Tag Archives: racism in policing

The Face of Ugly

Posted on by under Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Rants, Social commentary

Late last night, long after most people were snoring and dreaming dreams of camels in the desert or picnics in the park, I had just finished responding to comments and preparing my music post for this morning.  I thought, since it was only 3:20 a.m., I would go ahead and get a start on trolling the news stories of the day, trying to find a focal point for my afternoon post.  And then I saw this headline …

Iowa Woman Admits to Hitting Children With Car Because of Their Ethnicity

And, as I have done so many times over the past few years, I felt tears well up, and then I cursed, slamming my fist into the table and saying, “F$&@ Y$#, B@#%*!”  No apologies for the language this time … this ‘woman’ deserves that and more.

Her name is Nicole Poole Franklin and she is 43 years old.

Look at the picture.  Look closely.  This bitch with the smirk on her mouth, the two-toned dyed hair, and the evil shining from her eyes thinks she is somehow better than me or you or anybody who doesn’t look like her.

From the official release by the Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, dated 22 April 2021 …

An Iowa woman pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court to hate crime charges for attempting to kill two children because of their race and national origin.

According to admissions Nicole Poole Franklin, 42, made during the hearing, on the afternoon of Dec. 9, 2019, Poole Franklin was driving her Jeep Grand Cherokee on Creston Avenue in Des Moines, Iowa, where the first child-victim was walking along the sidewalk with another young relative. Upon seeing the children and believing that the victim was of Middle Eastern or African descent, Poole Franklin drove her vehicle over the curb towards both children, striking one of them. Poole Franklin then drove away from the scene. The assault resulted in injury to the victim, including cuts, bruising, and swelling. Approximately 30 minutes later, Poole Franklin was driving her Jeep near Indian Hills Junior High School in Clive, Iowa, where the second child-victim was walking on the sidewalk. Poole Franklin, believing that the child was Mexican, drove her vehicle over the curb and struck the victim, causing serious injury, including a concussion, bruises, and cuts. Poole Franklin again drove away from the scene but was apprehended later that day.

This happened in December 2019 … 16 months ago … and she is just now being charged???  WHY???  If I ran down a child in the street, I would be shot by police, not sent home with a little pat on the wrist!  Oh, but she is a tighty whitey, deserving of special privileges, yes?  So, in February 2020 she was declared “unfit to stand trial” by a Polk County judge … no doubt a Trump appointee!

On that day in December, Franklin’s rampage began when she  intentionally jumped a curb in Des Moines and struck a Black 12-year-old boy, injuring one of his legs.  A witness told police the SUV “gunned its engine” before the driver struck the child. She later  said she thought the boy was of Middle Eastern descent and was a member of the Islamic State terrorist group.  At 12 years of age.  Next, Franklin proceeded to run down Natalia Miranda, who was 14 at the time, as she walked to a basketball game, leaving the young Hispanic girl lying unconscious in the snow.  Her excuse was she thought the girl was Mexican.  And then, an hour or so later, Franklin drove to a convenience store where she spewed hateful racist slurs toward a clerk and customers, then threw items at the clerk.

DAMMIT people!!!!!!!!!!  I don’t care … Republican or Democrat, white or Black, Christian, Jew or atheist, gay or straight … RIGHT IS RIGHT, AND WRONG IS WRONG.  And it is dead WRONG to try to kill children … children for Pete’s Sake … because you don’t like the colour of their skin!  Frankly, I don’t like the colour of Ms. Franklin’s skin, either!  It’s plumb ugly!

I have long been against the death penalty.  In my view, it is wrong, and the odds are that sooner or later we will execute an innocent person.  But, I’d just about be willing to make an exception in the case of Ms. Franklin, for I see no purpose in her continued existence on this planet.

What I don’t understand … this woman who attempted to murder children because she didn’t like the colour of their skin … is handled by law enforcement with kid gloves, while in North Carolina, a 68-year-old Black grandmother was dragged out of her car by her hair, slammed to the ground by police, stepped on, treated so brutally that she suffered a torn rotator cuff (part of the shoulder joint) … for exceeding the speed limit.

