Ferguson versus Whitopia

Aljazeera

In the wake of the death of Michael Brown, the unarmed teenager shot by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, on Aug. 9, the public has heard quite a bit about the town, its residents and their supposed violence.

But about half an hour drive west of Ferguson, along a highway straddling the Missouri River, you will come to what may seem a planet away: St. Charles County.

St. Charles is a “Whitopia” — a predominantly white county that has posted 6 percent population growth since 2000 and exhibits an ineffable charisma, as well as a pleasant look and feel. An outer-ring suburb of St. Louis, St. Charles is 91 percent non-Hispanic white, visibly whiter than its surroundings. Its metropolitan region is 77 percent non-Hispanic white in a state that is 81 percent Caucasian. Home to about 76,000 residents, St. Charles is the wealthiest and one of the fastest growing counties in Missouri.

Its quiet invisibility stands in stark contrast to the dramatic images we saw during the protests after Brown’s death. As the nation and world gawk at Ferguson, we need to train our eyes on St. Charles County too, for St. Charles’ economic and political realities contextualize the plight of Ferguson. It embodies the severe economic and racial segregation that harmed Brown long before Wilson ever fired a shot.

Distribution of resources

The ongoing debate about police misconduct sparked by Ferguson has highlighted the existence of deep-rooted structural racism in American society that erects barriers to opportunity and widens racial injustice and inequalities. Even when structural racism is recognized, its ambiguity and enormousness discourage the public from taking action. Consequently, the media focus instead on reported police transgressions, specific acts of overt discrimination and the dramatic images of Ferguson protests.

But structural racism is the deeper disease, and acts of police misconduct are merely a symptom of it. It concerns how we distribute public resources to strengthen or debilitate our communities. Unemployment, underemployment, foreclosure and destitution have become the hallmarks of America’s new multicultural poor, a group that negates conventional political and academic assumptions about aspiration and poverty in America’s suburbs. By contrast, rising property values, well-funded schools and segregation have become the markers of the affluent communities that have separated themselves from surrounding areas. This is why if we want to understand Ferguson, we must also study St. Charles.

Over the past 15 years, as people and jobs scatter across the country — because of the migration of industries, the economic displacement of the poor and the social flight of the privileged class — segregation and inequality have also dispersed and increased significantly. In 2005 the suburban poor in the United States outnumbered their city counterparts by more than 1 million people. Class and racial disparity have migrated to inner-ring suburbs, those closest to cities, such as Ferguson.

The median household income in Ferguson was $36,121 in 2012. By contrast, St. Charles County residents’ had a median income of $71,458 in 2010. Furthermore, in the past two decades, Ferguson has seen dramatic racial changes. In 1990 blacks made up 25 percent of Ferguson; today they make up roughly 70 percent. St. Louis County has seen residential flight by people of all races. But the concentration of long-time black residents in Ferguson and new black migrants heightens this segregation. Such are the new American suburbs. [MORE]

African resistance and rebellion: The other side of World War I

Aljazeera

On Sept. 15, 1914, barely six weeks after war broke out in Europe and was quickly exported to the eastern and western shores of Africa, something unexpected happened as it reached the southern tip of the continent. While troops from the South African dominion of the British Empire prepared to invade neighboring German South West Africa (now Namibia), Christiaan Frederick Beyers, the highest-ranking member and commandant of South Africa’s army, resigned.

“It is said that the war is being waged against the ‘barbarism’ of the Germans,” Beyers reportedly wrote to explain his decision. “We have forgiven but not forgotten all the barbarities committed in our own country during the South African War.” He was referring to the Second Anglo-Boer War, a brutal annexation campaign that the British launched and won against Afrikaners 12 years earlier.

His resignation marked the beginning of the Maritz rebellion, named after the general who allied with the Germans to boost its chances of success. Over the next five months, Beyers and a number of other military officers gathered 12,000 Afrikaner troops, proclaimed an independent South African republic and battled an army of 32,000 men — among them 20,000 Afrikaners loyal to the British crown — in hopes of toppling the acting South African government.

