(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Black Kos, Week In Review ~ Enablers & apologists are responsible for cops killing thousands [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-01-20 If only enablers & apologists would get out of the way. Commentary by Black Kos editor JoanMar “We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.” Dr. Martin Luther King. I dared to hope. I truly did. Do you remember the worldwide protest in the wake of Michael Brown’s execution? Remember the “Hands up, don’t shoot” slogan? Remember doctors, teachers, and politicians walking off the jobs with their hands up? That was in 2014, and I thought then that a change would surely come. It didn’t. And then in 2020 we witnessed the public lynching of George Floyd, and the response nationally and internationally was unlike anything we’d ever witnessed before. I assumed cops would see the response, see that people were armed with smart phones and knew how to use them; I assumed cops would be aware of store cameras and doorbell cameras, and that their departments would require them to wear body cameras. I thought that would provide some incentive for the overwhelming majority of them to act with some restraint—some professionalism. I also thought—hoped—that “good cops” would finally assert themselves and begin to aggressively police their murderous comrades. Nope. I was so wrong. Unchecked, and still unaccountable, cops continue to act as street corner commanders-in-chief, as judges, as jurors, and as executioners. “I'm gonna make it super easy on you: You put this car in drive, you're getting one right to the chest.” x YouTube Video I must confess that even after all I have seen over the years, I was still surprised to learn that after everything we have been through — all the brutality caught on video, all the protests, even after the charges and convictions — cops still managed to kill more people in 2022 than has ever been recorded before. US law enforcement killed at least 1,176 people in 2022, making it the deadliest year on record for police violence since 2013 when experts first started tracking the killings nationwide, a new data analysis reveals. Police across the country killed an average of more than three people a day, or nearly 100 people every month last year according to Mapping Police Violence . And crickets. Not a single word about this carnage on the networks. I contend that the lack of coverage on MSM is one of the reasons why we continue to have this problem. Silence is consent. x The LAPD murdered Keenan Anderson. A beloved high school English teacher and father who FLAGGED THEM DOWN FOR HELP after a car accident. He was a threat to no one. He needed help and it cost him his life. The LAPD must be held accountable for this at all costs. #KeenanAnderson pic.twitter.com/fPQ6gYsmUO — Travon (@Travon) January 12, 2023 x Even if he had done some coke that doesn’t mean he deserved to get tazed to death by the police https://t.co/rpndZYYuoT — 🫡🏴 (@corncommunist) January 15, 2023 I presume that we all know the reasons why we have not had and cannot have meaningful police reform, right? Police unions, the Republicans, complicit/corrupt District Attorneys and prosecutors; anchors & reporters who operate as the PR arm of law enforcement officers; and, worst of all, those enablers and apologists. Enablers and apologists. We find them even here on this progressive site. You know them. They are the first ones to pop into a conversation about the latest horror story to ask for more information: “We don’t know what happened before the tape began.” Sometimes they’ll even sound reasonable: “Let us suspend judgment until we see the rest of the tape.” The ones who will be blaming the victims: “He should have complied with the officer.” “He had drugs in his system.” The ones who ascribe psychic powers to cops: “Well, he did have a criminal record.” I describe these vile people as enablers and apologists, but they are even worse than that. They are ghouls with blood dripping from their fingertips and their fangs. For the pitiful few cops who have been charged, it is the enablers & apologists who have refused to hold them accountable. In their refusal to demand better from our cops, the alacrity with which they accept every ridiculous and implausible story concocted to excuse away murderous behavior, they, these despicable people, are responsible for every unnecessary police killing in 2023 and all the preceding years. Accountability is the only readily available tool we have that can actually make an immediate difference in our fight for a sophisticated police force, and they—enablers & apologists—have steadfastly refused to allow its use. Given all the above, I have a tiny, teeny favor to ask of my friends: You scrolling through the comments after the outrage of the day and one of these vile people pop their head into the comments to defend the indefensible, can you just respond with #EnablerAndApologist, or #Apologist, or #Enabler, or all three in reply? Let’s call them out whenever and wherever we see them and create a little database. But for these enablers and apologists, we’d have had meaningful police reform years ago. But for them, thousands of now dead Americans would be alive today. Thousands now grieving would have their loved ones with them. It shouldn’t be that hard to ask that people, paid with taxpayers’ hard-earned money, act with a modicum of professionalism and restraint. Cops around the world manage to do just that every single day and twice on Sundays. Let’s turn the spotlight on the people who have given them the cover they need in order to continue their bad behavior. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ News round up by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I could not have done it without her," said newly sworn-in Gov. Moore in a sit-down interview with theGrio alongside his wife Dawn Moore. The Grio: Governor Wes Moore and Maryland’s first lady talk historic rise ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “This journey has been so improbable,” said Maryland Governor Wes Moore in a sit-down interview with theGrio. A new era has begun in Maryland as Moore has officially been sworn in as the first Black governor of the state. The 44-year-old political newcomer took the oath of office Wednesday at the Maryland state capital of Annapolis. “This journey has never been about making history. It’s about marching forward,” said Gov. Wes Moore moments after being sworn in. “Today is not an indictment of the past. Today is a celebration of our collective future.” Moore is the third Black man in the nation’s history to serve as state governor. He is currently also the sole African-American governor in the United States. The elevation of Maryland’s new executive to the governor’s mansion happened as a result of a diverse pool of voters; however, Moore told theGrio this historical moment would also not be possible without the support of his wife Dawn Moore. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Corporate leaders who talk the most about diversity may benefit from greater investment in their companies by socially conscious funds, even if hiring and promotion efforts are lackluster. The biggest braggarts may benefit the most from what researchers call “diversity-washing.” Those are the conclusions of a study of almost all US public companies from 2008 to 2021 by researchers at Stanford University and three other universities. “It’s hard to have a real debate about this unless companies disclose what they really look like,” says David Larcker, the director of the Corporate Governance Research Initiative at Stanford and one of the study’s authors. “It seems like you want real numbers, real data, as opposed to kind of really loose discussion around it.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The league really did allow Black players to be deemed less intelligent than white players and paid insurance claims based on that notion. The Grio: The NFL is racist, part 400 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As the NFL playoffs rage on, I am constantly reminded that there are so many reasons to not be watching. One example is the time the NFL treated Black people as less intelligent than white people. Really. This story goes to the core of American racism, where there’s an expectation that Black people are physically superior to whites but also intellectually inferior. They expect us to be strong and fast, to fight and dance and entertain well and to play sports expertly. In anything relating to the body, America expects Black people to be good, but in matters of the mind, America expects Black people to be inferior to white people. They believe we don’t think as fast and as deeply as they do. This is not only dehumanizing, but it’s also a handy justification for racism. Of course, this notion stays in the shadows most of the time, but occasionally, it rears its pointy little head. And won’t you know it, if you sift through the recent history of the NFL, you’ll see it. In 2015, the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal, paving the way for a $1 billion settlement between the NFL and former players that could provide payment of up to $5 million each for the long-term impact of concussions and other neurological conditions (although the settlement doesn’t address chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which has been linked to concussions). The settlement allowed the NFL to evade having to admit what it knew about the impact of concussions, but that’s a separate problem right now. In order to qualify for money that would help former players who suffered neurological damage take care of themselves, they had to take a test — they had to prove that they had diminished mental capacity in order to qualify. That seemed fine. It’s the next part that had me screaming mad. After the players’ cognitive abilities were tested, the settlement’s provisions allowed doctors to judge Black players on a different scale than white players. They were all men with diminished mental capabilities thanks to football, but the NFL was saying the mental decline of the Black players was less than that of the white players because … Black people aren’t as smart to begin with. If Black players didn’t lose as much brainpower as the white guys, then they were paid less — or not at all. Over 4,000 Black players were denied payment because of this policy. Because the league determined that they hadn’t lost enough of their cognitive ability to deserve a payment. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Baltimore Beat received a generous donation from an unlikely source. The Root: Foundation Goes Out of Business to Support Black Newspaper ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lisa Snowden-McCray wanted Baltimore’s Black residents to have a newspaper they could call their own. It was to be a free paper with Black editors and writers who shared the news that matters most to the community. But when the journalist, who has experience at the Baltimore Sun and the Baltimore City Paper and Brandon Soderberg, a former Baltimore City Paper editor, set out to make her dream a reality, they quickly realized it would be harder than they thought. After the publishing company that was backing their free Black paper, the Baltimore Beat, backed out, the pair didn’t think they’d be able to keep it going. That’s where Adam Holofcener, a lawyer-activist Snowden-McCray knew from her work, stepped in. His family’s foundation, the Lillian Holofcener Charitable Foundation, donated $1 million to keep the paper going. One million dollars could go a long way to help keep the Baltimore Beat going. But what makes the generous donation even more interesting is that the contribution was all the money the foundation had left. “I knew he was a nice guy,” Snowden-McCray said. “I didn’t know he had access to a million dollars. The money was a complete shock to me.” According to Holofcener, the foundation wanted to do something different after years of making what he calls “hodge-podge” grants for decades. He says the move is a response to calls for racial justice after the murder of George Floyd in 2020. And he adds that it was a way to make things right after he believes his family got rich at the expense of Black people in Baltimore. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Imperial powers didn’t just steal art and artifacts. They stole Africa’s future. Foreign Policy: What Europe Stole From Africa ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After decades of refusal and denial, the last year has seen a cascade of announcements by Western countries and their richly funded museums of their willingness to begin restoring art masterpieces seized or secreted out of Africa over the course of roughly the last century and a half. This has been a season of reckoning for one institution after another, from the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., to the Metropolitan Museum in New York, along with numerous others in Britain and Europe, with their directors publicly coming to terms with the problems inherent to continuing to possess the priceless cultural patrimony of a formerly colonized continent. In some senses, this recent movement seemed to come to a head with not just a statement from a European capital or a visit by a museum delegation but the arrival of an official German government delegation in Nigeria bearing 20 so-called Benin Bronzes, with one official saying of a mask of a queen mother figure taken from the former West African kingdom of Benin, “She comes back to where she belongs.” “Twenty years ago, even 10 years ago, nobody could have anticipated these bronzes returning to Nigeria, because the obstacles to achieving repatriation were seemingly insurmountable,” Nigeria’s minister of culture, Lai Mohammed, was quoted as saying graciously, making an implicitly contrite act all the more painless. But as someone who works on African history, I am left feeling that actions like these aimed at restorative justice and coming to terms with an atrocious past have really only just begun. In fact, the matter of returning invaluable art objects—however necessary and still incomplete—is merely the easy part. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WELCOME TO THE FRIDAY PORCH [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/20/2148042/-Black-Kos-Week-In-Review-Enablers-amp-apologists-are-responsible-for-cops-killing-thousands Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/