Justice In Ferguson Missouri

Justice in Ferguson Missouri.  

In memory of Mike Brown shot to death while going to visit his grandmother. Mike was shot in public with his hands raised over his head.  Mike was shot by an unnamed person in the law enforcement business in broad daylight, in plain sight of passersby and multiple witnesses. The police officer responsible for Mikes death has been given time off with pay and has, up to now, not been charged. His identity has been hidden from the public.

You can find some news accounts of the event and subsequent events that have been allowed to be reported. On the scene the police are interfering with news coverage of the shooting and community response by arresting and detaining reporters. 

Claims have been made by reporters that they have been arrested, detained and assaulted by the police while going about their lawful business of reporting the news. The streets and neighborhoods of Ferguson now resemble an occupied war zone. Up until this point in time there has been no arrest made in the shooting death of Mike Brown.

I'm old enough to remember Bull Connor and his dogs and four little girls blown up while in church.  I'm old enough to have been told "That is all in the past" by well meaning, never rock the boat white folks.  

Apparently the people who told me that were wrong. You can't ask Mike Brown if the people who told me about this behavior in the past were wrong.  But you can ask his parents and his grandmother and the residents of Ferguson Missouri. They can tell you.

If you don't know what happened here's a report in The Christian Science Monitor about what went down and here's how the city of Ferguson Missouri and its police are responding to the shooting death of Mike Brown. 

The next time you hear some blowhard talking about freedom, equality and justice for all tell them about Ferguson Missouri. Tell them about how Mike Brown was killed while going to visit his grandmother. Tell them freedom, equality and justice along with Mike Brown are the latest victims to meet their fate on the streets of America.
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Down memory lane I go.  In 1968 there was a police riot in the city of Chicago.  It seems to me this is what happened in August of 2014 in Ferguson Missouri.  As my memory drifts back to the days of rage and sees in 2014 more days of rage the album titled "Volunteers" by the Jefferson Airplane naturally comes to mind. The album was released in 1969 after the events at the Chicago Democratic Convention had become history and before the Kent State Massacre on May 4 of 1970. 

The Kent State killings became the catalyst which turned the tide of the anti-war protest in favor of peace. The middle class lost it's taste for killing Vietnamese when it was obvious their kids were fair game for U.S. fire power in the homeland. The song "Ohio" by CSN&Y was on the airwaves within two weeks of the killing spree by the Ohio National Guard and it played all summer.  The radio could not be turned on without hearing the song being played.
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Back to the present.

ColorOfChange.org has begun a petition for justice.  You can sign it here.

1.  While looking up the history of race relations in Missouri I came across this piece.  The Social Construction Of Whitenesss: Racism by Intent, Racism by Consequence by Teresa J. Guess* (University of Missouri-St. Louis)  It's not a long piece and it's worth reading to get a grip on what's motivating the social activity in the streets of Ferguson and for that matter most cities in the U.S. today.

2.  The shooting death of Mike Brown was accompanied by a show of force that terrorized and angered the residents of Ferguson.  Not only was the message sent that walking the streets was something residents were forbidden to do this notion was reinforced with a police response resembling a military invasion.  

The SWAT team is another feature that reinforced the violence created by the police presence.  Matthew Harwood writes about this in an article titled, "One Nation Under SWAT" at TomDispatch.com .

Harwood explains the militarization of American cities, towns and streets with the use of Pentagon supplied firepower.  If anything good is to come of this it may be that American communities give back the weapons of war foisted upon them by those for whom making war is a way of life. War in American streets is not a community building tactic.

3.The police officer who killed Mike Brown in broad daylight in front of multiple witnesses has been named. He is Darren Wilson.  Wilson has been a police officer for six years, four of those years in Ferguson.  

4.  Almost a week after the slaying of Mike Brown Ferguson police are revealing that Brown was a suspect in a robbery.  If this is correct then it is clear that officer Wilson violated his civil rights by killing him.  As a suspect Brown was entitled to be arrested, charged with a crime, provided a lawyer and given a trial.  

By killing the youngster officer Wilson took away everyone of these unalienable rights that Brown as a U.S. citizen possessed.  Up to this point in time no stolen property has been reported having been recovered.  You can read a Los Angeles Times report on the alleged involvement of Mike Brown in this shoplifting caper in the link above.

