The Soweto Uprising — “And the children shall lead the way to freedom “

|| A LEARNING MOMENT ||

"I saw a child fall down. Under a shower of bullets I rushed forward and went for the picture. It had been a peaceful march, the children were told to disperse, they started singing Nkosi Sikelele. The police were ordered to shoot." – Sam Nzima, South African photographer of one of the most iconic photographs in the world.

Hector Pieterson. How many of you know his name?

Today, June 16, is the anniversary of his 1976 murder by South African government in what is now called the Soweto Uprising -- a series of protests led by Black students. Most just children.

But it was young Hector's death, and the famous picture of this 12-year old dying child, that brought worldwide attention to the evil and inhumane system of apartheid.

In 1925, Afrikaans -- a language bastardized from Portuguese, Dutch (with Bantu influences) --  was declared the official language of South Africa. Fifty years later the South African government declared that 50 percent of all lessons (math, science , etc.) in Black schools had to be taught in Afrikaans and the other 50 percent in English. 

This forced Black students to lose opportunity for critical analysis, as they had to focus on understanding the language as opposed to the lesson being taught.

Forced to focus on learning Afrikaans, the language of their oppressors.

White schools were not so restricted, students were largely taught in their own native languages.

Just as infuriating to Black South Africans? It was an insult to be forced to learn Afrikaans -- the language of their oppressor. 

In February 1976, two Soweto teachers quit rather than be forced to teach the lessons in Afrikaans. 

In April of that year, Orlando West Junior School refused to attend classes. 

The protest quickly spread, and soon the majority of students in Soweto schools were refusing to attend. 

By mid-June the students had self-organized (they would later be known as the Soweto Students' Representative Council), and Tsiesti Machinini,  a student and head of the debate team of Morris Isaacson High School, suggested a three-day rally. 

So on June 16, thousands of students headed to the Orlando High School stadium shouting slogans and carrying signs, some of which read: "If we must do Afrikaans, Vorster must do Zulu." (John Vorster was prime minister of South Africa at the time.) as they marched to the demonstration site.

When they were stopped by police-erected road barricades, instead of trying to forcibly removing the barricades they simply took a detour. 

It's estimated they were 20,000 in number, these young students, by the time they reached the school. Waiting for them were met by armed police officers.

The students began singing 'Nkosi Sikelele',  a Black liberation song and the official anthem of the African National Congress. 

When a police dog was released on the crowd it was promptly killed by the students.

It was then that police started shooting.

Some say that it was 15-year old Hastings Ndlovu who was shot first, but it's widely believed that Pieterson was actually the first fatality. 

As he lay dying on the ground his body was scooped by another student, Mbuyisa Makhubo. Photographer Sam Nzima's iconic photograph shows Makhubo carrying young Hector Pieterson as he runs for help, and Pieterson's terrified sister, Antoinette Sithole, crying as she runs alongside of them. 

Twelve-year old Hector was declared dead upon arrival at the hospital. 

Nzima's photograph was published in The World, an Black newspaper out of Johannesburg, and later picked up by media outlets around the world. 

At first the South African government said  the police had not fired directly on the students, but on the ground, and the bullet fatal must have ricocheted off of a stone to hit Pieterson. 

An autopsy later proved that to be false -- the boy was killed by a direct shot.

What started out as a demonstration, soon became an uprising, a rebellion, or a riot -- depending upon your sociopolitical outlook -- that lasted three days. Hundreds of students died as they used stones and bottles as weapons against heavily armed police.

Even tanks were brought in by law enforcement to squelch the rebellion, but still the students fought.

And, to the government's astonishment, there were some right in their own country who sided with the young Sowetans .

At one  point, 400 white students from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg attempted to join the Soweto students, but were stopped and disbanded by police.

The government demanded that hospitals report all people with gunshot wounds so that they could be prosecuted. 

Instead, sympathetic doctors listed bullet wounds as abscesses.

What later became known as the Soweto Students Uprising, motivated students around the country; soon student demonstrations, rallies, and protests we're being held nationwide, and now international media was there to document it all.

And the small number of people who decried apartheid worldwide soon numbered in millions. 

Faced with severe criticism and --  more importantly -- financial sanctions, the South African government had no choice but to abolish the evil system.

