The Zimmerman verdict, yet another notch in the belt of the White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy

Understand what I say, Prospero:
For years I bowed my head
for years I took it, all of it
your insults, your ingratitude...
and worst of all, more degrading than all the rest,
your condescension,
...
Prospero, you're a great magician:
you're an old hand at deception.
And you lied to me so much,
about the world, about yourself,
that you ended up by imposing on me
an image of myself: -
underdeveloped, in your words, incompetent,
that's how you made me see myself!

And I loathe that image . . . and it's false!
But now I know you, you old cancer,
And I also know myself!

- Caliban, in Aimé Césaire's, "A Tempest"

I am just undone.  Though I had hoped against hope that these women, these mothers, would set aside their white privilege long enough to look at this case in its entirety and see it for the racial profiling murder that it was, my fears have been realized -- a Black child is dead for the sole crime of walking to his father's house, and his murderer walks free for a second time, thanks to the machinations of the White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy (WSCP).

Laid low by a horrible summer cold all weekend,  Audre Lorde's words from "Sister Outsider," (accompanied by a non-stop headache) pounded incessantly in my head:

"For the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change."

It's certainly ironic how well the gay community learned this lesson, while we on the other hand, continue to settle for the "temporary" game.  Our problem, as I see it, is we need to stop electing and supporting lawmakers who, entrenched in their own kind of privilege, turn a blind eye to the need to cease using "the master's tools."

The Supremes' recent, successful attack on Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act (and Congress' apparent unwillingness to address it); Congress' failure to pass gun control legislation; racial profiling and stop & frisk statutes, coupled with the deadly and dangerous Castle Doctrine, Stand Your Ground, and Make My Day laws are all a sampling of the "master's tools" which affect us disproportionately, yet our mis-leadership class (to include the Changeling), seems unable or unwilling to fight for and/or fashion new "tools" to defeat them.

If you read Elder Lorde's essay through a non-homophobic lens, it is impossible to miss the interconnectivity of white supremacy, capitalism and patriarchy evident, not only in the Zimmerman verdict, but from the day George Zimmerman murdered Trayvon Benjamin Martin.  New York Times  Op-ed Columnist, Charles M. Blow brilliantly and eloquently delineates the many instances of that interconnectivity in his, The Whole System Failed Trayvon Martin, so I won't belabor those points here (but please, do read this absolutely moving and factual piece of writing).

However, another of the far-from-subtle racist strategies the Zimmerman defense team used to lead these mostly white, women jurors like horses to the acquittal water trough that Mr. Blow omitted, was their resting their case on the testimony of Zimmerman's young, white, blonde, female neighbor who spoke at length about "two African-American males" who broke into her home to rob and terrorize her.  Talk about invoking those visions of the need to protect frail, white womanhood that left many a "Strange Fruit swingin' in the Southern breeze!"  Some would call it brilliant strategy, I call it priming the racism pump.  But this case was never about race to hear them tell it. {smdh}

Oh!  And let's not forget this stupid statement Zimmerman attorney, Mark O'Mara made after the verdict, which obviously gives the lie to his whole, "I believe in civil rights garbage":



Now there's some white supremacist patriarchy on parade, particularly given this: 'Stand your ground' denied in domestic violence case.

And then, no sooner had the verdict been rendered -- here comes this "Juror B37," giving an interview to Anderson Cooper (no doubt laying the groundwork for her now-aborted book deal).  She's definitely a charter member in the WSCP.  Take a listen to the interview and I'll tell you some of the reasons why I think so after:

