Monday, May 19, 2008

This 911 is no joke.


I was going to blog about the "O" man today and try to create a positive read about A-merry-ca. 50,000 folks in Portland showing the "O" man some Northwest love. Talk about rock star.

The "O" man couldn't get 50,000 people who look like that to show up for him in West Virginia if they were giving away life time NASCAR tickets....well, maybe if they were for life.


Unfortunately, a recent incident in "Music City" AKA Nashville Tennessee, has me seeing red (or should I say black) this morning.


Poor Sheila Jones, all she wanted was some help. All she wanted was an agency that is supposed to be looking out for the welfare of its citizens to come to her aid, but they didn't. Not the way they were supposed to. Thankfully, Sheila Jones is still alive today, but that was not a result of the 911 operators who are supposed to be looking out for her. Sheila Jones is alive in spite of their actions.


Sheila:"Get out of my house"

911: "Is he a boyfriend?"

Sheila: "He's ex. Get out of my house. Help. Outside now. He just went outside. "


This, my friends, went on for two hours and no police officers came to help Ms. Jones.


Okay, bad enough, and the story would have ended there, except for the shocking--well not so shocking-- behavior of one of these operators. After having to deal with the poor woman's ordeal, he promptly hung up the phone and said he didn't "give a shit."


Well, I suspect I know why. Oh boy here comes the field with his race stuff. You damn right. I heard that call, and let's keep it 100% with each other. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the poor woman was black. And the more she screamed and the more desperate she became, the "blacker" she sounded. If only Sheila could have put on a very white sounding voice. Hello, ah hi, my name is Sheila, and I am in like sooo much trouble. My boyfriend is like right outside, and I swear he is like trying to get in. Mam, don't move, we will have someone there before you can hang up the phone. Oh gee thanks sir, wait, I hear the sirens now. Yes, the police officer is here, thanks again.


Sorry, Sheila, I heard the tape, you have to work on the way you speak, you sound way too ethnic.


"Get the police now, my life is threatened. Please God. Please God.Please God. (That's three please gods. Maybe they figured god would save the poor woman) Get me police over now. He's got a knife on me. My life threatened."


Yes Sheila, we are going to have to work on that. It could save your life one day.


37 comments:

Hathor said...

I had heard bits of that story, but could not find more info, Thanks for bringing it up. Just what kind of procedure were they following to have been on the phone for two hours. Was the operator trying to figure out if it was real, or waiting to boast about how they had heard someone murdered.
Someone who had OD died during a long interrogation of another 911 call, during this same week. The operators job is not to "give a shit", but to do what they are trained to do. Do their job, the best they can.

In this case it looks as if this person has put themselves in position of deciding who live and who dies, someone they should screen for before hiring. Not only should they fire him they should look back at his other calls, to see if the was any wrong action in the past.

Anonymous said...

Almost 30 years ago, I worked with other domestic violence advocates to "educate" law enforcement about the dangers women face and the need for agencies to take it seriously. Laws were changed, but attitudes still, sadly, seem to be the same.
I got news for you Mr. Field, this aint just racial.... it is gender! The number one cause of death for women under 40 is murder by an ex.... that is a sad fact in this violent country.

field negro said...

Hathor,there ia a link in my post there somewhere if you want to check it out.

Jody,you are right,this sickness (domestic violence) has got to stop.I know u are here in Philly come down to family court and I will take u to our DV unit,it's sad.

Trust me,I understand that DV is a race neutral problem.

Unfortunately,I think the issue of poor 911 service is a race and poverty problem.

Ann Brock said...

Field it's hard being a black woman in America.

Anonymous said...

~
You know field, we black mens believes in kicking a 'garden implements" azz.

Misogyny is as American as sweet potatoe pie.
`

Kellybelle said...

I agree with you--if Sheila had sounded non-Black and middle class, a shit would have been given.

Anonymous said...

Even sadder..this 911 operator probably wouldn't have cared if this ex-boyfriend had taken her life. Very Sad.

Christopher said...

Field,

It was even bigger for Obama in Portland, OR yesterday.

