mad Men, Bridemaids, Cosmopolitan, etc. etc. etc. that have ALL WHITE CASTS OR IMAGES?!?!?
“Billions of dollars have been thrown at the problem of poverty, ghetto and the projects. And yet the poor are still poor.”
Are you implying that all of this money was spent only on Black people? Last time I checked the MAJORITY of the poor and people on public assistance in this nation were WHITE!!!
LikeLike
“Don’t listen to Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton, two men who never graduated seminary school, one never even went! “
Who should us simple minded Negros listen to? People who think and act like you? Furthermore, it is an insult to think that all black people listen only to these two individuals as a source of information and action….remember it is the media, that is owned and controlled by who, WHITE PEOPLE, that give them the attention and platform to speak in the first place ……
“You want to help Black people? Then tell them to get that education and make something of themselves!”
Do all White people go to college? Do all White people speak proper English? Does having an education, in this economy, guarantee that you will make something of yourself? I rest my case…
LikeLike
@ God’s Warrior
As much as I am an advocate for education, these days even that is not a sure thing.
http://money.msn.com/college-savings/is-a-college-degree-worthless-smartmoney.aspx
It’s often not until domestic social policies effect the White middle class that they finally understand what Blacks have been complaining about. When you have actually tried hard to do the right thing, and you discover that you still can’t seem to get ahead, that is when the light finally comes on.
Maybe it wasn’t because they were lazy… maybe all along they’ve been just as screwed as I am now!
LikeLike
I don’t know whether this guy did it or not, but I don’t think our government should be executing someone when there is this much doubt and public outcry involved.
LikeLike
“About the only difference between a lynching and this is that white people did not get to keep any body parts to take home with them. Oh, and that this was carried out by the authorities themselves rather than a mob, all clean and professional and by the book, but personally I do not count that as progress.”
And then there’s the fact that the Jury was mostly black, I think that’s actually a pretty large difference. it was 7 black people and 6 white people that put this man to death. You seem to want to believe WP did it by your statement “white people did not get to keep any body parts to take home with them” otherwise you would have just said ‘people”
Not saying that race was a non-factor but once again your trying to draw that nice straight color line down the middle.
LikeLike
One of my brothers was beaten by some cops about ten years ago. He was coming from his girlfriends house, cutting through an alley, when he saw in front and behind him, two police cars bearing down on him . His instinct was to get out of the way of being hit, which later became, ‘running from the cops’; as they began beating him, a white female cop bent down and whispered in his ear, I always like beating up n-word like you! They then, dragged him at least 50 feet to the main street, breaking both of his arms, and causing hugh abrasions on his legs and feet. He’s a ‘tough guy’, but when I went to see him in jail, he cried. That hurt. Then, they kept him in jail, until the casts came off, and the abrasions had healed, so that when his court date arrived, there would be no sympathy from the court. He’s always been an angry and bitter young man, but since that incident, he is someone else completely……
Also, he/we were told that they stopped him because he looked like someone who had robbed a store or someting, and those charges were ‘thrown out’/dropped.
LikeLike
Maybe an innocent man was murdered yesterday. I suppose no one will ever know. I’d keep digging at it as another innocent man executed will be the best case that can be made against capital punishment for all but the most horrific of crimes. The blog publishes a lot of myths about Africa and African civilizations. You ignore the amazing fact that hundreds if not thousands of black Africans are being lynched by the so-called Libyan rebels. Joseph Farah is the only journalist who has reported on this ongoing and ignored racially motivated lynchings. Why don’t one of you libtards do a little investigating on your own and attempt to expose this fact to the media, or would it upset you bosses in the NWO?
LikeLike
@Jas0nburns
You seem to want to believe WP did it by your statement
Its amazing how people perceive what other peoples beliefs are (clumsy sentence but hey). What comes across to me is that abagond is heartsick that yet another miscarriage of justice has occured. I wonder if what Abagond is trying to convey here is more the institutionalised racism that has and still exists within law and order?
Whilst I KNOW it doesnt relate to this topic I feel it pertinent to remind you that despite engaging/debating/chatting regularly with as you put it POC on the other forums, you still had the temerity to say that ‘POC seem to resent whites’. Unlike you, maybe abagond prefers to refrain from making sweeping lazy generalisations particularly as in this instance it is obvious that the legal system is terribly flawed rather than particular individuals.
