February 18, 2015
The
Portland Observer Black
History Month
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Page 23
O PINION
Telling the Truth about Religious Violence
Critique has
GOP defending
the Crusades
BY D ONALD K AUL
President Barack Obama commit-
ted the ultimate political blunder the
other day. He
blurted out the
truth.
Speaking at the
National Prayer
Breakfast,
he
warned his Christian brethren
against “getting up on our high
horse” when condemning the vio-
lence of Muslim terrorists.
“During the Crusades and the
Inquisition, people committed ter-
rible deeds in the name of Christ,” he
said. “In our home country, slavery
and Jim Crow all too often was jus-
tified in the name of Christ.”
Naturally, all hell broke loose.
The Rupert Murdoch army
launched into full attack, sup-
ported by Rush Limbaugh air
strikes. Rabid Fox News commen-
tators, foaming at the mouth,
fought each other for control of
the mics to condemn the
president’s remarks as “un-Ameri-
can” and, even worse, liberal. He
was derided as irreligious, weak,
and not a real American.
It was to be expected.
People will forgive a politician for
telling lies. Sweet deceptions, after
all, are what politics are all about.
But let him speak the truth just once,
even inadvertently, and he becomes
the object of scorn, ridicule, and
contempt.
Remember the case of George
Romney?
Running for president in 1967, he
confessed that he had been “brain-
washed” by Pentagon propaganda
into believing that the Vietnam War
was winnable. And he had been, of
course, as had most of the American
public at the time.
But as soon as Romney uttered
this truthful statement, his presi-
dential hopes vanished in a blink —
never to be seen again.
I’d like to note that this lesson
wasn’t lost on George’s son. As
nearly as can be determined, Mitt
Romney never told the truth once
during his 2012 campaign. He lost
anyway, proving that it takes more
than a lack of honesty to fool the
American people.
But back to Obama. What he was
trying to say, at an inter-faith event,
was that we shouldn’t hold all Mus-
lims responsible for the acts of a
relative few. Christianity also has a
skeleton or two in its historical
closet.
The Christian right, which in-
cludes most of the Republicans in
Congress, pounced.
The Crusades were a righteous
response to Islamic aggression, they
said. The Inquisition? Highly over-
rated as an atrocity. And Jim Crow?
That was “a thousand years ago,”
said Limbaugh.
To which one can only say, “Oh
come on.”
The truth is, you can act as
though terrorist violence against
the West is unprovoked. But it’s
not. It’s the bitter fruit of the past
100 years of subjugation of the Arab
and Muslim peoples by Western
powers, thirsty for the oil beneath
the Middle East.
For a century the United States
and its allies systematically sub-
verted any suggestion of democ-
racy in the region in favor of vicious
thugs we could control through
bribery.
And when a popularly elected
politician would surface every once
in a while, we’d get rid of him and
install our own puppet. Think of the
popularly elected Mohammed
Mossadegh in Iran, whom the CIA
overthrew in 1953, replacing him
with the brutal and corrupt Shah.
That’s the genesis of the mess
we’re dealing with now. Not Islam,
not pure evil, but 100 years of West-
ern domination.
In any case, it’s more than a little
hypocritical for the Christian right
to be up in arms over the perversion
of Christianity.
This is a group, after all, whose
representatives in Congress have
sought to take health insurance
from the poorest workers among
us. They’ve tried to deport young
Americans because their parents
brought them here without pa-
pers many years ago. They’ve
supported the use of torture and
fought to cut off unemployment
insurance to the long-term unem-
ployed.
Any of that remind you of Chris-
tianity?
OtherWords columnist Donald
Kaul lives in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Three Years Post-Trayvon: What Has Changed?
Movement
grows to find
solutions
BY L AURA F INLEY
On Feb. 26, 2012,
supposed “Neigh-
borhood Watch-
man”
George
Zimmerman shot
and killed Trayvon Martin, a 17-
year-old black man, as Martin
walked home from visiting a conve-
nience store in Sanford, Fla. The
case ignited questions about racial
profiling, vigilantism, and Stand
Your Ground Laws.
On July 13, 2013, Zimmerman,
was acquitted of both the second-
degree murder and manslaughter
charges. Despite national and even
international attention to the case,
one has to wonder what has really
changed in the three years since the
killing.
