Sun-down towns still exist

Sundown towns, sometimes known as sunset towns, are all-white municipalities or neighborhoods in the United States that practice racism a form of segregation by enforcing restrictions excluding people of other races via some combination of racial, discriminatory local laws, intimidation, and violence.



Eventhough this clip is 30 years old these type of towns still exist today but not a lot of media coverage talks about it. Well, after Donald Trump won the presidential election many racist incidents were taking place all over America simultaneously. These attitudes persist in the present times.

From Maine to California, thousands of communities kept out African Americans (or sometimes Chinese Americans, Jewish Americans, etc.) by force, law, or custom. These communities are sometimes called "sundown towns" because some of them posted signs at their city limits reading, typically, "Nigger, Don't Let The Sun Go Down On You In ___." 

Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension
of American Racism by James W. Loewen

Some towns are still all white on purpose. Their chilling stories have been joined more recently by the many elite (and some not so elite) suburbs like Grosse Pointe, MI, or Edina, MN, that have excluded nonwhites by "kinder gentler means." When I began this research, I expected to find about 10 sundown towns in Illinois (my home state) and perhaps 50 across the country. Instead, James Loewen has found about 507 in Illinois alone and thousands across the United States. There is a book called Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of Segregation in America by James W. Loewen that details in a sweeping analysis of American suburban residential patterns of strict racial exclusion which was the norm in American towns and villages from sea to shining sea for much of the twentieth century.

The video below is from 2016 present day and still look at the mindset of hateful racists. Warning: explicit language.



Insolent Politics
Sources: Sundown.tougaloo.edu, EncyclopediaOfArkansas.net

When white men taunt & cuss at police daring to shoot

This is one of many, many reasons why America has failed and has fallen from being one of the best countries in the world to one of the most hated, abhorred, mocked and scorned especially with the recent 2016 presidential candidates like Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. The blatant attacks on police officers by white men happen almost everyday and the country turns a blind eye and does not report these incidents on major news networks while those same networks show the most heinous acts by police officers & white citizens shooting and killing UNARMED African American boys and men.

The following video is a traffic stop that goes wrong when Andrew H. Brannan pulled out an assault rifle and killed Deputy Kyle Dinkheller. Brannan left his vehicle and sarcastically prodded Dinkheller to shoot him, screamed that he was a “goddamn Vietnam combat veteran,” and then retrieved a rifle from his pickup truck, according to a police cruiser dashboard camera video later released. Brannan said he lost his temper with Laurens County Sheriff, Deputy Kyle Dinkheller, on Jan. 12, 1998, after driving 100 mph on a country road and getting pulled over by the officer.

The two men exchanged shots, with Brannan suffering one gunshot wound to the abdomen and Dinkheller getting hit nine times. The graphic video shows Dinkheller, a Laurens County deputy, screaming in terror and pain as Brannan closes in on him and kills him at point-blank range after reloading.




These type of incidents happened 16 years before the killing of Mike Brown Jr. The police officer on the scene was Deputy Dinkheller who was shot and killed after pulling over a man on a rural road about 6 miles north of Dublin, Georgia. During the traffic stop Dinkheller called for backup. Before backup arrived a white male shot Deputy Dinkheller with a M1 carbine rifle. The officer was able to return fire, striking the suspect in the stomach.

That's interesting how the suspect just went back to his truck, reached in to load his assault rifle with the police officer yelling at him to put the gun down. I'm not advocating violence but I think the Deputy should have not allowed the suspect to reach in the pickup truck. And I'm sure that Dinkheller had no idea what this madman had in mind to do but that's where the power of systemic privilege shows it awkward face.The deputy kept telling the man to "put the gun down" and no shots were fired at the suspect by the officer. Simply unbelievable right? Not if you are white in America. It is apparent that systemic privilege, class and racism is also to blame because if the suspect was african american the suspect would be dead on the spot with a dozen or more fatal bullet wounds. 12-year old Tamir Rice was a CHILD with a TOY GUN and was NOT told to "put the gun down!". Tamir was shot within two seconds after police arrival!

As a matter of fact, the white male suspect in the above video is told, what seems like 50 times, to "put the gun down". The white suspect even says “No” to the officer!
This video is an example of how certain groups of people in America have certain privileges and get away with it EVERYDAY with little to no consequence and because of this police officers lose their lives. This is why people hate America with its sick display of blatant racism, privilege and triple standards. Instead of shooting the suspect to wound him the suspect loaded rounds into an assault rifle and went after the deputy to kill him after the dangerous suspect was constantly told to "put the gun down" and the deputy paid for it with his life. Deputy Kyle Dinkheller gave Andrew Brannan several opportunities, more than necessary, to comply and put down the gun but this selfish Brannan guy took his privilege to the point of rage that led to murder.

