WHITE ACTIVIST REPLY TO SIMPLISTIC LETTER REGARDING #BLACKLIVESMATTER

Tempting as it was to just shut the Opinion section after reading the first paragraph of David Morelli's simplistic letter in the Hartford Courant on July 26, 2015 ("Do black lives matter? Or do they only matter when cops, particularly a white cop, has taken a life?"), I had to force myself to read the full nonsensical entry. Of course it starts off badly by presenting two options as if they are the only possibilities; if it helps, the answers are Yes to the first question and No to the second. Sensing that this might be confusing to the type of pin-headed thought process that passes for public (and governmental) discourse these days, here is how it works: #BlackLivesMatter is a civil rights movement that is focused on the systemic abuse of power by some police departments (and the legal machinery that protects them) toward black and brown people. This abuse can NEVER be justified by any other social issue or set of issues.

 

As for Morelli's contention that the murders of scores of black men have gone "nearly unnoticed": perhaps the news has not reached into Kensington. I find it unfathomable that the dozens of vigils, rallies, and marches to decry the deaths of black youth and young adults could be "unnoticed."

 

More importantly there are many ongoing community efforts in every urban center, INCLUDING partnerships with local police, to find solutions to the ongoing problem of violence within communities. Not all are successful, most are under-funded, but at least they are based on deeper analyses than simply teen and out-of-wedlock birth rates. By the way, had Morelli spent any time on the CDC's website, he would have learned that teen birth rates have dropped by over 28% nationwide since 2007 (over 30% in Connecticut), the trend being consistent across all demographic groups. 

 

There is so much work ahead to excavate urban populations from the rubble of poverty, red-lining, exclusionary housing and education policies and "development" that lines only the pockets of the already wealthy. But we as supposed Americans cannot dodge the responsibility to stop human rights abuses that are occurring on a daily basis on our very own streets. The #BlackLivesMatter campaign moves the issue of police and judicial torture and violence toward black and brown people to the front of the national stage, where it must remain until we have knocked it down and stomped out the last hot spots.

THE PROBLEM IS NOT YOUTH SERVICE OFFICERS BUT DYSFUNCTIONAL LEADERSHIP !!

The story in the Hartford Courant focused on a report by Child Advocate office. In this report there is condemnation of Youth Service Officers at Connecticut Juvenile Training School and “violent restraints, takedowns, and seclusions of residents.” While this blog appreciates the Child Advocate report and need to protect children in Department of Children and Family care, in this case blaming YSOs for problems at CJTS misses the point. According to the report put out by the Child Advocate office there were over one hundred residents housed at CJTS in the past year or so. However the resident population is now half of that number [around 70-80 residents]. Sources inform this blog that CJTS is still hiring employees at a staggering rate and haphazard manner. This is only highlighted to point out how dysfunctional management is on the DCF Plantation. How can you hire more employees for less residents? Many of these recent hires go to the Pueblo Unit [female facility] with a population of four residents. Yet the emphasis is not on dysfunctional CJTS management but the YSOs – a convenient scapegoat- for “violent takedowns” of residents. Since the report came out in the Courant, management is calling for some sort of meeting, possibly this week, to discuss issues with YSOs. Say what?!! Why is not the focus on dysfunctional leadership at this critical juncture?

Whenever there are problems at CJTS management always blame YSOs. A correct analysis of the situation should be aimed at top tier management. In the recent past YSOs have given the CJTS Superintendent votes of no confidence, claiming he never is around or receptive to YSO needs. In addition there is never any real interaction from staff to employees, except when it is time for disciplinary measures to be meted out. Those people running DCF keep ignoring that which is obvious; if employees keep failing to do their job, ( as being alleged ) then it has to do with failure (s) to communicate properly. Failure in concise patterns of dialogue must be place on the back of management. However for some strange reason CJTS leadership is allowed to keep operating this multi- million dollar facility called CJTS. That place produces one scandal after another : 1.) White staff calling residents of color “porch monkeys”, 2.) Resident escape attempt by climbing over the fence with a sheet and dressed in street clothing, 3.) Class action lawsuit by five employees of color, 4.) Allowing Supervisor in building # 4 to abuse Workers Compensation repeatedly, 5.) Dual standards of discipline for white YSO who slapped a resident of color [received only mild discipline] as juxtapose to employees of color who are fired for lesser infractions.

