Tag: Protest

Playing your game baby

Tilted Playing Field

In the course of consensual indulgences for mutual benefit, sometimes the balance between expectations and consideration requires a renegotiation by duress if not otherwise forthcoming. For example, suppose you provide a service, and there is an insufficient acknowledgment of the value of that service. In that case, your contribution is dismissed as incidental or unnecessary to the successes or is interchangeable. The “commodity” is the foundation of a product or service.

However, devoid of the benefit of unobstructed advancement on merit, it resonates as capricious gratitude being allowed to partake in the process, not the benefit. This dampens ambition by despair due to lack of opportunity. By evaluating contributions, ambition rises above participation, breaching the levee of limitations for more meaningful recognition and reward for contributing to others’ achievements.

Imagine the “commodity” is human labor and specialized talents or skills honed and proven to be the foundation of the product or service provided, which otherwise could not be offered with the same quality. So the “commodity” and the capital are codependent, with the capital possessing the majority of the power, decision making, and designations. With the missing ingredient being capital or seed money to sustain the liquidity of the operation’s existence, talent is dependent. It is a consensual understanding for a mutual benefit until the arrangement has progressed beyond the original terms or either becomes no longer necessary.

The original terms being firmly at the discretion of the capital providers refusing to mitigate the conditions leaves two options. Express dissatisfaction while bemoaning for change and patiently waiting for redress or removing yourself and your contribution from the scenario. Patiently bemoaning at least provides participation while disassociation invites replacement.

To better understand the options, if the “commodity” is disrupted and irreplaceable, the capital would be more amenable to the changes to preserve their interest and investment. But, on the other hand, if disassociation of talent is tendered, a viable option would have to be available. Perhaps made available by your ingenuity having everything except the capital, but what if you had a succession plan, the resolve, and the capital. Then what?

The enterprising spirit undertaken to create the situation you decided to separate from is the calculated risk needed. It is the same spirit that can propel your ambitions forward. Why can’t you do for yourself what you were doing for someone else? Uncertainty? Of what? Like Heavy D and the Boys rapped, “We got our own thang.” Get up and do your thang.

You can witness a movement, be part of a movement, start a movement, or be the movement. The movement is to increase the residual benefits of actions already undertaken by doing them somewhere else or leveraging the prospect of doing so elsewhere. So, quit pump faking when you can take your shot. Deliver unto yourself what you request in vain and wait indefinitely to be provided. The inducement has been profoundly provoked and repeatedly aggravated. To remain is a choice.

This applies to any situation you may find yourself confronted with, but I have something specific in mind. Everything is irrational when first proposed if the possibility is foreign or uncomfortable, but not to the fearless visionary and cold calculator. Sports are a melding of many facets of life and bonding. It also generates billions of dollars on the collegiate and pro levels, not to mention merchandise and gambling implications.

According to the US Department of Education, there are 107 HBCU’s operating in the United States. Those with D1 athletic programs in football and basketball can upset collegiate athletics by a swing in the “commodity” they attract. For example, the flamboyant visionary mind of Coach Prime with the brazen audacity to think we can compete with the big boys first by recruitment and then by performance has proven the premise.

With the advent of NIL’s and the transfer portals, the landscape of HBCUs resources, valuations, and academic outreach can multiply with two changes. The ability to accommodate the expansion and attract the “commodity.” The “commodity” or student-athletes have an opportunity to affect social justice simply by where they choose to play sports.

If enough talent commits, national recognition and championships will follow the talent. What Black talent provides to most of the largest universities in the country, some with racist and slavery participating histories, they can provide to the institutions created as a refuge combating Black people exclusion from education.   

Furthermore, an accurate portrayal of history would undoubtedly be encouraged and transparency less problematic, not to mention the cultural affirmation. The insidious and exploitive undertones enjoyed by non-HBCUs can be converted to create a legacy of athletics, academics, and resources. Essentially, an irrepressible movement. Black Lives Matter should mean that Black Talent Matters and where that talent is displayed. NIL especially makes this lucrative for individual athletes and HBCUs. 

The resources, sponsorships, amenities, media coverage, merchandise, fame, and more will be flooded upon the athletes of current pioneers like Coach Prime, Rampaging Eddie George, and others who establish this transformative opportunity. The legendary Coach Eddie Robinson comes to mind, among others, as a keeper of the aspiration until the circumstance were ripe as they are now. Time has taken its place and this space and time are unprecedented. However, if some would not support or respect the freedom of choice now prevalent in collegiate sports, we could fill that void by creating solutions to satisfy our needs. 

The rallying cry would certainly be answered by former pros, HOF players, volunteers, business leaders, businesses, academics, and celebrities to pridefully coach and mentor HBCU talent. The response and support can revitalize the surrounding businesses, community, and campuses with the talent concentrated. Entertainment and concerts could be incorporated to generate additional revenue sharing and venue fees. Fundraisers similar to Farm Aid, Telethons, and We are the World can be organized to benefit HBCUs directly. Consider if a musician made a smash fire song and donated the proceeds to HBCUs or if many artists did the same. What about a tour?

There is no limit to the possibilities of concerts, Versus type events such as sponsored by Tim and Beatz, or live streaming prospects. The fashion and culture statement popularizing HBCU gear would leave no doubt about what culture we promote. Make HBCU apparel as popular as Timberland boots or other designer items so coveted and supported by Blacks. The elevation of aspirations requires that we make the fashion instead of just wearing it, becoming producers instead of just consumers. The impact would be directed towards achieving the goal we so willingly protest for but are unwilling to support using our economic muscle. 

The resulting entrepreneurial initiative and investment would ensure a vibrant microcosm of prosperity similar to Black Wallstreet, providing allowances for student subsidies, facility improvements, and overall Black condition. I propose making Juneteenth a fundraising event for HBCUs, giving the date meaning and producing practical gains instead of the current masquerade.

Celebrating Juneteenth by stimulating the economy for all and purchasing t-shirts adds zero meaning or purpose to this hollow holiday. Why not gather resources instead of spending them? Why not embrace a resolution to harvest measurable progress towards real Black freedom? The masses of ordinary people possess the power when moving in unison as a concentrated initiative. 

Supporting HBCUs would expand academic growth, producing more representation in politics, medicine, business, and investments. If the programs are not offered, create them. If they exist, improve them to rival the best offered anywhere. Internships would supplement the educational value with practical guidance and experience.

Talent is the innovation and equalizer when appropriately focused. Self-awareness is knowing where the self ends and being aware of circumstances beyond yourself having an impact on a grand scale. It is not about you but the future of us. Talent and how it is utilized tilts the playing field like nothing else. Look at Nike. The representation of talent is what they really sell. 

Talent can create ownership and distribution percentages shared across the HBCU spectrum to schools other than the D1 participants to dominate the other divisions or benefit from the D1 capital successes. So why is inclusion in someone else’s prosperity more important at the exclusion of your own because they have finally accepted your talent or revenue for their benefit?

To build the social justice sought, protesting in the streets has its limitations. Protest in the pockets, balance sheets, fiscal projections, and boardrooms provides quantitative incentives and deterrents. In addition, HBCUs would be open to whoever chose to enroll there, fully embracing all contributions as valuable to its success.

Those who benefited can tithe a percentage of their prosperity. The investment generating returns, loosely structured, similar to a student loan or donation, would secure the opportunity for those who follow. The Fab Five shook college basketball to its core. Phi Slama Jama 82 to 84 and Georgetown Hoyas from 84 to 91 frightened the NCAA basketball world.

Consider Larry Bird went to Indiana State and singlehandedly put them on the map and himself on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Nothing before or since, just the power of one player. The point is they will find you. Imagine the possibilities at an HBCU with the top talents of today consolidated. We can make Black History and establish legacies at this pivotal moment of change. Think like a boss and become the movement that shapes the future with generational reverberations. 

Likewise, pro football is especially vulnerable. Are you ready for some NFL football, the conversation that is? Let’s talk about creating an Equity Football League, a league where fairness is the standard, not the comparison. Fairness is a standard, while equality is a comparison.

A standard is easier to assess and apply being static, while a comparison is fluid by nature and subject to the changing criteria of evaluation. Impartiality should be oblivious to considerations deprived of fairness and exclude incidental irrelevancies. The Brian Flores lawsuit has pulled back the curtain on what many persons associated with the NFL already knew to be true, ownership bias exists.

 

To further extend the conversation to the pros, there seems to be an ongoing devaluation of Black’s contribution beyond the “commodity” phase proven by lack of head coaching, management, and ownership representation. The new league ownership could be constituted as a Corp, LLC, Social Club Membership, a service contract and exotic Reit, or hybrid player/public owned with revenue sharing.

Maybe owned and distributed through blockchain or subscription. Games can be played at HBCU stadiums with HBCU bands as paid entertainment or other celebrity entertainment. The players acquired from the college pipeline and free agent NFL players. Coaching and management from the excluded ranks of the NFL and college. 

It is nearly impossible to envision Black ownership in the NFL, likewise a fair percentage of Black management and head coaches where nary an eyebrow is raised either way. However, we don’t have another fifty or sixty years to wait. The Black quarterback has largely silenced the conversation of qualification and opportunity, but ownership still eludes Blacks.

It was once taboo to even imagine a Black quarterback, but now it is common. The Black NFL players and coaches directly contribute to the head coach’s success, only not to be rewarded for their contribution to that success with head coaching opportunities. Compensated but not represented in terms of a fair opportunity at the pinnacle. The compensation is not proportionate with the revenue generated because ownership is forbidden.

Suppose a Black owner was initiated in the NFL. Perhaps the top talent’s gravitation would prefer them as a destination even at a discount but assured by the talent accumulated to dominate the Superbowl and create a dynasty. Not only would it disrupt the league, owner’s valuations, and the gambling industry, it would force the NFL adaptation to remain competitive.

Being refused ownership, the alternative would be to start your own league, draining them of the talent pool they take for granted. With the entertainment value depleted, the revenue would soon follow with waning interest. Then, at the absolute best, a prosperous alternative league would emerge or a merger expanding the NFL to include the Black ownership and players.

With seventy percent of the NFL players of color, what would the NFL value be to compete with a league that gained a sizable percentage of that talent? The NFL would have to pay extreme premiums to retain the talent, further enriching the athletes depleting their monopoly, needing the “commodity” to survive financially, and increasing the number of professional players to fill the void. The goal is to create fairness, ownership participation, and redistribution of wealth, not segregation. 

There is precedent for Blacks creating their own equity and entities to rival any others using leverage and intelligence. Reginald F. Lewis was as respected as any American businessman of the highest degree.  His ownership and entrepreneurial initiative were demonstrated and achieved during a more tumultuous and discriminatory time than now becoming one of the richest Black men in modern America during the 1980s. He was the first Black American to build a billion-dollar company, TLC Beatrice International Holdings Inc. 

Furthermore, there are sports examples where alternative Black enterprises and individuals leveraged talent, intelligence, and dignity to retort exclusion. The Negro League produced teams comparable and superior to MLB and an influx of talent, including Jackie Robinson. The Harlem Globetrotters is another example, including the likes of Wilt Chamberlain. The Living Legend Jim Brown rebuked ownership in his prime to dispel any misconception they controlled his dignity.

We can assemble those with the capital to circumvent the NFL ownership structure by collective endeavor and creative financing. The diversity of this effort would ensure its success. Suppose Black billionaires such as Robert Johnson of BET fame, Robert F. Smith of the investment world, media giants Byron Allen and Oprah Winfrey, Shawn Carter and Beyonce, Rihanna, and Tyler Perry invested capital and knowledge.

Furthermore, if Magic Johnson, Daymond John, Serena Williams, and an endless rollcall of billionaires and millionaires not conflicted by race contributed capital. All recognizing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity bringing a degree of accomplishment, venture capital, public money, and expertise to the table. They represent a diversity of industries able to mobilize their influence and forte in addition to capital. 

Be advised that the burden is not theirs but ours. Black leadership does not relieve us of our responsibility as a grassroots movement complementing them. We cannot rely on others, despite their color, to deliver us without our exertion as a base of engaged solidarity. There is strength in numbers, especially when resolute in objective. This is our duty to be unyielding and unified.

No contribution is too small. The sixties protest was successful for one reason, solidarity of spirit and purpose. We must be willing to risk confrontation of interest to achieve an objective. Fairness is a form of respect and likewise is assured by earning it or taking it. Anything given stands to be taken away by the giver. Thus, the creation of formidable industries demands respect and discourages opposition.    

Any creation of industries as outlets for talent and opportunities fairly distributed rejecting status quo biases provides economic empowerment and social redress. The fourteen plus percent of the Black population is significant enough to send a shiver through the economic landscape.

Utilizing our 1.6 trillion purchasing power no longer scattered promotes social justice and fairness using the language of money. Merchandising, supply chains, cable, and television rights through Black venders would diversify the benefit to Black prosperity and education. So, enter the fray with dollars in hand and resolve on display.

Once done, the challenge to their product, revenue stream, tax base, and lease obligations would humble their restrictions allowing fairness by necessity with their capital no longer needed. But unfortunately, the ongoing impulse to endure unfavorable conditions negates the possibilities of new horizons for those who are visionary and bold.

If they are so fond of a tilted playing field, then accommodate them with a tilted field but in our favor this time. I am sure there will be no hard feelings in a free market society of the fittest. The winds of change are blowing strongly. We should not resist but set our sails with the wind.

Their arrogant taunt and empty promises are if you don’t like it, what can you do about it but complain? That is where they made a colossal miscalculation if our courage to create an alternative league surpasses the frustration of exclusion from their club’s hierarchy. A King rose out of an unlikely challenge when David slew the giant Goliath. The mighty can be brought to heel with a well-placed blow.

The NFL has a very shortsighted vision of their business model or an overwhelming concession to prejudice and exclusion, dismissing the value of fairness to the “commodity.” There are many Goliaths to be slain. Track and field is another area of concentration that HBCUs could benefit from significantly. The rise of or rather suppression of women’s sports by lack of funding is also a social and economic opportunity for women to capitalize while also elevating their craft. 

The spirit of education, ownership, and self-determination manifested the HBCU to counter the exclusion from educational pursuits with no choices before that weren’t rampant with discrimination. By our ancestor’s power and tenacity, HBCUs were founded in the mid-1800s, with the first being Cheyney University of Pennsylvania in 1837.

Knowing the Black struggle, sufferings, and sacrifices to produce the higher learning institutions of the HBCU makes them our original Alma Mater. Therefore, HBCUs are our Alma Mater by vision, if not by attendance. 

We have always been welcome at our own thang, our HBCUs when no other would accept us. Remember that when it is time to pledge your services. Talent consolidation leads to comprehensive self-determination by revenue generation. Given the Black athletic talent and revenue generated, why do HBCUs struggle for sustainability or resources if not forsaken by the very people it was created to empower. The shameful allegiance to and exploitation by these other institutions of Black talent robs HBCUs.

If you want to protest something, protest that, by choosing who cultivated your future before you knew you had one. That is a practical step toward social justice, education, and economic viability using supply, demand, and exclusivity. It is not racial. It is business. It is not segregation. It is self-determination. It is our new business model for redistributing the wealth earned from our labor and talent. Same for the entertainment and music industries.

If the business model resembles what has been historically used against us, I can assure you that it is coincidental and sanctioned by comparison. Otherwise, they should not practice it. So consider it playing their game, their rules, but to our benefit this time. In addition, a tax-deductible donation would direct resources to HBCUs from taxes you would pay otherwise to the IRS.

There is no need to beg for fairness when you can provide yourself justice. Give your product or service the value you have provided theirs, and it will attract resources and customers, especially if marketed correctly, providing residual value to the patrons in addition to yourself. They pay to see the “commodity,” not the owners.

If you build it, they will come but more importantly, make sure you come because we already have our own thang and the talent to stock it. We are not commodities to be traded on the open market or paraded at a combine for white owners to choose from, like a slave auction to enrich themselves by our labor. Support our thang.

Start at the roots, HBCU. Let’s support Black ownership, wealth creation, and HBCUs with Black talent and resources. Talent is our leverage and venture capital to use wisely. Remember, there is no need to beg. But, there is a need to do. Now, what team are you playing for, the beggars or the doers?

Thurston K. Atlas 

Creating A Buzz  

 

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Hocus Pocus- Election 2020



Lesson Learned,  Strategy Applied

Hocus Pocus is a catchy phrase that is associated with magic tricks. It is a concept that captivates your attention without any detection of its sly execution. But, in practice, it is meaningless talk or activity specifically designed to draw attention away from, deceive, or disguise what is secretly happening in front of you.

