Too Little, Too Late, But Still …

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, Free Press Issues, Law and justice, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

There have been some positive signs that perhaps this nation as a whole is sick and tired of the white supremacists and their rhetoric, sick and tired of seeing white people with notions of superiority thinking they have more ‘natural rights’ than others.  It’s far too little, too late, but still … it’s a start.

And it only took five years …

In 2014, New York City police officer Daniel Pantaleo choked an unarmed black man, Eric Garner, to death.  It was not the first, nor would it be the last case of a white cop killing an unarmed black man, but it was the case that brought the #BlackLivesMatter movement to the forefront of the public eye.  In almost every one of these cases, the police officers have gotten off scot-free, even kept their jobs.  On Monday, a New York City Commissioner James P. O’Neill made a decision that will, hopefully, set a new precedent, by firing Officer Pantaleo, and stripping him of his pension benefits.

Garner’s crime five years ago was that he was allegedly selling cigarettes outside a convenience store.  For this, he paid with his life.  It is my opinion that Officer Panteleo should have been tried and convicted.  The department had a rule against using the chokehold he used on Mr. Garner, and Garner said, “I can’t breathe”, but still Panteleo didn’t release his hold.  Blatant cruelty.  And yet, despite Mr. Garner’s death having been ruled a homicide, Panteleo was never charged.

As I said, this is a case of too little, too late.  Pateleo should be in prison, but instead he is in his lawyer’s office trying to force the NYPD to reinstate him, his benefits, and pay him back pay for time lost.  And, it took James O’Neill five years to decide to fire him.  When they say the “wheels of justice” turn slowly, they aren’t kidding!  Still, it is a small step in the right direction.

A slippery slope …

The 1st Amendment right to free speech is a slippery slope and has been the cause of much disagreement throughout time.  At what point does free speech cross the line and become punishable?  At what point should speech be silenced?  Some would answer “never”, but most reasonable people agree that there must be limits, but rarely agree to the terms of said ‘limits’.  In this age of social media, the question becomes even more relevant, for there are those who believe that hate speech is protected under the 1st Amendment, and spew their hate all over Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for all the world to see.

Last week, social media outlets Facebook and Instagram suspended the accounts of James Orien Allsup, and Twitter had already suspended his account in late 2017.  James Orien Allsup is a white supremacist who marched with the other white supremacists at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017 and whose hate speech can still be seen on YouTube.  There will be some, no doubt, who will cry “Foul!” at the move by Facebook and Instagram, but frankly, I support the move.

I am a staunch advocate for freedom of speech and freedom of the press.  However, in my book there is a line.  When you publicly threaten or incite violence, then you have shirked the responsibility that accompanies those rights.  I say the same about media outlets such as Fox and Breitbart that engage in conspiracy theories that have already led to violence and loss of life.  I applaud Facebook and Instagram, and would urge YouTube to remove this man from their platform as well.

The New York Times is doing an excellent series titled The 1619 Project:

The 1619 Project is a major initiative from The New York Times observing the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery. It aims to reframe the country’s history, understanding 1619 as our true founding, and placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of the story we tell ourselves about who we are.

I will be including some of their works in future posts, but I urge you to check it out for yourselves.  Racism, white supremacy, white nationalism … whatever name you give it … is ugly, and in this country, it is increasing at what I consider to be an alarming rate.  We need to tackle this subject, to take off the window dressing and show it for what it is … arrogant hate.  A friend sent me a meme recently that I think should be made into a poster and mailed to every member of any of the 1,000+ hate groups around the country! racism-for-dummies.jpg

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36 thoughts on “Too Little, Too Late, But Still …”

  1. Pingback: A Sorry Tale Of Two Men … | Filosofa's Word

  2. I really wish someone would ban Trump from Twitter (and all other media). His thumbs are not linked to a rational mind.

    I received the eggs picture 🥚 and wish someone would pelt the GOP with them (and maybe a few other political parties with the same mindset). Someone needs to knock some sence of morality into our illustrious leaders!

    Liked by 2 people

    • I have wished for Twitter to ban him many, many times! They won’t do it, yet they banned me for calling someone a ‘bimbo’!

      Yeah, the eggs picture says it all, doesn’t it? Rawgod’s significant other, Gail, actually sent me that. I’ll be using it again from time to time.

      Liked by 1 person

  4. No one has mentioned the “Racism for Dummies” poster, so I will. No matter what we look like on the outside, we all look the same on the inside. Seeds are just hard eggs, and eggs are the same whethet they are laid inside or outside a body. Even spores are just the early forerunners of eggs. We are all the same life. There is no reason to hate.

