I have been watching this case lately. As murder cases go (trust me, we have plenty here in Killadelph) this one has been pretty interesting. I have no connection to it whatsoever, and it has been in the local newspapers, so I can talk about it.
Now when I wrote about the Philadelphia Hunting Club awhile back it was meant to be satirical. Just my way of trying to make some sense of all the killings that we have been having in our city. Little did I know that some folks were taking that shit literally. Yes, they were really using the mean streets of Killadelphia as a hunting club.
"White supremacist Thomas Gibison took a few friends on several 'hunting' trips to Philadelphia 'to target not only blacks, but any other minority, homeless person or homosexual'. This is what Mr. Gibison's ex-girlfriend told the Philadelphia Daily News: "he often bragged about how he earned his [spider]web[tattoo] and tried to convince all of us in his tight circle of so called friends to do the same...I am certain that Tom is a cold blooded killer."
Thomas Gibison was on trial these past few days for the murder of a 39 year old North Philadelphia handyman, way back in 1989. The prosecution alleges that Gibison shot Aaron Wood with a 38 caliber weapon in the left temple, totally at random, and because the poor man was black; as he walked between two cars on a North Philadelphia street. During the trial, a childhood friend of Gibison also testified that he drove Gibison from Newark, Delaware to hunt for a black person to kill so that both of them could "earn" their spider web tattoos. (I will remember to look for that spider web tattoo from here on out. You just never know when a mofo might want to add a big ass bald headed buck to his collection).
But seriously, Mr. Gibison's trial ended with him not being convicted of first-degree murder. It seems juror No.12 was the lone holdout. He actually believed that Mr. Gibison had killed someone, but it just wasn't poor Mr. Wood. So they came back with a split verdict and found my skinhead friend guilty of conspiracy and weapons violations (doesn't he know that he has to get a permit when he wants to use the Philadelphia Hunting Club?), but they acquitted him of murder and ethnic intimidation. If there really is a god he will have a black cellmate while he does his stretch. So what are you in for? Ahhh, well, you see Leon it's like this....
Those of you who are outraged because you think the skinhead got away with murdering a black man, don't be. At least not if you aren't as outraged at the numerous black men who were murdered by other black men in our city this year alone. Not to mention the 37 unsolved murders during the time period that my skinhead friend supposedly was earning his spider web tats. Those murders weren't all committed by some loony as skinheads, they were committed by one of us, the hunted.
**Read the story here. And please folks, check out the comments. You can learn alot from the comments.
29 comments:
Powerful post Field.
Before I comment on your piece, Field, I want to comment on your sidebar about the NAACP's selection of Ben Jealous as the Director.
I know Freddie Haynes, and I also learned at the Media Reform Convention in Minneapolis this past weekend, that George Curry had that piece coming out in the press.
Let's just say that the selection process was rigged to make sure Julian's man got the job. There have been those instances where pastors selected for the position were allowed to keep those positions, and to ask Freddie Haynes to give up his position when that hasn't been precedent, speaks directly to rigging; not to mention that Jealous was allowed to lobby for the position in my hometown of Oakland-San Fran, but Haynes, who has roots in San Francisco (his grandfather founded and pastored Third Baptist Church, the largest Black Church in San Fran) was specifically instructed not to lobby, also speaks to changing the rules during the game, and creating disparate treatment of one candidate over another.
In other words, the NAACP engaged in the very acts of legal violation it was formed to protect.
DISCRIMINATION.
And Julian Bond should be made to give an account of what was wrong with Freddie Haynes. No disrespect to Ben Jealous, but being Julian's Man also means the NAACP will return to feeding at the trough of corporate greed for bootstrapping and profit, and no real teeth to challenge civil rights issues if they still had any teeth.
And when can 63 Negroes agree on any one thing? It's the main reason Bruce Gordorn got shown the door.
Sorry for being off topic - but I had an insider's scoop of sorts on that selection.
As for the Philly being a Hunting Club, what's in the water in your town that's creating that?
Yes, the comments were repulsive.
But I just can't get over Cynthia King's big ole' SEXY BODY in the post below, Field! Where is some dressing and cranberry sauce to go with that? (I'm kidding, everybody).
Zack, you are a bad young man and I am going to get "grandma" on you if you keep it up.
Thanks dmd!
Christ prog. thanks for the scoop.
And I wish I knew what these crqazy ass folks are putting in the water here.
(Four shot outside of a speak-easy club over the weekend. Including a 6 year old. Don't ask. None of them died, not yet, so I can't update my murder count from that incident yet)
The saddest thing about this story was the senseless death of Aaron Wood. I don't care who killed him. His death was a terrible, terrible crime against Mr. Wood and his family.
