Million Man March 2015

The Revolution will NOT be Televised!!!!

Oh you thought they were playing? The 20th anniversary of the Million Man March took place in Washington DC over the weekend and received minimal coverage from the media!!! Yes you read that correctly. Aside from C-Span, it seems the media had better things to do than to show black people come together in peaceful union. Even more insulting, BET of all networks went to sleep on the event as well. Around the clock coverage for the riots in Ferguson, Baltimore and elsewhere but only one station, I saw, actually followed this peaceful event. Are you surprised? I hope not. As a matter of fact I hope this awakens you from your deep sleep as well.

Using the phrase, Justice or Else, was an awesome way to gain people's attention. However, I felt the lack luster speech Minister Louis Farrakhan gave didn't even touch on half the topics that needed to be discussed. There are far more important issues that black people are dealing with as a whole and as I listened I kept asking but what about this and what about that? Don't get me wrong, Farrakhan had some valid points and did an awesome job promoting unity and boosting moral as a whole but I had a hard time locating the revolutionary "or else" part of his speech. At times, rambling on, the 2 hour speech felt like he winged it a little in my opinion. Welp! I won't spoil it any further and go into anymore details. You can listen to the full speech below. You can also check out photos from the event below.

[Baltimore Under Fire] Looting and Fires Engulf the City in Wake of Freddie Gray's Death!

A very similar scene in Baltimore as that in Ferguson after the no indictment decision was made in the case of  Michael Brown. Here we are again, Freddie Gray, another black man dies in police custody.

According to CNN:

Gray was arrested on a weapons charge in a high-crime area of Baltimore known for drugs. He "gave up without the use of force," according to Baltimore Deputy Police Commissioner Jerry Rodriguez.
An officer apparently took his Taser out and was prepared to use it on Gray, but he never deployed it, Rodriguez said. And none of the six officers involved in the arrest describe using force against the 25-year-old.
Gray was placed inside a police van and was able to talk, said Rodriguez, who described Gray as upset.
Gray was taken into custody a week before he died of a spinal injury.
"And when Mr. Gray was taken out of that van, he could not talk, and he could not breathe," according to Rodriguez.
It's unknown what caused the spinal cord injury that led to his death a week after the arrest, and it's also unknown what, if anything, happened inside the van.

Court documents allege that Baltimore Police Department Officer Garrett Miller arrested Gray after finding a switchblade in his pocket. The Gray family attorney called the allegation a "sideshow." Gray was carrying a "pocket knife of legal size," attorney William Murphy told CNN.
Police never saw the knife and chased Gray only after he ran from them, the attorney said.
The court documents also say that Gray "fled unprovoked upon noticing police presence."
"The officer noticed a knife clipped to the inside of his front right pants pocket. The defendant was arrested without force or incident," the documents say. "The knife was recovered by this officer and found to be a spring-assisted, one-hand-operated knife."
Maryland law makes it illegal to "wear or carry a dangerous weapon of any kind" -- including switchblades -- "concealed on or about the person."
It's not clear that simply having a knife is a crime, said Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. "It is not necessarily probable cause to chase someone. So, we still have questions," she said.

Segments of cell phone video shot from two different positions appear to begin after Gray has been arrested and show officers dragging Gray, who is handcuffed, to a van. He can be heard screaming.
"He was dragged a bit," said Rawlings-Blake, "but then you see him using his legs to get into the van, so he was able-bodied when he was in the van. And we know that when he was finally taken out of the van, he was unresponsive."
Officers placed more restraints on Gray inside the van, police said, while surveillance video recorded him conscious and talking. That was at 8:54 a.m.
At 9:24 a.m., police called an ambulance for Gray. Police say Gray requested medical attention, including an inhaler, and an ambulance later took him to the University of Maryland Medical Center's Shock Trauma Center.
Baltimore's mayor, for one, thinks the arresting officers made "a mistake" by not requesting medical attention immediately after Gray asked for it.
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake thinks police made a mistake by not requesting medical help sooner.
What we don't know: It's unknown why Gray screamed, and the video doesn't capture the entire incident, start to end. It's unclear what happened between 8:54 a.m. and 9:24 a.m. And it's unclear why police didn't call for an ambulance sooner.

Freddie Gray was laid to rest and the city was turned upside down in protest and riots. People throwing bricks and rocks at the police and the police fighting back. So far several police officers have been injured and a State of Emergency has been declared for the city of Baltimore. Curfews have also been enforced.

Streets in Baltimore looked like a war zone Tuesday morning after a night of riots, fires and heartbreak.
"Too many people have spent generations building up this city for it to be destroyed by thugs who -- in a very senseless way -- are trying to tear down what so many have fought for," Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said.
Buildings and cars across the city were engulfed in flames. About a dozen businesses were looted or damaged. At least 15 officers were wounded, six of them seriously, the police commissioner said.
All this came just hours after the funeral for Freddie Gray, who died of a severe spinal cord injury while in police custody.
The destruction across Baltimore brought more agony to the grieving family.
"I want y'all to get justice for my son, but don't do it like this here," Gray's mother, Gloria Darden, pleaded Monday night.
Gray's twin sister, Fredericka, said the chaos was no way to honor her brother.
"I don't think that's for Freddie," she said. "I think the violence is wrong."
The destruction was so bad that children can't go to school Tuesday. Baltimore City Public Schools canceled classes for the day.

Here are a few pics of the aftermath. You can check the full gallery over at CNN! Please keep Baltimore in your prayers!!!!

