Outside of AFRICA

Delbert Africa was assaulted by Philadelphia police after the standoff with the group MOVE. An officer was killed that day and the evidence pointed to him being shot by other cops, but 9 MOVE members were all convicted of pulling the trigger. The memory of that is dark taking me back to other related incidents, as brutal as the way their house was burned to the ground with people inside.

During the years I was a police officer in the period of the crack epidemic I saw a lot I won't write about. One of the outstanding things I learned was this: Communities, cities and towns tell, and indicate what they really want. In other words, police reflect the unspoken desire of their communities, and their leaders. I am not sure how sophisticated Black youth are, but as they are seen in the eyes and behavior of police around the country it is clear! How and if that changes is dependent upon the changes Black Americans make within individually, and later collectively. The chances of that are slim contributing to the violence levied against us by brute force, and contempt for Black lives that don't matter to 'them'! The bulk of the battle is within. The enemy is without substance if we own ourselves! - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 10/19/18

diagram of Racism

Delbert Africa beaten by this Philly cop with his helmet. When down others kicked him in the face till unconsciousness, dragged him by his hair. 3 cops were tried for excessive force and exonerated...

Would You, Could You?

There is no easy answer to the question: "Would I, or you help a police officer fighting with a person?" Being flippant about it ignores that there are facts and factors to consider.

I was a police officer during the Crack Wars in the 1980's. One of my uncles was a police officer during the Jim Crow era in the 1950's in Illinois, and in today's world there are three unobvious movements within the thinking of the public and police officers. Because most Americans seem to live in a strange room where they are unable, or unwilling to face the contradictions to their notions of freedom, they don't recognize the after effect of September 11, 2001. Since, that time Americans became obsessed with being fearful, and subsequently gave up their rights over to President Bush, who in his tenure created a document that facilitated loss of rights, and created a government agency that justified the methods to do just that. It produced a false sense of something unlike the past centuries of colonization, and produced a mentality lest likely to protect anyone else, in this case a police officer.

Helping a police officer in need or danger is fraught with dangers. Only a Black or a white grandmother could have pulled that off if she had a maternal spirit within her. A Black man would not venture to help. He'd most likely become part of the inner dilemma the policeman is embroiled within, and could have been killed by arriving officers. A white woman? Impractical. Inconceivable. A Native man? That would be a surprise for this century for reasons the average citizen would not consider because schools teach that we are extinct. A redneck? Maybe, a good ol' boy would love to help. He'd feel like it was his duty to help in the spirit of being who he is, but that is questionable because intervening in police work has the potential of becoming a challenge to one's personal freedom! In other words, he could get locked up, fo' sho!

The real thing is most people would have filmed it.

- Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

March 29, 2018