Never Mind The Decades Of Racism Before Michael Brown

Ferguson unrest reflects decades of racial tension in St. Louis area http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/08/16/236724/ferguson-unrest-reflects-decades.html#storylink=rss

White conservatives love believe race doesn't matter. It does.

He's Going Down Swinging

Via McClatchy: A defiant Perry calls felony indictment a 'farce' http://feedly.com/e/fTbCtFWJ

Conservatives are all about obeying the rule of law. Except they break it.

Mike Brown and The Conservative Alternate Universe

Mike Brown was eighteen years old and unarmed when he was shot and killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.

Details are emerging about Mike Brown allegedly stealing a few cigars and pushing a convenience store clerk.

After that, the specifics are still less clear. Some eyewitnesses say there was a struggle between the police officer and Mike. What we do know is that Mike is dead.

Now, most rational people are able to put this incident in its proper racial and historical context. Ferguson is more than 70% black but 50 of the 53 police officers are white. Not only that, the police department has a well documented history of racism towards blacks.

Statistics regarding the proportion of black men killed by police in relation to whites are scant, but you don't need statistics to know that in this country, black men are repeatedly racially profiled, harassed, and killed by police for the most insignificant offenses and often for having committed no offense at all.

Which is why the conservative reaction is mind boggling, to them, race is not a factor. To conservatives, this is just another black criminal who could have lived had he just done as he was told.

To conservatives, it's too early to tell if race played a role, wait for the facts to come out they say. But you and I know that we've seen this movie before, the facts that will come out will be the testimony of the white cop against the dead black teen whose character will be smeared, posthumously, by the time a trial gets under way.

Conservatives live in a world where racism doesn't exist anymore, only reverse racism. Because we all know that if it's about white aggrievement, then conservatives are in an uproar. Black men get killed for stealing cigarettes and of you bring up racism, then you're just stoking the fire.

I don't get conservatives anymore.

Republican Minority Outreach, Redux

Apparently Rand Paul wants to run for president, which means he needs money. If Republicans really, truly want to reach out to minorities, all they have to do is NOT engage in any of the following;

-Trying to destroy the social safety net, this includes Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, unemployment benefits, and food stamps (SNAP)

-Voter suppression, don't give me this bullshit about voter ID being about protecting election integrity

-Opposing raising of the minimum wage

-Destroying unions

Do that, and then we can have a meaningful dialogue about the GOP 'reaching out' to minorities. 

Can Rand Paul Win Black Voters? Can He Convince His Party to Try? - The Atlantic