1. "Why would they want to pick me?"  Because you dear, were exactly what the defense was looking for -- someone who could not identify with Trayvon, but instead, the murderer and his attorneys. 
2. "No, cuz I hadn't followed the trial at all."  No "trial" yet silly woman, but even if you didn't have an idea of what had happened, you most certainly already had some prejudicial ideas brewing in your head, as evidenced by statements you made in your voire dire here.  Aside from "just a broad spectrum of names,"you mentioned "the issues they were having in Sanford when they were having riots" which to your mind, involved "a whole lot of indiscretion and, angry people, and picketing people..." who,  according to you, "can do what they can do as long as it's peaceful." Yet, you thought that, "maybe it was over done." (Am I the only one who missed "the riots?")  And oh, your "Absolutely not" answer to whether you had any discussions about the case with family?  Total bullshit -- what about the book? (see first related story below)
3. "I thought he was awe-inspiring.  The, the experiences he'd had over in the war, and I just never thought of anybody that could recognize somebody's voice yelling in like a terrible terror voice when he was just previously, half-hour ago playing cards with him."  Awe-inspiring?  Really?  Based on experiences he'd had over in the war? {smdh}
4. "Chris Serino did...To me, he just was doing his job...  He was doing his job the way he was doing his job.  And he was going to tell the truth, regardless of who asked him the questions....Because he deals with this all the time.  He deals with, you know, murder, robberies, um, he's in it all the time.  And I think 'he has a knack' to pick out who's lying and who's not lying."  Preconceived notions much?!  All I have to say about her blind trust in law enforcement as evidenced here is, "Ignorance is bliss."  Doesn't she sound all blissful about Serino?
5. "I think they wanted to happen what they wanted to happen, to, to go to their side, for the prosecution and the State....There was no doubt, that they had seen what had happened, because some of it was taped."  A clear and unbiased review of the evidence dontcha know.
6. "I didn't think it was very credible, but I felt very sorry for her...I think she felt inadequate toward everyone because of her education and communication skills....Because she was using phrases I had never hear before and what they meant.  I think Trayvon probably said that...I just think it was everyday life, the type of life that they live and how they're living and the environment they're living in."  I'm not even going to get started on this unsavory, racist mess -- because it'd take up the entire post!
7. "I think George Zimmerman was a man whose heart was in the right place but just got displaced by the vandalism in the neighborhoods, and wanting to catch these people so badly hat he went above and beyond what he really should have done...It just went terribly wrong."  Well, yeah?  He killed someone!  Call me crazy, but this sounds like an admission of racial profiling ("these people?") and excessive use of force!
8. I think George told the truth basically" even though "there were some fabrications,  enhancements.  So kind of lying's okay, right? 
9. "I think he might have, I  think George probably thought that he did because George was the one who knew that George was carrying a gun." This doesn't even make any sense!  Trayvon might have grabbed for the gun, but George was the only one who knew he had one?  What kind of logic is that?!
10. "I think he did, because of the evidence...where George says he was punched" Because of what George said.  See, that's the problem.  How can there be a fair trial when the only other witness is dead?
11. "I think the roles changed.  I think George got in a little too deep, which he shouldn't have been there.  But Trayvon decided that he wasn't gonna let him scare him, and let him get the one-up on him, Trayvon got mad and attacked him."  So again she admits that George was the initial aggressor, but this child had no right to fear for his life.
12. "I found it credible."  She found the cartoon, based solely on information fed into it by the defense -- credible.  Why am I not surprised (about the cartoon part or the defense-fed part)?
13. "I don't think he did.  I think just circumstances caused George to think that he might be  a robber or trying to do something bad in the neighborhood because of all that had gone on previously."  And that's not racially profiling him -- even though the robbers in the neighborhood had previously been described as Black men?  This woman keeps pissing on everybody's leg and calling it rain.
14. "I think he just profiled him, because he was the neighborhood watch and he profiled anybody coming in and acting strange."  So now he did profile him.  {smdh}
15. "Over-eager to help people" -- now comes the litany on "frail white womanhood," an excuse Klansmen and their kith and kin have been using  for years to justify lynching (or their women tipping out with the help).
16. "...if he didn't go too far.  He just didn't stop at the limitations that he should've stopped at." He was just frustrated with the whole situation in the neighborhood...he just didn't know when to stop and things just got out of hand."  First of all, that was an awful, long pause before she gave that convoluted answer about whether he could be a neighborhood watch in her community.  And is it me, but doesn't she just keep saying things that gave Trayvon more than enough reason to be in fear for his life?
17. "The law became very confusing." Problematic for any jury of non-lawyers, to be sure, but then, why is it they only asked for one clarification?
18. "That was our problem.  I mean it was just so confusing."  So the law was confusing, the instructions were confusing, so what -- they just punted?
19.  "...because of the heat of the moment and Stand Your Ground."  But his defense wasn't a Stand Your Ground defense was it?  Did I miss something?