    Liked by 2 people

    • I was a bit disappointed that nobody mentioned it, so I’m glad that you did. The message in that single picture says it all, I think. But, I don’t think it’s a lesson that will ever be learned by the majority of people. Sigh.

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            • I seem to sigh a lot lately … not only on the blog, but in life. And, I’ve noticed on the rare occasions that I look in the mirror, that I wear a perpetual scowl these days, and my eyes are always turned downward at the edges, as if tears are near the surface. Fact is, I went through years of trauma and drama, shedding almost nary a tear, but these days, any time I am alone, I find myself crying. Rolling smokes at the kitchen table, tears are welling. Sigh. See, there I go again. Okay … let me try for a smile, eh? 😊 How’s that?

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              • Beautiful, esp the eyes. Fear not, Jill, I WILL make you laugh again, when you least expect it. (Read: when I can think of something humourous again…)

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  6. It’s time Facebook and the other social platforms took their responsibility seriously. They’ve allowed grooming of children by monsters, they;ve allowed cheats and plenty of extremists as in White Nationalists to spew their verbal violence. It’s time to be what they are, a social platform, for the majority and kick the nasties into touch.
    Cwtch

    Liked by 1 person

      • Sadly, you are right … they will ban a few when the outcry threatens their profits, but just as is the case with the mainstream media, conflict and controversy are what sells, and they are all about making money. Sigh.

        Liked by 1 person

    • I agree … to allow such hate to be posted on their sites is to be complacent in the incitement to violence. It is a nod to white supremacy. It is offensive to those of us who are not in the grips of the idea that somehow “white is better”. It is the same as supporting the rhetoric. And yet, there are already those who are up in arms, saying Facebook is discriminating, is robbing the haters of their right to free speech. In my book, they already gave up that right. Social media … by definition, it should be a place for families and friends to keep in touch, not a political platform, and not … definitely NOT … a place for vulgarity and racism.
      Cwtch

      Liked by 1 person

  7. Jill, the good people doing good things does not get the notoriety as the hate speech and hate mongers. They are there. Seeing people coming together after tragedies are great examples of this.

    As for the 1st amendment, it comes with responsibility. It does not give someone the right to cry fire in a theater, nor does it give someone license to threaten some one. We must balance our 1st amendment rights with those important words that guy Jesus said. The ones we thought were so important, we called them “the Golden Rule.” They are so golden, they appear in other religious texts.

    Someone needs to say to white nationalists, that same Jesus fellow was not of Aryan blood. He was a Jewish man. And, without sun screen, he was likely darker complexioned than Max Von Sidow, who played him in the movies.

    Keith

    Liked by 3 people

    • I think that in the cases of both the 1st and 2nd amendments, the same can be said: If you abuse it, you lose it! As for your last paragraph … quite so! They might want to start practicing what they preach.

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      • Jill, what is amazing to me is if these white nationalists get what they want, they would be depriving themselves of about 40% of the country’s intellectual capital. That exemplifies the phrase “you cannot shrink to greatness.” Keith

        Liked by 1 person

        • Quite so … I don’t have any sense that they have thought through the ramifications. They have a fear, that I believe is being stoked by Trump and the evangelicals, maybe others, that white people won’t be the majority one day. Who cares??? What does it matter??? Sigh … I simply do not understand it.

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  8. Hope you’re right Jill. But getting the orange menace out of office will be a huge step forward. He’s amplified these losers. Now, they’re emboldened to march more…incite violence…and create even more division.
    And I couldn’t agree more with you as it concerns what Facebook and Instagram did. There IS a line. It’s like the old saying goes: you know it when you hear it. We need more of this. Not less. Yes, it’s a slippery slope at times. But Facebook in particular has a big role to play here. They’re the big kahuna. Frankly, I like the idea of breaking them up…but that’s another issue for another day….For now though, good on them for getting rid of the idiot.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Oh, I am not expecting any great upheavals, but … sometimes as a former boss used to tell me, “Peanuts make elephants”. Baby steps. I’m not optimistic, and in the past few days I have sunken into a place of despair, a place where I see clearly that humans will never get over their arrogant, greedy ways, that bigotry in all its forms will always exist. But, I think we still need to hightlight the ‘wins’, for perhaps somebody, somewhere, will look up and realize they were wrong.

      Liked by 1 person

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