The Sable Verity

July 17 Update 11:08AM- I am posting this update because of the similarities to the Paroline case.  We all wonder, ultimately, what sort of punishment Brian Brown will receive for his actions:

MONROE — A man has entered a modified guilty plea to second-degree manslaughter in the death of a motel manager in Monroe.

A punch thrown by 30-year-old Jesse Bullington felled 46-year-old Kenneth Wolfe on Feb. 26 outside the Brookside Motel, while Wolfe was the manager. Investigators found that an argument between the two had led to Bullington getting an eviction notice.

Bullington was initially charged with first-degree manslaughter but accepted a plea agreement for the lesser offense Wednesday.

Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Tobin Darrow says he’ll request a nearly four-year prison term when Bullington is sentenced on Aug. 7. Bullington’s record includes five felony convictions in Nebraska, one of them for second-degree assault.

Update 10:24PM from the PI

As a circle formed in a modest classroom at Mount Zion Baptist Church, Brian Keith Brown put his head down and tears streamed down his face.

The Rev. Phyllis Beaumonte, who recalled the scene, held the frightened man, prayed for his support and said turning himself in was the right thing to do. A few feet away, uniformed police officers waited to arrest Brown on suspicion of second-degree murder.

The group gathered Wednesday morning, two days after police said they were looking for Brown in connection with the death of James Paroline.

On Wednesday, an aunt of Brown’s, who was with her nephew in Federal Way, contacted Beaumonte through Chris Bennett, the owner of the community newspaper the Seattle Medium.

“It’s my understanding he was fearful of turning himself in,” said Beaumonte, adding that Brown had requested her counsel. “I prayed and encouraged him.”

About 10:30 a.m., Beaumonte, acting as president of the Seattle/King County NAACP branch, went to her church along with Bennett. Police officers met them and, about an hour later, Brown arrived with his aunt and two friends. His aunt sobbed to a television crew and defended her

Update 4:49 The press release from SPD

Suspect in Traffic Circle Homicide Surrenders
 

SEATTLE – On July 16, 2008 at approximately 11:50 A.M., 28-year-old suspect Brian Keith Brown surrendered to Seattle Police Homicide Detectives at Mount Zion Baptist Church in the Central District of Seattle. Brown was wanted for a brutal assault that occurred on July 9, 2008 that resulted in the death of a 60-year-old South Seattle man.
 
Brown was driven to the church by family members, and spoke with his attorney and minister before being placed under arrest. Community activist Chris Bennett, Brown’s attorney Barbara Laners, and Minister Phyllis Beaumonte were on scene at the church to help facilitate Brown’s surrender. 
 
The Seattle Police Department appreciates the community’s participation and assistance in this matter. Our goal in any arrest is a peaceful outcome.
 
Brown was subsequently booked into the King County Jail for Investigation of Homicide.
 

Update 3:30

John Capps, a deacon at church, said that Mount Zion provided Brown a “neutral” and “safe” location to turn himself in. He said that former Seattle police Asst. Chief Harry Bailey and Chris B. Bennett, of the Seattle Medium, and local attorney Barbara Laners were there when police arrived.

“we’ve always been a social activist church. It’s a place were people come when they need help,” Capps said. “We’re asking that people reserve judgment in reference to whether or not he is innocent or guilty until after a court has rendered a decision.”

NAACP president James Bible also requested that the public reserve judgment until after the case is tried.

This is typical of the NAACP; they do not get into criminal matters.  I hope they will also, not rush to defend or protect the girls involved.  Just have to put that out there.

Update 2:45

Officials at the Central Area church declined to comment. Officials at the NAACP and Seattle Medium didn’t return phone calls.

Update 1: 45

Police said Brown turned himself in at Mount Zion Baptist Church. Accompanying him was his mother, his minister, a lawyer and siblings.

Update 1:33

Brown’s mother, Brenda Battiste, of Sacramento, Calif., said that she spoke with her son before he turned himself in this morning. Battiste said she left a message with the NAACP on Tuesday, asking them for help. She said officials with the civil rights organization contacted Brown today.

