The Sable Verity

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

It’s hard for me to even say that…as a parent I know all too well the desire to protect one’s children, so as a father, I can understand why Obama regrets the fact that his daughters are all over the news after they, along with their famous parents, gave an interview to Access Hollywood.  Trust, no one was more shocked than I, when that breaking news tidbit came across the feed.  Here is a snippet:

So, as I said, I understand, completely that he is taken aback by the fact that Access Hollywood sold that tape to anyone and everyone who could pay the note.  I giggled when you hear Brian Williams say something to the effect of “one of two clips we’ve been given to show you…”

You lie Brian.  NBC paid for that just like eveyrone else.

But I’ve gotten off topic.

Again, just to say it outloud, I understand fully his concern as a father…

…

But as a politician?  That was pure genius.  Everyone was starting to get really, really bored with the lack of anything new in recent weeks, I know I was.

When I watched the first half of the interview my face hurt I was smiling so much.  Seeing the girls and how at ease they were was just brilliant, truly.

He may feel that their privacy as a family took a hit, but he shouldn’t look at it that way.

Instead he should realize the wicked advantage he has over John McCain.  Let’s compare the two families:

Lest we forget, their is the pre POW family for McCain, and the post.  We know that he left his first wife after coming home, and, as it were, after she was in a horrible accident that disfigured her.  She insists her accident had nothing to do with their divorce, but at the same time acknowledges that Johnny boy wanted a newer, fresher model that would remind him of his youth; Cindy “my face never moves”, McCain (Oh, yeah–and she set up a children’s charity to score opiates for her own habit–then cruelly dismissed the director when the story was about to go public).
. 

Calm down, calm down; that wasn’t a mean statement, it was a trutful one.  She me some pictures of video of Cindy McCain’s forehead moving like a normal woman of 54, and I’ll recant that statement.

(But come on, don’t you think it’s strange that at 17 years younger than Johnny, she actually looks as old as him because she’s had so much work done?)

Back to the family comparison: We never see Bridget McCain doing interviews with her dad, like his other daughter, Meghan, who looks like she stepped out of an episode of the Hills.  All Meghan ever talks about is the “best” qualities of her father, and insists he will be a great President.  She never, ever talks about the things Johnny does wrong…like calling Cindy a cunt, for example.

But with the Obama girls, we know that Barack leaves his shit all over the house, that he doesn’t do ice cream, and that he only chews minty gum.

We also learn that the girls like the fact that their parents are in love; while not using that exact verbage, they still made it very clear.  Michelle and Barack cuddle, hold hands, and kiss.  Barack brings his wife flowers regularly (damn good moe there, Barack), and Michelle still sits on her man’s lap every now and then, to hold and be held.

Pump yer breaks.

Close your eyes and picture Cindy on Johnny’s lap.  It’s not happening.  It’s just not happening.  First of all, it’s beneath her and ight wrinkle her clothes.

Second of all, when you have a man that is that verbally abusive to you, that he would call you a cunt and do so when other people are around.

You don’t jump from zero to cunt.  There were some other incidents between them to get there, and I’m not inclined to believe, in general, that their’s is a healthy relationship, I’m just not.

I am not impress by a husband with a temper, a wife with such low self esteem she had to hire Joan Rivers’ plastic surgeon, who are parents of an “adopted daughter” they treat like a token charity case.  That is not the model family.

I want a First Family that is real, and relatable.  When Maria asked Michelle what romantic things she does for her husband, Michelle said “hmmm…(looking to her man), I raise your children”.

You can’t get more real than that.

Truly, you must watch this; I learned something new and am sure you will as well.  Pass this on to your sista friends… early detection is key.

I don’t talk about it very much, but I had the very horrible honor of working with FEMA after Hurricane Katrina, so, it’s not just about what get’s reported in the news, it’s about what I’ve also seen with my own eyes.

If we learned nothing else from Katrina, it’s this:

1.  If you wait for your government to save you in a natural disaster, you’ll likely die.

2.  FEMA does not care, about the life, the home, the job, the family member you lost in a natural disaster.

3.  “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people.”

Alright, I’ll admit I added that last one just for myself.  On with it already.

