During the night of November 23, 2014, protesters , including supporters of #BlackLivesMatter, held a protest outside of the Minneapolis, Minnesota Fourth precinct police office in northern Minneapolis. Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) has learned that the Minneapolis terrorist attack, which happened around 10:40 PM, is reportedly by White Supremacist terrorists who wore masks and taunted the protesters. The Minneapolis Black Lives Matter Twitter site reports ” All 5 are in stable condition.” It also reported: “This was terrorism. White supremacist terrorism. The most common on the planet.”
Black Lives Matter Minneapolis Twitter Comments After Minneapolis White Supremacist Terrorist Attack
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports: “Miski Noor, a media contact for Black Lives Matter, said ‘a group of white supremacists showed up at the protest, as they have done most nights.’ One of the three counterdemonstrators wore a mask, said Dana Jaehnert, who had been at the protest site since early evening.” Other reports state the terrorists wore bullet proof vests. MPRNews reports “Three victims were taken to a hospital in a private vehicle, and two were transported by ambulance.” The Minneapolis Star Tribune states from a police source that the injuries to the protesters are not “life-threatening.”
Facts on the terrorist attack are still being gathered. R.E.A.L. will summarize some major comments being made by reported witnesses on Twitter. After the terrorist attack in the alley near the police station, witnesses state it took 15 to 20 minutes for a police response. Other witnesses described the terrorists as “Suspect info: Two middle aged WM, 5’10”, bullet proof vests on, 1 red sweatshirt.” Another witness claimed: “Police maced the crowd to move them back.” Another witness stated: “I called 911 and was put on hold for 5 mins I am in shock numb.” Another witness stated “Cops standing around instead of looking for the white supremacists who shot ppl tonight.” Other witnesses state the police should have had better opportunities to catch the terrorist suspects.
Minneapolis – Witnesses Being Interviewed After Terrorist Attack (LiveStream Video Snapshot)
Another protester claims to have video of four terrorists (not three) who were together, as shown in this blurred snapshot:
Witness Claims that Individuals included Terror Suspects (Source: Twitter)
WCCO reports that “A community concert is scheduled for 5 p.m. Tuesday that protesters hope will promote healing and unity.” The Jamar Clark family calls for end of “occupation” protests, saying it’s concerned about safety of protesters. WCCO reports that “Clark’s brother Eddie Sutton released a statement following the incident, calling for an end to the precinct protests. ‘[I]n light of tonight’s shootings, the family feels out of imminent concern for the safety of the occupiers, we must get the occupation of the 4th Precinct ended and onto a next step.”
Summary of Scenes before and after the Minneapolis Terrorist Attack on November 23, 2015
R.E.A.L shares the following reported witnesses LiveStream video accounts from the scene of the Minneapolis terrorist attack. One witness in one of the video reports states that one of the terrorist was wearing the same ski mask as police, possibly to blend in. The videos from the witnesses provide shocking details of the terrorist attack on the protesters:
The protests were in front of the Fourth Precinct Minneapolis Police Station, over the November 15, 2015 shooting death of African-American Jamar Clark. The protesters have stated that the police shooting happened while Jamar Clark was restrained; police spokespersons have said there was a struggle. A video of the event surfaced, but the Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton stated video was “inconclusive.” The U.S. Department of Justice announced on November 22, 2015, that it was going to conduct an investigation into Jamar Clark’s death. Prior to the terrorist attack, Jamar Clark’s funeral was opened to the public and was to be performed on Wednesday November 25. Under the circumstances, R.E.A.L. is not going to share the location of Jamar Clark’s funeral in this report, which was reported in previous press accounts.
Protestors fly an American Flag with the Black Lives Matter written on it at demonstration at the Minneapolis Police Departments 4th precinct building on Plymouth Avenue in North Minneapolis on Thursday, November 19, 2015. (Pioneer Press: John Autey)
On November 22, CNN also released a report on the Minneapolis protests, indicating concerns from protesters and witnesses that stated Jamar Clark was in handcuffs when he was shot. CNN also reported on violence by some protesters frustrated with the pace of the investigation. Based on R.E.A.L.’s investigation, Black Lives Matters supporters have not condoned any violence by protesters. The Minneapolis stated they were frustrated with the presence and threat of protesters.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) is and always will challenge anti-human rights terrorist activity from any identity group and any ideology that seeks such rejection of our shared universal human rights.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) is urging those on Social Media to show our shared outrage and rejection today for the terrorist attack on the Black Lives Matter protesters by using the Black Lives Matter icon today on your Twitter and/or Facebook icon – let those attacked by terrorists know that they are not alone, and let the white supremacist terrorists know that their cowardly terrorist attack is rejected by all of us.
As always, we urge our fellow Americans and all of our fellow human beings to respect and defend our universal human rights, dignity, and security – and to be…. Responsible for Equality And Liberty.
The Minneapolis police have made a public statement that they have arrested a 23 year old white male in the Chicago, Illinois suburb of Bloomington.
In addition, the Black Lives Matter group in Minneapolis has obtained a video of masked, white individuals brandishing a pistol, which they believe are associated with the November 23, 2015 terrorist attack on the Black Lives Matter protest. On the video, the white supremacists called themselves names such as: “SaigaMarine” and “BlackPowderRanger.”
