Advertisement

No Sanctuary - Why Black Churches are Still Under Attack


Like most Americans, I woke up last week to the news of another attack on a Black church. Nine people were shot to death during bible study in Charleston, South Carolina. This time, the alleged shooter is a 21-year-old white male who looks like he wouldn’t harm a fly. 

While the motives for the attacks are still unclear, and under investigation, early reports indicate that this was another hate crime. FBI statistics from 2013 show, of 3,407 single biased hate crime incidents, 66% were motivated by anti-black or African American bias.

Black churches have been under attack for hundreds of years, dating back to slavery. Be it bombings during the civil rights movement, or Black churches being set on fire, the Black church has been under perpetual attack since its inception. Why is a place that is supposed to be a sanctuary constantly under attack by people who want to exercise their racial hatred? How can people be that evil to go to a house of worship to murder and vandalize?

HIs Soul Wrapped in a Confederate Flag

At the bond hearing, grieving loved ones forgave Dylann Roof. This was reported as news, but it was so much more than that. It was the light embracing the darkness.

And white America absorbed this forgiveness through the eyes of the 21-year-old terrorist, who watched the proceedings on a video screen from his jail cell. Whatever he heard and felt is unknown, but beyond him, in the world he believed he was saving, something gave. The solidarity of whiteness — the quiet assumption of white supremacy — shuddered ever so slightly.

The flag, the flag . . .

The fate of this symbolic relic of the slave era is now the big story in the aftermath of Roof’s murder of nine African-Americans. He acted in such clear allegiance to the Confederate flag that politicians everywhere — even Republican presidential candidates — are demanding, or at least acquiescing to, its removal from public and official locations, such as in front of the South Carolina State House.

Not only that, “Walmart and Sears, two of the country’s largest retailers, will remove all Confederate flag merchandise from their stores,” CNN reported.

Why Democrats Can’t Win

The way our electoral process now stands, electronic voting machines guarantee a Republican victory in 2016.
   No matter what she does, Hillary Clinton—-or any other Democratic nominee—- cannot be elected without a fundamental change in the basic mechanics of how our votes are cast and counted.
   It is a profoundly disturbing reality that casts a long shadow over all that’s wrong with our electoral system, no matter who one favors for public office.
   Just 15 years after the theft of the 2000 election, the Democrats have finally begun to talk about voter rights and various methods to guarantee public access to the polls.
   But for a non-Republican to win the White House next year, two virtually impossible things must happen: the Democrat must win by absolutely indisputable margins far beyond simple majorities—-10% or more—- in the key states whose electronic tallies will swing the Electoral College.
   Or the nation must find and accept a way to guarantee a reliable vote count immune to electronic manipulation by those who control the voting apparatus in each state, meaning the governors and secretaries of state.

Why the TPP is Worse than Mystery Meat

 Remember the World Trade Organization, which slipped into the shadows after massive Seattle protests in 1999? The same day last week that Congress initially blocked the possibility of fast track approval for the TPP trade agreement, the House voted to overturn rules requiring country-of-origin labeling for meat. Those supporting the vote said they were responding to a World Trade Organization ruling, judging US country-of-origin labeling unfair competition with meat coming from foreign countries like Canada and Mexico, and therefore a violation. They said they had no choice for fear of triggering sanctions or lawsuits from countries exporting meat across our borders.

Public Didn't See Last Two World Wars Coming Either

Books about how World War I started, and to a lesser degree how World War II started, have tended in recent years to explain that these wars didn’t actually come as a surprise, because top government officials saw them coming for years. But these revised histories admit that the general public was pretty much clueless and shocked.

The fact is that anyone in the know or diligently seeking out the facts could see, in rough outline, the danger of World War I or World War II coming years ahead, just as one can see the threats of environmental collapse and World War III approaching now. But the general public lacked a decent understanding prior to the first two world wars and lacks it now on the looming dangers created by environmental destruction and aggressive flirtation with World War III.

What led to the first two world wars and allowed numerous wise observers to warn of them years ahead, even to warn of World War II immediately upon completion of the treaty that ended World War I? A number of factors ought to be obvious but are generally overlooked:

War, Murder and the American Way

He sat with them for an hour in prayer. Then he pulled his gun out and started shooting.

