What the What?, A Tale of Two Officers...

I am so tired of this double standard and/or laws that are especially made up, set aside, drummed up and/or dusted off  for "JUST-us", Black folks that is... The women in both these stories are Black officers draped in blue uniforms. They are being persecuted and scapegoated for virtually what seems an impossible and unwinnable situation wherein they were to be judged wrong and held accountable no matter their decision...    

One was terminated for doing exactly what the other did while the other was terminated for failing to do what her peer did in the same situation. SMH... One incident however is more grotesque than the other because that offending White male officer also assaulted his Black female officer peer, which seems not to have been a violation of department standards as she, not he, was terminated and lost her career and pension of 19 years. She is now a truck driver to support her five children, her assailant continued working and abusing other "suspects" until such time he retired, with his pension I am sure, and upon where official charges were ultimately lodged against him for shooting a Black youth with a BB gun...  

So whether we agree with decisions made by these Black ladies in blue now or in the past, we must not silently sit by and allow this to happen to them without lifting our voice(s). Links to their stories are attached below. Click on the bold headlines to read. 

Choke hold Incident: November 1, 2006 (Buffalo, NY)

Buffalo Cop Loses Job and Pension After She Intervenes with Fellow Officer Choking a Suspect      

By VICE News

December 22, 2014

Officer Cariol Horne

MEANWHILE, in the SAME state, department charges have been brought against a Black Female officer in the Eric Garner case. She has been placed on modified duty, stripped of her badge and her gun pending the outcome of an investigation of her "failure to supervise" acts of a subordinate officer who choked Mr. Garner to death and against whom the department has yet to file charges... 

Choke hold Incident: July 14, 2014 (Staten Island, NY)

NYPD sergeant at scene of Eric Garner chokehold death placed on modified duty, served departmental charges. 

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Friday, January 8, 2016

Sergeant Kizzy Adonis

If in fact the offending officer has not been found culpable of any legal wrong doing by the grand jury, and if after 18 months the department (NYPD) has failed to bring forth any charges against this officer for official misconduct or violation of any department procedure (i.e. use of choke hold), then exactly for what behavior or action taken by her subordinate is Sergeant Adonis accused of witnessing and failing to stop? I'm Confused...  

Are we to believe that while Sergeant Adonis heard Eric Garner begging for his life, stating 11 times that he could not breathe, that somehow the officer actually choking him could not hear his pleas for his life? Really? 

And how convenient is it that a decision to discipline Sergeant Adonis occurs on the eve of satisfying her probation period for her present position? This is happening at a time when she is most professionally vulnerable and has no job protection or readily available remedies to aid in her to fight to keep her job. Like Officer Horne in Buffalo she risks termination losing her career and her pension... 

Does anyone else find it at least a bit disconcerting that a decision to hold Sergeant Adonis accountable for the far graver acts committed by a fellow officer whose actions directly resulted in the death of an innocent Black man comes on the heels of the officer in the Sandra Bland case, whose unprofessional conduct and racial profiling precipitated her being detained and eventually found dead or murdered in her jail cell, being terminated and charged with the simple offense of perjury? On both counts, although horrific acts have been completed by law enforcement, only insignificant charges have resulted. It seems that the public is being pacified and thrown a bone to appease us. Certainly, Sergeant Adonis is being made the scapegoat or sacrificial lamb while the offending officer remains employed and free of accountability. No one can believe that a charge of perjury does anything to address the unexplained loss of life of a Black woman arrested and jailed for a minor traffic offense, failure to signal a lane change, that is barely worthy a written citation. This is crazy...   

On Saturday, I rushed over to the National Action Network to hear Al Sharpton's live radio address feeling certain he would address this issue. Flanked by Mr. Garner's widow and his Mother, he regurgitated the department's justification for the urgency of these charges against Sergeant Adonis because of the proximity of completing her probation. Sooo is Brotha' Al advocating the termination of this Black female when in fact the offending officer who actually committed the crime that took placed 18 months ago has yet to be held accountable? Surely not...  He continued by essentially telling his audience to be patient with the police department as it is taking the long road to justice as it awaits a decision regarding this matter from the Justice Department investigation before taking any further actions of discipline beyond Sergeant Adonis. Really Brotha' Al? I left his event in sheer disgust and feeling more agitated than when I arrived... 