Screenshot from Livestream by White Supremacist Terrorist video recorded in Minneapolis (Source: Livestream, BlackLivesMatter Minneapolis Facebook)Screenshot from Livestream by White Supremacist Terrorist video in Minneapolis (Source: Livestream, BlackLivesMatter Minneapolis Facebook)
The group reports: “[a]fter community members on livestream started questioning them they left without incident, then we later found a video of them en route to the protest brandishing a pistol and making comments including ‘stay white’ and justifying the killing of Jamar Clark. It has come to our attention that members of this group plan on returning tonight to our candlelight vigil at 4:30, some may come armed. They say they will be wearing the “4 of clubs” to identify one another, so watch for this badge or patch on their clothing.”
R.E.A.L. has provided a link to this video for your human rights and security awareness. The white supremacists urged their viewers to “stay white” and brandished a pistol in their plans to “make the fire rise,” and see what the protesters were doing, calling them a racial slur. According to Black Lives Matter Minneapolis, information has become available at an Internet Link, in a series of emails which a group believed to be the terrorists, discussed their plans to disrupt the protest in an email trail called “Chimpout Friday Night,” which may provide information to identify members of the white supremacists terrorist group.
R.E.A.L. has also obtained still image from other videos which the white supremacist Minneapolis protest disrupters, apparently meeting on 4Chan, have promotedthrough their white supremacist friends on the Stormfront hate group. The individuals look like the same people, one of which calls himself “/k/”.
4Chan-Based Minneapolis Protest Disruptors in Another YouTube Video (Source: YouTube) – November 20, 2015 – Still # 14Chan-Based Minneapolis Protest Disruptors in Another YouTube Video (Source: YouTube) – November 20, 2015 – Still # 2White Supremacist Disrupters – November 21 Protests – once again he slips and shows his face (Source: YouTube)But in this video, the white supremacist slips up again, and allows a reflection to come onto the video in the upper right hand corner – you can see the Red Hat he was wearing (Source: YouTube)
The white supremacists have been posting videos of disrupting protests under the screenname “NeatoBurrito Productions,” with the goal to disrupt the Minneapolis protests. They show videos of themselves disrupting protests on November 20, November 21, and November 22. The white supremacists are still at large as of 1 PM today, because they posted a new video of the November 23 disruption. In that video, they show their video up to a point, where they stop and put the words “Shots Fired,” and then replace the rest of the video with Russia Today (RT) stock footage. They like to use the phrase “The Fire Rises.”
White Supremacist Disruptors Video – Stops on November 23, 2015 Terrorist Attack at Confrontation by Fence (YouTube Screenshot)
Based on this Internet Link, we can readily determine that elsewhere, one of the individuals named in the email identifies themselves as being from St. Paul, Minnesota. Another individual named in the email train also is in St. Paul, Minnesota, and has a Facebook page with the Confederate flag. Another individual refers to themselves as “mnchimpout” and as “mnchimpout2,” and told his followers that his plan was to blend in with a crowd of protesters.
Other Internet postings by “mnchimpout” also suggest anger regarding Somalian immigrants in Minnesota.
On the Facebook Web Page of one of the names listed in the email purportedly from terrorist suspects – R.E.A.L. rejects the Confederate Flag as a symbol of hate
Stormfront Hate Group Promoted the Activities of White Supremacists on 4Chan and Urged Stormfront Members to Join (Stormfront Screenshot)
Stormfront White Supremacist Group Refers to YouTube Site Where 4Chan-Based White Supremacist Promoted Their Videos (Source: Stormfront Screenshot)
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) is contacting the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, today, and urging the U.S. DoJ to work with federal law enforcement authorities to ensure protection of the protesters’ Constitutional and Civil Rights, in view of this continuing terrorist threat.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) promotes the universal human rights of all people, including those we disagree with, and whose ideological views we reject. We can disagree with and reject extremist views and anti-human rights views, while not sinking to a level of extremism and hatred ourselves. While we have had our own bitter experience being attacked by such extremist groups, we do not believe the answer to hate is more hate.
We do not have to silently and passively “tolerate” extremist views, and we can defiantly use our freedoms and our free speech to disagree with and reject such extremist and hate views. This includes, of course, the most aggressive enemies of human rights and of R.E.A.L. in particular. We have long been a target of white supremacist and other extremist hate groups, both organizationally and individually. We understand the frustration and the desire to undermine such groups arguments and their activism in spreading hatred. We have stood many times, and will stand many times again in defiance of such views.
But defiance of views we reject is not hatred. Even those whose views we reject are still our brothers and sisters in humanity. Perhaps it is understandably difficult for us to “love” those who “hate” us. Yet when we respond to hate with hate of our own, we are giving strength and courage to the enemies of human rights, not undermining and defying their objectives.
So we will not be reporting on or discussing the efforts by the extremist group Anonymous to “hack” the computers and systems of the enemies of human rights. We understand the frustration of such individuals in their frustrated belief that the enemies of human rights can act with impunity.
Anonymous is wrong. The enemies of human rights have never acted with impunity, and there have been those who have stood up to them and will continue to stand up to them – no matter who they are or where they promote racial and extremist hatred. The slogan on Anonymous is “EVILdoneEVILdo.” At R.E.A.L., we will Fear No Evil, and we have the ethics that two wrongs do not make a right.
We at R.E.A.L. have found that the public statements of the enemies of human rights speak volumes as to the challenge that they present. We don’t have to “hack” their computers or reveal “hidden secrets,” because the racist and extremist views that these groups and individuals have are publicly known. If we only challenged such publicly known racist and extremist views, we could find ourselves busy every hour of every day.
