I am an angry Black man

The San Francisco Bay View - A National Black Newspaper ^ | August 4, 2013 | Joseph Debro

[2ndDivisionVet]

I am an 84-year-old angry Black man. I am Mississippi born, Mississippi bred and Mississippi fled. I am the son of former slaves. My parents and I rode in the back of the bus. We rode in the front of the trains. We drank from water fountains designated for coloreds only. We picked cotton in fields owned by White people.

My parents attended separate but equal schools in Mississippi. I attended separate but equal schools in Mississippi and in Oakland, California. My wife was educated in Oakland public schools and at the University of California at Berkeley. She could not get a job teaching in Oakland Public schools in Oakland in 1954. I hold an undergraduate and a graduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley. I was profiled at a Washington, D.C., hotel in 2010, forced to sleep in a homeless shelter overnight.

I saw nothing in the Zimmerman case that surprised me. The system worked as it was intended. Zimmerman, a White man, was tried by a White justice system for killing a Black boy. The outcome was predictable. Many White people saw this as a non-racial event.

The O.J. Simpson jury found for the defense. The jury found reasonable doubt. The George Zimmerman jury found for the defense. The six White women on the jury found reasonable doubt. Zimmerman admitted that he killed Trayvon Martin. Simpson denied that he killed anyone. The press excoriated the Simpson jury. The Zimmerman jury was praised.

In both cases, the state presented weak cases. There are lessons to be learned from both cases. Laws are made to control the actions of people who can’t afford to break them. Both Simpson and Zimmerman bought as much justice as they needed. Their jurors were presented with reasonable doubt.

In the Zimmerman case, there are some facts that concerned citizens should understand. George Zimmerman is White. The juror of unknown ethnicity is White. The police who refused to arrest Zimmerman and who testified for him were White. The judge, and the prosecution were White. Every critical function carried on in that justice system was performed by a White person. Such is the case in almost every trial or plea bargaining case involving a Black man in this country.

George has been described as Hispanic. That does not mean that he is not White. The term Hispanic is a political designation that describes national origin, not race. Hispanic is a protected designation under our civil rights laws, but the term is not racial. I would guess that George Zimmerman, on his driver’s license under race, is designated White.

The most important fact to know is that the prosecution worked as hard for George Zimmerman as they did for the state of Florida. The prosecution did not challenge the lack of Afro Americans on the jury. The prosecution did not present its own theory of the case; it reacted to Zimmerman’s story of the case.

The prosecution’s case should have been presented on the theory that the wounds displayed by Zimmerman were self-inflicted. Zimmerman inflicted those wounds on himself. Zimmerman knew enough about the law to know he needed such wounds. Such a prosecution theory would have forced the defense to defend against this theory, and it might have caused Zimmerman to testify.

Instead, the prosecution introduced a tape made by the Zimmerman defense. The prosecution should have fought to keep that tape out of the trial. In a just world this prosecutor would be disbarred for malpractice.

The second worst flaw in the prosecution’s case was their failure to challenge Zimmerman’s voice recognition by his friends and relatives. The prosecution needed to recode several voices saying what Zimmerman was alleged to have yelled on the 911 tapes, replay them and ask each of the witnesses to identify the Zimmerman voice.

The third flaw by the prosecution was to bring in a skinny dummy. They should have brought in a live person of the same height and weight as Zimmerman and required that person to pull his gun with Trayvon on top of him. The prosecution should have punctured a heart with Trayvon on top to test blood spatter. If Zimmerman had a broken nose, who repaired it?

Finally, if Trayvon was on top of Zimmerman when he was shot in the heart, why was there no blood of Martin’s on Zimmerman’s clothes? Why was this question not asked at trial?

The justice system worked as it is designed to do. The system exonerated a White man who admitted killing a Black boy. The Justice Department will not bring an action in this case. Just because the man who heads it is Black does not mean he runs it. DOJ is a system that runs the same no matter who is at the top.

Racism is structured into most of the important systems in this country.
1.Communications – 99% of the TV, radio and print media properties are owned by White people.
2.Construction – 99% of the construction in this country is done by White people.
3.Education – 99% of all educational resources are allocated by White people.
4.Transportation – 99% of all transportation is controlled by White people.
5.Justice – this system is 99.9% controlled by White people.
6.Financial – this system is 99.9 % controlled by white people.

When Congresswomen Maxine Waters asked that 0.000001 percent of the $700 billion bailout money go to banks owned or controlled by descendants of former slaves, they tried to put her in jail.

If we think that we get fair treatment in any of these systems, we must re-examine our definition of fairness.

As an angry old Black man I have seen the diminution of racism in my lifetime. We are not there yet. It is unlikely that we will get there in the lifetime of my grandchildren.