“He’s feeling bad for what happened and he’s very remorseful,” Battiste said. “He’s been praying continuously and stressing a lot. I know he never wanted to do anything like that to anybody.”

Update 1:23

“He is currently at police headquarters being processed and will be booked shortly there after into the king county jail for investigation of homicide,” said police spokeswoman ReneeWitt.

Update: 1:20

Brian Keith Brown’s family contacted the Seattle branch of the NAACP, which helped coordinate his arrest, said Seattle Police Lt. John Hayes. Officials with the NAACP called police this morning and said Brown wanted to turn himself in; he was arrested around noon at Mount Zion Baptist Church, Hayes said.

“It was a good community effort. Everybody understands the true tragedy of this,” Hayes said.

Well I say, good job NAACP.  THIS is why I am a MEMBER!  Props to Pres. Bible for stepping up.

http://sableverity.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/objectivity-outrage-and-the-traffic-circle-murder/

Seattle police said Wednesday they have arrested the man suspected of beating a Rainier Beach man during a confrontation at a traffic circle last week.

Details of Brian Keith Brown’s arrest weren’t available.

http://sableverity.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/what-about-the-video-tape-young-women-in-paroline-killing-dispute-court-documents/

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/370998_brown17.html

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008054961_webtrafficcircle16m.html

Originally posted July 12 2008:   It is an uncomfortable sense of déjà vu; seven years ago I sat down in the middle of the night at my aging PC, to write about a police shooting I had witnessed in my neighborhood, Rainier Beach.  At the time I was just weeks away from delivering my youngest child, and the violence I had seen that day forever changed me.  I wrote the first words that came to mind:

It is a rare thing to know you are seeing a man living out his last moments.

The man shot and killed by police, a youngish looking Black man, had just minutes before, brutally attacked a group of people while high on drugs; including children.  I still remember vividly the image of a police officer carrying a child from the duplex, her dark brown legs dangling limply over his arms.  It was heart breaking.

I also wrote about the reaction of by-standers at the time.  I happened to be walking home from the library, but many others, who were passing by in their cars, pulled over and got out, watching the events unfold.  I said then:

Things became quiet as the calm arrived before the storm. I stood and watched my people, my brothers and sisters who were responding to the crowd as a time for bonding. I was shocked to see those who were watching the same thing we were, take time to talk about hair, babies, upcoming events and social gatherings, recent deaths and births, divorces and marriages. My husband and I stood in a sea of faces, none of whom we knew, but all felt like family — the aunt who knows everyone’s business, the cousin you never see, and too many of our beautiful babies, all standing around, connecting.

I felt the need to point this out at the time because I was struck and disturbed by how un-effected people seemed to be by what was happening just a few hundred feet away, and how some had claimed the police shot the man “in cold blood”, even after he ran out, shooting at police for all to see.

Fast forward, and here I sit.  I still do all my grocery shopping in Rainier Beach…still use the cleaners too.  But I no longer live in Rainier Beach.  I’ve graduated to a handy lap-top, and my youngest child has since passed away.  Many things have changed in seven years.

But some things have stayed the same.  Senseless violence and death in Rainer Beach seems to be one of them.

I was shocked and sickened yesterday when, in one of my many trips to both daily papers online, I heard about the senseless assault of James Paroline, an RB resident who was attacked while tending to the garden in the traffic circle by his home.  Paroline had set up traffic cones to prevent drivers from running over his hose; this act led to a few altercations, and culminated in him being punched in the face by a twenty-something Black male; Paroline hit the concrete so hard, his scull was crushed- an image that the Seattle PI displayed for all, and which led me back to my computer with these words again in my head:

It is a rare thing to know you are seeing a man living out his last moments.

 

This photo has been purposely altered to dim the image, out of respect for the memory of the victim

That image of Mr. Paroline, lying helpless in the middle of the street, assaulted my senses, nearly making me ill.  The blood.  The caved-in skull.  The limpness of his body.  There was a man living his last moments.  Taking his last free breaths, and for what?  A few traffic cones in the street?  I have seen a lot in my life.  But this…

I am aware that there are some reports that Paroline was a difficult neighbor, while others say the man simply cared about where he lived, and tried to do his part in many ways, one of which was the traffic garden.  Difficult neighbor or not, he didn’t deserve to be punched in the face by a complete stranger.  He didn’t deserve to die just hours later at Harborview Hospital.