Barry Cooper's Official Never Get Busted Volume 2: Never Get Raided

More US combat troops for Ebola than so called super dangerous ISIS

BlackListed News

One third of Americans cannot name the 3 branches of Government

BlackListed News

Annenberg Public Policy Center released a survey on Constitution Day that reveals Americans know very little about their government.

Some of the findings are:

• While little more than a third of respondents (36 percent) could name all three branches of the U.S. government, just as many (35 percent) could not name a single one.

• Just over a quarter of Americans (27 percent) know it takes a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate to override a presidential veto.

• One in five Americans (21 percent) incorrectly thinks that a 5-4 Supreme Court decision is sent back to Congress for reconsideration.

And it gets worse… [MORE]

Florida Sheriffs Used SWAT-Style Attack to Enforce Barbershop License

Sun Sentinel 

Though he defended the actions of his deputies during a series of unorthodox inspections of barbershops in the Pine Hills area, Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings (who is Black and that is why the media feel strong about this story) said today there was "no question we could have done things better."

In two sweeps on Aug. 21 and Sept. 17, and a smaller October operation, 35 people were arrested on a misdemeanor charge of "barbering without an active license," records show. Demings said if his agency could conduct the operations over again, deputies would issue orders to appear in court, akin to traffic citations, rather than take people to jail for cutting hair.

"I would prefer that we not make custodial arrests for these minor violations," he said.

Meanwhile, Demings and other officials questioned the accuracy of statements made by customers and barbers about the operations in an Orlando Sentinel story this week. Many had described the joint operations as overly theatrical raids, while deputies described their entry into the shops as "low-key."

Demings, along with Capt. Dave Ogden, Cpl. Keith Vidler, Lt. Ron Chapman and other deputies involved in the operations, met with reporters this afternoon to address the series of inspections of Pine Hills-area barbershops conducted by the Sheriff's Office in conjunction with a state inspection agency. [MORE]

License plate scanner networks capture millions of vehicles' movements across the US

CLG

A rapidly expanding digital network that uses cameras mounted to traffic signals and police cruisers captures the movements of millions of vehicles across the U.S., regardless of whether the drivers are being investigated by law enforcement. The license plate scanning systems have multiplied across the U.S. over the last decade, funded largely by Homeland Security grants, and judges recently have upheld authorities' rights to keep details from hundreds of millions of scans a secret from the public.

Never Get Busted Traffic Stops Volume 1

Oil prices rise in Asia after Obama vow to strike ISIL in Syria

Press TV

Oil prices have increased in Asia one day after US President Barack Obama pledged to expand its bombing campaign against ISIL terrorists and launch airstrikes against the Takfiri cult in Syria.

On Thursday, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for October delivery gained 16 cents to USD 91.83, while Brent crude for October rose14 cents to USD 98.18 in mid-morning trade.

In a televised speech delivered from the White House on Wednesday, Obama said that the United States was prepared to strike the Takfiri terrorist group in Syria, vowing to expand operations against the terrorist cult in neighboring Iraq.

“I will not hesitate to take action against ISIL in Syria, as well as Iraq,” said Obama.

Sierra Leone begins second day of Ebola shutdown

Press TV

Sierra Leone has observed the second day of a 72-hour nationwide shutdown aimed at preventing the spread of the deadly Ebola virus in the country.

Most people in Sierra Leone stayed indoors for the second day on Saturday with the exception of health professionals and security forces, while some 30,000 volunteers are going door-to-door to educate people on the virus.

However, the Freetown government has come under criticism over the shutdown, which critics say is a poorly planned publicity stunt. Some observers have also expressed concern over the quality of information being given out.

“While the supervisors were well trained, the visiting teams to families in some parts in the Western Area had poor training and could not deliver the information properly,” said Abubakarr Kamara, from the Health for All Coalition, a local charity.