****

Joseph Debro is president of Bay Area Black Builders and of Transbay Builders, a general engineering contractor, former director of the California state Office of Small Business, co-founder of the National Association of Minority Contractors and a bio-chemical engineer. He can be reached at transbay@netzero.com.

[Drango]

former director of the California state Office of Small Business

Most of these departments are run by bitter racists. See his article .

[Bob]

Wasn’t it Thomas Sowell who said that he’s old enough to remember when the racists were all white?

[Squantos]

Joe De’Bro be a hater ! .....and a idgit !

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

If he’s 84 that means he was born in 1929. Even if his parents were born in 1863 when Emancipation was signed, they would have been 64 when he was born.

[onyx]

The population of the United States at the time, based upon census records was 31,443,321. So 1.6% of that is 503,093 people owning slaves.

Today that would be less than 2 tenths of one percent of the population. In other words 99.8 + percent of the population of the US have had nothing to do with slavery.









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The population of the United States at the time, based upon census records was 31,443,321. So 1.6% of that is 503,093 people owning slaves.

Today that would be less than 2 tenths of one percent of the population. In other words 99.8 + percent of the population of the US have had nothing to do with slavery.









Free Republic is Our Beacon of Truth.
FReepers post articles 24/7 to keep All of Us informed.
Likewise, it takes All of Us to keep FR on the air!
Please Make your Donation today!

WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITHOUT FREE REPUBLIC?

[SpaceBar]

The article needs a “steaming pile” warning.

[Gator113]

Joseph, shut up and bring me a coffee.

After 84 years on this planet and all of that education, this man is still stupid and lives his lies.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

66 I mean. His parents would have been 66 when he was born.

[Elsiejay]

“The prosecution did not present its own theory of the case . .”

I hope theories are not to be accorded equality with factual, physical testimony for which there is not any compelling factual counter testimony.
Show us your compelling, race-conditioned alternative account of how Zimmerman came to be flat on his back, his nose smashed, the back of his head bleeding from multiple cuts, and being pounded by fists.
If Trayvon M. had had a father to mentor, counsel and correct him, rather than sending him 250 miles away from the community in which he was raised, to be housed by an unrelated woman not at all well known to him, and who had no authority over him, more than likely he would be alive today.

[2ndDivisionVet]

And government cheese, free laptops, Obamaphone, Section 8, TANF, free child care, weatherization, SSI, Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, CHIP, WIC, food banks, soup kitchens, tuition assistance, Pell Grants, unemployment insurance, worker’s compensation, Habitat for Humanity, affirmative action, set-asides, etc., etc...

[Vanders9]

Perhaps, but the real tragedy is not that he is lying to you and me. It is that he is lying to himself. I personally have no doubt that he actually does really believe all of this, in which case there really isnt a lot that anyone can say or do to convince him he is wrong.

[Exton1]

WHAT “I was profiled at a Washington, D.C., hotel in 2010, forced to sleep in a homeless shelter overnight.” So why is he not suing? Liar.
It was 64 years between the end of the Civil War and when he was born, No way HIS parents could be slaves.

[MosesKnows]

It is unlikely that we will get there in the lifetime of my grandchildren.

Perhaps both black and whites can learn from Native American Indian wisdom.

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between 2 "wolves" inside us all.

One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

[sport]

Just say all of them are lies and you won’t be far off.

[yarddog]

I guess “Angry Black Man” sounds better than “Lying Jackal”.

[William Tell]

From the article: "I am an 84-year-old angry Black man. [...] I am the son of former slaves. "

Since this is a recent article and the man is 84, then he was born around 1929. The 13th Amendment was ratified at the end of 1865.

The conclusion would be that this man's mother was ... let's see ... 35 plus 29 ... she must have been 64 years old when the author was born. Perhaps he was adopted late in the life of former slaves. Or he is simply lying.

He probably has a birth certificate from Hawaii.

[Army Air Corps]

Thanks for the stats.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

I would not doubt it, after all it’s the San Fran bay. They had another article in this rag a few weeks ago of all these black kids who accomplished good things in education and science etc, and they had one girl who wrote poetry and underneath her photo it said “She wrote poetry until well known conservatives criticized her”...Well known conservatives. Yes, let’s not name any, let’s just say “well know conservatives” because we don’t need to tell you who they are because they are already “well known”.

[oh8eleven]

I am the son of former slaves.
BS BS BS. Stopped reading right there.

[AndyTheBear]

In the Zimmerman case, there are some facts that concerned citizens should understand. George Zimmerman is White. The juror of unknown ethnicity is White. The police who refused to arrest Zimmerman and who testified for him were White. The judge, and the prosecution were White. Every critical function carried on in that justice system was performed by a White person. Such is the case in almost every trial or plea bargaining case involving a Black man in this country.

Leaving off the fact that Martin was slamming Zimmerman's head repeatedly into the concrete sidewalk in an apparent effort to beat him to death does not seem to me a relevant fact?