LikeLike
I’m heartsick and speechless. International protests were going on up until the end. There was no justice here. A man’s life was taken, and for what? There was still doubt about whether or not Troy Davis was guilty. Troy insisted upon his innocence until the end, then asked for ‘god to bless’ the souls of the witnesses – he also said, “May god have mercy upon your souls.” Far different from the racist, supremacist @$$hole who dragged James Byrd to death in Texas – that unrepentant scum had nothing to say, most likely because there was no doubt that he was guilty and he probably had a grand old time bragging to his swastika-sporting buddies in prison…
That pic of Casey Anthony makes me want to retch. Murdering c**t!
LikeLike
While Johannes Mehserle walks freely about. Like you said, I’m not a baby and I realize that in this world, terrible things occur, life is not fair, and so on, but damn it! Sometimes it gets to be so much it’s hard to take. There are chunks of time during which I am simply trying to live my life above the ugliness we dole out to one another and then it just smacks me in the face- reality- and I get this hopeless, dreadful feeling I can’t shake for a long time. This is one of those instances. It’s infuriating, frustrating.
LikeLike
I said it the best way I can on my blog. Overall, like you Agabond, my thoughts are screwed up as well. Sometimes I fear that one day, it will happen to me or anyone I know.
LikeLike
“temerity to say that ‘POC seem to resent whites’. ”
I guess I shouldn’t have said that. I know lots of blacks don’t resent white people though some do. it was an over generalization on my part and it was probably paranoia talking.
LikeLike
@ John Acord:
From my point of view there is an extremely important difference between America and Libya and why what goes on in America matters more to me: I live there.
Also, if you have to compare America to Libya to make America look good, that is pretty sad. Unfortunately when it comes to governments killing its own citizens, America is among the worst. Among rich, Western countries it is the worst by far.
LikeLike
If killing is wrong, then it is wrong. Death penalty is killing. Simple as that. It is very funny indeed that some one defends death penalty saying: hey, they kill people in Libya. Yeah, and there is civil war going on. Is there a civil war in USA? Perhaps there is…
Death penalty is wrong because killing is wrong. Any killing. Murder does not become “good” simply because it is done by the state apparatus. And on that note: US is pretty quick to condemn other countries which are using death penalty as a method of solving problems. Why?
I get the idea of revenge, it is very human emotion and if any of my relatives etc. would be harmed, I’d propably would be looking for it. But that would be wrong.
What happened to the “Thou shall not kill”??
LikeLike
You won’t give us justice, so how about you give us some silence?
So damn eloquent! I love karnythia’s writing.
LikeLike
“A MAN WAS LYNCHED YESTERDAY”
Powerful Post title, abagond. Thank you for paying forward on this.
LikeLike
@Gods Warrior – Semper Fi
Since MK has made it clear that your math is way off, I won’t argue with you.
I prefer not to argue with the likes of you because I’m tired as hell of white & white-identified people constantly dictating the terms & conditions on which PoC can view, discuss, write about, mention, chew gum over their life OWN experiences.
One thing I would like to draw your attention to, Gods Warrior, is that up until about the 1960s in America, blacks were silent on race, of course it was forced silence. But still it is FACT that until about 50 years ago in this country it was whites who utilized an “Us vs.Them” philosophy to commit violence against their fellow (non-white) Americans. So there is much proof that silence is not always golden. Well, it is if you’re in the group with the power to enslave, murder & rape with impunity. In which case, you’ll have no problem with an “Us vs.Them” way of life.
LikeLike
“I don’t know whether this guy did it or not, but I don’t think our government should be executing someone when there is this much doubt and public outcry involved.” ~Jas0nburns
I agree. When there’s so much doubt & witness retraction along w/a massive & diverse public outcry, the wheels should stop & be reversed back to square one. New trial.
LikeLike
I’m surprised and confused the death of Tony Davis has become an international story. He’s a black man in America who killed a white cop, of course he was going to die. What did people expect? Serious? When all the appeals were rejected people were actually surprised by this. This is the same supreme court that said and I quote:
“They had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.”
