What Really Happened in the Congo: Belgium’s ‘Heart of Darkness’
Leopold famously said when he was forced to hand over the Congo Free State to the Belgian nation: “I will give them my Congo but they have no right to know what I have done there,” and proceeded to burn archives.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/belgium-confronts-its-heart-of-darkness-6151923.html
Did y’all know about this?
2015 goals:
be humble.
be loving.
be informed.
listen more, talk less.
focus on family.
stay to myself.
friendship game strong
Students sitting for an exam in Afghanistan.
I dare you, DARE YOU to reblog this………
This hurts my soul’s core
LESS THAN 100 YRS AGO.. IE: RECENT SHIT
…and the mindset remains in tact…hence Ferguson et al.
will always reblog
Pioneering black golfer Charlie Sifford recently received the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom
He is prisoner No. 260. He stares into the camera for his mug shot, head cocked, eyes forlorn of hope. It is the kind of picture that haunts.
He is 14. His name is George Stinney Jr. He is a child, someone’s baby.
He is a black boy arrested in the murder of two white girls in the rural town of Alcolu, S.C.
He is tried for the murders just a month after the arrest. An all-white, all-male jury is empaneled. That same afternoon, the trial commences. It lasts only a few hours. The white lawyer assigned to Stinney’s defense cross-examines no witnesses and calls none of his own. The jury deliberates for only 10 minutes before finding Stinney guilty. That same day, the boy is sentenced to death by electrocution.
There are no appeals. There are no requests for a stay. When the day comes for the boy’s execution, less than two months after the trial, guards reportedly had a hard time fitting the small boy into the big chair.
He was just 5 feet 1 inch. As Laura Bradley wrote in Slate, “He weighed 95 pounds when he was arrested, and was so small he had to sit on a phone book in the electric chair when he was executed within three months of the murders.”
Some say the book he sat on wasn’t a phone book but the Bible.
(Note to humanity: When the person in your death machine requires a booster seat, maybe you should reconsider what you are about to do.)
As Jesse Wegman of The Times’s editorial board wrote on the Taking Note blog: “Reports from the execution chamber said he was so small that the jolt of electricity knocked the mask from his face.”
That day, June 16, 1944, Stinney became the youngest person executed in America in the 20th century. This unconscionable cruelty — the execution of children — used to be routine. As The Times pointed out in 2005, in the 1940s juveniles were executed at a pace of “nearly once every two months.”
It’s not clear whether Stinney saw the faces of anyone who loved him when he was marched into that execution chamber and strapped into that chair. His sister, Aime Ruffner, told The Guardian this year that the family was run out of town the day her brother was taken away. She is quoted as saying: “I never went back there. I curse that place. It was the destruction of my family and the killing of my brother.”
Last week, a South Carolina judge threw out the conviction, saying “I can think of no greater injustice than a violation of one’s constitutional rights, which has been proven to me in this case” and finding “by a preponderance of the evidence standard, that a violation of the defendant’s procedural due process rights tainted his prosecution.”
This was a victory of sorts: a 70-years-too-late admission that the justice system failed that black child, and that the failure culminated — in short order — in the taking of his life. Yet something about it feels hollow and discomforting, like the thunder that rolls long after the lightning has cracked the sky and split the tree.
…
The overturning of this particular conviction comes at a most profound time — following the decisions by grand juries not to indict police officers in the killings of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and John Crawford III and preceding the ambush and murder of two police officers in BrooklynThe decision provides a generational through-line of sorts for questions about judicial fairness in this country, about the speed with which people can be judged a threat or an enemy and have their lives taken.
The heart aches for every life lost.
Why are there so many touchstones of outrage to mark the African-American experience in this country? Why is there so much tension between officers of the law and minority neighborhoods?
…
All lives are valuable — those of the public and the police. We can and must condemn the deranged suicidal cop killer (who also shot his former girlfriend) as well as the cops who kill. There is no contradiction there. Humanity is the common thread.The cries of ancestors mingle with those of activists and those of dead officers. Anguish stretches across generations and across the racial gulf. Equal justice demands its proper place. The taking of life on both sides of the badge must be redressed.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a six-time NBA champion and league Most Valuable Player. He is also a celebrated author, filmmaker and education ambassador.
The way to honor those who defend our liberties with their lives — as did my father and grandfather — is not to curtail liberty, but to exercise it fully in pursuit of a just and peaceful society.
According to Ecclesiastes, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose.” For me, today, that means a time to seek justice and a time to mourn the dead.