Today June 16 is a national holiday in South Africa, called National Youth Day to honor the students of Soweto who fought,  against injustice. 

Personally, I don't think you need to be a South  African or in South Africa to honor them.

Standing Firm at Standing Rock

It’s nothing really new ― the federal government has decided that the economic interests of a few are worth more than the treaties made with Native Americans.

To heck with the promises, pledges, and treaties when it comes to building an oil pipeline ― fracking, I might add ― that runs through Native American land, threatening their water supply, ancient Native monuments and ancestral burial grounds.

But this time the Native Americans just ain’t having it. And they’re facing down private security guards using pepper spray and vicious attack dogs to prove it.

To heck with the promises, pledges, and treaties when it comes to building an oil pipeline ― fracking, I might add ― that runs through Native American land, threatening their water supply, ancient Native monuments and ancestral burial grounds.

But this time the Native Americans just ain’t having it. And they’re facing down private security guards using pepper spray and vicious attack dogs to prove it.

Because many of them believe the construction of the pipeline was foretold in an old Native American prophecy, and allowing “the black snake” to travel their land could very well mean the beginning of the end of mankind.

Which is why thousands of Native Americans have come from all over the country — some in cars, some on horseback,some even on foot — to stand with, and in support, of the Standing Rock Sioux. Perhaps the largest such gathering in history.

Yep, it’s that important.

Not that you’d know it by the amount of national media coverage being given to one of the largest Native American protests in modern history.

Go ahead and google CNN, the New York Times, the Washington Post and see how much ink space they’ve devoted to what should be a major story.

Although MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell did make mention of the situation on his show back in August.

The situation became a situation when Dakota Access LLC proposed to build a 1,172-mile pipeline to connect oil fields in North Dakota across South Dakota and Iowa to other pipelines in Illinois, according to article written by the National Lawyers Guild.

A pipeline that would go right through the Native American ancestral lands ― including burial grounds and sacred monuments ― and have a devastating impact on the environment and their main source of fresh water.

The move was sanctioned by the federal government; in violation of the Fort Laramie Treaty ratified in 1869 promising no government infringement on the land without consultation with the Native American residents on that territory.

The Standing Rock Sioux tribe filed an injunction in court, last month, to try and stop the development and a court date has been set, but the tribe decided to go ahead and start a peaceful occupation of the of the land in the meantime.

They wanted to have time, and opportunity, to come together in prayer and to document some of the evidence that the land held artifacts and monuments of traditional and spiritual significance.

When I heard about that last week I thought: Who can blame them? I wouldn’t put it pass the government or the company to start sneaking around and getting started in the meantime.

And guess what? On Saturday – September 3 – some of the supporters went to one of the burial sites included in the development plan to plant tribal flags only to be flabbergasted at the sight of bulldozers working over the holiday weekend!

A friend of mine, Quese IMC, the young spiritual warrior featured in the public service announcements for the Native American Right Fund, was there.

He said one of the protesters walked through the fence, and while the bulldozers were still digging ― destroying some of the evidence they were trying to document ― the woman, Yonasda Lonewolf, calmly asked the construction workers whose land they were on, and what they were doing.

When the bulldozers came too close to Lonewolf, Quese IMC ― who is from the Pawnee Nation ― jumped in front of them to protect her. A guy in a hard hat came up from behind him and knocked him to the ground. And then . . . those damn private security guards.  

“They were in trucks, peeling through the crowd, and then they rolled down the windows and started pepper spraying people,” Quese IMC told me over the telephone this morning.

He said he also saw them turning dogs loose into the crowds and watched as a pit bull chased protesters, snapping at and biting them indiscriminately.

Then an older Native American moved in front of the dog and started talking to him in Native tongue. The dog then turned around, Quese said, and bit his handler. 

“I was right there, and I watched it,” Quese said, adding that he was not surprised. “We have connection to spirituality and so do dogs. And we know what was happening wasn’t their fault.”

Quese IMC is just one of thousands of Native Americans, young and old, who’ve traveled to North Dakota to stand with the Standing Rock Tribe of the Sioux Nation to protect ancestral lands.

Some say this is the largest gathering of Native Americans ― ever!

