Travor Martin/Zimmerman...Tulsa Shootings...Rev Al Sharpton
Like everyone else in the world, I have an opinion on this, too. On the Martin/Zimmerman case, the "trial" has already been conducted in the media, the mob stirred up and the rope is already strung over the tree branch. I cannot see how an impartial jury can be selected anywhere.
I believe in the jury system, I 've sat on three juries. Evidence from both sides and judge's instructions, uninfluenced from outside forces can often cast a different light on the circumstances the public sees in the media. (On one of the juries, the defense tried to plant two jurors in the pool to sway the opinion, at least to hang the verdict. Even then, it didn't work.)
I believe in the justice system...we will see what happens on the other end, if it happens. Bill Cosby has been the voice of moderation in all things involving race in our society. I listened to him involving the OJ Simpson trial and his speech to a black college graduation. He weighs heavily on my conscience.
As to the Rev Al Sharpton, I wish there was more light and less heat in his speeches, writings and rants. His attempts to walk in the ways of Rev King are so far only footprints in the blowing dust.
Now comes the Tulsa shootings: I lived in Tulsa for years. I hated the place.
There is no doubt in my mind the shootings were racially motivated. I was the manager of one of the hotels at the Tulsa Airport and during that time got to know many of the locals, white and black. It is my opinion that Black people in Tulsa are some of the most intelligent, refined folks in the state, followed closely behind by the five civilized Tribes of Indians. At one point in our history, Oklahoma was one vote away from being the first black state in America? Tulsa was the home of the largest Race Riot in American history: it was in the early 1920's in north Tulsa. The black community had established an area of business and finance called " Black Wall Street." A thriving community, with well-off, financially accomplished black folks doing quite well. Downtown Tulsa was mostly white, and there erupted violence against the northern Tulsa Black community and wholesale bloodshed broke out and the Guard was called in to stop it. The community never recovered. Investigations proved it was provoked by false allegations from a few hotheads in the white community. Much like the shooters today, now under arrest.
This has NOT been reported in todays news
If you are NEW in Tulsa, and you don't have an accent, the first two questions they ask you are - 1. Where you from? and 2. Do you like us yet?
The racism isn't below the surface in Tulsa, it is right there in the churches, along the street, restaurants, in businesses, living and breathing.
" They sent us another damn Yankee Carpet Bagger down here to run our bidness, dahlin' " over heard in a restaurant next table to my late wife and I.
" Why, Sally, you brought a Yankee into my home," a hostess decried, not out of Gone With The Wind, but at a dinner party my wife and I attended 15 years ago in Tulsa. " We only hire the dark people as servants here in our home," she later explained.
Confederate flags hang everywhere in the poorer neighborhoods in Oklahoma, and across the state line in Arkansas, a "spittin' distance away, on nearly every car, house window and shotgun rack.
And, you thought it was only in movies. A black friend once said, " I don't know what's going to cure all this, but I know hate isn't the answer."
Ghandi and Martin Luther King, I think, were right: non-violence and love.
###
I believe in the jury system, I 've sat on three juries. Evidence from both sides and judge's instructions, uninfluenced from outside forces can often cast a different light on the circumstances the public sees in the media. (On one of the juries, the defense tried to plant two jurors in the pool to sway the opinion, at least to hang the verdict. Even then, it didn't work.)
I believe in the justice system...we will see what happens on the other end, if it happens. Bill Cosby has been the voice of moderation in all things involving race in our society. I listened to him involving the OJ Simpson trial and his speech to a black college graduation. He weighs heavily on my conscience.
As to the Rev Al Sharpton, I wish there was more light and less heat in his speeches, writings and rants. His attempts to walk in the ways of Rev King are so far only footprints in the blowing dust.
Now comes the Tulsa shootings: I lived in Tulsa for years. I hated the place.
There is no doubt in my mind the shootings were racially motivated. I was the manager of one of the hotels at the Tulsa Airport and during that time got to know many of the locals, white and black. It is my opinion that Black people in Tulsa are some of the most intelligent, refined folks in the state, followed closely behind by the five civilized Tribes of Indians. At one point in our history, Oklahoma was one vote away from being the first black state in America? Tulsa was the home of the largest Race Riot in American history: it was in the early 1920's in north Tulsa. The black community had established an area of business and finance called " Black Wall Street." A thriving community, with well-off, financially accomplished black folks doing quite well. Downtown Tulsa was mostly white, and there erupted violence against the northern Tulsa Black community and wholesale bloodshed broke out and the Guard was called in to stop it. The community never recovered. Investigations proved it was provoked by false allegations from a few hotheads in the white community. Much like the shooters today, now under arrest.
This has NOT been reported in todays news
If you are NEW in Tulsa, and you don't have an accent, the first two questions they ask you are - 1. Where you from? and 2. Do you like us yet?
The racism isn't below the surface in Tulsa, it is right there in the churches, along the street, restaurants, in businesses, living and breathing.
" They sent us another damn Yankee Carpet Bagger down here to run our bidness, dahlin' " over heard in a restaurant next table to my late wife and I.
" Why, Sally, you brought a Yankee into my home," a hostess decried, not out of Gone With The Wind, but at a dinner party my wife and I attended 15 years ago in Tulsa. " We only hire the dark people as servants here in our home," she later explained.
Confederate flags hang everywhere in the poorer neighborhoods in Oklahoma, and across the state line in Arkansas, a "spittin' distance away, on nearly every car, house window and shotgun rack.
And, you thought it was only in movies. A black friend once said, " I don't know what's going to cure all this, but I know hate isn't the answer."
Ghandi and Martin Luther King, I think, were right: non-violence and love.
###
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