And a time to shut the hell up.The recent brutal murder of two Brooklyn police officers, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, is a national tragedy that should inspire nationwide mourning. Both my grandfather and father were police officers, so I appreciate what a difficult and dangerous profession law enforcement is. We need to value and celebrate the many officers dedicated to protecting the public and nourishing our justice system. It’s a job most of us don’t have the courage to do.
At the same time, however, we need to understand that their deaths are in no way related to the massive protests against systemic abuses of the justice system as symbolized by the recent deaths—also national tragedies—of Eric Garner, Akai Gurley, and Michael Brown. Ismaaiyl Brinsley, the suicidal killer, wasn’t an impassioned activist expressing political frustration, he was a troubled man who had shot his girlfriend earlier that same day. He even Instagrammed warnings of his violent intentions. None of this is the behavior of a sane man or rational activist. The protests are no more to blame for his actions than The Catcher in the Rye was for the murder of John Lennon or the movie Taxi Driver for the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan. Crazy has its own twisted logic and it is in no way related to the rational cause-and-effect world the rest of us attempt to create.
Those who are trying to connect the murders of the officers with the thousands of articulate and peaceful protestors across America are being deliberately misleading in a cynical and selfish effort to turn public sentiment against the protestors. This is the same strategy used when trying to lump in the violence and looting with the legitimate protestors, who have disavowed that behavior. They hope to misdirect public attention and emotion in order to stop the protests and the progressive changes that have already resulted. Shaming and blaming is a lot easier than addressing legitimate claims.
Some police unions are especially heinous perpetrators. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s previous public support of protestors has created friction with these unions. The Patrolman’s Benevolent Association responded with a petition asking that the mayor not attend the funerals of officers killed in the line of duty. Following the murders of Ramos and Liu, an account appearing to represent the Sergeants Benevolent Association tweeted: “The blood of 2 executed police officers is on the hands of Mayor de Blasio.” Former New York governor George Pataki tweeted: “Sickened by these barbaric acts, which sadly are a predictable outcome of divisive anti-cop rhetoric of #ericholder and #mayordeblasio. #NYPD.”
In a Dec. 21, 2014 article about the shooting, the Los Angeles Times referred to the New York City protests as “anti-police marches,” which is grossly inaccurate and illustrates the problem of perception the protestors are battling. The marches are meant to raise awareness of double standards, lack of adequate police candidate screening, and insufficient training that have resulted in unnecessary killings. Police are not under attack, institutionalized racism is. Trying to remove sexually abusive priests is not an attack on Catholicism, nor is removing ineffective teachers an attack on education. Bad apples, bad training, and bad officials who blindly protect them, are the enemy. And any institution worth saving should want to eliminate them, too.
Read the entire article here.
ACLU Sues To End Almost Total White Control Over Ferguson’s Majority Black School System
A lawsuit filed Thursday by the American Civil Liberties Union paints a grim picture of a school district whose leadership bears little resemblance to its student body. Although “African-American students accounted for 77.1% of total enrollment in the Ferguson-Florissant School District in the 2011-2012 school year,” only one of the district’s seven school board members are black. This is the district that includes Ferguson, Missouri, where the police shooting of African American teenager Michael Brown triggered widespread protests.
Under white-elected leadership, according to the ACLU’s complaint, “[t]he District experiences significant racial disparities in terms of enrollment in gifted programs, access to advanced classes, assignment to special education programs, and school discipline.”
The complaint describes a pattern that is common in many school districts that were once segregated by law. White residents dominate a local school board, even as the overwhelming majority of students are black and most white families send their children to private schools. The complaint alleges that “only 13% of the district’s student body is white” and “approximately 68% of white school-age children who live in Ferguson or Florissant do not attend public schools in the District.”
That’s absurd | Follow ThinkProgress
Is anyone keeping tabs on the protest at Mall of America right now? Do y’all know how big that shit is? All the stores at MOA are closed. Workers are leaving their jobs and showing solidarity. Riot cops are very outnumbered. Protesters are spilling into the streets. They shut that shit down.
You liked the me that hated myself. I’m not sacrificing my happiness to bring back the person you wish I was.
why do people interpret “black lives matter” as “only black lives matter”
or “black women matter” as “ONLY black women matter”
we’re taught to hate ourselves and that white is the default, so you don’t need to tell yourself that “white lives matter” because it’s already extremely obvious that white lives matter
just because you aren’t mentioned doesn’t mean you’re not important. it just means this post ain’t for you.