I find myself focused on the same issue that I was seven years ago; we as a people, and as a community have a problem.  Seven years ago, a few accused me of portraying Black people as uncaring and flippant, even indignant at what they saw that day.

I suppose I may be accused of those same things today, but a man has lost his life, and another, when caught, will spend most of the rest of his in prison, and for what?  For what?  We should all demand to know the answer to that.  It had nothing to do with traffic cones in the street.

Rainier Beach is a beautiful place.  There are families that have lived there for generations who embody the true essence of community. There are plenty of young adults who live there, that care about it, that are neighborly, that don’t get into trouble.

But then of course, there are many who do not.  They have no respect for themselves or anyone else, and not enough is provided to keep them on track; there can be no solutions to a problem if the problem is left undefined.  If we don’t like it, then what are we prepared to do about it, and when are we going to do it?  I can’t keep track of the number of homicides involving Black youth over the past nine months in the south end and in south east Seattle.  How many more makeshift memorials are we going to have to lay flowers at?

My perception of RB can’t be pawned off on the media’s often disproportionate reporting; I lived in Rainer Beach.  I spent years listening to gun fire all night, waking in the morning to hear accounts from neighbors, watched the fights in the street between young Black men and young Black women, endured the teen-agers and twenty-something’s pushing everyone else out from under the metro bus shelter in order to carry out a quick drug deal, or smoke some marijuana with friends, the police on the other side of the block, or not around at all.  I remember all to well my seven year old coming in crying, because another seven year old threatened to shoot her, because she wouldn’t give him her toy; he told her he was going to get the gun in his house and ran off.  She remained petrified after that.  I passed by the funeral home on Rainier and Henderson, in the heart of “the Beach” every day on my way to work and saw the Black mothers crying for their dead children, while in a jai cell, another young Black man sat awaiting his fate.

The decision to leave Rainier Beach was made solely because of the visible dominating culture; I wanted to get out before it began having a negative impact on my children.  For all of those children you see in RB “hanging out”, there are dozens more whose parents are keeping them in the house, and this is exactly why.  Because someone can walk up to you, who feels they have the right to assault you, or take your life, and do just that.  Rainier Beach has its bullies; anyone who has ever lived there knows that.

The sidewalks have been improved.  A new school is being built.  Spiffy new housing units have gone up, a stone’s throw from light rail, but some things have remained the same.

Another person is dead, and another, will likely be on his way to prison for killing him, unless of course he is justifiably shot by the police first. 

****

I want everyone to know that the photo used in this article, was not used lightly.  When I first happened upon it while checking the local news, it had a profoundly painful impact on me.  I sent an email to the newspaper, asking them to post a warning to readers, so that they could make an informed decision about whether or not they wanted to see it, and I received a gracious reply.  When I first saw the photo, one of my many instincts, was to make a copy, because I knew that it wouldn’t be up for long, because of how graphic it is.  I know that if I saw the need to send a note to the paper, thousands of others did as well; not long after it first went up, it was gone, replaced by a blood stained sidewalk in stead.

I took time to think about whether or not I was going to use it or not, but as you can see, ultimately I decided it’s inclusion was important, vital even. 

Peace,

Sable Verity

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/370578_rainierbeach12.html

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/jamieson/370576_robert12xx.html

BREAKING NEWS: IT WAS THE N-WORD http://sableverity.wordpress.com/2008/07/17/jackson-calls-obama-the-n-word-according-to-fox-news/

See also: http://sableverity.wordpress.com/2008/07/11/jesse-jackson-is-the-problem-not-the-solution/

There are many reasons to be angry and disapointed with Jesse Jackson today.

First of all he went on Fox Fake News, as if it practices respectable news reporting; as if it’s never displayed out and out racism towards Obama, his wife and their daughters.  Strike number 1.

Secondly, he spoke about the presumptive Democratic nominee as if he had committed some moral crime, which he hadn’t, and which displayed just how much of a bitter man Jesse Jackson is.