Yet the hacker group Anonymous feels the need to break into these extremists’ Twitter accounts, computer networks, etc. and “reveal” their true identities, personal information, family information, telephone numbers, vehicle information, and other information which is totally unnecessary to reject anti-human rights views. Of what human rights value is it to reveal alleged extremists’ telephone numbers, vehicle information, personal addresses, and names and details of family members (which may be totally innocent of the anti-human rights views of such extremists)?
In fact, R.E.A.L. has been the target of such hacker attacks from white supremacists and other groups. They have gone after personal information on our families, addresses, telephone numbers. They did so because we DARED to defy their white supremacist and extremist views.
White supremacist and other extremist hackers didn’t and won’t STOP US FROM DEFENDING HUMAN RIGHTS. Their death threats didn’t and they won’t silence our free speech to defend the universal human rights for all people.
So we know the similarly wrong tactics of Anonymous will not stop those whose hatred of human rights will just be fueled by these hacker attacks.
When R.E.A.L. sees the hacker group Anonymous doing the same thing, all this demonstrates to us is that they are just as willing to use such irresponsible tactics as those who are the enemies of human rights. As we have said then, and we say again – we are not afraid – we will defend the universal human rights of our fellow human beings with real courage.
Anonymous does not help the ongoing cause of fighting for human rights this way. Anonymous only undermines the good work that those who challenge racists and extremist groups are doing to show that anti-human rights views and values have no place in democracy which values human rights and compassion for our public.
We may not control the actions of others, but we certainly can control our own actions and words.
The example we set defines our own values and principals. We believe in the ethical mathematics that two wrongs do not make a right.
We are NOT Anonymous.
We are freely and openly Responsible for Equality And Liberty.
Even, and especially, when it is difficult to do so.
We offer an outstretched hand to all of our brothers and sisters in humanity, and we urge those burdened by the hate of anti-human rights views to drop such burden, and rejoin the family of humanity and respect for all.
Every day is another good day to demonstrate what it means to truly be RESPONSIBLE.
Volunteers Offer an Outstretched Hand, Not an Upraised Fist – to White Nationalism and Anti-Semitic Group Leader – Choose Love, Not Hate
Ku Klux Klan (KKK) terrorist plotter Glendon Scott Crawford of Galway, New York was convicted on August 21, 2015, for terrorist activity in a Ku Klux Klan plot to kill Muslim-Americans in the Albany, New York area. The KKK terrorist also plotted to attack the New York governor’s mansion. The anti-Muslim terrorist Glendon Scott Crawford sought to modify an industrial-grade radiation device intended to be used to kill Muslims in the Albany area. He was convicted of attempting to acquire and use a radiological dispersal device (count 1), conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction (count 2), and distributing information relating to weapons of mass destruction (count 3). The KKK terrorist Glendon Scott Crawford plotted to use “the device against Muslims, and he scouted mosques in Albany and Schenectady and an Islamic community center and school in Schenectady as possible targets. Crawford also suggested the Governor’s Mansion as a potential target.”
ALBANY, NY—A jury convicted Glendon Scott Crawford, 51, of Galway, New York, today after a 5-day trial on all charges relating to his efforts to acquire a weapon of mass destruction, announced United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian of the Northern District of New York, Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin, and Special Agent in Charge Andrew W. Vale of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Albany Division.
Crawford was convicted of attempting to acquire and use a radiological dispersal device (count 1), conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction (count 2), and distributing information relating to weapons of mass destruction (count 3). He faces at least 25 years of imprisonment on count 1, up to life on counts 1 and 2, and up to 20 years of imprisonment on count 3. He also faces a $2 million fine on count 1 and a fine of $250,000 on both counts 2 and 3.
Crawford is scheduled to be sentenced on December 15 at 9 a.m. by the Honorable Gary L. Sharpe, Chief United States District Judge for the Northern District of New York.
Crawford is the first person to be found guilty of attempting to acquire a radiological dispersal device, a statute Congress passed in 2004.
“Glendon Scott Crawford is a terrorist who would have used a weapon of mass destruction to kill innocent members of our Muslim community were it not for the good judgment of citizens who quickly alerted law enforcement to his diabolical plan and the outstanding work of the Albany FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force,” said United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian. “This case illustrates how vigilance, the shared values of Americans of all faiths, and vigorous investigation can defeat dehumanizing bigotry and hatred.”
“Glendon Scott Crawford, a self-professed member of the Ku Klux Klan, was convicted of offenses relating to his deadly plan to use a radiological dispersal device to target unsuspecting Muslim Americans with lethal doses of radiation,” said Assistant Attorney General Carlin. “The National Security Division’s highest priority is counterterrorism, and we will continue to pursue justice against those who seek to perpetrate attacks on American soil.”
“Today’s verdict is a testament to the tremendous efforts of our Joint Terrorism Task Force in uncovering Crawford’s plot and the dedication of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in bringing justice to an individual who sought to inflict terror and harm on our innocent citizens,” said Special Agent in Charge Andrew W. Vale. “This verdict is a victory for us all, but we must continue to remain observant; it is only with the assistance of our community members and law enforcement partners that we can be successful in thwarting these violent plots.”
In April 2012, the FBI received information that Crawford, who was employed as an industrial mechanic with General Electric in Schenectady, New York, had approached local Jewish organizations seeking people who might help him acquire a radiation-emitting device to be used against people whom he perceived to be enemies of Israel. During a 14-month investigation, the Albany FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force learned that Crawford was attempting to solicit funds to purchase, and then weaponize, a commercially-available industrial-grade X-ray device so that it could be used to injure or kill others by exposing them to lethal doses of radiation.