I don't believe this woman's crocodile tears, for a single second!  I think she's a not-so-bright, opportunist, with an attorney for a husband who should be prosecuted for something her-damned-self (not exactly sure what yet, but something -- let's wait and see how this whole, breaking sequestration thing pans out).

Finally, please do not make the mistake in thinking that I feel only the defense and the jury's belt got notched here.  The prosecution is just as much a part of the WSCP as they are.  If they weren't, how could they allow themselves to end up with a predominately white jury?  You can't tell me there are no Black folk in Seminole County who can be considered a peer of George Zimmerman's, you just can't.    The legal definition of a Jury of One's Peers is as follows:

The constitutionally guaranteed right of criminal defendants to be tried by their equals, that is, by an impartial group of citizens from the legal jurisdiction where they live. This has been interpreted by courts to mean that the jurors should include a broad representation of the population, particularly with regard to race, national origin, and gender. Notice that this doesn't mean that, for example, women are to be tried by women, Asians by Asians, or African Americans by African Americans. When selecting a jury, the lawyers may not exclude people of a particular race or intentionally narrow the spectrum of possible jurors. (emphasis mine)

And don't say there couldn't have been an impartial Black person there either.  Based on the interview above, Juror B37 was hardly impartial but they chose her!  And please tell me why they chose to use all those video-taped statements from Zimmerman?  He got to testify without ever having to take the stand!  And it's clear as day it was that "testimony" upon which the jury heavily relied (particularly since Trayvon was dead and couldn't testify)!  And why charge 2nd degree murder given the Keystone cops had orchestrated their version of "catch and release" and, had done a half-assed investigation, providing them with little to no evidence to support such a charge? "B37" was right about one thing -- the medical examiner could have done a much better job. I don't care how much Angela Corey prayed with Trayvon's parents.  After beaugardin' her way into the case, she and her office dropped the proverbial ball -- hugely.  But no big deal right?  It was only a young Black boy who was murdered.  They'll get over it -- eventually.

And for all Brother Ass-coverer, Holder's speechifyin', I'm not holding out any hope that Federal charges will be brought -- though they ought to be, because there's no doubt in my mind that Trayvon's civil rights were violated.  But, both he and the Changeling were very careful  in not committing to anything in either of their spewing-forths, hiding behind that whole "rule of law/nation of laws" thing which was never meant to be applied to us in the first place.  After all in this system, it's never what's true, it's what can be proven.  And based on the bungling of this case from beginning to end, they can't seem to  sufficiently prove diddly.

The criminal justice system in this country has been broken for a very long time in favor of the White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy, Family.  For those of us who do not have the liberty of claiming white privilege as Zimmerman has in this case, there is no "arc of the moral universe bending toward justice" currently.

But as I revisit Caliban here...

But now, it's over!
Over, do you hear?
Of course, at the moment
You're still stronger than I am.
But I don't give a damn for your power
or for your dogs or your police or your inventions!

And do you know why?
It's because I know I'll get you!
I'll impale you! And on a stake that you've sharpened yourself!
You'll have impaled yourself!

...I think the parents of Trayvon Benjamin Martin can take some small comfort in the fact, that their son's death, given the groundswell of support -- just may have played a pivotal role in changing that trajectory.  I know I'm willing to do all I can to help it along.

Peace and many blessings Sybrina, Tracy and Jahvaris...

Related:
- How the System Worked -- The US v. Trayvon Martin
- Did George Zimmerman Juror B37 Break the Rules of Sequestration During Deliberations?
- Is George Zimmerman white or Hispanic? That depends
- Our real problem is white rage
- White supremacy, meet black rage
- White Truth and Shame
- The Trayvon Martin case: A timeline

The Changeling and Brother Ass-Coverer -- perfectly "selected" tools of the White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy

Family, please stop being misled by the deus ex machina that is the Changeling.  He and his cohorts would have you believe that theirs are the mighty shoulders upon which we stand -- they are not, but hers are:

Assata Shakur in Her Own Words: Rare Recording of Activist Named to FBI Most Wanted Terrorists List




Angela Davis and Assata Shakur’s Lawyer Denounce FBI’s Adding of Exiled Activist to Terrorists List



Designated a domestic terrorist?  40 years later?  What the hell is this, some kind of dog whistle to distract from the very white faces of the FBI/CIA-followed (if not handled), Tsarnaev brothers?

