By Arelya J. Mitchell, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
The Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway
Good is not always good. When passiveness, apathy, and excuses masquerade as Good, it can be a killer.
During a Black Lives Matter peaceful protest, five white Dallas police officers were assassinated in cold blood on Thursday, July 7 by a Black shooter who vaunted that he was getting revenge because two Black men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, were killed by white policemen. And before I could get these thoughts out, another incident in Baton Rouge, Louisiana happened on Sunday, July 17 in which three policemen were assassinated and the perpetrator, as in the case of Dallas, was Black and was killed. To be perfectly honest, I along with many others am not surprised that ‘things’ have escalated to the point of some African Americans taking the law into their own hands.
Those who want to blame the police officers’ deaths on the Black Lives Matter movement need a reality check. But why should Black Americans care if its critics get a reality check or not? They will no more get why this group is protesting than a Nazi would a group of Jews protesting. After Hitler, the Jewish community made sure the world knew that Jewish lives matter. The Jewish community didn’t care to have love fest politically correct town hall meetings.
If the Jewish community had waited around for ‘understanding’ and had town hall meetings on love and healing, it would have long been exterminated which was Hitler’s plan.
Of course, African Americans are on their way to economic extermination.
Of course, any decent human being hates that five white officers’ lives were cut short. Yet, as always Black Americans show more sympathy toward such tragedies than whites show when these tragedies result in the taking of Black lives.
See, grief is not an exclusive club like the country club. It is not restrictive.
We all know white lives matter. As I have written before, ‘when did white lives not matter?’ We all know blue lives matter. When in this nation did blue lives not matter—even in those days when Black men were not allowed to wear blue?
The same trauma that these officers’ families are now going through is the same the Charleston nine black church members’ families went through; it is the same as Tamir Rice’s family went through; it is the same that Trayvon Martin’s family went through; it is the same that Michael Brown’s family went through; it is the same that Freddie Gray’s family went through; it is the same that Emmett Till’s family went through; it is the same that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s family went through. Yet— Yet, this remains a nation which believes underneath it all that Black people should accept being pulled over for alleged broken taillights, being followed in stores, having Black children primed for prison in a quasi-prison public school system. Yes, even the killing of Black people should somehow be tolerated with a ‘well, that’s just how it is’… live with it. Yet, it is quite acceptable and expected that the nation must mourn for one set of victims and not the other set of victims.
Yes, these lives were cut short through gun-violence, but gun-violence is a symptom – not the cause. And this is why I didn’t give a damn when the Democrat Party Establishment had a sit-in protesting gun-violence wrapping the issue in anti-N.R.A. rhetoric. I didn’t give a damn when the nation’s first Black president sat in some politically correct town hall meeting sponsored by CNN to talk about race relations (Haven’t we heard this bull(h)it before?), I didn’t even give a damn that he invited policemen and Black Lives Matter members to the White House for a powwow. These pretentious gestures in the short run and long run have nothing to do with the problem. As stated earlier and throughout time, the problem is Black poverty and a growing poverty. Poverty begets frustration and frustration begets violence. Underneath this poverty is the impetus of white fear which views even the word ‘Black’ as a threat. Black Lives Matter and Black protest critics do not have a problem with the Jewish Anti-Defamation League which protects its own or with Jews hunting down Nazi criminals. The Jewish community doesn’t give a damn when it finds a Jewish hater who is in his 90s and pulls him out to stand trial for participating in the slaughtering of over six million Jews during World War II.
See, when Black lives are cut short, I don’t want to see a Black person stand up saying they forgive the haters. Yes, I understand the Christian philosophy behind such acts of ‘forgiveness’ but I, too, understand the political ramifications of making this act public which has the perception that anybody can do anything to Black people and Black people will ‘forgive’; thus, inviting in more violence and yes, more poverty. If another event of slaughtering occurs in the Black community or with Black victims, these family members should go inside of a church and proclaim ‘forgiveness’—not in the secular sector where it is historically perceived as weakness and re-invokes the stereotype of Black people in the folds of mythological white paternalism where the white ‘father’ can whip his ‘Black child’ into righteous submission. Or better yet as an example, kill him. Like it or not, or agree with it or not, this is the perception of Blacks forgiving white perpetrators like a Dylan Roof or a bad police officer. This is where Psalms 91 should be invoked, if one wants to get religious about it. Better yet, invoke Psalms 35.