“To acquire true self power you have to feel beneath no one, be immune to criticism and be fearless.”
— Deepak Chopra
The Daily Habits Of Highly Creative People (Infographic)
Have you ever wondered how creative people do it, how they can make enough time in the day to eat, breathe, and make beautiful, lasting art?
Well, the answer is that there is no single answer. The folks at Info We Trust have developed an infographic to visualize the daily routines of 16 of history’s well-known artists and polymaths, from Milton to Angelou. The information for the infographic came from Mason Currey’s book on the subject, Daily Rituals: How Artists Work.
Each of them worked in their own way, which is a friendly reminder that if you listen to your body and do what works for you, you’re likely to give yourself a great chance to succeed, no matter what you do.
you have every right to seek to destroy a system that seeks to destroy you
No eyewitness testimony was more consistent with Darren Wilson’s personal story of events the day he shot and killed Mike Brown than that of Witness #40—who we now know as white supremacist Sandy McElroy.
Not only did Sandy McElroy testify before the grand jury twice, she was allowed to show what she claimed was her journal from the day Mike Brown was killed. In the journal she said she decided to travel to a black neighborhood so she could learn to no longer “call blacks niggers.” In the transcript of her testimony, in her back and forth with members of the grand jury, members are recorded as actually stating that they believe she’s telling the truth.
What’s clear now, and what was actually clear to the FBI and the prosecutors before she ever testified, is that Sandy McElroy wasn’t anywhere near Canfield Drive the day Mike Brown was killed and made her entire story up. Not only that, but Sandy McElroy was on record with the St. Louis police as having lied and concocted fanciful stories in other murder cases in which she falsely claimed to be a witness.
Her inclusion in the grand jury pool of witnesses poisoned the well and her testimony is the most quoted testimony of conservative pundits; Sean Hannity alone has quoted her at least 21 times in various broadcasts. In addition to her calling African Americans “apes” and saying police should “kill the niggers” in the aftermath of Mike Brown’s death, she regularly posted comments on various social networks showing her affection for Darren Wilson weeks and weeks before she ever claimed to be a witness.
The FBI, in their interrogation of Sandy McElroy, completely tore apart her story and proved that she never drove onto Canfield Drive, never drove off of Canfield Drive, was never seen on Canfield Drive, and couldn’t find one person or photo or message before or after the event to confirm that she was ever there. She claimed she told her ex-husband all about what she saw, but he swore she didn’t and he has problems remembering things.
Please read below the fold for more on McElroy’s faulty testimony.
After telling the FBI that she was there to meet a friend she hadn’t seen since 1987, she admitted to the grand jury that she actually lied about that and no such person existed. She then explained that she was actually on Canfield Drive in a different town the exact moment Mike Brown was killed, in the exact spot where he was killed, on a solo ethnographic expedition to ease her own racism. It’s a lie so preposterous that it feels dirty even repeating it.
Here’s the thing, though. When Sandy McElroy was called before the grand jury, she had already been thoroughly discredited by the FBI not just as being a poor witness whose recollection is fuzzy, but as someone who didn’t witness anything at all and was making it all up for the worst possible reasons. That she was allowed to testify before the grand jury on two different dates and produce fake evidence on her second trip is a scandal of epic proportions. That her testimony has become so popular among conservatives says as much about them as it does about Sandy McElroy.
Knowing all that we know about her testimony, here are four things that should happen immediately.
1. Sandy McElroy should be immediately charged with perjury. She was clearly told by the FBI and the prosecutors that lying about being there was a crime and was given chance after chance to back down. Instead she doubled down and added very specific and destructive details about what she saw Mike Brown do that day.
Furthermore, Sandy McElroy is not at all like an eyewitness who was actually there and sincerely believed she saw the events unfold in a way that may be different than the facts of the case. In her back and forth with the FBI, they even went so far as to clarify that it was not a crime to recall something you actually saw and state it in a way that is slightly off from what truly happened.
2. Sandy McElroy should be charged with creating and submitting false evidence which is a felony in Missouri and in most states. She completely and totally fabricated a journal months after the murder, never mentioned it to the FBI, and was allowed to actually show it to the prosecutors and grand jury as a form of proof she was telling the truth.
3. Prosecutor Bob McCulloch, who undoubtedly will not resign until hell freezes over and pigs fly, should at the very least explain why Sandy McElroy was called to testify. Having taken months and months to run the grand jury system, McCulloch was well aware of who she was, but clearly believed she should remain anyway.
