The death of innocence....

March of 2012 has certainly ended in a bloody and tumultuous manner, the killing of Trayvon Martin being the primary news story.  Not only has this death shocked the nation, but it has also served as fodder for those who profit from racial division and racial hatred.


But Trayvon was not the only casualty of March, there was also tiny Aliyah Shell a beautiful six year old girl living in Chicago who was gunned down on her front porch as she sat with her Mother's having her hair done. http://newsroom.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/19/6-year-old-shot-killed-in-chicago/ Naturally one would think that given the massive media scrutiny and quest for justice surrounding the Martin case, the same individuals who are out for blood in Florida would be demanding justice for Aliyah Shell in Chicago, but unfortunately such is not the case.


Who was to blame for Aliyah's death?  Was it a result of "black on black" crime, the kind that is rarely reported on?  No, as CBS News reported "..two purported gang members — 16-year-old Luis Hernandez and 18-year-old Juan Barraza — each have been charged with one count of murder and two counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm in the deadly shooting."


Apparently Hernandez and Barraza are members of a notorious gang known as the "Latin Kings".  According to the boys the shooting which led to Aliyah's death was supposed to be a hit on a rival gang member that the Latin King's had ordered. 


This is not the first 'mistaken' killing in the long and bloody history of the Latin Kings.  The gang is widespread in Chicago (aka Motherland by the gang) and in New York City.  Even a casual Internet search brings up a myriad of stories about the gang and their illicit activities.


Although both Hernandez and Barraza are of Mexican descent, that in and of itself is not a requirement to belong to the gang which boasts many African American members and surprisingly has also branched out into politics.  In an interview appearing in Vibe Magazine entitled "Anatomy of a King" Luis Felipe aka "King Blood" documents his history with the gang and their foray into politics in a failed attempt to garner a 1994 election to the State Assembly of New York for Nelson Antonio Denis.   The story recounts how "Kings answered phones, carried placards and mobilized voters door to door".


The Chicago based gang has also reached infamy for both 'taking down' a National Guard Armory and for having police officers on the rolls of the gang.  This bizarre story is outlined in George W. Knox's "Gang Profile: The Latin Kings" http://www.ngcrc.com/ngcrc/page15.htm  as follows:

 "The controversy that unfolded in Chicago in the fall of 1995 was not limited to the Latin Kings, but basically boiled down to the fact that there were active gang members who were also Chicago police officers. The information seemed overwhelming, from 1992 to 1995 "at least 15 cops have been charged with crimes, forced to resign" who were from "some of Chicago's most notorious street gangs, including the Gangster Disciples, the Latin Kings, and the Latin Lovers" (see: Jorge Oclander, "Gangs Move Into Police Ranks", Chicago Sun-Times, October 6, 1995, pp. 1, 22-23. For example, two officers charged with robbing a store in the summer of 1995 of $700 to $1000 worth of fireworks were identified by the CPD's Internal Affairs Division as being Latin King members (see: Jorge Oclander, "Something Fishy Going On: Neighborhood Wary of Gangs' Link to Cops", October 9, 1995, pp. 1, 8)."

Some sources (such as Knox) contend that the Latin Kings have operated as a gang for over 30 years.  There are those who proclaim that the Latin Kings are not a gang - but rather a social club with a bad reputation.  Again a cursory search of the Internet provides plenty of documentation suggesting that the gang label has been well earned.


What about the government's role in eradicating gangs?  It appears as though millions of dollars have been spent on task force after task force in a vain attempt to shutdown the violence.  In fact, there are those who accuse the city government (never known for honesty and integrity in the best of times) with having been complicit in the growth of the Latin Kings.


