A Letter to America

American Flag in Lost and Found

By Shamontiel, published Oct 13, 2007
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In high school, I wanted to take an African American literature and history course, but my counselor told me it was mandatory to take British literature and American history in order to graduate. At sixteen, I was thinking "Isn't African American literature and history a part of American history? Why is one mandatory and the other is not? Why are there so few paragraphs and such a brief overview of Black History in textbooks? Why are Black people forever being snubbed in education?" As I get older, I understand why it was necessary for me to take American history.

You see, American history teaches me that it's okay for police officers to beat up a speeding taxi driver named Rodney King, falsely accuse him of using PCP, repeatedly taser, tackle, and strike him with a baton, be videotaped doing it, and then get off with no prison time. American history has taught me that young, Ghanaian young men like Amadou Diallo can't pull out their wallet to show their ID, and police who shot him 41 times can be dismissed of all charges because they felt threatened by his movement regardless of Diallo's language barrier and lack of a weapon. America has taught me that it's okay to have a Black woman named Megan Williams be tortured by a 49-year-old White woman named Frankie Brewster, 24-year-old Bobbie Brewster, 20-year-old Danny J. Combs, 46-year-old Karen Burton, 23-year-old Alisha Burton, and 27-year-old George A. Messer who beat, rape, choke with a cable chord, stab repeatedly in her leg, scorch with hot water, force to drink from a toilet and eat dog and rat feces, and lick their private parts. American history has not finalized the verdict on this case, but there's no doubt in my mind that they'll all be acquitted-after all, since 1991, police have filed 108 criminal charges against these six people, and Frankie Brewster alone was charged in 1994 with first-degree murder, and was released from prison in 2000 after serving five years in the death of an 84-year-old woman. Only 108 crimes? America is so quick on the draw by putting these six away now!

 
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A Letter to America

You have a mouth. Use it.

Credit: The Phoneix

Copyright: The Phoenix

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Takeaways
  • Megan Williams is beaten, raped, choked, stabbed repeatedly in her leg, scorched, and molested.
  • Abner Louima was forced by police to have a broomstick shoved up his rectum.
  • Mychal Bell was sent to a juvenile facility for 18 months due to "violating his probation."
Did You Know?
The same judge who tried Mychal Bell in the case that put him in adult jail for 10 months was also the judge for his juvenile case.
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In the November 5, 2007 issue of JET magazine, a young man (23 years old) named Coprez Coffie was awarded $4 million after Chicago police officers assaulted him with a screwdriver during a drug arrest three years ago. Coffie's lead attorney, Jonathan Loevy, said that Coffee had internal cuts from the screwdriver that was later found in the glove compartment of a squad car. This incident happened in a city alley from one cop while the other cop did nothing to stop the first one. Even with $4 million, monetary damages is not enough. That cop should be put in jail for assault and rape. And then people ask me why I look at cops side-eyed.

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Posted on 11/03/2007 at 6:11:00 PM

 
Alyce, I checked on the Abner Louima story. Some sites say that it was a plunger while others say it was a broomstick. It also says that he was raped twice, so maybe this is why the weapon varies. Either way, it's insane and those cops should be put in jail for life for doing such a thing.

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Posted on 11/01/2007 at 7:11:00 PM

 
The November 2007 issue of Essence Magazine has a very interesting article on Megan Williams case and Hilary Clinton (who speaks out about 1.4 million men of color between the ages of 16 and 24 who are out of school and out of work). This is an extremely interesting issue. I picked it up to read about Usher and his new wife and was pleasantly surprised on Essence's take on these political and social issues as well. It also explains how Williams was probably kidnapped by these six criminals.

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Posted on 11/01/2007 at 6:11:00 PM

 
Bored, I guess. : > Do not recall what I "heard" that compelled me to ramble; except that I think the gov benefits from not finding a cure of "AIDS" and the focus is HIV positive. You crack me up with the Obama comments, I have taken to telling people, he certainly would be black enough in Jena or for the KKK. Do love his sense of humor on the subject. I think it was a broom stick, but do not trust my memory. I never remember his name and always turn him into a Jamaican.

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Posted on 10/22/2007 at 1:10:00 AM

 
However, I'm not numb to everything. I cringed at Amadou Diallo's case, was floored by Abner Louima being raped with a (plunger?) stick, and when I saw the photos of Megan Williams, that threw me. But what got me the most was the 108 crimes! If I found six of the most hardcore criminals around my old area, there's no way in hell I could combine their jail time to four years. I believe only one of them went to jail (Frankie Brewster) and the others were always pardoned.