Kyle Wayne Dinkheller was a deputy with the Laurens County Sheriff's
Office in the U.S. state of Georgia. After his death, he was named the 1998
Deputy Sheriff of the Year by the Georgia Sheriffs' Association.

Dinkheller's murder continues to get national attention (e.g., training in police academies) because the stop and shootout were captured on a personal video recorder Deputy Dinkheller had placed on his patrol car dashboard and activated when he stopped Brannan. Dinkheller was born on June 18, 1975 in San Diego, California. He graduated from California's Quartz Hill High School in 1993. He joined the Lauren's County Sheriff's Office as a jailer in March 1995 and became a certified peace officer with the State of Georgia in 1996. He was just 22 years old when he was murdered. Dinkheller is survived by his wife, Angela, and their children Ashley and Cody.
For the full description of the incident visit the article Officer down which is on the PoliceMarksman website.

There are hundreds of other incidents if not thousands of white suspects attacking and/or shooting at police officers and being treated with dignity and respect and not being murdered in cold blood. In fact, these white suspects were all armed with assault rifles or automatic handguns and are almost never killed on the spot but are brought down by tasers or bean bags which are non deadly ways to take down an armed suspect. Deputy Dinkheller fired back and tried to protect himself but the suspect's rifle was too powerful and Dinkheller was shot too many times to give good aim. But on the other side of things is the way that within two seconds of the police car’s arrival, Officer Loehmann shot Tamir Rice in the abdomen from point-blank range, raising doubts that he could have warned the boy three times to raise his hands, as the police later claimed.

Insolent Politics
Sources: Countercurrentnews.com, WashingtonPost.com, PoliceMarksmen.com

Racist imagery at Joe's Crab Shack in Roseville Minneapolis upsets two visiting patrons

Blatant racism, racist imagery and racially charged incidents are running rampant in America. Being that it is the 21st century it sure seems like the United States of America is moving backwards when it comes to race relations.

Lynching is the practice whereby a mob--usually several dozen or several hundred persons--takes the law into its own hands in order to injure and kill a person accused of some wrongdoing. The alleged offense can range from a serious crime like theft or murder to a mere violation of local customs or from false accusations. So how can a company such as Joe's Crab Shack publicly display such a heinous act in 2016? The answer... blatant racism and disrespect for African Americans. The U.S. is still divided on race, what a shame.

A mob of white americans smiling, grinning and enjoying
the lynchings of two black american young men. Notice the
man in the center pointing, he has a look of hate in his face.

America is a cultural melting pot where people from all walks of life should have an equal opportunity to good education, healthcare, living conditions and financial resources but that is only a dream for people of African descent who were born in the United States which is an unfortunate circumstance for the country and is the SOLE MAIN down fall of America. Celebrating and/or promoting the cruel death of a person by lynching because of the color of their skin is an inhumane and animalistic behavior that mentally sick human beings participate in.

Racial profiling example: Studies show that police are more likely to pull over and frisk blacks or Latinos than whites. In New York City, 80% of the stops made were blacks and Latinos, and 85% of those people were frisked, compared to a mere 8% of white people stopped (1). The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics concluded that an African American male born in 2001 has a 32% chance of going to jail in his lifetime, while a Latino male has a 17% chance, and a white male only has a 6% chance (2).

In Roseville Minneapolis a historical photo of a black man getting lynched was used as decoration on a table at Joe’s Crab Shack. After an offended patron posted it on social media, the restaurant released an apology.

Tyrone Williams of Minneapolis stated, “We just felt sick and confused, it was just sickening. It was disgusting." Mr. Williams and his friend Chauntyll Allen saw the photo embedded under laminate in their table. It seemed to capture an image of a public hanging of Richard Burleson in Texas. The sentence at the bottom of the photograph reads, "Hanging at Groesbeck, Texas on April 12th, 1895". The photo below was taken by Tyrone Williams.

In the top left corner of this pic is a picture of a black man
being lynched with a balloon caption saying, "All I said was
I don't like gumbo".

