Coming February 6, 2024 . . .
MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
Pre-order at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop
Coming February 6, 2024 . . . MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Pre-order at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
When will the police nationwide take responsibility for their awful reputation?
Trumpian "we can do what we want", with continual judicial cover for even the worst abuses, has brought us to our own kind of Apartheid - ironic when black advancements & acceptance in other areas are historic.
Comments
We only have sketchy facts about the shooting of the witness in the Guyger case. It is sad that the police would be held suspect by the people they are supposed to protect. It is 2019. Blacks arrived in the colonies in 1619. The murder of blacks occurred in 1919. It is telling that we celebrate "historic" black accomplishments.
At the end of the trial, Botham Jean's brother and the presiding judge hugged the police officer who committed the murder. Guyger received compassion despite her racist text messages.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/02/us/amber-guyger-trial-offensive-texts-trnd/index.html
Mohammed Noor, the police officer who murdered a white woman in Minneapolis, did not receive hugs from the victim's family or the judge when he was sentenced to 12.5 years.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/07/us/minneapolis-mohamed-noor-sentenced/ind...
There is no reciprocation of compassion. In fact one comment at dagblog ridiculed the brother and judge as being "bible thumpers".
There have been many published articles reflecting the anger black people feel about the lack of reciprocation of compassion on the part of white people when it comes to the judicial system.
CNN
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/04/opinions/amber-guyger-brandt-jean-courtroom-hug-bailey/index.html
Botham Jean's mother's comments
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/03/us/botham-jean-mother-allison-jean/index....
More comments from the mother
https://www.newser.com/story/281257/botham-jeans-mom-dont-misconstrue-his-brothers-hug.html
Botham Jean's father
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/03/botham-jean-amber-guyger...
Trevor Noah had a moving segment on the lack of reciprocity of compassion
http://www.cc.com/episodes/phlq4a/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-extend...
Jemille Hill
Conversation
Jemele Hill
@jemelehill
The Root
https://www.theroot.com/botham-jean-amber-guyger-and-the-delusion-of-forgivene-1838740376
This is not a magic moment where anything will change. The next cop who shoots an unarmed black person will not be convicted. White people loves hugging it out, but feel no need to change police culture.
by rmrd0000 on Sun, 10/06/2019 - 11:18am
White people loves hugging it out What white people are really asking for when they demand forgiveness
What bullshit. It's not like Guyger said I'm sorry, come here give me a hug. It's not like there was some white people campaign to pressure the brother to give her a hug. No one was wondering if he was gonna hug her when the trial was over. He did it on his own just like the church members forgave Hunt on their own. White people weren't asking for it or demanding it. Of course it was big news because many people thought it was bizarre. It wasn't big news because white people thought it solved everything. It wasn't big news because white people were looking for it. It was big news because it was so unexpected and quite frankly weird.
Of course now it's a thing. I'm sure lots of people are wondering who will be the next dumb ass to give a murderer or even a mass murderer a hug and forgiveness.
by ocean-kat on Sun, 10/06/2019 - 12:48pm
Well, nary a mention of the guy who just got his mouth shot off, ostensibly to teach other potential "squealers"/witnesses from speaking up. Instead, just another retread of what we wrote about a few days ago.
Nor did i manage to prompt any thoughts about why the police don't police themselves, why they're so accepting of this horrid PR message over and over, that they don't know how to de-escalate problems, or treat suspects with reasonable Constitutional respect.
Whatever - another waste of time - back to Twitter I guess.
by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 10/06/2019 - 1:11pm
My takeaway: Jean family not really black because they hug, they are basically whites in blackface? Bible thumpers can't be black, they gotta be white.So I guess stereotype black church ladies have basically been excommunicated from rmrd's black-skin tribe. This time. If it benefitted the particular situation, he might have them back in tribe again.
by artappraiser on Sun, 10/06/2019 - 1:36pm
But a hit on a witness, Mafia style? this is an escalation from normally horrid police behavior.
Can there be a reckoning? Is this one for Kamala Harris?
by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 10/06/2019 - 2:39pm
Supreme Court related:
by artappraiser on Mon, 10/07/2019 - 12:05pm
Judge defends hug:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/08/amber-guyger-case-judge-...
by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 10/08/2019 - 2:00pm
It will be problematic for her to handle any appeals.
by rmrd0000 on Tue, 10/08/2019 - 2:12pm
Why? As long as she follows the law, she can do what she wants.
Lots of judges act like pricks in court without endangering appeals.
by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 10/08/2019 - 3:12pm
Hopefully, it will go directly to an Appeals Court judge. She cannot be viewed as impartial. There is no evidence that she hugged other murderers.
by rmrd0000 on Tue, 10/08/2019 - 3:46pm
By that standard the brother shouldn't have anything to do with the trial and shouldn't be allowed to speak in court.
by ocean-kat on Tue, 10/08/2019 - 4:35pm
WTF
He is an 18-year old grieving the loss of his brother. Note that the rest of the family did not hug Guyger and thought that a stiffer sentence was in order.
She represents the judicial system. The trial was already tainted by a delay in arresting Guyger. Law enforcement tried to smear Botham Jean's reputation by announcing there was marijuana in his apartment. Guyger felt safe sending racist texts to fellow members of the Dallas PD. No one in the Dallas PD has addressed these matters. At the end of the trial, we get a judge hugging a murderer. The standard appears to be that the legal system has no standards. A lazy, racist cop enters your apartment and slays you and is allowed to use the castle doctrine as a defense. Guyger only got 10 years, of which she may do five.
