Tyler Perry on Racial Profiling

A few days before President Obama was supposed to speak at my studio, I was leaving the studio, headed to the airport. Most times when I leave the studio I have an unmarked escort. Other times I constantly check in my rearview mirror to be sure that I’m not being followed. It’s a safety precaution that my security team taught me. As I got to an intersection, I made a left turn from the right lane and was pulled over by two police officers. I pulled the car over and put it in park. Then, I let the window down and sat in the car waiting for the officer. The officer came up to the driver’s door and said that I made an illegal turn. I said, “I signaled to get into the turning lane, then made the turn because I have to be sure I’m not being followed.” He said, “why do you think someone would be following you?”

Before I could answer him, I heard a hard banging coming from the passenger window. I had never been in this position before so I asked the officer who was at my window what was going on and why is someone banging on the window like that. He said, “let your window down, let your window down. Your windows are tinted.” As I let down the passenger window, there was another officer standing on the passenger side of the car. He said, “what is wrong with you?” The other officer said to him, “he thinks he’s being followed.” Then, the second officer said, “why do you think someone is following you? What is wrong with you?”

Before I could answer the officer on the passenger side, the one on the driver’s side had reached into the car and started pulling on the switch that turns the car on and off, saying, “put your foot on the brake, put your foot on the brake!” I was so confused as to what he was doing, or what he thought he was doing. It looked like he was trying to pull the switch out of the dashboard. I finally realized that he thought that switch was the key, so I told him that it wasn’t the key he was grabbing. I reached down into the cup holder to get the key, not realizing that the key had a black leather strap on it. As I grabbed it they both tensed up and I dropped it as I heard my mother’s voice from when I was a little boy.

My mother would always say to me, “if you get stopped by the police, especially if they are white policemen, you say ‘yes sir’ and ‘no sir’, and if they want to take you in, you go with them. Don’t resist, you hear me? Don’t make any quick moves, don’t run, you just go.” My mother was born in 1945 into a segregated hotbed town in rural Louisiana. She had known of many colored men at the time who were lynched and never heard from again. Since I was her only son for ten years, growing up she was so worried about me. It wasn’t until after I heard her voice that I realized that both of these officers were white.

The officer on the driver’s side continued to badger me, “why do you think someone is following you?” I then said, “I think you guys need to just write the ticket and do whatever you need to do.” It was so hostile. I was so confused. It was happening so fast that I could easily see how this situation could get out of hand very quickly. I didn’t feel safe at all. But one officer stopped his questioning and said, “we may not let you go. You think you’re being followed, what’s wrong with you?” At this point, I told him that I wanted to get out of the car. I wanted the passersby to see what was happening.

As I stepped out of the car another officer pulled up in front of my car. This officer was a black guy. He took one look at me and had that “Oh No” look on his face. He immediately took both officers to the back of my car and spoke to them in a hushed tone. After that, one of the officers stayed near his car while one came back, very apologetic.

I said all of that to say this: do you see how quickly this could have turned for the worse?

Now I know that there are many great officers, patrolmen and security guys out there. I am aware of that. But although we have made significant strides with racial profiling in this country, the world needs to know that we are still being racially profiled, and until this situation has improved greatly, I’m not sure how a murder in Florida can be protected by a “stand your ground law.”

And in another case that I have been screaming at the top of my lungs about, also in Florida, is the case of Terrance Williams and Felipe Santos, a young black man and a young Mexican man. Eight years ago, in Naples, FL, they were both put in the back of Deputy Steve Calkins’ police car and never heard from again.

They were never arrested, never brought to jail. They were put into the back of Deputy Calkins’ car and never heard from again. And to this day Deputy Steve Calkins is a free man.

I guess it’s time to march in Naples now.

RACIAL PROFILING SHOULD BE A HATE CRIME INVESTIGATED BY THE FBI!!!

That way local government can’t make the decision on whether or not these people get punished.