One interesting feature in this shooting and now robbery case is the comparison of news reports.  Take a look at this report by FOX NEWS  and compare it with the report released by the Los Angeles Times. Which report do you feel is the more well rounded, less biased report?  
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Below is an image with Jack and Qkjea exemplifying civil protest. It is titled "Civil Rights": use'em while you got'em. The image was published in the aaduna Winter / Spring issue of 2014.

When Death Comes Knocking At Your Window

When Death Comes Knocking At Your Window

                    

                 

Poetry and Art by David H. Roche

"Here Today and Gone Tomorrow" was first published under the title of "Torture" in the Winter / Spring 2014 issue of aaduna along with other works by the author.  You can view it and my other work at aaduna by clicking here.

Friends

Friends

The laughter of a thousand lovers

is worth less than the voice of a friend

who holds your hand, shares your sorrow

and cries with you.

Poetry and art by David H. Roche

(C) 2014

Shutting Off The Lights (poetry and video by David H. Roche)

The last 3 and a half years of my father's life were a living hell for him.  He had always been an active independent man.  He worked up until his 80's and when he felt it was time to stop working he just stopped.

His independence came to an end one cold winter night when he had a major stroke.  From then on his best days were spent in a wheel chair.  His worst days were spent in hospital beds with tubes sticking into him and hooked to machines.

My brother and I shared the duties of caring for dad at home as much as we could.  Home health aids picked up the slack as did mom. The indignity of a nursing home would not be dad's lot.

Toward the end of his life mom died and then he began to have a series of 'mini' strokes.  Finally his time was up.  I said good-bye to him one night before leaving to go to work knowing I would never see him again.  

I wrote the poem below titled "Shutting Off The Lights" several years ago and finished it up today and put it into a video. The video was an idea I had long held as a way to illustrate the poem.  I think it works.

Shutting Off The Lights

I think of my father almost every day.

Yesterday a light was on

and I got up to turn it off

remembering how he would go

from room to room turning off the lights.

As he lay dying

I whispered in his ear:

“It’s alright to go dad”,

knowing I would never see him again.

With wide open eyes he gazed at me and sighed

and as I watched

he began to go from room to room

shutting off the lights one last time.

Poetry, photography and video

by David H. Roche

If You Were A Ripple (meditation video and poem)

If You Were A Ripple

              If you were a ripple

              and met God when you reached the shore

              would you find him throwing stones

              into the water?

Photography, video and Koan

by David H. Roche

(C) 2014

Posted Keep Out (poetry)

Posted Keep Out

Despite my best efforts

memories keep trespassing on me

the way the winter wind finds its way

through the window frames into an old house.

Caulking the cracks of the years has done no good,

they've found a way in despite my best efforts

freezing my tears as they run down my cheeks

into my beard.

Poetry and art by David H. Roche

(C) 2014

Blackberries and Blue Skies (Poetry and photography)

The blackberry season is in full swing.  I picked an entire bucket of berries this morning in about 15 minutes.  I'll have a hard time keeping up with them over the next week or two.

The berries grow in a wild tangled hedge.  The tops of some of the vines are 10 to 12 feet above the ground. Many I will not be able to pick.  I have employed a metal pole with an angle bar on the end to aid me in accessing some of the berries that are out of my grasp. But the topmost berries elude my reach even with the aid of the metal pole.  The birds will have those.

As for me I will have frozen berries for jam and snacks for a good part of the winter barring a loss of refrigeration.   

Blackberries and Blue Skies

Blackberries and blue skies

briefly fill the gap

between the gales of October

and the grey rain of winter and spring

making them welcome summer transients

I wish would never leave.

The video includes the poem along with the visual images.  Enjoy.

Photography and poetry by David H. Roche

(C) 2014

Sunshine, Colors and Moving Things On A Summer Morning

Art and a video by David H. Roche

(C) 2014

Blues For An Old Man (poetry)

This is the first year I've taken to drinking coffee in the afternoon.  Up until this year a pot of coffee in the morning was all I needed to be good to go for the entire day.

I wrote this poem after having coffee in the afternoon and thinking of my how my father would take a break in the mid afternoon and get a cup of Joe and a piece of pie at Hunter's Diner, or any nearby diner if he was working out of town. 