During the investigation, Crawford, with help from accomplice Eric J. Feight, took steps to design, acquire the parts for, build and test a remote initiation device that could have activated the radiation machine, and acquired (from an undercover FBI Agent) the X-ray device that he planned to modify into a weapon of mass destruction. The X-ray device that he planned to use had been modified so that Crawford could not have used it to hurt anyone.
Feight pleaded guilty on January 22, 2014 to providing material support to terrorists. He is scheduled to be sentenced on September 17, 2015 by Chief Judge Sharpe, and faces up to 15 years of imprisonment.
Crawford, a self-professed member of the Ku Klux Klan, wanted to use the device against Muslims, and he scouted mosques in Albany and Schenectady and an Islamic community center and school in Schenectady as possible targets. Crawford also suggested the Governor’s Mansion as a potential target.
With undercover agents, Crawford discussed placing the radiological device within a van or truck, parking the vehicle near the entrance to the target location, and then remotely activating the device so that it would direct lethal doses of radiation at people coming in and out of the target location.
A central feature of Crawford’s completed X-ray device was that its targets would be exposed to dangerous and lethal doses of X-ray radiation without being aware of the exposure, the harmful effects of which would likely not be immediately apparent.
This case was investigated by the Albany FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, which includes FBI Special Agents as well as members of the New York State Police, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Albany Police Department, Troy Police Department, and New York City Police Department.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Stephen Green and Richard Belliss of the Northern District of New York, who represented the United States during the trial, and Counterterrorism Section Trial Attorney Joseph Kaster with support from the National Security Division and Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington.
In a human rights campaign in the United States of America, the question is being raised should we bother to try to “change hearts” on issues such as racial supremacist hatred and persecution? This question goes to the very root of our stand on our shared universal human rights for persecuted people in nations around the world.
The volunteer human rights group Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) holds the position that not only can we “change hearts” regarding persecuted people, but also that we MUST “change hearts” and reach the conscience of the majority public source of persecution – whether it is white Americans or it is any other majority group around the world. R.E.A.L. believes that practical steps for concrete change by legislation and resources cement these “changed hearts.”
But if we think we can simply “legislate” an end to hate and discrimination – history shows us that we are missing the most important part of the struggle, which is the struggle for the hearts and conscience of our fellow human beings. If we no longer believe that we can “change the hearts” of those who persecute against our fellow human beings in America or anywhere in the world, we need to ask ourselves – are those the cowardly half-measures that we would want to hear, if our identity group was being persecuted? Is this all that we would want done for us, if we were persecuted?
We need to remember that first and foremost – our shared universal human rights begins with our hearts.
Our Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) begins with reaching out to the world “conscience” of our fellow human beings, which has been outraged by the “disregard and contempt for human rights” resulting “in barbarous acts.”
In this UDHR and the world’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the world nations speak of a “human family,” they promote “universal respect,” and address the essential nature of respecting the “inherent dignity” of one another as human beings.
The founding declaration of the United States of America itself begins with a call for a “respect to the opinions of mankind,” and rights for equality, life, and liberty that it promotes, including the “pursuit of happiness.” This is more than unfeeling call for governmental change. This is based on compassion. This is based on respect for each other as human beings.
Human beings use our reason and our knowledge to guide our daily, routine actions, as do societies within our human family. But coherency in our society calls for more than simply cold reason and pragmatism, it also calls for a conscience, for respect, for dignity, and even for the happiness of our fellow human beings, and in the United States, for all of our fellow Americans.
Our shared universal rights depend on the compassion of our conscience to understand that our fellow human beings are unique, special, and have value – not for what they can do – but simply for who they are as our brothers and sisters in humanity.
Too frequently, the calls to seek widespread change in the persecution of minority groups (race, religion, ethnic group, gender, other identity groups) are readily dismissed by leading politicians. Too many politicians believe human rights groups, such as the Black Lives Matter group, should only protest to target the achievement of specific changing of laws or resources, rather than seeking to “change hearts” for those who have hatred against such persecuted groups.
The pragmatist politicians can tell us “I don’t believe you change hearts.” These politicians we need to set our expectations lower – to get the persecuted group more political power, more economic capability, more educational opportunities, a greater public voice. Then the political argument goes, if we achieve all of these things together – then we don’t need to “change hearts,” because we will have changed laws, resources, and systems that make “a real difference.”
The intent is no doubt to offer “pragmatic advice” to persecuted minorities to come away with some incremental accomplishment in decades of struggle against those majority identity groups persecuting them. But in America, it is nothing short of astounding that political leaders would ask African-Americans to set their expectations lower, after literally centuries of African-American patience in seeking equal treatment and justice in the United States.
When we try to simply legislate all of our human rights issues away, what is the result?
What happens when we don’t make our human rights goals to “change hearts” on an equal footing with seeking to “change laws”? Throughout the world, we see halting, inconsistent change. We see persecuted minorities constantly hitting “walls” or “ceilings” where they are not permitted, not accepted, and not tolerated – because there are areas where our legislation and our laws had not been clever enough to challenge systemic persecution yet.
Our persecuted minorities are then told, well, shouldn’t you be “glad with the progress you have,” after all things are “not as bad as they used to be.” From the majorities, our legislators and public make such comments without any embarrassment or shame. We create new laws to combat human rights abuses, but deceive ourselves that we don’t have to do the hard work of still challenging the consciences and the hearts of our fellow human beings.
We really do not build human rights simply through infrastructure and grants. We really do not build human rights simply through legislation and rules. Majorities may deceive themselves that such “practical” changes are all that we need, but the truth is that these only succeed where we have already gotten the hearts of our fellow human beings to change.