Seems the NYPD is playing both sides of the fence and throwing us, the Black community, a bone in the form of a Black female sergeant scapegoat while at the same time, virtually exonerating the VERY culpable and murderous officer who choked Mr. Garner to death. Is it any coincidence that the only other person who has been charged with any wrong doing in this matter is the young man who filmed the actual choking of Mr. Garner? Hmmmm.... 

Was there or was there not a departmental violation committed by the officer who ended Mr. Garner's life? We should be intolerant fo the department standing in both arguments. If no departmental or legal wrong doing has been committed, as is suggested by the collective non-action against the offending officer by the NYPD, the prosecutor and the grand jury, then how is it that Sergeant Adonis can be charged with the wrong doing, seemingly a departmental infraction of "failing to supervise" a presumed "non offense" by her subordinate? I'm Just Askin'...  

We must not allow that this Sergeant hang from the noose all alone, with no protection, without lifting our voice to speak against use of the age old and much too widely accepted double standard. Did she play by what are otherwise accepted rules of Blue engagement? If her action/inaction is wrong and punishable for her, then it must be wrong and punishable for all others in blue. Yes, this is a wake up call for her and the other Blacks in blue who seem to have misplaced or at least conflicted values. I get that... But let's not lose sight of the fact that it is not all about what she did or did not do, but also about who she is and our not accepting that she be made scapegoat and/or judged by a double standard reserved only for some... 

This special brand of Just-Us is not justice for Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Officer Horn in Buffalo nor any of us... 

Time that we spit out the Kool-aid folks and start asking the right questions and demanding answers! Or at the very least, it is high time that we insist on a more tasteful flavor of Kool-aid... 

I'm Just Askin'...   What the what? 

Balancing The Scales of Justice...

Since the infamous perp walk of Bill Cosby in front of the television cameras for the world to see, I watched Monique Pressley, his attorney, give an interview on CBS This Morning. She is going to give them a fight to the end in her defense of Mr. Cosby. He is lucky to have her. We can only hope that he gets a fair trial which will prove a challenge given the tainted jury pool. Finding someone who has not heard about or who does not have an opinion on this case is all but impossible. One point Ms. Pressley made that seems relevant is that the case for which he has been charged is based on an admission made during his deposition that he purchased quaaludes (in the 70's) with the specific intent to use them to have sex with younger women. He later says, presumably during the deposition, that he misunderstood the question...

Problem for this prosecutor is that he is hanging his hat on that very statement for grounds to reopen this case, grounds that could not be applicable to this complaining witness as in 2004 quaaludes were not manufactured. Unless Mr. Cosby stored these pills for 30 to 40 years, he could not have possibly given them to anyone in 2004. Obviously the prosecutor will try to use other cases, which were never reported and for which the statue of limitation has surely expired, to prove this case. IF the judge is fair, which I don't expect, s/he will not allow admission of any such evidence which I am sure Ms. Pressley will fight to keep out. So it is a stretch for this prosecutor to claim he reopened this case, which was thoroughly investigated and determined to lack sufficient evidence in 2004, based on new information. He is playing to the public. Ms Pressley is adamant that there is nothing revealed in the transcript that sheds any new light on the case involving this witness.

This prosecutor made a campaign promise to reopen this case which was previously closed and settled in a private civil action. The matter should have remained sealed but for the unprecedented decision by a judge who undoubtedly abused his judicial authority when he too caved into public and media pressure and ordered the record unsealed, both he and the overzealous prosecutor are grandstanding and building their careers around this issue. This happens time and time again at all levels of prosecution and most times the public is unaware or unconcerned because we want so desperately to believe in and uphold our justice system. We are too busy or too unaffected to be bothered with demanding an internal review and fix of a system that is undeniably broken. Too busy that is, until it hits home and affects us or our loved ones. Then we are all up in arms wanting the world to come to our defense. It is too late however, our silence has made us complicit in allowing that precedence be set that will now be used against us.