It magically enchants or charms you using a series of words and actions directing your thoughts towards a diversion. While at the same time conducting the deception. It has already brought about some sort of magical distortion by undetected sleight of hand or mind when spoken. The hocus pocus is the diversion that exploits perception with the pretense of magic. Thus it is called a trick for this reason because you are indeed tricked by deception.

The 2020 election has been the magic act, while the protest, civil unrest, and political shenanigans have been the hocus pocus diversion exploiting our perception against our objectives. We must realize the right to and the purpose for protest is not questioned or diminished by examining its objective and effectiveness but redefined and improved.

Is the goal of protest in and of itself for emotional release or to achieve a beneficial objective? Removing emotions must be replaced with the resilient decree of logical substantive resolutions. Furthermore, the ensuing political circus has been a well-orchestrated misdirection concealing an even more sinister plan, stroking fear to solidify power fueling re-election. 

My commentary is not a political statement and is devoid of politics or concern for who won the election because this has nothing to do with who won. It is more about the tactics of how the election was almost lost ideologically. Nevertheless, the need for adaptation in the premises and implementation of opposing strategy is brought in context by the support for Trumpism, which cannot be easily dismissed as just racist.

It is therefore prudent to develop counterintelligence from the ideologies that oppose our interests and learn from them. We must identify, know, and understand the instruments of repression used against our progress. 

Foremost, people align themselves with their interests more so than being opposed to someone else’s when they are not mutually exclusive or diametrically opposed intrusions. Thus, social justice can occur without threatening to upend society but promising to improve it if done strategically.

What does threaten to upend society is the fear of senseless violence and random destruction. This path has been traveled repeatedly and has not accomplished social justice but more alienation, ours. But, on the other hand, the contortion of Democracy and suppression of mechanisms of change continue as obstacles to be challenged and transformed.  

Regardless of any other section of society’s condition, we must concern ourselves with our condition. Comparatively, our grievances are legitimate, but we must maximize the actions within our power to affect our change. We must consider what has aided different segments of society to exceed and excel while we remain relatively stagnant. 

Complaining, making excuses, and finger-pointing relies on the offender relenting and granting us some degree of redress at their discretion.  Recognition of limitations beyond an empowering point produces weakness and is demoralizing, leaving us begging. There are more significant dynamics at play within our control and the development of effective ideological initiatives. 

What is within our control is, in fact, our power, and utilizing power needs no permission. Therefore, a structured demographical, tactical, psychological, economic, and political crusade using a calculated, disciplined, and focused application is required to create and expand our ideological initiative. Initially, we must be brutally honest in identifying our condition, counterproductive influences, and course of correction.

We must also assess our human resources, level of resilient commitment, best deployment options, and methods of quantitative accountability. Finally, any strengths and weaknesses of our resolve must be accurately assessed to formulate discipline to a resolution.

Supporting pointless actions must not become engrained or flourish within our objective. Once a blueprint is devised, identifying activities that jeopardize or damage that blueprint must be isolated, neutralized, or discontinued. It is minimizing or eradicating self-inflicted harm eroding our collective objective. The more focused and comprehensive the commitment, the more effective the plan is, expanding the considerations for implementation. 

Those who oppose this objective should not be able to infiltrate, associate, or instigate under the cloak of the collective objective. This infiltration of provocateur’s detrimental behavior is then wrongly associated with our protest and purpose when allowed or tolerated.

The method used to isolate and eliminate this infiltration is accomplished by adjusting our methods and directives of objection. Denouncing these actions as unrelated Operandi of an antagonist intention in opposition to our goals. This is not to endorse cowardly behavior or spinelessly tolerate repercussions but to advocate for logical and tactical outmaneuvering of opposing ideologies.

When in conflict, the allocations of the adversary must not be contributed to or enhanced but lessened or eliminated. As part of our resistance, it is foolish that we would provide the incentive, justification, sustenance, division, or discord to be used against us. If it does, then that policy is fortifying the opposition, feeding their interest against our objective. It simply cannot be allowed to nourish their starving resistance.

When building our formidable resistance, the dimension and composition of the participants is the primary determination, utilizing them as a cohesively focused demographic unit. We must use the right tools for the job, remembering that selected suitability varies according to purpose by capabilities. Some who could not or would not protest in the streets are eager to contribute otherwise. They can also contribute by other values and associations.

With only 14.7 % of the U.S. population identifying as black, we cannot underestimate our need for alliances with other demographics to accomplish our objectives. We need to project shared interests and avoid unnecessary alienation that does not promote our intent. Thus, promoting mutual effort by mutual gain emphasizing their benefit by coalition with a shared principle or common aspiration. There is no need to create opposition where none exists.      

Bullhorns and rhymes have their limitations. Old practices should be scrutinized and avoided if they create too many negative implications with minimal practical benefit. Resources and volunteers must have a mission, be purposefully mobilized, and be preserved from harm by design.

For example, where demographics are strong on local municipal levels, we can dictate our fate in the areas where we reside and work, then expand outward and upward. Considerations and accommodations in our concentrated demographic regions can provide a favorable safe haven or bubble where our circumstances are protected and expanded by legislative means. 

There must be recognition and proactive countermeasures enacted to prevent the games being played. Mauling voting rights is the emerging contention by voter suppression and redistricting to circumvent the antidotal counter to defend against the hocus pocus. 

We cannot proudly remain exclusive from others when we so desperately can use their help. There is strength in numbers, and mathematically these coalitions make it easier twofold by creating support and removing resistance. Furthermore, we need to reasonably identify our strategic advantages and partners, what resources and techniques are required, and methodically strengthen and apply them. 

 

 

 

Tactically, new creative methods of protest that rely less on physical presence, raging emotion, or confrontation are the most compelling, effective way to gain a powerful advantage. It is not hiding; it is stick and move, strike without being struck. Accomplishment is the goal, not posturing or grandstanding.

Additionally, conservative and religious forces need to be favorably engaged in extracting adherence to their stated core beliefs, aligning and consolidating them with our social justice goals. The incentive would be to embrace support for the freedoms they enjoy or claim to represent. 

Make them an offer that their belief cannot refuse or further expose and identify the basis for their hypocrisy, thereby being specified as part of the remedy or a fraud. Psychological actions imaginatively applied using proven, but unconventional applications are also less likely to be proactively neutralized or resisted. There would be no proven recourse for this fresh approach and its nuances.

Educational persuasion repetitiously applied in a targeted manner to a youthful perspective would be enormously influential and effective. Time is a tool for the progress of perspectives using generational change and leverage. Also, economic and political support or their withdrawal are significant motivations for attention to our social change demands.

Support withdrawn should be reminiscent of the sixties bus strike, where withdrawal of consent and economic patronage was transformational declarations of resistance. Withdrawal of support has always been a compelling motivator where our participation is needed, or our money is wanted.

Our consolidated demographic should encourage different economic and political choices to coordinate a more concerted effort and stimulate cooperation. Under these circumstances, more will align themselves with our interests instead of against them using our support.

Our economic platforms can directly inspire and enrich our people by diluting adverse power and influences. We must not beg for what they created from us or need us to sustain. We must prioritize our social justice and cultural needs to reflect our participation redirecting our actions to promote self-actuation instead of dependency.

Numerically, we must lead the way and carry our burden collectively, not overly relying on the rich and famous among us.  It is more of us who are less affluent and prominent than who are famous. The number one priority is our self-evaluation to better ourselves and our condition. We need to be aware of others’ interpretations of the images and actions that we project that harm and obstruct us. We must be accountable and responsible for our conduct and presentation.

How this projection harms us and restricts our progress needs to be considered more than the context of the implications received from this election. Our projections must be examined in a historical context just as they were created in one. What do we stubbornly cling to and justify? Is it just as damaging to ourselves as what anyone else may do to us? 

If others deem our objectives to be anti “law and order,”  should we examine what behavior we exhibited is legitly associated with eliciting this claim by not regulating our behavior, particularly towards each other. Thus, there are two sides to the coin of accountability, theirs and ours.

Have we become conditioned or disillusioned to exist or remain an injured people?  We must now claim our place without reservation or limitation to the equality that others enjoy. For example, does other’s financial interest oppose ours because we do not generally participate in the knowledge and profits of these investments and the resulting prosperity, or are we forbidden?

Is it only to the extent of our exclusion from opportunity, or is it a lack of choosing participation? It starts with our thoughts giving way to our actions, becoming our habits establishing our reality leading to our prosperity. But, first culturally, we must determine what we want to project, be associated with, or profit from generationally.

Realizing we are at liberty to choose or create the communities, education, and economy we want to live in, patronize, and stimulate. Elevating our spending habits, actions, self-education, education of self, discipline, and sacrifices will be required. Any success unique to our advancement can quickly elevate our condition, but only if we control and maintain the supply, demand, and quality.

Whatever division exists outside our interest, we cannot deny the need for more solidarity within to promote our prosperity. Consequently, whatever our outrage should be more reflective in our steadfast commitment to refrain from or institute actions according to our expectations. 

Expectations are similar to planting an apple tree. To bear fruit, it must mature, and it must ripen before harvest. It is an exercise in time, cultivation, and patience. The path can be long, but then so may the yield when expectations are realized.

The intel derived from the election totals for Trumpism, widely considered questionable political regard or disregard for our concerns and condition, is a better barometer of what may lessen opposition or assertions that harm us. 

Just because they are wrong, sometimes we might not be right. Of course, two wrongs do not make a right, but we need to get at least even. All considerations must be on the table for reevaluation. At the very least, we must not harm our interests by our actions toward ourselves or others.

Winning the battle or skirmish but losing the war causes collateral damage that will eventually be restored at our expense. So considering, despite civil unrest, the status quo was only interrupted for a penalty imposed upon our interest, but with limited substantive change achieved.

Instead, evaporating support and selective change have been arbitrarily metered with the diminishing sustainability of outrage and protest.  Rage burns like fuel. It will eventually extinguish itself when exhausted, and it is unsustainable at elevated levels. At the very least, it suggests that it needs supplementing or replacing with something more effective and sustainable.

Hocus pocus, sleight of hand, and our indignation was used to validate their fear, weaponizing voting their fears against our methods used to address social justice initiatives. It is a lesson that rage and fear are opposite sides of the same perspective and must be skillfully and situationally utilized for maximum effectiveness.

This fear-based sleight of hand and the delusions created by social distractions nearly disguised a sinister election plan to highjack Democracy, which was narrowly averted. They were attempting to achieve their comprehensive political control, thereby suffocating our fractional objective. Our objective remains encompassed and restricted within their agenda, making it a fraction within the whole.

The election was advertised as a runaway condemnation of Trumpism but shockingly was closely contested. Our objectives and objections must employ the tactics of chess and not checkers to logically repel the nonsense and diversions which undermine our interest. 

We must heed the lessons learned from this election to adjust our crusade avoiding the hocus pocus but producing some real magic. Working smart will create the magical results needed without succumbing to delusion.

The blueprint for agendas on diverse objectives, conditions, and cultures does not deviate too far from these tactical fluidities of perspective. It is interchangeable parts and transferable skills utilized with purpose.

It requires committing to the cause of self-determining your preferred condition. Remember, roses are beautiful but fragile devoid of nourishment. Plant apple trees, though taking longer to cultivate, provides a nourishing sustainable harvest.

 

Thurston K. Atlas
Creating A Buzz

 

 

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Economics of Racism and Covid-19 Tariff



Social Economics and Contingencies

The economics of fiscal responsibility requires focusing on return on investment of capital expenditures and social resources producing tangible gains. In short, return on the mighty dollar, dollar-dollar bill, the bag.

The cost analysis of racism manufactured (CORM) is similar to the cost of goods sold (COGS) model. We will use it to determine the profit margin and feasibility of the continued cost and production of racism and disregard of the Covid-19 virus.

A spreadsheet analysis will attempt to quantify the tangible cost of the actual and projected theoretical losses to estimate the profitability and sustainability of the country’s expenditures and their impact on America’s income statement. Basically, it is a monetary and social cost analysis and budget projection.

This cost analysis and resulting balance sheet, income statement, and labor projections are prepared for the public shareholders. The shareholders, stakeholders, and the board are the people, the American public. A board proxy vote of approval and confidence will determine the organization’s health under the former CEO’s tenure. The proxy was the 2020 Presidential Election.

Let’s crunch the numbers regarding the CEO since the books are in a mess and need an internal audit. We will also examine the shift in market share and demand, adherence to protocols and regulations.

The board and shareholders have equal and dual ownership rights without distinction, granting one vote per member. Finally, the presentation to the electoral assembly of owners will detail historical, current, and projected operational losses and expenditures.

This organization has had a long racist history dating back centuries. Operating much as the founders managed it with insufficient adjustments over time despite monumental shifts in demand patterns.

Our fiscal recommendation is that the business model is obsolete and creates a competitive disadvantage and toxic culture. In addition, the lack of brand demand is choking the supply chains as tolerance and preferences have changed.

Discontinuing the racist brand in response to the current situation is suggested and essential to the organization’s survival. Research and development reveal that the majority public is shocked that we still produce racism ignoring the plummeting support and adverse social liabilities.

Consequently, in recent decades, the racism product that we have espoused for so long has cost us presumably billions in protest, lawsuits, and loss of productivity. Thus, highlighting the persistent risks which are well known and devastating to the public trust.

Public demand and support for our racist products are at an all-time low, with fewer visible enthusiasts and closet endorsers. Still, quite frankly, it is a relic of the past that we again suggest being discontinued as financially unfeasible. The cost analysis will bear this out.

The beginning inventory of bigots has hit historic lows. For all intent and purposes appears to have self-liquidated through aging with their hateful, ignorant preferences passing with them.

This bigoted inventory used to fly off the shelves in the past, but shifting humanity clearly demands that we will not revive racism and make it a great seller again. It is on its deathbed as a product exposed for its destructive nature and unreasonable cost.

The cost of the raw material to make bigots has risen as the demand for them has dwindled. Additionally, the necessary materials are increasingly scarce, with the projection of ignorant practitioners educated to the fallacy and deception of their superiority. White skin should not guarantee you anything but a good tan.

It does not make you taller, faster, wiser, or anything as a collective group, evident by the market sampling of the white demographic. There is no natural group advantage based on white skin tone alone. Any human advantage is individual and opportunistic, not race-based.

The white advantage, manufactured to discourage competition and promote white privilege, has soured with America’s changing appetite. The resources of ignorant raw material to be brainwashed have substantially dried up or been educated.

With the beginning inventory very low, the acquisition of ignorant raw material ever scarcer, and the ending inventory stagnant is consequently subjecting the organization to continued exposure to litigation and maintenance costs that cannot be justified or sustained.

The gross income for centuries from racism cannot be over-calculated. Over time Blacks, Chinese, Mexican, and other’s labor have been oppressive or free, resulting in extraordinary profit margins for the organization.

The organization also benefited from no profit-sharing expenses to limit profits and the endless exploitation of the labor force without workplace regulations. CORM was consequently in its hay day of gross income and profitability with little overhead for the cost of racism manufactured by following strict adherence to the immoral human racial atrocity method of accounting.

The current racism cost generates no benefit to the organization’s profitability, having sustained heavy damages to revenue by social unrest. The cost is crushing when combining this economic forecast with the loss of nearly seven hundred thousand lives due to Covid-19.

The forecast regarding Covid has been bleak at best. Escalating loss of productivity, medical and hospitalization cost, stimulus packages, and social liabilities continue to accumulate, sparking shareholders’ concern, disgust, and outrage.

The CEO’s failure to position the organization has resulted in devastating consequences with colossal ramifications on the loss of life, future earnings, and organizational resources.

This CEO’s tenure has been quite debilitating. He inexplicably finds it more adequate to promote self-interest and ignore the apparent contingencies forecasted. Instead, he administered a poison pill to leverage his continued tenure while dispensing death, assaulting democracy, and exploding the national dysfunction creating colossal losses.

 

 

 

 

It definitely proves an ounce of precaution and discretion could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives, trillions in stimulus, massive civil unrest, and staggering political liability. Instead, the resulting liabilities, penalties, and overhead have endangered our foundational prosperity for the foreseeable future. The art of this ordeal has left much devastation in this CEO’s wake.

With these losses on the books and counting, his management skills are considered an unnatural national disaster. But, unfortunately, what is obvious to the world is not evident to the organization, its wimpy subsidiary enablers, or self-serving governing bodies.

For some un-Godly reason, some felt it was more important to pacify and protect the decisions and actions of this CEO. Subsequently, it cost the nation untold death, unrest, and future cost in the process.

