Good and Bad Everything…even Police!

I recently joined TikTok. For the most part it’s an app that provides laughter and enlightenment. Although, if one scolls long enough they will encounter a video that contributes to the worst instincts in man. It’s as if truth and facts no longer matter. If you like someone you defend them, right or wrong, and that’s absurd. Progress cannot be achieved through myopic measures. I try to avoid cyber confrontations because I’m not a cyber gangster, but I had to ask a simple question to a few police officers, and their supporters, that post: If good cops don’t report bad cops is there a such thing as a good cop?

Because the majority of Americans view law enforcement as an upright body, they ignore the egregious actions of  rogue police officers…ignore policies that have been violated…defend them acting outside the scope of proper police practices. Inexcusable actions are justified with comments such as, “They shouldn’t have resisted.” By such ignorant logic they’re saying being disobedient is punishable by death.

As a man that was a danger to law enforcement I’m the first to acknowledge that police have an extremely dangerous job. However, what appears to be lost on many individuals is that law enforcement is made up of human beings. So they are not infallible. Just as there are good, no nonsense officers, there are bad, wicked officers.

Admittedly, I lived an anti-social lifestyle. I was anti-police. And I still have a lack of trust in police. But I am raising my youngest son and don’t want him to grow up with the same view of the police as I did. However, how do I not caution him about them when they adhere to the same principles as my friends as I when I was in the streets? They live by the code of silence. Right or wrong police defend one another.

There can never be growth without self-reflection, objectivity and accountability.

Authors Thoughts

I’ve put myself in extremely bad positioning on the grandest of boards. A weak plot to get king will surely result in a checkmate, defeat to the weak. My previous plans, geared at obtaining what I deem to be my most impotant tool, have only fostered in voids and life altering heartache. That’s why I live in a cage!
I’m down a few pieces, but I’m able to position the ones that I do have in a way that assures me checkmating my goals, because I’m strong, resilient and can think. And I am what I am because of my brother. Thell instilled the morals and principles in me, that allow me to be respectful to my elders as effortsly as I remain mute when questioned about the destructive life I lived.
I have never experienced heartache in the way that I did the day I found out that my brother was gone. I ache everyday from that pain! I now know what it’s like lose a part of yourself. Thell was a good stand-up man, and we loved each other. I miss him so fucking much! That was my man.

AM I TRIPPIN’?

I believe, wholeheartedly, that there are more good people in this country than bad, and more empathetic individuals than callous. But what puzzles me is how our Congress and White House is controlled by individuals that would rather see the rich get richer than the less fortunate get their heads above water, that disregard measures that ensure we have clean air and a healthy planet, and will swallow their moral compass to further a destructive agenda and gain like-minded jurists in the Supreme Court. That truly baffles me. The math doesn’t add up. It seems that hate is in control of our country. Hate is such a strong emotion. It is so powerful that it propelled a bigoted buffoon into the highest office in the land! Now, by no means do I think that every GOP member or suporter is wicked and/or full of hate, but I can’t help but to believe that hate is the driving force behind the majority of our Congressmen supporting an abhorrent human being like Donald Trump. FOX News is full of Trump lovers. It is also the station where a host was pretty much dismissive of immigrant children being separated from their parents, because ” they’re not our kids.” What kind of person is that shallow? A hateful one! The Republican Party claims that it is not a party that is against the poor, minorities and women. But I wonder how many of them ask themselves why so many misogynists and racists feel comfortable and at home with their party. Surely there are rotten racists that are Democratic supporters, but why don’t they feel comfortable showing their true colors?