Of all the ethnic groups in America, only and ONLY the Black community wants to turn something political into ‘religion’. Yes, we all should love one another. We get that. We all want healing. We get that. We all want understanding. We get that.
But what is seldom gotten in the Black populace is that any politician regardless of race, color, or creed can fool the Black populace to have these meaningless ‘come together’ moments and ‘love one another moments’ to secure votes. Even Jesus provided bread and fish while preaching love.
There are those who say that politicians and even the President are politicizing these police assassinations. Of course, these events are political. What else could they be? A mercy killing? Racism is political. Assassinations are political.
Yes, I was proud to see Black Lives Matter continue its national peaceful protests after the Dallas tragedy. But they march recklessly when they arbitrarily close down bridges and block byways and highways or trample through shopping malls putting other ‘lives’ in danger. This is cold-blooded. This is stupid.
But I ask again of them: How long can you march?
Post-1960s, marching has become a ‘caricature’ of nothing getting done except exercise, because there is no written economic agenda to present to politicos and presidential candidates. Passion can only take you so far and that’s to the bus stop where you never get on the bus to go anywhere. Mrs. Rosa Parks getting on the bus was hard. Freedom Riders getting on the bus was hard. Marching amid police hosing you and putting dogs on you was hard. The March on Washington was hard.
Marching in the 21st Century is easy.
Yanking the microphones from presidential candidates is easier than writing out an economic agenda to yank in their faces.
And yes, Dallas Police Chief David Brown was truthful in asserting that policemen are not supported in what they do and are not appreciated. In the history of my life, I have covered enough to know that most Black citizens want the police in their neighborhoods because too many of these citizens have pulled me aside and whispered that they want more police but were afraid to say this aloud because this was a politically incorrect thing for them to say as Black people. To reiterate, they want the police there, they just don’t want bad police there.
Both Black Lives Matter and police departments have a respective painful lesson to learn here: Get rid of Black on Black crime; and get rid of bad police.
I don’t want to hear ‘Good’ policemen ‘talking about having more diversity training’. What the hell is that? Diversity training? These bad policemen know what they’re doing. They’re not stupid; they’re not untrained; they’re just bad.
By the same token, the Black community needs to stop excusing Black criminals and Black thugs who have taken over the community. There was a time in the Black community when Black seniors could sit on the front porch, when Black children could go to safe schools, and anybody could walk down to the Black-owned corner grocery store. And now the thugs one of whom could assassinate a nine-year-old boy or take the life of a little black girl as she slept in her own bedroom have literally attributed to Black genocide. These Black criminals, too, are a fraction in the community; yet, like the bad police officers, they dominate. They are the kings. They are the rulers. Why? Because Good sat down. Good closed its eyes and turned its head. Good did this in the Black community, and Good did this in police departments. Because it was never Good anyway; it was an imposter a.k.a. Irresponsibility, a.k.a. Appeasement, a.k.a. Fear, a.k.a. Political Correctness.
It’s time for the Black trash to be taken out, and it’s time for the Blue trash to be taken out.
Post-Dallas and Baton Rouge phrases I don’t want to hear are euphemisms called ‘diversity training’ and ‘conversations on race’ or see another town hall meeting where Black folks sit around with white folks to ‘talk’ about their ‘feelings’. I don’t want to see that or hear any of this when Black people are starving, can’t pay the utility bill, losing homes, drinking bad water, can’t bathe or cook in an American city, can’t pay the rent, can’t get a decent education, can’t get a job, can’t get access to business capital to grow Black employment, can’t create livelihoods for their Black lives, and can’t even ‘can’t’! I don’t want to hear empty talk of Blacks and whites loving one another.