And today our national numbness is wrapped in a Confederate flag. The young man who killed nine members of Charleston’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church on Wednesday night was an old-school racist. “I have to do it,” Dylann Storm Roof is said to have explained. “You rape our women and you’re taking over our country. And you have to go.”

Roof’s roommate told ABC News the next day that he was “big into segregation and other stuff” and “he wanted to start a civil war.” And this is America, where we have the freedom to manifest our lethal fantasies.

A Fitting “Life Penalty” for the Charleston Murderer

The cries for the death of the Charleston murderer are already mounting.     But we can do better.     One would expect in this country that the government will seek to kill this twisted young man for his having shot nine wonderful people in the coldest possible blood.  It is beyond comprehension how someone—-anyone!—-could sit in a Bible discussion for as long as he did and then shoot those who had shown him such kindness.  One by one.  Stopping to reload.   We must truly question what kind of species we are to have spawned such a creature.   There is no doubting his motivation.  This murder was about race.   

So the first step in healing should be for the state of South Carolina to honor these victims by removing its Confederate flags. The Confederacy was an unmitigated hell-hole for African-Americans. There are no provinces in Germany that “preserve their legacy” with swastika banners, and there should be none in the US that should do so for the flag of Dixie.

As for this murderer, there may have been other motives in addition to racism. Maybe he wanted recognition. No doubt there were other deep psychological issues.

We told you Ginther was corrupt – now reform the system that created him

someone handing another person money

I’m shocked – shocked! – that our City Council President and leading mayoral candidate Andy Ginther is accused of taking bribes. His name is attached to the scandal involving former CEO of Redflex Karen L. Finley – provider of much-hated red-light traffic cameras – pleading guilty to bribery and fraud schemes.

Finley pled guilty to submitting payments based on false invoices to a consulting firm, which then laundered the money into elected public officials’ accounts – including Andy Ginther’s account. In classic corrupt quid pro quo, in exchange for the dough, Ginther granted Redflex a contract for red light cameras in our city.

No wonder he was able to raise so much money as Council President and as a mayoral candidate. Ginther’s method, like his mentor Mayor Michael Coleman – is that nearly every contract is an opportunity to shake someone down for money.

In this case, we’re glad to say, “We told you so.”

Two Way Race! Two Way Race!

Two men holding sign reading Raise the MInimum wage by amending the city charter

Today’s Columbus Dispatch reported that Ashley Wnek, the Republican candidate for the Unexpired Term Race for Columbus City Council will  not be actively campaigning and has “ no intention to campaign” according to Brad Sinnott chairman of the Franklin County Republican Party. If the FCDP does not find a candidate within the next 86 days, the contest for the Unexpired Term this November will result in a two-way race between Shannon Hardin and Write-In Independent candidate Joe Motil.

Adolescent angst brought to life in imaginative animated tale

The emotions (from left) Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Bill Hader), Joy (Amy Poehler), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Sadness (Phyllis Smith) represent the personality of the 11-year-old heroine in Inside Out (Disney/Pixar photo)

The movies have taken us to some fascinating places over the years, including the past, the future and a galaxy far, far away. With Inside Out, Disney and Pixar take us to the most unexpected place of all: an adolescent girl’s brain.

It’s an ingenious concept, and one that Pixar attacks with its usual blend of laughter, tears and glorious animation.

Riley (voiced by Kaitlyn Dias) is a cheerful girl living in Minnesota. We know she’s happy because we experience her childhood from the viewpoint of the five emotions who live inside her head and influence her every thought and action. Of the five, Joy (Amy Poehler) is the most dominant, easily keeping Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust at bay while Riley grows into a fun-loving, hockey-playing 11-year-old.

Then Dad (Kyle MacLachlan) uproots the family to take a job in San Francisco, and the girl’s contented existence starts to unravel. Not only is her new home dirty and run-down, but she misses her friends, and the neighborhood pizza joint serves only pies topped with her least-favorite vegetable: broccoli.

Pages

Subscribe to Freepress.org RSS