US Supreme Court Chief Justice
Roger B. Taney
I mean, Terry Nichols killed 168 people(Including Federal agents and children) and was sentence to life in prison. Shawn Allen Berry drove the truck that lead to the decapitation and brutal murder of James Byrd Jr and the man was given life, in Texas of all places.
As a black man it upsets me black people are actually surprise by the murder of Troy Davis. What are you angry about? Like you were expecting justice and of course Obama isn’t going to say anything, he’s knows how racist this country is and he’s trying to get reelected. Wake up, black people!
LikeLike
apparently if your actually guilty and white there is hope for you…
(Reuters) – The parole board in the state of Georgia spared a convicted killer from execution hours before he was due to die by lethal injection on Thursday and commuted his sentence to life in prison.
In March 1988, Crowe killed store manager Joseph Pala during a robbery at the lumber company in Douglas County, west of Atlanta. Crowe, who had previously worked at the store, shot Pala three times with a pistol, beat him with a crowbar and a pot of paint.
Crowe pleaded guilty to armed robbery and murder and was sentenced to death the following year.
“David (Crowe) takes full responsibility for his crime and experiences profound remorse,” according to Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, an advocacy group, who welcomed the board’s decision.
I think Pala maybe a Hispanic name so it was probably extra okay to kill him and beat him to death….
http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/05/22/us-usa-execution-idUSN2250765020080522
LikeLike
Jim,
I truly don’t know about most of us, but I think we (here) all agree that we weren’t surprised. Some knew this was going to happen. Still, that doesn’t make it any less upsetting, frustrating, or frightening.
LikeLike
@ Jason:
Right, because in this case the colour line is pretty clear. This one is not subtle or, as Randy likes to say, “complex”.
Given that the jury was tricked by the police through coerced “witnesses”, it is pretty low for you or anyone to use them as racial cover for this. As far as I know nearly everyone who was driving events was white: Officer MacPhail’s family, the police, the judges, the prosecution.
I find it striking that they did not mind killing a black man who most likely was not the true killer. What does that say about them and how they think about black people?
– That to them black people are interchangeable,
– that their lives do not matter,
– that they have no rights that a white man is bound to respect,
– that killing a black man, ANY black man, is considered “justice”.
Do you get why this is called a legalized lynching?
One black judge who was against reopening the case was Clarence Thomas. He has black skin. Do you want use him as racial cover too for the evil shit that white people do? That is what he is there for.
LikeLike
@ Abagond
I HATE f***ing Uncle Toms like Clarence Thomas. They make me sick. Worse than racist white folks because I don’t expect any better from them. But how can you sell out your own people, to death? Barack Obama isn’t getting my vote. He should have stopped this. I don’t care if his hands were tied. People make too many excuses for that house n***a.
And I > love how whenever racism in America is brought up, people talk about Africa, in regards to the comment about Libya.
M*********er IM NOT AFRICAN! Get it right!
I’m AMERICAN! As you know D**N well. What goes on in Libya, does not directly affect me anymore than it directly affects YOU.
It’s not like I have relatives there, you racist a**holes saw to that when you paid for my ancestors to be kidnapped, torn away from their homeland and culture against their will!
You saw to saw to that when your ancestors raped my female relatives and they were forced to bear children that had YOUR blood in them!
Stay on the topic at hand, stop trying to change the subject! This is very much about you white people and your racist B*******t!
And if you don’t have anything to add, then please: SHUT. THE. FUCK. UP!
Just. Stop. Talking.
Go away. Leave us to mourn in peace. Go do that derailing bullshit on the white blogger sites.
I swear you m*********ers make me sick to my stomach sometimes! You’re the reason that this happens. People like you made the world the way that it is. And it continues to stay that way because: “In order for evil to thrive good men have to do nothing.”
When s*** like this happens you make excuses for your people. Let one of us do some b******** like this to you and see how quickly you get angry, just like with O.J.! And I’m glad he got away with it! How do you M*********rs like that? L.A. spent 12 million just trying his case and he got off. HA! Serves you right! And no I don’t care if he was guilty because for every one O.J there’s probably 80 Casey Anthony’s!
And I just bet the people who complain about OJ shut the fuck up when Casey Anthony’s ass is mentioned!
But again you made the justice system corrupt. White people only are in favor of justice, when THEY get it. They are very much in favor of injustice for everybody else.