This issue of conscience and human rights may have been brought up in America, but this is a global issue, and it affects global minorities persecuted around the world, such as: Pakistan Christians, Rohingya Muslims, ethnic minorities in Darfur, Falun Dafa in China, and many, many other groups. This global issue affects all persecuted people of different races, religions, ethnic groups, and identity groups. Do we believe that these human rights abuses will be solved by a few laws, and not concern ourselves with changing hearts?
This global issue of conscience especially affects the persecuted WOMEN of the world. Although women are half of the world’s population, they continue to have less rights than men, and women continue to face such walls and ceilings in their lives around the world. Do we really think we can simply legislate these abuses against women away? Do we believe that ending the persecution of women does not require also changing hearts?
We don’t have to look around the world to see if an approach to legislating human rights is sufficient. The history of African-Americans in the United States of America provides a clear precedent and an example of the challenges we face when we think we can change laws, but not hearts. Changing laws and changing resources are clearly NOT ENOUGH – we can and we MUST change the hearts and awaken the conscience of the majority. The argument for persecuted minorities to “be patient” and seek “incremental progress” can really be taken to the point of absurdity. Surely Americans should know this.
An African-American slave shows his scars from being whipped, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1863. (Source: Blakeslee Collection photograph)
150 years ago, the United States of America legislated the END of the abomination of slavery of African-Americans. This massive legal change was announced in the Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863) by President Abraham Lincoln. President Lincoln – the executive of the United States of America – declared in a proclamation that “That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, andforever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.” This was then legally defined in the U.S. Constitution in Amendment XIII (December 6, 1865), which stated “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
Surely such commanding and unambiguous legislation, after the death of 400,000 U.S patriotic Union soldiers who lost their lives fighting Confederates who sought to preserve “the institution of slavery,” should have been sufficient for any reasonable and rational mind, yes?
American Patriot Union Soldiers Gave Their Lives to Fight White Supremacy Slavery (Shiloh Cemetery)
But sadly, even that was not enough legislation against white supremacy. The American people had to issue another Constitutional Amendment XIV to stop ensure citizenship of African-Americans born in the nation: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” This was followed by the Civil Rights Act of 1866.
Then the American people had to issue yet another Constitutional Amendment XV to guarantee African-Americans the right to vote (February 3, 1870). African-American women had to wait to have the right to vote guaranteed for them, along with all other American women, another 50 years after that, until August 26, 1920, when the government certified the ratification of Constitutional Amendment XIX, which granted women the right to vote. In between these, the first Civil Rights Act of 1871 was created to help stop white supremacy terrorist persecution against African-Americans.
Still, as students of American history know, even 95 years ago, a massive Civil War, and three Amendments to the U.S. Constitution were not enough. We still had not sought to primarily “change hearts.” In Washington DC, during the administration of President Woodrow Wilson (March 4, 1913 – March 4, 1921), racial segregation was being practiced throughout federal government office buildings, and in too many parts of the nation, racial segregation was common.
Those who decided to find ways around the laws for equality still did so. In many states, they enacted “Jim Crow” laws to prevent African-Americans from voting and other parts of life in American until 1965. They were challenged by court cases, and finally by theCivil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. But yet, this still was not enough, because even with all laws in place, America needed yet another Civil Rights Act of 1968 , which included theFair Housing Act, as well as laws to legislate against actions by Ku Klux Klan and white supremacy terrorists who would seek to prevent violence against persecuted minorities in federal protected activities, under 18 U.S. Code § 245 – Federally protected activities.
(NOTE: when R.E.A.L. recently contacted the Ferguson police chief on the legal protections on the Civil Rights Act of 1968, 18 U.S. Code § 245 Federally Protected Activities, the chief was not educated on this – 47 years later – and had no idea these laws existed.)
After the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. and other political leaders of that time, John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, that generation of Americans certainly would like to believe that by the time of the 1968 Civil Rights Act — four Constitutional Amendments and five major Civil Rights Acts later — that we had legislated an end to white supremacy public discrimination against African-Americans. If just “changing the laws” were all we needed to do, then surely we had that done by 1968, 47 years ago. But history has shown us, without a doubt, that just changing the laws, and not changing hearts, has never been enough.
Many Americans, myself included, have searing and visceral memories of the shock and shame to see segrationists seek to have separate housing and restaurants to keep “whites” and “blacks” apart. My own hand tightens into a fist of frustration as I remember the shameful signs that read “White Clientele Only,” which I saw with my own eyes, in America. As small children, our young voices of conscience cried out in those days, as they must still today, when we are responsible adults who can make a difference. The dream of many Americans — that the routine respect and dignity of African-Americans as fellow citizens could be achieved in our lifetimes — has been clearly shattered when we see the atrocious behavior over the past year.
White Supremacy Business Sign Common in Parts of America in 1960s
Repeatedly in the past year, Americans have seen MILITARY VEHICLES IN OUR STREETS used against our OWN CITIZENS calling for the rights of African-Americans, as the African-American public rightly has had enough of “patience.” The outrageous behavior by those extremists in law enforcement has been a disgrace to our nation as we have seen case after case of such intolerable behavior.
With the advent of new technologies for citizens to readily record and share such injustices, the American public has now had its eyes opened to a seamy persecution of African-Americans throughout our nation by those extremists who claim they have “the right” to do so by their law enforcement authority, which our representative democracies have given them. Once again, we have seen that our legislation has not changed hearts, even by those who claim to serve justice.
