We are all in danger, and the "Gentler War on Drugs"

*
"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me." `Martin Niemöller`

I saw the video of the police going all Rodney King on that frat boy and gal down in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. [Video]

All I have to say is that at some point even these  kids dripping with white privilege will see that if power goes unchecked they, too, will become victims of injustice at some point in their lives.

Now here we have these "normal" college kids waking up to the police gone wild as well.  Let's see if their parents and loved ones become more sympathetic to the plight of young men of color the next time that they see them getting the business from the police in live and living color.

Finally, in case you didn't notice, America has a heroin problem. States with lily white populations have seen an explosion of heroin use over the past few years and it is devastating a lot of these smaller communities far from those evil urban areas. 

Of course we know that there will be no draconian drug laws like the ones passed during the crack epidemic that affected mostly poor people and people of color in the inner cities of America.

That won't be the case this time around, and I am quite sure that America will have a different response to this latest drug crisis.

"The New York Times recently published an article titled, “In Heroin Crisis, White Families Seek Gentler War on Drugs.”

In the piece, middle-class white families, mostly from suburbs and small towns, detail their traumatic experiences with heroin addiction, also known as “smack.” One white New Hampshire man interviewed for the piece talks about how he viewed people battling addiction as “junkies” until he recognized their faces in his own high-achieving, privileged daughter.

Here are some revealing numbers from the piece:

* Deaths from heroin rose to 8,260 in 2013, quadrupling since 2000 and aggravating what some were already calling the worst drug-overdose epidemic in United States history.
 

* Nearly 90 percent of those who tried heroin for the first time in the last decade were white.

No wonder “compassion” is the word of the day.
 

The article includes the personal and political positions of GOP presidential candidates Carly Fiorina, Jeb Bush and Chris Christie, all of whom have expressed that there is a need to decriminalize addiction. This is a glaring departure from the policies of the party of Ronald Reagan. It was through his backroom dealings with Nicaragua’s Contras that the war on drugs (pdf) intensified as crack cocaine and guns flooded inner cities, laying the groundwork for mass incarceration that has ravaged black communities; yet, here are his political descendants struggling to frame addiction as the health issue it has always been without making the GOP look like the party of hypocrites that it has always been.
 

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton also has had to step into the breach in an attempt to sanitize the insidious racism that shades her husband’s legacy at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Former President Bill Clinton was complicit in the passage in 1994 of the omnibus crime bill, which included the “Three Strikes Law,” thus expanding the war on drugs. He has since acknowledged and apologized for his role in the devastation that the bill caused for black families, but it’s much too little, much too late.

Here are some revealing numbers from the piece:

* Deaths from heroin rose to 8,260 in 2013, quadrupling since 2000 and aggravating what some were already calling the worst drug-overdose epidemic in United States history.

* Nearly 90 percent of those who tried heroin for the first time in the last decade were white.

No wonder “compassion” is the word of the day.
 

The article includes the personal and political positions of GOP presidential candidates Carly Fiorina, Jeb Bush and Chris Christie, all of whom have expressed that there is a need to decriminalize addiction. This is a glaring departure from the policies of the party of Ronald Reagan. It was through his backroom dealings with Nicaragua’s Contras that the war on drugs (pdf) intensified as crack cocaine and guns flooded inner cities, laying the groundwork for mass incarceration that has ravaged black communities; yet, here are his political descendants struggling to frame addiction as the health issue it has always been without making the GOP look like the party of hypocrites that it has always been.
 

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton also has had to step into the breach in an attempt to sanitize the insidious racism that shades her husband’s legacy at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Former President Bill Clinton was complicit in the passage in 1994 of the omnibus crime bill, which included the “Three Strikes Law,” thus expanding the war on drugs. He has since acknowledged and apologized for his role in the devastation that the bill caused for black families, but it’s much too little, much too late." [More]

Hmmm, it seems that the "first black president" wasn't looking out for his constituents after all.

*Pic from totalfratmove.com

 

"We have a problem in this country."

Before I drop this post, let's have a moment of silence for Scott Walker........

Goodbye Scott, we hardly knew you. And to think that after all you did up in Wisconsin you still thought that you could one day become the president of this "great" nation. 

I wonder who will be next? At least six or seven of these candidates have to know that they have no shot at winning the republican primary let alone the presidency. At this point they are just all trying to raise how much they can get for their speaking fees in the future, and angle for a talk show on FOX VIEWS.