He drew 75,000 and the Portland fire department said they turned away another 10,000 to 15,000 because the downtown park was filled to capacity.

So much for the east coast media elites claiming the west is "conservative."

Don said...

I listened to the 911 call over @ character corner blogspot and I really felt bad for the woman. It was obvious from the tone of the 911 operator that nothing was about to be done on the caller's behalf.

...as for Barack Obama, I think he is a man for the peoples. So it's only fair that people will be for the man.

Anonymous said...

It's not like Oregon is all that wealthy of a state either... ;-)

It's just a lot less corrupt than WV.

Anonymous said...

Sadly, she probably went back to this a-hole, later on that day.

momo said...

There is a special place in hell for that 911 operator.

Anonymous said...

From the article: "Police and 911 officials said it was one error on top of another, but the first 911 operator did stay on the phone with Sheila for more than 15 minutes. She even called back to check on her."

I don't think racism kept the police away. Depends on how you report the story. The one that said I don't give a shit after he hung up might fit in better in NYC.

La♥audiobooks said...

Anonymous said...
"Sadly, she probably went back to this a-hole, later on that day."

Sadly, I think the 911 operator or his victim blaming like minded friend found this blog.

SjP said...

Jody said...
this ain't just racial...its gender!

The crime itself may be gender-based, but the neglect to help this woman by both the 911 operator and the police is racial! This is evidenced by the news reports, Amber Alerts, APBs for people of color, and particularly African Americans. You say news reports? What news reports? My point exactly!

So the dispatcher was fired...what about the cops who failed to even attempt to "protect and serve". SjP

The Christian Progressive Liberal said...

That 911 operator will surely "give a shit" when he gets called into the office and told he's being fired.

And in this economy, you don't deliberately piss off your employers, especially if your job is to dispatch the police when called for help.

How many lawsuits get paid out because a 911 operator didn't do his or her job and leave the racial bigotry and stereotyping at home?

Here's another one to add to the ranks of the unemployed, while the Tennessee Branch of the NAACP will be as silent as mice pissing on cotton because Sheila Jones is probably not a dues-paying member.

Yobachi said...

Well being that I was put on hold for 4 minutes the last time I called 911 here in Nashville, until I just hung up; she's lucky they even picked up.

Anyway, You’ve been nominated in BlackPerpsective.net’s Best Black Blogs Contest

http://www.blackperspective.net/index.php/blackperpsectivenets-best-black-blogs-nominees/

Come Vote

Anonymous said...

I thought they were talking Chattanooga, actually. What with Corker as mayer and all...

LISA VAZQUEZ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
LISA VAZQUEZ said...

When I was an undergrad, black women did not BOTHER to call 911 if something violent went down...we called the Omega Psi Phi house!

Seriously.

One day some white frat boys threw something at the car that we were in (four sistas) and they had on greek t-shirts, we did a U-turn, drove STRAIGHT to the Ques and reported it and our brothers jumped in their cars like a caravan and rolled up right at that white frat house!! The white frat boys called the cops and the police asked WHY we didn't call the police and we said: "we DID call the police, the Ques run this yard!" (smiles)

The end of that story is that the white frat boys pulled out a check book and wrote a check on the spot for $800 for the windshield that was broken. The sista who owned the car handed it to the brothas and said she'd get her insurance company to pay for it.

{raised fist to the QUES} rew, rew, rew! STILL GOT MUCH LOVE FOR YA BROTHAS!!

Lisa
http://blackwomenblowthetrumpet.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

I wish I could say I was surprised but after reading What About Our Daughters blog and paying more attention to how Black women are treated I realize how our lives are seen to have no value. The state of Black women [and children] in this county is at critical mass. It's good that it's coming to light so we can take action. Firing that 911 operator was a good start but they need a comprehensive evaluation and overhaul. Thanks for posting this Field! We'll be talking about Obama for the next 8 years and sometimes need to address other stories.

Anonymous said...

I wish I could say I was surprised but after reading What About Our Daughters blog and paying more attention to how Black women are treated I realize how our lives are seen to have no value. The state of Black women [and children] in this county is at critical mass. It's good that it's coming to light so we can take action. Firing that 911 operator was a good start but they need a comprehensive evaluation and overhaul. Thanks for posting this Field! We'll be talking about Obama for the next 8 years and sometimes need to address other stories.

