EX-CNN Host TJ Holmes: ‘Driving While Black Ain’t No Joke’ After Being Pulled Over by Atlanta Cops

tj holmes driving while black 284x300 EX CNN Host TJ Holmes: Driving While Black Aint No Joke After Being Pulled Over by Atlanta Cops

EX-CNN Host TJ Holmes: ‘Driving While Black Ain’t No Joke’ After Being Pulled Over by Atlanta Cops

#showmeyourpapers: Former CNN host TJ Holmes caused an uproar on Twitter when he tweeted that he was stopped by Atlanta police for no reason — driving while black. I understand how pissed off one would get about being pulled over for no reason. But you can’t always use race as the reason for your outrage at the police. Looking through the mirror on Holmes car, it appears one of the officers is a black woman. So, the whole race angle may be a moot point. I also found it amazing that Holmes refused to tell Dr. Michael Eric Dyson what kind of car he was driving, during his appearance on the “Ed Schultz Show” on MSNBC. He said he would discuss that at a later date.

Holmes also said the police officer asked him for proof of insurance and the bill of sale for the vehicle. That latter is interesting, pointing to a luxury car. But even so, does that mean it was stolen? Once the police run the tag number on the vehicle, they can determine if there is an active insurance policy on the vehicle. That’s the law in Georgia. They don’t need to see your policy to know if you have insurance on the vehicle or not. So the officer asking Holmes that question was ridiculous. In reality, it doesn’t matter what kind of car one drives, but I find it a little interesting that he wouldn’t disclose that.

On a personal note, I have lived in metro Atlanta for more than 12 years and I have never been pulled over by the police for ‘no reason.’ I have been pulled over twice for speeding. Both times the officers were white and were nothing but courteous to me.That doesn’t mean racial profiling doesn’t occur, but I have never had that experience.

George Zimmerman Claims “You Got Me” Were Last Words Trayvon Martin Uttered Before Dying

150x102 George Zimmerman Claims You Got Me Were Last Words Trayvon Martin Uttered Before Dying

George Zimmerman Claims “You Got Me” Were Last Words Trayvon Martin Uttered Before Dying (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

George Zimmerman says Trayvon Martin’s last words were “you got me.” But how do we really know that’s what the decedent said? We only have George Zimmerman’s account of what happened, plus his many, many untruths and half-truths. So, why should I believe someone who was willing to mislead a court of law?

Zimmerman said he stepped out of the car to find a street sign so he could tell police his location. After told by the dispatcher not to pursue Martin, Zimmerman said, “As I headed back to my vehicle, the suspect emerged from the darkness and said ‘you got a problem’ [?] I said ‘No.’ The suspect said ‘you do now.’” Martin then punched him in the face and knocked him to the ground, he said.

Zimmerman said he reached for his gun after Martin “took my head and slammed it against the concrete several times, and each time I thought my head was going to explode and I thought I was going to lose consciousness.” He said that, during their struggle — in which “he tried to smother my mouth and my nose” — his firearm became exposed. At that point, he said he felt Martin’s hand slide down in his chest, and Martin told him, “You’re gonna die tonight, motherfucker.” “In fear for my life as he has assured me he was going to kill me,” Zimmerman wrote he fired one shot into Martin’s torso. Source

While I have no doubt Mr. Zimmerman may have felt threatened for his life, since he was beaten-up by a teenager, I still maintain had he followed the instructions of the 911 dispatcher this would not have happened. Better yet, had he not assumed to be the neighborhood vigilante, he would have never crossed paths with Trayvon Martin, who was minding his own business on his way to his father’s home from the store.

George Zimmerman Written Statement

 George Zimmerman Claims You Got Me Were Last Words Trayvon Martin Uttered Before Dying

NYPD Officer Richard Haste To Surrender on Manslaughter Charges in Shooting Death of Unarmed Teen Ramarley Graham

ramarley graham 300x236 NYPD Officer Richard Haste To Surrender on Manslaughter Charges in Shooting Death of Unarmed Teen Ramarley Graham

NYPD Officer Richard Haste To Surrender on Manslaughter Charges in Shooting Death of Unarmed Teen Ramarley Graham (Bronx DA)

NYPD Officer Richard Haste, who killed an unarmed Bronx teen, Ramarley Graham, inside his bathroom February 2, is expected to surrender to authorities Wednesday on manslaughter charges.

Ramarley Graham was reportedly flushing marijuana down the toilet and had been followed by police officers who thought he had a gun because they saw him adjusting his waistband.

Richard Haste has been with the NYPD for four years and was assigned to the street narcotics unit of his precinct, though he received no specialized training from that unit, the NY Daily News reports.