This was the consensus of a story by the Daily Kos when reporting on a crime spat in 2011 http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/06/19/986799/- "The corner of Spaulding and Beach in West Humboldt Park in Chicago. For more than 30 years, the area has been called the "Motherland" by the Latin Kings street gang. Three generations of Chicago gangsters and Chicago police and teachers have known about Spaulding and Beach, but the fact that it remains a center of Latin King northside enterprises in Chicago tells a major story about how the city has allowed the major gangs — the Latin Kings and Maniac Latin Disciples, the Black P. Stones and the Black Gangster Disciples, and the Gaylords and Simon City Royals (to name gangs from the three major ethnic groups) — to thrive in Chicago. "


The story went on to speak of Mayor Emmanuel (Obama's former Chief of Staff) and his lack of leadership during the crisis: "But while the shooting (including firing at cops) was going on across the inner city, from Humboldt Park out to 87th and Damen and beyond), Mayor Emanuel was silent about the gangs. City Hall reported that he was in Baltimore, giving a speech to the National Conference of Mayors on the need for infrastructure repairs. If so, it was an almost perfect irony."


Chicago was once the land of Obama and Emmanuel, Axelrod, Jarrett and company.  Michelle Obama recently spoke on the David Letterman show about maintaining a "south side atmosphere" in the White House  http://globalgrind.com/node/828586 certainly she was not talking about the atmosphere of fear that is so pervasive in the south side now. 


Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming the Obamas or Rahm Emanuel or anyone else for the murder of this poor little girl.  The murder was simply insanity.  The insanity of violence, the insanity of hatred and the insanity that is gang life.  But I also would charge that President Obama who has waxed so eloquently over the death of Trayvon Martin has been remiss not to address this senseless death as well. 



Mayor Emmanuel has attempted to console Aliyah's family and has announced a crack down on gang violence in Chicago  http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/03/26/violent-start-to-spring-spurs-major-gang-crackdown/ but the raids and sweeps seem to always pickup the usual suspects and X dollars worth of drugs and weapons are recovered and photographed and then the Latin Kings and their enemies take over the streets again.


What will it take to eliminate gang violence once and for all?  How do we clean up the inner cities and make them habitable again? How many Aliyah Shell's are going to have to die?  Perhaps Aliyah's death only serves to sadden us and not cause us to lash out in racial hatred and fear that her death has not received the attention that Trayvon Martin's has.  Apparently the Al Sharpton's and Jessie Jackson's, the Rosanne Barr's and the Spike Lee's of our country cannot create hate out of Aliyah's death - and perhaps that is a good thing.  No amount of attention or tears will bring the lovely smile of Aliyah Shell back to us.  But at least her smile has not been a rallying point for hate.


PMA

What do you see when you look at Brian Terry Mr. President?

President Obama recently spoke out about the senseless murder of a young man in Florida.  Trayvon Martin who was only 17 years old was unarmed when he was shot and killed by a neighborhood watch captain.  

After Jay Carney initially said on Thursday that the White House would not get involved in the issue, President Obama spoke today in the Rose Garden and said ""Obviously, this is a tragedy. I can only imagine what these parents are going through. And when I think about this boy, I think about my own kids. And, you know, I think every parent in America should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this and that everybody pulls together -- federal, state and local -- to figure out exactly how this tragedy happened," Obama said.  He added: "But my main message is to the parents of Trayvon Martin. You know, if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon."

This outpouring of sympathy and emotion was apparently very heart-felt on the part of the President, but I couldn't help but wonder where this desire for justice was when Brian Terry was killed.

In case you don't remember Brian Terry, the following can be found on the Officer Down Memorial Page "Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was shot and killed near Rio Rico, Arizona, while attempting to apprehend a group of armed subjects. The suspects had been preying on illegal immigrants with the intent to rob them.

Agent Terry and several other agents were attempting to arrest the group when shots were exchanged between the suspects and agents. Agent Terry was struck in the pelvis by a round fired by a suspect armed with an AK-47."\

Brian Terry was not unarmed as was Trayvon Martin.  Brian was in fact armed with what amounted to a bean bag weapon.  The weapons used to kill him however were also supplied by the United States government but they were not 'bean  bag' weapons, but rather the far more deadly AK-47.  These weapons were provided to Mexican criminals under the failed program refereed to in the media as "Fast and Furious".

Other than demonstratively denying any knowledge of the failed operation on his or Attorney General Eric Holder's part, President Obama has not addressed the death of Brian Terry, let alone said thing as significant as "..it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this and that everybody pulls together -- federal, state and local -- to figure out exactly how this tragedy happened," 

Rather than speaking with the family, President Obama dispatched Janet Napolitano to the fallen agent's funeral where rather than comforting the grief stricken family she used the occasion to do her bit for the re-election campaign of President Obama saying to a local reporter “He’s (Obama) done more in the last two years than any other president.”   Brian Terry's family was (understandably) not consoled by this remark.