This man was likely a father, a husband, a brother, an uncle, and a friend to so many. And for someone to decide that it was okay to kill the man was wrong, just plain wrong.
Good grief. Hunting clubs. Too upsetting to contemplate. I didn't like the news article's reference to the presence of drugs and alcohol in the system of the victim. Since when should that matter unless somebody dies in a car accident?
I'm accustomed to the types of comments under the article. In the New Orleans paper, commenters turn almost every article into an occasion for a racial hate-fest, even if the article is just about somebody having a heart attack or something. Terrible comments under that article.
Great post.
morning field..
this is just disturbing... an urban hunting club... crikey..
it sounds like a movie... a very scary movie...
hell spike would do well to make this instead of messing with clint...
mind you.. we are hunting our own on a daily basis..
in london not a weekend goes by when a teenager doesn't die at the hands of another...
so very sad...
His isn't the only club where you have to kill somebody to be a fully inducted member.
"this is just disturbing... an urban hunting club... crikey..
it sounds like a movie... a very scary movie... "
marci, to far too many people this is real life.
a.f. I feel you on the NO thing. But why is that I wonder? Here it's never racial, because so much of it is black on black.
I'm sadly, not surprised at all that this killer got off of the murder charges. He had a private attorney. Almost any one that is a half way decent defense atty. can win cases in Philly cause the DAs in this town are too often unprepared or just incompetent, or they are relying on half ass police work to prosecute their cases.
What was the name of that short story we had to read in high school where men went to an island hunted people? I can't remember the title but I believe the story was pointing how we can be so inhumane to each other.
This post really upset me. The level of violent crime in America is a disgrace. The sad thing is, I don't see it getting any better any time soon.
Well, now we have some foundation in fact for what some of us here in Cincinnati have thought for a long time.
Some here have known for some time now that our "unsolved" murders were being done by the police or supremacists. But we had no proof.
We still don't have any real proof but, if it can happen in Philly it can happen anywhere.
What a twisted ignorant shit.
This sounds like something straight out of a novel or a televised mini-series on cable.
I don't know what's in the water in Philly, but as sure as isht flows downstream, it's here in the water in Georgia too.
I don't know which is more disturbing-hearing about black on black crime, senseless police killings, or this hunt club. In the end, a human life has been taken away.
This "hunting club" crap is just sick. Damn, there are some seriously sick bastards in our world.
WARNING: Off-topic:
An Open Letter to Certain White Women Who Are Threatening to Withhold Support from Obama in November
Your Whiteness is Showing
By TIM WISE
This is an open letter to those white women who, despite their proclamations of progressivism, and supposedly because of their commitment to feminism, are threatening to withhold support from Barack Obama in November. You know who you are.
I know that it's probably a bad time for this. Your disappointment at the electoral defeat of Senator Hillary Clinton is fresh, the sting is new, and the anger that animates many of you--who rightly point out that the media was often sexist in its treatment of the Senator--is raw, pure and justified.
That said, and despite the awkward timing, I need to ask you a few questions, and I hope you will take them in the spirit of solidarity with which they are genuinely intended. But before the questions, a statement if you don't mind, or indeed, even if (as I suspect), you will mind it quite a bit.
First, for those of you threatening to actually vote for John McCain and to oppose Senator Obama, or to stay home in November and thereby increase the likelihood of McCain winning and Obama losing (despite the fact that the latter's policy platform is virtually identical to Clinton's while the former's clearly is not), all the while claiming to be standing up for women...
For those threatening to vote for John McCain or to stay home and increase the odds of his winning (despite the fact that he once called his wife the c-word in public and is a staunch opponent of reproductive freedom and gender equity initiatives, such as comparable worth legislation), all the while claiming to be standing up for women...
For those threatening to vote for John McCain or to stay home and help ensure Barack Obama's defeat, as a way to protest what you call Obama's sexism (examples of which you seem to have difficulty coming up with), all the while claiming to be standing up for women...
Your whiteness is showing.
When I say your whiteness is showing this is what I mean: You claim that your opposition to Obama is an act of gender solidarity, in that women (and their male allies) need to stand up for women in the face of the sexist mistreatment of Clinton by the press. On this latter point--the one about the importance of standing up to the media for its often venal misogyny--you couldn't be more correct. As the father of two young girls who will have to contend with the poison of patriarchy all their lives, or at least until such time as that system of oppression is eradicated, I will be the first to join the boycott of, or demonstration on, whatever media outlet you choose to make that point. But on the first part of the above equation--the part where you insist voting against Obama is about gender solidarity--you are, for lack of a better way to put it, completely full of crap. And what's worse is that at some level I suspect you know it. Voting against Senator Obama is not about gender solidarity. It is an act of white racial bonding, and it is grotesque.
