There was a time in New York City, when there was a great deal of negative
feeling toward Puerto Ricans, almost as much, but never quite as much, as
toward black people. That time was in the 1940's and in the 1950's. The
majority of kids in the high school I attended were Puerto Rican and black.
That's because I traveled to a school with a sight conservation resource room
and that school was not located in my neighborhood. It was located in
Manhattan. Things improved somewhat in terms of how people viewed Puerto Ricans
as time passed. It's possible that the formation and activities of the Young
Lords helped in that regard. When I was doing my adoption work, one of my
clients in the 80's, was a man who had been head of the organization in
Brooklyn. And the person who helped me with my windows computer for about 15
years, starting in 2000, had also been a Young Lord. He grew up in the Bronx.
Interestingly, neither of them ever sounded as angry or bitter as you do about
what they experienced while they were growing up. But then, neither of them
became blind. Aside from Carl, I've encountered almost no blind men who weren't
angry, including my husband. I suspect that there are good psychological
reasons for that.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Frank Ventura
Sent: Friday, August 28, 2020 1:24 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Police Told Right-Wing Kenosha Killer "We
Appreciate You" Just Before Deadly Shootings
I really seriously question any "statistics" about police violence. Who is
doing the counting? When the cops would beat up or kill someone in the projects
they just walk away and no official record of it is made. So any "statistics"
that are available are made up by the cops themselves and we know how honest
they are.
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Roger Loran Bailey
Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2020 10:20 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Police Told Right-Wing Kenosha Killer "We
Appreciate You" Just Before Deadly Shootings
I read so many articles that it is kind of hard to keep in mind where I read a
particular thing. But recently I read an article that included some statistics
about the racial and ethnic background of people who get shot by cops. I could
have read this on this very list, but I don't remember. The article
concentrated mostly on Chicago, but it mentioned statistics of the same thing
nationally too. I don't recall New York City being specifically mentioned, but
it may have been. Anyway, it said that the number of people who were shot were
pretty close for Blacks and whites, but given the proportion of each race in
the population and the proportion of each race that have encounters with the
police and the frequency of those encounters the rate at which Black people are
shot was tremendously greater than that of white people. There was also
discussion of other races and ethnicities. Hispanics were shot proportionally a
lot more than white people, but not quite at as high a rate as Black people.
Some Googling around might find the article or, if it doesn't, might find the
statistics. I don't care to do that right now because it is getting late and I
am still trying to catch up on email after spending most of yesterday afternoon
on the phone with a technical support guy about my AOL mail suddenly not
working with Thunderbird, but if you want to do the Googling you just might
find the exact figures.
___
Carl Sagan
“Every aspect of Nature reveals a deep mystery and touches our sense of wonder
and awe. Those afraid of the universe as it really is, those who pretend to
nonexistent knowledge and envision a Cosmos centered on human beings will
prefer the fleeting comforts of superstition. They avoid rather than confront
the world. But those with the courage to explore the weave and structure of the
Cosmos, even where it differs profoundly from their wishes and prejudices, will
penetrate its deepest mysteries.”
― Carl Sagan, Cosmos
On 8/27/2020 6:36 PM, Frank Ventura wrote:
Miriam, while you can read anything you want to read or listen to any podcast
you want to listen to, until you have lived it you just ain't lived it. It
doesn't surprise me that the media wants you to believe that blacks are
victimized by cops in higher numbers than Hispanics. The media in all its
forms (left, right, or indifferent) are there to protect the financial status
quo. Can you imagine if the media really reported how many Hispanics are
killed in NYC by cops each year? That would cause an almost instantaneous
response from the city's largest growing population segment that could
cripple the economy overnight. Blacks just don't have the population numbers.
