Sunday, May 24, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/05/24/409192045/controversy-follows-womens-group-as-it-crosses-inter-korean-border

Controversy Follows As Activists Cross North-South Korean Border
Elise Hu
May 24, 2015

Photograph -- Gloria Steinem and South Korean peace activists march along a military fence at a checkpoint after crossing the border separating North and South Korea.
Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Images

The much-publicized peace walk across the inter-Korean border was really a bus ride. South Korean immigration officials insisted that a group of 30 international women, including American feminist pioneer Gloria Steinem and two Nobel Prize laureates, take a ride across the border for their own safety.

Still, Steinem said, just getting agreement to cross at all — from two nations still technically at war — counts as a win.

A bus carrying a group of 30 peace activists drives past a military checkpoint after crossed the border through the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas.

"It was an enormous, enormous triumph," Steinem said, after crossing into the South Korean side of the demilitarized zone.

The walk was aimed at promoting reconciliation between North and South Korea. The two nations find themselves stuck in an uneasy truce, since they never signed a formal peace treaty to end the Korean War. But the group's reluctance to call out North Korea's human rights abuses led to protests in the South and criticism from a few worldwide human rights groups.

"You can get to human rights when you have a normal situation and not a country at war," says Irish Nobel Prize Laureate Mairead Maguire of the charges the group has been hesitant to openly criticize North Korea.

Normalizing relations with nonviolence certainly sounds good. But that's far from the reality of dealing with the world's most cut-off country, says Alex Gladstein of the Human Rights Foundation.

Spy Agency: North Korea Executes Its Defense Chief With Anti-Aircraft Guns

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry hold a joint news conference following meetings at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul.

"This group in no way shape or form has ever criticized the North Korean government," Gladstein says. "In fact, it has actually covered for it and made excuses for it. This isn't some wishy-washy government that might be doing something good. This is the world's most repressive government."

Gladstein argues that North Korea supported the walk, which started in Pyongyang, only because it benefited the Kim regime.

"I would describe it as a marketing stunt for the North Korean government. The North Korean government is being showered in praise and media attention right now," he says.

In a somewhat tense press conference at the inter-Korean transit station, the women denied North Korean state media reports that they praised the DPRK's first communist dictator, Kim Il Sung, during the visit to Pyongyang.

"So just cut it out, OK?" Steinem said. "Nothing we do can change the image of North Korea, or can change the image of any country, right? We are trying to make person-by-person connections."

The peace walk is done, but peace will take much longer. North Korea's recent moves to test a submarine missile, rescind an approval for the secretary general to visit and publicly execute its top officials have left the country where it's been — out in the cold, in international politics.




"The much-publicized peace walk across the inter-Korean border was really a bus ride. South Korean immigration officials insisted that a group of 30 international women, including American feminist pioneer Gloria Steinem and two Nobel Prize laureates, take a ride across the border for their own safety. Still, Steinem said, just getting agreement to cross at all — from two nations still technically at war — counts as a win. …. . But the group's reluctance to call out North Korea's human rights abuses led to protests in the South and criticism from a few worldwide human rights groups. "You can get to human rights when you have a normal situation and not a country at war," says Irish Nobel Prize Laureate Mairead Maguire of the charges the group has been hesitant to openly criticize North Korea. Normalizing relations with nonviolence certainly sounds good. But that's far from the reality of dealing with the world's most cut-off country, says Alex Gladstein of the Human Rights Foundation. …. "This group in no way shape or form has ever criticized the North Korean government," Gladstein says. "In fact, it has actually covered for it and made excuses for it. This isn't some wishy-washy government that might be doing something good. This is the world's most repressive government." Gladstein argues that North Korea supported the walk, which started in Pyongyang, only because it benefited the Kim regime. "I would describe it as a marketing stunt for the North Korean government. The North Korean government is being showered in praise and media attention right now," he says.”