SMH

The last ten years of my life have been spent behind walls and barb wired fences. Navigating amongst like-minded men, in a kill or be killed environment, is not difficult. What is hard is dealing with guards and administrators that readily exhibit bullying, and/or bigoted behaviors. But the mentally strong deal with such levels of ignorance in ways that frustrate the ignorant, e.g., walk off and not engage them. Now, I admit that it’s very hard to not “engage” when you’re being lied on/to, or given the wrong information. However, when getting home is the goal and engaging can thwart or set you back, humble pie doesn’t taste so bad.
The mental fragility one witnesses within the confines of a prison is almost unbelievable. Some dudes can’t cope and need to be medicated. Some attempt (and succeed) to commit suicide. And some lose all touch with reality and start having relationships with other men.
But what I find disheartening is the amount of young black men that are okay with being junkies! Yes, we have a President that thinks Nazis and white supremacists are very fine people (his words not mine). Yes, we have a President whose Chief of Staff thinks Robert E. Lee was a good man. Yes, we have a President whose nominee, to be a Circuit Court Judge, refused to say whether the Brown v. The Board of Education decision was right or wrong. And yes, we have a President that thinks black people are descendants of “shithole countries.” But is it that bad?
As bad as things may seem, our collective circumstances as a people are not hopeless. Rep. John Lewis and others stared at a wall of racists white men armed on horse back, and continued on their mission to cross the Edmund Petus Bridge. In times that pre-date the Jim Crow era Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander became the second African-American woman in the United States to earn a Ph. D, and the first black woman to pass the Pennsylvania Bar. And in light of Donald Trump, Mike Pompeo and other bigots claiming that Barack Obama was not born in the United States, Obama still became the first African-American President of the United States. And is loved and respected by white and black AMERICANS alike, as well as abroad.
So it pains me to see our youth in such a tate of hopelessness, and so distraught that they’d rather escape their reality than fight against the wickedness that enjoys their self-destructive actions.

Are The Chickens Coming Home To Roost

First and foremost, I must say that my heart aches for the families of the black men and women that have loss their lives due to senseless police shootings, or under suspicious circumstances while in police custody. My heart also goes out to the wives, children, parents and friends of the fallen officers that have been killed in retaliatory shootings. Mourning is compounded when there is no justifiable reason that we shall never see our loved ones again.

Aside from the obvious, what I find to be disturbing is in the face of visual evidence Republicans and their constituents refuse to acknowledge that there are discrepancies between the way blacks are treated in oppose to that in which whites are treated. Donald Trump says that he wants to “Make America great again.” I ask when has America been great for black people? When have the police acted as if black lives mattered? 

The police were the enforcers of the so-called Jim Crow laws. And they sure as hell made no effort to protect and serve the black people that were terrorized by the Ku Klux Klan. Hell, the landmark United States Supreme court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson left black businesses with no way of enforcing contracts, and criminal acts committed against us were legally invisible.

In 1933 the National Recovery Act enacted and set American wages at $12 a week, but jobs held by blacks weren’t covered by the law. So, I wonder if that’s what Trump means when he says he wants to “Make America great again.”

The police watched the face and leader of the Civil Rights Movement be hit and spit on by angry mobs. However, Dr. Martin Luther King remained steadfast in his belief of nonviolence. The police themselves sicced dogs on him and his supporters, sprayed them with water hoses, beat them with batons and arrested them for seeking equality. Still Dr. King remained nonviolent. But his Christ like lifestyle didn’t stop J. Edgar Hoover from ordering his assassination.

Fred Hampton forged relationships with whites that were staunch racist prior to their meeting. He was able to convey to them that being of different races doesn’t automatically make us adversaries. However, Hoover wanted whom he considered the “Black Messiah” dead, and the police assassinated him. Hoover was the Director of the highest form of law enforcement in this country, and he used it and other law enforcement agencies to thwart the progress of black leadership.

From last century to the present day blacks have been shown that in this country our lives don’t matter. So even though ambushing police officers and killing them is extreme, examine the present and historical facts and ask yourself Are The Chickens Coming Home To Roost?

In order for things to change we all must be treated with respect…not just Trump and those that look like him. #RESPECTSAVESLIVES!

Coming soon: Loyalty Has No Grey Areas…..

Before you read: This is a synopsis of a new book soon to be released by Grown Man Publishing… Feel free to comment! We LOVE your feedback! Thank you again to all of our readers!

Jaylen switched up and chose to not follow the path of least resistance. The one-time drug dealer made an effortless transition from street hustler to college graduate. With an insatiable desire to help those that are disenfranchised, Jaylen chose to become a lawyer. He polished his defense skills as a public defender then went into private practice.

