Friday, September 21, 2007

Where is Steve when you need him?


" Here are 146 blog posts on dailykos on the Jena Six. I just did a google blog search and found 25000 blog posts on the issue. I've written about it several times. I wrote about it yesterday in fact, mentioning the fact that I was otherwise occupied because the Senate condemned Moveon and we also lost 6 votes on Iraq, habeas, etc. But thanks for the 'white progressive blogosphere' insult, it's appreciated."


These are the times when left wing bloggers really miss what used to be their only ingress into the black community, Steve Gillard. (May his soul rest in peace) My man had a way of telling our side of the story to them which didn't make them uncomfortable. Left wing bloggers lament Steves' passing every time something like this comes up. "Gee I wish Steve was here, he would really tell us what's going on. You know, I never even knew Steve was black until I heard him mention his mother's fried chicken one day.." Sorry, I don't have that particular... ah, skill.


The above quotes was from a guy named Matt Stoller-- who I think is an "A" list blogger-- which he posted as comments over at Jill Tubman's fine and informative blog.


Now I have to tell you, this guy must think that we are all really fucking stupid. Kos, a user driven blog, gets what, a half a million hits a day? And this guy writes a comment and tells us about "140 "posts he found on Kos about Jena. Huh? And I am sure they are posting on the shit now trying to make up for lost time, but too late, I am talking about posts before Thursday's march.


You are fucking kidding me right? You were preoccupied because the "Senate condemned Moveon" ? Gee, God forbid we miss that vote about Moveon and the General Betray-us ad. Sorry folks, I am not in the mood for this kind of bullshit tonight. Not when after all the marching, and the speeches, and the outcry from decent people of conscience; in a move of unbelievable defiance, a Judge down in the "boot" denied bail to Mychal Bell. Yeah, he was a real flight risk that Bell fella. Not to mention, a racist web site, according to CNN, is publishing the addresses of these six boys involved with this case, and the authorities in Louisiana say that they can't offer them any protection because the state cant afford it. Then there was the motherfucker driving around Alexandria, Louisiana with two nooses hanging from his pick up truck (Pic above) to intimidate peaceful protesters. Notice I said peaceful protesters.


And I know some of you don't like me engaging with these ignorant ass motherfuckers on the left. (Max Julian comes to mind) But sorry, as far as I am concerned, they are no different than the mother fucking authorities in Louisiana and the people who perpetuated this kind of ignorance and double standard in the first place. They might not have committed the actual acts; but sadly, they are co- conspirators, and enablers, who will ignore the festering sore of race until it's too late. And then, the ugly pus that has been hiding just beneath the surface, will ooze to the top and explode on all of us in A-merry-ca.


Just don't say I didn't warn you.

34 comments:

Renee in Ohio said...

FYI, in case you don't get a chance to see it, I just posted the following comment in response to your "With friends like these" entry at MLW...

I just added the banner at Howard-Empowered People and at the Independent Bloggers' Alliance. If you get a chance, field, maybe you can crosspost this over at IBA. I was going to try to post something, but it would be lame, as I haven't been paying nearly enough attention to this--or any other--story.

Sorry about that. I know I've been missing in action as far as blogging about any serious issues. Between my work schedule, and needing to work on nailing down a real IEP for our son this year, things are likely to get worse before they get better.

Anonymous said...

I will no longer be contributing to Daily Kos, if I can help it, unless certain changes are made. I'm writing the aforementioned here as a reminder to myself.

As far as I'm concerned their and other "top tier" non-black liberal blogs lack of significant coverage on Jena 6 (until now) is tantamount if not WORSE than the Republicans not showing up at the Morgan State University presidential candidate debate. In both cases the message seems to be: You're griefs/issues are not important to us (unless of course, we can exploit them for our own political/social/economic gain).

Anonymous said...

The Daily Kos is *not* left wing it is middle of the road.

Your driver said...

When you look at who votes how, and who holds what opinions, it becomes apparent that the majority of "The Left" is non-white. The white left is a small minority of white people who would do well to look to non-white leaders. Instead, they refer to themselves as "The Left" and pick and chose non-white issues as they find them convenient.