Despite criticism from some health professionals that the shutdown could backfire, Sierra Leone has insisted on going ahead with the measure.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at least 2,630 people have died of Ebola so far, while over 5,350 others are infected. [MORE]

The latest edition of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund's Death Row, showed an ongoing decline in the size of the death row population

DPIC

The latest edition of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund's Death Row, USA showed an ongoing decline in the size of the death row population. The number of prisoners on death row decreased from 3,070 on January 1, 2014, to 3,054 on April 1. The new total represented a 12% drop from 10 years earlier, when the death row population was 3,487. California continued to have the largest death row, with 743 inmates, followed by Florida (404), Texas (276), Alabama (201), and Pennsylvania (194). The states with the highest percentage of minorities on death row were Delaware (78%) and Texas (72%), among states with at least 10 inmates. The total death row population was 43% white, 42% black, 13% Latino, and 2% other races. Only 1.9% of death row prisoners were female.

Philadelphia District Attorney Agrees to New Trial for Black Man Who Served 22 Years for a Murder DNA Proves Was Committed by Another Man

Innocence Blog

After initially denying requests for a new trial, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office today announced that it will agree to a new trial for Anthony Wright. New DNA testing of the rape kit identified a man with a lengthy criminal record as the real perpetrator.
 
Wright, of Pennsylvania, was convicted of the rape and murder of an elderly woman. Today, post-conviction DNA testing excludes him as the source and points to another suspect.
 
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Wright, who has been serving a life sentence since 1993, has maintained his innocence since 1991 and said he was working a construction job when the crime was committed. He also maintains that his confession was coerced by a police officer who threatened him while he was handcuffed to a chair.
 
During the investigation, a rape kit was taken of the victim’s corpse and police claim to have collected blood stained clothes from Wright’s house. Recent DNA testing of the rape kit has revealed that Ronnie Byrd, a career criminal and crack user who was living in an abandoned house next door to the victim’s was the real perpetrator. DNA testing of the pants reveals that they did not belong to Wright but rather had been worn by the victim. Wright will appear in court on Monday before Common Pleas Court Judge D. Webster Keogh who, given the prosecution’s consent, is expected to vacate the conviction and grant Wright a new trial. 

Ebola to slash growth, knock billions off fragile West African economies

Aljazeera

The outbreak of Ebola that is ravaging parts of West Africa could cost affected nations billions of dollars and slash economic growth rates by double digits if the virus’ surge continues across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the World Bank estimated Wednesday in a new report.

In addition to the human toll — over 2,400 deaths have been reported in the past five months — economists have warned that the outbreak is draining public finances. It’s also encouraging aversive behavior, such as avoidance of travel and trade for fear of contagion, which could incur lasting economic damage in fragile postconflict economies.

“The primary cost of this tragic outbreak is in human lives and suffering, which has already been terribly difficult to bear,” World Bank president Jim Yong Kim said in a statement that accompanied the report. “But our findings make it clear that the sooner we get an adequate containment response and decrease the level of fear and uncertainty, the faster we can blunt Ebola’s economic impact.”

According to the analysis, the worst-case scenario could see economic growth in these three countries slashed by 2.3 to 11.7 percentage points in 2015, potentially plunging countries into a deep contraction. Should the international community mount a more concerted campaign to help contain the virus, however, those estimates would shrink closer to 1 to 4.2 percentage points.

The report comes a day after the U.N. announced that it needed to raise $1 billion to effectively contain the virus, treat its victims and prevent much-feared spillover into other countries. On Tuesday, President Barack Obama announced he would send 3,000 troops to the region to help stem the spread of the contagious disease and build health facilities to treat victims.

Watch the Racial Geography of D.C. Mortgages Change Over Time

City Paper

The map above shows the racial and ethnic breakdown of mortgage loans issued across the city in 2001. Things have changed since then, as tighter mortgage lending during and following the recession constrained the loans available to minority borrowers. According to an Urban Institute report out today, the percentage of home loans made to black and Hispanic households nationwide dropped from 23 percent in 2005 to 12 percent in 2012.

Holocaust survivor arrested in Ferguson: 'African-Americans live like under Nazi regime'