Now it has come to the DCF Plantation blog’s attention that CJTS management is dispensing inordinate amounts of overtime at their facility with fewer residents. Let me be clear. Not only is management hiring more people haphazardly but giving out more overtime. This last point of copious amounts of overtime is caused by management not knowing how to allocate time scheduling. Again a certain member of management cannot figure out how to place employees in appropriate time slots, ergo more overtime is utilized to fill in scheduling openings.

How in the name of all that is holy can you operate CJTS with all of the above mentioned [and that is only a fraction of the crap that goes on] dysfunctional flotsam in that facility?

In the final analysis it is the opinion of this writer that blame for what is being reported by the Child Advocate is not on YSOs but dysfunctional management. Who has the courage to throw the management bums out of office?

SUPERVISOR THAT IS MISSING IN ACTION POSSIBLY GOING TO BUILDING # 5

A few days ago the DCF Plantation staff posted reasons they thought Unit 4Delta was closed down [ contrary to official reason (s) ] by Connecticut Juvenile Training School. Now Key Stone Cops management at CJTS -in their wisdom- is seeking to place the missing in action supervisor from 4D into another leadership position. Maybe it has been forgotten that problems on Unit 4 D materialized because of no supervision [ you cannot manage effectively if you are out on Workers Compensation consistently ]. Most recently a male supervisor retired in building # 5 and talk is that is where this MIA 4D managerial reject might go. It remains to be seen what will eventually happen, but one thing is for sure, there is no kitchen  in building #5 Unit. Ergo, the supervisor form building #4 will not get chances to bake cookies for the residents instead of working.

THE OFFICIAL REASON FOR CLOSING OF UNIT 4 DELTA AND RUMORS TO THE CONTRARY

The Connecticut Juvenile Training School recently shutdown the Unit known as 4 Delta. Those people in the publicity department officially said "the reason for closing Unit 4 Delta is because of low resident numbers." Sources report that indeed four- five residents were on that Unit for an extended period of time. In the past other such Units at CJTS recorded low resident numbers and were kept open. However rumors from employees paint another picture of why Unit 4 Delta was closed down. The first reason has to do with lack of supervision ; it was well known how the main Supervisor for that Unit seemed to always be out on Workers Compensation. It is very hard to keep workers motivated and incarcerated residents in line when the boss is absent for long periods of time. The second reason for this Unit being closed has to do with an incident reported on this blog and in the Greater Hartford media.

A resident on Unit 4D threatened male Youth Service Officer on Thursday. Then two days later the family member of this resident tried to sneak in a 380 caliber semi -automatic pistol [ gun was in bottom of sneaker box-loaded ]. Now management tried to spin the narrative and point out the gun was detected by diligent CJTS staff. In reality the real story is how lack of supervision might be remotely responsible for not detecting how this resident felt about  the above mentioned YSO, plus this resident claimed to have been bullied by his peers. For years management covered up transgressions of incompetent transitory Unit 4D leadership, but now with issues hanging over Unit 4 D like the Sword of Damocles it was decided to close down that particular place.
 I wonder if management has some place to put the former Supervisor of Unit 4D when they return from another Workers Compensation sojourn.

WHEN WHITE ALLIES BETRAY SOCIAL MOVEMENTS INVOLVING BLACK PEOPLE

                                    
        Behavior is a mirror in which every one displays his image.
          -Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The history of black struggle in America for egalitarian rights is well documented. What is equally documented is how at crucial junctures in the quest for black justice in America, white allies join the fray. Now it is no secret that all social movements rely on other groups for support, without additional resources many movements would not expand or achieve goals. However there is also a history of whites either co-opting black movements or betraying them over ideological concerns, or how certain methods will be used to achieve desired goals. We won't get into the other stuff ,namely, how black leadership of movements is problematic for some ( not all ) white allies. During the 1960s Civil Rights era, several black led groups either clashed with white allies or purged them from the movement. It is said history has a way of repeating itself. In the city of Hartford recent actions by white allies can only be construed by sentient human beings as betrayal.