Chauntyll and Tyrone did not find the racist image amusing. After documenting the photo on their cell phones, they complained to management and left the restaurant without eating. Williams and Allen were joined by the NAACP in condemning Joe’s Crab Shack for allowing such imagery in their national chain of restaurants.

David G. Catalano has been the Chief
Operating Officer and Senior Vice President
of Ignite Restaurant Group, Inc., since
April 17, 2015.

David Catalano, Chief Operating Officer of Ignite Restaurant Group, released a statement to Fox 9 on Thursday apologizing for the "unacceptable" photo: "We take this matter very seriously, and the photo in question was immediately removed. We sincerely apologize to our guests who were disturbed by the image and we look forward to continuing to serve the Roseville community."

I respect the decision of David Catalano to not only remove racist imagery from that one franchise in Roseville but to remove all racist imagery from all of the Joe's Crab Shack's across America.

The City of Roseville issued a statement saying, "The City of Roseville was shocked and saddened to learn of the racist imagery being openly displayed at the Roseville location of national restaurant chain Joe’s Crab Shack. The city condemns this type of display in the strongest possible terms and calls on Joe’s Crab Shack to remove any and all racist imagery not only from its Roseville location, but all of its restaurants nationwide.

Insolent Politics

Sources: Fox9, CNBC, CivilRights.org, Bureau of Justice Statistics

(1) - 2 U.S. Department of Justice. "The Reality of Racial Profiling." The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Accessed March 1, 2014, http://www.civilrights.org/publications/reports/racial-profiling2011/the-reality-of-racial.html. 

(2) - Bonczar, Thomas P., and Allen J. Beck, Ph.D.. "Lifetime Likelihood of Going to State or Federal Prison." Bureau of Justice Statistics. Accessed March 1, 2014. http://bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/Llgsfp.pdf.

Unarmed Black Teen Shot to Death by White Homeowner

The death of Renisha McBride, a 19-year-old African-American woman, occurred on November 2, 2013, in Dearborn Heights, Michigan. Renisha McBride had crashed her car and then walked to a neighborhood in Dearborn Heights where she knocked on the door of a house. The homeowner, Theodore Wafer, shot McBride with a shotgun. Wafer contended that the shooting was accidental and that he thought his home was being broken into after he heard her banging on his door at 4:42 in the morning. Renisha's family believes she was knocking on his door for help. An autopsy found that she died of a single gunshot wound to the face.

19-year Renisha McBride was fatally shot in the back of
the head when knocking on a homeowner's door seeking help.

Defense attorney Cheryl Carpenter reminded the judge that this was not a premeditated murder. A recording of the 911 call Wafer placed after the shooting offered no clarity as to why he shot McBride.

“Uh, yes.... I just shot somebody on my front porch with a shotgun, banging on my door,” he said. He then gave his address, and, sounding a little confused, thanked the dispatcher and hung up.
Wafer lived in Dearborn Heights, a middle-class, predominantly white suburb west of Detroit. He testified during the trial that crime was rising in his neighborhood and said he “didn’t want to cower” in his own home. Tensions between neighboring towns and counties and the city of Detroit have been running high for as long as the city has struggled economically.

Prosecutors had recommended a sentence of 17 years in Wafer’s case. He was found guilty of second-degree murder, which carries a minimum sentence of 15 years, and two additional years were sought because a gun was involved.
Insolent Politics

Sources: The Huffington Post, The L.A. Times  

Dr. Larycia Hawkins leaving Wheaton College after Islam-Christianity comments

A U.S. college professor who wore a headscarf in solidarity with Muslims is leaving the Christian college where she taught, after a dispute over comments she made linking Islam and Christianity. Wheaton College is where she attended and associate professor, Larycia Hawkins, issued a joint statement saying they are parting ways after reaching a "confidential agreement."
I wonder why the meeting was so confidential?

Dr. Larycia Hawkins wearing a hijab in solidarity of
Muslims worldwide because we "worship the same God".

The Statement said both parties had a commitment to respectful dialogue with people of other faiths or no faith and those who are marginalized because of their religious beliefs.

Really? In my humble opinion it sure sounds like Dr. Larycia was trying to bring people of different religious beliefs together to make for a better overall American experience of freedom of religion. What's wrong with trying to make the the world a better place to live.

This midwestern college in the state of Illinois called Wheaton College, is taking steps to fire a professor who linked Islam to Christianity. In a December 10 Facebook posting, Hawkins, who is a Christian, said she stands in solidarity with Muslims because they "are people of the book" and "worship the same God." The administration at Wheaton College, which is a Christian evangelical university, has recommended associate professor, Larycia Hawkins, lose her tenured-track position.