-Tyler [Perry] (taken from http://geekinglychic.tumblr.com/post/20320666016/tyler-perry-on-racial-profiling)

Public Safety is his Priority: and Theirs Is Movement

from Occupy Wall Street's webpage

       About 20 minutes ago, I turned on the TV on NY1 to find footage of tables being picked up, people walking around, tents being moved, a police officer speaking contents off a flimsy piece of paper into a speakerphone, and an angry man pointing a finger to someone barely off screen. Mayor Bloomberg comes on and starts speaking of how "they" don't have the right to deny someone else the opinion of opposition or no position at all. As I continue to tune in, Bloomberg continues to speak of the situation of protestors being notified by police officers they had to remove their tarp, sleeping bags, and other personal belongings at 1 oclock this morning from Zuccatti Park. There was suspicion of people "defecating in alley ways" nearby and other incidents that he mentioned. However, this doesn't stop Occupy Wall Street from continuing their movement as a young woman from Occupy once told me. According to a recent post on their website today at 9 AM, (right on this hour!) the plan for Occupy Wall Street is to move to Canal and 6th Avenue. Unfortunately, for the 50 people who came back to Zuccatti Park at 8 o'clock this morning didn't get the memo and possibly are still waiting until they are allowed to go back in. And that will take a while since Bloomberg mentioned a judge whose name wasn't mentioned sent a court order to possibly stop the movement from using Zucatti Park. As for further notice, its not over.

If you want to watch the Eyewitness News coverage of this: click on this link:

(http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/video?id=8432254)

Til Next Blog Post,

Miss Bobo

News and A Side

Things have been quite hectic with keeping up with my "occupation" as a student this fall. Papers, exams, discussions, professor meet ups; the works. So again, I apologize for the random pop of these blog posts that will follow. Anyways...on with this post!!! There has been quite a commotion or talk of something that has been going on here in NY. I am sure many of you reading this would know what I am writing about.....drum roll....(come on you know it): Yep, it's Occupy (you can click on the link if you don't know). From what I can gather on their website, this movement has been going on since September 17, 2011 with the idea in mind of fighting against the "power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process" and other things. It started as a small group and after a certain amount of time, gained enough momentum to make it into a global movement. I would think this would be a good example of one of those social domino effect phenomena my sociology professor would discuss in class. 
But regardless of that,  many people are currently going to these "demonstrations" and staying for days and I MEAN days with signs, food, and other objects. It is just brimming with people on computers, with cameras, with instruments, with fliers, stands, handouts, stickers, signs. I say that last sentence with the actual weight of the experience of walking into this demonstration and experiencing first hand what Occupy Wall Street is.

 I went there this past Tuesday and I just couldn't believe it. It was just brimming with people scattered but still clumped into one space. News reporters from channel 11 and other networks were walking in there looking around where exactly to start their news report. People were chatting and eating food from paper plates. There were flags out and a slideshow of historical images being played on some sort of fabric. People were singing and a priest was saying prayers.
So much was going on at the same time things were happening. For me it was amazing to watch. I for one am glad I found Occupy that day because I have been wanting so much to see this for myself instead of hearing it on the TV or reading it in some newspaper
Now you wonder why am I blogging about this:
Well...there are people who write and talk about these demonstrations in the question of whether it is just people ranting and complaining or is this something serious to think and talk about. 
So along with those words, it brings me to type the following announcement:
for the weeks that follow I will be attempting to interview and capture what Occupy Wall Street is from the perspective of the people who are in it. I want to inform you, the reader, what Occupy is, not from my perspective but directly from the people who are participating in it. I will be posting videos and hopefully the interviews I will be conducting on my visits to the locations in which the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations are at. It will give you the reader, the chance to figure out your opinion from what I have given you through photos, video, and hopefully voice recordings without the oppressive force of my opinion. Because at the end of the day, your knowledge of things are more important to me than what I want to rant about. 