The state had its bite at this apple, the parties settled, the case was closed and now it is reopened. Will this prosecutor stop at the Cosby case for "righting wrongs" of his predecessors? Will he be going back to clean up what I am sure are more legal injustices than we can count that have been adjudicated, or not, in Montgomery County? Given the recent awareness that has now become public knowledge, thanks to camera phones, regarding police brutality, corruption, false arrests and planting evidence, harassment and murders of Black men, will he be revisiting any of those cases to "right previous wrongs"? And how about this "victim"? Did she not accept a civil settlement and thereby enter into an agreement not to discuss the terms of such nor what was discussed in arriving at that settlement? Does her agreeing to work with this hungry prosecutor violate any such agreement? Will she be ordered to return whatever was the monetary settlement reached between she and Mr. Cosby? I'm Just Wonderin'...

For those who question how or why I "defend" Cosby (air quotes because I know not of his guilt or innocence involving private affairs between him and his accusers), understand that it is not about Cosby folks, I see it as a much bigger issue. It is about not tolerating or cheering double standards of "justice" that have been put in place for JUST US by our legal system from time of detainment to ultimate adjudication and all too often conviction; a double standard that we seem to have embraced and/or accepted as SOP where we, Black and/or poor folks, are concerned. If ever you hear yourself responding to the claim that some Black or poor person should have known that they could not expect to do what some other group (usually rich White folks) does, you support and have accepted that you should live your life according a double standard. You have accepted that you expect that you will receive inferior or less just treatment, so don't be surprised when you receive it. We teach folks how to treat us... I will never support a double standard, no matter who the recipient. I made the same claims of unfairness and the legal system playing to the public when Governor Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in Illinois and he is White, so I am consciously consistent in my position. Right is right, wrong is wrong and sometimes it does not feel or smell so good but when consistency and balance of fairness rule the day, there is very little about which one can complain.

We cannot expect that we will get fair treatment when we look the other way and support unfair treatment mostly directed at Blacks and the poor, no matter how grotesque the allegations. I am a woman. I do not advocate what has been alleged in the Cosby case. What I do advocate however is that what is good enough for and applied to us, Blacks and the poor, must be good enough for and applied to all others (i.e. other celebrities, raping police officers, priests). WE must champion to expose the imbalance in the scales of justice and not get caught up in our emotions and manipulated by the press, rubber stamping whatever is put before us. WE must be consistent in our outrage and demand consistency in the application of law no matter who the victim, the act or the perpetrator. As our laws and treatment of some in the justice system is not fair and consistent, I do not support what is happening to Mr. Cosby. This has been my position from the beginning and I exercise my right to free speech to stand firm in that position now. I wish him well...

Be Merry!!!

Talk about coincidence...

Two years ago I shared a story about leaving my keys in a taxi and a couple who I did not know saw me panicking as the taxi drove away and unbeknownst to me and not knowing me or what I left in the taxi, chased the driver down, retrieved my keys and somehow miraculously found me in the lobby of my building stressing about what I was going to do. They were beyond nice and went beyond the call of duty for me, a total stranger. I was so thankful. They would not let me do anything to repay them for their good deed...

Fast forward a month or so ago I parked my car in the wrong spot where I live and after two days of waiting for me to move my car, the complex finally had it towed. I was relieved it cost me only $136 and that I finally had cause to drive it when I did for with every passing day the bill would have been mounting. It could have cost me a helluva' lot more. I left a thoughtful note of apology on the windshield of the inconvenienced driver.

The space I parked in was only four spaces from where I should have parked. What was I thinking? Who knows??? Anyway, I have been hopeful to physically see the person to really apologize. Parking in Harlem is a bear so I know the inconvenience I caused them. Well lo and behold, finally last night we arrived home at the same time. Can you believe it? It is that same couple! What are the chances of that? There are six high rise buildings with 26 floors each where I live. You can live here and literally never see or meet your neighbors.

The husband recognized me right away as I approached his vehicle. He smiled and said Miss Helen! While I would have never recognized him, my recall for names and faces stinks!, when he said that I knew instantly who he was! AMAZING!!! We laughed and caught up on what has happened in the last year or so, I met his children and was hit instantly with how I will repay he and his wife for being so kind when I truly needed an angel. I will go to Kids R Us and get a nice gift card so that they may get something extra to put under the tree for the children.