4. A special prosecutor should be appointed and a new grand jury convened immediately. Gov. Jay Nixon still has the power to do such a thing—as does a circuit court judge in Missouri. Typically this would only happen in cases in which it can be proven that the prosecutor went out of his or her way to support the defendant in a case and the evidence for that in this case grows daily.
ORIGINALLY POSTED TO SHAUNKING ON THU DEC 18, 2014 AT 01:11 PM EST.
ALSO REPUBLISHED BY DAILY KOS.
Professional athletes have been very vocal in expressing their displeasure with police conduct as of late, along with the rest of the nation. Yesterday, two of Ohio’s NFL teams and division rivals the Cleveland Browns faced off against the Cincinnati Bengals, but prior to kickoff, all eyes were on Browns wide receiver Andrew Hawkins.The wide out approached the field sporting a t-shirt over his jersey that read “Justice for Tamir Rice – John Crawford” on the front and “The Real Battle of Ohio” on the back.Tamir Rice is the 12-year-old Cleveland boy who was shot dead by police in November after he was seen playing with a toy gun in a local park. His death was ruled a homicide by the coroner.Similarly, 22-year-old John Crawford was shot and killed by police inside a Beavercreek, Ohio Wal-Mart this past August after he picked an air gun which was sold at the store. Though some might have appreciated Hawkins gesture, the President of the Cleveland police union, Jeff Follmer, took offense and demanded an apology from the Browns organization.Watched this guy tonight on “All in with Chris Hayes” and he was unbelievably tone deaf and unsympathetic about dead black people at the hands of police. And apparently, athletes should stick to running and jumping and not their First Amendment right to say what they feel.
Jeff Folmer: “It’s pretty pathetic when athletes think they know the law, “They should stick to what they know best on the field. The Cleveland Police protect and serve the Browns stadium, and the Browns organization owes us an apology.”So because the Cleveland Police do their jobs that we, the taxpayer, pay them to do, athletes should shut the hell up.
Inclusive children go far.
Kids are too smart for this school crap.
This is the best
imnotanimetrash-imanimerecycling:
Random acts of kindness.
CRYING
I feel like a lot of people need this on their dash now.
I definitely do
“I grew up in Jerusalem. When I was a child, I loved to paint. My father told me that he was going to send me to the biggest art academy, so that I could become a famous painter. But he died before I came of age, so I started making jewelry to support myself. I designed medallions and amulets for Orthodox Greek patriarchs to wear on their robes. I became quite known in the Old City, but when I moved to America, I had to start over. When I first arrived, I decided to try to sell my jewelry to a fancy jewelry shop on 47th Street. My friend told me: ‘You are crazy. Why would they buy from you? You are nobody.’ But I told him to watch me. I went into one of the big stores— one of those stores with 5 or 6 million dollars worth of jewelry in the window— and I told them: ‘I have some designs I want to show you.’ And the owners laughed at me. I told them: ‘You wouldn’t be laughing if you knew who I was.’ And they stopped laughing at me. Then they asked to see my work. They ended up buying all five of my moldings, and they told me to come back whenever I had something new.”
"I’ve been an electronics engineer for thirty years, but it’s my dream to live on a farm. It was my dad’s dream too, but he died before he could get out of the city. So I bought myself 40 acres out in Virginia. I’m about to hop on the Amtrak and head there now for a visit, but one day I’m going to move there for good. The property is a hippie’s dream. It’s got great energy. It’s ten miles from a small town, and right next to the Blue Ridge mountains. It’s partial wood, partial field. There’s a small farmhouse. I’m going to raise chickens, live stock, and have a greenhouse. Only nine more years until retirement."
"What’s your greatest weakness?"
"Procrastination."
“What has been your proudest accomplishment?”
“Surviving in America. I’ll be honest— I crossed the border about eight years ago. I had no job, no money, no place to live. I spoke zero English. I started as a dishwasher, then eventually got a job working behind the bar. I taught myself English. Now things are going pretty well. I want to open up my own coffee shop one day. I just want my son to have it easier than I did.”
“Were you scared when you were crossing the border?”
“No. I had nothing back then. And it’s hard to be scared when you have nothing to lose.”
Jesus was a homeless Palestinian anarchist who held protests at oppressive churches, advocated for universal health care and redistribution of wealth, before being arrested for terrorism, tortured and executed for crimes against the state, now go ahead and explain to me why he’d vote conservative. I’ll wait.
🐸☕