Just to be clear here … the white woman who attempted to murder two children because she didn’t like their skin colour is not even charged for 16 months after the fact, and a Black woman is brutalized for … driving too fast.  Tell me again that there is no racism in our police departments, no double standard based on the colour of your skin.

Just Two Snippets This Morning …

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, cartoons, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary, voting rights

I just have two tidbits of snark tonight … well, in truth I have a bunch more than two, but two is all I feel up to imparting tonight, for I am tired.

The 51st state? 

Yesterday, the House passed a bill to make Washington D.C. the 51st state of the union, but that bill is almost certain to fail in the Senate.  Not one single House Republican voted for statehood, and that is likely to be the case in the Senate, where the filibuster will demand 60 votes to pass.

At present 714,153 people live in Washington D.C.  With only 61 square miles of land, DC has the highest population density in the U.S.  Yet, the people who live in DC have no political representation, and the Republicans in Congress would like to keep it that way.  Why?  Primarily because DC has a majority Black population, and it is the goal of the Republican Party to keep as many Blacks as possible from voting, since they typically vote for Democrats.  If you don’t believe me, just look at the 250+ voter suppression bills in process in 43 states at present — all aimed at keeping people of colour and the poor from having a voice.  Republicans may give you a dozen excuses for their obfuscation, but when you cut through the bull, it boils down to the fact that if the people of DC had the ability to elect two senators, they would most likely elect Democratic senators and the Republicans don’t want that.  Simple.

Of course, Republican lawmakers have come up with a multitude of excuses, such as Representative Glenn Grothman, who claims the district does not qualify for statehood because it does not have manufacturing, agriculture or natural resources.  Or another who said it couldn’t qualify for statehood because it doesn’t have a landfill.  But, at the end of the day, it doesn’t qualify because it has a Black majority.  Apparently those excuse-seeking members of Congress have never actually read the U.S. Constitution.

Imagine those residents of the district … they live, they work, they pay taxes, they serve in the military … with no representation in Congress.  I think the people of the district have been remarkably patient … and they deserve better than they’re getting.

One less racist cop

William Kelly was a Lieutenant in the Norfolk, Virginia, police department until he was fired earlier this week.  The reason for his firing?  He contributed to the legal defense fund of that teenage punk, Kyle Rittenhouse, who killed two people last year in Kenosha, Wisconsin, during a Black Lives Matter protest.

But, Kelly not only contributed financially, he also left a message for Rittenhouse on the GiveSendGo crowdfunding site, saying …

“God bless. Thank you for your courage. Keep your head up. You’ve done nothing wrong. Every rank and file police officer supports you. Don’t be discouraged by actions of the political class of law enforcement leadership.”

Did nothing wrong?????  WTF???  The boy, at the time 17 years of age, wasn’t even old enough to own a gun … in fact didn’t own a gun, but he borrowed an AR-15 from a friend and ended up killing two and seriously injuring another!  And a high-ranking police officer is applauding his actions???  Tell me again that we don’t need police reform in this country!

Chip Filer, Norfolk’s city manager, issued a statement …

“His egregious comments erode the trust between the Norfolk Police Department and those they are sworn to serve. The City of Norfolk has a standard of behavior for all employees, and we will hold staff accountable.”

And from the city’s police chief, Larry D. Boone …

“A police department cannot do its job when the public loses trust with those whose duty is to serve and protect them. We do not want perceptions of any individual officer to undermine the relations between the Norfolk Police Department and the community.”

So, there’s one less racist officer on the streets of Norfolk, Virginia tonight, but how many more in cities across this nation?

Regarding the Derek Chauvin Murder Trial

Posted on by under Law and justice, Racism & Bigotry, Re-blogs, Social commentary

This afternoon, former police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all three counts of murdering George Floyd. I planned to write a post later about it, but meanwhile I read Brendan’s piece, and … well, I couldn’t have said it any better, so I am re-blogging his. Thank you, Brendan.

