The 10 Most Under-reported Black Stories of 2015

Ebony has published “The 10 Most Underreported Black Stories of 2015.   The list is long, so the following are several that I found quite interesting – things I did not know.

Black Lives Matter throws support behind police shooting victim, Zachary Hammond, who was White.

The Black Lives Matter movement is serious about the message that police violence is epidemic in America. So race didn’t factor in when they took up the cause of Zachary Hammond, an unarmed, White 19-year-old South Carolina man, who was shot to death by an officer on July 26, 2015 in Seneca, South Carolina.  Black Lives Matter publicly cried out for justice for Hammond, just as they did for so many other cases where Blacks were killed by cops. And just like so many others, the officer in Hammond’s case was not charged. While his family has vowed to continue to fight for justice,  Black Lives Matter has included Hammond’s name in the long list of victims of excessive police brutality.

As Lincoln Blades commented in The Grio, acknowledging the systemic causes of Hammond’s death means “admitting that black folks haven’t been lying or exaggerating when we’ve said that there is a real problem with policing in America.”

Bomb explodes outside Colorado Springs NAACP office

(I did not know that a person had been arrested, and already sentenced.)

The January 2015 explosion just outside of the NAACP office left many questioning whether or not it was an attack on the national organization and if anyone was targeting Black groups. The accused bomber, Thaddeus Murphy, maintained he was trying to get back at an accountant who worked in the same building and who he said destroyed his tax records. But Henry D. Allen Jr., president of the Colorado Springs branch of the NAACP, said he had no knowledge of any such accountant working from that building, according to The Denver Post. Murphy was sentenced to five years in federal prison.

 
Minnesota Black Lives Matter Protestors Shot

(I read the news report and that several had been arrested, but did not know that they have not been charged with a hate crime.)

The Black Lives Matter movement broke out of its social media origins and made its mark socially and politically in 2015, but in places like Minnesota it was also violently targeted. In November, five people were shot near a BLM encampment adjacent to Minneapolis police station during a demonstration protesting the police shooting of Jamar Clark, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Four men, Allen Lawrence Scarsella, 23, Joseph Martin Bakman, 27, Nathan Wayne Gustavsson, 21, and Daniel Thomas Macey, 26, were charged in connection with the violence, but were not charged specifically with hate crimes.

Daniel Macey of Pine City,  Joseph Backman of Eagan, and  Nathan Wayne Gustavsson of Hermantown are charged with one count each of second degree riot with a dangerous weapon.  If convicted, they face a minimum of 3 years in prison.   The fourth man, Allen Lawrence Scarsella of Lakeville, is charged with first-degree assault.   The LA Times has more on this story.

Two Of My Own …

The film, “A Clear View” was released May 1, 2015.  It’s a film film based on the events of August 24, 2009 when unarmed Mark Anthony Barmore was killed in a church’s daycare center in front of 9 children and staff. He was shot in the back 3 times by two officers of the Rockford Police Department. Very few people, unless they live in Rockford, know about the case.  There’s a saying/theory that all things corrupt in government have their testing ground in Illinois.

Mark Anthony Barmore was killed in 2009 and folks, if you want to read how local decision makers misrepresent facts to cover for the police, this is the story.  As one example, in challenge to Jesse Jackson seeing Barmore’s body with three gunshot entrance wounds to his back and no exit wounds, the Winnebago County coroner said that Jackson is not a physician because the back wounds could have been exit wounds.  (sigh)

In the event that you’ve kept up with the subpoena situation with Twitter, and the counter-claim against the parents of Kendrick Johnson, you might find it interesting that the two officers who killed Mark Anthony Barmore filed a counter-claim for defamation against the Pastor and the church.   Yes — it has happened before. The City of Rockford settled with Barmore’s parents for over a million dollars.  The Pastor and his church then dismissed the case against the City of Rockford in the federal court and to move their state claims to the state court.  With that action, the counter-claim for defamation was also dismissed.

There’s another film, a documentary, that is coming soon.

What a Hoot!
I had forgotten that in April 2014, a 10-page book was published by “George Zimmerman” titled, “Tips On Being An Effective Neighborhood Watch.” So, I checked on its sales for 2015. The copyright holder is George Zimmeran. It was selling for .99 cents, and is now free. There are comments on the Amazon page, some from those who highly rated it in support of Zimmerman

Our own towerflower posted a comment that in essence, said that George Zimmerman is not qualified to write a book on effective neighborhood watch.  Her comment was met by one from David Piercy who supported the book. He didn’t read it. I did – all 10 pages. It’s a parody and mocking of George Zimmerman. It contains a few good laughs. The section on paranoia being a requirement to work an effective neighborhood watch is hilarious, as well as who is accredited for inspiration.