If it were gender solidarity you sought, you would by definition join with your black and brown sisters come November, and do what you know good and well they are going to do, in overwhelming numbers, which is vote for Barack Obama. But no. You are threatening to vote not like other women--you know, the ones who aren't white like you and most of your friends--but rather, like white men! Needless to say it is high irony, bordering on the outright farcical, to believe that electorally bonding with white men, so as to elect McCain, is a rational strategy for promoting feminism and challenging patriarchy. You are not thinking and acting as women, but as white people. So here's the first question: What the hell is that about?
And you wonder why women of color have, for so long, thought (by and large) that white so-called feminists were phony as hell? Sister please...
Your threats are not about standing up for women. They are only about standing up for the feelings of white women, and more to the point, the aspirations of one white woman. So don't kid yourself. If you wanted to make a statement about the importance of supporting a woman, you wouldn't need to vote for John McCain, or stay home, thereby producing the same likely result--a defeat for Obama. You could always have said you were going to go out and vote for Cynthia McKinney. After all, she is a woman, running with the Green Party, and she's progressive, and she's a feminist. But that isn't your threat is it? No. You're not threatening to vote for the woman, or even the feminist woman. Rather, you are threatening to vote for the white man, and to reject not only the black man who you feel stole Clinton's birthright, but even the black woman in the race. And I wonder why? Could it be...?
See, I told you your whiteness was showing.
And now for a third question, and this is the biggie, so please take your time with it: How is it that you have managed to hold your nose all these years, just like a lot of us on the left, and vote for Democrats who we knew were horribly inadequate--Kerry, Gore, Clinton, Dukakis, right on down the uninspiring line--and yet, apparently can't bring yourself to vote for Barack Obama? A man who, for all of his shortcomings (and there are several, as with all candidates put up by either of the two [blocked::http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1932360689/counterpunchmaga] major corporate parties) is surely more progressive than any of those just mentioned. And how are we to understand that refusal--this sudden line in the proverbial sand--other than as a racist slap at a black man? You will vote for white men year after year after year--and are threatening to vote for another one just to make a point--but can't bring yourself to vote for a black man, whose political views come much closer to your own, in all likelihood, than do the views of any of the white men you've supported before. How, other than as an act of racism, or perhaps as evidence of political insanity, is one to interpret such a thing?
See, black folks would have sucked it up, like they've had to do forever, and voted for Clinton had it come down to that. Indeed, they were on board the Hillary train early on, convinced that Obama had no chance to win and hoping for change, any change, from the reactionary agenda that has been so prevalent for so long in this culture. They would have supported the white woman--hell, for many black folks, before Obama showed his mettle they were downright excited to do so--but you won't support the black man. And yet you have the audacity to insist that it is you who are the most loyal constituency of the Democratic Party, and the one before whom Party leaders should bow down, and whose feet must be kissed?
Your whiteness is showing.
Look, I couldn't care less about the Party personally. I left the Democrats twenty years ago when they told me that my activism in the Central America solidarity and South African anti-apartheid movements made me a security risk, and that I wouldn't be able to get clearance to be in some parade with Governor Dukakis. Yeah, seriously. But for you to act as though you are the indispensible voters, the most important, the ones whose views should be pandered to, whose every whim should be the basis for Party policy, is not only absurd, it is also racist in that it, a) ignores and treats as irrelevant the much more loyal constituency of black folks, without whom no Democrat would have won anything in the past twenty years (and indeed the racial gap favoring the Democrats among blacks is about six times larger than the gender gap favoring them among white women, relative to white men); and b) demonstrates the mentality of entitlement and superiority that has been long ingrained in us as white folks--so that we believe we have the right to dictate the terms of political engagement, and to determine the outcome, and to get our way, simply because for so long we have done just that.
But that day is done, whether you like it or not, and you are now left with two, and only two choices, so consider them carefully: the first is to stand now in solidarity with your black brothers and sisters and welcome the new day, and help to push it in a truly progressive and feminist and antiracist direction, while the second is to team up with white men to try and block the new day from dawning. Feel free to choose the latter. But if you do, please don't insult your own intelligence, or ours, by insisting that you've done so as a radical political act.
-I apologize, Field, but I thought this was too good to miss.