 

France Bans Steve Harvey Blockbuster Movie “Think Like a Man” Due to All-Black Cast, Racial Profiling?

think like a man France Bans Steve Harvey Blockbuster Movie Think Like a Man Due to All Black Cast, Racial Profiling?

France Bans Steve Harvey Blockbuster Movie "Think Like a Man" Due to All-Black Cast, Racial Profiling?

France bans Steve Harvey blockbuster movie “Think Like a Man,” because of its all-black cast. Um, really? I thought France was a forward-thinking country and not stuck in the dark ages.

Fabienne Flessel at Global Voices reposted an excerpt from a NegroNews Facebook post republished on Martinican blog People Bo Kay offers this as explanation:

Black actor and producer Tyler Perry’s movies are never scheduled in any French movie theaters or are only released in DVDs, even though he has been used to leading the US box-office, as with ‘Why did I get Married’ and ‘For Colored Girls’. The French society acts hypocritically, when it refuses to show movies from black producers who earn millions from conveying a positive message to the African diaspora through their films.

[...]

The French state has had a sociopolitical strategy which favors interracial relationships rather than valuing communities. In the comedy ‘Think like a Man’, the focus is on black couples.

I haven’t seen the movie and I doubt I will see it at a movie theater, thought I may purchase the movie once it comes out on DVD, but that’s not because of the all-black cast. It’s just a matter of placing importance on seeing a film that’s so loathesome in its premise doesn’t factor high for me. Still, we can all relate to some of the characters — mama’s boys, underachievers, take-charge ladies, lazy dudes and players looking for love. But it’s a sad commentary that the movie was banned in France. Black films face an uphill battle on gaining studio funding and even being run-away box office favorites. Though “Red Tails” wasn’t an all-black cast, it was about an all-black unit in the U.S. military — The Tuskegee Airmen — and we saw how hard it was for George Lucas to gain funding for the film, having to put up the money himself.  Racial profiling in the French cinemas? Wow, I wonder if they will show the utterly ridiculous “Three Stooges,” that has one or maybe two black faces.

UPDATE#1:  The studio denies the film was banned in France.

Geraldo Rivera to Bill O’Reilly: Trayvon Martin 7-Eleven Tape Shows He was “Dressed in That Thug Wear”

300px GeraldoRiveraSept2010 Geraldo Rivera to Bill OReilly:  Trayvon Martin 7 Eleven Tape Shows He was Dressed in That Thug Wear

Geraldo Rivera to Bill O'Reilly: Trayvon Martin 7-Eleven Tape Shows He was "Dressed in That Thug Wear" (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Geraldo Rivera hasn’t learned his lesson about demonizing Trayvon Martin as a thug because he wore a hoodie the night he was murdered. He went on the O’Reilly Factor and blasted the victim once again saying the 7-Eleven tape shows Trayvon Martin dressed in “that thug wear.”

“The marijuana is probably a lot less powerful than the surveillance video at the 7/11,” Geraldo Rivera told Bill O’Reilly, and went on to say that the video shows that Martin was “dressed in that thug wear– look at the size of him, he’s not a little kid.” He also found the burden on the defense easier than the prosecution saying “if this young man was a stranger to George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin looks just like people who had been burglarizing and victimizing that neighborhood for the past 6 months.” Nice try Geraldo, but that’s called racial profiling, as Bill O’Reilly accurately pointed out, though he was quick to add he was “playing Devil’s advocate.”

Rivera opined profiling based on “a reasonable comparison” was fair, and that the prosecution would have a problem since George Zimmerman had been overcharged “based on the enormous pressure she was under from every civil rights activist in the United States, including the President.” Bill O’Reilly concluded that Zimmerman could have been “looking for action… he wants to be Inspector Clouseau” after Rivera said both men could have been trying “to do the right thing.” I wonder how Geraldo Rivera would feel if this had happened to an illegal immigrant from Mexico or if that was one of his sons?

 Geraldo Rivera to Bill OReilly:  Trayvon Martin 7 Eleven Tape Shows He was Dressed in That Thug Wear

Thousands March in Sanford FL to Honor Trayvon Martin, Chanting, “We Want an Arrest, Shot in the Chest”

Thousands of protesters marched through 13th Street, the heart of the oldest black neighborhood in Sanford, Fla., Saturday, chanting “We want an arrest. Shot in the chest” and saying “I am Trayvon Martin.” The march in the Goldsboro community was organized by the NAACP, with Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson and Ben Jealous demanding the arrest of shooter George Zimmerman. The protesters ended up at the Sanford Police Department headquarters.