Anonymous said...

Sadly, I'm not surprised when something like this happens in some of our more rural states, especially those in the Appalachias.

I hope she sues their asses.

Y D Shine said...

Field, if the CCM (Caucasian Corporate Media) got the Obama Oregon crowd figures correct, I don't understand why you didn't - and posted it incorrectly twice.

According to the Portland Fire Chief, there were 75,000-plus white folk (you know, the ones Her Highness says don't vote for Obama) who turned out on land and sea yesterday.

But don't take my word for it; see the pictures posted everywhere on the 'net. Even Chris "Tweetybird" Matthews made the number his Hardball big number on today's show.

Oh, and obviously y'all don't watch Anderson Cooper 360 or Nancy Grace because they ran the 911 non-response story a couple of times either last week or the week before. IIRC, both Cooper and Grace were appalled and contacted the manager where this guy worked demanding that he be fired, which he was.

Allegedly, he was a trainee. Not that I'm defending the saltines because we know how they are, but maybe we should be more plugged into getting the facts right.

On a ligher note, Mariah is my girl and everything but I'm not getting why she married a young boy who also looks like a little boy and seems to act like one as well. However, as I love her voice and her music as well as her mega-success, I wish her well and hope it lasts.

A.F. said...

I don't see any other explanation than that 911's "incompetence" here was racially motivated. Domestic violence is often trivialized but in a worse way for black women. Otherwise, why would the whole national media go crazy when a middle- or upper-middle class white woman goes missing or is murdered, yet not even report the same cases involving black women? Thank God the woman is alive. Those who ignored her pleas are criminals themselves and should be treated accordingly.

Re Obama Oregon: Those 75,000 people must not be "hardworking" enough to vote HRC :)

field negro said...

Okay progressive for a better "america" you got me. Do you like think I am a real journalist or something? :)

Yobachi I am honored. I will be over to your house to check that out. You mean I can actually vote for myself?

blackwomenblowthetrumpet, I guess it was nice to have those Ques around when you needed them huh. Beats having one of those nasty nupes trying to do the job :)Kappas I kid I kid.

ZACK said...

All I can say is:

A' Get Up, A Ge-Ge-Get Down/
911 is a Joke in Your Town/
Get Up, A Ge-Ge-Get Down/
911/
(911 IS A JOKE)

Flavor Flav spoke these words almost 20 years ago, but they have had a lasting impression on my life.

But if it was Lark Voorhies, MAN, they would've been over there in a minute. I'm kidding. I feel bad for Sheila. I'm glad she's alright.

Anonymous said...

field.... side bar picture of you and the mrs..... she is gorgeous! Why you even think of Lark is beyond me....

Anonymous said...

Yo Field,
Them mofo 911 operators will treat you like shit on that phone. I have been done wrong by them mofos as well. They do not give a fuck about you. That is the problem because even when blacks try and give a damn so times the local officials police, dispatch, rescue squad mofos only hear or see that you are black and mistreat the fuck out of you. So yeah I was glad for Obama and the huge Portland crowd but this country don't really give a damn about ordinary black folks at all.

LISA VAZQUEZ said...

Field Negro!

We had the Kappas on the yard, but on our campus, they were Metrosexuals and spent toooo much time primping in the mirror to be GANGSTA for the damsels in distress! *LOL*

Only the Que-Dawgs were holding it down!!

Alphas...
Sigmas...
Kappas...just kidding about that Metrosexual label... (smile)

Shout to all the frats!!

Peace, blessings and DUNAMIS!
Lisa

http://blackwomenblowthetrumpet.blotspot.com

field negro said...

Thank you jody, that's what you call marrying up I guess.

"Why you even think of Lark is beyond me...."

Well, long before Mrs. Field, there was Lisa Turtle :)

blackwomenblowthetrumpet you are too funny.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Constructive Feedback said...

Good morning Field Negro. How are you today? I hope that you have a productive day.