I nominate Mr. Wise as an Honorary Field Negro (I am not alone in this nomination).
-Sorry, Field.
I nominate Mr. Wise as an Honorary Field Negro of the Year (I am not alone in this nomination).
im surprised the media whores Jesse and Al haven't jumped on this.
"Those of you who are outraged because you think the skinhead got away with murdering a black man, don't be. At least not if you aren't as outraged at the numerous black men who were murdered by other black men in our city this year alone. Not to mention the 37 unsolved murders during the time period that my skinhead friend supposedly was earning his spider web tats. Those murders weren't all committed by some loony as skinheads, they were committed by one of us, the hunted."
Yes! Yes! It's easy to deplore the white supremists but what about the daily slaughter of black men by black men? I don't EVEN want to hear the ususal excuses about why black people kill black people. Stop making excuses for black predators.
To all leaving comments: what are you doing to help young black men find their way? Mentoring? Adopting? Trying to change how american history is taught so the first thing we learn is no longer we were slaves? the answer probably is just complaining. Evil is evil, and people who care not about themselves do not care about the lives of others. I just took a college history class, we learned how great the founding fathers were even though they owned slaves. I am tired of black ppl putting down black people, where are the uplifting stories? the suggestions of change or help or something? Every black blog I read just puts black people down. Conclusion black people do nothing positive, life sucks so why not be full of hate. BTW I have opened my own school because I never wanted MY SON to be taught we were slaves and nothing else, my family mentors and has adopted children. We are out there making a difference. So if you are tired of blacks killing blacks DO SOMETHING TO AFFECT CHANGE!! OR STHU!
P.S. why are there stories about FOX News why comment on such a negative channel, I have not watched Fox News since 9/11 because I had tuned it out before that. is there not one black blog with anything positive to say, seems like propagating negativity by passing it along to others
Disheartening story - great blog.
Startling monikers, reminiscent of the old southern-speak I heard as a child - hit 'em hard with reality, I suppose.
And be careful if you head to Dixie, because Perdue and the rebel flag waving idiots under the Gold Dome in Atlanta have passed a new NRA penned "gun law" which allows carrying loaded weapons into churchs, offices, bars and restaurants. This being right on the heals of the "right to use deadly force" law -- which was tantamount to more pandering towards the Dixie "gun club" crowd.
(Disclaimer: I own handguns, but these actions are appalling.)
Peace.
I'd like to say I'm surprised but I'm not. We are one seriously fucked up species field.
Field is absolutely right. We went ballistic because of the actions of white south africa and Rhodesia. Now those same people are being brutalized. Shantytowns are being bulldozed. Opposition politics are outlawed in those same countries we mobilized against. Yet simply because the oppressor has a black face we say nothing of the inhumanity. It seems to be OK when Mugabe oppresses yet NOT OK when it is done by Ian Smith.
All over Africa people are being killed, starved, raped, sold, dismembered in the most horrific way and we say nothing because the bad guys are black. Eeirly similar to the black on black carnage in our neighborhoods that we ignore, minimize and blame on society/whitey/etc... simply because the murderers are black, the people who raised them are black and the people who excuse them are black.
I look back to the Duke case. We got so amped when we thought a sister was raped by whites yet we ignored more than 10 black on black rapes that occured in the same area during the same time. We seem to only value our lives when whites compromise them.
Tell me how this "hunting club" shit differs from gang activity in the hood....other than race. Tell me how it differs from the race war in Cali thats happenning now. And spare me the east coast "it aint no thang". blacks and latinos are at WAR here. I live here, I know. Latinos kill blacks here just because we are black. It seems our "leadership" wants to ignore the reality and put forth this "black/brown" alliance. NOTHING could be farther from the truth.
All out warfare will be in the streets here very soon, you will see.
Thanks Field for the post I hadn't heard about this yet.
This is another indicator that the rulers/power structure/ powers that be, have done their job well. The system which perpetuates racist myths and stereotypes are to some degree responsible for the deranged nuts who take their racism to another level.
They have also done a good job of disseminating the idea that black is second class, inferior. They reinforce it with the constant double standards and the racism which says or implies that black folks are inferior,(even Africa where they came from sucks) second class, or that there is something suspicious about them. Thus helping poor and oppressed black folks see themselves as the enemy and through their virulent self hatred find it easy to target one another rather than the real enemy. And we shouldn't forget that in this fairly segregated society their brethren are the closet and easiest targets of their anger.
And anyone who has studied oppressed folks you know they take their frustrations out on one another. Among the oppressed in oppressed societies crime is high. Ironically it seems to decline as the oppressed begin to fight back against their oppressive conditions. A reading of Irish history under British oppression is instructive.