Because in the wise words of Tina Turner, “What has love got to do with it?”
End
*The above is on the Editorial lane on The Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway at http://www.blackinformationhighway.com . Welcome, Travelers!
Trump, the Campaign Manager, and the Brat Journalist
By Arelya J. Mitchell, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
The Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway
Michelle Fields is a disgrace to journalism. Those who are jumping on her bandwagon are equally so.
For those who do not know Fields, this is this little brat who has been showing off bruises she allegedly received from Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s campaign manager during an event in Jupiter, Florida. Also, coming to this brat’s defense are women journalists and a group of conservative women who are now demanding that Trump fire Lewandowski. Underneath their display of outrage is nothing more than hating Trump and not from some outrage of violation over Field’s journalistic integrity.
If this matter had happened at any other presidential candidate’s event, nary would a word be heard, but whatever Trump does or anything connected to him provides a feeding frenzy which borders on mass mainstream journalism insanity.
Bonnets off to Breitbart for accepting her resignation and from those sheep in their organization who followed her. Miss Crybaby Brat Journalist felt her editor should have stood behind her when she came running back to the office whining that she was ill-treated by the Trump campaign and attacked by Lewandowski. Video will show that this brat journalist wasn’t caught in anymore of a dilemma than what many journalists have been caught up in when trying to get a story—that is in an extreme crowded situation that sometimes turns into a scuffle. Yes, you may feel someone jerk you, pull on you, yank you and such. But this is more of an irritation than a matter which merits a police assault charge. This is not about her being slugged, slapped, or slaughtered, albeit by her actions one would have thought that Lewandowski had done all of this.
Fields represents what’s wrong with journalism today, because the support she is getting hasn’t anything to do with journalism but rather the politics of mainstream media deciding that such foolishness by Fields will help them advance their collective hatred of Trump and their goal to dismantle his campaign by any means necessary, mainly because Trump doesn’t fit their mode of a conventional politico in an Age of Political Correctness. Most of these journalists know they’ve come up against worse treatment. Yes, I am sure some even got bruises or were grabbed by the arm or collar and pulled back, or touched in a way to block them from getting to the object of their reporting.
In the capacity of editor-in-chief (having been in that capacity for two newspapers), I have had my share of reporters who got into trouble while covering stories, and let me tell you if one had come back like this whiny crybaby reporter upset that she got a few non-life threatening bruises while covering her subject, I would have either fired her, put her on suspension, or given her a desk job in Antarctica.
In the history of my journalism career, I have covered presidents, presidential candidates who receive Secret Service protection; I have covered Democrat and Republican national conventions. I have been caught in the middle of tight situations such as Miss Crybaby Brat. Yes, a good reporter would have tried to get to Trump after a press conference to get more if possible and risk being jerked back, pushed back, blocked off, or tapped on the shoulder. And if he or she did not succeed, he/she simply would have gone on with life until the next event or would have called up and try to set up an interview. It is what we do. It is the nature of the beast. I have had a Secret Service man practically pick up all of my 93 pounds (at the time) and place me aside. I didn’t get angry; I just thought, “Damn, I didn’t get it! (another statement).” And I’ve been placed in a holding room where the Secret Service searched through my purse (and moaned about it because I carry a really gigantic purse with everything but the kitchen sink) while I waited to interview a presidential candidate or president. Even after being cleared, I could only take my reporter’s notebook, pen, and tape recorder… I’ve covered an event in which I had a bottle of water in my purse and was told to drink it right then and there before I covered a president. I did and life went on… I have been invited to the White House and still I had to go through Secret Service procedures. Today’s world is even deadlier for presidents and for those who seek the highest office in the nation. I can go on in many, many instances of having to go through Secret Service, U.S. Marshals, police, etc. Again, it is what we do. It is our job as journalists. If you don’t have a thick skin, then you need to develop one.