LikeLike
Again, I don’t know what to say. Like I stated before, I am against death penalty, so to me, the fact Troy was possibly innocent is not the only reason I disagree (to put it mildly) with this case.
I don’t know if Troy was innocent, but it’s obvious there was something strange about this case. The evidence wasn’t enough, and the fact eyewitnesses changed their stories speaks a lot. Or the fact everybody seemed so quick to convince Davis and put him to death. And yes, I do believe his race (and victim’s race) has something to do with this.
I wonder how murdered policeman’s family feels now. I read they say they are relieved because they believe this was justice. But I wonder if they have any doubts about the case. With all the controversy surrounding the case, even if they don’t care about Davis and his possible innocence, aren’t they at least worried at the possibility that there’s a real murdered of their brother/father out there, free? Don’t they, at least, want to know the truth, even if they don’t care about Troy Davis?
What I also find interesting is that Troy Davis wasn’t the only man executed that day. One (I assume) white Klan member was executed the same day, for the murder of a black man. Maybe it’s just a coincidence (both executions happening on the same day), but I can’t help wondering if this was made so the execution of Troy Davis would seem less “racially charged”. In a way: “if we execute a white guy – a white guy who was in Klan and who killed a black man – it will make us seem more fair. It will make Troy Davis case more honest and fair: hey, we don’t look at colour, here, we execute both white and black men!”
Ok, maybe it was a coincidence… Maybe. But given the fact there were so many protests and the whole sloppy trial and all the issues surrounding Troy Davis’ case, it sure seems to me they (whoever “they” are) tried their best to appear fair and to make this seem like something that has nothing to do with race.
LikeLike
@Gods Warrior
“From 1977 to present, there have been more White people executed than Black.”
I didn’t read through the comments, so somebody might have already pointed this out…. THERE ARE MORE WHITE PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES! Therefore, there shouldn’t be any surprises when we see that most people who’ve been executed for a crime are white.
A better question to ask would be what the rate of death penalty sentence is by race. It’s been proven time and time again that blacks far more likely to be searched, convicted, and given harsher sentences than whites. That isn’t even up for debate anymore. Here, just look at executions by race from 1977-2010:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/09/death-penalty
Your more likely to receive the death sentence for killing a white person. This may not seem racial when you look at it from the surface, but when you get in much deeper you find out that it probably is.
LikeLike
After hearing more about the evidence that was used to convict Troy Davis, it’s pretty clear that this was a legal lynching. Yes blacks were involved in the conviction, but this just wouldn’t have happened to a white person in America.
The ballistic evidence was inconclusive. the witness testimony was coerced. The prosecution was openly racist in it’s testimony. It really is sick and disgusting that this could happen in this day and age. It’s still possible that he did it, but the evidence just wasn’t there. We basically sat back and watched our criminal justice system execute a man without sufficient evidence. Everyone should be angry and ashamed not just black Americans.
And for other white people reading this: This isn’t coming from some knee jerk liberal or white apologist or whatever. I don’t have a problem with the death penalty if those who receive it are guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Troy Davis just should not have been executed, and he would not have been executed if he weren’t black. O.J. was black and he got away with it because he was rich and famous. Troy Davis was black and poor. Even a poor white person would not have been executed on trumped up charges like this.
LikeLike
“God’s Warrior — Semper Fi”
Interesting choice for a username. If anything, it validates the old stereotype about jarheads.
The experiences of blacks and other people of color are seen as mere “whining” by these types. They really want us to acquiesce to silence and invisibility, only to reappear whenever it becomes convenient for them to have us around.
LikeLike
@ Student of the World:
I agree with nearly everything you said, the exceptions being O.J. Simpson and the President…I have heavy ambivalence regarding those two individuals, for many reasons. You made some excellent points – kudos.
Clarence Thomas is definitely an Uncle Tom of the worst type – no argument there!
LikeLike
@Jas0nburns
“temerity to say that ‘POC seem to resent whites’. ”
I guess I shouldn’t have said that. I know lots of blacks don’t resent white people though some do. it was an over generalization on my part and it was probably paranoia talking.