This isn’t Kim’s first publicity stunt. The “friendship” between Kim and Dennis Rodman looks like a way for Kim to manipulate public opinion. I don’t see what Rodman gets out of the interaction with Kim, unless he also loves getting personal attention. Both of them are generally considered to be somewhat mentally disturbed. Rodman and his food colored hair was, to me, like Tebow bowing down when he scores. It just looks like showmanship, and doesn’t add to their skills as a ball player or a national leader. It strikes me as showing off rather than honest prayer. I’m reminded of one of those sayings of Jesus when he criticized a group of rabbis for praying in public “to be seen of man.” He said that his followers should pray with complete sincerity and “in their closet,” which the Concordance said means in a private place. One problem with our constant TV surveillance (like The Truman Show) is that we have very little privacy left now, and too often no honesty either. Pardon my cynicism. As for trying to get Kim to make a real attempt at healing the wounds between the North and the South, I don’t think that will happen until Kim is no longer breathing. Maybe an internal coup will replace him.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/waco-biker-defiant-about-negative-stereotypes/

Waco biker defiant about negative stereotypes
By INES NOVACIC CBS NEWS
May 21, 2015

Photograph -- "It's the American Dream, its freedom, it's the open road," says Michael Duane. CBS/RUSS FINKELSTEIN

WACO, Texas -- The fender tip on Michael Duane's customized white-and-blue '07 Harley Davidson Deluxe reflected the hazy afternoon sun. Two days after the Twin Peaks brawl that left nine bikers dead and 170 arrested, while most streets in Waco were absent of motorbikes, Duane proudly rode his Harley -- his "baby" as he refers to it - back from his job as a tower technician to his home in the suburbs of Waco.

In the aftermath of the Waco shootout Sunday, motorcycle groups including the Bandidos and the Cossacks, whose members are accused of starting the fighting in the first place, told CBS News that they're urging their members to lay low.

But Duane, an independent biker, says that violence has nothing to do with biker ethos, and that he has no plans to stop riding.

"That's what I love, that's what I enjoy, I don't care what anyone else says, I'm not doing something illegal," said Duane. "We was warned through media, the Harley Davidson house -- several people have said 'Don't ride now, don't go out and ride.'"

"I'm not gonna stop ... doing what I love, based on somebody else's bad decisions."

Territorial issues started the fight, according to Duane and other members of motorcycle groups who wished to remain anonymous. They all expressed anger at how the media equated "bikers" to "criminals" and pointed out that the meeting on Sunday was not one between five rival gangs, but a gathering organized by the Texas Confederation of Clubs and Independents, which takes place about once every four months.

The leader of the Confederation of Clubs issued a statement on Tuesday afternoon urging the violence in Twin Peaks not to "tarnish all the good Texas Bikers have done and will continue to do for the community."

The known rivalry between the Bandidos, one of the largest motorcycle gangs both worldwide and in the U.S., and the much-smaller Cossacks group, predated the conflict on Sunday, and centered on a territorial issue.

"Usually on the back of a cut, you'll have a rocker, if you're a full patch member, and on that rocker it'll say you're county or city of whatever your club represents," said Duane. "With the Bandidos being the 1 percent club here, you're pretty much under them ... they try to regulate all the other clubs. And from what I've heard the Cossacks have decided to fly the Texas rocker, which claims Texan as a territory, which is basically a slap in the face for the Bandidos."

Regardless of inter-group squabbles, Duane says it should not take away "the little respect left" for average bikers. He insisted that the "old days" of outlaw motorcycle club activity was a thing of the past -- that even groups with known ties to criminal activity such as the Bandidos did not endorse that kind of behavior:

"One bad apple can ruin a whole bunch of apples. Cause the rot spreads. And I believe that's what's happening here."

"I do believe if they are involved in criminal activities - selling drugs, transporting drugs, criminal action should be taken, and they should be prosecuted ... but I don't think you can say every biker is a criminal."

The current chaos in Texas hasn't taken away from Duane's love of biking.

"It's the American Dream, its freedom, it's the open road. I can be pissed off, angry, having worst day int he world. And I can get off my bike and just let off steam and ride, and 30 minutes down the road I feel better, I'm calmer. It overtakes you, it's just something about it."