Life is something and the world is so small. I was so tickled by my chance meeting. Just wanted to share it with you all too!

Tis' the Season.. Be Jolly, Be Merry, Be Good to others and Always thankful when others are good to you!

Be a Blessing! Receive a Blessing! It's called Karma.

Merry Christmas Folks!

When Justice Is Poetic...

Incredibly, mainstream media virtually ignored coverage of a trial involving an Oklahoma City police officer charged with 36 counts of sexual violations committed against 13 Black women while "upholding" the law and in the course of performing his duties as a police officer. No thanks to pressures from the press, women's groups or others who should have been outraged by these atrocious acts of gross misconduct and abuse of police authority, ultimately he was found guilty of 18 of the charges brought against him on his 29th birthday. When Justice is Poetic...   

 

Excerpts from The Daily Mail:

All of his accusers are black. He preyed on women who had trouble with the law, society's most vulnerable — juveniles, drug addicts, and women in custody or with a criminal history, thinking their word would not stand up against his as society tends not to believe black women or value them as other women. He became more brazen with each attack.

Ligons, a grandmother and daycare worker in her 50's, was pulled over while driving home from a night with friends. She said she knew she had done nothing wrong when Holtzclaw assaulted her. 'He did things to me that I didn't think a police officer would do,' 'I was out there alone and helpless, didn't know what to do. 'All I could think of was he was going to shoot me, he was going to kill me. 'I kept pleading, 'Don't make me do this, sir. Are you going to shoot me?'' 'I was so afraid, so helpless.'

Ligons was different from other victims in that she did not have any outstanding warrants or convictions against her. It is her complaint that triggered the investigation leading to charges against the serial rapist cop who victimized 13 women as an Oklahoma City Police officer. He picked the wrong lady to stop that night, 'I wanted to make sure this wouldn't happen again, no way, no how.' Ligons will sue the city for civil damages.

Victim Shardarion Hill said she went into survival mode with Holtzclaw and was forced into doing 'what the man with the badge and gun wanted'.

One woman testified in orange scrubs and handcuffs, because she had been jailed on drug charges hours before appearing in court, but the jury still convicted Holtzclaw of forcible oral sodomy in her case. That woman said he followed her into her bedroom and raped her, telling her, 'This is better than county jail.'

The youngest victim, a 17-year-old girl, was the last to testify. She said Holtzclaw picked her up as she walked home one night in June 2014, and then walked her to the porch, where he told her he had to search her. She said he grabbed her breasts, then pulled down her pink shorts and raped her. Her DNA was found on his uniform trousers. The jury convicted Holtzclaw of first-degree rape, second-degree rape and sexual battery in the girl's case.

The case was heard by an all-white jury. Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater said he had sought a 'good cross-section of our community,' but defense attorneys had eliminated every potential black juror.

During trial the defense attacked the credibility of the women who testified against Holtzclaw, saying they were dishonest. He sought to use the criminal backgrounds of some of the victims to cast doubt on their testimony. He questioned several women at length about whether they were high at the time, and noted that most didn't come forward until investigators identified them

The strategy failed. Poetically, on his 29th birthday, Holtzclaw was found guilty of 18 of the 36 charges against him and faces 263 years behind bars. Defense attorney declined to comment...

It's NOT Entertainment Folks!

Good for Huffington Post for taking a stand regarding donald trump making a national buffoon of himself and international fools of the rest of us in his quest to suggest that he can actually preside over our country. I did not realize that they had stopped covering trump under the political section of their on-line news feed but had appropriately moved coverage of his “campaign” to the entertainment section. I get it…

Huff Post has now decided however that the buffoon is no longer even entertaining as he jeopardizes US national security with his latest over the top, factually void, hate filled venom now being spewed at the Muslim community over both domestic and international airwaves. Take him serious or not folks, to the rest of the world he is perceived as a viable American candidate for what many regard the “highest office in the land”, President of the United States of America, with impressive poll numbers no less that presumably speak to the mood of the country.

