From Emmett Till to Michael Brown, a story as old as America itself

MSNBC ^ | August 30, 2014 | Gov. Ted Strickland and Judith Browne Dianis

[2ndDivisionVet]

Familiarity breeds contempt.

For two weeks now, as we’ve watched the events in Ferguson, Missouri unfold, there’s been a vulgar familiarity about them. The grieving family, the protesters, the police in gas masks and military garb: They all seemed locked into a story as old as America itself. It is the story of implicit bias, black pain, disenfranchised communities and systemic racism.

Eighteen-year-old Michael Brown was killed by a police officer when he was stopped for walking in the middle of a street. Witnesses say Brown put his hands up and said “Don’t shoot” to Officer Darren Wilson. The police, however, have remained quiet on Wilson’s version of events, choosing instead to make the victim the focus by releasing grainy video footage of the teen allegedly haranguing a store keeper over a pack of pilfered cigars.

It’s all too familiar, from the blaming of the victim to the community outcry, and is yet another example of how this nation has long devalued the lives of its black citizens. Instead of trust and healing, the streets of Ferguson were full of tear gas and militarized police. In the place of justice, there is only anger, reminiscent of scenes we have seen before.

Fifty-nine years ago this week, 14-year-old Emmett Till was murdered for allegedly “whistling” at a white woman. His death and open-casket funeral revealing the boy’s brutalized body caused a national outcry, demonstrating how African Americans were viewed as less than human in many parts of our society, and that those who kill them would likely go unpunished.

But the killings of Emmett Till and those like him, for infractions small or imagined, didn’t start 59 years ago. These killings and the divide they illustrate are rooted in 400 years of oppression....

[2ndDivisionVet]

Why does anyone take these people seriously?

[sphinx]

I know, I know ... it’s only Ted Strickland ... but it is appalling that a former state governor would consent to attach his name to this kind of screed. Suppress inconvenient facts, muddled circumstances, and provocative actions, and subordinate everything to the partisan narrative. I would fail a student who wrote a history or poly sci paper like this.

[ronnie raygun]

Someone take out the garbage it stinks

[ImNotLying]

I stopped reading when I saw MSNBC.

[windsorknot]

Yes, it's the same old story: Woe is me!

[fieldmarshaldj]

I never knew Emmett Till was 6 and a half feet tall, almost 300 lbs and physically attacked a cop after robbing a store. The things you learn from Democrats like Ted Strickland are amazing.

[MikeinMotley]

these “people” just will not stop at any cost! i wonder what kind of stories will be coming out when they find out there will be no indictment? and FYI, that’s just my prediction

Mike

[MikeinMotley]

amazing what they can teach folks isn't it? : / Mike

[clearcarbon]

Looks like another chemically induced article.

[Vaquero]

Justice is when you take down a thug who strong armed a convenience store clerk then smashes you (a cop) in the eye and fracture your eye socket. That is justice.

[Vaquero]

Yes. I was going to complain about the lack of BARF ALERT! Till I saw the PMSNBC, link as the two are synonymous.

[Mark17]

Why does anyone take these people seriously?

No one with an ounce of brains, but I do agree with the statement, that familiarity breeds contempt. The more familiar I become with this, the more contempt I feel for chumps like this Strickland guy.

[fieldmarshaldj]

I’d call Strickland a racist. He beat a more qualified Black man for Governor (Ken Blackwell) in 2006.

[fieldmarshaldj]

The idiocy of Ted Strickland *ping*

[SECURE AMERICA]

Eighteen-year-old Michael Brown was killed by a police officer when he was stopped for walking in the middle of a street.

Why would you write a lie like this? This should actually be considered criminal. One would get the impression you want riots and hatred to continue. You surely are aiding in it.......

[FreedomPoster]

“releasing grainy video footage of the teen allegedly haranguing a store keeper over a pack of pilfered cigars.”

harangue - address somebody loudly and forcefully: to criticize or question somebody, or try to persuade somebody to do something in a forceful angry way

Governor, you are intentionally lying here. Anyone who has taken the time to look at that video knows he was physically assaulting the store owner, not verbally castigating him. You are a dishonest - well, I won’t say what comes to mind there, as I do not wish to be sent to time out or banned.

[SECURE AMERICA]

Its good MSNBC does not have an agenda.........
If a sarc tag is needed shame on you............

[trebb]

Newsflash - slaves were freed some 150 years ago and Blacks were starting to do really well until the same democrats that didn't want to free them decided to co-opt their progress by relegating them as too stupid and inept to take care of themselves, thereby destroying the fabric that they had woven on their way to full prosperity and Freedom in the truest sense.

The real ageless story is that the Blacks have willingly succumbed to a status of lazy/greedy/second-class citizens (more like pets and "attack dogs" comes to mind) because they bought into the false "entitlement" meme and have lost the ability to earn a honest living or develop a true sense of self-respect.

[Diamond]

"The police, however, have remained quiet on Wilson’s version of events, choosing instead to make the victim the focus by releasing grainy video footage of the teen allegedly haranguing a store keeper over a pack of pilfered cigars."

_________________

ha·rangue (h-rng)

n.

1. A long pompous speech, especially one delivered before a gathering.

2. A speech or piece of writing characterized by strong feeling or expression; a tirade.

v. ha·rangued, ha·rangu·ing, ha·rangues

v.tr.

To deliver a harangue to.

v.intr.

To deliver a harangue.

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[Middle English arang, a speech to an assembly, from Old French harangue, from Old Italian aringa, from aringare, to speak in public, probably from aringo, arringa, public square, meeting place, of Germanic origin; see koro- in Indo-European roots.]

---

ha·ranguer n.

[BilLies]

330,000 WHITE UNION military knowingly went to their deaths to free the African American slaves during the Civil War, they FOLLOWED the directives and emancipation orders of their government, a government THEY ELECTED. I have never heard an establishment, professional, progressive/ African-American,
or White Progressive ever ACKNOWLEDGE, (INSERT “Strickland”)

much less “thank” these dead men for their sacrifices, nor recognize the 260,000 White Union military who were wounded and/or grievously disabled, nor the widows, nor the children, nor the families of the military who also suffered.