When motorcyclists ride on the highway responsibly, as they sometimes do in disciplined rows down the left lane and past the regular traffic – not cutting in and out of the right or middle lanes – I do get a certain amount of pleasure out of seeing their power. It’s like a herd of bison – you don’t want to get too close to them, but they are absolutely majestic. When bikers get into these aggressive situations, I have no value for them at all. I think they should all automatically lose their driving licenses and registration papers, pay a heavy fine and serve some time in jail, so I’m delighted that these guys are in trouble. Some bikers are, in my view, truly “outlaws” like all gang members. It’s a public danger having them on the road.





http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/05/23/409077707/email-slip-reportedly-reveals-u-k-s-planning-for-possible-eu-exit

Email Slip Reportedly Reveals United Kingdom Plan For Possible EU Exit
Scott Neuman
May 23, 2015

Photograph -- Jon Cunliffe, center, then Britain's International Economic and EU Advisor, stands behind Prime Minister David Cameron in November 2011 as he speaks with U.S. President Barack Obama, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a G20 Summit. The Guardian reports that Cunliffe's secretary accidentally leaked to the paper Great Britain's plan for a possible exit from the European Union.
Charles Dharapak/AP

In what is being described as an embarrassing release of a confidential email, the Bank of England may have inadvertently revealed that it is making financial plans for the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union, should that ever come to pass.

Conservative Victory Moves U.K. Closer To EU Exit

Earlier this month, the newly reelected British Prime Minister David Cameron reiterated his party's commitment to hold a referendum by the end of 2017 on continued membership in the EU.

According to The Guardian, on Friday the Bank of England — the British equivalent of the Federal Reserve — "accidentally emailed details" to the newspaper of a contingency plan in the works on how to extricate the U.K. from the EU, "including how the bank intended to fend off any inquiries about its work."

The plan has been dubbed "Operation Bookend," according to the newspaper.

The Guardian reports that "the email, from [Deputy Governor for Financial Stability Sir Jon] Cunliffe's private secretary to four senior executives, was written on 21 May and forwarded by mistake to a Guardian editor by the Bank's head of press, Jeremy Harrison.

"It says: 'Jon's proposal, which he has asked me to highlight to you, is that no email is sent to [the team of James Talbot, the head of the monetary assessment and strategy division] ... or more broadly around the Bank about the project.'

"It continues: 'James can tell his team that he is working on a short-term project on European economics in International [division] which will last a couple of months. This will be in-depth work on a broad range of European economic issues. Ideally he would then say no more.'"

While the United Kingdom is one of 28 EU member states, it maintains its own currency and is not part of the Eurozone.




"In what is being described as an embarrassing release of a confidential email, the Bank of England may have inadvertently revealed that it is making financial plans for the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union, should that ever come to pass. …. According to The Guardian, on Friday the Bank of England — the British equivalent of the Federal Reserve — "accidentally emailed details" to the newspaper of a contingency plan in the works on how to extricate the U.K. from the EU, "including how the bank intended to fend off any inquiries about its work." The plan has been dubbed "Operation Bookend," according to the newspaper. …. "It continues: 'James can tell his team that he is working on a short-term project on European economics in International [division] which will last a couple of months. This will be in-depth work on a broad range of European economic issues. Ideally he would then say no more.'" While the United Kingdom is one of 28 EU member states, it maintains its own currency and is not part of the Eurozone.”

There have been stories in the last few months of conservative movements across Europe involving the whole EU issue and, shockingly, a rise in anti-Semitism. It seems a “new nationalism” is emerging, and too close ties with other nations including the UN itself are becoming unpopular. The same thing is happening in the US. It is showing up in rural, blue collar segments especially – partly with the Tea Party and partly as a result of 9/11. Conspiracy theories are rampant here. I am concerned for our future.





http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/05/24/409228559/beautiful-mind-mathematician-john-nash-jr-dies-in-new-jersey-car-crash

'Beautiful Mind' Mathematician John Nash, Jr. Dies In New Jersey Car Crash
Scott Neuman
MAY 24, 2015

Photograph -- Princeton University professor John Nash speaks during a news conference at the university in Oct. 1994 after being named the winner of the Nobel Prize for economics.
Charles Rex Arbogast/AP

John Forbes Nash, Jr., the Nobel laureate known for his groundbreaking work on game theory and differential equations, was killed along with his wife in a taxi crash on the New Jersey Turnpike, police say. He was 86.

His death was first reported by NJ.com citing a police official. NPR has confirmed the report through longtime colleague Louis Nirenberg. The couple were killed on Saturday.

Nash is best known to the general public as the subject of the 2001 film A Beautiful Mind, which depicted the troubled mathematician struggling with paranoid schizophrenia even as he pressed ahead with his research. Nash was played by actor Russell Crowe.

