The Black American Male Nightmare.

When the feminist poet Adrienne Rich died this week, the obituary of one of the most influential female writers of the last half-century described the goal of her life and her work as “the creation of a society without domination.”

The rest of the week’s news illustrated how far we have to go in achieving such a dream.   In Florida, when newly-released video showed that George Zimmerman was apparently unscathed after shooting Trayvon Martin despite his claim of being injured while defending himself against attack, the message was clear: whether their authority derives from a gun or the color of their skin, men will defend their right to control people they have traditionally dominated, even if they have to kill them in cold blood.

On the video, Zimmerman’s casual ease with the police who failed to arrest him conveyed an equally brutal message: when the effort to maintain domination ends in the murder of a youth armed only with a bag of Skittles, those in power will protect their own kind instead of holding them accountable

In New York, when a jury proved unable to reach a guilty verdict on rape charges against a drunken cop who committed a brutal sexual attack on a young woman while threatening to shoot her in the face if she cried out or opened her eyes, a comparable message was clear: men with badges and guns have the right to take what they want from women, no matter what the circumstances.

Read More http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/03/29/male-domination-persists-as-a-pervasive-reality-in-the-u-s-and-abroad.html?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews

Chicago Police Proves There's No Justice, Just Us.

A woman shot by an off-duty Chicago police officer on Wednesday morning died Thursday. Family members say she was an innocent bystander and are calling for an investigation into her death.

“How could this be justified? They took my sister away from me,” said Martinez Sutton, the brother of 22-year-old Rekia Boyd.

The suburban man is grieving the loss of his sister, who died Thursday at Mount Sinai Hospital after being shot in the head by an off-duty Chicago police officer.

Boyd and a man were both shot early Wednesday morning by an off-duty detective on the city’s West Side.





Read More http://rolandmartinreports.com/blog/2012/03/woman-shot-by-off-duty-chicago-police-officer-dies-video/

Teacher Tell Student To Read Blacker.

Fairfax County school administrators are investigating a student’s allegations of racially insensitive behavior by a veteran English teacher at George C. Marshall High School.

Ninth-grader Jordan Shumate said that during class this month, he was reading aloud a poem by acclaimed African American writer Langston Hughes when his teacher interrupted and directed him to read in a “blacker” style.


“She told me, ‘Blacker, Jordan — c’mon, blacker. I thought you were black,’ ” said Shumate, who is African American.

Shumate told his mother, Nicole Cober Page, about the incident Tuesday. She complained to school administrators.

“We take these allegations very seriously, and we’re investigating,” Principal Jay Pearson said Friday. He declined to provide further details.

Read More http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/fairfax-investigates-allegation-of-racially-insensitive-behavior-by-high-school-teacher/2012/03/15/gIQA6IyGHS_story.html?hpid=z5

Ron Paul Words Come Back To Bite Him In The Butt.

Ron Paul, well known as a physician, congressman and libertarian , has also been a businessman who pursued a marketing strategy that included publishing provocative, racially charged newsletters to make money and spread his ideas, according to three people with direct knowledge of Paul’s businesses.

The Republican presidential candidate has denied writing inflammatory passages in the pamphlets from the 1990s and said recently that he did not read them at the time or for years afterward. Numerous colleagues said he does not hold racist views.

But people close to Paul’s operations said he was deeply involved in the company that produced the newsletters, Ron Paul & Associates, and closely monitored its operations, signing off on articles and speaking to staff members virtually every day.

Read More http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ron-paul-signed-off-on-racist-newsletters-sources-say/2012/01/20/gIQAvblFVQ_story.html?tid=sm_twitter_washingtonpost