Til Next Blog post,
Miss Bobo

Laissez Faire attitude + modernism= Libertarianism

Well hello there fellow human being. *folds hands and crosses left leg over in her comfortable computer chair*. How do you do? How do I do? What do we both do with what we do on this fine dandy day? well right now what I am doing is telling you the fellow reader a story or rather rant based on an article found on some google searched news:

kudos for whoever made this lol

1,200 people paid close to 20 dollars to attend a "rally" at Webster Hall, a place here in NY where people usually go to for concerts, just to support a politician named Ron Paul. Now who is Ron Paul, you may ask, well he is a Republican politician running for president but is quite criticized to be a libertarian. Now why, you may ask again, well apparently he is all old school "constitutionalism" (woah now we are getting all Dr. Seuss-y here) meaning he wants the government to lay off and give the individual the right to defend itself. Sounds nice and dandy right. But wait...wouldn't that mean that in the situation that occurs in which somebody is lying on the floor dying, they don't have health insurance, the person has the "right" to die because he or she just doesn't have health insurance? Yes sir/madam, that is exactly an example of what libertarianism is really walking towards. Its not the rights of man entirely, its the rights of man for responsibility of thyself. Eff you if you just couldn't afford a health insurance package. Eff you if you couldn't get your job to pay you enough for the rent of that measly apartment that the government could easily help you pay so you can BUY other consumer products so the economy can grow a little bit. Yeah, we should really be basing our legislatures and laws on some straight up Darwinism, that we are just all animals striving for a rat race called survival of the fittest. Of course, when it comes down to it we cannot negate the obvious scientific body of our social anatomy: we are human beings, animals with reason, so yes we shall have responsibility for our actions but is it OK to deny a person the right to accept help? Shall we deny reaching out to grab that hand because we should "perfectly" know all the time to act in accordance with the "freedom" the government expects us to carry.
I honestly cannot say I would stand against or with this man. But I do know I honestly can't stand for libertarianism. I don't agree with the concept of not supplying government programs to people who are sadly are at the end of the stick but I don't agree either to baby a country that can gain the resources to pull themselves up from the gutter from their own home. It's been quite a bit of a hub-bub among those who watch these presidential political campaigns because of course, every politician has something to say in how they "think" or "believe" is correct for this country. Often, they contradict or make fools of themselves on a podium in front of thousands of people. And in turn, they become ridiculed by tv personnel like Jon Stewart. (Which for the record, I recommend watching the episode in which Jon Stewart interviews Ron Paul.). Now what can be my point is this rant besides not agreeing with what libertarianism might represent in this country, well I am looking to incite somebody to really get to know every politician in these presidential campaigns. PLEASE KNOW WHO YOU ARE VOTING FOR TO THE VERY BEST OF YOUR ABILITY. Please DON'T be lazy and not watch these debates because next thing you know, we might just have another loop of just crazy regretted negative concequences such as the ones supplied by the Bush administration.

Til next blog post folks,
Miss Bobo

To Death Penalty or No Death Penalty

(First of all I want to apologize for the irregularity of my blog posts. Of course, as many of you who are reading, I myself have a lot on my plate but nothing that can prevent me from writing to you. So onward with the show.)
Things nowadays are getting intense that right now I can't even start this blog post with something random/funny. I don't know if this is all over the news but recently a man by the name Troy Davis was executed after an intervention and what seems to me, a few hold ups in the case where he supposedly was accused of a crime he really didn't commit. Reading this article, I had so much in my head that I am going to share it with you here.

Troy and his mother

First of all, let me just say that I find the concept of the death penalty to be quite a contradiction in itself especially when it is bound by such important documents as The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution that emphasize ideas like the right to "the pursuit of happiness" or the right to believe and say whatever you deem fit. People get trialed for committing murders but then get sentenced to be done the same act they are being punished for. To me that already sounds like a hypocritical concept. Why should a man or a woman get "executed" like an insect or an object for something they are already paying time for behind bars?

 What is even more bothersome to me is the fact that Troy Davis, a human being just like the rest of us was "executed" for a crime that was later found to NOT be his responsibility. I am not imagining this: the article says it:

          "Davis was executed for the 1989 murder of Mark MacPhail, who was working off duty as a security guard when he intervened to help a homeless person being attacked. Davis was implicated by another man, Sylvester Coles, present at the time. But since the trial seven of the key witnesses have come forward to say their evidence was wrong, and others have testified under oath that Coles was the killer."

 With such words as this, I come up with so many questions. Why do we allow things like this to happen? Why do people justify killing another person who very well might be like Travis: innocent?

