How My March On The Florida State Capital In 1980 and Amber Guyger Are Connected

 

 Amber Guyger

I recall marching on the state capital in Tallahassee, Fl when I was a student at Florida A&M University 39 years ago after a group of police officers were acquitted in the death of Black ex-Marine and salesman Arthur McDuffie, who they chased as he rode a motorcycle through the streets of Miami, Fl. It was December 1979 when McDuffie died from what the police said were injuries from a motorcycle crash.

During a trial that was moved to Tampa, Fl, a cop at the scene stated McDuffie was beaten to death with flashlights, fists and police batons by the officers that were chasing him. Testimony from a cooperating officer stated McDuffie’s motorcycle was ran over by a squad car to damage it so it appeared to have been in a crash. An all-White jury in Tampa acquitted the officers of all charges related to McDuffie’s death on May 17, 1980 and Miami exploded into riots that resulted in 18 deaths, hundreds of injuries and arrests. Over $100 million of damage occurred in Miami.

Blackphobia - Bluephobia - Police Race and Rage in America

Tallahassee, Fl is 483 miles and 0 miles from Miami, Fl because many students attending Florida A&M were from Miami. After the acquittal verdicts the campus and Black community was wound tight as a drum and ready to explode. Someone ran to each apartment door where I lived off-campus and knocked to let everyone know that the police officers got away with killing a Black man and a March on the capital was scheduled.

Florida A&M was a powder keg with a lit fuse. Bob Graham, the then Governor of Florida, came and gave a speech at Lee Hall, but was almost booed off stage.

Tempers cooled down with time and I left Florida A&M in December of 1980 having completed my 4 years course of study in Marketing. Some 39 years later I got to witness Amber Guyger, a White female police officer get convicted of murder for killing her neighbor while he sat in his apartment because she said she thought it was her own.

Has everything changed since the Miami riots, no, but Guyger is going to prison for what she did to Botham Jean.

Amber Guyger Killed Black Man - Mohammed Noor Killed White Woman

Amber Guyger                Mohammed Noor

White off-duty Dallas, TX policewoman, Amber Guyger, walked to an apartment door in the building where she lived, opened that door and shot a Black man, Botham Jean, who was the resident of the rental unit. Guyger said she thought she was at her own apartment and perceived Botham Jean as an intruder inside her home.

Black on-duty Minneapolis, MN policeman, Mohammed Noor, was sitting in his police cruiser with his partner while responding to a report of a possible sexual assault turned in by Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a White woman. Noor stated a loud noise startled him and his partner just before Damond approached the car window. Noor stated he saw Damond raise her arms, perceived her as a threat and shot her through the window of the car and killed her. Damond died outside her home.

The tale of two cops, one male and Black, and the other, female and White, come about as close as you can get to answering the question of would a Black male policeman killing an innocent White woman in her home get as light of a sentence as the 10 years Amber Guyger got for killing Botham Jean in his apartment while he was eating ice cream and watching a football game. Think about the contrast. Botham Jean was obviously shaken when someone stepped into his apartment unexpectedly and shot him shortly thereafter. Now imagine that you called the police about a possible sexual assault and walked out to meet your possible rescuers and one of them shot you through the squad car window. Two innocent civilians ended up dead at the hands of people sworn to protect and serve them. Race was a flashpoint in the trials of both Noor and Guyger, but from opposite ends of the racial spectrum. White outrage demanded Noor be held accountable for killing Damond and Black outrage and frustration demanded Guyger not get what was perceived as White privilege treatment in whatever conviction and sentence she ultimately received.

Blackphobia - Bluephobia

Both Noor and Guyger were found guilty of murder. Many Blacks felt Noor was found guilty due to his race as many White officers charged with unwarranted deaths of Blacks walked free. Many of all races were shocked that Guyger was found guilty of murder in-spite of her race and some Blacks felt a kind of vindication for all those times White police officers did not serve time after killing minorities even when it was caught on camera. Rejoicing over Guyger's murder conviction turned to rage in the Black community when the jury gave her a 10 year prison sentence and cries of White privilege rang out. Anger ensued when the judge in Noor's trial gave him a 12.5 year sentence that some in Black community thought was too harsh.

For those asking if a Black male police officer would have received a similar sentence as Amber Guyger need to take the case of Mohammed Noor into consideration. Noor received 2.5 years more in prison for killing a White woman who he was dispatched to protect and Amber Guyger got 10 years for killing her Black male neighbor that she said was a mistake due to thinking she was at her own apartment.