An honest response Jas0nburns 🙂
LikeLike
@Sepultra13
I’m usually ambivalent about Obama and O.J. too, neither one of them is paying my bills so I could care less what they do or don’t do for me. But I feel like if anyone has the power to prevent injustice from happening they should. Otherwise they just as guilty as the perpetrators.
A friend of mine was raped by an acquaintance. He drugged something she drank and raped her while she was unconscious. A female police officer actually told her that because she had a drink, literally one, before the encounter that she was wasting her time trying to pursue the case. You know what she said? She said: ” If I’m wasting my time, I’m wasting his time too. And that’s fine with me, you know why? Because make no mistake, this was noaccident, no misunderstanding. How do you accidentally f*ck someone while they are unconscious? Any details that get divulged in court will be just as embarrassing to him as they are to me. And even if I only get to inconvenience this man just a little, and he isn’t convicted, he’ll think twice before he pulls this b******* on anybody else. At least if he does it again, I’ll have been a barrier, temporary or otherwise, to someone else being assaulted.”
I was impressed that she took her role as a victim seriously. Many people are intimidated into not pressing charges when those kind of things occur, usually by the criminal justice system. And she’s right, someone who does that will do it again, especially if they get away with it the first time. In the end he was only convicted of sexual assault and reckless endangerment and he spent a total of, I believe 15 months in prison and 8 months probation or something like that. And stupid people on campus talked about her, and her character and people tried to defend the boy but she did what she had to do, not only for herself but for her community.
Being that Obama has executive power he could and should have done something. And I am holding him to a higher standard because he is a Man of Color. If a powerless victim like my friend can do her part, then…um why can’t he?
And he has way more leverage from where he’s at. He could have pardoned him or something. He’s too soft on white people when they pull their racist BS. Just like those cops that arrested the Massachusetts professor for no reason. He called them stupid but then when white people got angry with him he took the cops out for a beer?! Those men were not children, they knew what they were doing!
People always defend Obama and I understand much of the criticism leveled at him is BS, but I feel like as a PoC we collectively do a softshoe to appease white people all too often. If the cop that shot that kid gets no jail time, this man should not have been executed. .
Casey Anthony gets convicted of a minor crime when all the evidence points to no other person but her, and possibly her screwed up family, This man should not have been executed.
That’s why at election time I don’t even see the point of voting and this is just my personal opinion. What’s the difference between Obama and a White President? I don’t see any at this point. And it’s great to know that if I get caught up in some bullshit with the criminal justice system I can count on luck and no one but my own damn self to get me out of it.
LikeLike
REAL justice should be blind…blind to social standing, political party, blind to wealth, blind to race, creed ,sex and color. The US justice system is anything but these things. But it IS blind to justice itself and the very basic concepts of fairness and humanity. Is is a shame before God and all peoples of the earth. Yet it holds ITSELF up as exemplary. Yes, there was a lynching last night.
Read Lilian Smith’s “Killers of the Dream”. And then we’ll all understand why.
LikeLike
Bravo! I still cannot believe they killed him! Guilty or innocent in America one is supposed to receive a fair shake! And all the doubt save that woman who everyone knows killed or had someone kill her daughter instead of putting the girl up for adoption but this mans story was so clouded and he was killed anyway. Bullshit! The cloud saved her but killed him.
I would also like to point out that had the man who died not been a cop things would have happened differently.
LikeLike
It is so unsettling to know that they might have executed the wrong man. How can those officials sleep at night. Troy Davis, your life was not in vain. Maybe this can be the catalyst for ending the death penalty in USA. Troy Davis’ final words were so powerful and poignant.
LikeLike
“So stuff like this and Katrina does not surprise me or shock me. But it is still upsetting all the same and leaves me with a sickening feeling.”
Bingo. I kept telling myself not to get worked up, that execution was expected. I expected it because I know this country is screwed up. It’s like when you decide to expect nothing so that you won’t be disappointed when you get nothing. But a man was lynched by the state yesterday and the world watched. I’m still shaken, and I’m tired of hoping for anything but racist f*ckery.
LikeLike
P.S.- @ God’s warrior, you have to take into account the demographics of the United States when trying to use stats to make your point. Damn ingrate. Destroy yourself now.
LikeLike
i will never understand why people choose to blame obama for everything when he has so much to deal with in america. as for troy davis, if he really was innocent, then shame on the justice system and the people who accused him.
