Police Steal Summer Jobs from Black Youth

The municipal giveaways to the Rand Corp. could have been better spent hiring youth for this summer. Instead, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly chose to engage in a public relations gimmick after the assassination of Sean Bell and the critical wounding of Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman.
Thousands of Black youth will go unemployed this summer while executives of the Rand Corp will be cooling their heels in exotic places thanks to the generosity of New York City. Of course, we have not heard a peep from Black spokespersons and media hogs who are eating at Bloomberg’s trough.
Summer employment would have been of great benefit to Black children during this period of galloping inflation and selective recession. A summer paycheck could be a bridge over troubled waters and could supplement the family budget. Summer employment also militates against the saying that “an idle mind is a devil’s workshop.”
Since this is a plutocracy, Bloomberg has no feelings for the poor. Similarly, his buddy, Eliot Spitzer is establishing a vulture fund to suck the poor’s blood. It goes to show that “you cannot teach an old dog new tricks.” He has gone from politics to economics. The next mayor of New York City must be a person of African ancestry. Time is of the essence and 2009 is right around the corner. In the meantime, postcards should flood Bloomberg’s office: “Black children need summer jobs.”
The Rand Corp’s report concerning the assassination of Sean Bell is a non sequitur. He died in a fusillade of bullets initiated by a death squad of the New York Police Department without probable cause or reasonable suspicion.
The recommendation was for the police to equip themselves with Taser guns to initiate a summary execution without any semblance of due process. The Taser gun is a deadly weapon and it can kill a person who has not digested cocaine.
Apparently, the Rand Corp. was unaware of the crime scene in Sean Bell et. al. The three civilian occupants of the vehicle would have been shielded from any electricity emitted by a Taser gun. Since those men were unarmed and not involved in any criminal conduct, the use of any weapon would have been unauthorized.
Under the guise of stopping police terrorism, New York City has paid for a report which will actually expand the incidents of terrorism. For example, the Rand Corp. has carved out a new niche for justifying a police homicide; that is, “reflexive shooting” or contagious shooting.
In short, Black people are financing or endorsing their own oppression through municipal finance or through the ballot box. The legal precedents for “reflexive shooting” are Amadou Diallo and Sean Bell. The doctrine of stare decisis rules the judicial roost.
The report failed to address the question of racism or racial disparities affecting the deaths of the victims of police terrorism. Blacks can take judicial notice that whites are virtually never confronted by police officers absent probable cause and are rarely shot even when they threaten the lives of police officers.
The Rand Corp is playing on Black gullibility and the inability of Blacks to engage in critical thinking and to detect a fallacy. Racism and self-hatred coupled with the use of semi-automatic, high-powered weapons killed Sean Bell. A racist criminal justice system acquitted the assassins.
The report of the Rand Corp. failed to address any of these issues. Racism is a staple of the New York Police Department. The NYPD was established in the 1840’s to keep newly-emancipated Blacks in check. Its personnel included Irish immigrants who were competing with Blacks for jobs.
Similarly, a report from a group of Black selected officials dubbed “New York State Tri-Level Legislative Task Force” was also worthless. It recommended drug and alcohol testing as a remedy for the Sean Bell assassination. No proposals were made for legislative reforms in the prosecution and conviction of police officers.
In the meantime, the mayor has submitted his budget which should be causing conniptions in the Black colony. Unfortunately, everything is quiet on the home front even though Bloomberg is calling for massive educational cuts after he has disenfranchised the city’s residents on educational issues.
You will not be able to hear Rev. Al Sharpton demanding summer jobs for Black children. The Washington Post (June 12, 2008) described Sharpton as having “close political ties to [Joel] Klein’s boss, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.” Remember Sharpton on November 27, 2006 at City Hall serving two masters? Who won and who lost?
Sharpton was in D.C. to publicize his “joint venture” with Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and to show support for DC Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee who has been accused by the Black community in D.C. of firing hundreds of Black principals and teachers without any semblance of due process.
She is Asian with virtually no experience in urban education. “Chocolate City” is the wrong place to start on-the-job training. D.C. is using the Bloomberg model to cripple Black children. Sharpton and Klein are engaged in a protections racket.
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown’s budget is also up for review by the New York City Council. If the Black selected officials were actually angry over the miscarriage of justice in Sean Bell et. al., they would be calling for municipal hearings and Brown would be the key witness at City Hall.
His office mishandled the prosecution of People v. Michael Oliver et. al and heads should roll. He should not be able to sail through the budgeting process with flying colors. This is the time for Blacks to be inside City Hall and not in a Queens park yelling. “No justice! No peace!”
Maybe I am the only angry Black person in this city. It is hard to hear anything coming from the pulpit or the amen corner. “An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” We must have the intellect and the compassion to connect the dots.
It was refreshing for me not to find New York City Councilman Charles Barron’s name anywhere on the “Report” from the New York State Tri-Level Legislative Task Force. Unlike the members of this task force, Barron has a history of combating police terrorism.
Integrity seems to be in short supply among Black leaders. Barron is the lonely exception to this vote. We should show up by the thousands on Juneteenth (June 19th) at City Hall at 6:00 p.m. to show our love, and express our support to the world, for his commitment to African liberation.