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Willie Louis, witness to Emmett Till lynching, dies in Illinois at 76
***Today would have been Emmett Till’s 72 birthday. RIP. ~SB***
Sometimes, the boss really is a psycho
BurnsSimpson (Photo credit: trackrecord)
By Allison Linn
The bully, the narcissist, the know-it-all, even the psychopath.
We may not like them, or want our children to be like them. But chances are, almost everyone who has worked long enough has a horror story about a superior who generally behaved like Homer Simpson’s boss, Mr. Charles Montgomery “Monty” Burns.
A growing number of researchers are looking into what makes a real-life Mr. Burns, and what they are finding isn’t always pretty.
“There are whole climates and cultures of abuse in the workplace,” said Darren Treadway, an associate professor at the University at Buffalo School of Management. His recent research looks at why bullies are able to persist, and sometimes even thrive, at work.
He said many people have either seen or experienced bullying at work because some bullies are skilled enough to figure out who they can abuse to get ahead, and who they can charm to get away with it.
“The successful ones are very, very socially skilled,” he said. “They’re capable of disguising their behavior.”
Both popular culture and real life are rife with examples of alleged bullying. Just this week, San Diego Mayor Bob Filner was accused by his communications director, Irene McCormack Jackson, of harassment including dragging her around in a headlock and whispering sexual advances. Filner has rejected the claims.
Read More Sometimes, the boss really is a psycho – TODAY.com.
For 200 Hours And Counting, Sit-In At Florida Capitol Demands Stand Your Ground Repeal
By Rebecca Leber
Dream Defenders (courtsy: miami.cbslocal.com)
For more than eight days, a group of activists and students organized by the Dream Defenders have occupied the Florida Capitol, right outside Florida Governor Rick Scott’s (R) office. The activists say they plan to occupy the Capitol until the governor calls a special session to review the state’s Stand Your Ground law, racial profiling, and the school-to-prison pipeline, and consider what they call the Trayvon Martin Act. But after meeting with the protesters last week, Scott announced he has no intention to review Stand Your Ground, which played a role in jury deliberations that led to George Zimmerman’s acquittal.
“That’s very disappointing on our part,” Dream Defenders legal and policy director Ahmad Abuznaid told ThinkProgress. “We are attempting to get Governor Rick Scott and the state leadership here to be real leaders and so far they have not stepped up to the plate. So far, we have decided to hold our own legislative session to show them how it’s done.”
Next Tuesday, Dream Defenders plan mock legislative sessions where civic leaders and juvenile experts will weigh the pros and cons of Trayvon’s law.
Their support is only building. From the sit-in’s first days of around 30 protesters, the number has grown to between 60 to 100 participants at peak times, according to Abuznaid. Now, they are attracting national attention, as groups from Baltimore, Philly, and New York, as well as Florida Democrats, bring supporters and supplies.
One of Dream Defenders’ main goals is to repeal Stand Your Ground, which worsens the effects of racial bias in criminal justice. For example, white defendants who shot a black person and invoked Stand Your Ground were 11 times more likely to go unpunished as black defendants who shot a white person.
From the Deep South to the Midwest, a Generation Demands Justice
1. Dream Defenders Occupy the Florida Capitol
On Saturday, July 13, George Zimmerman was found not guilty. This was the moment Florida showed the world that it does not care about its youth, especially young black and brown people. If neighborhood watch vigilantes are given the license to kill, what instructions are given to black and brown youth such as me? How do I stand my ground when I feel threatened? Am I not allowed to defend myself? Dream Defenders have been joined by community members and students from Jacksonville, Gainesville, Orlando, Miami, FAMU, FSU, UF, FAU and UCF, as well as the Advancement Project, Power U and USSA. We are occupying the state capitol until Governor Rick Scott meets our demand to convene a special session of the legislature. During this session, we want a new Trayvon Martin Civil Rights Act to be passed. It will focus on the Stand Your Ground law, racial profiling and the war on youth. This is deeper than just the Zimmerman murder case. This is a movement to unravel the system that allowed Trayvon to be criminalized, profiled and killed in the first place. We will stay in the capitol until the governor meets our demands. We have gotten support from across the country and around the world. This is what the student movement looks like.