According to NJ.com, Nash and his wife of 60 years, 82-year-old Alicia Nash:

"[Were] in a taxi traveling southbound in the left lane of the New Jersey Turnpike, State Police Sgt. Gregory Williams said. The driver of the Ford Crown Victoria lost control as he tried to pass a Chrysler in the center lane, crashing into a guard rail.

"The Nashes were ejected from the car, Williams said.

"'It doesn't appear that they were wearing seatbelts,' he said."

Nirenberg, with whom Nash shared the 2015 Abel Prize, tells NPR's Lauren Hodges that he and his colleague had just returned from Oslo where they received the award. Nirenberg said Nash and his wife were supposed to take a limo home but the driver never showed. So, instead, they took a cab.

A bio on Princeton University's website, where Nash was a professor, notes that A Beautiful Mind was "loosely" based on his life. Nash received his doctorate from the institution in 1950.

According to the website:

"The impact of his 27 page dissertation on the fields of mathematics and economics was tremendous. In 1951 he joined the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. His battle with schizophrenia began around 1958, and the struggle with this illness would continue for much of his life. Nash eventually returned to the community of Princeton."

In a 2004 interview with Nash published on the website of the Nobel Prize, the mathematician was asked how receiving the prestigious award had changed his life.

"It has had a tremendous impact on my life, more than on the life of most Prize winners because I was in an unusual situation. I was unemployed at the time," he said.

"I was in good health, but I had reached the age of 66 and beginning to get social security, but I didn't have much of that," Nash said. "I had many years of unemployment before me. And so I was in a position to be very much influenced by [how] the recognition of my earlier work came about in this way."

Although Nash shared the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1994 for his work "non-cooperative games" (game theory), the Abel Prize from the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters announced in March was in recognition of "his seminal work in partial differential equations — which are used to describe the basic laws of scientific phenomena."

Nash was in Oslo on Tuesday to receive it, along with Nirenberg, from King Harald V.

NJ.com says that wife Alicia "was his caretaker while he battled his mental illness. They became mental health care advocates when their son John was also diagnosed with schizophrenia."





"[Were] in a taxi traveling southbound in the left lane of the New Jersey Turnpike, State Police Sgt. Gregory Williams said. The driver of the Ford Crown Victoria lost control as he tried to pass a Chrysler in the center lane, crashing into a guard rail. "The Nashes were ejected from the car, Williams said. "'It doesn't appear that they were wearing seatbelts,' he said." …. "It has had a tremendous impact on my life, more than on the life of most Prize winners because I was in an unusual situation. I was unemployed at the time," he said. "I was in good health, but I had reached the age of 66 and beginning to get social security, but I didn't have much of that," Nash said. "I had many years of unemployment before me. And so I was in a position to be very much influenced by [how] the recognition of my earlier work came about in this way." Although Nash shared the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1994 for his work "non-cooperative games" (game theory), the Abel Prize from the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters announced in March was in recognition of "his seminal work in partial differential equations — which are used to describe the basic laws of scientific phenomena." …. NJ.com says that wife Alicia "was his caretaker while he battled his mental illness. They became mental health care advocates when their son John was also diagnosed with schizophrenia."

Both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder used to be feared, as the patients very likely would spend their whole life in a mental hospital, but now both are manageable with drugs and therapy, and unlike the opinion that much of the public has about them, they are not incompatible with a very high IQ. The same is true for ADHD and Autism. I’m so glad the world has progressed in this way, so that some of the stigma about mental illness has been removed. That movie with Russell Crowe was very enjoyable and enlightening about schizophrenia. Crowe is one of those actors who have a wide range of acting ability with none of the “tells” of the effort he is making to produce a characterization. He’s very natural.





POLICE NEWS TODAY -- FOUR ARTICLES


http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/05/24/409187302/cleveland-protesters-arrested-after-officers-acquittal

Dozens Of Cleveland Protesters Arrested After Officer's Acquittal
L. Carol Ritchie
May 24, 2015

Photograph -- A protestor films riot police Saturday as they advance on a small march against the acquittal of Michael Brelo, a Cleveland patrolman charged in the shooting deaths of two unarmed suspects.
John Minchillo/AP

Cleveland police in riot gear made a number of arrests Saturday night, as protesters poured into the streets, angry over the acquittal of a patrolman charged in the shooting deaths of two unarmed suspects.

Reuters says a total of 71 arrests were made.