Of course Scott Walker dropping out now frees up the big donor money for the folks at the top, like Carly Fiorina, the Donald  (I take that back, Donald has his own money), and this election year's version of Herman Cain. 

Carly is now rising, and Donald Trump, as is to be expected, is attacking. Fortunately for him there is a lot there to attack.  I will give her credit, though, the way she doubles down on a lie is quite Nixonian. I am sure that there are a lot of folks in her party who appreciates that.

Raise your hand if you believe, like I do, that Donald Trump has peaked. At some point all the stupid stuff he could get away with as an entertainer is not going to cut it on the presidential trail. (Dude, what's with the Megyn Kelly obsession?) The way he handled that town hall meeting in New Hampshire was laughable. And no, I am not talking about him ignoring the birther question about the president. It was his response to the deranged winngut asking him about Muslims ("I will look into that") that was beyond pandering; it made him look like a complete moron. No different than the obvious loon who was asking him the question. The leader in the presidential field of a major political party will "look into" getting rid of Muslims?    

"We have a problem in this country. It's called Muslims. We know our current president is one," the man told Trump.

 

"You know he's not even an American. We have training camps growing where they want to kill us. That's my question. When can we get rid of them?"

Sir, we do have a problem in this country, but believe me when I tell you, it ain't Muslims.

*Pic from wonkette.com

Bernie and the blacks.

*Now that Hillary Clinton seems to be doing what the Clintons do, and Bernie "the Socialist" is surging and gaining traction in the polls, it might be time to consider where the Negro in America will cast his or her lot in the 2016 democratic presidential primary.

I know that there will be no Barack Obama in this upcoming presidential election,  but black folks, more than ever, should be paying attention to what is going on in this country wen it comes to the decisions being made in Washington. The level of poverty and inequality we are facing in our community demands it.  

Of course I am only focusing on the democrats, because we all know that no more than 10% of blacks will vote for the republican candidate. I don't care who it is. (Sorry Dr. Ben)

At fist it seemed like a bad thing, but I must now admit that all those Black Lives Matter folks crashing his events might have actually helped the Bernie Sander's campaign.

Why? Well it seems that he (Sanders) is paying more attention to black issues now, and he has gone as far as hiring a black press secretary and  putting out a white paper (no pun intended) on racial  justice .

 He is doing all this while Hillary Clinton is trying to figure out which e-mail goes where, and what color pants suit makes her look more authentic to the masses.

If Sanders is smart he will continue to court the black vote. And while he is doing that he should try to put a coalition of white progressives and black folks together to forge a formidable force at the voting booth. He will need those black votes if he is going to be a contender when the primary states start piling up. We are hearing a lot about New Hampshire and Iowa now, but it is going to take a lot more than  just those two states to be competitive down the stretch.

But that's enough free advice from The Field Negro. If Bernie Sanders and his people want to reach out to the kid I will glad to tell them more for a small fee.

Hillary, my offer goes out to you as well. Lord knows there are a lot of things that I could tell you.

I take checks.

*Pic from solidarity-us.org



  

News you will never see on FOX.

I get a lot of racists visiting my website from time to time. Unfortunately I am linked to a couple of websites with less than desirable examples of human beings, and every now and then some of their regulars like to come into the fields.









This is why I am going to post a couple of stories tonight for their benefit. Stories that I know that they would never have seen had it not been for their friendly neighborhood Field Negro.


This is because ----sadly for them--- they get all of their news from certain right wing and far right websites and cable television stations.









Just call this the things you will never see on FOX, post.









Let's take for example the case of those college kids rioting in New Hampshire. The mainstream media will call it an "unrest" because the people acting out are not Negroes. When Negroes do exactly what these out of control kids are doing it's called a riot. Because.....well... they are Negroes.





These punks aren't even creating a disturbance for any type of a just cause; they are just destroying shit and creating mayhem because they can.









Then there is the case of the Willie Horton type ad making the rounds in a congressional race in Nebraska. I thought that America had moved past those days of racial code words and dog whistles?


What ever happened to our "post-racial" ideals?






This guy's name is Nikko, not Willie, but he looks just as sinister. And he will get the job done of scaring white folks into voting for the desired candidate just fine.






Apparently Nikko benefited from a Nebraska law which allowed him to serve half of his sentence and be set free. Unfortunately for the people of Nebraska he went on a killing spree and killed four people after being released.