There is a very informative blog called, The Gospel Coalition, that goes in depth about the whole debate about Christians and Muslims worshiping the same God according to the bible.

Wheaton College says Hawkins' comments violate the school's 'Statement of Faith' which all faculty members are obligated to sign. Hawkins also announced she would wear the hijab (Muslim head covering) in an effort to show solidarity for Muslims who have been under scrutiny since mass shootings in Paris and San Bernardino, California.

Not only is Larycia making a stand for solidarity with Muslims worldwide, she is also a pioneer and is a part of history in the making. Miss Hawkins broke down stereotypical barriers by being the first female African-American tenured professor at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. Wow, not that is saying something for someone who is using her platform to do the work of Jesus Christ.

Wheaton College Provost, Stanton Jones, issued an apology to Dr. Larycia Hawkins — the professor who had been put on administrative leave following comments that Christians and Muslims worship the 'same God' — the college and Hawkins released a joint statement announcing that they will part ways. - Read the statement.
Insolent Politics

Insolent Politics
Sources: Voice of America,  Urban Christian News

Kyle Lydell Canty, 30, crossed into Canada in early September of 2015, telling border agents that he was here to visit and take photographs, but once in Vancouver he decided he would apply to remain as a refugee.

“I’m in fear of my life because I’m black,” he told IRB (Immigration Review Board) member Ron Yamauchi in a hearing on October 23rd in Vancouver. “This is a well-founded fear.”

Canty argues that black people are “being exterminated at an alarming rate” in the U.S. and included examples such as the shooting of Michael Brown in Missouri and the death of Eric Garner in New York City at the hands of police.

Kyle Lydell Canty, 30, is seeking refugee status in Canada.

 As part of evidence submitted to the board, Canty edited together multiple point-of-view videos of his interaction with police, including one where he was arrested for trespass in Salem, Oregon, when he spent two hours talking on the phone and using free Wi-Fi at a bus station.

“I got bothered because I’m black,” he said. “This is a history of false arrest. My name is ruined because of the false arrest.”

In 2008, Denise Harvey was convicted of having unlawful sex with a minor. According to American media reports, the boy was 16-years-old and played on her son’s baseball team. As a Florida sex offender, Denise claimed asylum in Saskatchewan Canada and has been granted protected person status. Say what? She was granted protection person status and she was not in any danger for her life?

Denise Harvey, a registered sex offender in Florida, has been
granted protected person status in Canada.

Harvey fled to Canada in 2010 before she could be sent to prison. She was sentenced to 30 years in jail and is still wanted in the United States. Denise Harvey claimed her sentence was cruel and unusual punishment and after arriving in Saskatchewan, she asked for asylum. Her request for protected person status was heard by the Immigration Review Board (IRB) in July of 2012 and the IRB granted her request because it agreed her sentence was indeed cruel and unusual punishment and the crime she was convicted of is not a crime in Canada. So, is Canada insinuating that an adult having sex with a minor is okay in in their country? 

To sum it up, I'm just a little vexed that Denise Harvey was granted  protection person status and Lyle Canty is having such a hard time getting granted that same status when his life is in danger? Another example of insolent politics.

Insolent Politics

Sources: CBC.CA, Huffington Post

African Dodger, a game also known as Hit the Nigger

It's no wonder why America is still divided on the issue of race. All throughout the 1800's and the first half of the 1900's there were blatant racist carnival games that highlighted and exploited white people's hostility toward blacks. White Americans made their aggression and violence seem normal and legitimate.

Games like The African Dodger, also known as Hit the Nigger Baby or Hit the Coon, which used actual human targets, were commonplace in local fairs, carnivals, and circuses. Sometimes a picture or model of an African American was used instead, but the message was clear -- unprovoked evil violent aggression toward blacks was the social norm.

1911 photo of racists people playing a disgraceful game at a carnival. 

In 1911, some carnivals ushered in a new game for the "progressive era" called the African Dip, the precursor to the dunk tank. The game was "arranged that every time a baseball hits the target a colored man, seated upon a bar, is thrown into a large pool of water. It's said to be lots of fun..." ("It's Called", 1911). This new game didn't entirely replace the African Dodger. Versions of the original African Dodger were still found in the 1950s. Some carnivals and fairs decided to use targets that resembled African Americans instead of using real people. Promoters sold entire family doll racks that were used as targets at Amusement parks (A. J. Smith Mfg. Co., 1914). The development of Amusement parks in permanent locations increased the popularity of the African Dip game because it was hard to travel with the African Dip dunk tank. Riverview Amusement park in Chicago Illinois, was well known for their popular African Dip attraction, which was a staple there until the late 1950s.