Anonymous said...

Be sure to read:

Mychal Bell's June conviction overturned on appeal last week

at:

http://www.thejenatimes.net/home_page_graphics/home.html

Read up on the kind of Negroe yall were marching for.

Field, he [Mychal Bell] does not need a baby daddy, he needs a father.

Field why don't you adopt Mychal Bell and take him to your crib in lov-e-ly killidelphia and re-raise him to be the kind of big, strong, super-intelligent black man that you claim to be.
`

Anonymous said...

I never liked Daily Kos. There always seemed to be this huge mass of groupthink on that blog. Also, like most progressives, they always thought that their shit didn't stink.

If you need another story to piss you off, look at what happened to this young man when he wore a "Free the Jena 6" t-shirt to school.

http://tinyurl.com/2vbb52

MartiniCocoa said...

It's an unfortunate reminder of how befuddled race and bald faced racism makes so many white Americans, yes even the progressives.

Field,
please don't stop holding up the mirror to the hypocrisy, myopia and cluelessness that dominates the liberal blogosphere (and their fans) when it comes to issues that face us as Americans.

I am tired of them playing the game of solidarity only when it benefits their causes and realities.

An aside: That someone would drive around with nooses on the back of their truck is pathetic -- I wonder if any of the crew that wants to be the next POTUS will discuss that in detail.

Anonymous said...

Jason Whitlock is house negro of the day, he's house nigger of the century. I'm sorry that clown is here in K.C., where I am.

field negro said...

"Field why don't you adopt Mychal Bell and take him to your crib in lov-e-ly killidelphia and re-raise him to be the kind of big, strong, super-intelligent black man that you claim to be.."

"nsangoma", are you cyber stalking me now? Commenting on my physical appearance and all:) But it's all good; yes, I AM big and strong. "super-intelligent"? I am not so sure. Which is why I blog, to learn from other people.

Although, if I continue to attract more people like you, I will actually start to believe the super-intelligent part too ;)

renee, nice to hear from you, sorry you have been so busy. I will cross post on IBA today.

And wait, I just thought about something: nsaangoma, did you give me a link to the "Jena Times" to read? OK.... *roll eyes shake head aaand out*

Christopher Chambers said...

"Nsangoma"--isn't that Zulu or Xhosa for witch or warlock? Or sorceror? Evil conjurer? I'm curious...yeah "Witch Doctor."

You take your stand with the folks you got. Most of Custer's men were ex cons, immigrants off the boat and gone west, teenagers who shot or sabre-ed Indian women and children to death and many camps before the piper was paid at the Little Big Horn. Yet we've made heroes of them? If Bell's a thug, then thug he is. But he responded to something that needed a response in the language he knew. If that's a failure of the kids with sense (like what happened at Del State) then we can trace it to a failure of the white adults in charge of this school and town and the black adults supposedly in charge of their own kids.

Christopher Chambers said...

PS I'm coming with my cutlass/machette etc from Jamaica if anyone attacks Whitlock again. SOMEBODY has to keep us on terra firma, no matter how odious you think his views, otherwise we'll stay silent as the hoodlumocracy designates NBA all star weekend and the carnage and foolish attendant as the new ramadan or Yom Kippur, and convinces white media corporations and car companies to underwrite a statue of Sean Combs on the Mall in DC. The fat fuck serves his purpose, and I bet if I put a plate of BBQ before his haters in KC and him, all y'all bammas would shut up and eat in peace. ;-)

Anonymous said...

"But he responded to something that needed a response in the language he knew."

What about his prior battery offenses, what was he responding to then?

Black Jee-na should have put that Negroe under jail long before the white people did.

I saw a picture of Bell's mama a-cryin-nin a'cause they would release her son from jail. Was she cry-in-nin when her son was committing battery in the Black Jee-na community; did she try to stop him from battering black folk, no!!