The erosion of public trust has led to general divisiveness. It continues to escalate out of control while democracy is in shambles. Survival is dependant on restructuring the organization and its operating agreement.

As an elected acquisition, this CEO is extremely costly societally, politically, and economically, driving loss and suffering through the roof. This CEO is not to be outdone in human devastation or fiscal expenditures that trumps all with an ego of delusional success regarding denial of his monumental failures. Disclosure of his failures and concealments is evident by the disruption of many lives and livelihoods.

AT least, this CEO has been remarkable in his multi-tasking ability to endanger democracy, slander elections, stir hate, and offend foreign allies. As a result, he has earned a rebuke from religious figures, bullied and silenced Republican puppets, misused the military, and ignited his base of hatred.

He has further unmasked extreme racist views of those in power and alienated over half the public. Let us not forget while taking timeout to tweet relentlessly. Is there no price too high for this CEO or his dysfunctional enablers?

The future of people and businesses has been decimated by what he has done and failed to do. This CEO’s mismanagement has undermined large segments of the struggling American public. He has welcomed millions more to that struggling reality that could have never imagined they would be in such dire straits.

These losses are permanent, especially in the service and real estate industry, accounting for trillions more in losses. Now it is up to the Shareholders, The Board of Directors, The Owners of this organization, the American people to decide based on the human and fiscal feasibility of retaining this CEO’s vision. Perhaps, this CEO solidified his undeniable designation as the nation’s best worst President ever by far.

Now that it has been time to proxy, he has been let go. It is ridiculous and irresponsible to have retained this CEO, knowing this is not the last time the organization would have paid dearly for his ego therapy.

It is even more ridiculous for him to have thought so. Changing CEOs was our only hope against enduring the cost of his incompetence, both human and fiscal. Shamefully, his rabid racist display has proven to be too toxic to carry on the books.

His vindictive and pathologically destructive pouting and his denial of the no-confidence vote received reflect just how unfit he was all along. Having been let go, he has refused to leave any remnants of functional or remotely salvageable government behind. Since being ousted, his spiteful interference reveals a scorched earth mentality.

The future liability and ramifications have enormously damaged this nation in ways that may not be fully revealed for years to come. The very public this CEO swore to protect entrusting him with our future and prosperity has been betrayed by his incompetence first and now by spite. He has violated his oath of office, now causing intentional damages.

A one-person wrecking ball enabled by many gutless wonders of self-indulgent accomplices on their power-driven agendas fearfully sat by refusing to clothe the emperor except with their indulgence.

Thus, this CEO with a perversely obese ego was allowed to sacrifice the vitality of the whole nation, democracy, elections, nearly 700,000 Covid lives lost, and economic ruin, with very few among his cronies willing to stand opposed to him and in favor of the American people because of a label, being Republican. Let their proxy reflect their deeds as well, for he was not alone in this destruction. Their allegiance is not to the flag, the country, the American people, or the Presidency.

It is to the man in the office, not the office. Their fear commands them despite the posturing of righteous conviction and fortitude. This is a gross dereliction of duty and trust bordering on treason by the betrayal of the people.

Still, many continue to lie and enable. In contrast, others scurry in avoidance, but we see you and know you by sight and name, as well as your disgraceful actions. This theft and betrayal of the public trust have effectively put in motion the trajectory that has forever changed this nation and successive generations.

Millions of American citizens braved the Covid virus to protest these scourges on the soul of America and denigration of the Constitution and Democracy. We can only pray that there is still not more of a price to pay. But, unfortunately, losses are already much too high to justify the economics of racism and the Covid-19 tariff.

I originally thought this was the act of an egotistical mad man. But then, I considered that this self-proclaimed genius may have fooled us all by bringing us together by highlighting systematic vulnerabilities and inequities. Consequently, he successfully united the people against racism, the virus, economic exploitation, and to some degree him.

So shocking is the unthinkable corruption and deception that it can never be allowed to happen again. Wholesale vulnerabilities were exposed, crying out for corrective policies that requires implementation.

But, could it be, the old stun them and leave them stymied grift? Could he have done this deliberately as a whistleblower and agent of change? Was it reverse psychology? Have we witnessed the genius of a petty sycophant which can never be underestimated? Nah, but did we?

 

Thurston K. Atlas
Creating A Buzz

 

Posted on by whenplaytimeisover_xlw47n 0

America’s Tombstone



 America’s terminal in critical condition.

The grave disorder afflicting what was formerly known as the union has a terminal prognosis. The unthinkable is upon us, threatening to engulf and suffocate us with our arrogance, inequalities, and stubbornness constricted by clinging to the misgivings of history. Unfortunately, history often painfully repeats itself.

Have we not learned anything from history and the collapse of world powers before America. History is poetic in stating that the greatest threat to the republic would be from within its borders and domestic, not foreign. America may be too mighty for any other country to defeat but not mighty enough to resist a self-destructive implosion.

The nightmare of the house divided has become real, and this division is set on an irrevocable path of self-destruction if allowed to continue. The question is, at what price is the destruction of another worth your demise. The answer then becomes how much will you injure yourself to inflict injury upon another where neither survives if survival is the objective. 

Just as a house divided will not stand, a structure built on a faulty foundation is eventually doomed to collapse upon its weight, unable to support its faulty construction weakened by time. The realistic commentary is a perfect union is not attainable, but a more perfect union is possible. Let us not pretend that America is not without its blemishes, a utopia of perfection. It has much room for improvement despite its greatness and the freedoms afforded by it.

However, it will, without doubt, require the truth. So first, there must be an admission and recognition that there is a problem to be solved, identifying the problem accordingly with brutal honesty.  The majority of dissatisfaction on many topics reflects deep discontent on fundamental issues. This discontent needs resolving to instill a therapeutic response while rejecting the nostalgic imbalances of the past. Adherence to inflammatory practices and principles can only lead to the extinction of them and their practitioners.

Change, while often uncomfortable for some, is necessary for the evolution of life and progress. Consequently, unjust imbalances can not go on indefinitely. These masquerades and deceptions must end at some point exposed as bogus. Thus, the damage is no longer tolerable whether being either naively conditioned to believe or maliciously following errant agendas of deception. Either way, the reality is never pleasant when the outcome proves destructive.

Likewise, the creation of these diversions enables covert schemes to be executed while distracted and concealed by the bickering fractions.  The astute manipulation of the public’s sensitivities to produce a predictable outcome based on emotional ignorance accomplishes this agitation. Everyone must stay mad at someone at all times. 

Politicizing the intent and purpose of the Constitution and government authority underscores many vile exploitations of power. The collective will and good of the people was the original democratic design. But, unfortunately, it has been blatantly mangled in a power grab that threatens to bring civil war and financial collapse, enriching some while eroding other’s freedoms.

How can we destroy ourselves? Let me count the ways. Overall, we have civil discourse, protest, rioting, a Capitol siege, and the accompanying damages and cost. We have a denial of economic and human rights. A pandemic that was downplayed by 45 to avoid panic but not to prevent the spread. Both have occurred, panic and spread along with monumental loss of life and resources.

We have the disastrous stock market manipulation by a cocktail of quantitative easing, propping up of the bond and equity market corpse, and pending evictions and foreclosures of residential and commercial properties. The erosion of pension funds and retirements is happening again. Also looming is the eventual banking system recurring collapse, as evident by the repo market activity indicating insolvency again due to reckless operations and greed. 

The effects of many supply chain disruptions and shortages are emerging. In addition, inflation fears and labor force dissatisfaction are rampant.  Then there are the increasingly overwhelmed medical system and societal bickering concerning vaccines, income and gender inequality, gender and sexual preference intolerances, abortion rights disputes again, and racial disparities. 

Include immigration policies, denial of historical racial ramifications, the Confederacy resurgence, resistance to new law enforcement initiatives, and reluctant criminal justice system reform. Continuing with the bias political redistricting, voter suppression, unsubstantiated elections fraud claims, and you name it.

America has suffered more damage than any terrorist group could have ever deliberately inflicted simply by allowing the political deceptions guided by greed to run its unfettered course. The intoxication of power at any cost has undermined Democracy and Capitalism. Yet, at the same time, the public is intentionally distracted over trivial differences inattentive of the hardships imposed upon them.

It is a risky gamble for control of the political system, which affects all Americans. Red or blue, Republicans or Democrats, it is a gang turf war with the public as collateral damage. Separately these events create a volatile discord of dire circumstances. But, combined, what is the prognosis of America’s survival, if not terminal? 

Even more outrageous is the destructive ideology fueling a combination of the budget deadline and debt ceiling scabbles implicating hints of a national shutdown and default for political gain. But, can we risk the devaluation of the U.S. dollar and America’s status as the world’s default currency triggering a global financial collapse and ushering in digital currency controlled and monitored by the government?

To ensure that the wealthy pay a fair share for taxes, they must monitor our transactions for over six hundred dollars. Likewise, banks must report activity on our lowly accounts as if the wealthy cannot be otherwise identified by their bank accounts. Every time they crack down on someone else, the general public must bear the squeeze.

Fear and compliance are the tools of deceptions used to limit the public’s freedoms, and we are always eager to oblige. It reaks of predictable behavior manipulated and triggered by fear of terrorists, the Covid, tax cheats, race, religion, sexuality, and maybe our shadow next. Are we to believe information harvesting, artificial intelligence, digital or electronic banking, electronic surveillance, or thirst for power and greed is not a threat?

Furthermore, we have witnessed the attempted coercion of the 2020 Election to maintain power, an uprising against the seat of Democracy at the Capitol, and now fiscal roulette for political gain and power. The cannibalism of our Democracy has been intensifying while disguised by discord.

The second amendment right to bear arms gives citizens the right to oppose an authoritarian federal government. But, by definition, wouldn’t that be one overthrowing Democracy? An armed militia intimidating politicians, dissenters, and unarmed protesters by political gangsterism would qualify. A violent coup whose forceful imposition of views and governance upon their fellow citizens or denial of other’s rights, which they proudly claim without reservation, seemingly would also qualify.

Resorting to force against the practice of Democracy and the freedom to exercise civil liberties, no doubt, descends into opposition to Freedom? Ultimately, the force used against the Democratic structure is the same violent instrument used by the power mongers against the people. Attempting to implement a military authoritative state or dictatorship brought about by a coup, suppression of the people’s vote, and government takeover effectively eliminates Democracy. 

Dictators or monarchs are what this country was created to escape from, a king and his dynastic lineage by creating a separation of power and the democratic vote. At the core of Democracy is voting and for the duly elected to reflect the best interest of the majority, not party affiliations, much less individual interest.

Any effort, foreign or domestic, to hijack the democratic process is an assault on the very principles of Democracy. The country cannot exist as presently constituted without Democracy. You can not take over the Capitol, discard an election, and still have Democracy. Any attempt to circumvent the prescribed electoral process is a hostile takeover with fatal repercussions. 

Unfortunately, the mutiny against the Democratic majority and its sovereignty’s principles continues as the minority seeks to prevail and promote their agenda. Ironic how minority status is unbearable but should be fine for others but is not honoring the majority vote paramount to Democracy. Did you expect any less when you were not the minority?

Acceptance of this reality has always been the rule notwithstanding dissent but reflected or upheld in the next voting cycle as the majority’s will, disdaining mutiny against the foundational principles of our voting rights. Otherwise, the whole system and Democracy collapses. Divisiveness enforced by might and contentious rhetoric has proven inadvisable and unsustainable in this country. Instead, it leads to repetitive civil unrest and opposition, be it race, abortion, war, or what have you.

Integration of law enforcement and military by race and ideology would splinter efforts of a violent coup. Predictably, law enforcement and the military would have to first turn on their respective ranks, eliminating those not in agreement. These two groups are critical to enforcing radical distortion of the judicial process and free speech in any authoritative society. The true principles of Democracy rely on cooperation, not force. Force is no longer a viable option for all occasions.

America is at a tipping point. Remembering history may help prevent it from repeating itself, as seen in the rise of Nazi-Germany and its race-based utopia of superiority. It is tragically ironic that Hitler got his ideology from Jim Crow in addition to eugenics. The symbolism of white power is the Nazi flag and swastika, which should have been roundly denounced when soundly defeated. In America, the racist ideology at its core was the symptom manifested by greed, the illness.

All the above alluded to precarious events are at their roots based on racism, casteism (shudra), and power manipulations for wealth fueled by greed. As a result, America is on the brink of moral and fiscal bankruptcy, deprived of political and ideological solutions or compromise for mutual survival.

Even if the balance of power switches, nothing is resolved. It is just reversed without resolution, still about winning and accumulation by any means necessary. The objectivity of fairness and compassion are sacrificed as collateral for personal ambitions. 

 

 

To further complicate matters, this perfect storm of destruction brewed and calculated from the inception of this republic and exacerbated over time necessitates exploitations being expanded beyond the traditional groups to sustain itself. But, this expansion is camouflaged by race, immigration, and socialist accusations to deflect from the actual cause, greed.

Any titan of leadership understands that when proclaiming the buck stops with them, responsibility must begin with them. Deflecting any bitter occurrences is not a shared debacle when charged with leading. So, where has leadership led us, if not to the brink of destruction by divisiveness and selfish ambitions? But, change is still staunchly resisted continuing to perpetuate societal detriments.

It is a collective failure of leadership if only by constructive possession of the governance of Democracy. Heavy is the head of leadership and guidance, accepting both credit and blame. To claim otherwise is a self-indictment, a discredit to your position, and a disservice to the country. While the blame game is a favorite game of politicians, the general public is left to take responsibility for its contribution while also suffering from theirs.

As a result, we are allowed to struggle at the bottom suffering from the virtues of the very Capitalism that we fund. Consider the distractions of the last two years that have the public preoccupied while grand larceny is afoot. Democracy was born out of Capitalism in concept and practice. But, unfortunately, both have been perverted to elite set-asides and bailouts contrary to the principles of Capitalism.

How resilient can America be, and how tolerant will a disposable public remain before significant course corrections are too little too late. The power grab excludes the elite and politicians from suffering while willing to risk triggering a global financial crisis with the brunt of domestic suffering skipping them.

I suspect essential workers are expendable when exposed to heightened risk and hazardous conditions for similar compensation. Does your compensation reflect your value? During this Covid crisis, being bestowed the title of essential worker makes you an interchangeable clog that has suddenly become scarce and valuable.

It resembles indentured servitude but with a more palatable twist, making it a lot easier to accept. Duty or coercion are the tools of persuasion used to disguise and accomplish blind submission. It is capitalistic exploitation at its finest. This hybrid capitalism where supply, demand, and efficiency do not apply to all in the valuation of essential services or labor.

From an economic and governmental standpoint, providing protections with governmental subsidies for big companies, political cronies, and banking favorites should violate capitalism. However, these same protections are bemoaned and conditional when provided to the general public and labeled as socialism.

Rebellion against taxation without representation started this country. But, will little or no tax on big business or the wealthy end it? It is the weiner for the ham swindle to relinquish something of greater value for a lesser value or benefit. Could the founding fathers envision the ablest paying no taxes while the least able collectively pays the most taxes? The economic shell game will be played with diminishing returns; the more conditioned, mind-controlled, and hopeless you become.

It is not a condemnation of riches but an accurate assessment and indictment of some unjust methods of achieving it. Funny how the rules loosen and the opportunities expand with the more money or favor you possess. To suggest that all pay their fair share is unfair and outrageous, if not for sure downright extreme leftist and un-American, right? But, on the other hand, resisting exploitation is unpatriotic too.

A dog-eat-dog cannibalistic quest for prosperity at the bottom and a doctrine of exclusion or exploitation at the top preserve our economic imbalances. It is not by accident; it is by designed calculation and deception.

Capitalism needs a tune-up to run smoothly for all instead of just smoothly for the advantaged. Money is not the root of all evil, but greed and power can be argued as the roots of most of America’s problems. In this pursuit, the disregard for passing the sugar sours the essential workers’ expectations, ambitions, and opportunities.

America’s greatest resource is the people, but sustaining and preserving their well-being has become a casualty of this power grab restricting liberty and prosperity for the lower classes. A caste system is swelling with the increasing disappearance of the middle class. It creates a blight on the standard of living, which economic and political vampires are systematically draining.

What was planted has grown. The seeds of deceptions and inequality planted long ago have blossomed into a system in need of an overhaul if it is to survive. Democracy, The Constitution, and fiscal solvency will not survive the status quo as the pillars upon which a crumbling society will no longer support.