Demonstrators chanting anti-police slogans temporarily blocked a downtown street and gathered outside the courthouse, the Associated Press reports. "Police blocked furious protesters from going inside while across the city others held a mock funeral with some carrying signs asking, 'Will I be next?' " says the AP.

Police tweeted that officers made multiple arrests, including three in the downtown dining area, where a restaurant patron was injured by an object thrown through the window.

The verdict was for the Saturday morning on a holiday weekend to prevent traffic issues downtown, the county's top judge told AP.

As the Two-Way's Scott Neuman reported, a judge handed down a verdict of not guilty on two counts of voluntary manslaughter against a Cleveland officer charged in the 2012 deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams — unarmed suspects who were caught in a 137-shot hail of police gunfire following a high-speed chase.

"In summary, I find that the state did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant Michael Brelo caused the deaths Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams because the essential element of causation was not proved for both counts," said Judge John P. O'Donnell.

As Neuman wrote Saturday,

"In a nearly hour-long verdict, O'Donnell cited testimony from a doctors for the prosecution and defense, saying he believed that while Brelo had delivered at least one fatal shot to both Russell and Williams, it was impossible to determine beyond a reasonable doubt that Brelo's shots — and not those of a dozen other officers — were the ones that killed.

"O'Donnell, who began hearing testimony on April 6, also determined that Brelo's use of force was constitutionally reasonable."

Brelo still faces administrative charges.




“Reuters says a total of 71 arrests were made. Demonstrators chanting anti-police slogans temporarily blocked a downtown street and gathered outside the courthouse, the Associated Press reports. "Police blocked furious protesters from going inside while across the city others held a mock funeral with some carrying signs asking, 'Will I be next?' " says the AP. Police tweeted that officers made multiple arrests, including three in the downtown dining area, where a restaurant patron was injured by an object thrown through the window. …. Reuters says a total of 71 arrests were made. Demonstrators chanting anti-police slogans temporarily blocked a downtown street and gathered outside the courthouse, the Associated Press reports. "Police blocked furious protesters from going inside while across the city others held a mock funeral with some carrying signs asking, 'Will I be next?' " says the AP. Police tweeted that officers made multiple arrests, including three in the downtown dining area, where a restaurant patron was injured by an object thrown through the window.”

Of course, in a situation like that no one shooter could be implicated. That doesn’t mean that the whole bunch of them shouldn’t have been charged with unnecessary use of force or some other applicable terms. I’ve seen in some other cases that a prosecutor is said to have “overcharged” a suspect with a case that can’t be proven when another charge would have been appropriate. These police melees when 60 patrol cars show up and give chase remind me of a pack of wolves chasing prey. It stimulates the officer’s adrenalin to the point that they have little self-control at the end. I’ll never forget the Rodney King beating video. Overkill like that is the result of gang mentality. Over a hundred bullets pierced that car. It would have been smarter to follow the car in a helicopter and lay down those tire piercing things a mile or so ahead of them, which would then stop the fleeing car. It strikes me as being another case of poor police training, discipline and strategy. As long as courts give officers a slap on the wrist like this, the reactions against police will continue to be hostile. I hope the police didn’t arrest demonstrators who were peaceful. I noticed a brick was thrown into a restaurant, which is a bad sign. Black people do need to demonstrate in cases like this, but not with bricks.







http://www.cbsnews.com/news/housing-authority-of-new-orleans-cop-found-shot-to-death-in-cruiser/

Cop in New Orleans found shot to death in cruiser
CBS NEWS
May 24, 2015

NEW ORLEANS - A police officer with the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) was found shot to death in a cruiser Sunday morning, officials said.

CBS affiliate WWL-TV reports that around 7:30 a.m., officers arrived at the scene in the Central City neighborhood near South Robertson and Freret streets to find the driver's side window broken.

The officer, who has not been named yet, was found dead inside the car.

The HANO police chief told WWL-TV the victim was a two-year veteran of the force, and it's the first killing of a HANO officer in its history.

The incident is under investigation.

HANO manages all low-income public housing in New Orleans. Its police department was given the power to make arrests in 2011.



http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2011/05/post_267.html

Bill giving HANO police authority to make arrests is approved by Senate committee
By Ed Anderson, The Times-Picayune
May 05, 2011

Photograph -- Louisiana State Capitol

BATON ROUGE -- A Senate committee Thursday granted the Housing Authority of New Orleans its request to establish its own police force with officers trained to make arrests and protect the agency's residents and property.