The signs on the buildings and even the street signs in the neighborhood I
lived in were in Spanish, not creole. There really aren't a large population
of blacks compared to Hispanics in the Bronx. As I said previously, I think
we are talking about different eras when it comes to the NYC Police. Queens
and Brooklyn in the '50s and '60s is a very different experience than the
Bronx in the "70s and '80s. During the time I lived there I saw very few
white cops. Most of the few white cops that were there were all older
veterans. One thing that was true then and is still from what I have been
told from friends I still have there is that cops who get caught doing really
bad stuff like rape or murder are transferred to the Bronx to sweep the issue
under the table. The Bronx is by far the poorest borough. Most of the 2.1
million folks live at or below the poverty level. It is the borough that
almost has no media attention and the people have no voice now that there is
no more graffiti on the subway cars. If it weren't for the Yankees most folks
would never even know the Bronx exists. When the really bad cops get
transferred to precincts in the Bronx, they view that as some sort of
punishment and lash out by punishing the residents of the Bronx right back,
usually by shaking them down for money. When people can't pay, the violence
starts. It doesn't matter how light or dark your skin is, if you are poor in
the Bronx your chance of survival is low. The media's narrative that it a
white versus black thing is a clever means for the corporate elites to divide
and conquer. I know what you mean by joining the mob (not mafia) as a way
out. My mother never wanted that for me. In 1980 I witnessed the cops kill my
85 year old unarmed grandfather because my mother didn't have any money to
pay them, what we used to call the "dropsies" which is kiddie-slang for a
payment to the cops in poor neighborhoods. I knew that they could kill my
mother next if we didn't have more money for them. I used to go to school
crying every day because I knew I could come home and find her dead or maybe
just gone. A few years later I learned to steal cars from some of my
neighbors and I gave the money to my mother for the cops. She thought I was
cleaning bathrooms in gas stations, which of course, would not have paid
enough to keep her alive. I used to sell the cars to a chop shop at the end
of Zerega Avenue just past the old sanitation department depo. That is the
same sanitation department depot where every other Friday (pay day) my mother
used to hustle the garbage men to earn a few more bucks since her teacher pay
couldn't keep up with '70s era inflation and 5 mouths to feed. The cruel
irony is that the stolen car gig taught me enough technology skills to
advance high into the upper levels of the auto repair industry and a way out
that few folks would have. For both my mother and her parents, who lost
everything in the depression, they knew there was no means for them out of
the South Bronx in their lifetimes. However, they all found it in death as
they are all buried in St. Mary's cemetery in Flushing Queens and not in the
Bronx. Of course, they fared better than my younger sister, who disappeared
when I was 5 or my paternal grandfather who fell into a cement vat where he
worked in Jersey and is probably buried under some parking lot or building
foundation somewhere. None of this is easy to write about these days.
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Miriam Vieni
Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2020 2:12 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Police Told Right-Wing Kenosha Killer
"We Appreciate You" Just Before Deadly Shootings
Interesting. The news stories about New York City and cops and who gets
stopped and frisked and who gets killed, are rather different from what you
describe. From my work in adoptions, (I had a number of police officers and
retired police officers as clients), and my personal experiences, most of the
cops in the city are white, and they come from Long Island and Staten Island.
The husband of the woman who took me shopping in her car and did errands for
me for more than 20 years, was a NYC cop. He was Irish American and came from
Nassau County. My son-in-law's father was a NYC detective who lived in
Levittown. He was German American. These men and all their friends and
associates were white, not black or Latino or Chinese, although I know that
there certainly are black, Latino, and Asian NYC cops.
My husband was Italian American. He was blind from about 3 years of age and
he was 17 years older than I. He attended a residential school for the blind,
then Brooklyn College, and later, graduate school in Michigan. He told me
that if he hadn't been blind, he would have been a member of the Mafia
because that was the path to success for Italian kids when he was growing up.