The Florida Civil Rights Association announced that it supports Al Sharpton’s call for economic sanctions, the Orlando Sentinel reports. Sharpton spoke at the rally saying it is an ”American paradox that we can put a black man in the White House but we can’t walk a black child through a gated area in Sanford, Florida.”

Rev. Al Sharpton Under Fire for Calling for Escalating Civil Disobedience in Trayvon Martin Murder Case

300px Al Sharpton by David Shankbone Rev. Al Sharpton Under Fire for Calling for Escalating Civil Disobedience in Trayvon Martin Murder Case

Rev. Al Sharpton Under Fire for Calling for Escalating Civil Disobedience in Trayvon Martin Murder Case (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Rev. Al Sharpton is taking the Trayvon Martin murder case to another level and it’s very ugly and just plain irresponsible, considering that he has a show on MSNBC. He said his National Action Network will ”move to the next level” if George Zimmerman is not arrested in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. He called for an escalation in a peaceful civil disobedience and economic sanctions, though he wouldn’t say what those sanctions would be.

Turner Clayton, the Seminole County chapter president of the NAACP, reacted immediately to Sharpton’s warning, saying, “We hope that the citizens of Sanford will govern themselves accordingly. We are not calling for any sanctions, against any business or anyone else. And, of course, what Rev. Sharpton does, that’s strictly the [National] Action Network.  We can’t condone that part of the conversation, if that’s what he said.” Source

When you have the NAACP condemning a call for civil disobedience, you know you have a serious problem. Doesn’t Rev. Sharpton realize that innocent people will suffer as a result of economic sanctions? Nationally syndicated radio host Todd Schnitt is calling for MSNBC to fire Rev. Al Sharpton for his attempt at inciting violence. He also called for his arrest if riots break out. Um, if they arrest Al Sharpton for calling for civil disobedience, shouldn’t people like Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck be behind bars for some better of the crazy things they have been advocating.

 Rev. Al Sharpton Under Fire for Calling for Escalating Civil Disobedience in Trayvon Martin Murder Case

Sarah Palin Believes President Obama Orchestrated Remarks in Trayvon Martin Murder Case

 Sarah Palin Believes President Obama Orchestrated Remarks in Trayvon Martin Murder Case

Sarah Palin Believes President Obama Orchestrated Remarks in Trayvon Martin Murder Case (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sarah Palin just couldn’t let the whole Trayvon Martin tragedy pass her by without giving her two cents on Fox News. Hey Sarah, have you ever heard of the term racial profiling? That’s what is the basic argument in this murder case. The teen was racially profiled. Sarah Palin said she believes (as though the majority of Americans give a sh*t) that President Obama orchestrated remarks he made about the teenager’s death. Um, tone down the rhetoric? So, I am guessing the thousands of people who marched didn’t do anything to force the governor of Florida to send the case to a grand jury because there seems to have been a cover-up. The Republicans want nothing more than to sweep this tragedy under a rug and for life to go on as business as usual.

“It’s not going to do anybody any good to ratchet up the rhetoric based on speculation,” Palin told Fox News. She shared her observations just hours after Democratic Rep. Bobby Rush was asked to leave the House floor after donning a hooded sweatshirt to protest Martin’s death.

“What concerns me – the facts still aren’t out there,” Palin said. “Obviously when we hear about a 17-year-old young man losing his life, it’s tragic. It’s horrible. I am so, so extremely sorry for the family.”

“It’s unspeakable the hurt, the sorrow, the loss this family is feeling,” she said. “People who are jumping in there without having all the facts first are making the situation even worse when you consider we are talking about a young man’s life.” Source

I do agree with Sarah Palin on one thing, that the politicization of the tragedy is unfair to the Trayon Martin’s parents and to his legacy. I will also concede the fact that President Obama could have given a more neutral response to the question instead of appearing to take sides, as he did with the Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. situation with the police in Massachusetts. Cooler heads need to prevail at this juncture. That involves race hustlers like Rev. Jesse Jackson taking a step back and let the legal process work. Now that we have the undivided attention of the special prosecutor, the Justice Department, the FBI and the court system, let them conduct their investigation into this tragedy. Threatening a march comparable to Selma isn’t going to solve this crime.