Shooting of African-American Walter Scott by White Police Officer Michael Slager – Charged with Murder (Source YouTube)
And the response by our government leadership to these disgraceful acts? “We need another law.” Really? You mean the four other Constitutional Amendments, the five Civil Rights Acts, and all of the endless individual laws that have flowed out of these acts, really are not enough? Or maybe we could start actually enforcing some of the laws we currently have? Maybe we could provide some national leadership and national government outrage at those in authority who abuse the laws we have now.
Instead, the next response by our federal government has been yet even more of the same regulatory incrementalism. After Ferguson, Missouri was burning last summer after persecution of African-Americans, and several other cases of unarmed African-Americans were killed by police, the “answer” was that our police would start to wear body cameras, and this would stop police brutality, and would stop extremists in law enforcement from killing African-Americans in the street. But even while this was only slightly implemented, we have also seen this summer, that regulatory solution still wouldn’t make a difference. The problem is you can have all the laws and all the technology you want. But if your police don’t understand the difference between right and wrong, and if your leaders have no intention of seeking to change the hearts of those who seek hatred against those in another identity group – then all the stopgap measures won’t work.
ENOUGH
While wearing a camera, a police officer at the University of Cincinnati recently shot an unarmed African-American man Sam Dubose at a traffic stop and killed him in his automobile. We know – the nation (and the world) saw this all recorded on video. The police officer was not stopped or even slowed by his body camera to make judgments that would respect the life and human dignity of Sam Dubose – the only difference was that he was caught. But many others are “caught,” and nothing happens.
Sam Dubose Shot on July 19, 2015 by University of Cincinnati Police Officer Ray Tensing, who will Charged with Murder
We see videos of such atrocities against African-Americans all the time. Too frequently, we have seen white police extremists beating, degrading, and killing African-American men, women, and children: Sam Dubose, Walter Scott, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, Freddie Gray, Eric Harris, Natasha McKenna. The white supremacist terrorist attack in Charleston, South Carolina resulted in the murder of nine African-Americans: Rev. Clement Pinkney, Cynthia Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lance, Rev. Depayne Middleton-Doctor, Twanza Sanders, Rev. Daniel Simmons, Sr., Rev. Sharonda Singleton, Myra Thompson.
Nine African-Americans Murdered in Terrorist Attack on Charleston Church by Nazi/Confederate Dylann Roof
Confederate Stormfront Members Support for White Supremacist Terrorists
Once again, our government leaders and politicians think “regulation” will solve this problem. But how many new regulations will it take? How many more laws will it take? What type of “resources” and “infrastructure” do we need to stop the human rights ethnic cleansing of African-Americans in this nation? What is going to TAKE for patriotic Americans to say ENOUGH?
Our politicians tell people to “be patient” and don’t try to “change hearts,” but “change laws.” But we already have many, many laws. We don’t have a shortage of laws at all. We have a shortage of conscience and hearts that respect African-Americans as human beings. That is the honest, painful truth, not a pleasant one for the politician, but one that patriotic Americans must face and address.
Sam Dubose’s mother Audrey Dubose
But for 239 years, African-Americans have been suffering from persecution in one form after another in the United States. We believed that “legislation” would work start solving this problem 150 years ago. Then we believed “legislation” would work to solve this problem 95 years ago, then 45 years ago, etc., etc.
Honestly, how many CENTURIES do our American political leaders REALLY expect African-Americans to be “patient”? How much irreversible damage to a nation, it’s trust and respect for one another, and its commitment to a shared culture and laws, is done by a policy which believes we really only make “change” by changing LAWS? Certainly, we must challenge the HEARTS and CONSCIENCE of majority of white Americans to defy the ideology of white supremacy, which is at the root of all of these human rights atrocities and systemic persecution!
If the past year of well-publicized atrocities by extremists in law enforcement and white supremacy terrorists against African-Americans hasn’t been horrifying for white American political leaders, what exactly will it take to make them realize that a policy of “more of the same” – is simply enough? We cannot effectively change our laws and change our societies, until we CHANGE OUR HEARTS.
History shows that real change and real support for our shared universal human rights begins with our commitment to our conscience to the hearts of our fellow men and women – of all identity groups. Changing hearts matters, when we seek to end persecution and oppression. No new law, rule, or institution can solidly stand through time, if we don’t first do the hard work of reaching the conscience, the integrity, and the hearts of those who must follow and respect such societal changes.
We would want the “golden rule” to be used for us. We should do unto others as we would have others do unto us. If our society’s conscience and hearts don’t understand this, we need to change enough consciences and hearts to ensure that human rights changes have a lasting effect.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Speaking to Audience (Source: Charlotte News-Observer Video Screenshot)
We know that changing hearts, for persecuted people anywhere and everywhere in the world, is the most important step to be Responsible for Equality And Liberty.
U.S. Immigration Defense Lawyer Raha Jorjani writes in Washington Post: “Could black people in the U.S. qualify as refugees?”Raha Jorjani makes the case that such persecution of identity groups would justify others who came to America as protected refugees. It is a powerful and important argument that human rights activists in America and around the world need to hear and understand. Our support for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is not simply for foreign nations, but it is for all nations, including the United States of America. We cannot ignore such the epidemic of identity group persecution in America and believe we are doing good for human rights in the world.
“Suppose a client walked into my office and told me that police officers in his country had choked a man to death over a petty crime. Suppose he said police fatally shot another man in the back as he ran away. That they arrested a woman during a traffic stop and placed her in jail, where she died three days later. That a 12-year-old boy in his country was shot and killed by the police as he played in the park.
