Black Lives Matter Comes to Minneapolis

John wrote about the the case of Jamar Clark in the aptly headed post “Ferguson comes to Minneapolis.” Clark was supposedly the victim of a police shooting on the evening just past midnight in the early hours of a Sunday morning this past November. Minneapolis police had been called to the scene of an assault that occurred less than two blocks from the nearest precinct station. Clark had beaten his girlfriend. When police arrived, Clark had returned to the scene and, according to police accounts, was interfering with the paramedics who were trying to treat his girlfriend. A scuffle with one or more of the police officers ensued, and one of the officers shot Clark.

I have been following the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement since its inception with the death of the gentle giant, doper, thug and robber in Ferguson. There was something about it, I couldn’t put my finger to it, its gotta good beat, can probably dance to it.  Was it the melody, no indignation has a limited range, ditto the chorus; peace, justice, yada, yada, yada.  The lyrics, that’s it I’ve heard them all before, word for word. The same delicious irony, the serious giving way to the ridiculous and then making a segue back to the just plain silly. Welcome to Brooklyn 1970!

Joe Colombo was the Boss of the Colombo crime family, one of the five families of organized crime in New York City.  Joe is a second generation Mafia hood, his daddy was found dead in the trunk of his car along with his girlfriend.  Joe knows Mafia.

In the Spring of 1970, Joe’s son Joe Jr., a third generation mafioso, is arrested by the FBI.  Joe had recently created the Italian-American Anti-Defamation League. This morphed into the Italian-American Civil Rights League. Its maiden voyage was to descend on the local FBI office to protest the arrest of Joe Jr. Imagine Joe Jr’s surprise, to discover, he was the victim of FBI bias against Italian-Americans.

By June, 1970 45,000 people had paid dues and signed up for the Italian-American Civil Rights League.  In November, 1970 old blue eyes himself, Frank Sinatra did a benefit concert in Madison Square Garden.  The “League” went after negative stereotypes of Italian-Americans.  Among the targets:

• Alka-Seltzer for their ad campaign featuring a Greek guy portraying an Italian guy by using a really bad Italian accent complaining about “Da Spicy Meat-a-balls”.
• Ford for sponsoring, “The FBI,” a Quinn-Martin Production. Not only the adds but every car used in the filming was a Ford. Ford ran afoul of the “League” because many of the stories of FBI daring do involved investigations into the La Cosa Nostra. The Cosa Nostra represented a negative stereotype of people of Italian decent.
• The FBI, United States Department of Justice and any other governmental entity that used the terms Mafia, La Cosa Nostra and Italian Organized crime in official documents. This was a double bang at J Edgar Hoover, the Director of the FBI.  The TV show, “The FBI” benefited from Hoover’s sponsorship.  More to the point is that Hoover had spent the previous forty years denying there was any such thing as the Mafia, La Cosa Nostra or Italian Organized crime.
• “The Godfather I, II, III……” The ultimate Mafia movie tracing generations of Italian-Americans involved in organized criminal activity spanning two continents and over forty years never uses the terms Mafia, La Cosa Nostra or Italian Organized crime.  This came about as a result of an agreement between the studio and Joe Colombo. I wonder where they got the horse head idea from?

On June 28,1971, the second Italian Unity Day Rally started well. As Joe Colombo made his way to the speakers podium, he was gunned down by a black street hustler, who was subsequently shot by a uniformed NYPD officer. Colombo actually survived the attempt on his life.  He died in 1978 after playing second base for many years, as the  base. 

Black Lives Matter (BLM) seems to have come about due to a collision at the intersection of Promise and Despair. Promise because college students decided whatever they had wasn’t enough.  Despair because street thugs so used to taking what they wanted, when they wanted, suddenly found themselves victimized by their victims.

The song began again, tempo might have changed but still had a beat. The melody and the chorus were certainly familiar, a little stilted doctrinaire almost. The lyrics, home again, home again.

• The cafeteria ladies are stealing black culture by preparing foods that kinda sorta resemble soul food, but isn’t.  This is some kind of cultural genocide or something.
• The dorms have white people!
• The school expects black students to attend class and take tests and pass.
• White people are shooting black thugs.  This is encouraging black people to shoot black thugs.  Thugs just trying to provide for babies mama.

The truth is the cafeteria ladies are stealing from every culture, to the credit of none.  That being said, the food is safe, palatable and even the most jaded palate can find something to eat.  Not all meals come in a readily identifiable box.

Segregation is over and has been.  Integration has not been fully implemented because some segments of society choose to isolate themselves in cultural enclaves that restricts their ability to interact with society in general.  The crack dealers I used to investigate used girlfriends and babies mamas to rent cars and motel rooms.  At first I thought that this was a security measure to disguise their interest in the room or car.  I found out that these swaggering, life taking bad asses didn’t have confidence in their ability to carry out a simple car rental or room rental.

High school didn’t prepare these students for college.  Colleges have reduced entry level standards in order to hit a magic recruiting ratio. The students caught in this situation find themselves overwhelmed, over recruited and under prepared.

In the final stoke of duplicity that Joe Colombo could appreciate, the whole movement is built on a false premise.  The college core protesting black treatment at college and the failed college experience are sexually ambiguous, trans, gay, lesbians of color trying to extend the civil rights cause to their cause. Since so much of the civil rights movement had its genesis in black churches there is a refusal to equate confused sexuality to civil rights causes. So, cue the dead black thug a civil rights cause.  Course even Al Sharpton figured out some martyrs are more attractive than others.

In March 2016, alone I have commented on six violent situations involving black males.

• There was a guy that walked into a liquor store and announced a robbery as casually as you or I would order milk.   He ended up Dead Right There (DRT).
• Des Plaines two teens attempted a robbery, the clerk chased them out of the store firing with every step. The police caught them this was their sixth armed robbery.
• Miami, teen burglar shot and killed by homeowner.  Sister defended him,”how else was he supposed to get his money?”
• Salt Lake City, two guys beating a third with broom sticks, disregarded officers command to stop.  Couldn’t disregard subsequent gun fire, thug DRT.
• San Antonio, wanted felon failed to follow officer’s instructions, officer mistook cell phone for gun.  One wanted felon DRT.

In the end it doesn’t matter whether it is the Italian-American Civil Rights League or Black Lives Matter both are formed on a false premise. No racial or ethnic group holds the high ground, nor is condemned to remain the dregs of society.  One of the keys to admittance to an equal place at the table is to strive constantly for the betterment of the family, the neighborhood and society. I believe that Hillary got it wrong when she said, “It takes a village.”  This is one change that starts at the bottom and works up.  It takes a family to say to the black sheep, your behavior is unacceptable, don’t come back until it improves. It takes a neighborhood, then a parish and then a village to see that the message remains firm and on track.

I have included posts written at the time, describing the Hijacking of the BLM movement and disconnect with Mizzou.

 

Marginal Students, Attending Marginal Educational Programs, Feel Marginalized