 Sarah Palin Believes President Obama Orchestrated Remarks in Trayvon Martin Murder Case

Washington Times Columnist Says Obama Has a Tendency Toward Racial Profiling, Elevated Trayvon Martin Tragedy

The Washington Times columnist Charles Hurt is out with a screed about President Obama’s horrible week and tried to blame him for the mess with Trayvon Martin, saying he has a tendency toward racial profiling. What? In case Charles Hurt hasn’t noticed, President Obama is a black man (though biracial but history dictates that he’s black) and yes, racial profiling is a huge problem for black men. That includes my father,  who is now retired, but he was a law-abiding, hard-working Christian man, who was pulled over by a New York City cop in the early 1990s and roughed up over nothing and threatened by a white officer that he would take his “brand new car” if he mouthed off. I’m pretty sure that same white cop wouldn’t have told Mr. Hurt’s father that.

People on the right like Charles Hurt would like to sweep the racial injustices perpetrated against blacks for decades under a rug. They expect us not to take a stand when there has been an obvious police cover-up in the murder of an unarmed black teen, but to just accept that cover-up because it’s just the right thing to do in their eyes. When Charles Hurt has walked in the shoes of a black American, who has lived through the darkest days in this country’s history, then he has earned the right to accuse President Obama of having a tendency towards racial profiling. Here’s an excerpt from Charles Hurt’s column:

• Last Friday, Mr. Obama wandered into the killing of Trayvon Martin. Aided by his ignorance of the situation, knee-jerk prejudices and tendency toward racial profiling, Mr. Obama played a heavy hand in elevating a tragic situation in which a teenager was killed into a full-blown hot race fight.

Americans, he admonished, need to do some “soul-searching.” And then, utterly inexplicably, he veered off into this bizarre tangent about how he and the poor dead kid look so much alike they could be father and son. It was election-year race-pandering gone horribly wrong.

• By the start of this week, Mr. Obama had fled town and was racing to the other side of the planet just as the Supreme Court was taking up the potentially-embarrassing matter of Obamacare. While in South Korea he was caught on a hidden mic negotiating with the president of our longest-standing rival on how to sell America and her allies down the river once he gets past the next election.

• Meanwhile, back at home, the Supreme Court took up the single most important achievement of Mr. Obama’s presidency and, boy, was it embarrassing. The great constitutional law professor, it turns out, may not quite be the wizard he told us he was.

By most accounts, Mr. Obama and his stuttering lawyers were all but laughed out of the courthouse. They were even stumbling over softball questions lobbed by Mr. Obama’s own hand-picked justices.

• Mr. Obama closed his week pulling off a nearly unimaginable feat: He managed to totally and completely unify the nastily-fighting Democrats and Republicans in Congress. Late Wednesday night, they unanimously voted — 414 to zip — to reject the budget Mr. Obama had presented, leaving him not even a thin lily’s blade to hide behind.

I am in agreement with Hurt’s argument about the Supreme Court and Obamacare. I really don’t see this as a win-win for the Democrats and the president if the Supreme Court throws out this legislation. It will be a big problem for President Obama’s reelection bid. But blaming him for the Trayvon Martin case and for fomenting blacks is just irresponsible. In case Charles Hurt hasn’t noticed, the black experience in this country has been tainted by racial profiling, among other things. Obama is right when he said the country needs to do some “soul-searching” because we have a faction of the population that continues to be racially profiled and too many innocent black males are losing their lives as a result. While I won’t go as far as to compare Trayvon Martin’s death to that of Emmett Till, it does bring the issue of racial profiling front and center. President Obama could have very easily said, while it’s a tragedy, I will allow the legal process to work.

Civil Rights Groups Seek Spotlight on Dante Price Shooting Death by Two White Security Guards in Dayton OH

What really happened to black male Dante Price, when he was allegedly shot to death by two white security guards, who were heard yelling a racist epithet at the dying man on March 1? According to the Dayton Daily News, Dante Price was killed on Summit Square Drive by white Ranger Security guards, who allege he was not being compliant with their orders. The shooters have yet to be arrested by police. Is this another case like the Trayvon Martin murder case?

In the 911 recording, one of the security guards tells a dispatcher, “We just had to shoot at him. He charged at us. The guard can be heard repeatedly yelling at Price to get out of his vehicle. “He was fighting my partner, doing everything he could to pull off, dragging my partner,” he said.

The recording captured what sounds like 20 shots being fired. The officer then tells the dispatcher that Price is hit. But Price’s foot was stuck on the gas and the car was smoking. Source: Dayton Daily News

The men were allegedly heard saying “let the nigger burn,” as a fire broke out in the car. To learn more about the Dante Price shooting, visit the Dayton Daily News. SiriusXM Satellite Radio host Joe Madison talked about the case on his show today and also brought it up during an appearance on Rev. Al Sharpton’s Politics Nation show on MSNBC.

pixel Civil Rights Groups Seek Spotlight on Dante Price Shooting Death by Two White Security Guards in Dayton OH