Community gardens and prisons create fresh food

Crude Oil hits newer and newer highs, gasoline is creeping forward in a slower but no less steep rise, and heating oil is the tiger in the next room. With these costs going up money gets tight quickly for even well-to-do families. Add to that the big gotcha that ethanol production is driving up food prices (or more sneakily shrinking serving sizes) and you have a situation where families cannot make ends meet.

The solution, at least in Philadelphia, involves a prison and community gardens. Essentially the lowest level prisoners are being used to tend to seedling plants that will then go out to community gardens. As these public gardens are tended fresh vegetables are grown, which are then given out to charities and churches for distribution to the needy. And the number of needy is growing. Last year 6 tones of vegetables were grown and given out. This year the plan is to grow 15,000 pounds of food.

This plan has a hidden benefit as well. For the prisoners there is the opportunity to learn about nature, self-reliance, self-discipline, and even a few classes in classics like math squeezed in. It may not be the perfect answer to higher food prices, but to those – especially the elderly – that have the need it’s brilliant.

Now some of my more business minded readers might wonder where all the money comes from. Nothing is completely free, and they are right in this case as well. The Albert M. Greenfield Foundation has funded this program through 2009 at a cost of $500,000. Those involved believe this is money well granted.

So what is the point here? That gardening can be more than just a bit of relaxation. That community gardens can be used for more than just nice looks. That even under difficult conditions the human spirit can flourish in the least expected environments.

Think about it. Maybe you have a community garden near you, or you can start one. Perhaps there is a program in your area already or you can start one. I’ve just planted a seed, will you help it grow?

Philadelphia: Justice for 1 in 5 fair for police

So here is a key thing to consider when it comes to how law enforcement in America reacts to a blatant and violent reaction caught on tape. In Philadelphia there were 19 police officers involved in an attack against 3 Black men. I spoke about this here Police overkill: not a movie, Philadelphia

Now I have long said that this is more than an isolated event. I have mentioned that this is a national policy, in at least that under duress the rules are bendable. And I noted that the offenders tend to be forgiven or barely touched by their actions. That is exactly what I perceive to be happening now.

Of all the officers involved, 4 will get fired. Additionally 1 will be demoted and 3 will be suspended. That’s it.

Look at the video in my previous post. Of all the officers involved I see none that are trying to stop any of the police brutality that occurred. Not a single police officer is being stopped as they kick and beat on the 3 men lying on the ground and surrounded by multiple officers each. In what way are they not complicit?

If I were to stand by and watch several African Americans beat a White American and it was video taped, I would be charged with conspiracy to commit a crime. I would be attacked by the media for not doing something to stop the obvious violence and overkill occurring. Yet officers of the law are not held to that same standard. Why?

But there is something else that is happening, and it is as critical as the actions of the police. It’s the reporting and words’ being used to describe what has happened.

On Yahoo you can read this statement right now

“The beating occurred at the same time police were conducting an intense manhunt for a suspect in the slaying two days earlier of Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski, but Ramsey said Monday that there was no indication that any of the officers thought the suspect was among the three men in the car.”

That sentence, the last in the article, is powerful. It implies that the manhunt for the criminal that killed an officer involved these men. That their actions were motivated by the belief these men were involved in that shooting in some way. That is the only purpose of this sentence. Especially since earlier in the article is clearly states that the police alleged these men were suspects in an unrelated shooting, which occurred the same night as the video.

That last statement, that I have heard cable news reporter repeat in some form, is the beginning of a defense of any potential charges on the officers. It is the seed of a subliminal excuse for all that read this. And it will become more prominent as the case moves forward. This always happens.

Is it a big deal? Yes, because a potential jury will hear this defense of the officers perhaps dozens of times. The fact that credible authorities, major media of multiple formats, have said this over and over means it must be true. Because anything the media says is thought to always be true. And this is the thought process being embedded. This is one reason that a jury could find Rodney King’s assailants innocent of any charge. It’s why the Sean Bell murderers were found innocent, thought the official police story on events changed dramatically.

Add to that the fact that the major media is trying very hard to prevent the average person from connecting how law enforcement acts on a regular basis. At least once every year the national media reports on an event where police officers use unwarranted extreme violence against African Americans – usually males. That’s at least once a year for probably decades now. But they are unconnected. And it’s never racial.

I feel that is a lie. It’s racial because it’s something that happens to only people of color. You have never heard of, nor has it ever happened that, a White male was shot 20, 30, 40, 50+ times in front of their home. You have never heard, or seen 5 or 10 or 15 officers beating on subdued White suspects. Because of this it is racial. And it’s connected.

We need to break this mindset in the law enforcement of this nation. We need to remove the permissive environment that exists allowing people of color to be victims of acts that would never be tolerated if done to White Americans. The statue of Justice is said to be blindfolded because Justice has no bias, But the more I pay attention I tend to believe she is blindfolded to not see the abuse and injustice being enacted in this nation – just as she remained blind to slavery, Jim Crow, segregation, and the various disparities found in inner cities as opposed to everywhere else.

R Kelly trial to start, or will it?