Blind Injustice

The George Floyd Mural in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Like with many people in the United States, and across the world, my heart was beating at a mile a minute as the judge in the Derek Chauvin Murder Trial read the verdict on all three counts:

Guilty.

Guilty.

Guilty.

After I heard the verdict, I was personally relieved. I know many others who feel relieved with the verdict as well, for it meant that George Floyd’s life mattered enough that the police officer who killed him went to prison.

However, in my own humble opinion (humble because I do not have to worry about police on a daily basis like my friends of color do), what we saw today was not justice for George Floyd. Justice would’ve been if George Floyd didn’t get killed at the hands of Derek Chauvin.

Instead, what we got was accountability. Namely, accountability for a chokehold that…

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Snarky Snippets Still Going Strong

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry

Just a few bits ‘n pieces of snarky to brighten your afternoon …

A chopper on Mars … whoopee

The media seems quite excited over NASA’s latest feat, flying a remote-controlled helicopter on Mars.  In fact, most people seem quite excited about it and Barack Obama even tweeted …

“With all the enormous challenges facing the world, it’s worth taking the time to appreciate extraordinary human achievement and our relentless impulse toward discovery.”

I beg to differ, for one simple reason … how much did it cost and how much good could have been done for people with that money.

The Republicans in Congress are bitching about the cost of President Biden’s infrastructure bill, and yet they are perfectly happy seeing $85 million spent sending a damn helicopter to Mars?  To what end?  Despite what Elon Musk and writers of science fiction might imagine, humans are not ever going to live in large numbers on Mars or any other planet other than Earth.  The atmosphere of Mars will not support human life – so why the Sam Hell are we spending money on this???

Yes, the space program is exciting, and I was thrilled in 1969 when Neil Armstrong, upon setting foot on the moon, made his iconic speech about “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”  But that was then, and this is now.  Today, I see the space program as among the least relevant things our government is doing.  We need to be taking care of people, and frankly space exploration does nothing to help in the fight for survival that so many people are fighting.  Perhaps we should be more concerned about things that need fixing here on planet Earth?

NASA’s budget for 2021 is $23.3 billion … our tax dollars hard at waste.

Lack of sleep … uh-oh

On average, I sleep 4-5 hours a night, though often it is less.  Every now and then, my body plays “catch-up” and I sleep 8-10 hours in one night.  In less than two months, I will be 70 years old.  So, naturally it caught my eye when I read about a new study that concludes people who sleep 6 hours or less in their 50s and 60s are 30% more likely to develop dementia in their late 70s!  A dear friend of mine sleeps even less than I, some nights not at all.  We’re doomed!!!

A follow up

Yesterday, I wrote a post, From the Mind of Filosofa, where I pondered on a number of issues facing the U.S. today, one such being the issue of white police officers killing unarmed Black people, indicating racism in our police departments across the country.  Needless to say, this isn’t a new topic and has been discussed at some length for several years now, but there have been several such cases in a short span of time, and with the Derek Chauvin trial about to conclude, it’s on everyone’s minds.

In response, our friend David noted a blog he had visited where the writer of the blog suggested that perhaps Blacks are treated no differently than white people, but the media sensationalizes it more.  It seemed a fair question to ask, though in my gut I believe that there is racism in policing because we’ve seen the evidence time and time and time again.  However, I decided to do a quick bit of research.  What I found is that in any given year, more white people are killed by police than Blacks, BUT … white people also comprise the vast majority of people in the country, so you have to consider the question by percentage, not by pure numbers.

I put together this chart, showing that as a percentage, Blacks are much more likely to be killed by police than whites …

The other question I would ask, but haven’t yet had the time to research, is what portion of each group killed by police was armed, for in most of the cases we know of where Blacks were killed by police, rarely were the Black people armed.  In many cases they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, like Breonna Taylor, who was asleep in her bed!

In Florida, it’s now legal to kill protesters?

Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law that makes peaceful protest a crime, and driving a car through a crowd of protesters not a crime.  Say WHAT???  According to the Orlando Sentinel …

The law, which goes into effect immediately, grants civil legal immunity to people who drive through protesters blocking a road, which Democrats argued might have protected the white nationalist who ran over and killed counter-protester Heather Heyer during the Charlottesville tumult in 2017. It also makes blocking a highway a felony offense.