Suppose he told me that all of those victims were from the same ethnic community — a community whose members fear being harmed, tortured or killed by police or prison guards. And that this is true in cities and towns across his nation. At that point, as an immigration lawyer, I’d tell him he had a strong claim for asylum protection under U.S. law.
What if, next, he told me he was from America? Black people in the United States face such racial violence that they could qualify as refugees if they lived in this country.
Over the past decade, I’ve represented and advised hundreds of noncitizens facing deportation. Many feared persecution in their home countries and sought protection in the United States. To win them asylum status and the right to stay, I showed that my clients had a well-founded fear of future persecution by the government or by groups that the government was unable or unwilling to control. In one case, I successfully argued that if my client returned to his home country, he could be unjustly imprisoned and physically harmed on the basis of his religious beliefs. Black Americans know the risk of unjust imprisonment and physical harm all too well.
According to U.S. asylum law, that persecution must be on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion. In many cases, courts have said that violence by police officers, unjust imprisonment, rape, assault, beatings and confinement constitute persecution. Even nonphysical forms of harm, such as the deliberate imposition of severe economic disadvantage, psychological harm, or the deprivation of food, housing, employment or other essentials, help make the case. In one instance, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled that an individual who had been arrested, held for three days and then falsely accused of a crime had been persecuted. In another case, it ruled that persecution included ethnic discrimination so severe that the petitioner was unable to find a job in his chosen field.
Does this sound familiar?
The United States claims to be a country that protects refugees, not produces them; a country that chastises nations with poor human rights records. But what of our own human rights record, which shows how far we still have to go in eradicating racial injustice and violence?
To make an asylum case for black persecution, I wouldn’t have to reach back to 400 years of slavery, lynching, segregation and Jim Crow. I would focus, instead, on the current prolific system of racist policing, mass incarceration and selective prosecution.
I might start by telling the story of Albert Woodfox, an African American man who has spent more than 40 years in solitary confinement as a result of a conviction that was recently overturned. The United Nations has called for an “absolute prohibition” on solitary confinement beyond a couple of weeks. Yet prison officials keep Woodfox locked away. While data on solitary confinement is notoriously hard to come by, a study from the University of Michigan shows that the practice disproportionately affects people of color.
African Americans make up just 13 percent of the U.S. population, but they accounted for 31 percent of people killed by police in 2012. According to a ProPublica analysis, black teenagers were 21 times more likely than white teens to be shot and killed by the police between 2010 and 2012. In the United States, there are 1.6 million black men in prison, on probation or on parole, double the number who were enslaved in 1850.
I’d remind the court that in 1985, the Philadelphia police dropped an actual bomb on the headquarters of MOVE, a black political organization, killing 11 black citizens, including five children, and destroying 61 homes, an act for which not one city official was prosecuted. That more recently, the subprime mortgage scandal — which for the most part has also gone unpunished —disproportionately victimized black communities. Blacks and Latinos weremore than twice as likely as whites to get those risky, high-cost loans.
I would cite the Justice Department’s findings that in Ferguson, Mo., courts engaged in intentional racial discrimination while administering the law. I would point out that black men receive prison sentences that are, on average, 20 percent longer than those of white men who committed the same crimes. That in some cities, police officers engage in racial profiling and unconstitutional stops on a routine basis. I would raise the fact that since 2010, 22 states have passed new voting restrictions thatdisproportionately affect black voters. While I probably wouldn’t need to, I’d also throw in that in 2013, the median wealth for white households was about $141,900, whereas for black households it was about $11,000.
This country is dangerous for black people. Black parents live with an ever-present fear that their children will become victims of state violence and terror on the basis of race.
Had they remained alive, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Malissa Williams, Timothy Russell, John Crawford, Rekia Boyd, Michael Brown, Akai Gurley, Walter Scott, Ezell Ford, Mya Hall, Dontre Hamilton, Tamir Rice, Tanisha Anderson, Miriam Carey, Yvette Smith, Samuel Dubose and so many others would be able to demonstrate that they had more than a well-founded fear of persecution at the hands of their government or individuals whom their government was unable or unwilling to control.
Black Americans should not have to flee this country to seek refuge.”
R.E.A.L. educating Ferguson/St. Louis police today on U.S. Civil Rights Act today.
They state they did not know. That’s how far we have to go.
For those who don’t know, it is against the law for people with assault rifles to show up at public protests and intimidate people. It’s a federal crime.
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18 U.S. Code § 245 – Federally protected activities
(b) Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, by force or threat of force willfully injures, intimidates or interferes with, or attempts to injure, intimidate or interfere with—
(5) any citizen because he is or has been, or in order to intimidate such citizen or any other citizen from lawfully aiding or encouraging other persons to participate, without discrimination on account of race, color, religion or national origin, in any of the benefits or activities described in subparagraphs (1)(A) through (1)(E) or subparagraphs (2)(A) through (2)(F), or participating lawfully in speech or peaceful assembly opposing any denial of the opportunity to so participate—
shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if bodily injury results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include the use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death. As used in this section, the term “participating lawfully in speech or peaceful assembly” shall not mean the aiding, abetting, or inciting of other persons to riot or to commit any act of physical violence upon any individual or against any real or personal property in furtherance of a riot. Nothing in subparagraph (2)(F) or (4)(A) of this subsection shall apply to the proprietor of any establishment which provides lodging to transient guests, or to any employee acting on behalf of such proprietor, with respect to the enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of such establishment if such establishment is located within a building which contains not more than five rooms for rent or hire and which is actually occupied by the proprietor as his residence.
