November was a BAD month for St. Petersburg Florida. It
was a BAD month for African Americans in St. Petersburg Florida.
It was a BAD month for the cops. It was a BAD month for Black
owned Business. It was a BAD month for a black kid named TyRon
Lewis. And it was a BAD month for racial harmony and, or, any
sense of unity between blacks and whites that may have been
achieved in the past. It was one tremendous pile of crap that
brought out the worst in blacks and whites in this area and left
me a bit confused about the cause. Well... maybe that's a bit
simplistic... It is a predominantly black, economically depressed
area with little opportunity for the residents to make a decent
life for themselves and their families. So while I understand the
underlying CAUSE.... I'm just not sure why this incident with
TyRon Lewis was the catalyst that introduced me to the WORST of
both sides of the Black-White issue. I must admit that growing up
in the south has left me with more than a passing aquaintance
with that largest of all local groups of babbling White IDIOTS...
The KKK. I was however, unfamiliar with the National People's
Democratic Uhuru Movement... the largest of all local groups of
babbling Black IDIOTS.
On the surface.... it seems rather simple.... and this
is where I get confused.
TyRon Lewis was nailed in a traffic stop for speeding. It turns
out the car is stolen and TyRon has 6 rocks of coke in his
possession. TyRon has a rap sheet as long as his arm. According
to the Grand Jury that investigated the shooting and according to
a passenger in the stolen Pontiac.. This may have been the reason
that TyRon acted "inappropriately" for the next few
moments. TyRon was told to get out of the car. TyRon does not.
Guns are drawn. TyRon is told to get out of the car. TyRon yells
"Fuck this shit". Now TyRon has two officers, both
white, pointing guns at him and telling him to keep his hands up
and exit the car. TyRon puts the car in gear and bumps one of the
officers. 3 times. Then TyRon finally bounces the officer up onto
the hood of the Pontiac. This same officer then shoots TyRon 3
times and kills him. Somehow... this is a surprise to TyRon and
many in the area. A night of rioting, looting and burning ensues.
BLACK OWNED business are burned and looted. BLACK OWNED homes are
burned, leaving baffled BLACKS homeless and without the
businesses that they worked so hard to build in their community.
One large furniture chain owned by White America has a barely
profitable store burned down. That's OK though.. because it was
about the ONLY way for them to get out without seeming
insensitive to the needs of the community. Oh yeah... they get
the insurance money too.
The Klan spews bile about "those people" and "niggers" as they babble on about preserving the "purity" of the "White Race". (This apparently refers to pointy-headed, inbred, caucasian ignoramuses who prefer sex with relatives and farm animals.) I think it's kind of HARD to see the truth when you only have one eye smack-dab in thuh middul of yur fore-haid.
The Uhuru Movement calls for the deaths of the Mayor and Police Chief, and threatens more violence if the officers involved are not found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. How nice. How helpful.
Even though 1 officer is suspended (as a token gesture by the Police Chief)...The officers are aquitted by the Grand Jury. The Uhurus pronounce a death sentence on the officers and predict further violence. It's all "Lawyer sanitized" so that they cannot be found guilty of inciting a riot. The Police over-react and attempt to arrest various Uhurus on outstanding warrants, the Uhurus over-react and try to stop the police from making the arrests. Tear gas flies about, a cop is shot in the leg, more people are injured, and women and children end up sucking down the gas. White leaders in the city scream that the police are too lenient and that the "radicals" and "criminals" are running rampant over the citizenry.... Black Leaders scream that the fix is in and White society is using their community as a shooting gallery.
Everyone is right and no one is right.
Damned if I know.... I DO know a few things about
getting pulled over by cops though. Since I have been pulled over
for just about EVERY offense behind the wheel EXCEPT Grand Theft
Auto and Crack Cocaine possession, I feel qualified to make a few
statements of fact based on my experiences.
1. If cops point guns at you and tell you to do something, you
may be shot if you do something else. (this includes whipping out
a banjo and playing the Theme from "Deliverance" as
WELL AS hitting a cop who is pointing a gun a you with your
car....unless that is what they SPECIFICALLY ASKED you to do.) If
I, a 38 year old white-guy-family-man-solid citizen, had been
bouncing a cop off my hood then I happen to know for a fact that
I too would have been shot. Back when I was a suit, I damn near
got blasted for reaching into my coat pocket for my wallet so I
could Identify myself. It was common knowledge that if an man
with a gun tells you to do something... you do it. It goes DOUBLE
if the man happens to be a cop.
2. If you have outstanding warrants against you, you can be
arrested at ANY TIME... even if your friends DON'T WANT you to be
arrested. It is not up you or to them. In fact.... where I come
from people didn't HAVE outstanding warrants against them. They
pretty quickly had INSTANDING warrants and a nice cozy seat in
the Pinellas County Jail.
3. While you may win a lawsuit against the police at a later
date, if you do not wish to have your face bashed in or your head
blown off AT THAT PARTICULAR MOMENT, then it is better to get
your head out of your ass and be cooperative and polite. We
always worked HARD to SURVIVE an encounter with the local fuzz.
Plenty of time to worry about the rest of it as you are STILL
ALIVE.
I honestly don't know why TyRon Lewis didn't know these things.
I honestly don't know why the burning and looting of fellow back
neighbors was the "obvious, expected" response to a
perceived injustice and years of oppression by whites. Maybe
that's because I'm white and I just don't get it.
I honestly don't know why anyone listens to racist ignorants, be
they black or white.
I honestly don't know why "putting them all on a boat back
to Africa" or "sentencing a public official or two TO
DEATH" are considered answers to the racial problem at all.
I cannot apologize for the injustice that White
America has inflicted on Black America for hundreds of years. I
AM sorry.... but my being sorry isn't going to change anything.
The ONLY way that we can ever work out the problems is though
respect, reason, compassion, and a desire to fix things.
As long as any of these things are missing from the mix (replaced
by fear and ignorance) then I am concerned that we will never
achieve anything resembling a harmonious existence.
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