Now she is a'cryin white folke done did her son wrong. No, she and her baby daddy did us wrong when they failed to marry and provide a functional family and up-bring for Mychal.

As for the meaning of the word NSangoma, the fact that you have listed derogatory European definitions tells one where are at and where you are coming from.
`

Anonymous said...

Field,

I hope this doesn't sound wierd, but you have been Steve for me since he died. I'm one of those born-in-the-south, raised-on-the-glory-of-the-heritage idiots who thought racism was a thing of the past. Until I started reading Steve's blog and had to unlearn the history I'd been taught and all the suppositions I'd made. His death left a hole in my heart and a vacuum in my re-education.

So I went looking through the Afrospear, and I found you. You and Steve shared the same type of passion and straightforwardness. I need that to get through all the layers and prisms and assumptions.

And among the many things I've learned since Steve's passing, is that as wonderful and passionate a writer as Steve was, he wasn't the only black writer worth paying attention to. The Afrospear is full of talented writers and hope for a better future.

I'm sorry Steve died. I still cry when I think about it, because his was the voice that broke through first. But I dont' think I would have gone looking for myself if he were still here.

Sorry for the rambling.

kaya said...

nsangoma -

i'm confused as to why someone with views like yours would be reading a blog called "the field negro," but we'll move on.

i think "ironic" is a tame word to describe the fact that you are trying to act like you know shit rejecting the "derogatory european definition" of your name and at the same time you couldn't be more caught up in europe's definition of what's right, talking about how this kid needs a fucking "real" family with a man and a woman who are married to each other. thanks for that. my knowledge of proper european family units needed some brushing-up anyways, but i can't help but wonder if maybe rather than a good christian marriage for his parents, he might need maybe a society to grow up in that's not full of racism. just a thought though. you could be right with the whole "marriage" thing too. that'd be way easier to fix, at least...

Anonymous said...

kaya
"i'm confused as to why someone with views like yours would be reading a blog called "the field negro," but we'll move on."

Kaya, Field and I are rapz from way, way back in the day.

Field is just make-tending that he agrees with you low-life, low-dogg Negroes for schizzt and grins.

Field grew up in a society filled with racism, ask him how many battery charges he accumulated as a juvenile.

How many baby daddy do you have Kaya because you grew up in a society filled with racism?

Ask the Field if he is from a stable, functional, intact family, or if his mother referred his father "my baby daddy" and his father referred to his mother as "my baby mother"?
`

rikyrah said...

FN,

Keep on posting. You must be doing something right to raise the hackles of folks.

Anonymous said...

Jason Whitlock is doing his job, which is being a professional "one of the good ones". Let's see...Mychal Bell is a star running back, so he must be big and/or strong. Super intelligent? I don't know, but he IS an honor roll student, so he must possess some level of intelligence.

Anonymous said...

Nsangoma:


As far as Mychal Bell, while I feel the others should be released with time serve, this negro needs to spend some time in jail. Why do I say that?


"Bell, 17, was convicted of aggravated second-degree battery, which could have led to 15 years in prison. But his conviction was thrown out by a state appeals court that said he could not be tried on the charge as an adult because he was 16 at the time of the beating."

Since he is a child his previous record is sealed to the public but stuff is leaking...here is the 411...

"Mychal Bell should have been in jail for his FOUR other violent convictions scuttlebutt says one of those convictions was sexual assault on a young black girl. He was on probation until he was 18. Someone from Jena said he stole a car, ran over an 8 year old, was high on drugs and too young to get a license and has been in the court system since he was 10 years old."

If this is true I hope he stays in jail till he dies...I hate rapists...regardless of color. He is obviously a troubled young man, who makes a piss poor poster child for justice. The others should be the focus not Mr. Bell.

Anonymous said...

sorry forgot to include the link to the last post:

http://apnews.myway.com/article/
20070921/D8RQ50QO1.html

Unknown said...

1) The white progressive blogosphere only gets up in arms about racism when it allows them to paint Republicans as racists. The rest of the time, they tend to ignore it.