Like it or not, we, the sane American people, are perceived as supportive of or in agreement with the hurtful things this rich and otherwise previously impressive American presidential candidate says or does.  That we gasp in horror, shake our head in disbelief, raise our eyebrows and look wide eyed or side eyed at one another when he speaks, or that we cringe at the very sight of him on our television screen and silently wish that he would just go away goes unnoticed by the outside world. Our silence renders us to the outside world, indifferent or supportive of the havoc and chaos he is creating all around us. Our media’s incessant coverage of his antics in their insatiable pursuit of ratings, from news outlets to hosting Saturday Night Live, fuels this notion that we are supportive or indifferent. By association with trump, we are deemed guilty of his ignorance and hatred toward all people not White and not male, he has insulted all other groups and yet we seem to keep propping him up.  Accordingly we will not be spared when the stuff inevitably hits the fan!

Huffington Post President and Editor in Chief, Arianna Huffington, in her feminine wisdom and courage, has determined that trump’s spew is inciting and dangerous. Her news source has categorized his rhetoric taunting to buffoons of another sort, those extremists who discredit the Muslim religion with acts of terror and violence aimed at those they determine enemies for whatever reason that seems logical only to them. Their aim will not be solely exacted upon donald trump who by the way has around the clock security protection, but at the rest of us as well.  The Huff Post considers trump a threat to national security and rightfully so. They join in Dana Millbank’s assessment in the Washington Post, to call a spade a spade, wherein he declared trump a racist and a bigot! Entertaining however, he is not! 

Going forward, Huff Post reporting will include documented support of just how crazy, xenophobic, vile, racist, unintelligent and dangerous trump and his rhetoric are. Good for Huff Post! Now does mainstream media have the chutzpah to follow suit? This move represents a major a shift in American journalism. It is not the AP or whatever national body it is that combs the news and feeds us the same ole’ lines with the same ole’ slant, no matter the source. The internet has changed all that and now the public can decide for itself what is newsworthy, what version of the story we want to hear and how we want to hear it. We can demand fair, equal, uncensored, unfiltered, non-racist and unbiased reporting. This is long overdue…

Again, hats off to Huff Post! This is a good and responsible decision. I hope other news outlets will follow suit. Just stop giving him coverage…  Incredible that a man so rich in wealth and material goods can be so bankrupt in every other way. I hope Americans will boycott all things trump. I know I will…  

"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." 

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Speak On Mrs. Curry, Speak On!!!

It appears that some feathers have been ruffled by comments made by Ayesha Curry regarding how some women dress. Well, I don't find fault with what she said. It is her opinion and she has every right to express it. If women who choose to dress otherwise feel offended, they must probe that for themselves. She said nothing offensive and the way some women dress is tasteless, seemingly inspired by the shock factor to get attention and it should be examined by other women, not men, magazines or fashion companies for obvious reasons...

It is a conversation to be had between women and for the record, not only feminists speak for women and it is WRONG for them to try to shut down or discredit women who don't subscribe to their way of thinking, their dialogue, women who choose to walk a different path. Where was the voice of feminists when a magazine chose to discredit the value and achievements of women by naming Jenner Woman of the Year? Where is the feminist voice in support of the 13 women who are essentially on trial in Oklahoma for being raped by a cop? Where is the feminist voice when working Mothers are sent to prison for daring to achieve a better life and education for their children and send them to schools in better districts? Where is the feminist voice on matters that matter? Oops, I digress...

How crazy is it to accuse a woman who prefers to dress tastefully of "slut shaming" those who choose to dress provocatively? How crazy is that when the line has certainly been blurred? I often joke that the johns', and I imagine the cops too, must get confused sometimes on who is actually soliciting and how many of us have not looked side eyed at the woman in the office (and probably even church) who is actually dressed for the night club? Come on now Ladies since this is our conversation, let's at least be truthful with ourselves. Everyone has a right to dress how she wishes. Everyone has a right to express an opinion about it and we don't all have to agree. It's OK... IJS...

Good for Ayesha! Keep talkin' Girl!!

Happy Birthday Mommy...