The law also creates a broad category for misdemeanor arrest during protests, and anyone charged under that provision will be denied bail until their first court appearance. De Santis said he wanted that to prevent people from rejoining ongoing protests.

It creates a new felony crime of ‘aggravated rioting’ that carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison and a new crime of ‘mob intimidation.’

My best guess is that this law will be challenged in the Courts as being unconstitutional and will very quickly be reversed.  But then … of late my ‘best guesses’ haven’t been very good, have they?  What’s really scary is the idea that DeSantis is reportedly considering a run for president in 2024.

Dirty Racist Cops … Again

Posted on by under Law and justice, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

Caron Nazario is a lieutenant in the U.S. Army medical corp, serving in Norfolk, Virginia.  Lieutenant Nazario also happens to be Black and Hispanic.  In December, Lt. Nazario purchased a new SUV and on December 5th, he was driving home from work in said SUV when he saw flashing lights behind him.  Lt. Nazario drove to the nearest well-lighted place, a service station, before pulling over.  He did not speed up or in any way attempt to evade the police car behind him, but rather he slowed down, activated his turn signals, and drove for less than a mile before reaching the service station.  He merely wanted, understandably, to get to a well-lighted area.

Upon stopping, Officer Daniel Crocker, with his gun pointed at Lt. Nazario, ordered him out of the vehicle, by which time a second police officer, Joe Gutierrez, had arrived and also had a gun pointed at him.  Lt. Nazario put his empty hands outside the window, as ordered, to show that officers that he was unarmed, and asked them why they stopped him.  A perfectly valid question, under the circumstances.  The officer repeated the order to exit the vehicle, and Lt. Nazario replied that he was “honestly afraid to get out” his vehicle.  Who wouldn’t be, with two officers holding guns on him?  One officer replied, “Yeah, you should be.”  Just a minute later, Officer Gutierrez told Lt. Nazario that he was “fixin’ to ride the lightning,” a slang expression referring to an execution by electric chair.

After some back and forth, with the officers yelling at him to get out of the vehicle, but also to keep his hands outside the window (ever try opening the car door from inside, with your hands outside the window?), and Lt. Nazario asking why he was being stopped, why he was being treated in such a manner, one of the officers sprayed pepper spray into his face through the open window, jerked his door open, sprayed more pepper spray, kicked him in the knees, and slammed him to the ground.

The officer’s given reason for initiating the traffic stop was that he could not see Lt. Nazario’s license plate, which was clearly visible in the back window, as 30-day plates for new vehicles are typically displayed.  The Lieutenant was released without charges, but this week he filed a lawsuit accusing the two Windsor, Virginia police officers of violating his constitutional rights by holding him at gunpoint, suggesting he was facing execution, assaulting him, and illegally detaining him.  The lawsuit states …

“These cameras captured footage of behavior consistent with a disgusting nationwide trend of law enforcement officers, who, believing they can operate with complete impunity, engage in unprofessional, discourteous, racially biased, dangerous and sometimes deadly abuses of authority.”

The lawsuit also claims police threatened to end Nazario’s military career if he spoke out about the incident.  The body cam video clearly shows that the temporary license plate was visible through the window of the vehicle.  The body cam video stopped shortly after Lt. Nazario was slammed to the ground.  Gutierrez wrote in his report that his camera stopped recording after it got “compressed” between him and Nazario during a struggle. Nazario also recorded part of the incident from his cellphone.

I watched the video and found it both chilling and sickening.  The beginning is footage from Nazario’s cellphone that he activated when he realized he had guns pointed at him.

I won’t even bother to ask the question, “If Lt. Nazario had been a white man, would the cops have acted similarly?” for we all know the answer to that.  The better question is, “How do we reform policing?  How do we stop these incidents, often leading to murder, from ever happening?”  I wish I knew the answer, but I DO know what’s going to happen if there are many more incidents like this, if there are many more murders of unarmed black men by police, or if Derek Chauvin is let off with naught but a slap on the wrist … there is going to be blood shed in the streets of America.