It is time to compromise and make alterations for the country’s survival as the challenges escalate without reprisal. Remember, when people take to the streets in overwhelming numbers to protest, that is usually the last warning that the level of dissatisfaction with the governing body or system has become no longer tolerable. History is undefeated in that regard.

However, the aftermath of not heeding the warning is undisputed as nations and civilizations must inevitably change or perish. They have always changed, or they have always perished. We can be certain that radical change always precedes avoidance of collapse or results from a disastrous outcome. We are at the crossroads of history where we choose a collective survival or fracturing destruction. But, we can no longer be unresponsive to the glaring warning signs.

America’s historical precondition of affliction did not just start in the last five years. It began with blatant exploitation and indifferences at inception. Now, the lies promoted and the promises unfulfilled to conceal those lies have swelled to the current national dysfunction.

It worked on an unsophisticated callous public, but the currently available information and knowledge have revealed the evil sorcery of these traditional policies and practices. Time has expired for reckoning, and change is the modifying salvation.

The naked truth and change is the final resort of reckoning for survival, or it was a good run. It was better for some than others, but the final obituary will read that we could not rest in national peace, so we perished in national discord. The jalopy has finally broken down, leaving us in need of new wheels.

There cannot be a return to America’s way tailored for white males and the economic elite strife with injustice and greed. Because of gains of women’s rights, changes in domestic violence laws, women employment opportunities and accomplishments, commonality of young people; same-sex, biracial, and inter-racial relationships, LBGTQ recognition, sensitivity to racial discrimination, a global economy, and similar evolutions, those days will not be returning.

Many now display a significant change in the sentiment and rejection of bigotry being only an interchangeable pronoun away from a persecuted or ostracized group. I would think more people are aligned with equal justice than ever before by more people being subjected to injustices and economic hardships. 

Furthermore, the economic expenditure and residual fallout from the civil unrest since late May 2020 and the Covid virus has amassed such an enormous total.  Likewise, scrutinizing motives for disregarding the massive impact from Chavin’s knee to 45’s Covid denial, will contextualize their explosive impact on the ensuing mayhem, which was avoidable.

Additionally, resistance to both has had dire consequences and astronomical expenses. A different decision here or there would have netted vastly different results and conditions. Better decisions should have been made with their handling.  We should have learned by now that opposition to evolution is to invite revolution. Change is constant and can not be restrained, at best only delayed.

But some change is beyond delay or denial. Such is nature’s fury. Foolishly, the defiance of nature has caused an escalation in the severity and seemingly frequency of catastrophic weather conditions and fire. Therefore, it would have been more prudent to address and mitigate the problems in hindsight than to ignore them. We should have learned by now that resistance to evolution is to invite revolution by circumstances, humanity, or nature. Change is constant and can not be restrained, even if delayed.

Unfortunately, the meter is still wastefully running. Many wasted resources and ill-fated decisions should have been contemplated far more beneficially. We must now relinquish a time gone by and logically improvise to address the prevailing circumstances. It is impossible to resuscitate the past by pretending it is the present. But, on the other hand, there are many benefits in seeking solutions and few in denying the problems.

The resulting distortion of Democracy, Capitalism, and the Truth is much too high a price to pay to avoid dealing with the symptoms, illness, and remedy for America’s afflictions. The only alternative diagnosis is that sustained disregard welcomes the certain toppling of Democracy and Capitalism.

By antiquated ideology, shakey fiscal policy, and a rampant virus America is on the brink. We are presently confronted with severe self-inflicted challenges. It is a bloated conceit to behave above the laws of nature and our common interest as citizens. Both will prove to be the wounds from the bosom of America too detrimental to survive.

My how times have changed having remained the same. The absurdity of events now has political zealots and separatists polarized, demanding land of their own to preserve their sense of nostalgia or rejection of inevitable changes. 

Still, father time waits for no one, and change does not ask permission. Is America not so beloved and grand that its destruction is preferable to resolutions to instill equality and address its inequalities no matter the culprit? If so, surely, you couldn’t tell by appearances. America’s terminal in critical condition.

It appears now that it is only a matter of time before we know what America’s tombstone will read. Here stood a great nation severed by arrogance and ignorance. Reluctant to change, unwilling to survive, and condemned to fall.

P.S. If it provides any comfort, America is not alone as country’s and governments around the globe seek to prevent significant changes beneficial to the people they supposedly represent. The mass suppression of economic, religious, and human freedoms demands satisfaction as swells of discontent stretch across the globe. The names, places, and circumstances are different, but the desire is universal, change.

 

Thurston K. Atlas
Creating A Buzz

 

 

Posted on by whenplaytimeisover_xlw47n 0

Patriotism and The American Way



Why does it Taste so Different?

Here we go again. The Capitol revolt at its core is aggression to preserve a mangled distortion of truth and a delusional rejection of reality.

An effort to circumvent an outcome that did not unfold according to a preferred advantage. The proclaimed love and allegiance to Democracy, Capitalism, and the Constitution has revealed itself to be a farce when white privilege and rogue expectations are unfulfilled.

Fairness and equality have never been the American way, with more than a thumb of collusion on the scales and at the highest levels subversively unbalancing the scales of justice. Justice is not blind but peeking to distinguish who it shall be imposed upon and who has an inalienable right to the exclusion or special consideration from its application.

Claiming the founding fathers at your back and the confederate Flag at your front, this violent takeover attempt screams insurgence and only in whispers can be called a coup.

“Loyal patriots” now fight not for the country but in mutiny against it to unseat our government and overrun the Capitol chambers decimating Democracy.

Camouflaged as patriots while masquerading as protestors, the insurrectionist has undertaken to highjack a national election and have the moral integrity of this country bent to their ideology. A minority ideology at that according to election results.

It is an obvious annihilation of and contradiction to Democracy at the behest of the highest office in the land. Not aligned with but in direct opposition to that which you claim to hold dear, our democratic society.

It is not about Resident drumpf either, at least in principle, but he did promote the fabrication and this notion of patriots. They are not patriots, and white folks are not the only ones to have served this country as real patriots.

A wide variety of racial backgrounds and women served in defense of this country despite being discriminated against, segregated, and/or excluded from service.

These groups have all persevered to serve their Flag and country honorably. These groups have served in some capacity from the beginning of this nation to support this country, especially doing times of war. Only the traitorous confederates have ever turned on this country and now seek a resurgence. There are examples of when patriots were patriots and not all white.

At the birth of this nation, a patriot merchant has been historically acknowledged as the first to give his life in defense of what would become the nation we know today.

This patriot was Crispus Attucks, a Black Man. He was the first to be shot and killed, which started the American Revolution by the Boston Massacre that ignited freedom from British rule.

He was a former slave and partly of Native American heritage. To honor his moral courage and contribution at the founding of this nation, he was laid in State, which necessitated the waiver of segregation laws.

He took two to the chest while others were shot in the back. His murderer, a white British soldier, and others were placed into custody. They were put on trial to symbolize the fair justice this land would later become known for, instead of being lynched for their crime immediately.

Even back then, six were acquitted of the eight soldiers who fired shots, and two were convicted and given reduced sentences. Once again, a Black Man shot and his white murderers shown leniency and defended by John Adams. This brand of fair justice is still on display today.

I guess some might say Crispus Attucks did not serve. Some others would say that Crispus Attucks served America before America was. However, there is no dispute that he gave his life at the very start of this nation while confronting tyranny or at the very least protesting it.

He is the very first American Hero; he was “the first to defy and the first to die” at age 47. Attucks and the other four brave protesters murdered set off the Boston Tea Party against British rule and injustice. As they say, the rest is history, but it is not surprising that they blamed the protesters for being fired upon. So, modern-day patriots, check your history.

William H Carney, born a slave, escaped slavery through the underground railroad. He was the first Black soldier to earn the Medal of Honor for valor at Fort Wagner during the Civil War. He took three shots in total but managed to fight on, picked up the American Flag, and carried it the whole time while advancing.

He was taken to a field hospital, relinquishing the Flag while never letting it touch the ground. Let us not forget that he had been shot three times after he picked up the Flag but still managed to keep the American Flag from touching the ground.

Andre Cailloux of Drew Brees’s very own beloved New Orleans was born a slave and became a Union Captain. He had his arm blown off by cannon fire during combat but continued to spearhead the charge on a suicide mission while he was gravely wounded until he was killed. It was commonplace to give the most dangerous missions to the “colored” units, who did a lot of the heavy lifting.

Many other Black heroes are listed in history for their valor during the Civil War against the Confederates attempting to overthrow America’s government.

However, because the treasonous Confederates fought against the American Flag and this country being soundly defeated, I guess you could say they were on the wrong side of history again. The Confederate flag stands for treason and slavery; what else was the Civil War about but preserving economic advantage.

American Sergeant Henry Johnson, a Black Man, single-handedly fought off German soldiers in the trenches of France during WWI. He was injured twenty-one times. As a result, he was one of the first Americans to be awarded the prestigious French Croix de Guerre Avec Palme, the highest award given by France to anyone.

He was awarded the Purple Heart and Distinguished Service Cross posthumously in the United States 57 years and 63 years after his death. As a member of a negro unit, he used a knife, a rifle, and his bare hands to fight off two dozen German soldiers.

When he was not busy fighting also managed to save lives. But, unfortunately, the racism of that time prevented many black patriots of valor whose heroics were absolutely needed but not awarded.

The Tuskegee Airmen nicknamed “the Red Tails” fought in WW2 with exemplary distinction escorting planes critical to the supply chain. Their war efforts significantly contributed to the Allies’ victory.

So skilled and fearless this “colored unit” that despite the extreme racism and segregation pervasive at that time, they forced the United States military out of extreme necessity and often at white squadron’s request to use them to ensure safe missions and swing the advantage to the allies.

They are not to be confused with the Tuskegee Study done in 1932, where black men were used as research specimens for the government study of syphilis. Done without their consent or knowledge and allowed to go untreated. The men were intentionally infected with syphilis which caused blindness, insanity, other ailments, and ultimately their premature deaths. Did they serve medicine?

Patriots of a different kind, I guess, for the advancement of medicine. In 1940 when penicillin was discovered as the cure, they still were not offered treatment.

When it became unethical to conduct such experiments in the U.S., they merely moved them to Mexico and began experimenting on their population. These human trials are why old heads did not trust the medical profession; better to be sick than dead.

Doris “Dorie” Miller, a cook, jumped in the gunnery seat and operated anti-aircraft weapons with no training and attended to the wounded later was awarded the Navy Cross.

The day was December 7, 1941, that day that will live in infamy known as Pearl Harbor. He was the first responder to defend this country against that attack. That probably qualifies as a patriot.

The right to protest is in the DNA of this country. The voice of the people heard and their right to demonstrate their discontent with the treatment of citizens.

The Vietnam War was a very unpopular war with the American Flag burned by white Americans, soldiers treated far worse than kneeling before the Flag, and the soldiers returning “home” from service spat upon. We needed civilian patriots then to not stand for that disrespect of the Flag and returning troops.

Ohio National Guard fired upon Kent State students protesting the Vietnam War on a college campus for protesting. Four students were murdered and nine others injured on May 4, 1970, the outrage and fallout from the student-led protest shutdown colleges across the country.

Resident Richard Nixon, that purveyor of racism, would be proud of Resident drumpf deadly antics now to “dominate” protesters he opposes but supports those who violated Democracy in the worst way since confederacy.

The hope that students and young people will lead us out of this shameful history is in question since some have been poisoned with wanting to “make America great again.

Many Black Women patriots also made significant contributions to the freedom that allows others to enjoy liberties that they did not. In addition, many other marginalized people of different racial backgrounds have and continue to serve this country and Flag.

Women, including Black Women, have and still fight for equality, safety, and recognition to this day.

For many years women were never treated as full citizens, believed by Charles Darwin to have the mind of a child, justifying their denial of the right to vote or run for office. The Women’s Suffrage Movement is still essentially being fought today since 1848 but is now reflected more in wage disparity and health care.

So, when it looks like this is just a racial issue, it is not nor is it a group’s radical claim to Patriotism despite others’ contribution. It is a discrimination issue manifested and facilitated by racism and sexism. Racism is the longest and most vile offense among many that fuels this brand of Patriotism quivering behind morality and religion.

Black folk’s specifically and others in general, have a record that speaks for itself of being patriots when respecting the American Flag and military service. America’s record speaks for itself too when it comes to this Democracy and the Flag, but this is a flag that never gave a dam about anyone but “white males.”

Is Democracy is just for white radicals to disperse according to their will and not be confined by the principles upon which it rests?

Well, that’s a fat cat’s easy street if you can find it. Despite Black’s service to this country, the “love” has yet to be fully felt. Instead of love, hundreds of years of brutality and economic suffering under this Democracy that you claim we should love so much.

Still, no violent storming of the Capitol because an election did not meet our black expectations or the horrible treatment we have suffered. Now tell me what seems like a better reason.

We would love Democracy more if it had done for us what it has done for you. Despite that, we have fought for the American dream that does not include us despite exhausted patience and the insanity of forgiveness.

Patriotism is a choice, a collective pride, albeit an individually made choice. Patriotism has transcended our atrocious experiences, harsh treatment, blatant discrimination, and even brutal murder. Talking about loving Patriotism under duress or unfulfilled expectations.

You would not expect the Jewish community to salute, fight for, or stand for the Nazi Flag with the atrocities against their people, but Blacks not only still stand but also serve a flag and country that should thank us for our service.

In times of crisis like 911, we are one nation, America Strong. Still, otherwise, we are n—-rs, relegated to second-class citizenship whose voting preferences should be overturned by a mob on capitol hill.

The very foundation of America was built on the brutality of slavery, and the same Constitution of The United States of America, which never included Black folks, might need to start sincerely including us for real. We fought too.

I think we have earned the right not to be treated dismissively. If not, I believe we have earned the right to protest by peacefully kneeling to symbols that have oppressed us. Our oppression has been much worse than the founding father of America have ever experienced or “patriots” whining about an election lost.

The alternative to kneeling is standing up straight and tall with our backs un-bent, displaying the same valor for ourselves that we have time and again displayed for this country.

All those who may feel our centuries-old struggle feel their own, demonstrating their dissatisfaction by their vote. In a democratic society, we have somehow become unpatriotic by not storming the Capitol attempting to overthrow Democracy.

The Black Man has every right to be constantly in fear for his life regularly given America’s continued assault on our lives and dignity. This is nothing new, but it has gotten very old.

Of all the law enforcement personnel at the Capitol, only one shot was fired despite thousands of violent terrorists besieging Democracy and even causing death. At the same time, none was in fear of their life to fire a shot except one.

Some did appear to be too busy yucking it up, giving tours, or fleeing but not in fear to use force deadly or otherwise if as if it were one black man with his back turned. No fear, no enforcement, no preparation, and no problem.

Encouraged by their deceitful and egocentric leader, white supremacists, conspiracy theorists, and enemies of Democracy attempted a violent insurrection. He whipped them into a violent frenzy that can only move in large numbers and with intimidation and consent but mostly with weapons.

Overwhelming odds are a common theme of their beer muscle courage and Gestapo tactics. Their efforts were very short-sighted unless it was implied complicity that they could, or it was preferable to unseat the government and install a dictator. By some appearances and concessions, it might not be too far-fetched by the lack of resistance shown.

The people in a majority have spoken in more overwhelming numbers united not by race but as citizens of a democracy. Yet, when violent armed puppets lack even the courage to process disappointment, instead, they bellyache and hatch a coup to eradicate any future elections, especially if they do not agree with the outcome.

So, the American military will be deployed against citizens protesting racism for looting stores but not against terrorist looting democracy and forcing entry into a beacon of democratic structure fundamental to our countries existence and national security.

King David, a boy still, stood courageously against the mighty Goliath with just a slingshot, not with his boys, a mob, or heavy weaponry.

A lone protester in China among many protesters unflinchingly positioned himself in front of an armored tank in Tiananmen Square with steeled resolve. Without his boys or heavy weapons, armed with only his courage and conviction.

Where is the courage from some of our elected officials to protect Democracy? Instead, some folded to the whims of one man? Although he had law enforcement and the military at his discretion, he still did not deploy them, thereby endangering some legislature’s lives during the attack?

A failure of this magnitude cannot be exaggerated or summarily dismissed. The government was on the brink of being maimed or overthrown.

The Resident can admonish and sanction the Chinese government over Hong Kong, but he does or threatens to do the same in a democracy. At least they admit to authoritarian rule. As the bigoted puppet master’s anxiety level escalates over the end of his term, so did his desperation and blunders.

While the country fragments, he produces a karmic cause and effect that his hate base has to find ever more blatantly bizarre explanations to explain and dismiss his actions.