His family was Sicilian. He had very fair skin.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Frank Ventura
Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2020 1:46 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Police Told Right-Wing Kenosha Killer
"We Appreciate You" Just Before Deadly Shootings
Miriam, the cops don't know I am white. I grew up in a neighborhood that is
greater than 90 percent Hispanic and I speak with an obvious heavy Hispanic
accent and even occasionally throw in a word or two is Spanish without
knowing it. My skin is very dark. If you were to encounter me without knowing
me you would either think Puerto Rican or Dominican, and yes cops in NYC kill
Hispanics too. Even after they would shoot me they would pull my wallet out
and see my last name is "Ventura" which is an Hispanic name. Do you think
they would do a DNA test before they shoot me? So I ask you how do you think
the cops would know that I was Italian? What you don't know that many times
during my 26 years of living in the Bronx I have been at gunpoint and when
questioned by cops I started to reply in English. That usually infuriated
them and several times they cut me off and told me not to speak "their"
language. From the '80s on there are really very few Irish or Italian cops In
NYC. The force is very representative of the cultural makeup of NYC; meaning
mostly Hispanic with some black, Asian and white members.
This indicates that a diverse police force doesn't cure the inherent racism
in policing, because no matter what race, color or creed you are before you
join the force as soon as you do your race now becomes not white nor black,
but blue; hence the racist mantra of "blue lives matter". As far as your
question about cops only killing black folks without provocation; was that
made in jest? If so I don't think it was funny. The majority of unarmed folks
killed by police are not black in NYC. The folks are killed in the same
makeup as the population with Hispanics being the largest group by far.
When I was growing up in the South Bronx neighborhood of Castle Hill, on my
block only myself and Ritchie Castro were the only two male kids to make it
out alive. Both of us knew from a very early age that when a cop car was on
the block we got face down on the pavement, spread eagle, and didn't even
flinch. We survived; however other kids who ran away or opened their mouths
weren't so lucky. Probably the closest call I had was when once I was pulling
my cab down the block after my sift. I pulled my cab into the alley next to
the building we lived. I didn't see the two plain clothes cops wo were back
there. That was unusual for me, I was usually pretty good at knowing when
they are coming. One of the two cops took two shots at my cab, one missed
entirely and the other went through the windshield and missed my head by an
inch or so. You speak about cops shooting folks while being "unprovoked" so
in that circumstance were they provoked or not? The first rule of dealing
with cops in NYC is that you *never* look at a cop or make eye contact. So I
looked at the cop; was he provoked? Let me ask you:
How many times have the NYC shot your relatives to death?
How many times have you had a gun up against your head?
How many times have you been face down on "their" pavement?
How many times has one of their bullets narrowly missed your head?
These are all serious questions and I am very interested in hearing your
answers..
Frank
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Miriam Vieni
Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2020 12:51 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Police Told Right-Wing Kenosha Killer
"We Appreciate You" Just Before Deadly Shootings
Frank,
But you are white. You're of Italian extraction, right? So why would they
police shoot you? A lot of police officers, especially here in New York, in
the city, are also of Italian extraction. It's only black people whom they
shoot without provocation, isn't it?
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Frank Ventura
Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2020 6:09 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Police Told Right-Wing Kenosha Killer
"We Appreciate You" Just Before Deadly Shootings
Well lets see if I walked in front of cops carrying a gun I don't think they
would shake my hand. I would die of a led overdose. This is going to sound
paranoid but for a long time I have felt if Trump doesn't win this November's
election he will call upon his right-wing militia buddies to use force to
keep him in office.
Frank
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Miriam Vieni
Sent: Wednesday, August 26, 2020 6:59 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Police Told Right-Wing Kenosha Killer "We
Appreciate You" Just Before Deadly Shootings
Police Told Right-Wing Kenosha Killer "We Appreciate You" Just Before Deadly
Shootings Coordination between police and far-right groups is far from
abnormal but as yesterday's killings show, it is becoming much more dangerous.
by Alan Macleod
August 26th, 2020
By Alan Macleod
Three people were shot and two died last night in Keshona, Wis, as right-wing
militias hit the streets, shooting demonstrators protesting the police
shooting of Jacob Blake on Sunday. After two nights of angry demonstrations,
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, who originally described the event as a
"merciless" act of police cruelty, called in the National Guard and declared
a state of emergency. However, along with the National Guard came large
numbers of right-wing militia groups, existing relatively harmoniously with
law enforcement. Far-right news organizations and websites had earlier signal
boosted the Kenosha Guard militia's call for reinforcements to come to
"protect lives and property."