But the Committee on Local and Municipal Affairs balked at granting the officers state supplemental pay, now $500 a month for other police agencies and firefighters in the state.

Senate Bill 78 by Sen. Edwin Murray, D-New Orleans, now goes to the full Senate for debate.

Murray's bill would give the authority's officers the powers to make arrests instead of having to detain suspects until New Orleans police come to arrest and book them. The bill also would require HANO officers to become certified like police on local departments and sheriff's deputies.

But Murray and agency security director Mitchell Dusset, a former ranking officer with the New Orleans Police Department, ran into problems from the panel on the issue of state supplemental pay.

"Suppose every housing authority in the state decided to do this," said Sen. Lydia Jackson, D-Shreveport. "Some of our college (police) don't get supplemental pay."

Dusset said he can "forgo the supplemental pay now" because of the state's budgetary problems. "We want the training and certification."

Murray went along with an amendment to delete the supplemental pay from the bill.

Dusset told the committee members that he has 13 officers on his force and he wants to double it in the next few years.

The average pay is about $35,000 a year with a pension program. Many of his officers, Dusset said, are trained because they come from the New Orleans Police Department or other agencies.

He said while overall crime in New Orleans has declined about 2 percent since a year ago, crime in the housing developments has increased about 1.2 percent.

Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, D-New Orleans, said that in the past when special crime prevention districts have been set up in neighborhoods, off-duty police patrol the area but regular police patrols decline despite state laws prohibiting that.

"How do you know the NOPD won't reduce police patrols?" she asked.

Murray said that New Orleans police and sheriff's officials "have signed onto this thing. Everything will be reduced to writing," including which agencies have jurisdiction where.

Sen. Cynthia Willard-Lewis, D-New Orleans, said the housing authority police will take some of the pressure off of the city police in patrolling housing developments. "They are designed to complement and supplement the NOPD," she said.

While the Senate panel was grappling with Murray's bill, the House Municipal, Parochial and Cultural Affairs Committee approved a measure that would allow the mayor of New Orleans to send a proxy to represent him, with full voting privileges, at meetings of the city's Sewerage & Water Board.

Current law gives the mayor a seat but not an option to send someone in his stead. House Bill 355 by Rep. Jared Brossett, D-New Orleans, would require that the mayor's designee be a nonclassified employee of the city, meaning that the mayor could send one of his political appointees.

Reporter Bill Barrow contributed to this report.



“Murray said that New Orleans police and sheriff's officials "have signed onto this thing. Everything will be reduced to writing," including which agencies have jurisdiction where. Sen. Cynthia Willard-Lewis, D-New Orleans, said the housing authority police will take some of the pressure off of the city police in patrolling housing developments. "They are designed to complement and supplement the NOPD," she said.”

When I see policemen being targeted and shot in cold blood it strikes me as retaliation. I wonder if the HANO officers have been taking bribes, harassing people, or otherwise making enemies. Community policing is supposed to make for better relations rather than worse. When I think of deep-seated corruption, however, I think of places like New Orleans in the “Deep South,” with violent and undisciplined officers. I think that’s what was going on in Ferguson before the whole thing erupted there. If you watch the movie version of In The Heat Of The Night you will see the best rendition of the matter that I have ever seen. Rod Steiger and Sidney Poitier were burned into my memory. That goes back to 1967 (thank goodness for Google so I can look that date up).




PROTEST AND SOCIETAL CHANGE


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cleveland-activist-basheer-jones-teens-anti-police-anger/

Activist wants to make anti-police anger constructive
By GILAD THALER CBS NEWS
May 23, 2015

Play VIDEO -- Protests in Cleveland following Michael Brelo verdict

Most people turn to law enforcement when they are in need of urgent help, but for some high school students in Cleveland even the word "police" causes anxiety.

"They're the ones who are supposed to be protecting you, keeping you safe. Now in our society I feel like I think of white men, you know, going after the African-American community," said Ke'sha Hines, a senior at Northeast Ohio College Preparatory School.

Fellow senior Ariel Brown said, "I feel as though today the term 'police officer' almost has the same effect as the word 'master' did almost about let's say 200 years ago."

Many of these Cleveland students have had first-hand experience engaging with police officers.