And that, according to another friend of mine, Abby Rojas ― is because of Lakota prophecy about a black snake, that many Native Americans see as the pipeline.

“It’s said that one day this black snake would pass through the land during the 7th generation, and it would either uprise our people, or destroy them,” Rojas explained to me ― adding that by uprise she means that the sometimes fragmented Native American population would unite in order to save the land. And, she went on to tell me, it wouldn’t only the Native America nations that would be destroyed — the black snake would ultimately threaten the world.

When you look at it that way, the Native Americans who are peacefully amassing at Standing Rock could be considered more protectors than protesters.

Rojas went on to tell me that according to the Lakota calendar, the 7th generation is now — and it is obligation of those living in the time of the 7th generation to fulfill their destiny.

“So, for our people, this is very important,” Rojas said, adding that while it is a Lakota prophecy, it’s one that is accepted by many other Native American nations.

But even if you were to disregard the prophecy, both Quese and Rojas stress the spiritual connection that Native Americans have to both land and water is one that should not be ignored. A connection that they can’t understand couldn’t be respected, if not accepted, by the federal government.

Oh! But wait, here’s the kicker. This wasn’t the original route proposed for the pipeline, according to Dave Archambault II, in an interview with Indian Country Today Media.com.

No, no, no! It was originally supposed to go through land not owned by the Sioux, according to Archambault, who is the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. That proposal was vetoed, he said, out of concern for that community’s safe drinking water.

“You will hear people say that this project bolsters national security because it decreases our reliance on foreign oil. All of that is good, as long as they don’t reap these benefits at our cost.”

“We complain, too, because we’re concerned for our future generations and their drinking water,” Archambault said in the ICMT interview. But, he added, “... they don’t listen.”

They don’t listen because they don’t care.

And, it seems, neither do major media outlets who’ve devoted no time to let the American people know what’s going on at Standing Rock.

Thank God, though for the indie press. The militant press. The press which too many people pay no attention.

Democracy Now posted a video, which shows Saturday’s events ― including the bulldozers digging up land where so many traditional native antiquities are buried.

And, yeah... if you thought Quese IMC was lying, the video also shows the protesters being peppered sprayed and being chased by dogs.

Dogs!

The same kind of weapon they hustled out during the Civil Rights protests back in in the fifties and sixties.

Can water hoses be far behind?

Oh, well, this is the new millennium. I guess that’s why they used pepper spray instead.

The thing is, I jest, but this is not a situation to be taken lightly ― and the Native Americans aren’t. Quese IMC says the protesters are building lodging to give them better shelter during the upcoming colder weather.

And Rojas told me that they’ve already set up a school so that children can continue their education while remaining on the grounds.

Remember, there’s more than a thousand Native Americans involved; unifying for a cause that they believe in.

Protecting land, water, and human lives.

Not just theirs... but also ours. Because believe me, if that 1,711-mile-long pipeline bursts, it’s not just their main water source and ecosystem which will be affected.

Nice to know somebody cares. Even if, over the last 500 years, it seems that not many care about them.

Emmett Till, 61 Years Later: Let's Stop Pretending We'll Never Forget

It was 61 years ago this past weekend ―  on August 28, 1955 ― that two white men, carrying guns, pulled 14-year-old Emmett Till out of his grandparents’ home in Money, Mississippi.

The teenager’s body was discovered in the Tallahatchie River three days later.

It was revealed that he had been severely beaten, his eye had been gouged out, and he had been shot in the head; then a 70-pound cotton gin fan was attached to his neck by barb wire and his body was thrown in the river.

The two men ― Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam ― who had pulled him out of the house were charged with kidnapping and murder. 

The defendants were allowed to sit with their families, even bouncing toddlers on their lap while testimony was being given.

It took the all-white jury just one hour and seven minutes to find the men not guilty. One juror later said they would have come back with the verdict sooner if they had not stopped to get a pop; they wanted to stretch it out in order to make it look good.

One year later, both men admitted their guilt in a Look Magazine interview. Milam told the writer, William Bradford Huie, that their intentions were just to scare Till. Push him around a little, pistol whip him, and then let him go. But, Milam, said, Till took the whipping but remained unrepentant ― even told his persecutors that he was unafraid of them, and that he was just as good as them.