Blues For An Old Man

This year I became an old man 

taking to coffee in the afternoon

and falling asleep 

beneath the branches of the cherry tree

until summer breezes tickle me and I wake 

under unbroken blue to the edges of the sky
with hours of daylight left.

Poetry and Photography by David H. Roche

(C) 2014

Which Side Are You On?

Which side are you on? 

Syracuse New York mayor Stephanie Miner has announced the city is willing to give a home to homeless immigrant children from Central America.

Some people want to leave the children homeless and in peril saying we, the most prosperous nation on earth, can't afford it and they will grow up to be criminals and a burden on society.

Some people see the homeless children in need and respond compassionately with open arms saying "let the children come."

I'm flabbergasted that anyone would turn helpless human beings away. Is this attitude the result of Americans imbibing the philosophy of Ayn Rand? Ms. Rand would definitely walk over their corpses and dispassionately allow them to starve and suffer instead of offering a helping hand. Don't believe me. Listen to how she regards human need and compassion from her own lips on national television in an interview with Mike Wallace. She's gone to her final reward, but her disciples live on in the halls of congress and perhaps next door to you.



So which side are you on? How easy does the answer come from your heart to your lips?

While We Cry Together: A Prayer (Poetry and art)

While We Cry Together: A Prayer

Fill my heart with your sorrows and fears

let your trembling cease in my arms,

hold on to me and I will hold on to you

while we cry together.

My heart has been empty for years,

pour into it your troubles and tears,

our arms will hold each other

while we cry together.

Poetry and Art by David H. Roche 

(C) 2014

Tips For Picking Blackberries

I picked blackberries again this morning.  I did not get quite as many as I did yesterday.  

I like to collect them in an old fryer basket.  The large spaces retain the berries and allow them to be rinsed easily and flush out debris and bugs which may be accompanying the fruit.

I began picking around 10 in the morning.  I didn't find as many as I found yesterday.  But with a little effort I was able to almost fill the basket.  I'm fairly sure more will ripen during the afternoon.

I have stashed away slightly less than one gallon of frozen berries so far. I hope to multiply that amount several times so I will have berries in the winter. 

When they are frozen they are hard and remind me of those Christmas candies I had as a child that looked like berries. You probably remember them too and how when you crunched them there was a sweet filling inside.   

Today I decided to wear a long sleeved jacket while picking. The jacket enabled me to avoid being sliced by the thorns. The thorns are sharp. The jacket also enabled me to press further into the center of the bush and grasp the berries which would otherwise not be picked and eaten. Not by humans anyhow.  

This is what I've noticed, when it looks like you have gotten 'all' the berries look again.  Go back over the same place at least twice.  I added a full third of a basket to what I thought was all I would find by doing that.

Even though wearing the jacket enabled me to reach more berries I had the thought that I would make a stick with a hook on the end to pull the furthest berry branches close enough to pick.  The berry patch is a wild one.  No one planted these berries.  The good Lord saw to it that they began growing here. As a result the berry patch is an incoherent tangle of branches, leaves, thorns and of course berries often dappled in sunlight filtering down from above.  

The fruit in the depths of the bush is often the sweetest. I think this is because no one has gotten close enough to pick them before they were fully ripe.  So finding a way to get them without needing bandages when the task is complete is helpful and a stick or board with a hook or nail on it will be a simple berry picking aid.  At least in theory.

To the right is another view of the berries picked this morning.  I had some for breakfast with a banana and whole wheat toast with peanut butter.


Below are the berries I've picked and frozen in the last two days.  As you can see I have managed to pretty much fill a gallon sized freezer bag.  I've dated it and they will be there when the cold rain starts to fall. Hopefully there will not be a power outage that lasts too awful long.  Que sera sera and that's how you have to take life as well as the prospect of berries.

by David H. Roche

(C) 2014

Berries Berries Berries (poetry and photography)

Blackberry season is taking off.  Today I filled my container in less than a half an hour.  The way things are going berry picking will be more like work than fun in a few days.  I'll have a hard time keeping up with them. But I enjoy the work.

I'm developing my skills on avoiding lacerations and how to get to the ones secluding themselves in the center of the bush. I'm determined to let as few go unpicked as possible. I wonder if the thorns on the vines are some kind of test from God to see if I really really want his berries. I do God and thanks for the berries! The thorns are a good idea.

