black…MYstory

A little over 2 years ago, I first read about the death of Pfc. Lavena Johnson.  Since that time, I have posted several times about her case and how there are too many questions about how she died and the condition in which she was found to dismiss her death as simply a suicide.  Given what her parents say (one of whom is a medical doctor), the condition of her body gave them reason to believe that their daughter was raped and murdered.

It’s no secret that there is a huge issue of sexual assault as it pertains to female soldiers.  However, until very recently, something had not been disclosed — military policy itself has been putting female soldiers at risk.

A while back, I posted about the military allowing moral waivers to get more bodies to Iraq.  In a nutshell, it allowed people with dubious, criminal backgrounds to be enlisted into the armed services.  At the time, I was just looking at the fact that, because of these moral waivers, the military had an emerging gang problem, as you had recruits from groups like the Crips, Bloods, Latin Kings, Gangster Disciples,neo-nazis and the Klan knowingly being admitted to the ranks.

But, it also appears that there were other criminal types being allowed to serve - people with “felony convictions for crimes like rape and sexual assault”.  That’s right — the U.S. military is allowing convicted rapists to serve alongside female soldiers and to be deployed into civilian populations in Iraq.

I am not saying that this is why or how Lavena Johnson died but, this is a point to consider.  The military already has a pretty shabby record of protecting female troops from sexual assaults by soldiers with no known criminal records.  However, by adding known rapists to the ranks, this is a recipe for disaster.

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Last August, a 21-year-old Nigel Haskett, an employee at an Arkansas McDonald’s, came to the aid of a patron who was being assaulted by her boyfriend.  He succeeded in getting the man out of the door and stood in front of it to bar his entry.  The man then went to his car, got a gun and shot Haskett several times.

Nigel Haskett fought for his life and survived.  He is now fighting McDonald’s for $300,000 in worker’s comp claims to cover his medical expenses.   McDonald’s claims that it is right to deny Haskett coverage because, as a part of their 30-minute orientation, McDonald’s employees are supposedly informed that they are supposed to only call 911 in emergency situations.  However, in many instances, courts have sided with “good samaritans” in cases like this, especially when it would result in good will towards the employer.

Clearly, a case like this could have generated some rather positive press for McDonald’s, had they played their cards right.  Instead, they are now looking like an evil empire for denying claims to an employees hurt while trying to protect a McDonald’s customer.

I think McDonald’s will soon realize that what they will lose in good will and lost opportunity will soon exceed $300,000.

Update: Here’s a video of the incident in question.

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Last month, I posted a story about Robbie Tolan.  Tolan, a minor league baseball player and son of form MLB player Bobbie Tolan, was shot in his own driveway in an affluent Houston suburb by a police officer who claims to have believed he was driving a stolen vehicle.

The circumstance surrounding the shooting, as well as the races of those involved. are raising clear questions about whether or not Tolan was racially profiled. Since that time, though not willing to come out and say that her city has a problem, the mayor of the suburb of Bellaire, TX, has already hired an outside consultant to look into traffic data in her town to determine if there is a pattern of racial profiling.

More importantly, perhaps, is that Robbie Tolan and his family will get a chance to tell their side of the story to the nation.  Tomorrow night, on HBO’s Real Sports, there will be a segment highlighting this incident.  Here’s some of what was discussed in that interview:

(Sgt. Jeff) Cotton “never said a word. He never said ‘shut up.’ He never said ‘get down’ or ‘stay down.’ He never said a word. He picked his gun, he took his gun and he just shot him,’” she said.

Robert Tolan told Gumbel that he found it difficult to return to the family home because “even though they cleaned it up, I can see the blood on the floor and on the concrete. I mean, I see everything that night.”

His parents remain critical of the manner in which the case has been handled by Bellaire officials and skeptical about their chances for a just resolution.

Referring to general comments by Bellaire Mayor Cindy Siegel in support of police, Marian Tolan said, “We’re residents of Bellaire. They didn’t serve and protect us. We weren’t passing through. We weren’t visiting. We’ve lived here.”

Real Sports will air Tuesday, February 17,2009.  Check your local listings for times.

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A few weeks ago, I shared a story about 3 men who went on a racist rampage that included beating a black teen with a metal pipe and police baton and hitting a white man, who they mistook for a black man, with a car, leaving him in a coma for 2 months. Their motive — anger over Barack Obama’s election to the Presidency.

Well, to keep the hate going, last week, three men were indicted for setting a black church ablaze on November 5,2008 because Barack Obama had won. The men, Benjamin Haskell, 22, Michael Jacques, 24, and Thomas Gleason, 21, stand accused of setting fire to the predomininately-black Macedonia Church of God in Springfield, Mass.

If convicted, the men each face up to 10 years in prison.

In related news, ladies and gentlemen, I am sorry to report that Barack Obama’s election as President has not ended racism.

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You may have been ripped off and not know it yet.

Today,  Heartland Payment Systems has come out and stated that a breach of their systems occurred last year and it was huge.  In fact, it may be one of the largest breaches ever reported, with tens of millions of credit and debit transactions being comprimised.

Here’s why you might be at risk.  Heartland Payment Systems handles credit and debit card transactions for some 250,000 businesses.  40% of their clients are small to mid-size restaurants but, currently Heartland is declining to mention who some of those clients are.

The president of the company, Robert Baldwin, stated that the Secret Service helped to determine that the breach was from mailicious software on Heartland’s network but, they don’t know how long the software’s been on their systems.  So, with a monthly volume of over 100 million transactions monthly, one could imagine that the impact could be tremendous.

So, check your statements (you may want to go back a few months, too).  With a breach this big, you information may be at risk.