Miss Higgi & Wendell Pierce

I tend to read a few books at a time. Presently, one of the books I am reading is authored by actor turned writer, Wendell Pierce, The Wind in the Reeds. He takes the reader on a journey exploring his life from youth to adulthood and pays homage to all the people and experiences that influenced and shaped the man and the phenomenal and socially conscious actor he is today. He passionately writes about his beloved community, Pontchartrain Park, a historically Black working and middle class community thriving in the lower ninth ward section of New Orleans. The book is filled with his love and commitment to preserve, protect and rebuild not only the physical structures post the devastation of Hurricane Katrina but also the integrity and legacy of the only "home" and community he knew, a home and community built by the hard work of his parents and so many others.

Pontchartrain Park, like 90% of New Orleans, was submerged under water on that fateful day in August 2005. Painful memories and disappointment in our government are forever seared in my mind following Hurricane Katrina. I am forever embittered that the US government stood by and essentially did nothing to save fellow citizens and that mainstream media accorded suffering Americans less respect than that given persons suffering similar catastrophes in foreign lands. The government ignored their suffering and the press actually demoted them to non-citizen status referring to them as "refugees" in their own land. It was a truly tragic event, another stain on the face of race relations in American history, Unforgettable, unforgivable and inexcusable.

Thankfully, Mr. Pierce happened to be in New Orleans on a day when his parents needed him most. Following his Mother's hunch to evacuate, he helped drive his Family to safety some 70 miles away. Their home was completely destroyed but not their spirit. The Family was displaced for 16 months while their new home gifted to them by their son was being re-built. He is a kind, loving and appreciative son. He writes that to give his parents a new home gave him great pleasure. This is a feel-good, uplifting and positive book about a Black Family and a Black community. I strongly recommend that you read it...

It is out of character for me to skip ahead in a book. Knowing the outcome spoils the reading. This was not that type of book however and I vowed that I would finish this reading over the holiday weekend. This morning I was halfway through, down to the last five chapters. After reading two chapters, for some odd reason, I skipped two and jumped ahead to read the final chapter. I knew from reading in a previous chapter that Mr. Pierce's Mother, who he affectionately called "Tee" was going to pass away somewhere during the course of reading this book. I was in no hurry to get to that part. He wrote so eloquently of his love, respect and admiration for his Mother that he literally made me fall in love with her too. I was saddened to know that eventually I would read of his loss. The chapter I jumped to was the final chapter of the book wherein he detailed his Mother's illness, her final moments, her final wishes and how ultimately he comes to terms with her passing. He loves her so as I do my Mom who ironically would have celebrated her 74th birthday today. So now I know what prompted me to skip ahead specifically to the last chapter...

As I read Mr. Pierce's very moving account of his emotions leading up and to following the loss of his Mother, I found myself between the pages of his last chapter vividly reliving my own story of pain and loss and my final moments with my own Mother. Quiet tears rolled down my cheeks as I experienced with him the uncompromising love he felt for his Mother and that I shared with my Mother. There was nothing he would not do for her at that moment or throughout her life. I can identify. My Mom was my world...

It has been 28 years since My Mother's passing. As always, she is heavy on my mind and love for her is permanently nestled in my heart. Of course she is especially in my thoughts today because it is her birthday. What would I give to hear her laughter, to make her smile, to show her the world, to shower her with gifts and reciprocate the love and sacrifices she made for me as a child? I love her so... Sadly, I also long for her presence especially today because she could help me to navigate yet another loss. I am still reeling from an act of hurt and betrayal so egregious toward me by one of her other children that I could use her maternal wisdom and comfort that might someday move me toward forgiveness. Some things only a Mother can do... I read this chapter and I am gratefully reminded of lessons learned and impressions held some 28 years ago, that I not only lost my Mother and best Friend but also my Family. She was it... Thankful that where the blood of family has failed me, the bonds of Family established by choice and through friendship have sustained me...  

Be good to your Moms folks, it may be the only unconditional and always reciprocated love you will know and read the book!

Thankful Always for a WONDERFUL Mother and I'm sure she can hear me when I say, 

Happy Birthday Mommy!  

I Miss & I Love You!!!