This report from CNN:

Prisons in Mississippi got coffee makers, pillowcases and dinnerware — all intended for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The state’s Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks took more coffee makers, cleaning supplies and other items.

Plastic containers ended up with the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration.

Colleges, volunteer fire departments and other agencies received even more.

But the Mississippi hurricane victims who originally were intended to receive the supplies got nothing, a CNN investigation has found.

“It’s scary to know that there are supplies that they are harboring and people [are] in need right now as we speak today,” said Sharon Hanshaw, director of Coastal Women for Change, a nonprofit group helping storm victims.

Last month, CNN revealed that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had stored $85 million worth of household items in warehouses for two years. Instead of giving the supplies to victims of the 2005 hurricane, FEMA declared them surplus and gave them all away to federal agencies and 16 states in February.

The state of Louisiana — the most hard-hit by the storm — had not asked for any of the supplies, prompting outrage in the community after the original CNN report.

CNN’s investigation showed that Mississippi was one of the 16 states that took the FEMA supplies, but it did not distribute them to Katrina victims.

Jim Marler, director of Mississippi’s surplus agency, failed to return repeated phone calls over several months to explain what happened.

Agency spokeswoman Kym Wiggins said, “There may be a need, but we were not notified that there was a great need for this particular property.”

That doesn’t sit well with most aid groups in Mississippi. “You would have to be living under a rock not to know there is still a need,” said Cass Woods, the project coordinator of Coastal Women for Change.

Wiggins said that nonprofit organizations must meet federal guidelines and register with the state and that no such groups helping the needy or homeless were registered with Mississippi’s surplus agency.

“There is no specific designation outside of a disaster period that says we have to have sustained properties going to the disaster area,” Wiggins said.

CNN interviewed the leaders of eight nonprofits helping Katrina victims at a Biloxi, Mississippi, church used as a staging area for community groups. All said they had no idea these items were available, and most had no idea the surplus agency existed.

“We work so hard to help people in our community when the government is holding back stuff that we can use to give people,” said Glenda Perryman, director of United Hearts Community Action Agency.

Roberta Avila, director of the Mississippi Coast Interfaith Disaster Task Force, said, “It’s needed even more now than right after the storm.”

Records show Mississippi’s surplus agency received household supplies, including dinnerware sets, towels, shirts, pants, shoes and cleaning items.

Those are the kind of household items that Howard and Gloria Griffith said they could have used since the storm and still need. The Griffiths said they spent every penny to rebuild their home. But they can’t afford to finish it, so they’re still living in a FEMA trailer on their property in Biloxi with their teenage son.

“I’ve never seen none of it,” said Gloria Griffith after CNN showed her photos of some of the supplies that FEMA had kept in storage.

FEMA said it was costing more than $1 million a year to store the supplies, but officials have not been able to answer why the agency didn’t get the supplies to Katrina victims. Both FEMA and the General Services Administration said the items originally were purchased or donated for victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

In the wake of the CNN investigation, a FEMA official said the agency was launching an internal probe into the storage of the household supplies.

Bill Stallworth, executive director of the Hope Coordination Center in Biloxi that helps rehouse Katrina victims, said he’s astounded that the supplies were given away.

Stallworth and other community leaders said if they had known the FEMA items were available, they would have begged for them.

“And when I hear people stand up and just beat their chest and say we’ve got everything under control, that’s when I just want to slap them upside the head and say, ‘Get a grip, get a life,’ ” said Stallworth, who is also a Biloxi city councilman.

What happened?!

I stepped out for a few hours of Kendo with the boy child, and come home to find all hell is breaking loose here at the local level.  Suddenly everyone is jumping up and screaming race and discrimination.

Our Gov., Christine Gregoire, who, has zero respect in the Black community (hell, that’s why we all voted for the republican) has come out and said that Contrywide Lending is discriminatory in it’s lending practices.  A blurb:

Gov. Chris Gregoire has accused the Countrywide Financial company of discriminatory and predatory lending practices that targeted minority borrowers.  She told a Wednesday news conference at the Urban League office in Seattle that the Washington Department of Financial Institutions is seeking to revoke Countrywide’s license and impose a $1 million penalty.