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Posted on 10/20/2007 at 5:10:00 PM

 
Oh, and as for news articles always mentioning the word "Black" but not "White," yes, I noticed that way back in my elementary school days, and it is commonly mentioned among Black folks. I'm so numb to it now that I don't even pay attention as much as I used to, but you better believe if a crime is committed, the first thing the news will hop to is if the person is Black. I can tell if it's someone White though because it usually just gives sex, age, height, weight, and economic background, but nothing else. That's why I didn't get bent out of shape with the whole "refugee" thing with Hurricane Katrina. After awhile, you just expect it. I wasn't shocked by the Jena incident. I was just shocked by Justin Barker and Sloan getting no possible punishment for their fights.

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Posted on 10/20/2007 at 5:10:00 PM

 
Alyce, I'm not deleting your comments although I'm trying to figure out why you went into so much detail on it. I do know about the history of HIV/AIDS. My issue with it was that there still is no cure, just slow-me-downs, if you will. I wish America would spend more money on things like that than on testing WMD and going to the moon. As for the word "uppity," YES, I can see a Black editor leaving that there, the same stupid Black folks who ask Barack Obama is he Black enough to be president like there's some kind of scale you step on! "Ummm...nope...you need to know 10 more slang terms before you're Black enough." "Wow, you're really Black enough. You have two link cards." I can't stand that type of mentality, but Black folks have it too.

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Posted on 10/20/2007 at 5:10:00 PM

 
I can not say with accuracy what ethnic background Salon.com editors are, but do you think a person of color, would let a headline slip through as "an oversight" that called the young senator "uppity"??? My local paper did not choose to print my first Jena letter, nor a correction I wrote to another letter that stated that "Hispanic means black, Cuban or Asian" so Mexican/Americans do not like to be called that. There was also editorial bias in LB's "Halloween Beating" case.

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Posted on 10/20/2007 at 4:10:00 PM

 
Not that I am accuisng them of bias. I did notice that one participant in the rally got frontpage and it was not you or the "Y" guy (can not spell his name. Back to the Mt. Rushmore article; mwtsaginaw caught the spelling errors (Reagen) and misuse of the word "visage". That does not mean that all news editors show that kind of bias. But did you ever notice how many news articles mention the word "black" when reporting crime, but do not use the word "white" (or whatever) when reporting the same crime by a different person?

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Posted on 10/20/2007 at 4:10:00 PM

 
On Editors: I took a look at AC's Top Guns. They showcased an article on the frontpage. It reads like news and is classified "Local". The author offers an opinion on the topic. She is a) dumb or b) knows it was satire. As such it should have been properly labeled as Humor and per rules, clearly stated that it was paradoy. 'Nuff said about Editors? Which is better a first hand news account of the Jena rally or a two paragraph "rant" that is much less than Submission Guidelines Article length of 400 words.

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Posted on 10/20/2007 at 4:10:00 PM

 
Hoffman's ingredients were very expensive, justifying the cost of the vaccine. Surprise: other pharmeceutical companies could produce the vaccine at a fraction of the cost. I would think long and hard before considering Hillary, because she comes with Bill for First Man. Have you ever seen a list of the pardons he granted? He did not pardon people like Cory Maye. Okay, you can delete this series of comments, I am way off topic. It is kind of related to the gov & HIV & cures, if you think upon it.

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Posted on 10/20/2007 at 4:10:00 PM

 
You read, I think, "Audacity of Hope" and his knowledge of the rich corporations and corrupt government officials is another thing that drew me to him as a candidate. It goes rather like this: first panic the public about the Bird Flu epedemic. Then offer an FDA approved vaccine, that is quite costly. (who cares, the Insurance providers are paying for most of it) (and their premiums go up, so the health care is out of reach). The only FDA approval goes to Hoffman La-Roche.

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Posted on 10/20/2007 at 4:10:00 PM

 
Pharmeceutical companies, such as Hoffman La-Roche (one of those two cats used to be the richest man in the world) "buy" the US government with campaign donations and lobbying. Bill Clinton, for instance, got in trouble when he passed a law that would benefit one of his donors with the amount of additives used in gasoline. (He got caught and the law was shot down). That is not relevant to the article, but to your comments, regarding HIV and a cure.

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Posted on 10/20/2007 at 4:10:00 PM

 
Because it screws up the white blood cell count, it affects the immune system. The gov linked other dis-eases under the grouping of AIDS, such as that skin cancer that starts with a K that I can never remember. Lifestyle choices might cause someone to contract, for instance, syphilis and the immune deficiency means the STD can not be cured with traditional medications. I no longer have the offline info that explained all that, citing, dates and ref. (1985ish)

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Posted on 10/20/2007 at 4:10:00 PM

 
What is that expression about the whole world being crazy; that is the only answer I can give for the NJ school teacher. Do not get me started on that one. Aargh. Actually HIV is hard to transmit except from blood to blood contact; rarely spread through saliva or sperm. The virus was first found in the early 1900s (I forget where, but perhaps England or the USA). I guess you know the gov first labeled it GRID (Gay Related) and had to change the name when it was discovered among heterosexuals.

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Posted on 10/20/2007 at 4:10:00 PM

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