He has kept them on their toes with little to work with but plenty of blatant lies and divisive tweets. With pathological lying so acceptable to his base, they should encourage their spouse and children to lie whenever they open their mouth.

His lies have become more divisive and hazardous to Democracy, as well as an obstruction to the current administration. So why are career people considered knowledgeable in their field, exceptionally experienced, and highly qualified silent and disposable in favor of his delusions and ambitions?

Is it because they don’t want to risk not being re-elected or appointed in the future, or have their careers ruined at the cost of the country, our Democracy, and the Constitution?

Is it acceptable to pander to cronyism and nepotism by placing your enablers and uniquely unqualified children in government positions as if this is your family business? I remember when that use to be a crime or least frowned upon, but it has added to the element of instability.

Look at the country and our diminished position in the world severely compromised by a coup attempt, and we can all see the ramifications of the disastrous atmosphere he created.

Meanwhile, his dog whistle and overt urgings to his misguided base have not ceased when he is no longer in office. Therefore, one must ask if he becomes more or less dangerous when he no longer has the pretense of restrictions associated with the oval office.

Patriotism must stop being used as a justification and symbol of oppression and white supremacy. Beware “thugs and looters” when the looting starts the shooting starts but rest assured Capitol terrorists when the siege begins, he will sit back and grin.

Elections are for the people’s majority to always be heard in the end. Majority rules, history has taught us that. It is Patriotism for Democracy and the American way. To ensure more Patriotism for the country then maybe diminish the un-patriotic actions.

Is it more distressing to kneel or turn away from the flag as opposed to openly advocate for civil war and overthrowing the government that the flag represents? Just as all have the freedom to honor the flag, all also have the freedom to not so much.

Please reconcile using coercion but being resistant to its use by others. Seemingly some are patriotic to their perspective, not the principles of freedom. 

P.S. At any rate, without Twitter to keep him up at night, I hope Patriotism can sleep well.

Thurston K. Atlas

Creating A Buzz

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The Black Reality



Inner City Blues

Black folks, it is time to face reality and speak the truth. We have indeed faced hundreds of years of racism and oppression in America, and any atrocity that the mind can imagine has been committed against us. That is a given, and the damage of those actions and consequences remain evident today, but we have proven to be resilient.

There can be no denying that there are many reasons for the Black condition but are there any longer any excuses? Let me say we have a right to tell the truth about others, but we also have an obligation, to tell the truth about ourselves to ourselves to improve our condition. We may not want to hear it, but we should hear it from ourselves truthfully.

Believe in what you see more than what you are told because you can be shown better than you can be told. Actions always speak louder than words, so what is understood need not be spoken but observed. If we do not like the truth, we should make it a lie by changing the reality, not the narrative. Then, they can’t dispute the obvious.

 There has been no redress for the slavery debt, nor is it likely to be paid to our satisfaction or the extent of the damage done. Yet, it is no secret in our inner circles what we agonize over the most in our communities, and it is not the police, racism, or the white man.

In some of our neighborhoods, we barely see the police or interact with them. If there are whites in our community, they are a scarce minority, if at all. Racism has always tipped the scales, so nothing new or nothing we can’t or haven’t overcome.

We are not fooling those outside our circle because it is plain to see and increasingly harder to conceal. That is why detractors can keep reminding us and deflecting from their actions that hurt us because sometimes we hurt ourselves more. So we give them something to talk about.

Could we be wrong more so than they are, just as two wrongs don’t make a right, but it doesn’t make us even either? In this case, it makes us odd? Odd to harm ourselves in a struggle against harm.

Oddly enough, how can we, and why are we as equally wrong as the forces we complain and protest about, asking them for our equality and safety? What do we demand of ourselves in our predominately black neighborhoods where we practice a different form of cultural racism and genocide?

Why is it easier to point the finger at others as the source of our problems in OUR communities where they have a minor presence? We can not pretend to have submitted our consciousness and condition to their influence when they are not present unless we admit to the frailty of our minds to be so thoroughly conditioned to perform atrocities against ourselves for them.

We have to keep it, one thousand family; it is us doing it to us. Whatever the number of unarmed Blacks killed by the police is a crime and tragedy, but how many more would be at the dinner table if we were not killing our own at an alarming rate in these streets?

How many innocent children would continue to play? How many families have been generationally damaged from the drug game? Why is it unsafe in our communities from those who prey on those who look like them, never leaving the neighborhood to commit a crime but would claim black lives matter to them?

Why are our black women disrespected by us and treated in ways anything but queenly? Okay, I hear you, playboy, and that may be true, but what about the man in the mirror or regard for your mother, sister, or daughter?

Is it proper for Black women to project images appropriating other cultural beauty standards to their impressionable daughters, diminishing the empowerment and dignity of their child’s blackness or self-love?

Is our own self-esteem and character, which reflects our integrity and principles by our conduct, more critical than fronting for others? Are we that fragile in our thirst for validation? How could our conduct, discipline, and ambition have a positive impact on our children? What about for other races to be less resistant to our humanity?

We have proven ourselves to be a resilient people but not as collectively progressive as we could have been. We cannot normalize or excuse the behavior that holds us stagnant as others surpass our condition while holding us in contempt. We have worked hard, but now we must work smarter to produce a reality that aligns with our expectations and demands.

Instead of focusing on the negative, not within our control, we must focus on the negative within our control. We cannot cry our bed is hard if we contribute to making it that way. It is an emotional display that restricts meaningful gain except for an outburst of feelings. It is time to grind if harvest is to be upon us. The grind will take extra effort, but the harvest is abundant by using the principle of addition by subtraction and innovative substitution of traditional education and rejecting self-limiting socialization.

We will have less of a need for others if we take care of our business first. We can take what is ours when we can give it to ourselves. It reminds me of the Godfather of Soul, James Brown, who sang, “I don’t want nobody to give me nothing open up the door, and I’ll get it myself.”
Enough doors are open with the ability to open more doors for our harvest, but we must position ourselves advantageously. A change in our mentality and specific education outside of the structured diagram of social engineering must occur.

Many of us know the rules of the streets and how to survive if not thrive, but it is time to switch the game up from the nonsense some have told ourselves that this is the only way available to us. There are better ways, but it will require something more of us. We can’t convince ourselves that it is economics-related because it is other ways of making coin that doesn’t hurt the community in which we live. It is not always the economics but the mentality and lack of applied ingenuity towards the obstacle to economics.

Life will present challenges, but we should avoid the damage we do to ourselves, our image, and our communities. Unfortunately, some aspects of Black culture have taken on a detrimental mentality that significantly contributes to our collective condition. We should not take negative labels or harmful behaviors and embrace them as a positive appropriation of endearment or conduct.

What we immerse ourselves in becomes our reality and desensitizes us from the cause and effect of its impact. Unfortunately, the nature of some of our music and television choices from the earliest age conditions us with subliminal indoctrinations that form our perspectives and behaviors to what we accept, conform to, and aspire to become.

We must be diligent about what we expose our children to, primarily if it promotes negative connotations described as entertainment. We must then ask ourselves, who benefits from our mimicking these actions and behaviors? Can we expect to be anything other than dysfunctional when the stimulus that we bombard ourselves with is tainted by violence and indifference as regular primary programming? Instead, we have tricked ourselves into devouring it and blame others for our appetite.

Just weigh the benefit against the detriment and compare it to what you observe in the community. Black man, we must reacquaint ourselves with what it means to be a protector, provider, and example for our families and communities by being engaged in providing veteran leadership and knowledge-creating stability. Black man, it is time to lead the charge unflinchingly. Black man, let’s end this now by changing now, so they don’t pay a costlier price later.

Our ego or being a tough guy or a “real one” can not displace our obligation to our family or contribution to our community with an allegiance to a broken spirit of weakness disguised as bravado while riding for despair and destruction, not respect or progress. It takes effort to build and larceny to destroy, but whose future are we robbing if not us and ours?

I asked many questions, but maybe they were not questions but solutions or concepts that may lead to solutions. I cannot be ashamed to say that the generation of the eighties and nineties became distracted after significant gains were made in the sixties and seventies against stern opposition.

I say that to say this that the fruit today was from seeds planted then, just as tomorrow’s fruit will be the seeds planted today. We must regain our compass and set a course of self-determination and self-realization that requires no one’s consent, just our grind.

We can’t wait on reparations or equality. You cannot be made to feel a way you refuse. To seek personal equality indicates you personally feel inferior and collective systematic equality in the form of institutional fairness will take far too long waiting for grace to be granted. We grant ourselves equality by the strength of our perspective and integrity. We can not overcome or operate from a position of weakness where power is granted.

It is never good when you have to ask from a position of weakness. With that said, let us pay ourselves reparations first by our conduct and progression, creating an atmosphere where nothing less than our respect and equality will be expected from others or accepted by us.
We need to respect our lives and stop the killings of each other, but call it some soft sucker shit to throw a rock and hide your hand. If it is that important to blast, put your pride on the line and throw down or better yet, let it ride if it causes more problems than it solves. The cycle must be broken by being avoided.

More of our people need to make it home and not just from the hands of the police. Time to break the chains that enslave our minds to move beyond conflict or protest to elevation and progression. Then as James Brown said, we too can “say it loud” and indeed be black and proud.

Progression is a transition of a perception that becomes an obsession manifesting a realization. Reasons are why you do something excuses are why you do not. Make no excuses allowed be our determination not to harm our progression. Let the healing begin within while the solution resides outside the pitfalls of social engineering.

Much love to my brother C.T. (Gery Curl) from East St. Louis. He always spoke of being resilient and resourceful.

 

Thurston K. Atlas

Creating A Buzz

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No N-word Allowed



But Can We Stop?

The time has come to discontinue the deception of the use of the N-word. We cannot deceive ourselves about the historical usage of this word. Deception is most effective when employed with the complicity of the deceived when oblivious and totally clueless to the truth. Deception is mainly used to promote an acceptance of a falsehood gaining advantage or incentive by voluntary compliance. 

Any deception is a form of delusion that requires your acceptance and thus influences your reality, causing a manipulated behavior or response disguised as free will. A fantasy or illusion is then created, which establishes fiction as a fact that is then acted upon. Self-deception is the most effective form of deception, creating delusions of convenience.

Delusion is a mental disorder, and the more extreme it is and practiced or embraced, the more significant the psychological dysfunction. Delusion allows one to staunchly and adamantly accept and defend a belief or position that has been exposed and discredited as contrary to reality. The greater the dysfunction, the more danger it poses to the deceived one’s lack of awareness of the deception or delusional conversion. 

The concept of an enemy disguised as a friend is a common delusion, the wolf in sheep clothing syndrome. We are at a fork in the road in history to definitively restore reality to the legacy and use of the N-word while we grapple for specific treatments of equality. The perpetuated effects on our people in particular and the structures of society, in general, have restrained our mental health and progress. The courage to recognize and confront the truth is the first step to correct this deception as the first action to shed its grip. 

The N-word is defined in nearly all dictionaries as the vilest and most insulting word in the English language. Some have argued that we have appropriated the term to change the connotation and embrace self-love and honor our blackness. If this is true, why is it insulting when other races “honor” us by calling us that? Reflecting historical use of the n-word, the meaning has not been changed in our minds to an empowering and appreciative word when used by others. We even still use it in a derogatory manner against each other when angry or describing something foul.

Stockholm syndrome is developing affection or sympathy for your oppressors or captors by assimilating with their ideology, a sort of mental surrender. Stockholm does not promote a mutual partnership but a subordinate designation of your dependency as a hostage or slave to a master. It is an integration of your humanity as an eager hostage. It is essentially your justification for their actions for having held you hostage. The N-word can be interpreted as such by the embracing of it. Plato’s theory of reality further explains a correlation between thoughts and corresponding actions regarding social organisms. 

Lima syndrome is where the captor becomes sympathetic to their hostages and feels remorse for dehumanizing and imprisoning them. Imagine a captor insisting on inflicting dehumanizing treatment on a hostage. Now imagine the hostage embracing or insisting on the treatment used to dehumanize them by using it on themselves. The N-word can again be interpreted as this by adopting its usage because when they discontinued using it, we did not. It is psychological slavery so complete that they can’t even prevent you from abusing yourself when they have stopped.

Emotional bonds and coping mechanisms beyond what was needed for survival have now oddly enough become self-imposed conditioning. How can you disassociate the method of trauma oppressively enforce while this word was used? By our use of it subliminally, how does its meaning and origin change for us or others? Does our use damage our self-image as much as it damages our image to others?

 This extends beyond the border of mental illness. It is accepting and maintaining an outdated coping mechanism that has to be considered brainwashing. Begging for equality is the manifestation of the brainwashing of a hostage. Seeking validation for what was damaged inside us, asking for permission from the one who damaged us reveals a simmering pathology. It may be futile to claim power from what was used against us. Socrates described this well in his Allegory of the Cave of a limited reality defined by the wall shadows. 

The expression of a need for validation from the source of abuse instilled this inferiority complex that we do not feel worthy of vehemently denouncing. The N-word’s use is not a way of seeking relief from the brutal historical systemic racial subordination we have long endured. Are we so willing to continue using this word that we would deceive ourselves about the atrocious history of this word and what it has really done to us?

Our use does not vigorously reject the assumptions of the inadequacies associated with the N-word. We cannot embrace this word with such a horrible history and denounce all that it has represented. The historical meaning and application of the N-word can never be erased or minimized. When we demand change from others, we must also self-evaluate and demand change from ourselves.

 It should never be culturally acceptable to demean ourselves by voluntary association with this word. By contrast, no other race or culture self-define themselves with derogatory terms used by others to demean themselves. Others may use those terms, but they do not refer to themselves as such or allow others to do so.

Using the N-word to self-identify as a group is where we get it wrong because it guarantees that the word will continue to be derogatorily used for another four hundred plus years. The negative connotations continue to be falsely assumed as accurate. We correctly understand that we must forbid others from using it against us or about us. 

What we must understand is that we must also stop using it to define ourselves. At its core, the N-word is not a term of endearment because it feeds an inhumane dichotomy of ourselves in opposition to our interest. We must first convince ourselves that we are something else before others are convinced that we are something other than what we have allowed ourselves to be called. 

 

 

 

If we cannot or will not stop calling ourselves this word, why should others not perceive us as that even if they don’t call us that? Maybe we should not say it for them to hear, just as we don’t want them to say it for us to hear. Perhaps no one should hear it, which means no one should be saying it, most of all us.

Our expectations no longer request a change but demand change. We are in a position to expect and achieve this change but could accelerate it by our actions. What behavioral changes are we willing to make to bring about these changes sought? The question then becomes, is it realistic to expect change without us changing or making concessions that facilitate the desired changes.

Systematic atrocities have been conceived and committed using this word. This word has accompanied slavery, lynching, buck breaking, rape, coon hunting, Jim Crow, and many other atrocities to this very day throughout history, with the N-word as its constant and loyal companion.

Those who have subjectively dehumanized, oppressed, terrorized, and murdered our people have used this word to justify their actions. It has been their rationale for the denial of our fundamental human rights, claiming we are animals. This N-word has been inflicted upon us along with the extreme sufferings that have always accompanied its use. We must define ourselves and not fall victim to others’ historical definitions of us.

Just because we have been egregiously and systematically wronged, we cannot pretend that there are not things that we subject ourselves to that we must address for the improvement of our people. Some argue these result from intentional conditioning or social engineering, which may be accurate, but that does not dissolve our responsibility to resist it. For far too long, we have had to survive. Now we must begin to thrive.

Physical wounds have visible healing and damage, but psychological wounds fester under an invisible scab only detected and revealed by behavior. Behavior indicates more than anything your character and self-worth by your actions and not by your words. We must identify what actions and behaviors are counterproductive to our collective interests and obstacles to our advancement.

It is not always the boogie man; sometimes, it is our very own perspective that is frightening. The betrayal of our humanity and our interests can be considered high treason. Certain self-portrayals of ourselves does nothing to dispel some of these stereotypes. This is achieved by practicing this N-word lunacy that is associated with over four hundred years of atrocities. This word has survived many evolutions of society, law, and technology but remains resilient now by our support.

The circumstances where we were so methodically degraded was done using this word. They were denounced as evil; the word must then also be identified as evil and a symbol of that denounced evil. The immorality of this word is undeniable, reprehensible, and unredeemable. Sacrifices have been made, punishments endured, and unfair repercussions overcome for the price to have been long ago paid in full. Unity of our objective must prevail where divide and conquer has persisted in stagnating our interest.

