So it’s Christmas Eve, a time when we are supposed to have good will toward one another and spread peace. Sadly there is much turmoil across the land. First we have in Houston, Texas a Grand Jury decided NOT to charge a Houston police officer named Juventino Castro who shot and killed an unarmed man named Jordan Baker earlier this year..
Castro who was off duty at the time, but in uniform saw Baker riding his bike and mistook him for wearing a hoodie. He said Baker fit the description of a robbery suspect. He said when he approached Jordan, he ran away and then turned around and charged the officer
Jordan Baker
while reaching in his waist band.
Castro said he feared for his life and was left with no choice but to shoot Baker. The Grand Jury saw no crime was committed even though Jordan was unarmed and had committed no crime. Read about that HERE.
While this was happening, New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio asked that people protesting police violence take a break out of respect for the officers who were slain the other day. He wanted folks to chill after the police union leader Patrick Lynch along with former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Congressman Peter King all blamed protestors for the death of the two officers.
They blamed protestors for creating a hostile environment for police and even though the person who shot the police was said to have mental issues and had shot his girlfriend in Baltimore, hours prior to ambushing police in NY. They blamed protestors even though to our knowledge the assailant was never an organizer or main participant in past marches and demonstrations in NYC, yet, he was still connected to this tragedy thus prompting folks like Mayor DeBlasio to call for a everyone to stop demonstrating..
Fortunately folks did demonstrate and had a lot of folks come out and shut down 5th Avenue which is a main high-end shopping thoroughfare in NYC, but mainstream media pounded away the narrative that demonstrators were somehow disrespectful to fallen cops by continuing to protest..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsD58rn8_fE
In Los Angeles, video tape surfaced of cops singing a song celebrating the death of Michael Brown.. It was song sung to the tune of ‘Bad Bad Leroy Brown‘ with obscene lyrics disparaging Brown and celebrating his death.. TMZ managed to get a copy and post it for the world to see..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEHVJCl1_2Y
Zander Andreas
In San Francisco folks had gotten word from Alicia Garza about the owner of the popular Boom Boom Room which has showcased lots of Black artists that the owner Zander Andreas had posted on his Facebook page that the death of the two officers was because of Al Sharpton, the Congressional Black Caucus, President Obama and demonstrators.
He said Mike Brown and Eric Garner brought about their own deaths because they broke the laws..He said folks need to follow the rules of society.. Thankfully Boots Riley of the Coup lit into this clown as other artists from all over are gearing up to address this issue.. The Boom Boom Room was scheduled to host some big Freedom Festival…We’ll let you know how things unfold..
While this was playing out in the Bay Area, we got word about the shooting of Antonio Martin in Berkeley, Mo which is 2 miles away from Ferguson.. Watching the U stream feed last night was heart wrenching as folks showed up en masse with conflicting stories circulating.. The police said he had a gun and pulled it on them after being stopped in what is known as a Pedestrian Check which is like Stop and Frisk.. According to police Martin pulled out a gun and tried to shoot them. Police feared for their life and killed him..
His mom came to the scene and was not allowed to comfort her son.. Police claim the crime scene would’ve been damaged. Folks on the scene claim Martin had no gun and was still alive.. Police say he was dead on the spot. We do know he was left there for more than 2 hours..We saw flash grenades and tasers used against a crowd that has had enough..Shout out to all the women who were really holding down that front line last night.. They are fearless.
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/56842484
Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream
Lots of stuff going on including Iggy Azalea the queen of Hip Hop telling all of us to step the hell back and that those critiquing her like Azalea Banks are bigots and jealous..She has a bevy of Black male artists like TI riding for her..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFDS-VEEl6w