The murder of black men by po-
lice or their wannabes has not
stopped. This is a mere sample of
cases that occurred after Martin’s
killing.
Kimani Gray, 16, was shot by two
plainclothes officers in Brooklyn,
N.Y., as he walked home from a
birthday party on March 9, 2013.
The two men who killed him claim he
had a gun, but no weapon was found
at the scene. Three of the seven
bullets that penetrated Gray’s body
entered from the back, suggesting
rested multiple times since being more likely to be ruled justified as
acquitted, most recently for aggra- white-on-white homicides.
Three years post-Trayvon, little
vated assault and domestic violence
with a weapon. Zimmerman was has changed except there is now a
accused of domestic violence in 2013 nationwide movement to fix this. I
remain hopeful based on the coura-
but no charges were brought.
Stand Your Ground Laws also geous organizing I see occurring in
remain. Although Attorney General most of our cities. For instance,
Eric Holder stated that it was time to peace and justice activists are work-
question Stand Your Ground Laws, ing with affected communities to
no state has repealed its law. In fact, organize the first Truth Telling
states like Georgia and Florida have Weekend in St. Louis, Mo., the
Research by the Urban Institute has
considered expansions of the Stand weekend of March 13-15. Rather
found that in Stand Your Ground states,
than simply expressing outrage,
Your Ground protections.
In Florida alone, at least 26 chil- these folks are acting to bring people
white-on-black homicides are 354 times
dren and teens have been killed in together to discuss solutions.
Stand Your Ground cases since Really….It’s time for change.
more likely to be ruled justified as white-
Laura Finley, Ph.D., teaches in
Trayvon’s death. Research by the
on-white homicides.
Urban Institute has found that in the Barry University Department of
Stand Your Ground states, white- Sociology & Criminology and is
On Dec. 2, 2014, 24-year-old fa-
20-year-old Reynaldo Cuevas on-black homicides are 354 times syndicated by PeaceVoice.
ther of four Rumain Brisbon was was shot by police as he fled armed
killed when an officer mistook his men who had attempted to rob his
bottle of pills for a gun.
bodega. The Bronx District Attor-
Just seconds after seeing 12-year- ney did not find the officers at fault.
old Tamir Rice at a park in Cleveland
And of course, Office Darrin
on Nov. 22, 2014, an officer shot and Wilson, who shot and killed Michael
killed him. While Rice did have a BB Brown in Ferguson, Mo., was not
gun, video footage seems to show indicted. Since Brown was killed, 14
that the officers arrived at the scene black teens have been killed by
Attorney at Law
and were not threatened but instead police officers, according to a Nov.
decided to pull the trigger.
25, 2014 article on the Daily Beast.
1549 SE Ladd
Unarmed Akai Gurley, 28, was
It’s not just black men who suffer
shot in the dark stairwell of an East from this official or quasi-official
Portland, Oregon
New York housing project on Nov. violence. On Feb.16, 2014, 47-year-
Portland:
(503) 244-2080
20, 2014. Even Police Commissioner old African-American Yvette Smith
William Bratton has called Gurley a was killed when she opened the
Hillsoboro: (503) 244-2081
“complete innocent.”
door to officers responding to a
Facsimile:
(503) 244-2084
Officer Daniel Pantaleo killed 43- domestic violence call at her home.
Email:
Sweeney@PDXLawyer.com
year-old Eric Garner by inflicting a
Meanwhile, George Zimmerman
prohibited chokehold when Garner has not changed. He has been ar-
he was moving away, not threaten-
ing the officers. No criminal charges
were brought against the assailants.
Randall Kerrick, a Charlotte, N.C.,
police officer, shot and killed former
college football star Jonathan Ferrell
as he sought police assistance after
an automobile accident on Sept. 14,
2013. Kerrick was not charged for
Ferrell’s murder.
dared to speak out about being con-
tinually targeted.
Supposedly, Victor White III shot
himself while handcuffed in the back
of a police cruiser in Iberia Parish,
Louisiana on March 22, 2014. Yet
reports show that he had to have
been Harry Houdini reincarnated to
make that move---far more likely is
that he was shot by officers.
THE LAW OFFICES OF
Patrick John Sweeney, P.C.
Patrick John Sweeney