Not "Everybody's All- American."

James Blake is an All American guy. He grew up in a solid middle class family in Connecticut, attended Harvard University, and spent much of his formative years in the very suburban town of Fairfield. Most important of all, though, he was a world class tennis player. He reached as high as number four on the tour and earned over seven million dollars in prize money.

James speaks "really well", looks very neat and "clean", and carries himself like a true gentleman. 
He is the kind of Negro that Joe Biden would gush over.

So imagine how poor James Blake felt when he was treated like just another Mike Brown or Eric Garner on the streets of New York recently.

"Five white undercover cops slammed retired black tennis star James Blake to the ground outside his midtown hotel Wednesday in a violent case of mistaken identity.

The 35-year-old Blake, once ranked No. 4 in the world, suffered a cut to his left elbow and bruises to his left leg as the law enforcement quintet handcuffed and held him for 15 minutes outside the Grand Hyatt.

"It was definitely scary and definitely crazy," said Blake, adding that none of the men initially identified themselves as a police officer. His right eye appeared a bit red hours later at the hotel.

The cops were investigating a credit card fraud operation when they took Blake to the ground around noon."

Five undercover cops for a credit card fraud case?! My goodness, no wonder crime is on the rise in New York. You would think that they would find better way to utilize the NYPD's manpower.

Poor Mrs. Blake must have been beside herself. What? How dare they? He is not like those other blacks. He married me for crying out loud! Let me stop.

Anyway, fortunately someone recognized the former tennis star and the police reluctantly let him go.

As is to be expected, poor James was not feeling very All American after the incident.

“In my mind there's probably a race factor involved, but no matter what there's no reason for anybody to do that to anybody,” Blake said. “You'd think they could say, 'Hey, we want to talk to you. We are looking into something.’ I was just standing there. I wasn't running. It's not even close (to be okay). It's blatantly unnecessary.”

Now now James, don't go playing the "race card', America has been very good to you.

"A police source said Blake was misidentified as a suspect wanted for buying a cellphone with a bogus credit card. A man who was standing near Blake was arrested in connection with the scam, police said.

“Once Blake was properly identified and found to have no connection to the investigation, he was released from police custody immediately,” the NYPD said in a statement." [Source]

Well James, look at the bright side. You could have been some poor unknown black man minding his business in New York City, when New York's finest decided to act on their all black men look alike conditioning. Trust me when I tell you, your experience would have been a whole lot different.

Now go and enjoy the rest of the US Open with your friends.  Maybe your buddy John Mayer will write a song about the incident.

*Pic from Wikipedia.













 

The killing of Jack.

So have you all heard about the tragic shooting of a beloved family pet in Questa Verde, California?


It seems that while the family was inside the home, a police officer was investigating a burglary call. He went into the backyard of the home, and the poor dog, who always played with the mailman, suddenly charged him. (The officer's uniform must have fooled him.)


Sadly, officer William Moreland fired three bullets into the family dog killing him instantly.


Now the people of Questa Verde are outraged. The seven year old Welsh corgi named Jack did not have do die this way. Officer Moreland has been placed on paid administrative leave pending a further investigation of the incident.


PETA and various other groups have been picketing the police station and calling for the officer to resign. It is reported that the family is in seclusion and are devastated.


OK, so I just made up that entire story to make a point. Unless you believe that the movie Poltergeist was not based on fiction, you will understand that there is no town called Questa Verde, California. And the last time I checked, detective William Moreland was Wendell Pierce's character in The Wire. Jack? Well I think that was the name of the scruffy little dog on Little House On The Prairie.


But here is the thing, had it all been true, more people in the majority population would be up in arms about the shooting death of Jack the Welsh corgi than they would the shooting death of Tamir Rice , or the choking death of Eric Garner.


No matter how egregious the actions of the police officers were in these cases, we learn that poll after poll shows that most people in the majority population just do not see it that way. To them, their local police are fair to black people.


Again, had the story above been true, I suspect that polls taken about the actions of Officer Moreland would have had a different result than they do about the actions of the police officers in these latest high profile cases where black men were killed. White folks take it to a whole different level when it comes to their pets. When it comes to the lives of young black men, on the other hand, not so much.


The president has dogs. Why isn't he on television saying if he had a Welsh corgi he would look like Jack?  It's an outrage!


*As far as I know the dog in the pic's name is not Jack and he is doing just fine.