A unified commitment to our equality establishes an axis, standard, and discipline that must be the basis of all our actions as a foundational change. The next frontier is promoting others beyond the limits of past restrictions to explore future possibilities envisioning ourselves as anything possible except for an N-word. Exponential viable advancement to incremental progress is more dependent on us than anyone or anything else. Playing our position or managing our post to hold ourselves accountable, being part of the solution and not the problem, is our needed contribution.

We must recalibrate our perspective, discarding that which does not serve us, rejecting its deceptions. We must declare an elevated reality that does not sabotage our efforts. We can only deny ourselves; we do not need other’s approval to proudly be the best representation of ourselves. Be the best representation of, not an abomination to our culture by cultivating, promoting, and nourishing excellence that demonstrates a worthy portrayal of our character. The results will motivate self-acceptance, generate impartiality from others, and display renowned honor. A singular journey and purpose becomes our collective reality.

The philosophical theories of Plato and Socrates can be interpreted to mean that words reflect thoughts, and thoughts govern actions that shape perceptions that restrict our realities which define limitations within that reality. The N-word perpetuates what thoughts within us and others compel specific actions or attitudes, creating contrary perceptions manifesting some realities that produce the limitations and obstacles contributing to our condition with our consent.

Black folks, kinfolks, and all folks, it is time to bury the N-word in an unmarked grave, never again for us to offend or be offended by it. If others are not permitted to say it or can stop saying it, then we can too. Remember history’s use of this word and that it was the last word that many blacks heard before death, and not in a loving way. Reportedly this was the last word heard by Ahmaud Arbery. Respect the young brother by replacing that word with one we can appreciate and be proud of no matter who uses it. Honor our self and those who have been taken from us. From now on, no N-word should be allowed.

I remember Big Momma use to say it is not what they call you but what you answer to. Mom used to say be known for what you do, say, and what you are called to not bring humiliation upon our last name or yourself. Those who need reprogramming to fill the N-word void should initiate a challenge to creatively replace it with something conclusively empowering and complimentary.

Let me ask you a question. Would you be willing to abandon the use of the N-word if it meant greater equality for our people? What makes you think it won’t? It seems like a small sacrifice for us to pay for the potential reward it would provide. Yet, it is the right thing to do for our children’s legacy to grow up, not embracing a vile reference to themselves no matter how we twist it to be all love. Remember, the restrictions of our minds constrain our movement and ascension, encouraging harmful perceptions. In our declaration of equality and our prosperous future there can be no N-word allowed.

Thurston K. Atlas

Creating A Buzz

 

 

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Tactical Protest



 Objective Campaign

The intent and purpose of protest are to demonstrate the objection, frustration, and dissatisfaction of circumstances denied redress, which can no longer persist without adjustment or change. Civilizations have been toppled over disregard for the people’s protest of conditions that will not be tolerated. Protest can be stifled, but eventually, it resurfaces and overcomes the suppression of the people’s will. History always repeats itself in this regard, and change prevails, or extinction occurs.

Effective methods of protest vary with the extent of outrage and the ramification of its effect to force change. Additionally, the passage of time influences the efficiency of the protest methods used to settle any such grievances. The more widespread the objection, the higher the expectations for change are. The more likely a revolutionary demand emerges that requires radical adjustments to the system according to the people’s will and acceptability.

The method of the specific change’s ultimate purpose and other expressions of frustration should not be confused or used to dilute it by the actions used to achieve that change. Radical responses have erupted during protests where force has been met with force. Peaceful protest has also been met with force. The circumstances under which demonstration is conducted must be focused and flexible to maximize its effectiveness while minimizing the harm to the protesters being suppressed by this force.

Harmful exposure to protestors should be minimized and is equally as important as the cause. However, perhaps with the societal climate changing, a new political administration settling in, and the Covid virus still lurking, it may be time to adjust the tactics. Maybe, use more strategic, effective, and conciliatory tactics conducive to the desired change making the outcome more attainable. This is not to suggest not to keep the pressure on or lessen the expectations but to achieve objectives differently to galvanize resources across a spectrum of solutions and support more efficiently.

Any protest should consolidate active and passive support not to alienate resources or allies that can be an asset supporting change or at the very least not standing in opposition to it. The total Black population is roughly 48 million or 14.7 percent of the total U. S. population of 328 million, leaving approximately 280 million people that are other than black. With 67 percent estimated at some point to support racial equality, it is clear that an additional 52.3 percent (171 million) would be helpful.

Taking it to the streets with bullhorns had its place in the past and may still contain a level of effectiveness. However, today a precise focus combined with efficient use of human resources applying technology can disseminate messaging and informational exchanges beyond physical opposition to gain more of an advantage.

More modern tactics can resolve some significant concerns and limit the negative impact on protesters, the alienation of allies, and the alternative actions or narratives levied against the protestors. Protest tactics, methods, and ideologies need to be updated; surgical precision, not blunt force, is required. It is not the skill of the sword but the skill of the swordsman that directs the blows.

Destruction is an emotional response to frustration that is not equivalent to passion or progress. It undermines the success of legitimate efforts and squanders opportunities for meaningful action, resolution, and advancement. The objective is to facilitate focused disruption and change without random destruction or ill-fated confrontation. A tactical advantage has the purpose of engagement with a minimal footprint or target but maximum effect.

Inflicting disruption and affecting changes without being subject to retribution and resisting dispensing collateral damage to innocent parties not involved in the engagement is the goal. Specific tactics can define most responses by manipulative design, thereby aligning the reaction with the purpose of the tactics while working to position the objective for success. Success can often be attainable without conflict when the opposition’s energy is converted or depleted to benefit the protest objective. You cannot lose when causing methodical attrition to the opposition unless by surrender.

Conflict is always an option but becomes exhausting and depleting when recklessly deployed as a default reaction. It should be the last resort even when conflict is the first chosen action. This is not a doctrine of non-violence but a perspective of principle to not become or commit the very oppression we are protesting against. It only justifies their response, fear, and treatment of us, forming a perspective contrary to change while enforcing resistance. Resistance needs to be weakened and not fortified.

It serves no meaningful purpose to destroy or loot except to indiscriminately inflict pain upon someone who has not harmed us directly or who may be sympathetic to the objective of the protest. Protest awry presents the opportunity to express anger, emotions, or repressed personal vendettas by offering an outlet under the disguise and protection of collective outrage for the cause. The business of protest is not personal; it is collaborative, the collective objective is primary, and it will provide some resolution for many of the personal vendettas.

Destruction for the therapeutic purpose of soothing angry feelings or emotional outbursts is not practical or efficiently convincing and mostly futile without focused goals for achievement. Being under the influence of a mob mentality or raging emotions undermines the collective purpose of tactically maneuvering to accomplish our stated objectives and changes. Avoiding compromise by self-imposed distractions or succumbing to emotions is essential in executing a strategy for change.

Our anger turned inward or against us is on us and counter-productive. Emotional intoxication creates an impairment to clear thinking and promotes regrettable actions alienating allies from supporting our cause. Regression into our deferred pain or submission to displays of emotional fervor prolongs our condition. As the past has consistently proven, anger subsides with time and expression, making it unsustainable and unreliable motivation to propel protest or change.

Pent-up emotional frustrations must be controlled, transformed, and refocused for any protest’s sustainable strength and integrity. The mind must be engaged, not the emotions, for logical actions and sustainability of intent. The insanity of our same approach without results is evidence of itself that we have traveled this road many times before to find ourselves on the same road again. It is past due time to change approaches for perhaps a different result other than being angry, stubborn to self-examination, or prone to destructive behavior.

Confrontation is the lowest level of persuasive negotiation or communication with the greater force usually dictating the terms and conditions over the lesser force. Overcoming a more significant force or power does not involve direct altercation but a strategic and analytical negation of their advantage. Primitive expressions of anger acted out from past pain are counter-productive to future gains.

Anger disregards intellectual pursuit and persuasion, surrendering to and conceding an inability to reason or debate our objective convincingly. Commitment finds a way to achievement by not succumbing to surrender or outburst when faced with obstacles but engages adaptation.

Our strategy’s disciplined and foundational principles have to remain firm in its conviction but flexible in its focused execution to sustain the expansion of our influence and support the acceptance of our objective. The cultivation of our base requires that they be informed of the purpose and the method of achieving it. Their determination, resources, talents, and skills, when efficiently deployed, will effectively optimize their contribution to the collective objective.

The methods used should be surgical and fluid in dissecting the obstacles to the objective’s realization. When the methods and techniques are organized and unified, the impact can undoubtedly be predictable and quantified. However, when we come to do serious business, then keep it strictly business. Doing business with tangible results with measurable outcomes must be structured by expressed policies and concessions aligned with our agenda.

Appeal to one political party or ideology has historically failed, resulting in bouncing from one extreme to another, never achieving the wholesale changes sought. More realistically, it has led to being conquered by exploiting our differences and personal ambitions instead of unified by our commonality of interest and objective. This division has no viable focus, momentum, or process to make demands much less change.

The insanity of the same old protest tactics has yielded glacier changes considering the last 60 years of progress since the bullhorn and slogans that rhyme have formed the focal point of social justice protest. Unfortunately, as a result, perceptions remain tainted (theirs and ours), assurances hollow, and equality still elusive.

That is not to discredit the efforts and accomplishments of those who have gotten us to this frontier. Instead, it suggests that to fully benefit from these unprecedented times embracing tactics conducive to current sentiment and public consciousness would seem wise. We can then avoid unnecessarily repeating the same futile cycle where destruction overshadows progress.

A multidimensional approach must be utilized, attacking the systems and perpetrators of injustice and those who would align themselves with justifying or concealing institutional and societal violations. Political and legislative recourse is the most pervasive and effective way to universally isolate and identify systemic injustices to punitively and economically persuade or penalize transgressions and transgressors alike.

It is imperative to use all those who would align themselves with our objective of equality and fairness to address both major political parties to propose, pledge, and produce programs, legislation, and penalties. The precise agreed-upon procedural implementation and application should be transparent and obvious.

Changes to existing structures in violation must be urgently undertaken and remedied. Given the opportunity to honor any assurances, visibly effective actions would be the only acceptable verification. Our political and economic courtship must be accompanied by this bouquet as well as by any other suitors who would seek favor with us.

Since beggars have never been choosers, for us to have a choice, we must develop further options to empower our interest without other’s permission or compliance. Therefore, make it necessary and in their best interest to create a coalition with us essential to their own success demonstrated by their actions seeking and validating our trust.

Political and economic prowess is fundamental to being respected as a force to be reckoned with and afforded the same first-class citizenship considerations as any other group. A major cohesive political initiative is needed to consolidate a coalition of grievances to remedy historical and systematic discriminations. Redress inclusive of our grievances and interest, including those marginalized within the diversity of our ranks.

While the political influence and legislative reform are the most pervasive and effective methods, economic protest is the most immediate and convincing consideration to facilitate change. Mutual goals, shared results, cultural awareness, and systematic bias can all be altered by the bottom line.

Maximum strength can be derived from the imposing of strategies that impact and weaken the financial interests of those in opposition. Let our spending do the heavy lifting against immovable obstacles and damaging objectives. Money penetrates many adverse resolves.

Preparing, educating, and directing our base in our preferred way of resistance or persuasion is the most impactful initiative. Financial withdrawal puts us at no physical risk, allows us to remain lawfully blameless, and is an exercise in our spending discretion that can be heard without ever being seen but felt. It is called discretionary spending, and it is our prerogative.

The tactical concentration of resources and the creative application of proven techniques reversed engineered and effectively used against us can be effective for use by us. Hostage negotiators seek to humanize hostages to captors by deflecting their ideology, making them reluctant to harm the hostages. The most prevalent is self-identifying with the hostages and reflecting their similarities to elicit empathy from the captors. They must be made to see themselves in you or see the similarities of you in themselves.

Lima syndrome techniques can be used effectively towards those who are not hopelessly entrenched in their ideology and position to encourage sympathy for those who have wronged or are wronged. Their injustice is their shame which they feel compelled to resolve along with civilized impulses of compassion. The same technique can reverse social engineering to reject racism and instill a more socially compassionate affinity for equality.

Conversion of the ideologies and perspectives of people must hold a more significant enticement to change old thoughts rather than to adhere to them. First disproving those antiquated beliefs, then embracing the voluntary integration to their identity a genuine acceptance of the change. Their hurtful actions becoming vile, distasteful, and regrettable to themselves.

Protest not aligned with core beliefs results in resistance as a survival mechanism as if they were personally attacked. This personal attack is then internally adapted to reconcile those core beliefs to justify resistant thoughts and actions. Any required change must be a self-revelation where an acceptance or realization transforms those actions and attitudes to a different set of core beliefs aligned with a new perspective.

The concept of addition by subtraction seems counter-intuitive, but much can be gained by what is taken away. It is far more challenging to remove a thought and replace it than to place it there initially. In this regard, social engineering must be addressed relative to racial inferiority or superiority complexes perpetuation. Spreading of either must prevent the ratio of people who learn, are taught, display, or are made to feel either.

Repetition and reinforcement of these concepts lead to their prevalence and, when reversed, can lead to these concepts being rejected. Time and patience utilizing reverse-engineering of the propagation of these concepts where there then becomes an overwhelming presence of the desired one, and the absence of the unwanted one leads to the extinction of the unwanted behavior. Like potty training of sorts, it instills a level of conditioning that is socially acceptable, compelling, and enduring.

 

 

Aside from the many psychological and behavioral modification techniques available, procedural adjustments can be similarly effective on institutional and structural entities. These agencies entirely comprised of people operating within those systems are either governed by, restricted by, or compelled by some parameter of conduct or procedural mandate. The adjustments can be implemented when an understanding of their protocols, mandates, and operations is utilized.

Intimate knowledge and understanding of these parameters can nullify, neutralize, restrain, or mobilize their resources. Conflict is short-sighted when others can do the heavy lifting for our purpose. For example, resources can be utilized for our protection or against us depending on how we maneuver their interpretation of our intent. Let their muscle support our intent and against any known antagonist intent, as the national guard did for school desegregation in the sixties.

To lessen the possibility of conflict and be equally effective, a massive crowd assembled in one place without a specific agenda for their collective assembly is not tactical or practical when our assembly results in their assembly as a stronger, more fortified consolidated force. Peaceful assembly locations should be carefully chosen, and agendas precisely directed and fully understood with contingency plans against conduct clearly undermining our purpose. There have to be no tolerances for egos, flexing, insults, emotions, or agent provocateurs, just our objectives and goals.

Any conduct while assembled under our flag reveals whether you are with us or for yourself, in which case this unwanted activity damages our purpose. Our protest must occupy the high ground morally, intellectually, and geographically to move separately but in coordination, while converging collectively into a specific purpose and method to achieve that purpose. Disbursement into smaller crowds that spread resources and divide commands demonstrating clear, peaceful intentions minimizes herd mentality on both sides, and our communication can become more sustainable and direct.

If a breakdown should then occur, it would be isolated to that one location and not into collective chaos as when there is one massive assembly. At peaceful assemblies, law enforcement has to respond to any probability as a paid captive audience. So instead of yelling, insulting, or confronting them, why not try to convert them or at least salvage the ones who may find themselves marginalized within their own ranks as well as sympathetic to our protest and objective.

It is a marketing opportunity since they cannot leave, and exposure to our ideology cannot be avoided. This time and opportunity can be used to hear or see our message and possibly promote it in places where we cannot. By the same measure, the key is not conflict but expense. The more they stand there, the larger the expenditure becomes until it becomes too much on the city budget. City officials will want to negotiate a resolution because law enforcement will also complain and protest about their own conditions and attrition. It will then become a matter of wasted resources and weakened morale.

Law enforcement, city officials, and city council can be required to meet with the public at any number of safe environments where we can put a name and face with a promise or proposed action. The police department is always open to receiving complaints, must investigate, and must give a disposition to the submitting complainants. Churches, schools, community centers, and government facilities can all be utilized for community events and meetings. If they can’t come to us, then we can always peacefully assemble and go to them. Systems and resources are always susceptible to being overwhelmed.

Law enforcement reform starts with the hiring practices of who they put into the uniform and an asserted effort to increase their interaction and familiarity with the culture of the community they serve. Avoidance of bias deployment of selective enforcement throughout the community, a better internal and public accountability system, and assurances that reflect departments and specialized units ratios align with the community demographics are also needed. Discretion is encouraged where minor offenses build goodwill and correction instead of revenue and criminal intent.