"You hear the word 'police,' you tense up, even in our generation," said Brown. "Even myself, who just walks down the street, nonchalant, minding my own business, texting my friends and I see a police car, I automatically pay all of my attention to my surroundings and wonder will today be the day I die because my skin is a little bit too tan."

Others, like Kandance Crawford, have friends who have come into contact with police.

"I had a friend who was walking when the police stopped him and made him get on the ground for no reason at all," Crawford said.

These students, all African-American, have grown up with many examples of excessive force used by police officers, experiences that shape their outlook.

At the end of 2014, the Department of Justice found that the Cleveland Division of Police "engages in a pattern or practice of the use of excessive force." In its investigation, the department said that it determined that "structural and systematic deficiencies and practices - including insufficient accountability, inadequate training, ineffective policies and inadequate engagement with the community - contribute to the use of unreasonable force."

With the death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice six months ago at the hands of a white police officer and Saturday's acquittal of Michael Brelo in the deadly shooting of two African-American in 2012, it is clear to see why the students feel the way they do.

Some students, like Soniqua Turner, understand why many contemplate turning to violence.

"It's a chain of events that keeps happening, and it's in our city - this is our city - so in order for us to control what's going on we have to take to violence because that's the way we feel is the only way out," Turner said.

In response to such statements, community activist Basheer Jones says, "The sentiment of our young people in high schools around Cleveland is that they are angry and upset, and my message to them is continue to be upset but I don't want you to tear anything down."

For the past five years, Jones has been attending schools like Northeast Ohio College Preparatory engaging with students about racial issues in Cleveland.

"This is a conversation that we don't like to have because we are so worried about making people feel uncomfortable," he said, "but the issue with that is we're not getting to the root of the problem."

Jones believes that by talking about these issues he can help channel the students' passion toward what he calls "positive forms of protest."

"You can't change the system by destroying buildings," Jones told his students. "What we need to produce is not more buildings, but produce change-makers."

For Jones, the issue of racial tension is Cleveland is personal. While driving to a local community volunteering program, he said that his own 4-year-old son said a few weeks ago, "Daddy, I'm afraid of the police ... I'm afraid that they'll kill me."

While Jones reassured his son that he was safe, he knows that both he and his son could one day be a target. While holding a picture of his children that he keeps on his car's dashboard, Jones said, "This is the work right here. This is the reason why I fight for them."

Jones hopes to "out-work the negative energy that's trying to destroy my community."

"For every one Tamir Rice they take, I will not let his name die in vain," he said. "I will try my best to inspire 1,000 more doctors, 1,000 more attorneys ... for every one they take, we're going to produce even more."




“Others, like Kandance Crawford, have friends who have come into contact with police. "I had a friend who was walking when the police stopped him and made him get on the ground for no reason at all," Crawford said. …. At the end of 2014, the Department of Justice found that the Cleveland Division of Police "engages in a pattern or practice of the use of excessive force." In its investigation, the department said that it determined that "structural and systematic deficiencies and practices - including insufficient accountability, inadequate training, ineffective policies and inadequate engagement with the community - contribute to the use of unreasonable force." …. It's a chain of events that keeps happening, and it's in our city - this is our city - so in order for us to control what's going on we have to take to violence because that's the way we feel is the only way out," Turner said. In response to such statements, community activist Basheer Jones says, "The sentiment of our young people in high schools around Cleveland is that they are angry and upset, and my message to them is continue to be upset but I don't want you to tear anything down." …. Jones believes that by talking about these issues he can help channel the students' passion toward what he calls "positive forms of protest." "You can't change the system by destroying buildings," Jones told his students. "What we need to produce is not more buildings, but produce change-makers."

"For every one Tamir Rice they take, I will not let his name die in vain," he said. "I will try my best to inspire 1,000 more doctors, 1,000 more attorneys ... for every one they take, we're going to produce even more." In this statement Jones seems to be referring to an open race war or even genocide. I don’t think the issue with police is that highly developed intellectually. I think it’s “bad apples,” alright, but the depart-ments aren’t stepping in to stop the war. Firing and bringing criminal charges against bad officers would stop the abuse, I think. There is no enforced discipline too often, so the “bad boys” just do whatever they want to. I do believe, though that some new or more stringent laws that specify these events as crimes rather than merely the police officers’ personal prerogative must be enacted. “Mayors, lawmak-ers and courts give them “the benefit of the doubt.” That needs to stop.