Along with the benefits of only requiring a little of my time and getting outside in the fresh air and sun, (today it was raining slightly) these beauties are not sprayed with some dangerous chemical made by you know who. 

You can see how many I picked today in the photographs below.  If I were to buy these suckers in the store or along the road it would mean I had a job and a good paying one at that. I got these at my favorite price.  FREE!!!

Berries Berries Berries

Berry picking is easy once you get the knack.

The fat juicy black ones are deep in the bush

hidden by shadows, 
in the back.
.

Getting to them is easy.

Press forward,

tramping down the vines in front

and lean in,

extend your hand as far as you can.

In time you will learn how to avoid the thorns

and keep from falling into the bush face first.

Until then be very careful.

Never wear shorts

and never pick berries by moonlight

it's just not worth it.

(Note.  This version of the poem is slightly different from the one in the video.  I keep changing things and a poem is never done.  Never.)

I made a video with the poem being recited. You can see the video and hear the poem read below

Photography, video and poem by David H. Roche

(C) 2014

Sound and Silence (poetry)

Sound and Silence

When clatter

fills the space within

I can’t hear you crying.

In silence

I know you are there,
only then can I hear you sighing.

Poetry and Photography by David H. Roche

(C) 2014

Upon Waking Up (poetry)

Upon Waking Up

Upon waking up I see

I’m like the cat that comes to my door every day

and one day will not return.

Upon waking up I see

I’m like the dew arriving from the sky at night,

returning to the sky by day.

Upon waking up I see the only 'truth' is kindness

and that you and I are the cat at the door,

you and I are dew waiting for the day.

Photography and Poetry by David H. Roche

(C) 2014

Tell Twitter: Disclose your diversity data: sign the petition

Sign the petition:

Click the sentence above to sign the petition.

Having grown up in the era of separate but equal.

Having seen "white only" "colored only" signs in places of business in the nations capitol.

Having lived through years of assassinations of people who wanted to be treated like people but were not.

Having watched Bull Connors men and his dogs enforce the laws of segregation.

Having been told how nice it is that is all history and we are no longer a racist society and seeing how it turned out to be a lie…

Today the high tech workplaces are actively avoiding hiring people of color. Many of the same old worn out excuses are retrofitted into the present to justify discrimination and the holding down of an entire segment of the U.S.

Tell Twitter: Disclose your diversity data

After years of pressure,
Silicon Valley companies have finally started releasing their employee diversity numbers, but Twitter still hasn’t done so.

The numbers aren’t good. Black men and women make up less than 3% of companies like Facebook, Google, and Yahoo. (1)

Google has acknowledged that it’s “miles” from where it wants to be, and “that being totally clear about the extent of the problem is a really important part of the solution.” (2) Yahoo, LinkedIn, Facebook, eBay, Pandora and Apple have or indicated they will release their workforce data. Intel, Cisco, and HP have done so for years.

As an industry leader, Twitter must follow suit.

Tell Twitter: Release your employee diversity numbers immediately and signal your commitment to real inclusion by hosting a forum on race in Silicon Valley.

While disclosure is a necessary first step, it by itself isn’t enough. That’s why we’re also calling on Twitter to work with ColorOfChange and our allies to host a forum discussion about lack of racial diversity in Silicon Valley, and commit to concrete steps to tackle this problem.

Led by Reverend Jesse Jackson, our friends at the Rainbow Push Coalition have been doing tremendous work elevating this issue. ColorOfChange is teaming up with them on this campaign. Reverend Jackson spoke at Hewlett-Packard’s shareholder meeting in March, saying:

"At its best, Silicon Valley can be a tremendously positive change agent for the world; at its worst, it can hold on to old patterns that exclude people of color and women from opportunity and advancement. Silicon Valley and the tech industry must transform itself to mirror the America it depends upon for talent and customers.” (3)

We couldn’t agree more. Demand that Twitter disclose and host a forum on diversity and inclusion.

Twitter has made the world a more connected and transparent place. There’s tremendous value in shining a spotlight onto issues that very few people are paying attention to, as Black folks on Twitter do everyday — trending hashtags and shaping the national conversation.