—Melanie Andrade
2. Black Youth Strategize in Chicago
Black Youth Project 100 is a group of 100 young black activists from across the country convened by the Black Youth Project to mobilize communities of color beyond electoral politics. As we convened for our first Beyond November Movement gathering, we collectively mourned over the Zimmerman trial verdict and produced this video response to affirm the humanity of black life. We are committed to connecting the tragic loss of Travyon Martin and this recent miscarriage of justice in Florida to countless other examples of American systemic racism and injustice. Moving forward, we will be mobilizing a black youth contingency to attend the commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the March on Washington and offering civic engagement training to young people. We are organizing local chapters to build political power nationwide while simultaneously supporting the efforts of other youth-led organizations such as Dream Defenders. As stated in our video, we see the hopelessness of a generation that has been broken trying to find its place in this world, and we understand that we need to turn anger into action and pain into power.
—Rahiel Tesfamariam
Read More From the Deep South to the Midwest, a Generation Demands Justice | The Nation.
ANALYSIS: Is Anyone Black Enough for Cornel West?
Is anyone black enough for Cornel West?
Not only is West criticizing President Barack Obama at every turn, but now, for reasons that are unclear, West has taken aim at MSNBC, calling it a “Rent-A-Negro” network and then criticizing Rev. Al Sharpton for being on the “Obama plantation.”
“I think that it’s been decrepit though, brother. I mean, you get a focus on some of the upper middle class folk. I mean, what I call the ‘rent-a-negro’ phenomenon on MSNBC…’” West told his sidekick, Tavis Smiley, this week on Smiley’s radio program.
So every black person who appears on MSNBC is not a legitimate African American? Melissa Harris-Perry is a Rent-a-Negro? Eugene Robinson is a Rent-a-Negro? Karen Finney is a Rent-a-Negro? Sharpton is a Rent-a-Negro?
West, a former Princeton University professor, also complained that Sharpton is on “the Obama plantation”, which keeps Sharpton from criticizing Obama and Attorney General…
View original post 729 more words
The Evil New ‘Stand Your Ground’ Law That Made the Killing of Trayvon Martin Permissible
By Thom Hartmann
Trayvon Martin shooting protest (Photo credit: david_shankbone)
Why were Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman judged by different standards?
Ever since a Seminole County, Florida jury found George Zimmerman not guilty on Saturday night of murdering Trayvon Martin, many commentators in the mainstream media have made a special effort to point out that Florida’s “Stand Your Ground and Shoot First” law played no role whatsoever in Zimmerman’s acquittal.
Here, for example, is a clip – cut courtesy of Media Matters – of CNN’s Chris Cuomo dismissing Stand Your Ground’s impact on the case during a Sunday broadcast, less than a day after the jury announced its verdict.
Chris is just wrong. “Stand Your Ground” isn’t some stand-alone law, it’s a complete modification of Florida’s rules governing the use of deadly force for self-defense. As a result, it played an essential role in the Zimmerman trial. In fact, it created two different standards by which the six jurors judged both George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin.
As former Florida Secretary of State Dan Gelber has pointed out, pre-Jeb Bush, pre- Koch Brothers, and pre-ALEC Florida law would have required the following instructions to be read to a jury in a self-defense murder trial:
“The defendant [George Zimmerman] cannot justify the use of force likely to cause death or great bodily harm unless he used every reasonable means within his power and consistent with his own safety to avoid the danger before resorting to that force. The fact that the defendant [George Zimmerman] was wrongfully attacked cannot justify his use of force likely to cause death or great bodily harm if by retreating he could have avoided the need to use that force.”
Read More The Evil New ‘Stand Your Ground’ Law That Made the Killing of Trayvon Martin Permissible | Alternet.
