Eyewitness to Michael Brown shooting recounts his friend’s death
Per MSNBC.com...
Dorian Johnson, 22, the closest witness to the shooting of Michael Brown on Saturday afternoon, spoke exclusively to MSNBC about the fatal police shooting that claimed his friend's life.
Also see additional coverage by Trymaine Lee at MSNBC.com.
If history is a good teacher, and it tends to be, there's something really fishy about a police department unwilling to talk with the other young brother that was involved in this encounter, and only closing doors and ranks around the officer involved.
Investigations are neither good nor bad. It's the integrity of the process, and the people involved, that determines whether it's a legitimate and trustworthy endeavor. Police departments are not independent and autonomous institutions. Officers are employees of the jurisdiction within which they work (and "serve"). Thus, the people within that jurisdiction have every right to be informed about the process as it unfolds.
It's very telling about the leadership in Ferguson, Missouri that the area has turned into something more akin to a "war zone" with the African American community under siege, than a space where a community can come together to achieve some truth and justice.
One is left to wonder whether there are any adults in leadership positions within Ferguson or the surrounding St. Louis area with an ounce of humanity, compassion and understanding.
For that matter, the same can be asked relative to the sheer absence of public outrage by whites about what's happened, and what continues to happen. That's telling as well.
As for those of us who care, we have to stay the course and bring justice to our families and community.
The Lived Reality and Injury of Racism: Past and Present Conditions that Justify Reparations
The following series of videos comes from yesterday's Melissa Harris-Perry Show on MSNBC.
The departure point for the discussion is the analysis presented in Ta-Nehisi Coates' article in The Atlantic, The Case for Reparations. It's certainly the case that every few years someone or organization picks up the microphone to continue the decades-long public discussion of reparations for the crimes and injuries inflicted on the African American community. In this latest article, Coates reviews the historical record to make the case once again.
One thing different about this analysis is that he's not focusing on slavery in making the case (although that is certainly the historical backdrop); he's primarily pointing out that the injuries of white racism directed against people of African ancestry in this country continued for decades after the end of slavery - and have largely been directed by or facilitated by federal government policy. These policies are directly responsible for the conditions we experience today - both as an African American community and as an entire nation.
The major point we need to keep in mind as we keep up the fight... "The underlying source of the problem is not poverty, it's racism!"
Black Males and the Politics of Philanthropy
Interesting and brief exchange with Damon Hewitt, Imani Perry and Jelani Cobb talking about the relative strengths and politics undergirding President Obama's newly announced My Brother's Keeper initiative.
Background
- About Oronde Miller
- Book Table of Contents
- Oronde’s Book: Facing The Rising Sun
- a black love music celebration
Subscribe Today
Follow on Twitter
My TweetsMost Recent Posts
- Happy Kwanzaa – Umoja – Unity December 26, 2018
- THE JOURNEY: “Between the World and Ta-Nehisi Coates” March 17, 2016
- Oprah and Detroit’s Own Shaka Senghor — Full Episode on Supersoul Sunday March 13, 2016
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Civil Rights and Apartheid South Africa – December 7, 1964 in London February 24, 2016
- The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution — TV Premier Tonight at 9 p.m. EST on PBS February 16, 2016
- Black Love, 2016 February 14, 2016
- Notes and Reflections on Mother Earth: Thich Nhat Hanh – Ancient Wisdom Lives January 8, 2016
- Turns Out Monkey Bars And Kickball Might Be Good For The Brain: Old Knowledge Always Returns January 7, 2016
- Professor John Henrik Clarke: A Life in Search of Africa, and Her People Throughout the World January 1, 2016
- Kwanzaa 2015 / IMANI – Faith January 1, 2016
- Kwanzaa 2015 / KUUMBA – Creativity December 31, 2015
- Kwanzaa 2015 / NIA – Purpose December 30, 2015
- Kwanzaa 2015 / UJAMAA – Cooperative Economics December 29, 2015
- Kwanzaa 2015 / UJIMA – Collective Work & Responsibility December 28, 2015
- Exemplar of Kujichagulia (Self-Determination): Professor John Henrik Clarke – A Great and Mighty Walk December 27, 2015
- Kwanzaa 2015 / KUJICHAGULIA – Self-Determination December 27, 2015
- Kwanzaa 2015 / UMOJA – Unity December 26, 2015
- Kwanzaa: Understanding the History and Context of a Community Celebration December 26, 2015
- Reflections on Malcolm X December 22, 2015
- Timely Speaking — James Baldwin, 1968: “I can conclude what white people think and feel from the state of their institutions…” December 14, 2015
Months in Review
Blogroll
- Ask a Woman Who Knows
- Colorlines.org – Listing of Colorlines Blogs
- Jaiya John / Soulwater Rising
- Kevin Powell's Blog
- Kirwan Institute – Staff Blogs
- Marian Wright Edelman's Child Watch Column
- National Coalition for Child Protection Reform
- New Black Man – Mark Anthony Neal
- Policy for Results Blog
- PolicyLink – EquityBlog
- Ta-Nehisi Coates
- The Hutchinson Report
Oronde’s Book…
