Justice in Louisiana and field Negroes on the football field.

Let me start this post by saying that the authorities in Louisiana did the right thing in charging those two police officers in the shooting death of that six year old boy. If it turns out that they acted appropriately they will be vindicated, if not, they will suffer the consequences for their actions.

I have said over and over that being a police officer is a tough job, and we can't have people on the force who, for whatever reason, do not act appropriately or are not properly trained.

For the record, the six year old boy was white and the two police officers charged were African Americans. If you are an African American and you are not as passionate about getting justice for this poor child's family shame on you. If you are from the majority population and you never questioned the conduct of the police when the races are reversed but do now, well then shame on you as well.

"We took some of the body cam footage. I'm not gonna talk about it, but I'm gonna tell you this -- it is the most disturbing thing I've seen and I will leave it at that," State Police Col. Michael Edmonson said at a news conference late Friday. "That little boy was buckled into the front seat of that vehicle and that is how he died."

Sad indeed. But it is not the "most disturbing thing" that I have ever seen when it comes to police misconduct, but I do hope that it will be the last.

   Finally, congrats to the football players of the University of Missouri for displaying true field Negro behavior.  I love when athletes who are in a high profile position become socially active and use their influence and power to try and influence social change.

"Black football players at the University of Missouri have joined calls demanding the ouster of the president of the state's four-campus university system over alleged inaction against racism on campus.

About 30 players made their thoughts known Saturday night in a tweet posted by Missouri's Legion of Black Collegians.

The athletes of color on the University of Missouri football team truly believe "Injustice Anywhere is a threat to Justice Everywhere," read the tweet. "We will no longer participate in any football related activities until President Tim Wolfe resigns or is removed due to his negligence toward marginalized students' experience."

 

The players' move is the latest salvo in a spiraling debate over the experiences of African-American students at Missouri, who have complained of inaction on the part of school leaders in dealing with racism on the overwhelmingly white campus.

 

Black student leaders have complained of students openly using racial slurs and other incidents. In August, someone used feces to draw a swastika, drawing condemnation from black and Jewish student organizations.

 

One student is on a hunger strike demanding action. Graduate student Jonathan L. Butler started the hunger strike last week, demanding Wolfe's removal." [More]

Good for these players. Maybe they can force these institutions who profit from their athleticism to get serious about addressing similar concerns in the future.

*Pic from stltoday.com





 

Another Alleged Rape On Campus

I have been trying to find out more about this story before I posted on it. But I can't get anything other than what everyone else already knows, so I will give you my thoughts.

Unfortunately, It seems there was another alleged rape on another upper crust American college campus. This time the alleged rape occurred at Villanova University -or as I like to call it; Vanilla-Nova-which is located on the "main line" section of my hometown of Philadelphia. Now for those of you familiar with Philly, you will know that the main line is Philadelphia's equivalent to Beverly Hills, or West Palm Beach, if you get my drift.

As the story goes, three randy freshman football players did indeed have sex with a college coed in one of the dorms, while they should have been learning their play books and getting ready for the rigors of college life. (What the hell is wrong with these kids? Rape or no rape, could you keep your dicks in your pants until you have played one home game at least?) Now here is what bothers me about the whole story: After an internal college investigation all three men were booted off campus and their football scholarships rescinded. Coach Andy Talley, who has been at Nova since 1985, says he spoke to all three of the players and got their side of the story. I for one am really curious to know what that story was. And, I hear the Radnor police won't be pressing criminal charges because the victim in question does not want to press charges. And frankly, without the victim's cooperation in these cases you have zilch. So why isn't the victim pressing charges?

Now let me say for the record; that if these young men did rape this young lady, she should press charges, and they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for their alleged criminal behavior. See, I am consistent, I felt that way about the Duke case too. Oh, did I say the Duke case? Well so far the only similarity this case has to that one is that they both occurred on a college campus of the privileged, and multiple athletes are being accused of rape. I wish I could tell you about some of the racial similarities, but every one is clamming up on this one. I mean everybody. The local press, the University, the families involved, everybody. Even my contact in the prosecutor's office out there isn't saying anything about these individuals. So what does that tell you? It tells me that they don't want bloggers like the damn field Negro making a racial issue of this. After all, it was just an unfortunate incident with some college students right?

Boy I sure hate to speculate....but....hey, we will wait to see what happens. Somehow I doubt the victim involved here will press charges, and somehow I doubt the players involved will make an issue of it, because they are not being charged criminally. They will pack up, go home, and hope for another chance somewhere else. And the alleged victim will chalk it up to a bad experience, go on with her life, and just hope it all goes away. Kind of like those Dukies wish that stripper had done in their case.

Let's hope that this is the last of me blogging about this, although somehow I am feeling like Arnold in the Terminator when he said: "I'll be back."