We the People are sick and tired of having to fear the very group of people whose duty it is to “protect and defend” us.  We the People have made our voices clear … at least those of us who give a damn have … and if our voices alone aren’t enough, then in the words of the great civil rights leader John Lewis …

A Day Late

Posted on by under Environmental Issues, Global Issues, History, Law and justice, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

On October 26th, 1966, the UN General Assembly passed resolution 2142 (XXI), proclaiming March 21st as International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.  On that day, in 1960, police opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration in Sharpeville, South Africa, against the apartheid “pass laws”. Proclaiming the Day in 1966 which signifies the struggle to end the policy of apartheid in South Africa, the General Assembly called on the international community to redouble its efforts to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination.

unesco-1I am late with this post, for yesterday was March 21st, but it doesn’t really matter if it’s a day late, for every day should be a day for eliminating racial discrimination.  Recent events here in the U.S. – the brutal murder of George Floyd and countless others by police, and more recently the hate crimes against Asian-Americans – have shown us that we have much to do to end racism.

While it is crucial to end racial prejudice in public agencies such as police, social services, and even at the highest levels of government, the problem starts on a more basic level – with us.  We haven’t been listening for the past 50, 100 years.  Oh sure … we protested in Civil Rights marches in the 1960s, and that led to laws such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and more, but then we clapped our hands, dusted off our knees, went home and said, “Well done!” and moved on without a backward glance.  And now look … 43 states are busily writing laws that would invalidate the Voting Rights Act.

I cannot speak for other countries, but I do know that racism is alive and well today around the globe, more than it was, say, two decades ago.  In part, this is as a result of a surge in migration due to the Arab Spring, nations were unprepared, and it has led to a new level of racial discrimination around the globe.  But more specifically here in the U.S., I have not seen this much blatant racism in the past 50 years.  But it’s been there all along.  Our Black friends knew it, for they lived it.  They tried to tell us, but we weren’t listening.  And now, the racism has spread to Asian-Americans, largely as a result of public figures blaming China for the coronavirus, calling it “China flu” and worse.  Since 11 September 2001, there has been an expansion of racism here against people from Middle Eastern countries … even though the attacks on that day were carried out by only 19 people and directed by one man, not the entire Muslim world.

I don’t have answers to the question of how we end this, but I do know that each one of us has got to look inside ourselves and understand that we are not superior in any way to anybody else … not Blacks, not Muslims, not Asians, not LGBT people … NOBODY!

Here is the text of President Joe Biden’s statement released yesterday (I may be a day late, but Joe was on time!):

One of the core values and beliefs that should bring us together as Americans is standing against hate and racism, even as we acknowledge that systemic racism and white supremacy are ugly poisons that have long plagued the United States. We must change the laws that enable discrimination in our country, and we must change our hearts.

Racism, xenophobia, nativism, and other forms of intolerance are not problems unique to the United States. They are global problems. They are human problems that we all need to recognize, name, and dismantle. Today, on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, all nations and people should recommit to the fundamental truth that every human being has inherent dignity and deserves to be treated with fairness. We must recognize the ways that racism, gender discrimination, and other forms of marginalization intersect with and compound one another. And, we must all strive to eliminate inequities in our policies, remove barriers to full participation in our societies, and push for open and inclusive processes that respect all people everywhere.

Under my Administration, the United States will lead the conversation on these painful issues—at home, in international institutions, and around the world. That is why, on my first day in office, I signed an Order establishing a whole of government approach to equity and racial justice. We will not shy away from engaging in the hard work to take on the damaging legacy of slavery and our treatment of Native Americans, or from doing the daily work of addressing systemic racism and violence against Black, Native, Latino, Asian American and Pacific Islander, and other communities of color. Neither will we fail to speak out against the horrific mistreatment of the Rohingya in Burma, the Uyghurs in China, or any racial discrimination we see in the world.

Hate can have no safe harbor in America. It should have no safe harbor anywhere in the world. We must join together to make it stop.