Black Twitter brought the Trayvon Martin case to public attention when almost no one was talking about it. It forced the cancellation of a book deal for a juror in the George Zimmerman trial. And using satire, Black Twitter caused the cancellation of celebrity chef Paula Deen’s endorsement deals after she admitted to used the N-word. (4)

Black folks on Twitter are a powerful group, using the platform not only to share news and discuss pop culture, but to create real change in society.

Twitter must live up to its platform’s transparency and join other industry leaders in voluntarily disclosing employee demographic data, sending a bright signal that inclusion and diversity are real priorities for the company.

Twitter's user base is racially diverse, and has nearly twice the rate of Black users compared to the Internet writ large. And the company uses this fact to attract advertisers. (5)But the unfortunate reality is that Twitter, like much of the industry, probably doesn't reflect its users. This is what we need to know.

If Black people are engines of profit for Twitter, they must also be a representative part of the company and its leadership. Currently not a single Black person serves on the board or on the executive team. And this is unacceptable.

The American tech industry is known for moving nimbly and disrupting old ways of doing things so that we can be better, more efficient as a society. It must also move quickly to disrupt the status quo of exclusion, toward a model of true inclusion at every level.

Sources:

1. "Facebook's Diversity Numbers Are Out, And They're What You Expect", NPR, 2014-06-26
2. "Getting to work on diversity at Google", Google Blog, 2014-05-28
3. "Rev Jesse Jackson Challenges Silicon Valley at HP Shareholders Meeting", Rainbow Push, 2014-03-20
4. "More Than Fun & Games: The True Power of #BlackTwitter", Atlanta Black Star, 2014-03-10
5. "Twitter Users' Diversity Becomes an Ad Selling Point", Wall Street Journal, 2014-01-20 

Litany Of The Poor and Oppressed: Beseeching the Oppressor (a poem)

A poem I wrote this evening after coming in from sitting by the pond and looking at the clouds and watching the birds. The poem is titled:

Litany Of the Poor and Oppressed: 

Beseeching the Oppressor. 

The poem is to be read by one person and the refrain "you want profit", or in the case of the last two stanzas the last two lines, are to be spoken by a chorus punctuating each stanza. 

Litany Of The Poor and Oppressed:

 Beseeching the Oppressor

We don't want the things you want,

we want employment

Chorus:  you want profit.

We don't want the things you want,

we want clean air and water

Chorus:  you want profit.

We don't want the things you want,

we want friends and neighbors

Chorus: you want enemies

and profit

We don't want the things you want,

we want peace on earth

Chorus: you want endless war

and profit.

Benediction:

May God grant us employment.

May God grant us clean air and water.

May God grant us friends and neighbors.

My God grant us peace on earth.

Amen.

Poetry By David H. Roche

(C) 2014

Happy Days Of Berries And Blood

 Blackberry season is beginning.  The first few have made their way from vine to mouth.  A few drops of blood are a slight price to pay for tasting blackberries today. And if you go berry picking you will bleed.

In a few days I will be filling buckets with the purplish black fruit whose juice stains hands and clothing a rich purple.

July:  The Berry Picker 

July is the month for blackberries,

the solitary berry picker is diligent;

the berries have come in flushes

one after the other

and he has gotten most of them.

Becoming lost in thought

his fingers turn purple,

he thinks of fingers stained

and berries picked in summers long ago.

The berry picker has entered that no man’s land

where today and yesterday co-mingle.

Returning home he finds no one inside

and all at once he remembers and cries.

(The above poem was written a decade or more ago. I worked on it some.)

Blackberry blossoms are the promises of blackberries.

Blackberries ripe and more to ripen making July the time to fill the mouth and the freezer. Will they be jam, will they be wine? Will they be both? 

       Happy Days of Berries and Blood

One berry two days ago,

three or four berries yesterday,

a handful of berries today.

I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

Photography and poetry by David H. Roche

(C) 2014

Going Without: a poem about life in America

Going Without 

a poem about life in America

Going without, going without,

life in the U.S. means going without:

without coffee, without grass

going without is a pain in the ass.

But that's how it is when the money runs out,

life in the U.S. means going without.

poem and art by David H. Roche

(C) 2014

Mercy Killing: a poem by David H. Roche

Mercy Killing

a poem about divorce

by David H. Roche

(C) 2014 David H. Roche