So it is cleary tragic that folks are killing one another and that racists are stalking us. I am opposed to both kinds of killing and the state backed killing that law enforcement get away with against our people.
However, the system that continues to perpetuate racial disunity, discrimniation and hatred, in the interest of keeping wages low and keeping us divided is still to blame for the skinhead and those who internalize racism and act our their frustration on their brothers.
So I never ever forget that the ultimate remedy lies in creating a government that eliminates, or at least outlaws racism and affords every one equal opportunity. And this won't happen if we continue to wring our hands and point our fingers at the victims who didn't have the coping skills we have. And it won't happen if we continue to waste time and energy talking about representatives of the parties of the ruling class (Republican/Democrat) who have no interest in ending racism or ridding us of class divisions. I know, I know folks still think there is room to manuever these folks but that space is shrinking and we have to move(protest, resist) in order for them to move.
liberation then peace
@admiral - I second that HFN nomination - Tim Wise rocks.
@Anon 2:34pm - I feel you but please don't make the assumption that folks who complain are not also folks who work on the very problems they complain about. It is my belief that voting, mentoring, volunteering, and giving back financially to help your community equals the right to complain about the problems facing your community. Sometimes we have to vent about this stuff - get feedback, and adjust our actions so we can be more effective.
Field another great post. Did you read the latest: (By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 10, 2008; Page A02)
"Violent crime appears to have declined nationwide in 2007 for the first time in three years, with major cities showing the most significant drops, according to a preliminary FBI report released yesterday.
Bureau officials said the number of violent crimes reported -- offenses including homicide, robbery and assault -- dipped by 1.4 percent across the United States last year compared with 2006."
That would be good news, except for somewhere buried in these figures is the real truth about our young Black people killing and dying at a rate that has increased for the past ten years at least.
We HAVE to keep working folks.
Anon. 2:34OM, sorry fam. you are preaching to the choir here. I know what tyoe of work put in, I will leave it at that. And I am quite sure many others here do the same. Be it with time,money, etc.
"is there not one black blog with anything positive to say, seems like propagating negativity by passing it along to others"
jesus loves you and so do I....how is that?
admiral komack and ms hgrits you are right about Mr. Wise. He has been HFNOTD before by thw way. ms. hgrits I heard about that WaPost article, I will check it out.
dr know, thanks for checking in from the "dirty" South. I know guns don't kill people dumb ass mofos do. But do we have to make it so easy for them?
steven d, I feel you.
anon 4:46PM, and mellaneous you both are dropping some serious ass knowledge. Two different points of views, both making sense. That's some field Negro behavior for your ass.
you are
I have to take issue with mellaneous on one point. You say the rulers/power structure, etc (read; Whitey) do a good job of perpetuating racist myths and stereotypes.
I think we do a far better job at that than "they" ever could.
When we have 70%+ of black kids born to babymamas that isnt a racial myth or stereotype. That is an accurate picture of the new black family.
When our neighborhoods are strewn with garbage and filth that isnt a myth, thats reality.
When EVERY poor black neighborhood in EVERY major city is a third world hellhole of murder, prostitution, crime, malaise, dropouts, ad nauseum. THAT defines us pretty well. Cant blame greater society for that.
When our children perform at the bottom of every category of education WITHOUT EXCEPTION. We bear the blame for that.
When our men abandon their families at levels never seen before in the history of civilization it is US who perpetuate a negative stereotypes.
When we reflexivley defend abhorrent behavior. Behavior we would no doubt condemn if others indulged in it, we lose credibility.
NEVER defend wrong. NEVER
You just never know when a mofo might want to add a big ass bald headed buck to his collection
Dude, this reminds me to ask you. Is that really a picture of your back at the top of your sidebar? If so, you are a huge motherfucker! I'm a skinny little shit, and if I try to lift weights to get bigger, I just get skinnier. I hate you.
yes physioprof, that's moi. I tried using another logo before, and...well let's just say for legal reasons I had to stop. So I figured if I use my own image folks will leave me alone on the copyright thing.
And nothing wrong with being "skinny" I swear everytime I go shopping for clothes I wish I was your size :(
anon. 11:15PM, those were powerful comments. Thanks. And I bet mellaneous agress with me. Hell, he probably agrees with you too. But we still can't let society at large off the hook for some of the stereo types that these same people in the hood soak up everyday. I know that at the end of the day they have to take responsibility for their own actions, but we sure could make it a little easier for them to cope once they do.
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