Family, our culture doesn't stand a chance in these alleged United States if we don't stop living this life with our eyes wide shut.  We must all begin to think critically, act purposefully -- and become our OWN "agents of change!"

Related:
- An Open Letter to President Obama on the Matter of Assata Shakur
- Assata Shakur Is Not a Terrorist
- Gregory Kane: The rest of the Chesimard story
- Why the Hunt for Assata Shakur Matters

Murdering Troy Davis...NOT IN MY NAME!

I am so undone right now. I'm enraged. I can't stop crying. And where are the Changeling and Brother Ass-Coverer??  Doing what they've been doing for Black folk since their asses were allowed in the Big House!  And Clarence Thomas?  He had one chance - THIS CHANCE - to rehabilitate his damned self, but he, of Pinpoint, GA, did not even dissent. {SMMFH}

The state of Georgia obviously hasn't changed and neither has the macabre "witnessing" as members of the MacPhail family watched the Davis execution (after his having spent 22 years in jail).  I hope they've found their "peace."
 

Photo of the lynching of an unidentified African American male in a coastal Georgia swamp - 1902 (photo, courtesy of "Without Sanctuary")

Photo of the lynching of an unidentified African American male in a coastal Georgia swamp - 1902 (photo, courtesy of "Without Sanctuary")

Back of photo

Now here's the kicker:

"Coastal Georgia's whites maintained a paternalistic attitude toward blacks and had little faith in violence as a resolution to racial conflict. A lower than average dependence on black labor, a tradition of political involvement by blacks, a higher than average percentage of black land ownership, and, consequently, greater black independence from whites accounted for a significantly reduced threat of lethal violence toward blacks than in other regions of the Cotton Belt. Despite these facts, thirteen blacks were lynched between 1880 and 1902 in the Georgia low country. This photo most closely matches the written accounts of a man falsely accused of having assaulted a Mrs. Fountain and murdering her son, Dower Fountain, in 1902 at their store. 

According to the Chicago Record Herald, "A bright bonfire was seen in the swamp in the direction a posse went Friday night and the members of the posse returned stating that they were satisfied with the night's work. It now develops, however, that their victim may not have been Richard Young, for whom the officers of the law are still searching. The remains of the burned negro were brought before the mother of Richard Young who says that they resemble her son in no particular."

These tiny documents were purchased by a flea market trader in a trunk stored in the attic of a prominent Savannah family during the dispersal of an estate.

Lynching, as example, usually proved an efficient means of intimidation and oppression. Richard Wright spoke to the heart of black anguish: "I needed but to hear of them to feel their full effects in the deepest layers of my consciousness. Indeed, the white brutality that I had not seen was a more effective control of my behavior than that which I knew." (emphasis mine) 

I know my soror (and one of the founders of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.), Ida B. Wells, is turning over in her grave...




UPDATE:  Troy Anthony Davis died at the hands of the state of Georgia at 11:08 p.m. EST

The Changeling and "Brother Ass-Coverer"

From Glenn Greenwald's, as usual and spot on:  "Torture crimes officially, permanently shielded":

Over 100 detainees died during U.S. interrogations, dozens due directly to interrogation abuse. Gen. Barry McCaffrey said: "We tortured people unmercifully. We probably murdered dozens of them during the course of that, both the armed forces and the C.I.A." Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, who oversaw the official investigation into detainee abuse, wrote: "there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account."

Thanks to the Obama DOJ, that is no longer in question.

Given the Changeling is neck-deep-complicit, not only in the murder of the white folks' "sand niggers" (Oh, don't act like you don't know that's what they call them!) -  Osama bin Laden, Qaddafi's son and grands, as well as the continued attempts to assassinate Qaddafi himself - I'm not surprised at Brother-Ass-Coverer's announcement.

Considering our history in this country, from the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade to today, coupled with his, and Brother-Ass-Coverer's actions to date - the whole, "Black enough" debate (for which others in the Black, non-leadership class have been excoriated) seems to me, more than justified.