2) Jason Whitlock is trying to regain his glory days during the Imus furor, when he learned how popular a black man can be with white folks when he goes after other black people.

3) Regarding the previous comment, I'm sure in the coming days we'll hear that Bell was a rapist, a child molester, a terrorist, the real murderer of Nicole Simpson and Ron Brown, and the guy who sold Barry Bond steriods.

Anonymous said...

I think the law is the law and since he was a juvenile then those should be kept under raps... it's the law... I think the whole point of the Jena 6 is fair justice... whatever that is?! I think that should be the true discussion and not just one of the named defendants.

I would like to read up on some of Steve Gillard's articles or blogs. So if anyone could provide a link, I'd be very grateful.

just for kicks... should it matter where an individual is from or his background for that person to have the ability or lack of to know right from wrong? Unless you're insane, that could be a reason but we as grown adults know when we're making mistakes... admitting it is a different story, right?

field negro said...

mcl, thanks for the kind words. dwhite..you forgot that he shot JFK too. Give me a fucking break!
As if this is even about Mychal Bell.

nsangoma, you say we go way back but I doubt that. I usually try to stay away from dysfunctional people. Although there was this girl in California....San is that you? :)

dnA said...

It's pretty simple, you shouldn't be thrown in jail for 20 years for beating someone up. And the authorities in Jena know that, because they've dismissed or filed minimal charges against white teenagers who have acted violently.

Just judging by some of the things said on this thread, I'm glad I live in a country that at least nominally doesn't recognize hearsay as evidence.

Anonymous said...

DNA:

Have you seen the pictures of the victim, Justin Barker. He was not involved in any previous fights, he was not someone who hanged a noose...he was thought to have been involved in a previous fight where 2 of the Jena 6 got beat down and attacked because he was "talking $#1t".

Bell hit him from behind, knocking him out and the other 5, with Bell, stomped him until it was broke up. Dude was blind in one eye for nearly 3 months. That is not a normal fight.

http://pursuingholiness.com/
2007/09/04/the-jena-6-photo-of-
justin-barkers-injuries/

Yes Bell, had priors, he was on probation, that is not hearsay that is reality. He should do time, maybe not 20 years, but based on his priors...at least 5 years...dude is a menace to society straight up.

The rest should likely get time served and let go.

Arcturus said...

live item from CA:

On August 23 [2007], West Sacramento cops and private SSA security guards viciously attacked two Local 10 brothers returning to work after lunch on the SSA terminal. When the guards demanded to search the car, the brothers asked to see the MARSEC (maritime security) reg and called the Local 10 business agent. This enraged the guards who called the cops. While talking by phone to BA MacKay and without provocation, they were assaulted, dragged from the car, maced and jailed, charged with “trespassing”. How the hell can a longshoreman be “trespassing”, after returning to work at the terminal. They’d already shown PMA ID and a driver’s license. This is racial profiling and police brutality. The longshoremen were black and the cops white. Such is the brutal face of the “war on terror” on the docks.
. . .
Local 10 has called for a protest rally at the Woodland courthouse to defend these brothers. Ship Clerks’ Local 34 and the Portland longshore Local 8, are joining in the protest. We need to have all the locals on the Coast participating as we did for the successful campaign in the Neptune Jade protest for the Liverpool dockers in front of the Oakland courthouse. So far the ILWU International has remained silent on this critical struggle, just as we go into contract negotiations.
. . .
All Out for ILWU Protest Rally at
Yolo County Superior Court
213 Third St.; Woodland, CA
Thursday October 4, 2007

Anonymous said...

FN:

If you haven't already done so, please check out this link to Friends of Justice (hat tip to Hat tip to the Blackfolk blog) for more important, UNDERREPORTED info on the Jena 6 case, if all of this is true, this is MUCH MUCH worse than we (or at least I) previously thought.

Anonymous said...

That should be "under reported" and only one "hat tip to" though they are probably worthy of many.

The Christian Progressive Liberal said...

I've already said my piece about Kos. Everytime you try to point out their closet racism, you get flamed.