Neither did the President demand that "we investigate every aspect of this and that everybody pulls together -- federal, state and local --" rather the administration which has touted itself as the most transparent ever has attempted to cover up the event as was reported by  Judicial Watch:  "The Obama Administration has abruptly sealed court records containing alarming details of how Mexican drug smugglers murdered a U.S. Border patrol agent with a gun connected to a failed federal experiment that allowed firearms to be smuggled into Mexico."

There has also been a noticeable lack of 'celebrities' like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson making any appearances on behalf of Brian Terry or the Terry family.

You can make the argument that Brian Terry as a Border Agent knew the risks that he was taking - unlike Trayvon Martin.  He was certainly not aware however of the fact that his government was supplying his enemies with weapons far superior to the ones that he was carrying to perform his duties.

Perhaps any son that President Obama may have would not look like Brian Terry, but that should not keep him from receiving the same respect and the same desire for justice that is shown towards the death of Trayvon Martin.

Read more: http://www.odmp.org/officer/20596-border-patrol-agent-brian-a-terry#ixzz1q0RsHtSk

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/03/23/obama-calls-florida-shooting-death-tragedy-says-his-son-would-look-like-trayvon/#ixzz1q0QRyURM

PMA

The Flim Flam Men Ride Again.....

The only thing worse than a tragedy is someone or some group of people attempting to score political points from it.  That being said the tragedy that is the shooting of a young black male Trayvon Martin has proceeded to become if possible an even larger tragedy.

Seemingly out of no where it those who profit by stoking the flames of racial divide have materialized and proceeded to do what they do best, promote hatred and distrust.

In so much as the death of this young man is a horror and racial profiling contributes to injustice, attempts to score political points from Trayvon's death are a horror in and of themselves.

Consider one example of this, Newsbusters reports that "MSNBC analyst and Democratic strategist Karen Finney disgustingly smeared Rush Limbaugh and several Republican presidential candidates on Thursday, charging that the racist hate of these conservatives had "lethal consequences" in the case of Trayvon Martin, an African American teen shot in Florida."

The story goes on to say "After decrying "bigotry and stereotypes tak[ing] over our better judgment," Finney sneeringly insisted that when "Rush Limbaugh calls a presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama, a magic negro...In the case of Trayvon, those festering stereotypes had lethal consequences.""

As Newsbuster's points out, Rush Limbaugh did not originate the "magic negro" term - it originated in a story in the Los Angeles Times.  Even that however is relatively immaterial as it is a grand canyon like leap to go from the term "magic negro" to the death of Trayvon Martin.  That does not deter Karen Finney however as she continues in her effort to insure that no Conservative escapes unscathed in her reporting by including Republican Presidential candidates Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum on her list of people who contributed to the horror of Trayvon Martin's murder.

Am I the only one who finds this line of thinking just a little unreasonable?  When Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton descend on Florida to participate in marches and demonstrations am I the only one who wonders why they didn't show the African Americans killed in Chicago recently the same respect? What about 6 year old Aliyah Shell?  This poor child was killed while playing on her front porch, but apparently no one is marching for her.  Is it because the crimes in Chicago were attributed to gang violence and 'black on black' crime?  Or was it sadly due to the fact that Florida offered move TV cameras and more outrage that could be exploited?

We should all mourn the death of Tayvon Martin, it was a senseless act and should be vilified, but we should all do more than bemoan the deaths of Tayvon Martin and Aliyah Shell and the scores of African American young men and women who die daily in the streets of our cities, we should collectively do something.

How much have the many public figures who flock to Florida done to erase gang violence?  What has our government done to reduce the specter of unemployment that  has devastated our inner cities?  Is anything really being done to make a difference, or is Tayvon's death being used as a vehicle to promote division and hatred while the deaths of so many others are being ignored

PMA

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/scott-whitlock/2012/03/23/msnbcs-karen-finney-smears-racism-limbaugh-had-lethal-consequences-k#ixzz1pxdb3NGc