White Bart cop gets his "justice" - as for Blacks, it's still "Just-us"

UPDATE:  "Feds to investigate Calif. train station killing" - First, let me say that I suspect their motives (mid-term elections ever closer, Kool-Aid  at-the-ready for Black folks and such).  I mean, really - NOW, they want to investigate??  And even with the video, there was no "urgency of now" coming from the Changeling, et al (apparently MLK was only talking about him & his) - they never said a mumblin' word.  Guess that would've cast an interminably long shadow over all that "Obama Love"  floating around - for more than a year.  Pity the throngs of Black folk with no video of police killing, or otherwise abusing them.  Who knows what the outcome will be, but they'll be able to wave this one around to the 'believers" saying, "At least it didn't take as long as the investigation into the murder of Emmett Till!" {smdh}

HuffPo had a clearer version of the video so I switched the one I'd originally posted because we need to see the reason white folks need niggers and injuns and spics and wetbacks and kikes and dagos and guineas and micks, and a new one I learned while volunteering in NOLA after Katrina - spicaninnies.

For cover and preservation of the - who - they really are, those "civilized," who continue (and it will continue - abetted by the not-so-surprising help of many of the non-alabaster-hued) to make the afore-mentioned groups always appear as "uncivilized" animals can then, somehow justify to their man/woman in the mirror - the animals within themselves. 

Lest we forget...



After the jury rendered their verdict, 120 Arrested In Violent BART Protest:

“We live a life of fear and we want them to feel fear tonight” an unnamed demonstrator told KTVU at the height of the violence.

And yes, there was this:  Live blog: Cops pour in to Oakland to try to stop looting.  But while the headline concentrates on the looting, the photo array of the legions of riot-gear clad, gun-carrying cops from at least five different agencies it contains stands in silent, yet powerful confirmation that, as James Baldwin said:

"The country is only concerned about nonviolence, if it seems that I'm gonna get violent. It's not worried about nonviolence, if it's some Alabama sheriff."

Or a BART officer.

Lauryn Hill's - "Mystery of Iniquity" -  kept playing in my head while I pecked this out, so I thought I'd share. For all the Marilyn Leviases (Seattle) and the more, sure-to-be Oscar Grants in this post-racial nation...



...because the beat goes on, until we say - ENOUGH! - and mean it.

Shots fired, shots fired - Officer down!

UPDATE II: The link to von Brunn's biography I posted is broken, but this is what it said (he has many admirers who quote it online; cutting and pasting this from one of them):

From his biography: "James W. von Brunn holds a BachSci Journalism degree from a mid-Western university where he was president of SAE and played varsity football. During WWII he served as PT-Boat captain, Lt. USNR, receiving a Commendation and four battle stars. For twenty years he was an advertising executive and film-producer in New York City. He is a member of Mensa, the high-IQ society.In 1981 von Brunn attempted to place the treasonous Federal Reserve Board of Governors under legal, non-violent, citizens arrest. He was tried in a Washington, D.C. Superior Court; convicted by a Negro jury, Jew/Negro attorneys, and sentenced to prison for eleven years by a Jew judge. A Jew/Negro/White Court of Appeals denied his appeal. He served 6.5 years in federal prison. He is now an artist and author and lives on Maryland's Eastern Shore."

Now I don't know if all of this is true but, he is an artist, living in Maryland. And the bit of biographical information you can read without "joining," on that same AskArt site, is pretty interesting.

And Oh, Fenty said nothin'.

UPDATE I: 88 year-old, white man from the Eastern Shore! A domestic, dare I say it - Terrorist?

(Nah-h-h-h, Deb! He's just a crackpot - an isolated incident. Gir-r-r-l, where you been? Don't you know we're post-racial?!)

==================================

With all the security measures erected in DC since 9/11, somebody please tell me HOW a man - with a "LONG GUN" - walked up into the FRONT DOOR of the Holocaust Museum in DC - and started shooting at people????? Bo-o-o-o-y, I can just hear the many ways this will play out right now! M-m-m!

I'm sure there'll be a lot of political expediency (make that opportunism) involved in the crossfire! Particularly since, Eric Holder and friends were to attend the play, "Ann & Emmett," (a conversation between Emmett Till and Anne Frank) there at the museum later on tonight. And of course, the Changeling's recent trip to the Middle East and - "The Speech" - will provide plenty of fodder for everyone! I'm going to go listen to Fenty. When I know more, I'll write more.