Now, like Willie Horton, Nikko is being linked to a candidate for office by his political opponent and Lee Terry is hoping that all the good folks of Nebraska will be outraged that his political opponent would support anything that would free such a monster.






Let's see if it works. I am betting that it will.


Finally, the supremes have decided that "poll taxing" and other means of restricting the right of ordinary citizens is a cool thing.


They decided that the draconian laws in Texas which makes it hard for folks to go out and vote is perfectly fine,and that the fear of voter fraud is greater than the fundamental right of every citizen of this country to be allowed to vote.

"Today's decision means hundreds of thousands of eligible voters in Texas will be unable to participate in November's election because Texas has erected an obstacle course designed to discourage voting," said Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

A spokeswoman for the Texas attorney general's office, however, lauded the decision.

"We are pleased that the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed that Texas' voter ID law should remain in effect for the upcoming election," spokeswoman Lauren Bean said. "The state will continue to defend the voter ID law and remains confident that the district court's misguided ruling will be overturned on the merits. The U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled that voter ID laws are a legal and sensible way to protect the integrity of elections."

"Protecting the integrity of elections" for this guy means only certain people who are our ideological soul-mates will be allowed to vote.

But it's not only in Texas. The forces of  bigotry are hard at work all over the South, and they are trying to make sure that the wrong citizens don't have a voice at the ballot box.

It used to be passive, but now, given the changing demographics, they have become desperate.

"With so much at stake, the forces of voting oppression had to get busy to cover their Southern flank. The New Georgia Project registered more than 85,000 new voters and submitted the applications to the Georgia secretary of state’s office in April 2014 in time for the May primaries, but none of those voting applications were processed in time for the primaries. And with early voting starting in a week, more than 40,000 registrations still have not been processed.

After months of the New Georgia Project asking for an explanation for the delays, Kemp responded in September—by slapping them with an injunction based on 25 “fraudulent” applications his office found. It doesn’t take a voting-war vet like Lewis to figure this out. Georgia Republicans got blindsided by 85,000 new Democratic registrations in a midterm year, and now the secretary of state is playing Bull Connor to stop them from voting."  


They would argue that they are just protecting the "integrity of elections" by any means necessary.


  "The greatest threat to public confidence in elections in this case is the prospect of enforcing a purposefully discriminatory law, one that likely imposes an unconstitutional poll tax and risks denying the right to vote to hundreds of thousands of eligible voters..."

Unfortunately that was the dissent in the Texas voter ID case.

I would love to see Clarence Thomas's medical records.

       

Is he a liar? Is he a racist? Or is he just misunderstood?

I am going to be channel surfing tonight between watching those who dats play the Lions and the republican presidential debates. This is because I really want to hear what these republicans are saying. I haven't made up my mind who I will vote for come 2012 just yet....

Anywhoo, you gotta love that sister in New Hampshire who confronted Rick (I should be in a) Sanitarium.

"At a campaign event outside a pharmacy in Hollis, New Hampshire Saturday afternoon, an African-American woman confronted Rick Santorum over recent comments he made that the NAACP and others have called racially insensitive.

While speaking about welfare reform last week, Santorum was quoted as saying, “I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money.” The candidate now denies that he said “black,” claiming instead that he said “blah.”

At the campaign stop Saturday, the woman — who slipped away from the event before ThinkProgress was able to get her name — asked, “Why do you have a problem against black people?”

WOMAN: Mr. Santorum, why do you have a problem against black people? We are the only ones who need aid? The statistics show that it’s not the popularity [sic] that’s the most needy.
SANTORUM: I didn’t say that. I understand that.
WOMAN: OK, then why’d you say that?
SANTORUM: OK, we gotta go. I didn’t say that. " [Story & Video]

Honestly, I think people are focusing on the wrong issue with Rick's statement. It's not so much that he said something that was racially insensitive while speaking to like minded people. (Welcome to A-merry-ca) The bigger issue is that he is flat out lying about what he said. If a man can lie about something as obvious as this, what else will he lie about?

Still, there are some folks who do not believe that Ricky was being racist. They believe that he was merely trying to reach out to us Negroes.

"NAACP President Benjamin Jealous denounced the comments as "outrageous," and even Fox News host Bill O'Reilly had to remind Santorum that his comments were specious when you consider that "most of the people, as you know, on welfare are white people." Then Santorum made the whole thing worse by denying that he'd even said "black" and insisting instead that what he'd actually said was "blah."