Door-to-door postal service, Sat. delivery a step closer to getting axe
By Gary Strauss
United States Postal Service, Ford Windstar Minivan (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Door-to-door service and Saturday mail delivery, long hallmarks of the U.S. Postal Service, are a step closer to being phased out.The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Wednesday approved a measure that would end door-to-door delivery to 37 million residences and businesses and Saturday mail service to more than 150 million homes and businesses.Ending door-to-door delivery — which will force millions to get mail at curbside boxes or neighborhood cluster boxes by 2022 — would save up to $4.5 billion annually, said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. Ending Saturday service — a proposal that was met with widespread criticism when it was first proposed in 2012 — could save an additional $2 billion a year.”A balanced approach to saving the Postal Service means allowing USPS to adapt to America’s changing use of mail,” said Issa, the bill’s sponsor and chairman of the committee. “Done right, these reforms can improve the customer experience through a more efficient Postal Service.”
Read More Door-to-door postal service, Sat. delivery a step closer to getting axe.
After Years Of Violence, L.A.’s Watts Sees Crime Subside
Watts Towers (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
By Kirk Siegler
On most weeknights, in the middle of his shift, Los Angeles police officer Keith Mott trades his gun and uniform for a T-shirt and shorts and heads to a park in the Watts neighborhood of South Los Angeles. He’s there to coach seven- and eight-year-old boys on the Pop Warner Pee Wee football team, the Watts Bears. The kids come from three nearby housing projects: Jordan Downs, Nickerson Gardens and Imperial Courts. The park was carefully chosen. It’s a neutral site for local gangs. Otherwise, most of the Bears’ parents wouldn’t allow them to come and play. Since the 1960s, the Watts neighborhood of South Los Angeles has been synonymous with gang violence and racial tension. Combative relations between police and members of the community have long been the norm. Lately, there’s been some improvement. Violent crime has dropped by almost 50 percent in three of Watts’ toughest housing projects. There’s been only one homicide there in the past two years. It’s a dramatic turnaround — one that’s explained in part by proactive efforts by community leaders and changes within the Los Angeles Police Department. “Even some of the parents who have come out here … they’ve talked to us, and they’ve told us, ‘You know, the idea of me standing next to a police officer, [after]%
Read More After Years Of Violence, L.A.’s Watts Sees Crime Subside : Code Switch : NPR.
soulbrotherspeaks.com 
Why Trayvon Martin’s Murder is Personal – and Why We Need to Keep Talking About It
By Clabouvier
My little brother, Clinton Robexar (pronounced “Ro-bear”) Allen was shot 7 times, unarmed, by Clark Staller, a police officer within the Dallas Police Department on March 10, 2013. He was 25. This was literally our worst nightmare come true. My brother is Black, tall – 6’1’’ and a former linebacker with tattoos. We feared those things not because my brother is or was a violent person, but because of how the wrong White person would perceive him, organize fear in his mind and the tragedy that might follow. They would not know that my brother’s tattoos were the names of family members and a pink ribbon to commemorate our mother winning her fight against breast cancer. They wouldn’t know that Clinton was the baby of the family and so absolutely lovable that everyone, from family members to schoolmates called him, “Big Baby”. Speaking of babies, Clinton has two twin boys who are only 19 months old.
How did I feel watching six women, Southern, most of them White and full of White privilege letting George Zimmerman walk? I threw up. Not metaphorically. Very literally. I vomited whatever I had eaten two days prior. I sobbed until I was exhausted. I got the news sitting at Clinton’s grave and just moaned, “It’s so unfair!Why? Why do some White people hate us that much, value us so little?” Everyone in my family was just broken about the verdict. We didn’t eat for two days. And the comments from juror B-57 just made me sick. “George’s heart was in the right place.” I wanted to say, “What about Trayvon’s heart – you know, the one, George blasted through?” George Zimmerman, a man whose ex-fiancée filed a restraining order against him, has been accused by a cousin of sexually molesting her for 10 years, a man who called the police 46 times in 2 years to report, amongst other things, children (Black presumably) playing in the street, still, somehow warranted enough compassion from her that he was “George”. A person. Trayvon, a 17 year old kid, with dreams of being an engineer, college and his junior prom ahead of him was just a “boy of color.”
Read More Daily Kos: Why Trayvon Martin’s Murder is Personal – and Why We Need to Keep Talking About It.