 

Fuck your breath!!!! Says Cop to Eric Harris Moments Before His Death [Graphic Footage Inside]

Reserve Deputy Robert Bates said he intended to Taser Eric Harris, a black man who was running away from him during  a police sting operation. Instead, Officer Bates drew his gun and fatally shot him. Bates said "I shot him" then "I'm sorry"! As Eric Harris struggled to breathe another officer is heard saying “Fuck your breath...Shut the fuck up!”  Eric Harris, another unarmed black man, was dead an hour later at the hands of a police officer! 

NY Daily News Reports:

It was a mistake.
That’s the blasé explanation Oklahoma officials gave after the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by a white deputy who accidentally pulled his gun when he meant to use his Taser.
The botched encounter was captured on a disturbing video released by police on Friday — nine days after the fatal Tulsa shooting.
“He shot me! He shot me, man. Oh, my god. I’m losing my breath,” Eric Harris says as he struggles on the ground following the April 2 shooting, which flew under the radar until video emerged a week later.
“F--- your breath,” a callous officer can be heard saying. “Shut the f--- up!”
Reserve Deputy Robert Bates, 73, (below) shouted “Taser! Taser!” before pulling the trigger on his gun, firing a round into Harris.
“I shot him!” the former policeman says, dropping his gun. “I’m sorry.”
Bates was assisting other deputies who were trying to take Harris into custody after the felon fled from police during a sting operation, the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office’s said.

Robert Bates, 73, shot to death suspect Eric Harris in Oklahoma after pulling out his gun instead of his taser, authorities said.
“You shouldn’t have f-----g ran!” another deputy screams, as Harris is held down by his neck and head.
Harris, who was in his 40s, was pronounced dead about an hour after the shooting, authorities said.
He had bolted from officers who were trying to arrest him for selling a 9 mm. semiautomatic pistol and ammunition to undercover cops.
Harris, who was unarmed, had reportedly done time for assault and battery on an officer.
He was “absolutely a threat when going down,” Tulsa Police Sgt. Jim Clark said at a news conference.
Sheriff’s Capt. Billy McKelvey claims the arresting officers were not aware Harris had been shot, despite the gunshot noise and Bates’ admission. They called paramedics and firefighters, and rendered aid when they realized, McKelvey said.

Really? Fuck your breath tho? If that doesn't speak to you I don't know what will. #repulsive

Strange Fruit: Black Man Found Hanging from a Tree in Mississippi

So how sick is this? Like a page of out the 1960s in Mississippi a black man is hanging from a tree. 

If this isn't ridiculous I don't know what is? 

CNN Reports:

The hanging death of an African-American man who had been missing since early this month and was found Thursday by local authorities in Mississippi has drawn the scrutiny of the FBI and the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.
The sheriff's office in Claiborne County, Mississippi, had organized a search for the man, who had been missing since March 2 and was reported missing March 8. Authorities said the man's body was found with a bed sheet tied around his neck and a skull cap on his head, hanging from a tree. The man's hands were not tied up.
FBI Supervisory Special Agent Jason Pack said that it's unclear how the man died, and "it is too early to say what happened and speculate."
"We don't know what happened out there, if it is a suicide, a homicide, that is why we investigate these types of cases to determine exactly what happened," he told CNN affiliate WAPT.
Law enforcement believes that Otis Byrd is the man found hanging in Mississippi.
The FBI and Mississppi Bureau of Investigations have not released the man's name, but a law enforcement official said he's believed to be 54-year-old Otis Byrd, and both the Claiborne County chapter of the NAACP and family members have confirmed his identity.
The body was found hanging from a tree 500 yards southwest of a house belonging to Byrd's family.
According to a family member who did not want to be identified, Byrd was a "good, hard-working man" who had held various jobs, including on an oil rig, since his release from prison. The family member acknowledged that he served time in prison for murder, but said had been upstanding citizen since his release.
He was churchgoer who occasionally went to the casino, the family member said.
Claiborne County Sheriff Marvin Lucas said, however, that though the family believed it was Byrd, they hadn't been allowed near the crime scene.
The body of Otis Byrd was found 500 yards from a house belonging to his family.
The sheriff told CNN affiliate WAPT that he had instructed the Fish and Wildlife search and rescue team to search the part of the woods where the man was found, and "they found a deceased person."
"This is the first time I have witnessed anything like this in Claiborne County," he said.
According to the Mississippi Department of Corrections, Byrd was convicted in 1980 for murdering a woman. He was paroled in 2006.
At this point there are two parallel investigations: one by local authorities into the death, and one by the FBI into whether there may be any federal civil rights violations. The FBI has a forensics team on the scene in Mississippi in part because the bureau has responsibility for federal civil rights law.
The Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi are also investigating the death, according to a spokeswoman for the Justice Department.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is also on the scene, according to a statement from the FBI.
"Earlier in the day, the Claiborne County Sheriffs Department and the Mississippi Wildlife Fisheries and Parks conducted a ground search for a man who had been missing since early March. Officers located a man hanging in the woods near Roddy Road a half mile from his last known residence," according to the FBI statement.
"The sheriff's department contacted the MBI and FBI for forensic and investigative assistance. Investigators are currently processing the scene for evidence to determine the cause and manner of death​," according to the FBI.
The state NAACP is calling for a full investigation into the death.
"Considering Mr. Byrd's body was found hanging from a tree, we are calling on federal authorities to immediately investigate to determine whether his death is a result of a racial hate crime," stated Derrick Johnson, state president Mississippi NAACP.

Suicide or murder? Hmmm
Looking forward to these results.