No one can be sure exactly what it is that she says Countrywide did, because well, beyond that blurb, the highly biased Seattle Times didn’t give any more details.  So while we don’t know what they did here in Washington, apparently it was bad enough to get Chris “I don’t like Black women” Gregiore to say something…either that or the Urban League and James Kelley demanded that she speak up on something they uncovered about Countrywide.  We’ll see.

Also in the Seattle times comes word that a study has been conducted on the disproportionality in the child welfare system.  Another blurb:

Whether children of color are overrepresented in the child-welfare system is a topic that’s long been discussed in certain circles. An extensive report released today answers the question of racial disproportionality definitively.

“Does it exist?” said Department of Social and Health Services Secretary Robin Arnold-Williams. “Yes, very clearly.

Overall, the study showed that African-American and Native American children are more likely than white children to enter the child-welfare system and to be removed from their homes for long periods . Asian-American children, on the other hand, were no more likely to be removed and they were less likely to remain in long-term care than whites children. Hispanic children fared somewhere in the middle, faring worse than whites but better than African Americans and Native Americans.

Well now that we have another study that cost thousands of dollars and told us what we already know, I guess we can move on from that issue.

We flip over to the Seattle PI and find that Robert Jamieson, the Black columnist all the so-called “liberal” Seattle(et al)ites love to hate, has written another article about race, and guess what, crime, big shocker.  The title?  “Another dead black kid– still no justice”.  Hmmm…let’s take a look:

THERE IS no justice for Jessie Drungo. He’s dead, got a knife in the chest at 23.

The man authorities said killed him in Kent nearly two years ago now stands cleared of the crime. Last week, King County prosecutors quietly dismissed a second-degree homicide charge against Lonnie Lee Johnson. They couldn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt whether he or another man stole Drungo’s life in a parking lot melee.

Translation: weak case.

Prosecutors concede the evidence was “not as strong as anticipated.” They re-interviewed witnesses who were “confused as to who did what.”

And so there’s no justice for Jessie.

Kent police insist they got it right. Lt. Ken Thomas says the witnesses saw a fight but none of them actually saw a knife go into Drungo. “People speculated it was (Johnson’s friend),” Thomas said of the accounts. “But speculation doesn’t get you to probable cause.”

In the end, detectives said they were “disappointed” by the prosecutors’ decision.

Drungo’s mother, meanwhile, feels as if the system failed her — and it did. She echoes others who say such a stunning turn shows some lives matter less, just another dead black kid.This case cries out for review, a do over. You’d want the same if Drungo were your friend, brother, son.

 

Prosecutors, of course, cannot rely on shaky evidence in court; they’d wind up losing. And no one ever wants to see the wrong man railroaded, or a push for revenge trump the pursuit of truth — those would layer more wrongs on this tragedy.

In life Drungo believed in social justice. It would be a shame if he, forever 23, doesn’t get one drop of it.

Just another dead black kid…that is the greater Seattle area for you (Kent is about 16 miles south).

And finally, and probably most surprising of all, came this late breaking bit of news.  It involves Gov. Chris Gregiore, the Democratic party, and her opponent, Dino Rossi, the republican mentioned above.  He ran against Chris and won…but then the Dems did what they do and had the courts overturn the election results…sorta like Bush did when he first stole the presidency. 

Anyhoo, Chris is up for election again real soon here, and Dino, knowing just how close he was to the Governor’s mansion, is taking her on again.

Apparently the Dems ran an ad against Rossi which immediately grabbed the attention of the Italian Club of Seattle, and pissed them off to the enth degree.  So, before I break it down, keep in mind Rossi is Italian (if you hadn’t figured it out).  Click on the video below and tell me if you can spot the racial insult:

I’ll be the first to admit, I watched this video twice and didn’t catch the insult. But I have a good reason; I don’t watch TV and we purposely do not have cable in this house.  I’ve never seen an episode of the Sopranos.  From the Seattle Italian Club (via the Seattle Times article) to Gregiore and the Dems:

The group says the video, which criticizes Rossi’s connections to the Building Industry Association of Washington, “aims to link Italian-American gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi to Italian-American criminals through the use of the theme song to The Sopranos .