And I think we need to keep this up until Kos is confronted. No allowing the "I can't control what's on my blog shyt" because the minute he rains down on some subject matter, or political candidate, the masses engage in said group think and go along with whatever he says.

To say that he has no control - probably over what's posted, but I notice anyone calling him out in a diary gets troll-rated or flamed.

As for Jena - they should call Jasper, Texas for lessons on how to clean up the mess because they got bigots and card-carrying KKK members in their own backyards. At least Jasper did it right - those bastards who dragged James Byrd behind their pickup trucks are now doing time in the big house, being prison bitches for cons named Bubba, LeRoy, Biscuit and Skillet.

Anonymous said...

Maggie:

Got a source for that tiny URL? Or are you the source?

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

These "mainstream" (should say delusional, because the mainstream thinks they are a joke) "liberal" bloggers need to actually stop acting as if they are the news or media.

They are media alright, pr media. They are free rent, low budget pr for Democrats. They only do things so that Democrats will like them. They only said Jena 6 was bad after the leading Democrats agreed it was yes in fact a bad thing.

The only way Daily Kos would have covered those kids is if someone had come in the middle of the night and killed them by lynching. The reason they didn't cover it, is because they felt as many people feel if you're black and you aren't perfect you don't deserve rights. If you are not of the turn your other cheek variety, well the good luck with coverage in regards to anything ethnic of "foreign" from the cowards on the blogosphere.

People sure get moralistic when it has to do with defending ethnic people.

"Well Ball wasn't perfect."

So he deserves to go to jail during his young adult life for a high school fight?

The right leaning blogs were actually more decent in this case. At least people on the right are consistent.

I really thought the blogsophere would have jumped right on this, but nope, didn't care rather blog about a politician soliciting sex in the bathroom...yeah that's something that's going to impact people lives...TMZ does a better job at presenting news (its entertainment news, but they are showing what is happening, not kissing people's behind) than Daily Kos or Huffington Post.

Real media picks up stories before it becomes socially acceptable.

I'm just so disgusted.

Browne

Anonymous said...

"They still crop up in cases such as the so-called "Jena Six," a group of six Louisiana black teenagers accused of beating a white teen after months of racial unrest. ... Thousands of black demonstrators, including metro Atlantans, converged on Jena last week in protest.

But there is another, less obvious disparity in the criminal justice system, one that has not received the attention it deserves. It's not just black criminal defendants who are treated unfairly. So are black victims, whose lives and losses are often undervalued."
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/ conte...ucked_0923.html

I will put it thusly: black victims, whose lives and losses are undervalued.

Undervalued by BLACK people ourselves.

If the leaking scuttlebutt about Mychal Bell is anywhere near true, then we most definitely see a case of Black life not having the same value as White life:

FOUR other violent convictions ... one of those convictions was the sexual assault on a young black girl. He was on probation until he was 18. ...he stole a car, ran over an 8 year old, while high on drugs and too young to get a license ... has been in the court system since he was 10 years old.

Now if this all be true Black people of Jee-na LA: Why was not this Negroe in jail prior to the assault upon the white male teenager, for assulting YOU (Black Jee-na)?
`

Unknown said...

hey, you got me, fn, i didn't post on the jena 6 till friday, but i did a run down on the events leading up to it which i found on mtv news (thx be to susie mandrak), which was the most comprehensive story about the background that i have seen.

also, i wrote to headline news to decry their skimpy coverage of the story.

Anonymous said...

For damien and anyone else who would like to check out Steve Gilliard's writing, his blog archives are here:

http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/2003_08_01_archive.html

A few of his regular commenters have started a new blog, building on Steve's foundation, called the Group Newsblog

http://www.groupnewsblog.net/

And Lower Manhattanite, one of the four primary contributers there, wrote an incredible essay about the Jena case called "Do you know where you are" which readers here might want to look at.

http://www.groupnewsblog.net/2007/09/do-you-understand-where-you-are.html

Francis Holland said...

The Klan's new hood color is "DailyKos Orange."