LikeLike
Oh you just said a mouthful of truth, Haight68Ashbury
LikeLike
Okay. I’ll add my two cents.
Gods Warrior – Semper Fi!
I was taught that God is a loving, forgiving, and merciful God. I’m curious, what kind of god do YOU worship?
LikeLike
Anyone who thinks we’re living in a “post-racial” society needs to wake up. In 2008, a white man and confessed murderer was pardoned by the State of Georgia only hours before his execution. Troy Davis, a black man accused of killing a white cop, had so much doubt surrounding his case, and the racist State powers still went ahead and murdered him.
I’m utterly disgusted.
LikeLike
@ proudchocolategirl:
You used the word “idiot”, which is moderated as an insult word.
LikeLike
All of you people are racist! Black people this, white people that. Stop blaming everybody else and worry about your own damn problems. What happened to troy davis was wrong and shouldn’t of happened. Blame the corrupt judicial system and the rich a** sob’s who run this country, not just the white man it is not there fault in its entirety, its everyone who was involved in his conviction, white, black, yellow, brown. Erase the line you’ve drawn, we all have problems
LikeLike
Voice of a Generation put it aptly when they said…. ‘There’s no Justice – Just us’
LikeLike
Lizz,
We ARE worrying about our own damn problems, and one of the main problems IS this nation’s injustice system which is sick with racism. You see a man was cruelly murdered by the corrupt judicial system and many people who want him to live or want him to go free are feeling it. Those of us who are black feel angry, depressed, and scared because this helps confirm not only is this system is not just, but because it could happen to any one of us. Some fear that one day we will be its prey.
Frankly, we are tired of people pointing the blame on us for rightfully feeling the way we do. All that shows is a true lack of compassion which you’ve demonstrated, madam. Calling us racist does nothing to help us feel better. Telling us that it’s everyone’s fault, not just the white man, doesn’t help. And, concluding that we all have problems belittles the suffering.
Instead of coming to a website just to post a hateful comment, why not read, learn, and understand where we’re coming from and not make assumptions through your eyes and mind only?
LikeLike
Instead of coming to a website just to post a hateful comment, why not read, learn, and understand where we’re coming from and not make assumptions through your eyes and mind only?
Because this way’s a lot more fun!!!!!
Lynching (whether via actually hanging or lethal injection) is basically American Idol to some people. They don’t actually care about the facts, the lack of evidence, morality, or anything so tedious and boring and inconvenient. Some are basically just voting for which Negro gets killed next. I mean, lynching’s supposed to be an event, remember? Barbecue, Aunt Sally’s tater salad, Uncle Travis sawin’ off body parts and passin’ ’em ’round, while Widow Perkins sips her mint julep and waxes nostalgic ’bout the good ole days.
Calling us racist does nothing to help us feel better.
They’re not trying to. Dodging blame and not looking bad’s the #1 priority, remember?
LikeLike
[…] Just before he was hung, the anarchist August Spies shouted, “The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today.” The Haymarket Affair was one of those moments in which class warfare became truly violent, and from the top-down as well. Reading the last words of the Chicago anarchists, who were likely falsely accused, poorly tried, and tragically executed, I am led to reflect upon the execution of Troy Davis last week. After he was killed, my friend Robert Perkinson, who is a prison scholar and the author of Texas Tough, posted a photograph in his facebook feed from the 1930s of a banner hanging out of a window in New York City that read: A MAN WAS LYNCHED YESTERDAY. […]
LikeLike
Although I support capital punishment in principal, I didn’t agree with this execution for all the reasons that have already been discussed. I would like to say though that I wish the black community would show this much outrage when we senselessly kill our own. An innocent black man is on order of thousands of times more likely to die at the hands of another black man in an episode of senseless violence than executed by the state. My point isn’t to say the Davis execution didn’t deserve attention, it’s to say that as an existential threat to black people, execution by state is pretty far down on the list. A very tiny number of black men that have been murdered have died at the hands of prison executioners.
LikeLike
Stop trying to make me feel ashame of my blackness. We have a black man who will be elected for another term. Forget about Herman Cain, for now. It time for a Japanese American or an American Indian.
LikeLike