“Well, what else could we do? He was hopeless. I’m no bully; I never hurt a nigger in my life. I like niggers ― in their place ― I know how to work ‘em. But I just decided it was time a few people got put on notice. As long as I live and can do anything about it, niggers are gonna stay in their place.”

So Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam happily committed kidnapping, torture, and murder and got away with it.

Emmett Till, on the other hand, was murdered for the crime of... oh, that’s right, I didn’t say . . .

One year later, both men admitted their guilt in a Look Magazine interview. Milam told the writer, William Bradford Huie, that their intentions were just to scare Till. Push him around a little, pistol whip him, and then let him go. But, Milam, said, Till took the whipping but remained unrepentant ― even told his persecutors that he was unafraid of them, and that he was just as good as them.

“Well, what else could we do? He was hopeless. I’m no bully; I never hurt a nigger in my life. I like niggers ― in their place ― I know how to work ‘em. But I just decided it was time a few people got put on notice. As long as I live and can do anything about it, niggers are gonna stay in their place.”

So Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam happily committed kidnapping, torture, and murder and got away with it.

Emmett Till, on the other hand, was murdered for the crime of... oh, that’s right, I didn’t say . . .

His alleged crime, was whistling at a white woman ― Carolyn Bryant, the wife of Till’s murderer Roy Bryant.

Emmett Till was killed before he could marry or have children, but writer Bernice McFadden ― author of 14 books including “Gathering of Waters,” a novel based on Till’s tragic demise ― maintains that he still has a long line of descendants. 

Not necessarily related to him by a shared bloodline, she explains, but descendants nonetheless.

 “His descendants are the hundreds of Black men and women who’ve had their lives taken by racist civilians and police officers in the sixty-one years since Emmett Till was murdered,” says McFadden, seen in the above video discussing “Gathering of Waters” ― which made The New York Times 100 Notable Books list ― at the Center for Fiction in New York.

Oh, let me assure you there was an outcry from the African-American community about Emmett Till’s lynching, of course. We’re soooo good at public outcries.

Don’t you think? 

But, hmm, I wonder why rapper Lil Wayne felt so comfortable using Emmett Till’s name in a most vulgar way in a guest verse on fellow rapper Future’s 2013 song, Karate Chop. In the verse, which was pulled from the song by Epic Records before it went on sale in retail stores, Lil Wayne raps about his sexual prowess, and him “beating that pussy up like Emmett Till.” 

Oh, of course he apologized ― a couple of weeks after there was a public outcry (there we go again!), but would he even have done it if we were really serious about we’ll never forget?

OK, let me bring up some sore points.

Remember 17-year-old Trayvon Martin? You should. He was killed in 2012, not some sixty years ago. He didn’t do anything as awful as whistling at a white woman. All he did was wear a hoodie in the rain while walking home after buying a package of  Skittles.

His killer was identified, and was acquitted.

Yeah, public outcry. HUGE public outcry. 

And yet, just a year later there was Tamir Rice. Wow, he was even younger than Till ― only 12-years-old! Shot by a Cleveland police officer while holding a toy gun. Thankfully his murderer was put on trial, found guilty and locked up. 

Oh, wait a minute, he wasn’t. 

“The point of remembering is to remind ourselves we don’t live in a colorblind society,” Sharlia Lebreton Gulley, a friend of my daughter, told me in a recent conversation.

To forget, continued Gulley ― a 27-year old postgraduate candidate at Florida International University ―  is to run the risk “of drinking the kool-aid,” and pretending the murder of Tamir Rice had nothing to do with race.

 “We’d starting thinking we really do have equal opportunities, and that black lives actually matter.”  

I don’t know... but it seems that we really have that a great track record when it comes to remembering. The murders stay in the media, and in our minds for a few weeks, a few months ― and now, perhaps because of the Black Lives Matter movement, maybe even a few years. 

But only a few years ― if that much.

When the Lil Wayne verse controversy occurred in 2013, I talked to about 20 people under the age of 30, but only seven of them knew who Emmett Till was, and, of those, only three thought it was a big deal that Lil Wayne associated his horrific death with sexual encounters. 