Career achievements abound, Jaylen has devised a plan to help resurrect Detroit. It’s risky, but necessary in order for him to pull off the biggest land heist since the Indian Holocaust. With the assistance of his cousin, Jaylen partners with some of Detroit’s most infamous Underworld participants, and establishes a brotherly bond with one of them.
Chaze is what Jaylen would have become had he not altered the course that he was traveling. They are both charismatic and intelligent, with voracious appetites for success. On a common mission to reach goals believed to be outside their realm of accomplishment, they rely on street smarts and cross ethical boundaries. But the common thread that binds them may very well be severed if they are confronted with the sins of their fathers’.
The woman in Jaylen’s life is of special virtue. She’s drop dead gorgeous! Feisty and opinionated. And the fact that she’s white and a Republican makes Sara unlike any woman that Jaylen has ever been involved with. They exchange racial barbs in jest. They have contentious debates about racial issues. But racial animus within both of their families threatens to extinguish their flame.
Jaylen finds himself navigating in unchartered waters, trying to find a balance between love, loyalty, and bigotry. However, the blowback resulting from criminal activities is not foreign. And as circumstances force him to display who he’s devoted too, Jaylen must endure the residual affects of others devotion, because Loyalty Has No Gray Areas!

YOU KNOW WHAT’S SAD?

Alot of people are upset with the stance that Whoopi has taken on the allegations against Bill Cosby. Myself, I’m not that surprised because I’ve seen how having sex drives men crazy! Getting money does the same thing to me, that’s why I’m in the situation that I’m in now. Society tends to put people on pedestals and when they’re let down it’s our own faults.
Fame and fortune are not indicative of a persons true nature. Those are merely fruits of their talents. All people that do good are not good people, just like people that do bad things aren’t necessarily bad people.
Out of the whole Cosby scandal, the thing that I find to be most disturbing is the fact that this country has beat us black people down so bad, that we feel the need to ignore the unacceptable behaviors of our idols, for as long as we can because of the unfair stigmas that have been placed upon us. That’s what’s really sad!!!

MISPLACED PRIORITIES!

You know the media and the Republican Party is pissed off at Donald Trump. First they were mad about the way he spoke about illegal Latino immigrants, which is hyprocritical. I’d bet a life prison sentence to a parole that more than half of the Republicans refer to blacks as niggers, when they’re amongst their likeminded peers. And if not niggers, some term that’s meant to be insulting.
Now the GOP and the media is upset with what the Donald said about the FOX moderator; inferring that she was on her period. While that is insensitive and definitely not politically correct, the offense people have with him is misplaced.
Tara Sethmayer, a Republican commentator had the audicity to reiterate that the Donald has admitted to paying politicians for favors, but her angst was for his comments about the moderator. How silly is that?! One would think that we as a society should find it problematic that the rich folks CAN pay off the politicians.
The Donald admitted to that a minute ago, and what I take from his statement it that the rich are the only ones that’s important to our politicians and more troubling is the FACT that those he named have not refuted the allegations. Tell me peoples priorities aren’t misplaced!!!

WILL POLITICIANS EVER GET IT!

Donald Trump is leading the GOP Presidential Candidates because he’s a strait up dude. People are finally starting to get sick of these think they slick ass politicians. When Chuck Todd ask’d Trump if there was a problem with the way blacks are treated by the police, he acknowledged that there was. At the same time he stated that the police are necessary, which they are. They may not be my favorite people in the world, but without them society would be in chaos to say the least.
When the same question was posed to Gov. Christie, he gave some politically correct answer. That pissed me off cause he was one Republican that I respected and liked because he came across as a strait up dude. When I hear the GOP’s most candid rep getting political I can’t help but to wonder if politicians will ever get it!!!

FAIR CRITICISM

True enough Republicans hate President Obama, but I have to say that it’s crazy as hell to give someone a 24 day inspection warning, when you’re trying to catch them violating the terms of an agreement. I wish I’d have gotten a two minute warning that I was about to be searched…no drugs would have been found.LOL
Voters that care about real issues and the character of the candidates have helluva decisions to make. Democrats are so weak and compromising when they shouldn’t be, and Republicans don’t give a damn about black people. Talking ’bout the lesser of two evils!