Were these cases of Black and White justice or shades of gray?

Are Whites Voting For Mitt Romney Because He’s White

Does it sound like a crazy question to ask if whites are voting for Mitt Romney because he is white? Why does that question sound more outlandish than the often spouted supposition that blacks are voting for President Obama because he is black? John Sununu, one of Mitt Romney’s top surrogates, recently said that Colin Powell was endorsing President Obama because they are of the same race.

Until 2008 the issue of why any voter was voting for any candidate for President due to a racial preference never came up because al of the candidates had all been of the same race.  Now in 2012 it appears that the same question from 2008 is back again. In 2008 96 percent of black voters voted for Barack Obama. In 2000 Al Gore got 91% of the black vote. It’s is not like African Americans just began to vote overwhelmingly for Democrats for President.



Could the problem lie in the signals towards the black community emanating from the Republican Party that drives up the voting percentages for their opponents? The list is long concerning various acts and statements over the last 4 years that would cause one to ponder if certain groups were viewed as equally deserving to have their hands on the reigns of government power as others. The first sitting President in history that felt compelled to release his birth certificate to quell a circus of distraction just happened to be the first President from a minority group in the United States.

It never crossed anyone’s mind to ask if whites voted for Presidents Reagan, Clinton or G. W. Bush because of their race because the Republicans still only pulled a small percentage African American support. It does not seem to be race, but policies that are driving certain voting blocks away from the Republican Party. If blacks were not voting in large numbers for Republicans before Obama ran for President, then why is the fact that they still are not voting for Republicans suddenly due to the race of the Democratic candidate for President. Not only have the Republicans alienated the black voting community, they seem to be working hard to do the same thing with the Latino community.

The charge that many that support President Barack Obama are doing so because he is black is an easy way for supporters of Mitt Romney to pave over the lack of substance, position changes and other issues with their candidates campaign. By placing the opposition to their candidate on something as basic as race gives many an easy out to avoid any real scrutiny of the effect that the policies endorsed by Romney would have if they actually went into effect.

Blackout – Black Unemployment Rate Rises As Overall Rate Falls

 Empty - Ghosts of The Middle Class

Sometimes statistics speak louder than shouts from rooftops. Cheers went up as the March 2011 jobless rate fell from 8.9% to 8.8%. Hold the celebrations unemployment rate for black increased from 15.3% to 15.5%, almost twice the 7.9% of whites.

What is going on in the face of celebrations surrounding the number of jobs being created and an unemployment rate that has dropped to 8.8% from 8.9% the month before, blacks seemed to be left off the party invitation list. Hispanics have little cause to be raising their glasses for a toast as well. The unemployment rate for Hispanics fell from 11.3% to 11.1%, but it is the unemployment rate among blacks that is totally disconnected and going against the tide.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics report lists the rates for blacks, whites, Hispanics and all other groups in the United States. Even inside the black community the pain is unevenly spread. Black women had a drop in their unemployment rate from 13% to 12.5% while black men went from 16.2% to 16.8%.  Let’s not gloss over the gap between black men and black women with a 4.3% more of an unemployment percentage among black men.

Let’s get away from percentages and get into how many people this represents. The tables state that 7,923,000 black women are employed compared to 6,758,000 black men. That means that 1,165,000 more black women have jobs than black men. On the flip side the number of unemployed black women is listed at 1,127,000 versus 1,361,000 black men. There is a quirk in the numbers that show fewer black women have jobs than before. The number of black women that were employed in February was 7,993,000 compared to 7,923,000 which are 70,000 fewer jobs and the jobless rate went down for black women. You may ask how fewer working black women mean a decreased in the unemployment rate, it is because so many gave up looking for work and were not counted in the numbers.

The participation rate for black women went from 63.1% to 62.1% and that caused the rate to decrease even though 70,000 fewer black women had jobs. Black men actually had an increase in the number holding jobs from 6,745,000 to 6,758,000 which is 13,000 more jobs and the jobless rate among black men went up because the participation rate went up from 68.2% to 68.7%. Simply speaking, more black men looked for jobs and the jobless rate went up due to math.

So, what is going on? Blacks don’t seem to be included in this slow recovery and what does it mean for the long term future of the black community. The unemployment rates reported are always lower than reality. What is the rate if part-time and underemployment are factored in. Where are the crisis level emergency outcries, because as we speak, decades of economic gains in the black community are being destroyed?