I don't comprehend why people vote for politicians who support such hypocritical and destructive legislatures that in the end break apart families. It bothers me that many people read this and go along with their day not bothering to weigh in the fact that consequences to actions such as these can in turn affect their lives. Who knows, their brother, their mother, or even them can get caught in something that might not be exactly their fault. Unfortunately, they could be there at the wrong time and at the wrong moment and before you know it their life would be one step from being "executed." At the end of the day, it is you who decides whether the death penalty is correct, we both know what side I stand anyway. 

Til next blog post,

Miss Bobo

The Controversy Of A Little Ol' Plant

*bows and backflips* This week, or rather today, I chose to talk about weed. Yes, the famous plant that has created a bit controversy for inducing intoxication and all sorts of "fun" stuff that has placed it under the label of drugs. I googled weed just to see what would come up and I found this article/ piece of writing written by  Professor Arthur C. Gibson, sort of going a little deeper into the history and controversy of the plant. (If you are interested, check it out on this link. Although I do warn you its quite lengthy so prepare those eyes!). Either way it is interesting to know that not only is this plant called Cannabis sativa, but it was also used to make clothing in China back in B.C era. It was used to make fish nets, shoes, and even "writing materials." Reading this I can hardly believe it. And to top it all off the "hemp cloth" (cloth made by Cannabis sativa) was used for religious ceremonies. I am not kidding you, that is part of what I just read. There is also India with its god Siva, "Lord of Bhang" who according to the story, drank a concoction boiled with the leaves of the famous weed and mix it up with some " almonds, eight spices, rosebuds, milk, poppy seeds, and sugar." To sum it all up this plant has globally been a part of history and religion continuing to have a great part in the human existence. The problem surrounding this plant is that here in the USA, there is still quite a debate whether to legalize it or not. As many of you have heard, this plant is able to help cancer patients with things such as pain. However, there is also the situation of it being sold, mass produced, and consumed by the younger generation inducing the risk of opening a whole can of worms. There is this common fear that this plant will lead to a greater addiction to drugs and escape to life in general within not only in youth but in the rest of the people who consume it. But the way I see it the more you call on a fear the more it comes to you, eventually having to face that fear at some point. People have to realize if we are animals of reason, surely we can make better choices. Even if death is inevitable we still are allowed the strong will to face our secrets, fears, skeletons, and of course addictions. What can possibly make this plant worse than the pain killers/other pharmaceuticals that have in turn become someone's addiction? And I am sorry to say this, but I find it not too different from when prohibition was on and alcohol was banned, raising up the making of underground alcohol. Lets face it, legalized or not, this plant will continue to be cultivated, sold, and consumed some way or another.What do you think?

Cliques Gone Past the 80's

I used to think cliques such as nerds, goths, jocks,trendsetters; all those fun labels were done past the 80's. But as I have continued to learn throughout the years, that is not the case. I found a story through a friend that proves to me it really hasn't gone past the eighties: (http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2011/08/my-okcupid-affair-with-a-world-champion-magic-the-gathering-player/comment-page-4/#comment-170055)

This is basically a woman named Alyssa Bereznak who took it upon herself to sign up at an online dating site called OKCupid, went on a date with someone who she picked online, and then decided write about it. It may seem harmless but then you will find later in this writing piece, she takes the courtesy to badmouth the guy for not being who she wanted him to be in the beginning. I personally had the urge to bash her in but I realized that I would just be doing exactly as what she just did.  I have seen from my own personal perspective that at times when people even admit to someone with a mentality such as Bereznak for having hobbies like playing Magic the Gathering, they are outed or made into a pariah for not following the conventional characteristics of what is considered to be a "normal" person. There are probably many people out there who do have a good character and are rejected just for having an affinity for something that most adults don't engage in.We are living in a world where it is ok to judge someone by what they do instead of by the "content of their character."Thinking about it, with these types of websites one can't have so much high expectations that you would find somebody exactly as you want them to be.Situations like these make me question if humans as a species would ever evolve from such idealistic thoughts that a person is some sort of object to be tailored or molded into being who another person wants them to be instead of just being themselves.  What do you think?

P.S. as for Bereznak's situation; unfortunately for her, she was outed by a lot of people and even written about in another article called Alyssa Bereznak Just Reminded Us That Women Can Be Predators Online Too. Kudos for Elly