The letter, from club president Brian DiJulio, mentions that former Democratic Gov. Albert Rosellini is a member. DiJulio says the video is an attempt to “associate Dino Rossi with criminal activity through the use of negative ethnic stereotyping” and is “beyond offensive.”

Whether the State Democratic Party thought it clever to link Rossi to Italian-American criminals through the use of a popular mobster TV show is irrelevant; it is distasteful, and it is racist. Governor Gregoire, we believe we have your sympathy when we assert that using someone’s ethnic heritage as a negative should not be condoned in this campaign.

DiJulio said in the letter he wants the video pulled from the Democrats’ Web site and from YouTube and that Gregoire should ask that Democratic Chairman Dwight Pelz resign.

The Republicans, never ones to raise the racial flag (my words, not the Times), jumped on this like flies on ish:

Republican Party Chairman Luke Esser sent out a statement. It said, in part:

“It is outrageous that the Democrats would stoop to this level on Gregoire’s behalf. What’s next? Dino is also part Tlingit, Alaskan Native. Are they going to attack him for that, too? This type of racial stereotyping is unacceptable. Gregoire and the Democrats know they can’t win on the issues so instead they turn to ethnic attacks. It’s shameful and an insult to the voters of our state.”

The Dems, for there part, deny that their choice in song had anything to do with trying to frame Rossi as a criminal:

Democratic spokesman Kelly Steele responds:

Our video is in no way meant to allege or imply that Republican Dino Rossi or his extremist, right-wing developer allies have ties to the mafia or organized crime. It’s a catchy song, which we thought jibed stylistically with our communication about Rossi’s designated attack squad — the BIAW — who continue to pour millions into false and misleading attack ads against Gov. Gregoire. That being said, we’d like to apologize to Rossi’s friend Mr. DiJulio, his organization, and anyone else we may have inadvertently offended. The video will be replaced shortly with an identical message regarding Rossi and the BIAW’s sleazy attack campaign, using a different song.As an aside, Rossi doesn’t seem to have a problem with referencing The Sopranos when he’s attacking Gov. Gregoire. Here’s what he said in a speech just yesterday on Mercer Island:

“[Rossi] criticized the state’s reliance on the gas tax and ‘sin’ taxes from alcohol and cigarette sales. ‘Sin taxes are so easy to raise,’ he said. ‘But they are already so high they are one of the highest in the nation. If we raised them anymore, Tony Soprano would want to get some of that action.’”

Huh.  Well, I don’t know about the rest of ya’ll but, I’m guessing for those who watch(ed) the Soprano’s the connection wasn’t lost on them.  I’d never heard the song before because I hadn’t seen the show, but upon learning that the song used in the Rossi attack ad was the theme song for the Soprano’s well, I mean what more can you say?  The line between the two is pretty clear; they are suggesting that Rossi is shady.

Maybe he is.  But I know one thing that the Dems will have to deal with; Rossi pays attention to people Gregiore and the rest of them refuse to bother themselves with.  That snooty snobby snob attitude could cost them big time.  One thing is for sure, she hasn’t done a damn thing these past four years to earn my respect, or my vote.  Take the same add, and insert a Black candidate.  Then imagine these lyrics:

Well we’re movin on up,
To the east side.
To a deluxe apartment in the sky.
Movin on up,
To the east side.
We finally got a piece of the pie.

Fish don’t fry in the kitchen;
Beans don’t burn on the grill.
Took a whole lotta tryin’,
Just to get up that hill.
Now we’re up in the big leagues,
Gettin’ our turn at bat.
As long as we live, it’s you and me baby,
There ain’t nothin wrong with that.

Folks would be outraged if such an ad ran attacking a Black candidate in that way.  The theme song to the Jeffersons, “Moving on up”, used in this context would denote that the Black candidate was doing whatever he had do to, even deal with shady businesses, to move to where he wants to be, to where he otherwise wouldn’t be able to get to.  Therefore, all should feel the same over the Soprano/Rossi incident, period.  If I watched the show, I’d recognize the song.  Even not watching the show and knowing that is the theme song, it’s pretty obvious the Dems were trying to make that link between Rossi and a crime lord who was rutheless and never got enough therapy.  Violent, unethical, criminal and unstable.  Who wants a Governor like that?!

Another classic example of “look how far we haven’t come…