Fast forward to the 2000's and the police use black teenage boys and men as human moving targets.
Insolent Politics
Source:  Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorablilia

#AmeriCAN: A short film with an uncanny twist at the end that will make one think twice

This is a short film that has an unexpected and uncanny twist at the end that provokes a sense of desolation of a country divided on racial lines. #AmeriCAN is a short film and public service announcement that comes in response to events that have divided Amerikkka over racial lines. The intention of the message, "all lives matter," is to pull people together from both sides of the racial divide and  inspire the kind of empathy and mutual understanding necessary to promote meaningful discourse and domestic reconciliation. The goal is to bring all people together, without exeption to race, religion, gender or age and sends the message that all blood flows red.


Nate Parker - Director/Writer
James Lopez - Producer/Story by
Kay Madsen - Director of Photography
Valerie Bleth Sharp - Producer
Mo McRae - Producer/Actor
Hernany Perla - Producer

Featuring La La Anthony, Andre Royo, Affion Crockett, Brian White, Omar Benson Miller and David Franzoni.
Song by J. Cole - "Be Free".

NYPD Arrested Black Teen for Buying $350 Belt

A young black man is suing both the NYPD and Barneys for wondering how in the world he could afford a $350 product, then harassing and arresting him. Trayon Christian, who was 18 at the time, bought a Ferragamo belt he'd been wanting from the department store after receiving a paycheck from his work-study job. "I wanted to go to Fifth Avenue, I knew exactly what I wanted," he told the Daily News. But on his way out, he was handcuffed. Two undercover detectives accused Christian of using a forged debit card after being alerted by the salesperson. Even after Christian showed identification, he was taken to the police station and held for two hours before being released with an apology.  Really?? This is what America has stooped to and become.

The video below shows just how this country of America is still divided strictly on the bases of race. Since when in the hell does a retail salesperson have the authority and audacity to call the police of an unsuspecting individual buying an expensive  article of clothing?

 

By the way, the female commentator, in my humble opinion, proved she is just as racist as the sales associate who called the police by trying to judge a young African American male about his decision to buy a belt for $350 at Barney’s. The young man worked legally for his money and can spend it anyway he chooses. Anyone who earns their wages legally can spend their own hard-earned money on whatever they want! That’s not the argument. I’m pretty sure the female commentator has spent well over $350 on a purse or a pair of high heel shoes or a dress or on some other article of clothing. Certain people always try to switch the argument around to something else when they are in the wrong. Insolent Politics.

Racism in this country of America has to be dealt with because the country has already fallen. Not fallen in a sense of war torn areas that are physically bombed and destroyed but in a sense that there are no more morals and values that the children can look up to and follow in a positive manner. The economy has crashed several times and the value of the dollar is steadily declining. 
We live in a country and a society where the criminal justice system treat groups of people differently based on race and punishes them unequally which has a negative impact in that same society.

In a recent article in the Huffington Post there was an article written by former Attorney General Eric Holder, www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/17/eric-holder-racism-speech, which says that systemic subtle racism is much more damaging than public rants. “Racist rants are much less of a threat to equality than the more subtle, everyday racism of the criminal justice system,” Eric Holder said at a commencement speech at Morgan State University, a historically black college in Baltimore.

He goes on to further say, “For instance, in our criminal justice system, systemic and unwarranted racial disparities remain disturbingly common. One study released last year by the U.S. Sentencing Commission indicated that in recent years, African-American men have received sentences that are nearly 20 percent longer than those imposed on white males convicted of similar crimes. Another report showed that American Indians are often sentenced even more harshly. The Justice Department is examining these and other disparities as we speak and taking a variety of steps to ensure fair sentences that match the conduct at issue in individual cases. Like a growing chorus of lawmakers across the political spectrum, we recognize that disparate outcomes are not only shameful and unacceptable -- they impede our ability to see that justice is done. And they perpetuate cycles of poverty, crime, and incarceration that trap individuals, destroy communities and decimate minority neighborhoods.” Insolent Politics.

 

Sources: HuffingtonPost.com,  TYT Network, Associated Press