As editor-in-chief, I’ve had reporters who were taken to jail when events got out of hand, and I have been awaken in the middle of the night by a photographer to say that the reporter was being carted off the jail. I’ve had one reporter who was adept in sign language to sign from the back of a squad car to the person she was with to call me. There have been many situations like this, but never and I do mean never did a reporter file an assault charge. I would not have allowed it because, honestly, taking such an action never would have occurred to me. And if it had, I would have thought it a repugnant one and an irresponsible one.
This 21st Century journalism has become fickle because of brat journalists who operate on the theory that people are supposed to be nice to them. (Pardon me, I have to go and throw up).
Sorry, but I equate Miss Crybaby Brat Journalist with the women who cry rape when nothing has been done to them, making it harder for women who are truly raped to be taken seriously. What news agency would want her after this? I wouldn’t, because the ramifications are so serious that if one were to send her on an interview which involves a male subject, he might go into a self-protection mode and not want her for fear she would file an assault charge against him because he looked at her cross-eyed, raised his voice, or that one of his people pulled her back.
Fields is a disgrace to female reporters from all media who have had to work like dogs and take the wrath of being called the female version of a dog (as I certainly have been on numerous occasions. Now ask me if I care.) to get where they are. I didn’t see Megyn Kelly crying and complaining when Trump derided her; I didn’t see Gwen Ifill crying after receiving insults as a Black female journalist when moderating a presidential debate; I’ve never seen Barbara Walters whining and filing assault charges as she pioneered her way into media; I didn’t see Katie Couric or Lesley Stahl whimpering when they covered major political events where crowd pushing was the norm. The great Black editor Ida B. Wells covered lynchings in spite of threats; and journalist Ethel Payne went through hell for being both black and female. Nellie Bly forged on. One also looks at the brave women journalists who have covered wars and are now covering wars while bombs burst overhead, or you look at those women who have given their lives and limbs as they worked to get information back to the homeland. Even in fiction, Lois Lane wasn’t whining!
These female journalists along with others broke down barriers only to have Miss Crybaby Brat Journalist set a precedent of filing assault charges because her feelings got hurt and a couple of bruises got on her arm which Noxzema or rubbing alcohol probably could have taken care of.
On the ‘male’ side of the issue: One only has to look at footage of the 1968 Democratic convention of Dan Rather and Mike Wallace being slugged, pushed back, and see that they kept on reporting. Never did they file an assault charge. This is what a good reporter is made of: Endurance and tenacity.
If you are a journalist worth your ink, you understand that. You deal with it. Damn it, you get the story. And for the record, journalists and politicians have gotten into it since time was a second. Behind the scenes they’ve cussed out each other, called each other names, hung up on each other— and yes I have been a banshee on occasion when covering politicos who think they can bully or ignore you because you are female. Trust me Emily Post is put away.
This is a world I chose to get into when I was eleven years old and wrote my first little newspaper article on a youth event and got my first little byline. This is in my blood. I like the hell and heaven of it. I love the mess! As a female journalist, it is harder but I didn’t expect it to be anything less. Many female journalists can say the same.
So, Miss Crybaby Brat Journalist Millennial, you need to get out of the business, because if you get your feelings hurt and a couple of light bruises, you need to go home and crochet and take some selfies and stop making it unnecessarily harder for those of us female journalists who still have a long row to hoe.
And to those journalists who are on Miss Crybaby Brat Journalist’s side, you know her complaint is about bull and that her complaint is unacceptable in the Old School of Journalism which still outranks whatever is viewed as millennial-let-me-not-get-my-feelings hurt journalism. And any judge who would rule in her favor needs to have his or her head (and motive) examined, because the history of the Fourth Estate bears out that what this brat is complaining about comes naturally with the territory.
Yes, Trump’s campaign manager should fight this and win it, for him to lose this is a loss for journalism—not politicians.
END
*The above is on the Editorial and Op-Ed lanes on The Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway at http://www.blackinformationhighway.com . Welcome, Travelers!
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