Ironic, because Mamie Till Bradley, the murdered teenager’s mother, insisted on having an open-casket funeral, so that people around the country could see what the murderers had done to their son.  Photos of his body were printed in African-American newspapers around the country, as well as in Ebony and Jet Magazine.

But you know how it is. After a while, we just forget.

Like we forgot about Jesse Washington, a 17-year-old lynched in Waco, Texas in 1916 after being found guilty of murdering a white woman ― though some have questioned the authenticity of his confession. 

After the verdict was announced, a white mob of more than 500 men dragged him through the streets, and cut off his testicles before tying him to a tree. They then lowered him over a bonfire, and then raised him back up, only to lower him again.

They did this for two hours, while a crowd of about 15,000 cheered... though not quite loud enough to drown out Washington’s screams.

Lowering and raising him over the dancing flames. Lowering and raising him until his Black body was charcoal, and the screaming finally stopped. It took two hours for the screaming to stop.

And there were photographs! Some even made into postcards and sold as souvenirs. 

An outraged W.E.B. Du Bois led the outcry (yes, even 100 years ago we were out crying. Oh! Uh, I mean, outcrying.), and ran the photographs in the Crisis Magazine, and like the Emmett Till lynching, the story and picture was picked up by newspapers around the country. 

But, yeah, the 100-year anniversary of Mr. Washington’s lynching was just a few months ago, but it barely received a mention in either mainstream or social media. Even though the photograph is one of the most well-known lynching photos in American history. 

Here it is. You’ve seen it before, haven’t you? I thought so. 

So, yeah, we remember the photograph, but not the person killed who we keep vowing we’ll never forget. 

I don’t know... is that our memories are really that bad? 

Oh, maybe, it takes more than a long memory to bring about change?

Don't Let Media Nor Police Define Korryn Gaines. The Truth is She's A Warrior!

“The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses.” 

Malcolm X

Who was Korryn Gaines, the 23-year old woman who was shot and killed by Baltimore County Police on Monday, after a six-hour standoff? An incident that also resulted in her 5-year old son also being shot, though he’s reportedly in fair condition.

I know the media is portraying her as some mentally deranged woman with brain damage due to lead poisoning who both hated and wanted to kill police, but who also had a death wish.

Wow!  

In a story posted by the Baltimore Sun, the reporter wrote about a 2012 lawsuit which Gaines had brought against two landlords because of her being exposed to lead paint. According the Sun, the suit – which is still pending – claimed the exposure lowered Gaines’ IQ and went on to say that because of the paint Gaines had issues with “anger and impulsive behavior.”

Tuesday night, Fox News host Megyn Kelley of the Kelley Files said on her show: “There is a question about her mental state . . . Police would not confirm whether she had a history of mental issues.”

Rapper David Banner
It seems the only reason it was
mentioned that Gaines follows the rapper
 on Instagram was because his new videos
"Black Fist," shows a police officer being
tortured. Banner is also followed by more
 450,000 people besides Gaines.

On Wednesday, The Washington Post – without giving any context – said Gaines “followed the rapper David Banner, who released a video called ‘Black Fist’ in which a police officer is tied up, beaten bloody and stabbed.”

Of course all the media also detailed the facts in the case; most of which was given to them by police authorities.  

ACCORDING TO POLICE at about 9:10 Monday morning, two police officers knocked on Gaines’ apartment door to serve arrest warrants on her and her 39-year old boyfriend, Kareem Courtney. No one answered but police could hear movement and voices, so they obtained a key from the apartment management office. After they unlocked the door they could still not gain entry because of an interior chain . . . but through the space they saw Gaines holding a gun which she then pointed at them. It was at that point they retreated further into the hallway and called in for backup.

ACCORDING TO POLICE Courtney left the apartment with a one-year old girl, and was arrested. 

ACCORDING TO GAINES’ MOTHER she arrived on the scene and asked police to be allowed to speak to her daughter. She was turned down.

ACCORDING TO POLICE they contacted Facebook, and asked them to suspend Gaines’ Facebook and Instagram accounts as she was trying to livestream the events as they unfolded, and some of her followers were egging her on.

ACCORDING TO POLICE, around 3:05 p.m., Gaines took aim at an officer and says, “I’m going to kill you.”