“5 years and counting. What might that refer to? Could it be the Iraq war? It could also be the amount of time since R Kelly was supposed to go to trial for the alleged rape of a minor…”

“Will R Kelly finally go to court and stand trial for his actions – and will the family of the girl that was raped still be working for him?”

I made those comments back in September 2007. Now in May 2008 with 2 days to go before the start of the trial, another delay looms, and the media still isn’t paying attention. I cannot describe how angy this makes me. A rumored and widely acknowledged pedophile is running around free and evading the law and the news media can’t be bothered.

The media makes me sick in cases like this. Wesley Snipes is an entertainer, and Black, so no time was wasted in painting him as a felony criminal – even after he was found innocent of all but the least significant charges. OJ Simpson can’t walk across the street without a news crew documenting it (as they virtually have for over a decade) – and he was found innocent. Rev. Wright had 35 years of religious service and work for the equality and imporvement of quality of life wiped out by five 10 second polispeak soundbites – and he wasn’t running for an elected position.

But when it comes to real crimes the major news media has it’s head stuck up it’s collective a**. The Jena 6 case was ignored for months. The Megan Williams case was granted all of 30 seconds and will never be uttered again. Sean Bell was discussed form the cops perspective, without ever mentioning the conflicts in their stories, and pushed to a corner as quickly as possible. Now the actions of 15 cops in Philadelphia is set to be accepted as merely a slight over reaction among a small group of officers – completely obfuscating the connection to and growing trend of excessive police brutality to people of color nearly exclusively.

And we can add R Kelly, a pedophile whos targets are near-pubescent girls. The daughters, neices, and sisters in the Black community that are supposed to be protected by the law and the community. Yet the news media can’t be bothered to know anything about this case, because Britney Spears cut her hair, Amy Winehouse is a crackhead that got arrested again, and Paris Hilton is a spoiled rich brat who was arrested for violating the law and is placed into entertainment events because she has too much money to offend.

Of course how can we blame the major news media. African Americans regularly support this vile and disgusting man every time he has a concert or makes a record. Grown women still swoon to his words and gyrations on music videos, actively ignoring the fact that were they standing in front of him naked he would prefer a clothed 13 year old next to them. What makes him any less dispicable than the Mormons in Texas?

And not a single complaint has come from the major news media about the judge’s running of the case.

“Vincent M. Gaughan, a Cook County circuit court judge… essential goal, according to one of his orders: "To preserve the dignity of the court and the integrity of the proceedings." That's an especially powerful, ironic argument, given widespread concern that Kelly is receiving preferential treatment because of his celebrity status.”

The media has been consistent in complaining that Black entertainers get treated preferentially by the legal system. They point to OJ, Wesley Snipes (who was sentanced beyond any parity according to all experts in such matters), and numerous rappers like Snoop Dogg. Yet they can’t seem to be able to see R Kelly or the fact they are giving him a pass that is underserved or justified. And many African Americans laud this as a positive.

Of course R Kelly hasn’t been taking this vacation from the law lightly. He’s used the time to lay low, keeping out of the direct spotlight – letting potential jurors only know about his records and not his deeds. He’s employed the father of his victim, paying cash to keep his a** out of jail and possibly buying testimonies in the process (isn’t that called inciting perjury – and a crime in itself?).

I once quoted

“As Huey states in one episode, [I paraphrase]
“America has done a multitude of injustice to Blacks, but that does not mean everything is an injustice, or that this makes every African American a hero.”

The fact that R Kelly can sing a song, is Black, and entertainer and has some money does not make him a hero. The fact that video tape proves he is a pedophile does make him a criminal and in need of imprisonment in my view. And the news media ignoring this case makes the injustice to African Americans no less palpable than when the media ignored Jena, Megan Williams, Sean Bell, or ignored the innocence of Wesley Snipes.

The major news media has a position and it seems to be clear. It could be said as:

• If a Black is popular and well off – find something to take them down. Crush their lives if possible. (Stories on Michael Jordan gambling on golf games, stories claiming Tiger Woods' wife was in a porno, searching for infidelities in Bill Cosby’s life or others, and so on).
  
  
• If they are guilty, or even suspected of a crime against a White, convict them at every turn (Wesley Snipes, OJ Simpson, and on).
  
  
• If they are committing, or suspected of, a crime against themselves or African Americans. Spin it as positive as possible. Publicize it as often as possible. And if it has no positive edge, ignore it. (R Kelly, Snoop Dogg and more)
  
  
• If they are the victim of a crime – only if commited by a White – ignore it. If it can’t be ignored then blame the African American and support the White (Duke rape case, Megan Williams) but never allow guilt to be a fact.
  
  
• And for any other case not covered, just look for the most negative portrayal of any person of color as possible, or avoid the issue. (How many Amber Alerts have you seen on the news for Black children? How about in the past year?)
  

So I have to wonder if R Kelly will ever get into a courtroom. Or if the media will cover it if he does. Or is the victim in the case (who is now 23 and thus won’t look as obviously a victim as she would have 5+ years ago) going to have her short past used as a weapon against her.

What would you bet?