Blah, indeed.

In this weekend's Saturday-and-Sunday New Hampshire primary-debate double-header, if he doesn't take the opportunity to -- in Senate-speak -- revise and extend his thoughts on blacks and welfare, he'll just wind up being the latest in a long line of GOP politicians who not only can't connect with the black vote, but can't even make a convincing case that they've tried. Santorum tried -- and awkwardly failed -- to articulate a position that you hear all the time from black conservatives: that government assistance hurts African Americans over the long term. The problem for Santorum is that it doesn't sound as if he truly understands that message." [Source]

Yes, reaching out is nice. And I would more than welcome an open and honest dialogue on matters of race. The problem is, of course, that when you are talking about republican politicians, it's a thin line between scapegoating and reaching out.





 

Missy's world and the "Bradley Effect".

I guess black folks are still feeling dissed after the folks in lily white New Hampshire pulled a Bradley Effect move on them. I mean just when we were ready to crown King Obama as our leader, A-merry-ca brings us back to reality. And every one seems so shocked that this could have happened. I mean wasn't Hillary down by double digits? They are calling this one of the greatest political upsets in history. It caught every one by surprise.....yeah well it didn't surprise me. And I suspect that quite a few of you reading this blog feel the same way.

The truth of the matter is that the more powerful Barrack's movement becomes, the more irrelevant angry and cynical black men like the field Negro will become. A-merry-ca could shut the field up tomorrow by rising above petty racial and gender politics and and embracing a truly unifying change in her politics. But it ain't happening; you know it, and so do I.

So you all are angry now, and you are turning on your first black Prez. Just read this from Donna Brazile:

" I could understand his frustration at this moment. But, look, he shouldn't take out all his pain on Barrack Obama. It's time that they regroup. Figure out what Hillary needs to do to get her campaign back on track. It sounds like sour grapes coming from the former commander in chief. Someone that many Democrats hold in high esteem. For him to go after Obama, using a fairy tale, calling him as he did last week. It's an insult. And I will tell you, as an African-American, I find his tone and his words to be very depressing..."

She was talking about BJ Bill of course, and her sentiments are being echoed by quite a few African American bloggers and others out there. Bill and Hilary Clinton can use code words with the best of them, and they know what buttons to push to bring out the racial bogeyman lurking behind every corner in A-merry-ca. And in case you were wondering, there is no gender bogeyman. Yes women have been discriminated against in this country, and they have suffered mightily at the hands of the all powerful white male. But don't for a minute think there is a fear of women out there. There isn't. But ask me if there is a fear of black men and you know what I will tell you.

So when I see columns like this one from a popular hometown columnist here in Philly, it gives me cause for pause. I really have to wonder what makes the white A-merry-can woman think that she has all of a sudden become the victim in her precious country. Memo to white women: You have nothing to worry about, next to house pets you are the most protected class in this country. So let's stop with the beat up on Hillary shtick. No one is beating up on Hillary. I know some people on the right think that she is a witch, but she still looks like a white woman to me.

Now I leave you with some comments left on the POLITICO'S blog after they (the commenters) read Donna Brazile's posts:

"Sounds like bitter loser pill Donna is what Carville is to HRC . . . race race race . . . "as an African-American" way to interject race into a non racial story . . . shut up! "
Posted By: January 08, 2008 at 08:04 PM

"Awe, I am such a fan of Donna Brazile (even at one point wanting to draft her as chair of the DNC) and I'm saddened that it seems like she played the race card here :-\ As a minority, that's depressing to me too Donna . . . "
Posted By: LawSchoolDem January 08, 2008 at 08:08 PM

"I ususally really like Donna, but she really played the race card on this one. Not cool. "
Posted By: Elizabeth January 08, 2008 at 08:17 PM

"Donna Brazile had an article in WaTimes yesterday that proves she writes about topics of which she has no clue. Her opening paragraph mischaracterized the economy of our country the past few years to an extent of embarassment. She's disgraceful for spouting such myths. Who can take her seriously, other than another myth-believing Bush-hater? And why above, is she bringing Bill Bennett into the fray? He's a highly principled man whose wife works in inner city Newark NJ schools to try to improve things, and Bennett would like nothing more than to improve the lot of inner-city blacks. DBrazile's a total farce. "
Posted By: sbourg January 08, 2008 at 08:24 PM

