Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 248 BOCNEWS.com AUGUST 2016 Racial Disparities The Washington Post on July 11, 2016, published an article on the statistics detailing the transparent racial disparity in the U.S. regard- ing Policing, Jailing and Prosecuting of Blacks versus Whites that showed the following: "African-Americans are 30 percent more likely than whites to be pulled over, and after being pulled over, three times more likely to be searched. In 2015, African-Americans were shot by police at a rate of more than 2.5 times the rate of Whites. Of all of the unarmed men shot and killed by police in 2015, 40 percent of them were black, even though black men make up just 6 percent of the nation’s population. A black person shot and killed by police is more likely to have been unarmed than a white person. About 13 percent of all black people who have been fatally shot by police since January 2015 were unarmed, compared with 7 percent of White people. The Huffington Post published in January 2016, he following similar findings on crime suspects; “if a black person and a white person each com- mit a crime, the black person is more likely to be arrested. Black people and White people consume, possess and sale drugs at essentially the same rate, yet Black people are 3.7 times more likely to be arrested for drug possession. When Black people are arrested for a crime, they are convicted more often than White people who are arrested for the same crime. Black people are only 13% of the US popu- lation yet Black defendants represent about 35% of drug arrests and 46% of those convicted of drug crimes. The disparity in the system is appar- ent and it is clear that Whites enjoy an unconstitutional advantage over non-whites where it concerns equality under the law. Many would argue that this disparity is the White privilege and institutional racism that conscious people (White & Black) have been pointing-out for decades. When Police, Prosecutors, Judges, and Grand Juries justify the killing of unarmed citizens who do not pose a “legitimate threat,” it becomes clear that it’s not an individ- ual problem but the system is broken. According to the rules that govern the justice system, a Police Officer cannot be the Judge, Jury and Executioner of citizens without “due process.” This is at minimum a violation of the 5th Amendment to the constitution stat- ing, “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime… nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” When the government or any of its representatives take the life of an American citizen without due process, it violates the foundation of law that is supposed to maintain the integrity of the system. Without integrity or the consistent application of the rules, no structure can stand. Point is, whether its systemic injustice, institutional- ized slavery, mass incarceration or economic disparity have Black people ever collectively enjoyed the protection of the law even though we’ve fought in the wars, paid the taxes and built the country’s infrastructure? These latest examples are only tragic reminders of the deep seeded beliefs that form the psychopathic and nar- cissistic patterns of disease that cause brokenness in the system. This strug- gle is not about individual cops; it’s about a systemic commitment to the cultural idea that proselytizes the sin- ister invention of Whiteness. The virus is embedded in the culture and it only takes a simple set of circumstances to trigger the conditioned response of White over non-White to see how it is reinforced as a survival mechanism. When White people are confronted with Black freedom, they reflexively respond as if it is life threatening. Think about it, White culture has never embraced strong Black leaders until they die. Once they die they can re-create the meaning of their resis- tance. The circumstances that trigger the conditioned response don’t justify the response, they just trigger it. A trigger is just a reminder that (either consciously or subconsciously) pro- duces a trained response. With the right set of circumstances in place you’re the n-word all day long, they just don’t express it exter- nally unless you’re on the internet (cyber white hoods) and then the gloves come off. The racial narrative response shows-up in the Grand Jury room, the History class, the Planning Committee, etc. How many times do you think these Congressmen have called Obama the n-word internally and then conspire to derail legislation? The good news is that conditioning can be transcended but what percentages of White folks have transcended the racial narrative especially when they benefit from it? This being said, where do you go when the government violates its’ own rules to maintain the imbalance against you? Seriously, what do you do when the law is lawless? In my opinion, the 2nd Amendment is appli- cable. The 2nd Amendment says, “A well regulated Militia, being neces- sary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” So, when the government breaks the law to deprive you of your freedom, you can form a Militia and stock-pile weapons to defend your freedom. And, White folks are stock-piling weapons because they’re not going to let any government