The brother gets to do whatever he needs to deal with the loss. The judge gets to be impartial. The Dallas commentary has been no one has ever seen a murderer get a hug. Let someone else handle the appeal. The judge, if she is part of the ongoing process, should recuse herself.
by rmrd0000 on Tue, 10/08/2019 - 4:51pm
Tell me what the longest sentence you've seen a cop get. Humor me.
by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 10/08/2019 - 4:56pm
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nouman-raja-sentencing-ex-florida-officer-gets-25-years-in-fatal-shooting-black-musician-corey-jones-2019-04-25/
Did you mean white police officer?
Edit to add:
The white officer who murdered Walter Scott got 20 years.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/07/us/michael-slager-sentence-walter-scott.html
by rmrd0000 on Tue, 10/08/2019 - 5:15pm
I just looked up now: Officer Mohammed Noor got 12 years for shooting Australian-American Justine Diamond. Around a decade seems to be kind of a standard for a situation where a total innocent was killed due to confusion?
In both these cases, I think it is something different from police intentionally being abusive and carried away with their power. I don't really get how your argument about "how come cops aren't speaking up?" applies that well here. These cops were dazed, confused, negligent, lazy, fearful when there was no need, lacked basic judgment, whatever you want to call it. It's not really intentional abuse, like in beating or strangling a supposed perp to death, here it's sloppiness and carelessness with life threatening weapons.
I read several reports on the Guyger case, seemed to me the prosecution and victims agreed it was a horrible mistake. They ending up believing her story about confusion, partly because she wasn't try to hide it or claim righteousness, she was already remorseful.
To me, it seems comparable to a driver who is still licensed to drive killing someone while driving drunk. Doesn't really have much to do with police brutality or racism in policing. Is the Barney Fife syndrome--incompetence.
by artappraiser on Tue, 10/08/2019 - 6:56pm
p.s. perhaps medical malpractice resulting in death would also be a good comparison. There is such a thing as malpractice insurance because: it sucks, but it happens. And I will never buy that doctors are completely unprejudiced and give each patient their all equally. They are going to care more about some than others and give the ones they have attachment to better attention and care.
by artappraiser on Tue, 10/08/2019 - 7:02pm
Why exactly can't she be viewed as "impartial" - she sent a police officer away for 10 years, which is rather unheard of (most get exonerated). The trial was over, the victim's family had led the way, the judge had a dialog with the convicted defendant. Often judges are looking for remorse in defendants. Sometimes they will even hand out soft sentences where they feel there's a conscience at play. In this case she gave Guyger a Bible and a hug, and 10 years. Not sure how that plays in your head as "not impartial". Maybe you expected the death penalty or a long scolding or something else. Frankly I think if more of the criminal system focused more on rehabilitation & paving the way to a comeback rather than "don't drop the soap, wink wink", we'd have a much saner society.
by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 10/08/2019 - 4:46pm
Comments from local pastors
And
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2019/10/03/right-judge-amber-guyger-case-talk-religion-give-bible/
by rmrd0000 on Tue, 10/08/2019 - 5:00pm
Well, I'm not religious, but I would like to see most convicted felons treated this way at end of trial, and sent to prison with the idea that they will try to learn and get back on their feet and become valuable people again.
That's whatever race, if it needs mentioning.
BTW, despite the awfulness of the Guyger shooting, I was more horrified by the police abuse here, as it can't in any way be considered a mistake or confusion, yet it's minutes of horribleness with a cop looking on:
https://www.cleveland19.com/2018/12/18/euclid-residents-speak-out-agains...
And by the way, we're *STILL* not talking about the likely police-led cold-blooded revenge killing on one of the witnesses in the Guyger killing. Why's that? His life doesn't matter? Doesn't fit our Dagblog churn-and-reuse model of racial grievance? They shot his mouth off, i.e. "that'll teach squealers".
by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 10/08/2019 - 11:43pm
And the Joshua Brown case just got weirder:
by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 10/08/2019 - 11:56pm
But no one knows the truth about the shooting of the Guyger witness yet, you are simply presuming it's a police revenge hit.
Joshua Brown, Witness in Amber Guyger Trial, Was Killed in a Drug Deal, Police Say @ NYTimes.com, Oct. 8
Botham Jean’s former neighbor, who testified for prosecutors at Ms. Guyger’s murder trial, was shot to death two days after it ended, fueling widespread speculation.
I am not into getting all upset about a blue wall of silence attack unless I know it really is one.
And the trial was over, what happens after is not all applicable to discussing whether what happened at the trial and sentencing was fair or right or whatever.
Awful lot of people got all outraged for no reason about what happened to Jussie Smollett.This could be police revenge, but two days after trial ends where the guy was in the newspapers, that could also be the ideal time to take vengeance towards a dude who wronged ya in a drug deal. Just sayin'. I am tending to disbelieve because of what went on at the trial, where Guyger herself was remorseful. Why do an honor killing over a lily-livered member of the force, somebody who didn't really wholeheartedly defend the blue line and wimped out, admitting frailty and guilt? It's more likely if they are dirty, they want to see a hit of her. She'd be like a traitor in a way.
by artappraiser on Wed, 10/09/2019 - 12:05am