Now far be it for me to comment on your feature selection on YOUR blog but I do find it curious what goes into your process of determining this.

In this particular message thread you point to the RACISM that is apparent regarding how a 9-1-1 operator handed the call from a "poor" Black woman. (I am not sure how you believe the operator determined that she was "poor" along with being Black - but I figure that this is something that is within you that must be worked out).

On your right-hand strip of shame, however - you make note of the Black man who was beaten to death by a mob of 15 people in Cleveland and then URINATED on to add insult to injury. I have been monitoring this situation prior to it appearing on your web site though.

It appears that these two seemingly unrelated stories have a common link in the notion of RESPECT FOR BASIC HUMAN DIGNITY - both of which show how this was violated.

If this was the only part of the story - we'd be finished with the discussion. Of course this is not all. Where as the woman featured in this headline post was worthy of a special call out - BECAUSE "THE SYSTEM" had disrespected her in such a way......the Black man in Cleveland who was killed and then urinated upon by 15 Black gang related individuals did not garner a similar response from you, the new head of the NAACP nor Black America as a whole.

Now you tell me Field-Negro. What if a gang of White boys from Cleveland Heights came into this same community and did the same thing to this Black man? Do you think that we would have national press coverage on this event on a near daily basis since its occurrence on April 27 as each one of the White savages were rounded up and arrested for the crime that they did BOTH to this MAN - Charles Gooden Jr AND the assault that they made upon BLACK PEOPLE as a whole?

In my continuing theme of "Non-White White Supremacy" as practiced by Black folks - the inferior standing of this gang of 15 Black thugs who society let alone the Black community has no special set of expectations for them to live up to and thus they LIVE DOWN TO THEM on a continuing basis - allows these acts to occur and there is barely a whimper out of those who would likely take to the streets in outrage if the assailant was of a different hue.

You see - where as most people queue their responses on the hue of the ASSAILANTS......I focus on the VICTIMS and how at the end of the day we have another "N_____ killed on the streets". When will we raise that "N_____" up to a FULL HUMAN BEING by our own actions in defense of this Black man's dignity to not be beaten down like a PINATA?

The "New and Improved NAACP will say NOTHING and do NOTHING" because in the killers being BLACK.......the NOW DEAD VICTIM'S CIVIL RIGHTS have not been violated. Only a WHITE MAN can violate the Civil Rights of a Black man in their perverted view.

Keith said...

I heard about this on the Michael Baisden show...I too was appalled.
It just goes to show that Flava Flav was right many years ago when he sang- "911 is a Joke"

I think this is a great blog...I found about you from "Chicago Zack"
How funny, because I, like you
reside in the City of Brotherly
love..Check me out sometimes.
I'm www.ariesrules.blogspot.com (Keith's space)

girl6 said...

I live in Wild Wild West Oakland, CA in a neighborhood called the Lower Bottoms. I repeat, the *Lower* Bottoms--so bad that we're under the Bottoms. OTOH, there's a lot or redevelopment going on and there are plenty of "Urban Pioneers" buying up the old Victorians and moving in. And when I say Urban Pioneers(UP), I mean white folks. And when I say white folks, I mean white women.

The cops come in less than 5 mins when I use my UP accent. But, if during a particularly emotional moment I happen to slip into my ethnic dialect, ie, "I ain't looking out no muthafuckin' window describing shit!", the tone of the 911 interaction becomes decidedly less helpful. "We'll send someone out there." Click. Versus, "I'll stay on the line with you until the police come. Stay calm. They'd be there soon. Stay away from your windows."

And then, once the cops find out that it was a black person who called, they are rude and dismissive when you try to give a statement.

Anonymous said...

Hey Girl6,

There are first time home buyer programs aplenty in the Bay. Look into EARN SF because it's a program that does 2 for 1 matching savings account that you can use as a down payment. They can definitely give you info about other programs. Find out if you qualify for some help before YT takes over. I'm not surprised as there's only a few neighborhoods left. Some people who lived in Harlem their entire lives slept on it and the City went through a lot of church groups and such to award land lotteries before the Connecticut crew came in and bought everything that wasn't mailed down.

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