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If you were like me, you were horrified when you saw the footage of the killing of Oscar Grant III on the morning of New Year’s day at the hands of a police officer in an Oakland, CA train station.

The officer who shot Grant, Johannes Mehserle, abrubtly resigned right before he was to speak with internal affairs regarding this incident.

The latest on this case is that  Johannes Mehserle has been arrested in Nevada on a fugitive warrant.

The charge: suspicion of murder.

From my perspective, it seems pretty clear what happened but, as we know, what the public perceives and what happens in a courtroom are separate and distinct things.  However, in this case, I hope that justice prevails.

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Once again, we have a case of a young black man dying under suspicion circumstances in an encounter with police.  This time, it was in New Orleans, Lousiana, in the early morning of January 1, 2009.

Adolph Grimes III had relocated to Texas with his fiancée in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  He rushed back to New Orleans on New Year’s Eve of this year, along with his fiancée and 17-month-old son, to ring in the new year with his family.

According to his father, Adolph Grimes Jr., his son made it with just seconds to spare.

The family was celebrating at Adolph Grimes III’s grandmother’s house.  At approximately 3am, Grimes walked out of his grandmother’s house and was waiting in his car for his cousin when 9 undercover cops drove up and surrounded the car.

Next, there was a barrage of shooting.

Police are saying that Grime started the shooting but, police shot at Grimes a total of 48 times.  Grimes was hit 14 times, with 12 of those rounds hitting him in the back, killing him.

Grimes did have a handgun on him which, according to family members, was legally registered.  He also had a shotgun and some rounds in his trunk.  Grimes had no criminal history and had graduated from one of New Orleans’ most prestigious high schools.

A lot of questions need answering.  First of all, 9 undercover, plain-clothes officers surrounded the vehicle.  Did they identify themselves as police officers?  Secondly, do they have ballistics test showing that Grimes even fired his weapon?  If so, how are we to know if he indeed fired first or simply fired back?  Thirdly, how did Grimes go from being inside his vehicle to dying block away from his grandmother’s?  Perhaps, could he have thought that he was being carjacked as opposed to being arrested. Did he run for that reason?

My questions, obviously, are only speculation.  By some of the comments I’ve read on the articles above, there are people who want to blame Grimes because he owned a gun, something that many white men in this country do, often in even greater abundance.  The fact is, there seemed to be no reason for those officers to approach that vehicle in the way that they did.

Some are comparing this killing to that of Oscar Grant III but, I actually compare it to the killing of Sean Bell.  In both instances, you have the shooting victim encountering plain-clothes, undercover cops, who may not have identified themselves as such.  In both instances, these men died in a hail of bullets.  In both instances, these men were apparently doing nothing illegal And, in both instances, these men left fiancées, children, a host of family members and a lot of unanswered questions behind.

Let’s hope that, unlike the Sean Bell case, truth and justice prevail.

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Honestly, I knew that there were going to be acts of violence associated with the election of Barack Obama as president.  Some people are so full of fear and hate that such a change elicits violent and irrational responses.  Nonetheless, reading about such things still affects me.

Three Staten Island, New York men are being charged with federal hate crimes after a rash of Election-night assaults that ended with one man in a coma.

Ralph Nicoletti, Michael Contreras and Brian Carranza  formed a makeshift clubhouse to watch the Election-night results.  Seeing that Obama had won, the group decided to take out their anger on unsuspecting victims in a predominately-black neighborhood in Staten Island.

Their crimes included a metal pipe and baton beating of 17-year-old Ali Kamara, a young black man who was badly bruised on the arms, legs and torso and required staples to close the lacerations on his head.

However, their worst attack was reserved for Ronald Forte, a 38-year-old white man.  On that rainy Election-night, Forte was wearing a hooded sweatshirt.  Believing him to be a black man, Nicoletti hit him with the car in which they were riding.  Forte was flipped over the hood, smashing the windshield.  He has been in a coma for over two months, requiring a respirator to breathe.  According to Forte’s family, he is suffering from brain damage and motor control problems, as well.

A search of Nicoletti’s home produced more weapons and a note implicating him as the ringleader of the crew.

To read the federal indictment against the three men, click the link below:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9832472/Federal-indictment-against-three-teens

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Today, IndyMedia released new and clearer footage of the shooting of Oscar Grant.  This video was taken at a much closer range and shows, in much more detail, what transpired in the moments before, during and after, the killing of Oscar Grant III.

Thanks to RawStory.com for the video.  It can be viewed below:

 

 Oscar Grant Shooting - New Footage: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Fortunately, today, Robbie Tolan is still alive but, his potential baseball career is in jeopardy.  On December 31, 2008, Tolan and his cousing were returning to the family’s home after making a late-night run to get some food. They were driving Tolan’s parents’ SUV and had pulled into the driveway when they say a man with a gun and a flashlight approached them.

According to the two men, the officer did not identify himself.  The officer and his partner had both men on lie on the ground.  In the meantime, Tolan’s parents heard a commotion (it was in their own driveway, after all) and came out to see what was happening.  Police will only say that an “altercation” occured.  The family says that Tolan’s mother was pushed up against a wall.  The family says that when Tolan tried to lean up to see what was happening, he was shot in the chest.  The bullet went through his lung and lodged in his liver.  Tolan, the son of former Major League player Bobby Tolan, is currently recovering in a Houston hospital and the officer in question, Sgt. Jeff Cotton, and his partner are on administrative leave after the shooting.

However, this incident has sparked serious concerns about this being a case of racial profiling. The family resides in the prominent, mostly-white suburb of Bellaire.  Police officials deny that race was a factor but, many are asking what prompted the officers to suspect that the vehicle was stolen.

Both men were unarmed.

The family has retained legal counsel and is asking that charges be filed against the officer.

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