Removing the overseer, occupying force, and adversarial culture and mentality of law enforcement to be above the people they serve is crucial to better policing. Changing the officer’s expectations within the department to be less numerically driven as the basis for the court system, jails, and general fund revenue. Additionally, training needs to be directed at mental and psychological options for compliance, de-escalation, and control under fearful or stressful situations that simulate reality. Indeed, a different type of training and increased training is in order.

Engaging the political and legal process at the municipal, county, and state level to change the city charters, county enforcement, and state laws mandating more accountability and transparency removes many instances of abuse. The other component to remove abuses is to remove those who obstruct or violate the intent or equal application of the law. City Charters can make the Police Chief accountable to the public and not the mayor. The law is full of remedies that are not currently aligned with the will of the people or used to reconcile them.

The political structure of this country is established upon majority rule, even if that majority is by one. The path forward seems clear to keep that which has served us well in the past, embrace that which reveals itself to be effective moving forward, and discard that which has not produced the desired results.

The use of technology, emails, social media, and the like that can be consolidated at the push of send is a powerful tool to disseminate protocols, actions, and objectives. Information is the new currency, and shared education is the manner of transport to expose the iniquities of history and the needed corrections now and in the future for advancement.

The objective must be exalted above the method of the objection, the message superseding the messenger, and the change sustained beyond the sacrifices made. All those concerned are welcome to be agents of change under this directive that lessens harm to the integrity of our concerns.

We must practice policy-driven professional protest, not random emotional exhibitions of extortion. Some of the methods and techniques available are time-sensitive and subject to subversion. There are forces actively attempting to legislate and criminalize specific actions to abolish or lessen their use and effectiveness, making it more difficult to protest without retribution and retaliation.

These laws designed as countermeasures to suppress voting and protest have been announced or anticipated which the development and implementation of effective alternative methods must be employed that are impervious to being undermined. Force is used for revolution, which is not reasonable since our goal evolves and it is not the overthrow of the government. On January 6, 2021, an attempt was made on the Capitol by anarchists hell-bent on suppressing our objectives and the incoming administration as well as the imposition of theirs.

Force in the form of civil unrest and civil disobedience, as it is termed, has minimal effect, being localized at best and a squander of human resources at worst. Using revolution employing force and confrontation, the butcher’s tools generate casualties and opposition with the need to maintain coerced compliance. Evolution is the tool of the master akin to chess outmaneuvering the opposition manipulating their move by intellect and persuasion to anticipate their move and checkmate them with their contribution.

We are not equipped for revolution by force and should not be so inclined when the results move us farther away from our goals. On the contrary, the times are ideally suited for evolution, with the circumstances ripe with the proper strategic approach. The surgical attainment of our prime objectives should aspire to minimal exposure and maximum benefit. With that in mind, adaptation and progression do not have to be glacier, but it will take some time and sustained effort.

To survey the factual landscape and assess the most effective course of action, the first thing we must do is control our emotions and remain reasonable about the sequence and scope of our goals. We can not succumb to the emotional compulsion to express our frustrations through destructive methods that yield only a release of anger but limited results.

We must then logically analyze the playbook being used against us for vulnerabilities and deficiencies. Many have historically been the same, but the support has waned, significantly exaggerating the weaknesses exposing new paths to change. Just as their ideological numbers have weakened, ours have been strengthened, forging overt empathy and allegiances towards justice for us.

Dissent and allegiances in unison with a significant number of people who should not be alienated or excluded from their contribution to a mutual objective. For example, some have aged out of active protest in the streets. However, they still can significantly contribute if an avenue for their participation was available which remained within their capabilities. The same holds for adolescents who can contribute in their own particular way or those who would need to remain anonymous for their own preservation but would love to contribute if provided a way.

The racist or conservative value ideology has to be exposed for what it is and the lack of inclusion of some who support it, not realizing that they are not included except for achieving a goal that will discard them. Conservatism is rooted in the past, which does not include alternative sexualities, gender roles not male-dominated, inter-racial relationships, immigrants who visually do not look white, and the list goes on.

These are the divisions and vulnerabilities which need to be exposed. The 2020 election and the strategy utilized by Stacey Abrams and many others are symbolic of the horizontal attack on a vertical establishment. The legs can be taken out to make the head fall.

The divide and conquer tactics that have been so effective against us redirected against the social intimidation used to sustain this stain of racism can now be used as never before to topple this system of discrimination. Isolating its methods and motivations cultivating change for its own survival or wither isolated from the acceptability of change. The implosion of maintaining their discriminating ideology will collapse when starved. The pen is mightier than the sword, and the briefcase more effective than muscle can use their momentum against their purposes when redirected for our purposes.

The prototype builds a horizontal coalition targeting as many local gatekeepers as possible from the school boards to city council from the infrastructure that governs them by vote, city charters, or other legislation that either changes their policy and functions or promotes the compromise needed for our redress.

The latest census report does not accurately reflect the shifting demographics of those by their designation whose interest would more closely align with our objectives for their benefit. The number of those who would oppose or actively resist has diminished when put into the context of racial and economic oppression, which comparatively suppresses their prosperity as well.

Focusing on the horizontal social foundation is where the legal and meat on the bones changes will be more attainable and intensively affected at the grassroots level. Producing new socio-economic norms not constricted by race, gender, or discrimination will require more vertical institutional infiltration.

It would be regrettable not to fully benefit from this unprecedented time in a diametrical shift of ideologies, theirs and ours. Confronting this plague of racism that has persisted for centuries has spilled out into the open, and we can not refuse to update our strategy conducive to meaningful change.

There was civil unrest under the previous administration as clashes of ideology and practice, but that most certainly seems not to be the case with the Biden-Harris administration, so why would the method of protest be the same for friend and foe. They deserve a chance to benefit us from the highest levels as they have pledged without being encumbered by behavior that undermines their efforts or strengthens the opposition.

By demonstrating their actions and those appointed by them, they have demonstrated more willingness toward fairness than we have been recently accustomed to. So let us do our business while they do their business unencumbered by each other and in support and coordination towards a just objective.

We can use all the help we can get and can not afford to squander our allies or resources by our emotional behavior or lack of logical strategy. So many of these protests are in response to the loss of life of individuals whose family gets constantly bombarded with reminders of their loss. They deserve closure and resolution reflective of the pain they endure and provide the progress that can be the only thing to minimize their loss and provide some degree of comfort.

So first and foremost, let us not get too wrapped up in our anger to exacerbate their pain without honoring the progression needed as a result of THEIR loss. We must embrace their wellbeing and make sure they are provided for while we claim our actions are on their behalf without honoring their wishes or embracing their condition.

Remember, it is about their families and protest, collectively, not us individually releasing anger. We must remain diligently respectful of their loss. United, we stand erect consolidated in purpose and with the integrity of our convictions to demonstrate that which we demand.

The teachings of Sun Tzu or the Five Rings present conceptual tactics of principle and concept. The study of Hannibal from Carthage and Shaka Zulu reveals helpful strategic maneuvering of resources, innovation, and positioning. These learnings are military tactics that will prove effective in a civilian application of protest.

War tactics applied to peaceful thought processes guiding social movements whose ideology is adapted to reflect the logical application of their concepts not to create war but to create evolution and progression. They are designed to minimize conflict and self-inflicted collateral damage while ensuring success in overcoming obstacles by a coalition of consensus.

The question is will we put an end to some of this nonsense or wait for others who have less incentive? But, again, the perspective of tactical protest is wisest, not demonstrations of emotional outbursts.

Thurston K. Atlas

Creating A Buzz

 

 

 

 

Posted on by whenplaytimeisover_xlw47n 0

Diluted Justice and Pure Morality



Judgement Day- Home Team always Win 

Justice and Morality are as old as civilization and communal survival aiding in the coexistence of different norms. They often are confused with each other because both are sometimes present at the same time. They are really just both agreed-upon social norms that provide society’s guidelines and govern the restrictions of its members.

Justice aspires to punish wrongful acts and distribute fairness ethically. However, morality is more concerned with good or bad and right or wrong in principle. The question then becomes who sets the standard and how binding it is for all to follow or submit to as an arbitrarily accepted social standard.

They are really close in definition but not in practice, application, or agreement. Under some circumstances, it remains the same and, in others, has an entirely other interpretation based on who is observing or practicing it. It can be virtuous over here while prudish over there.

The variations of each are endless and fluid, but some are consistent within a range or scope of understanding and, at times, baffling. A duality of the same condition by definition diluted is weakened in strength or lessened purity while pure is unadulterated or without dilution or contamination.

Let’s get to the point without any emotional blinders or folks head jumping time over concepts that their mind or experiences refuse to give allowance for to understand that their adherence to the home team undermines the strength and clarity of their assertions and positions.

It is more of a reflection of where your feet are and the conditioned or adopted perspective that results from a liberal or conservative application of your reality to impose your truth upon others. Liberals generally live and let live while conservatives hold tight to adherence and dissemination of their perspectives upon others. It is many times a cognitive dissonance ignoring the discord between philosophy and application.

In actuality, neither can be an absolute truth. Still, justice and morality can be a more inclusive comprehensive display of the virtue and veracity of your perspective that separates yours from opposing ones but strangely enough align them on common ground.

If we are outraged by attacks on the police, then we should be equally outrage by attacks on civilians by the police. If we are outraged by the police killing black and brown, we have to be outraged by black and brown killing each other. The blade cuts both ways with integrity as the dividing denominator.

When your politician or political party has been in lockstep with racist or divisive rhetoric for many, and you have fully or partially embraced that, then you dilute your hypocritical view that someone else is supporting division by their words or actions.

You cannot be silent when it is the home team and criticize the opposition for the same or similar things. You see, this is where the justice becomes diluted and the Morality less than pure. When you set the table and prepare the meal, you lose credibility to complain and deny your transgressions while bemoaning others.

The caterpillar’s knowledge is defined by the confines of its cocoon, unable to see beyond its perspective or limitations. The butterfly is transformed by expanding and shedding its limited existence to a sphere of expanded consciousness and possibilities.

The human perspective and experience are much the same in a micro or macrocosm of reality as you expand outward from your cocoon of a singular view towards a transformative multi-sensory one. It reflects the contemporary evolution of thought and perspective that is the adaptation of survival in a larger cocoon or radius of understanding.

There is a distinct difference between compromise and being compromised, between concession and surrender. If a majority sets justice and Morality as a social norm, then it would stand to reason the same dynamic should be used to change it in the adaption of a different standard.

Look at domestic violence and its acceptability that traumatized generations of women and children, once a social norm and even encouraged. Its acceptability has run its course, and while it is still a reality, it is condemned for the despicable act of self-hatred projected outwardly victimizing vulnerable targets masquerading your cowardly inadequacies and lack of self-control as dominance.

The same is valid with these moral judgments and racial prejudices on who do not deserve the same considerations as you because, in all your righteousness, their culture is not yours. Most people’s fortune or misfortune is simply a matter of to whom and where they were born.

It was not their choice of who, when, where, what culture, advantages, or disadvantages they were born into. It was not your choice what education, principles, or demons your parents struggled with or suffered from. There are times when it is not even yours regarding yourself, but even if born in the lowlands, you can scale the peak.

It is a mix and match, but there are plenty that we claim credit for that was the pure luck of the draw, a sort of social genetics. Be careful of judgments and values we place on others because of despair for our challenges or lack of gratitude for our blessings.

The pandemic should have taught us all something about how our circumstances can change overnight through no fault of our own to find ourselves in a food line, business or career obliterated, or the shoes tight and the purse-string light. Comparisons are always dangerous and usually an exercise in subjective status in a derogatory manner.

It gets real really fast when we become them, and these are the shoes we now walk in, or we ride in the struggle buggy for the first time. So it is all the same application to a different situation. So when we judge by a certain measure, we must make sure we do not fall short of being judged by the same measure. So when your words condemn others, make sure your actions don’t condemn yourself.

It would only stand to reason that to protest for social justice, against systemic racism, and denounce racial inequality are absolute legit demands. Still, we must also flip the coin and hold ourselves to a level of accountability that does not dilute the integrity of our demands or promote the impurity of other’s morality.

We must handle our end of the table, which we have control over. We control our spoon while we must cajole others into managing theirs. That within our power, we must grab holt of and correct while continuing to demand our humanity from others but let’s also require and demonstrate that ourselves.

They are two different things but closely related, and I believe interdependent upon each other. I trust that the better we treat ourselves and each other, the more our internal communal dynamics will improve with or without external help.

The dreaded talk that black and brown parents have with our children needs to expand beyond the usual topics to include their behavior and ours. We can only hope that white families have a dreaded talk with their children beyond the sphere of their cocoon.

The same criteria applied to Chauvin and many other cases of excessive use of force by police must be applied to the senseless excessive use of force by us against us in our communities which is equally terrifying and on a larger scale.

We cannot allow ourselves to be numb to the conditions in our midst that are claiming so many of our people, especially our young people. It reminds me of the saying that even if you have old tattered clothes, they should still be clean clothes.

If this is where we start and is all we got, then we have to make the best of it, and it will bear crop in the harvest season with cultivation, patience, and time. The struggle is real out there but also within here. If we suffer the most, then we need to find solutions for our generational provisions and safety.

We need change, theirs and ours. By whoever it applies, each taking their transgressions out of the equation or conversation of social dysfunction. Let’s give them something else to talk about, whoever they are. Peace, prosperity, and wisdom to the people that justice and morality will become less subjective to emotions and perspectives but aligned with unwavering integrity, progress, and resolve.

With that said, let me ask a question if the prevailing racial strife and circumstance had different parties inserted, then would it change the perception, or would the same hold true.

For example, insert black, gang bangers, or opps instead of the police within the situations mentioned playing out in the inner cities across too much of this country. Would that not be just as unacceptable and disgraceful, maybe even more so because it would be us doing it to us. Injustice or murder should not change according to who and where it is done.

The expectations have to be condemnation even when committed by us if the anticipation is for accountability for actions. It should not be judged by who is doing it but by what is being done. Then it would stand to reason that our outrage has to be focused on the act and the perpetrator, or at some point, our validity and impact diminishes of demanding better.

It is the parable of the goose and the gander; it should be the same with different players and with the same standard applied. Consider how many black lives would be saved if the two scenarios met in the middle and were lessened, but we control our communities.

Protest is cool against the system but let’s play our position on the opposite end to display love, patience, and change. The change demanded from others; we must demand from ourselves and reframe from that which alibis police use of force and irregularities. 

It will not eliminate their behavior, but it will lessen our contribution to it, making it evident and irrefutable to any misconduct. Some changes we seek without must be the change we are willing to create within. Giving no concession to inequality by keeping our knees straight, our backs unbent, our character intact, and our perseverance soaring in pursuit of our humanity and pure justice from a diluted morality.

We are not victims or survivors; we are warriors in pursuit of our humanity armed with intellect and integrity that does not require anyone’s permission. The resolution resides in time and commitment now so that the following generations can shed the disparaging and condescending cloaks of racial biases and economic gloom.

A strong ten-year commitment followed by another ten-year cultivation period will make tremendous permanent strides like the mighty oak, which grows into its strength over time. The seeds are the children raised to know no other way, feel no other way, or accept no other way because you can only feel inferiority if it resides in you.

Racism’s historical ramifications must be exposed, adjudicated, and conquered, but being a resilient people, it is not preventive of our ascension and perseverance. It can only be if we allow it to be; it is the victim mindset of despair and submission every time we ask for permission.

Therefore, just as we band together to protest against these evils, let us collaborate to establish our humanity adhering to our own social norms, which embrace each other.

If freedom is free, then we are free to frame our destiny. Enforcing justice and morality in our communities, creating social norms more in line with our integrity, desires, and prosperity can be done by us to better police ourselves.

Thurston K. Atlas

Creating A Buzz

 

Posted on by whenplaytimeisover_xlw47n 0

Resisting Arrest Gone Wrong



Refrain from Assault.

Let me state that this is not to bash the police, and I support Police Officers and their safety when confronting dangerous and violent criminals who endanger lives. However, I will not honor these rogue policemen who act from being afraid or, even worst being callous and reckless with their use of force.

Fresh off of the Chauvin verdict, some would say do not resist arrest, merely comply with lawful or unlawful police commands, do not attempt to flee or escape, or force the police to use force against you to gain control. For them, we need to redefine resisting arrest and noncompliance that necessitate the use of force being used against someone.

There is the legitimate reality where force is needed to effect an arrest or prevent death or serious bodily harm. However, during these times, it must be distinguished whether the arrestee is resistant or combative. The difference between being resistant is not wanting to comply, attempting to get away, and combative is actively attacking the police person to inflict damage. Either way, the level of force must reflect the level of threat posed and the totality of the circumstances, including the crime committed.