Thirdly, he, a man with the title, Reverend before his name, said he wanted to castrate Obama.  Further, the image and violence associated with castration and Black men has…historic significance.  That Jesse would invoke it was hsocking to me.  He might as well have said he wanted Obama tarred and feathered.  It was ugly, it was vulgar; 3rd strike.

Fourth, and most important to me at this juncture; he forced many of us, who otherwise would never do such a thing, to watch at least a few minutes of that muther&*%$#er Bill O’Rielly, who already has a special ring in hell awaiting his arrival, to find out just exactly what it was he said about Obama.

Fifth, and what many of us didn’t catch, is that the Rev said something so out-of-pocket about Barack, that FOX “wouldnt” air it….yet.  Oh I know what Bill said, but please, trust me when I say I do not believe for one hot second that they won’t, eventually, play the rest of the tape.

If they weren’t going to, at some juncture, Bill would have never drawn attention to the fact that there was more tape to be seen.

Bill made a big deal out of this unseen clip.  And so, I’ve been asking myself, just what else could he have said?

My first thought, was “house nigga” or “house negro”.  If you are not familiar with this term, click here and here for the breakdown.  If he said either of those things, it wouldn’t bode well for Jesse in the Black community, because folks are going to reject that term, or any association with Obama.  All and all, he’s liked.  And well, folks at Fox news would have a field day with that.

But I don’t think that’s it, because of the fact that it’s something they actually chose, for ratings not for tact, not to air at this point.

After having giving it a bit more thought and talked it over with some folks, we’ve settled on “Uncle Tom”.

Uncle Tom is a term used by black people to try to convince other black people that working, education, living well, and setting a good example for their children is selling out.

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t see how Obama’s call to all absentee fathers can comprise “talking down to black people.” Jackson seems to assume the challenge to be involved with one’s children is somehow uniquely unfair or unreasonable to black fathers. Which is, I submit, the same as saying that he assumes black fathers (a) are uniquely incapable of being involved with their children, or (b) should for some reason (because black children don’t need or don’t deserve fathers?) be given a pass on being fathers to the children they create.

Let me tell you something. We have our struggles and everything, we have things, as people of color, that are outside of our control, when you look at social stratification and institutionalized-isms, but there is also an accountability piece that is key.

What good does it do to run around and “blame” the white man? What good does it do to run around and blaim disproportionality for my woes, or my sista’s woes?
I know that racism exists. I know that the condition of Black people today, just like the condition of Native people today, is because of what White people did in the past. I can see that direct line, that strong thread, every day. But if I know that, then shouldn’t that make me smarter? If I know what I am up against, shouldn’t I have a greater chance of being able to make something of myself?

I stand by that.  When we as a people are more aware of the issues we face, collectively and individually, we are then able to deal with those issues and move into a better space.

I’ve said all of that to say, that based on what we know Jesse said already, and based on what Obama said in his father’s day speech which irked Jesse so much, I would almost bet a paycheck that he called him an Uncle Tom.

Which leads me to my last conclusion; Jesse Jackson is a part of the problem, not a part of the solution.  His personally internalized racism was there for everyone to see, and boy was it revealing.

The days of hiding dirty laundry need to end.  I know quite a few Black folks, many, many of which come from Jesse’s era, that believe that talking openly about problems in the Black community, is selling out that comunity, or talking down to that community; lecturing that community, even if you’re Black and apart of the community.

I experienced that fully when I worked for the NAACP and I saw how the “old guard” would rather die than clean its house of problems.  It didn’t want to take out the trash, because it didn’t want folks to know it had garbage in the first place.  It led to the downfall of the organization.

We can’t solve these social problems unless we talk about them, and implement real solutions, and I believe that is what Barack is trying to do, among other things.

When we boil that away, we have to remember that the comments that Jesse made didn’t have anything to do with Obama “talking down” to Black people.

Jesse took Obama’s Father’s day comments personally.  He is, after all, an absent father.  He did, after all, step out of his marriage, and then tried hard to get out of his responsibility as a father to that child.