treat them like nig*%*a’s no matter who gets caught-up in the collateral damage. When Black folks do that, it’s a criminal act because we ain’t free. Political freedom is a willingness to live or die for the destiny of your people. Negros don’t even know that they ain’t free! Negros think freedom is money in the bank. That ain’t freedom fool that’s hoodwinked. True freedom is detachment! The Flip Side There is a Washington Post database that tracks fatal police shootings, and when you look at the raw numbers of fatal shootings the narrative changes a bit. As such, “Police have shot and killed young black men (ages 18 to 29) 175 times since January 2015; 24 of them were unarmed. Over that same period, police have shot and killed 172 young white men, 18 of whom were unarmed. As of July 10, 2016, 1,502 people have been shot and killed by on-duty police officers since Jan. 1, 2015. Of them, 732 were white, and 381 were black and 382 were of anoth- er or unknown race.” I get it that Black people are killed at a higher disproportionate rate than Whites and this disparity is tragic but I can’t help but wonder where are all the videos of Whites being fatally shot by the police? I mean, we have 732 police shootings of White folks in 1.5 years and not one video captures it to be played over and over on CNN!? So, why do your videos surface on CNN and Fox News and not theirs? I have a theory. It’s almost like, the same reason why the Plantation Owner brutalized their slave’s in front of other slave’s. The goal was to scare the hell out of the other Blacks so they wouldn’t even think, act or even pre- tend like they wanted some freedom. It worked. The plantation owners were outnumbered but the Black folks still stayed. Today, Negros don’t value free- dom their just trying to get paid. And, for the record, money don’t make you free just ask OJ, Whitney, Prince, or even Donald Trump who is a billion- aire seeking a job... The Solution In the end, a closer look at the power dynamics inside the political math of the White community show that most White folks ain’t as free as they think they are either. When you look at the historical black-eye of slavery in America, only 6% of Southern Whites owned slaves and when you factor in Whites from the North that figure drops to 1.4 %. When you look at wealth, the richest 1 percent in the United States own more income than the bottom 90 percent. And, I’m sure you realize that a mere six companies own 90% of the media outlets in America. So, who’s really controlling the outcomes that keep a majority of Whites doing the work and a few elite really enjoy- ing White privilege? If you read “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander you will know that the invention of “Whiteness” is not about skin color but institutional power and control. It’s a different class of Whites who get to drive the cultural agenda and racial narratives that keep the major- ity of White folks misdirecting energy from where it concerns the flack that they take for the benefits they don’t enjoy. The average middle-class work- er makes in one month what the aver- age CEO makes in one hour. High level CEO is about club membership. I like the movement of groups like “Showing up for racial Justice” because these Whites understand that a successful America depends on transcending the illusion of racial- ized social engineering. There motto: “White Silence Condones Violence.” Perspective What I don’t like about many of these protest rallies is the indiscriminate attack on all Police Officers because many of them have earned the right to deserve better. Case and point, my wife is a Denver Police Officer who has been with the department for over 15 years. I’ve been a community activist for nearly all of my life. She has mentored, taught, clothed, fed, cried and sac- rificed for more youth, drug addicts, gang members, homeless persons, etc then 100 of these protesters have in 20 years combined. We’ve had youth with their parents at our house at 3am in the morning deep in crisis and yet Black youth on the 16th street mall give her the finger as they pass by. She and I have had many long and intense conversations about how polic- ing efforts should be responsive to the powerless in our community. Yet, protesters attack her with the n-word, b-word, Black b-word, Nazi n-word-b- word, and yet they have no clue what she does for the community inside and outside of the uniform. I understand that when police offi- cers are on duty they symbolically rep- resents the system but these attacks are not directed at the system they are directed at the person. Randomly shooting cops and projecting angry insults and gestures are not behaviors directing systemic change. It is activ- ity that perpetuates systemic racism, ignorance and hateful injustice. What do you replace injustice with; more racism, ignorance, violence and injus- tice? The vile actions of some police officers does not justify the vile activ- ity of some citizens whose very pro- By Randy Craven Randy Craven RACE IN AMERICA These latest examples are only tragic reminders of the deep seeded beliefs that form the psychopathic and narcissistic patterns of disease that cause brokenness in the system. Continued on Page 23