ACCORDING TO POLICE at that point an officer (it’s not clear if it’s the one she whom allegedly threatened or not) fired one round at Gaines.  Gaines fired two shots back at the police, who then fire three shots in her direction – one of which kills her.

ACCORDING TO POLICE when the officers then enter the apartment, they find that Gaines’ 5-year old son has also been shot. He was rushed to the hospital. Police say they don’t know if he was shot by Gaines or them.

How does a lawsuit, lead paint, mental illness, or the name of a rapper whom Gaines followed on

Instagram, fit into the story? What does the videotape she posted of her traffic stop in March have to do with her death on Monday? She didn’t point a gun at the police then.

Well, some might say the media added those details to give background or color, or suggest possible motives for the entire incident. The reality is it’s conjecture, supposition, and hyperbole.

If there’s something in the story that does not DIRECTLY relate the incident in question, you should pretty much ignore it while reading the article. Once you’ve finished reading, then go back and read it again – with the additional color and details the media adds. YOU decide how much weight those media additions should be given.

Right now what the media has done is strongly imply that Korryn Gaines was an insane woman with a hatred of police, who perhaps wanted to commit suicide by cop.

And a lot of people are buying it.

Still from video Korryn
Gaines posted. The Free
Thought Project says they
believe this Swat officer
might have a camera in
his helmet

Also, keep in mind, there’s really no videotape of the incident – the Baltimore County police force were given body cameras last month, but they claim they’re not sure if the officers involved were Gaines death were wearing one.

Which likely means they’re going to say they’re not, but they’re trying to wait to see if anyone can refute that by supplying cell phone footage showing they were.

Which also means almost all of the facts given to the media came from the police – who have a vested interest in making themselves look good.

Did Gaines really tell a police officer, “I’m going to kill you,” causing him to fire? If we’ve learned nothing over the past few years, we have learned that police lie when it comes to their actions.

Oh, and by the way . . . it was found out Wednesday night that police didn’t just unlock the door. They lied. Court documents indicated that after they used a key to unlock the door they were confronted with the chain lock. Seeing Gaines, they told her to come forward and unlatch it. When she refused they kicked the door in.  It was only at that point that Gaines aimed her gun at them in the first place.

As she posted to her Facebook page before her account was suspended . . . 

“I'm home. Tell those gang members outside door to go away from my home and family.”

So we’ve seen how the media wants us to think of Korryn Gaines, let me tell you what I think of her.

I think of her as a young African-American woman who had a son, and who was tired of all the rhetoric, the marching, and the rallying – which had up no point made her son’s survival in this

society a sure thing.  A woman who, rightfully, had issues with the way police interacted with young African-Americans and Latinos. A woman who decided it was time for her to defend her home, her family and herself with more than just words.

SHE DID NOTHING WRONG. SHE DID NOTHING ILLEGAL. You are not obligated to let the police or anyone into your home unless they have a search warrant. Not an arrest warrant.

The gun she possessed was legally obtained, and she had a license to have it in her home.

And as far as pointing a gun at the police? In the climate in which we live, if police officers kicked my door in, I would point a gun at them too – because I would be fear for my life and the lives of my family.

This is the thing you need to spread the word about among our people wherever you go. Never let them be brainwashed into thinking that whenever they take steps to see that they're in a position to defend themselves that they’re being unlawful. The only time you're being unlawful is when you break the law. It's LAWFUL to have something to DEFEND yourself.

Malcolm X

Don’t let the media or the police or anyone make her out to be a crazy fanatic or a villain.

Man, I’m calling her a proud warrior. A soldier for the cause of justice. A martyr for African-American and Latino motherhood.

And shame on you if you allow the media, the police, or anyone else, to make you see it any other way. 

(a shortened version of this blogpost will appear in The Sunday Philadelphia Tribune on 8/7/2016)

Admit It! The System is Rigged . . . So Maybe The Next Move is Ours!

VOTE, THEY told us. We did that.

Stop rioting, they told us. We did that, too.

Let the justice system do their job, they told us. We even did that.

Be patient, they told us. Well, we've been doing that for more than a century.

And still . . .

And still . . .

And still, all of the charges have been dropped against the officers involved in the Freddie Gray case.