"Oprah (black)::Obama (black): Brazille (black):: Obama (black)"

"Donna, Obama was never a college professor. He was a lecturer. Big difference. "
Posted By: Allie January 08, 2008 at 08:34 PM

"When are negroes going to stand on their own merits and quit using the race card?"
Posted By: Bigmarunga January 08, 2008 at 08:35 PM

"I'd like to know how Hillary and Bill have bypassed the writers strike? Just look at all the pre-written fiction that they have been acting out on the national stage."
Posted By: Writer January 08, 2008 at 08:35 PM

"Brazille is a racist and Bill and Hillary are your typical plantation master dems OB they dont plan of letting their slaves run the show. They make me sick. I am sick of Dems playing white against blacks and poor against rich. It is disgusting,but someone keeps voting for them. Just amazing. The Dem party is proof of how horrible the US educational system has become. You have to be drunk or an idiot to vote for any these conmen."
Posted By: jack January 08, 2008 at 08:37 PM "

"How pathetic that Brazile immediately has to resort to the hoary racism card to criticize Bill. No wonder the networks treat Obama with lamb skin gloves, they're all afraid of being called racists if they so much as show any criticism to Obama. His campaign knows this and they have benefited from a cowering media. Bill called out Obama on the falsies in his campaign, he never called Obama a kid, he simply said that Obama's claims were a fairly tale. Only in the mind of a professional race baiter can that be construed as racism. "
Posted By: Joe Nada January 08, 2008 at 08:37 PM

I lifted all those comments from the folks at POLITICO (Don't try to sue me, you will lose).

I hope you took the time to read them. They are quite revealing :)

A funny thing happened on the way to Pennsylvania Avenue.

Hold those Luther CD's for the White House. It might be still early, but I am watching these returns from the New Hampshire Primary, and it looks like the folks from Hope might still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

I just read this article over at Slate magazine:

'Gender," writes Gloria Steinem on the op-ed page of the Jan. 8 New York Times, "is probably the most restricting force in American life." That is incorrect. Poverty is the most restricting force in American life. It's become somewhat unfashionable to point this out, but I don't see how it could be otherwise. Given the choice between being born poor and being born female, which would you choose?

Steinem's occasion for making this wildly obtuse statement is the New Hampshire primary, which Hillary Clinton will likely lose to Barack Obama, a black man. Steinem's column can be read either as a desperate last-ditch appeal on Hillary's behalf or (more plausibly) as an anticipatory complaint that sexism did Hillary in. "I'm not advocating a competition for who has it toughest," Steinem writes, but her enshrinement of gender as the No. 1 obstacle to the pursuit of happiness in the United States gives lie to that. So does her remarkably petty observation:

Black men were given the vote a half-century before women of any race were allowed to mark a ballot, and generally have ascended to positions of power, from the military to the boardroom, before any women (with the possible exception of obedient family members in the latter)... "

So the Clinton's have called out their big guns-- such as Steinem --to make the case for gender over race. If you are a suburban white *woman* [thanks woozie] in A-merry-ca, you must be really torn now. You love Oprah, you love the rosy feeling that "O" gives you, but you are a woman who wants to see one of your own in the White House before you die, and this might be your last chance. So far women are breaking for Clinton 47% to 34% in NH, and regardless of the final results, the coronation must be held up for the "O" man.

Now as a trial lawyer, I have always wanted to be able to cry on cue. In law school we used to joke about putting an onion in our handkerchiefs and being able to use it judiciously during closing arguments. I am not saying that's what Hillary did with her little break up moment, but it sure worked. And let's not forget BJ Bill coming out and wagging those fingers at the voters of NH. Demanding that they support his wife after those wonderful years of prosperity he gave them.

Word to my man Christopher and all the other "O" supporters out there; it's not over. And it's not just Hillary. Don't sleep on the "Breck Boy", I just caught his speech, and it was good. Don't forget; he is a white male, and this, after all, A-merry-ca. There are also urban areas and cities to be fought for, and big city party machines like the one here in Philly, are squarely in the Clinton camp. Then there are all those greedy preachers with their hands out; always willing to sell out to the highest bidder. In this case it could be the Clintons.

OK, so 2 down, 48 to go. And even though "O" lost. The field is feeling more and more like he is back on that bandwagon. Call me crazy, but I always love an underdog.

It should be fun.