Last night's killings were filmed and immediately posted on social media. In
one video, protesters fight with an armed militiaman, who fires at three
people at point blank range, killing two. He then hurries from the scene,
"repeating "I just killed someone," retreating back towards police lines,
still carrying his rifle. Even as the crowd shout to the police that the
killer is coming towards them, they ignore him, instead instructing the
protesters to get out of the way.
The shooter has been widely identified as a 17-year-old boy. From his public
Facebook page, it is clear that he idolizes the police, his profile picture
being a "Blue Lives Matter" logo with him in the center, holding a rifle.
Virtually every post he made is about either the police or guns. As of
Wednesday morning, he is still at large. Footage taken earlier in the night
shows the teenager bragging that he and his crew "don't have non-lethal"
ammunition with them.
Another video shows them fraternizing with heavily militarized police, who
offer them water and tell him "we appreciate you guys, we really do,"
evidence which might explain why he was neither shot nor even arrested after
killing two people right in front of dozens of law enforcement officers.
Speaking about the shooting, Lieutenant Governor of the State of Wisconsin,
Mandela Barnes said that "we can't even act surprised that this happened."
Barnes said that it had become normal to see heavily armed militia in
public, adding,
In many instances, these people have been led on by various conspiracy
theories that have ruminated on the internet, and these people are demanding
to have their country back. And to assume that nothing bad is going to
happen, to assume that these people are up to - or, have the most fine
intentions, is completely ridiculous."
Not an isolated incident
Coordination between police and far-right groups is far from abnormal.
During the George Floyd protests, Oregon police associated with groups such
as the Proud Boys, video showing one officer asking the group to hide in a
building because they were about to start gassing protesters, but to do it
"discreetly," as they did not want to be seen as "playing favorites."
Another Oregon officer was caught on camera flashing the "White Power" hand
gesture at right-wing counter demonstrators.
In June, a Seattle man drove his car at high speed into anti-racist
protesters, opening fire at the crowd. He then calmly leaves his vehicle and
walks over to police lines, where they shield him, turning their backs on the
armed killer to face the crowd. That they appeared totally unconcerned at
this is a sign of how confident they were that they were in no danger. As
activist news outlet It's Going Down noted, "Such a relationship allows the
police to use far-right groups as an auxiliary force against social
movements."
A study published last year by Injustice Watch found that 20 percent of
police officers nationwide have shared egregiously racist material or content
glorifying police violence against protesters on their public Facebook
accounts. This figure rises to 40 percent of retired cops. Rarely is any
action taken against officers sharing this content. On the other hand, a
Massachusetts officer was recently fired for sharing a pro-Black Lives Matter
social media post.
The shooting of Jacob Blake
The events of last night were sparked by an incident on Sunday, where an
unarmed black man, Jacob Blake, was shot from point blank range in the back
at least seven times by police officers, the shooting occurring in front of
his friends and children. Miraculously, Blake survived but is now paralyzed
after one bullet severed his spinal column. Blake's father, also called
Jacob, wept as he described the incident as "senseless attempted murder,"
and said he had no faith that the police officers involved would be held to
justice. The suspects are currently on administrative leave, a status which
amounts to a paid vacation.
The shooting was denounced by a great number of human and civil rights
groups. The American Civil Liberties Union, for instance, described it as a
"disgusting act of police brutality." "With each of the seven shots fired,
police made their intent clear-they believed they had the right to kill an
unarmed Black man for the crime of walking away from them," said Jeffery
Robinson, director of the ACLU's Trone Center for Justice and Equality.
Seeing as the teenage militiaman has not even been apprehended, it appears
far-right groups might also be able to kill with impunity in Trump's America.
Feature photo | Police in riot gear clear a park during clashes with