On April 12, 2015, Freddie Gray was walking in his Baltimore neighborhood, but when he saw police officers in the area, he started running.

The police gave chase, and tackled him to the ground. They found a knife, blade folded into the handle, clipped to the inside of Gray's front pocket and arrested him.

But 40 minutes later, when the van arrives at the police station, Gray is unresponsive and unconscious. After being taken to the hospital it's found that he has a broken neck, a crushed voice box, and a severed spine.

So what happened between his arrest at 8:43 a.m. and he being seen at the hospital at 9:43 a.m.?

The likely answer seems to be what's called a Rough Ride. It's a form of retaliation used against a suspect who officers deem too loud or argumentative. They simply handcuff/shackle the suspect and place him/her in the back of a police van. Then the driver of the van then starts speeding on bumpy roads, making series of sharp turns, coming to sudden stops - all designed to throw the bound and helpless suspect around in the unpadded metal van.

Cellphone video captured the driver stopping the van and other officers getting and pulling Gray from the vehicle to place flex cuffs on his wrists and leg shackles on his ankles. Then they place him - headfirst and on his stomach - back into the van.

The medical examiner ruled his death a homicide, adding it is "believed to be the result of a fatal injury that occurred when Mr. Gray was unrestrained by a seat belt while in the custody of the Baltimore Police Department wagon."

There were Baltimore citizens who held protests about Freddie Gray's death, but that didn't really get any media coverage or attention.

Then there was rioting.

That got national media attention. They got things rolling. Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced six officers were being charged with Gray's death.

But then one officer's trial ended in a mistrial. Two other officers were tried and acquitted. The charges were dropped against all the officers last week.

Freddie Gray did not break his own neck, crush his own vocal box, and sever his own spine.

But no one was responsible for his death?

Not even a teeny-weeny bit responsible?

Give me a damn break!

Even Mosby, in the press conference announcing the dropping of the charges, was furious. She said there were police officers who were witnesses to the case, but still were appointed to the investigative team. Lead detectives, she said, were not only uncooperative, but actually started a counterinvestigation to disprove the state's case.

It's obvious the investigation was rigged; the bigger problem is the whole system seems to be rigged against us. There just is no way for us to win.

So, what would you have us do now?

Never mind, I think it's time we decide for ourselves.

The Freddie Gray Case: The Proof is in the Pudding

Vote, they told us. We did that.

Stop rioting, they told us. We did that, too.

Let the justice system do their job, they told us. We even did that.

Be patient, they told us. Well, we've been doing that for more than a century.

And still . . .

And still . . .

I don't know that I've ever cried while writing a blog post before, but I'm crying now. Tears of sadness and tears of frustration -- mixed in with a liberal amount of tears of anger.

Freddie Gray

As of four hours ago, all of the charges have been dropped against the officers involved in the Freddie Gray case. The officers involved in the murder of 25-year-old Freddie Gray.

It was April 12, 2015 around 9:15 in the morning when it happened. Freddie Gray was minding his business, walking in his Baltimore neighborhood. Police Lt. Brian Rice and police officers Garrett Miller and Edward Nero were on bike patrol. Gray caught Rice's eye, and according to the police lieutenant, took off running.
The police gave chase, and tackled Gray to the ground. They found a knife, blade folded into the handle, clipped to the inside of Gray's front pocket and arrested him. Gray, who suffered from asthma, asked for an inhaler, but was ignored. Bystanders videotaped the arrest on cellphones -- the young man did not appear to be hurt when the officers placed him, handcuffed into the police van -- which had two benches, each with five sets of seat belts.