One year ago an embryonic movement seeking to acknowledge the value of black / brown lives began with several events. The excessive use of police force in certain cases involving people of color caused uproars in communities. White allies were side by side with people of color; ah yes, the mosaic of black, brown and white skins marching to the same beat for social justice was breath taking. All seemed well in this visual image of solidarity until white allies showed their true color. Let me be clear. Not every white ally betrays black social movements but some did in the case of this new found sense of social justice among people of color in Hartford. As time progressed certain allies started to extract themselves from working with the newly created -and yet shapeless- movement around #blacklivesmatter , excuses were offered by white allies about why they could not attend meetings or events. However, the real reason(s) slowly emerged, and in reality shocked many, there was treason in the ranks. While black / brown folk were sleeping the white allies were speaking behind the scenes with power brokers. It has been mentioned how these same power brokers explained to white allies how members of the black/ brown movement in Hartford were not aware of certain facts concerning alleged use of excessive police force. At this juncture white allies compromised with the power structure and betrayed people of color. In the book On Guerrilla Warfare Mao Tse-Tung writes "...compromises are only made to further the strategic design." The white allies did not seek to further the hopes of seeking justice for people of color. Other nefarious plans were waiting to be hatched.

We now find out months later how the power structure offered white allies both prestige and financial considerations for betraying people of color. If white allies agreed to betray black folk [ which the white allies agreed to do in principle when they met secretly with power brokers ] then certain programs would be provided -with funding too - for their organizations. And so for 30 pieces of silver, stories about police and community cooperation in national newspapers, and  some twisted sort of logic, betrayal of blacks has been justified. In the final analysis it is wise for people of color to be like Argus and watch all who come feigning loyalty to the cause of black liberation.

People of color have found out the hard way in Hartford that white allies often say one thing and do another.

ALBANY AVENUE CHURCH GIVEN MONEY TO HELP DIVERT AND DERAIL BLACK ACTIVISM IN HARTFORD

The story is not strange at all if readers understand the nature of how political powers use compromised black leaders to defeat any true angst from the masses during times of unrest. About one year ago certain political entities approached a black church on Albany Avenue with this proposition and thousands of dollars in cash. The idea -as it came form white power brokers- was simple ; use the money to organize rallies, hold forums with Hartford Police and teens and take control of rising anger over police treatment of blacks in the Northend of Hartford. When the pastor of this Albany Avenue church was approached another preacher sat next to him. The other preacher who is prominent in the anti -violence movement was promised some of the money for helping out. And so with all the zeal of Crusaders marching to the Holy Land to save it from infidels, these two modern day Judases planned their course of action. One preacher held the cash while the other led marches, attended other events [ then reported what he saw to Captain Boss ] and spoke before television cameras about loving the people that do black people wrong. Large rallies suddenly sprang out of thin air, HPD came to forums with intentions of talking to youth, outside organizing entities came to Hartford telling folks what to do etc. However, the question is why did the white power structure go to these black pastors and what exactly were their plans ?

When Luis Anglero did not obey police orders quickly enough last year he was tased. This incident captured on video enraged community activists and led to 100 plus people marching into police headquarters. Now the power structure surveyed the leadership that marched into HPD and decided compromise was not an option with that group note [ since that time one of the leaders inside the police station has been bought off with a police program headquartered in the leader's facility. ] other options were needed. it was evident that with turmoil all over America about police shooting / strangling of black men, that the Anglero case might cause racial turmoil in Hartford to boil over into full fledged civil unrest. So with this thought in mind two black preachers were ready to divert / and derail any movement to challenge the white power structure.

After one year of preaching pie in the sky by and bye to the masses, it appeared as if the ruse worked; people did not know what to do and all the activity around meetings with police by religious leaders clouded the real issue. Now here is the intriguing part of this twisted scenario.When it came time for those two pastors to divide those monies from white politicians something called the double cross occurred. The preacher whose church is on Albany Avenue decided to keep ALL those funds, cutting out his religious  brother. This is how the story became known to DCF Plantation blog, the crossed out pastor began talking about all of this to select people. Well. Arnold Rothstein once said " if you tell one person something then three people know about it. Tell two people a secret then ten people know. