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EffieBlack
EffieBlack's Journal
EffieBlack's Journal
June 23, 2020
Starbucks Revisited: Any changed minds?
A little over two years ago, here was quite the heated back and forth on DU over the incident in which the manager of a Starbucks called the police on a young black man whom she said refused to leave after she ordered him out of the shop because he sat down without buying anything. The police arrived and handcuffed, arrested and too him to jail, even though other patrons begged them to leave him alone and some white customers said they hadn’t bought anything, either.
Many DUers said this was yet another example of how black men are treated as criminals while other DUers defended the manager and officers and insisted they were simply enforcing store policy and the law and race had nothing to do with it.
I’m curious if, given all that’s happened in the past couple of years, if anyone has changed their mind about this incident since it occurred two years ago,.
Philadelphia Starbucks Arrests, Outrageous to Some, Are Everyday Life for Others
But to some black Philadelphia residents who venture into Rittenhouse Square, the neighborhood where it happened, the treatment depicted in the video was a frustrating reality of everyday life.
Christian Hayden, 30, recalled a security guard searching his bags as he left a nearby Barnes & Noble. The guard found his copy of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s memoir “The Beautiful Struggle,” and would not let him leave until the staff had checked the shelves to make sure no copy had been stolen.
Trevor Johnson, 27, a bike courier, recalled being arrested in the square four years ago after an officer asked him to turn off his music and he got up to walk away. And earlier this year, Michele Bradshaw, 49, said she left a Nordstrom Rack not far from the Starbucks after she noticed a security guard following her through the aisles of clothing.
In fact, statistics show that Rittenhouse Square, with its hotels, boutique museums and upscale shops, has the highest racial disparity in the city when it comes to police pedestrian stops. Although black people account for just 3 percent of the residents in that police subdistrict, they made up two-thirds of the people stopped by the police in the first half of 2017, according to figures collected by the American Civil Liberties Union.
...
The eight-minute video clip of the encounter shows three officers in bicycle helmets standing around two black men, who were sitting and calmly responding to the officers’ questions. ... A few minutes go by, with the officers and the men continuing to exchange words, when a white man who was supposed to meet the men showed up. He began arguing with the officers, saying that they were discriminating against the two black men. Eventually, the white man said they would just go somewhere else, but the officer responded, “They’re not free to leave,” adding that they had already failed to comply.
...
Ronal Serpas, a former police chief in New Orleans and Nashville, said it was “troublesome that an arrest occurred,” given the tremendous discretion officers have to handle such situations. “Using every available alternative to a physical arrest, within department policy, should be the goal in a case like this,” said Mr. Serpas, who is now a professor at Loyola University New Orleans.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/17/us/starbucks-arrest-philadelphia.html
But to some black Philadelphia residents who venture into Rittenhouse Square, the neighborhood where it happened, the treatment depicted in the video was a frustrating reality of everyday life.
Christian Hayden, 30, recalled a security guard searching his bags as he left a nearby Barnes & Noble. The guard found his copy of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s memoir “The Beautiful Struggle,” and would not let him leave until the staff had checked the shelves to make sure no copy had been stolen.
Trevor Johnson, 27, a bike courier, recalled being arrested in the square four years ago after an officer asked him to turn off his music and he got up to walk away. And earlier this year, Michele Bradshaw, 49, said she left a Nordstrom Rack not far from the Starbucks after she noticed a security guard following her through the aisles of clothing.
In fact, statistics show that Rittenhouse Square, with its hotels, boutique museums and upscale shops, has the highest racial disparity in the city when it comes to police pedestrian stops. Although black people account for just 3 percent of the residents in that police subdistrict, they made up two-thirds of the people stopped by the police in the first half of 2017, according to figures collected by the American Civil Liberties Union.
...
The eight-minute video clip of the encounter shows three officers in bicycle helmets standing around two black men, who were sitting and calmly responding to the officers’ questions. ... A few minutes go by, with the officers and the men continuing to exchange words, when a white man who was supposed to meet the men showed up. He began arguing with the officers, saying that they were discriminating against the two black men. Eventually, the white man said they would just go somewhere else, but the officer responded, “They’re not free to leave,” adding that they had already failed to comply.
...
Ronal Serpas, a former police chief in New Orleans and Nashville, said it was “troublesome that an arrest occurred,” given the tremendous discretion officers have to handle such situations. “Using every available alternative to a physical arrest, within department policy, should be the goal in a case like this,” said Mr. Serpas, who is now a professor at Loyola University New Orleans.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/17/us/starbucks-arrest-philadelphia.html
June 15, 2020
"The Judiciary branch is strong and WE. WILL. HOLD"
A few weeks ago, a dear old friend, a Republican-appointed federal judge, trying to console me during a moment of despair about the future of our country, said to me “The Judiciary branch is strong and will hold.” When I expressed skepticism, he leaned toward me, looked me dead in the eye, and said as firmly as he could without shouting: “We are strong and WE. WILL. HOLD.”
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212113242
Once again, my friend is proven right ... The courts ARE holding
"The Judiciary branch is strong and WE. WILL. HOLD"
A few weeks ago, a dear old friend, a Republican-appointed federal judge, trying to console me during a moment of despair about the future of our country, said to me “The Judiciary branch is strong and will hold.” When I expressed skepticism, he leaned toward me, looked me dead in the eye, and said as firmly as he could without shouting: “We are strong and WE. WILL. HOLD.”
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212113242
November 25, 2019
"The Judiciary branch is strong and WE. WILL. HOLD"
A few weeks ago, a dear old friend, a Republican-appointed federal judge, trying to console me during a moment of despair about the future of our country, said to me “The Judiciary branch is strong and will hold.” When I expressed skepticism, he leaned toward me, looked me dead in the eye, and said as firmly as he could without shouting: “We are strong and WE. WILL. HOLD.”
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212113242
So far, my friend's been right: The judiciary IS holding!
"The Judiciary branch is strong and WE. WILL. HOLD"
A few weeks ago, a dear old friend, a Republican-appointed federal judge, trying to console me during a moment of despair about the future of our country, said to me “The Judiciary branch is strong and will hold.” When I expressed skepticism, he leaned toward me, looked me dead in the eye, and said as firmly as he could without shouting: “We are strong and WE. WILL. HOLD.”
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212113242
October 26, 2019
NYT: Biden's spending more than he's raising
What’s up with that?
https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1188083247789596674
October 25, 2019
"The Judiciary branch is strong and WE. WILL. HOLD"
A few weeks ago, a dear old friend, a Republican-appointed federal judge, trying to console me during a moment of despair about the future of our country, said to me “The Judiciary branch is strong and will hold.” When I expressed skepticism, he leaned toward me, looked me dead in the eye, and said as firmly as he could without shouting: “We are strong and WE. WILL. HOLD.”
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212113242
Blast from the past: "The Judiciary branch is strong and WE. WILL. HOLD"
I posted this several months ago.
I'm glad to see that, so far, my friend has been right.
"The Judiciary branch is strong and WE. WILL. HOLD"
A few weeks ago, a dear old friend, a Republican-appointed federal judge, trying to console me during a moment of despair about the future of our country, said to me “The Judiciary branch is strong and will hold.” When I expressed skepticism, he leaned toward me, looked me dead in the eye, and said as firmly as he could without shouting: “We are strong and WE. WILL. HOLD.”
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212113242
October 22, 2019
If Russia will interfere in 2020, it's not crazy to think they'd try to split the Democratic vote
by getting one of our own to run as a third party candidate.
And if that’s a possibility, why is it so hard to accept that a candidate whom they’ve actively supported, who won’t disavow that support, who uses Trump’s talking points to go after the right wing’s ultimate boogeywoman and regularly accuses the Democratic Party of “rigging” elections is the person they have their eyes on?
If the Russians are targeting us through the party, how else would they do it and what evidence have we seen that they’re doing it this other way. If that’s not what they have in mind, how else to explain their interest in one and only one Dem in the field?
October 17, 2019
https://twitter.com/briantylercohen/status/1184625169760841728
Pelosi now owns Trump Tower and Melania is her wife
https://twitter.com/briantylercohen/status/1184625169760841728
September 29, 2019
One reason black folk be staying mad all the time ...
https://twitter.com/zerlinamaxwell/status/1178308909032968194
September 16, 2019
Charles Blow: Joe Biden Is Problematic
Joe Biden Is Problematic
No amount of growth or good intentions will change this fact.
All five of these things are simultaneously true:
Joe Biden is the Democratic front-runner and may well be the nominee. He is by far the favorite candidate among black voters. He was a loyal vice president to Barack Obama, and the two men seem to have shared a deep and true friendship. He, like the other Democratic candidates, would be a vast improvement over Donald Trump.
And, Biden’s positioning on racial issues has been problematic.
...
Biden could have taken responsibility for his comments and addressed the question directly, but he didn’t. Instead, he gave a rambling, nonsensical answer that included a reference to a record player. But, the response ended in yet another racial offense in which he seemed to suggest that black people lack the natural capacity to be good parents
...
His language belies a particular mind-set, one of a liberal of a particular vintage. On the issue of race, it is paternalistic and it pities, it sees deficiency in much the same way that the conservative does, but it responds as savior rather than with savagery. Better the former than the latter, surely, but the sensibility underlying the two positions is shockingly similar. It underscores that liberalism does not perfectly align with racial egalitarianism, regardless of rhetoric to the contrary.
...
Furthermore, it’s not what Biden says in prepared remarks that’s problematic, it’s what he says off the cuff and under pressure that to me reveal an antiquated view on racial matters and racial sensitivities.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/15/opinion/joe-biden.html
No amount of growth or good intentions will change this fact.
All five of these things are simultaneously true:
Joe Biden is the Democratic front-runner and may well be the nominee. He is by far the favorite candidate among black voters. He was a loyal vice president to Barack Obama, and the two men seem to have shared a deep and true friendship. He, like the other Democratic candidates, would be a vast improvement over Donald Trump.
And, Biden’s positioning on racial issues has been problematic.
...
Biden could have taken responsibility for his comments and addressed the question directly, but he didn’t. Instead, he gave a rambling, nonsensical answer that included a reference to a record player. But, the response ended in yet another racial offense in which he seemed to suggest that black people lack the natural capacity to be good parents
...
His language belies a particular mind-set, one of a liberal of a particular vintage. On the issue of race, it is paternalistic and it pities, it sees deficiency in much the same way that the conservative does, but it responds as savior rather than with savagery. Better the former than the latter, surely, but the sensibility underlying the two positions is shockingly similar. It underscores that liberalism does not perfectly align with racial egalitarianism, regardless of rhetoric to the contrary.
...
Furthermore, it’s not what Biden says in prepared remarks that’s problematic, it’s what he says off the cuff and under pressure that to me reveal an antiquated view on racial matters and racial sensitivities.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/15/opinion/joe-biden.html
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Member since: Sat Feb 3, 2007, 12:43 AMNumber of posts: 14,249