For example, let’s examine a real-life situation and determine for yourself from the police person’s perspective the degree of fear for their safety or how the combative noncompliance of the suspect contributed to the use of force against them.

Afterward, you can determine for yourself if the suspect posed a sufficient danger and warranted the use of force against them. Keep in mind that laws and police policy and procedures govern the use of force, and noncompliance alone may not be the only criteria for force. Still, there may be some mitigating circumstances to take into account.

This involves a suspect who the responding policeman believed was fleeing the crime scene after an attempted theft offense and being confronted by the store personnel. When the policeman confronted the thief, he was met with disregard for his command and attempted to escape the scene.

He immediately, for his own safety and the protection of the public, physically engaged the thief with physical force to subdue and prevent their escape. The policeman then believes he was met with a monumental struggle that clearly left him out of breath and presumably exhausted, eventually needing backup to control the suspect.

Thank goodness backup arrived to lend assistance as the suspect appeared to be a handful for both police persons. There would have been a tremendous outcry from the public for another non-compliant criminal if deadly force had been used.

Once even handcuffed on the ground face down, subdued, and reasonably under control from the previous struggle, the thief still was insistent on making it home. Due to the struggle, the suspect did suffer some injuries, but deadly force was avoided displaying the police person’s restraint under challenging circumstances.

The suspect’s history was unknown at the time, and I am still unaware of their criminal history, if any, or their propensity to assault police personnel. We cannot allow that, as the policeman to first encounter the suspect repeatedly advised the suspect that he was having none of it. He further explained to the suspect why force was needed and the folly of not complying with his commands. The suspect still did not seem to grasp the gravity of the situation or comply.

To further clarify the danger the suspect posed, the suspect was a 73-year-old white lady for those who it may make a difference. She is approximately 4′ 10′ tall and eighty pounds suffering from dementia. The Young Turks reported her name to be Karen Garner living in Loveland, Colorado. The video captioned “Cops assault elderly woman with dementia” can be seen on TYT. The incident occurred on June 26, 2020. It has come to light because of a federal lawsuit against the police for excessive force. It was captured on police body cam.

The merchandise attempted to be stolen from Walmart amounted to $13.88, which was recovered by Walmart personnel. When confronted, she produced a card to pay and had the ability and willingness to pay but was refused by store personnel and sent on her way.

The police were still called for this scenario. They caught her down the road, walking where he confronted her, ordering her to stop. She did stop, repeatedly stating that she was going home, and proceeded to do so. Shortly after this point, the policeman physically engaged her wrangling her to the ground in rodeo fashion.

Before we go on to be clear, let’s sum up the crime and the policeman’s recourse or authority to respond in how he did. The store refused payment and let her go. The store retrieved their merchandise which amounted to petty theft. The store, most likely and by all indications, would decline to prosecute for the attempted theft. Folks, this is Walmart we are talking about and an elderly lady with dementia.

Furthermore, these stores might want to reconsider always calling the police on these very petty crimes, which they most likely will not waste their time prosecuting. The claim was she pulled down an associate’s mask. However, all charges were dropped.

Think about if she should have even been arrested or given a citation, not to mention physically manhandled for such a petty crime. She suffered injuries to her shoulder (dislocated), arm (broken), and wrist (sprained), not to mention assorted bruises and cuts with blood drawn as a result of this forceful encounter. What was he arresting her for if Walmart had washed their hands?

More importantly, he never advised her she was under arrest, which he must do, never tried to deescalate or reason with her or impede her path. He just basically attacked her for daring to not heed to his command without regard for any prevailing circumstances except arrogant indignation for what he told her to do. It would appear her greatest crime was not obeying his orders, notwithstanding her diminished mental capacity to understand him or her frail condition both mentally and physically.

The policewoman who responded as backup you would have thought was more compassionate or observant than him, but she assisted him and mimicked his demeanor against the little old lady. Thus, the policewoman essentially was an accomplice in the assault of an elderly lady with a seemingly apparent mental condition.

Imagine the confusion and pain she must have experienced. It should be noted that often individuals with these disorders have a higher threshold for pain and thus do not exhibit pain as you would expect or the ability to communicate it. It is a vast difference between holding her or grabbing and twisting, which can be seen to have occurred indicating intentional infliction of pain.

There were much better options available which no one can deny, and the usual justifications I am sure will be offered and possibly entirely accepted and supported. However, the typical protocol after the tussle, she should have been taken for medical evaluation and treatment after being finally advised that she was under arrest and then taken to jail.

The jail personnel should have refused to accept her if she had any injuries. Instead, it was reported that the police persons stated that she was uninjured and she was booked into jail. She suffered from four to six hours before she was sent for medical evaluation and her injuries treated.

One would wonder if the situation would have been handled better if a supervisor was notified to respond on scene and be aware of the circumstances’ totality. A higher ranking official, a sergeant, did respond and reprimanded a brave civilian for interfering with police business. However, he joked and condoned the treatment of this elderly woman, did not order that she receive medical treatment, or display the judgment one would expect from a supervisor.

Furthermore, separate use of force documentation would have revealed the sergeant’s investigation into the justification for using force. The police department and the city’s dubious claim that they had no knowledge of the incident until the federal lawsuit was filed seems disingenuous.

The footage was police bodycam, and a request had to be made to receive. Thus the delay in filing the lawsuit may be directly attributed to a delay in receiving the incriminating video.

Nevertheless, think of all the resources and personnel; police, medical, booking officers, clerk’s office, prosecutor, and judge. Some other incidental personnel sprinkled in who would have had some dealings with this case. Now we can add federal investigators, attorneys, more judges, and most definitely lump-sum taxpayer’s money again.

From a humanistic standpoint and concern for her health, we can only imagine how she suffered and has been impacted. We can only wonder what fate the two police people and their supervisor have faced or if medals and a parade were for taking down such a danger to society.

All three need to be fired, arrested, and charged with felony offenses. Desk duty and suspensions are not sufficient. Damn the cancel culture nonsense. They do not deserve a second chance to display such horrendous judgment again. The lack of compassion is stunning, and the visual use of force unjustifiable.

This video turned my stomach but is an illustration of what is wrong with policing. She wasn’t black, young, thuggish, armed, a threat on her best day, or any of the other worn-out identifying cliche, which is usually thrown out there for excuses. She is our mother or grandmother. That is who she is!

This is in full display for all to see the arbitrary authoritative gutless resort to excessive force against her. Imagine how anyone else would have fared, deadly force, maybe? This cannot be blamed on training or lack of training directly attributable to the individuals involved detachment from the public they should serve while intoxicated with power and control. In case you were wondering, all parties involved were white.

It is the arrogant authority deranged mentality that absolute control and obedience must be imposed. I hope they have better patience and compassion with their family and loved ones who may not understand or comply with their every word. This is guerrilla and gorilla policing at its worst, which can easily be mistaken for racism if a person of color would have been the victim.

It is not always training, racism, or fear for life and limb that elicit these kinds of responses. Instead, it is a propensity for control and authority with no tolerance for anything other than immediate and total compliance under any circumstances. It is not even terrible judgment but a complete disregard for self-restraint or policy and procedures.

This would appear to be an extreme isolated incident that could not repeat itself. By contrast, another equally fine set of police handled a suspected burglary in Port Allen near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in exemplary fashion.

They responded to a burglary in progress and caught the suspect red-handed calmly sitting in a chair on the porch when they arrived. The suspect seeming dangerous and highly suspicious, attempted an explanation but to no avail. However, it was no fooling the keen senses of these police persons due to their training and experience.

The one policeman preemptively had his taser trained on the suspect, who was slow to respond while offering a lame excuse. Luckily, force was averted, and he could be handcuffed and placed in the zone car.

No harm, no foul, and all is well. But, unfortunately, the menacing suspect then began to yell for help of all things after stating that he did not need to be roughhoused. The policeman who had convinced the suspect earlier to surrender without incident or he would light him up with the taser then encouraged the suspect not to remain silent.

After the suspect continues to yell for help, the policeman then did what he had advised the suspect he would do when his threats and intimidation had failed. He repeatedly tasered the suspect while the suspect was seated in the zone car and handcuffed.

Further investigation revealed that the suspect lived in the house and had misplaced his key and broke his window to gain entrance into his home as he had advised them while calmly seated on his porch. Once confirmed, it was decided that his crime was disturbing the peace by yelling for help and warranted his arrest after having the hell tasered out of him.

The man is Izell Richardson Jr., a 67-year-old man with a bad back and black for those who it may make a difference. He was cooperative and secured in the zone car when the policeman entered the rear of the zone car to taser him at close range. Charges were trumped up, no pun intended, and he was arrested and taken to jail. An officer at the jail then called for medical attention for him to be taken to the hospital for treatment. He was not charged with any crime.

Port Allen can start ponying up his settlement as well. To be tasered for verbal disobedience not directed at the police or inciteful while secured and handcuffed in the zone car is not criteria for using force to this magnitude. Maybe it would have been better to ignore him or listen to him explain.

Mr. Richardson Jr, who is black, is the victim of the systemic police abuses many complain about, except racism probably was not the case since the brave policeman who assaulted him was black also. Nevertheless, he was also representative of the fear for their lives and the terror some civilians have in police encounters.

Both of these incidents have striking similarities if you examine them closely and the symptoms are the same as the Chauvin case. The symptoms are the visual or noticeable manifestations of the illness, disease, or dysfunction. It is the indication of disease, not the disease. Whether we want to recognize them or not, we have seen the signs, but to continue to ignore the symptoms allows the disease to progress and become terminal.

Claims of support and protection for the police are actually the protection of the system. Improving the system to ensure it is healthy and at optimal operation should be the middle ground consensus for all concerned.

Democrat or Republican, black or white, fund or defund, pro-law enforcement, or otherwise must be able to come to a truce for opposing opinions to agree that some of this nonsense and hypocrisy can be dispensed with as distasteful to all concerned. Strong arm assault will not be tolerated.

Perhaps it is time for the police to protect and support the police by not committing these senseless acts of outrage that cause the collective condemnation of their profession. The above two scenarios clearly demonstrate the abuses and lack of oversight from the overseers to police themselves. So, let’s agree to universally police them on this type of nonsense to make it clear that this shit won’t be tolerated, especially with our seniors.

At least we should agree on that unless we were raised by wolves, hell, even if wolves raised us. These are two separate cases of felonious assault on seniors without sufficient justification or cause. The police persons involve getting due process which they did not allow their senior victims.

We cannot protect every aspect of a broken system unconditionally, supporting blatant criminal assaults especially captured by the very police bodycam itself. But, come on now, what could possibly be the delay in arrest and charges prima facie to the video evidence?

These actions forfeit their right to any consideration, and if it is built into the system, then it is time to change the system that gives allowances for this behavior. It is inconceivable that arrest and charges are not immediately upon discovering felony assault on seniors without any police personnel charges preferred swiftly and harshly. It would be nice to extend this protection to everyone. Still, at least we should agree on how we are not about to let our seniors and children be treated in law enforcement encounters, especially like these two non-threatening situations.

This lady and man had their Constitutional Rights violated in much the same fashion that we have seen many times before. Sadly, until rogue policing is strongly punished and denounced, we will most likely continue to see it over and over again. Meanwhile, there are still those who unconditionally support the police in any misconduct or brutality they are jammed up committing, displaying sympathy and support for the police.

Most police do not support this nonsense. News flash they are not the police when committing crimes and these blatantly unconscionable atrocities. They are criminals with criminal behavior carrying a badge.
If they are here to protect and serve, I would hate to meet those here to harm and violate. It is getting to be hard to tell the saints from the sinners.

This is not to condemn all police or policing, but even among the ranks, you have to admit that this is getting to be ridiculous and very damaging. Maybe someone should let these bad apples know they are wearing body cameras and should conduct themselves as such. The egregious must be expunged from your ranks. It amounts to their individual accountability versus your collective condemnation. Amputate the disease so the police body can survive.

Respect to the women and men who do the job with honor and hopefully the tarnish from those who do not will remain with them as individuals for them to be held to task. The time has come to separate the wheat from the chaff, the good from the rotten. Policing is classified as a profession, and profession indicates professionals and respectability.

The hiring process, authoritarian culture, and tolerance for impropriety must be addressed to prevent further erosion of respect and authority. Zero tolerance, and if not, the noose you tighten will be your own, and as for Port Allen and Loveland, where is the love or discretion for the seniors?

This cannot be tolerated, so I would encourage everyone to see the videos and judge for yourself before it becomes a reality near or dear to you, like your parents or children. On that, we should agree, and we can dispute the rest, just not the seniors. A journey starts with the first step, and incremental concessions are an excellent first step. Arrest and charges against the police are a better first step in cases like the above.

We know the consequences of resisting, but what are the benefits of complying or non-combative behavior? A little finesse, patience, and persuasion could save an enormous amount of settlements. But, unfortunately, police settlements are becoming the most unpleasant way to riches.

If the police refuse to accept better options, they encourage payments, skepticism, condemnation, mistrust, and oversight. Many cities are self-insured, which comes out of the city budget or rainy day general funds, while insurance companies insure others.

When will the risk to insurance companies become so great that they refuse to accept the liability or indemnify themselves against misconduct and these large settlements? When will the public or police tire? At some point, the tarnish will be too much for the good Officers to bear, or at least not a laughing matter of pride.

Let me ask you a question to put this into context. I like to reverse engineer situations as if debating where the opposing viewpoints are assigned and not chosen for argument. Just stack it up, flip it, and smooth it out, so pin this twist of fate.

The white police personnel encounters both scenarios where they either damage the black man breaking bones or taser the black man in the back of the zone car while he is handcuffed. Now flip it where the black police personnel encounter the white lady and do the exact same. This should crystalize for opposing viewpoints the crux of the condemnation.

It sometimes is not racial except by the context of the parties involved and the appearance of racism so close that you cannot tell the difference. It is sometimes a culture and psychology present among police developed out of a fear, separation, superiority, and survival indoctrination exaggerated and rampaging out of control, which compels these actions and condones them. The culture comprising the system can only be affected to the extent of changes in the mindset of personnel.

The system changes the personnel, the personnel changes the system, or one or the other needs to be replaced, if not both. Abolishing the police is ridiculous. Transformation is wise. It is amazing how a bunch of egg heads always knows what is best for everybody except themselves.

Here are suggestions for a three-step tango to target the problems and changes needed. One, give a questionnaire to all police departments and court personnel surveying their raw anonymous opinions of their operations, procedures, applications, and suggestions for improvement.

Two, if the hiring practices cannot more evenly reflect the population served, they should be well-versed in the people they protect and humanize a sensitivity to them. As part of the police academy training, it should be mandatory to visit rec centers, festivals, and various neighborhoods to familiarize themselves with the people and the people to the police.

Three, incentivize correction and not monetize punishment for police profit via court appearances, the city and courts via general fund revenue, and the prisons via slave labor.

Everyone does not need to go to jail, but statutory or discretionary punishment must be identical for everyone. For example, the right to bail is not a right if you cannot afford it, so a tier of offenses that clearly outlines personal recognizance releases from jail and bailable offenses in addition to high or non-bail crimes.

It would relieve over-crowding and the system’s accountability for the room, housing, and health of those in their custody. Consider increase community service for a contribution to society instead of a drain. But, unfortunately, desperate times call for desperate measures or at least a shift in ideology.

Fear of exposure, fear of honesty, and projections of failure for deviation from the old system we already know either don’t work or is inefficient will seek to prevent changes. The money to pay for these and other changes can come from the money saved from settlements and repetitive expenditures for resources to maintain the old antiquated system.

So back to the duality of reality. There can be no resistance where there is no opposition, just as there can be no opposition where there is no resistance. There must be compromise and concessions from all sides and assurances to heed and abide by the fair determination of the criteria set forth. Anyone in violation would clearly be deemed out of pocket and subject to that tier of consequences and conditions without respect to color, wealth, or occupation.

The adherence to a one-dimensional past developed for the singular benefit of becoming less of a majority demographic. Supported by a two-dimensional arrogance to maintain and justify the historical, cultural nepotism of those benefits is withering. Put under the three-dimensional microscope of current demographics now demanding a four-dimensional futuristic solution to propel us forward.

What has been can no longer be, and if the changes needed are not met, then what could be will never be. Yesterday is gone. The world is changing, and the old policies of oppression and authoritative domination of the people or suppression of their expression generate one hundred percent dissent and dissatisfaction whatever your position or opposition.

So we all have to give a lot to get a lot, and that is something we all can no longer resist for things to go right.

Thurston K. Atlas

Creating A Buzz

 

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