White city leaders of the Maryland shore town of Pockomoke City held a meeting on August 3, 2015 to defend their actions in firing African-American police chief Kelvin Sewell. In addition, according to the AP, “The Justice Department sent community affairs representatives to a church gathering to listen to residents’ concerns.” The AP reported that there were “sharp exchanges between audience members, the mayor and Councilman George Tasker, who was accused of referring to supporters of Sewell as ‘you people.’ ”
Chief Sewell has stated that he was fired on June 29, 2015, because he refused demands by Pockomoke City Mayor Bruce Morrison, the city manager, and the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office that he fire two fellow African-American police officers who filed complaints saying they had been treated unfairly. The other two African-American police officers, Franklin L. Savage and Lt. Lynell Green, had EEOC complaints that they were working in a hostile, racist working environment.
The Washington Post states that “The officers alleged in complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that they faced racism that was overt and rampant — allegations the city denies. Among the incidents alleged: a food stamp superimposed with President Obama’s face that was left on a black detective’s desk and a text message that read, ‘What is ya body count nxxxx?’ ”
Andrew G. McBride, co-counsel for the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, told the Washington Post that “This is one of the most egregious cases of primary racial discrimination and retaliation for assertion of rights before the EEOC that I’ve seen.” “Chief Sewell has a fantastic record as a police officer. He was terminated because he stood up for two African American officers who filed an EEOC complaint.”
“Its current troubles began three years ago when detective Franklin L. Savage was detailed to the Worcester County Criminal Enforcement team. The eight-member task force was made up of officers from Ocean City, Dorchester County, Maryland State Police and Pocomoke City. Savage was the only African American assigned to it. Savage said that during his two years on the task force, he was consistently subjected to racism and discrimination, including the repeated use of the ‘n-word’ and references to the Ku Klux Klan. In December 2013, he walked outside for a lunch break and found a bloody deer tail on the windshield of his unmarked police car, he said in his EEOC complaint. A group of white officers stood nearby, laughing. Four months later, he alleged, the food stamp with Obama’s face superimposed on it was left on his desk. Savage, now 35, reported the incidents to his supervisor, but he said the behavior did not stop. ‘Each day I went to work, I felt hurt, ashamed and confused. Racism still exists,’ Savage said. ‘And we took an oath to do the right thing each day.’ The Maryland State Police Criminal Enforcement Division eventually found that Savage’s complaints against one corporal were justified and promised in a letter that the offender would be punished.”
“Last year, Savage returned to the Pocomoke City police department, where he said the harassment and discrimination continued. Savage said he was stripped of his title of detective and moved to administrative duty, checking computer serial numbers and clearing old files. He filed a complaint with the EEOC on July 21, 2014. Lt. Lynell Green said the harassment against him began after he attended a mediation session in support of Savage. ‘It all started when I stood behind Detective Savage,’ said Green, 49, who said his overtime pay was cut. ‘I’ve never experienced anything like that in my life.’ Green, a former Baltimore police officer who began working for Pocomoke City in 2011, filed an EEOC complaint March 15. ”
“During this time, Sewell said he was being pressured by Mayor Bruce Morrison, the city manager and the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office to fire the officers. Sewell filed an EEOC complaint March 9 and was fired after a 4-to-1 vote by the city council three months later.”
AP reports that “Diane Downing, the lone black member of the five-person council and sole vote against firing Sewell, said city officials and outside authorities wanted Savage fired because he could not be trusted after filing his EEOC complaint and would not be allowed to testify in court cases.”
Parts of the Maryland shore have been known for a greater tolerance of racist behavior and support for police brutality. We know the majority of people respect human rights and dignity, and we urge them to continue to speak out against such abuses. R.E.A.L. challenged the views of a Wicomico sheriff’s office in June 2015.
In Atlanta, Georgia today, the racist symbols of the Confederate flag were placed around an African-American church Ebenezer Baptist Church, as well as the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site Visitor Center on the morning of July 30, 2015.
Ebenezer Baptist Church Respects that Black Lives Matter
Christian pastor Martin Luther King, Jr. was the leader of civil rights movement for freedom and equality for African-American citizens in the United States of America. The Ebenezer Baptist Church was where Dr. King and his father were Christian pastors, and it was also his boyhood home and where he was baptized.
A church maintenance man spotted the four Confederate flags around the church grounds at 6 AM on July 30. The Confederate symbols of racist hatred, slavery, and treason were also placed near a sign which read “Black Lives Matter.” The Ebenezer Baptist Church has been getting read for a Communion Sunday service.
Ebenezer’s pastor, the Rev. Raphael Warnock, said the placement of the flags was a terrorist act meant to intimidate, and stated “Let the message go out that we will not be shaken by this.” “We will not be intimidated.” “This is a sickening and troubling and provocative act.” “Coming on the heels of the Charleston massacre … you have to take something like this seriously.”
Camera Images of Racist Confederate Flag Hate Initimidation Outside Church
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports the comments of a woman who lives near the church: “This breaks my heart. It’s just taking the flag to another level. That flag represents what happened in the past. And too many people are holding on to that past. It just hurts.”
Among the many services provided to the community by the Ebenezer Baptist Church, “The Ebenezer Baptist Church Community Outreach Ministry is committed to feeding the homeless and clothing the naked and nurturing the soul.”
This comes a day after a white police officer has been charged with murder after the shooting death of African-American Sam Dubose in Cincinnati.