Typical Baltimore Police Van

A short while later, the driver --  Caesar Goodson --  stops the van, and Rice, Miller, and Nero get out and pull Gray from the van to place flex cuffs on his wrists and leg shackles on his ankles. Then they place him -- headfirst and on his stomach -- back into the van.
Ever heard of a Rough Ride? Or a Nickle Ride?
They are terms for a form of police brutality that officers can inflict without ever laying a hand on a person.
They simply handcuff/shackle a suspect and place him/her in the back of a police van. Then the driver of the van then starts speeding on bumpy roads, making series of sharp turns, coming to sudden stops -- all designed to throw the bound and helpless suspect around in the unpadded metal van.
There've been numerous cases where a nickle ride has resulted in serious injury to a suspect, including landing them in wheelchairs and led to multi-million dollar settlements around the country.
Records would show that the officers driving the police van made three stops before taking Freddy Gray to the police station; once to place shackles on Gray, the other to place another person in the back of the van with him.
When the van finally arrived at the police station Gray was found barely conscious. He was taken to the hospital (saying "rushed to the hospital" seems inappropriate here) and died a week later. His neck was broken. His vocal box was crushed. His spinal cord severed.
Despite extensive surgery, Gray died in the hospital on April 19th.
The medical examiner ruled his death a homicide, adding it is "believed to be the result of a fatal injury that occurred when Mr. Gray was unrestrained by a seat belt while in the custody of the Baltimore Police Department wagon."
There were Baltimore citizens who held protests about Freddie Gray's death, but that didn't really get any media coverage or attention.

Then there was rioting.
That caught a lot of attention. National media attention. All of a sudden everyone was paying attention to a death of the young guy in Baltimore. Time Magazine even had a cover devoted to it.
And Baltimore mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, held a press conference after the rioting and called the participants thugs.
They got things rolling, whatever she or anyone else might want to call them.
But after the Trayvon Martin case, the Michael Brown case, the Eric Garner case, and so many over the past five years, the community didn't really think there would be any justice for Freddie Gray's family.
But then on May, 1st, Marilyn Mosby, Baltimore City's State Attorney, held a dynamic press conference in which she announced charges against six police officers in connection with Gray's death -- the most serious charges being depraved-heart manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, and manslaughter by vehicle.
People began to hope, really hope . . .
Someone. Was. Finally. Going. To. Be. Held Accountable. For. Murdering. Our. Young. Black. Men. And. Women.
But then one officer's trial ended in a mistrial. Two other officers were tried and acquitted. The charges were dropped against all the officers earlier today -- July 27, 2016.
To say the community is stunned, hurt, and confused would be an understatement. Freddie Gray did not break his own neck, crush his own vocal box, and sever his own spine.
The officers admit that they did not seat-belt Freddie Gray although Baltimore Police policy dictated they should have.
They admittedly ignored Freddie Gray's repeated requests for medical assistance.
But no one was responsible for his death?
Not even a teeny-weeny bit responsible?
Give me a damn break!


And even Marilyn Mosby, in the press conference this morning announcing the dropping of the charges, was furious. She said there were police officers who were witnesses to the case, but still were appointed to the investigative team. Lead detectives, she said, were not only uncooperative, but actually started a counter-investigation to disprove the state's case.
"We can try this case this case 100 times, and cases just like it, and we would still end up with the same result," she said in a fiery tone.
Mosby went on to say that while justice may not have been done in this case, that at least the spotlight turned on it will prevent what happened to Freddie Gray from happening to others.
What?
I mean . . . What?
And now we're supposed to hang our hopes on that?
I'm sorry. I'm 58-years-old, and I've been fighting social injustice all my life. I've been to protests, I've witnessed riots. I've sat in on trials. I've written newspaper stories and editorials. All trying to get justice for the social injustices I see around me. What is it that you want me to now?
The people of Baltimore . . . they did everything they were supposed to do. Everything they could think of and everything society told them to do.
They used their voting power. At the time of Freddie Gray's death the mayor was Black, the police chief was Black, the city council was Black, the city's state attorney was Black, the U. S. congressman representing the district was Black . . . and you know the ethnicity of the U. S. president for whom Baltimore  overwhelmingly voted.
They held peaceful protests after Freddie Gray's death. Peaceful protests!
It was only when that failed to get attention that the rioting started. And then, when political and social leaders asked the city to stand down and wait to hear if charges would be brought, they did.
And when Marilyn Mosby said charges were being brought, and the young black men and women's voices were being heard, they believed her. They cheered her. And they waited for her to bring damn thing home.
But she didn't.
Because she couldn't.
Why?
Not only because the prosecution was rigged against us . . . that's seems obvious just listening to Mosby's own words . . . but more importantly, the whole damn system is rigged against us.
So, wait . . . what is it you would have us do now?
Never mind. I think it's time we decide for ourselves.