And we already know that Jesse is jealous of Obama.  We know that, despite what he claims, he has not embraced this man, nor what he has accomplished, because Jesse wasn’t able to accomplish it himself.  When Jesse ran for President, is was revolutionary.  When Obama ran for President, it was simply the natural next step.  Obama has accomplished more for racial understanding in 5 years, than Jesse has accomplished in his entire career.  That must come as quite a blow.  I think Jesse sees Obama as nothing more than a snot nozed punk kid with an Ivy league education who thinks he knows it all, but to Jesse, doesn’t know shit, because “he wasn’t there”, during the civil right movement.

That Jessee would even fix his mouth to say that what Obama said equated to “talking down” to anyone, he took his mask off right in that moment, and I’ll surely never see him the same again, because as it stands, Jesse Jackson is a part of the problem.

Dr. Boyce Watkins, who I respect, has another theory on this:

http://news.aol.com/elections/story/_a/jackson-sorry-for-crude-obama-remarks/20080709195109990001?icid=100214839×1205342451x1200264205

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25611808/

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/09/jesse.jackson.comment/index.html

http://sableverity.wordpress.com/2008/07/09/jesse-jackson-slams-obama-on-fox-news/

http://sableverity.wordpress.com/2008/07/09/why-jesse-jackson-wants-to-castrate-barack-obama/

http://sableverity.wordpress.com/2008/07/09/developing-jesse-jackson-jr-rips-the-hell-out-of-rev-jesse-jackson/

http://www.hollywoodgrind.com/jesse-jackson-open-mic-records-barack-obama-bash-on-fox/

Recently I have been gently scolded by folks who visit the site specifically for updates on Elisabeth et al, because I have not been updating this particular threat with all of the links in it.  I sincerely apologize for that, and will strive to be better.

Listed from newest coverage to oldest coverage:

Josef only faces ten years for crimes

Doctor’s permit Elisabeth to testify this month

Formal charges still months away for Josef

Josef seeks highest bidder for memoirs

Elisabeth may file lawsuit for privacy

Breaking News: Josef Fritzl now writing tell-all book- July 6, 2008

Is Josef Fritzl a victim too?

Josef Fritzl: Extreme Egoism

Josef Fritzl trial in 2008

Is Elisabeth “refusing” to testify against Fritzl?

Doctors say Elisabeth not prepared to testify

Read more »

I am jealous of Barack Obama

Alright, I am pretty sure that this is a first.  Keep in mind that the Jr. Jackson is a co-chair of Obama’s campaign, so he really didn’t have a choice:

From CNN:

“I thoroughly reject and repudiate his ugly rhetoric”.

Whatever the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. said in a live microphone on Fox News, it was really, really bad, and none other than his own son seems to know it.

“I’m deeply outraged and disappointed in Reverend Jackson’s reckless statements about Senator Barack Obama. His divisive and demeaning comments about the presumptive Democratic nominee — and I believe the next president of the United States — contradict his inspiring and courageous career,” wrote Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), an Obama campaign co-chairman, in a statement sent out after word began spreading that his father had said something crude and deeply offensive.

The bold-faced text was his own. “Instead of tearing others down, Barack Obama wants to build the country up and bring people together so that we can move forward, together — as one nation. The remarks like those uttered on Fox by Reverend Jackson do not advance the campaign’s cause of building a more perfect Union.”

Well, well, well.  I am sure your fingers are tripping over each other, trying to write your comments on this one. 

It will be interesting to see if Elisabeth’s lawyers head to court to stop this story from being sold by Fritzl, or having him involved in any other attempts to make some money off of this tragedy.

http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/sunday/2008/07/06/evil-fritzl-is-selling-his-story-98487-20633428/

Dungeon monster Josef Fritzl is writing his memoirs in prison - to the horror of the daughter he held captive and raped.

Elisabeth, 42, who gave birth to seven children, is aghast at the thought of the world reading 74-year-old Fritzl’s account of her 24-year or deal in Amstetten, Austria, which he plans to sell to the highest bidder.

Frizl spends hours writing as fellow prisoners shout “Come out Satan - we want to play”.

A source said: “Elisabeth is appalled. It is like being violated all over again. He knows his story is worth a lot because she has made it clear she does not want to sell hers.”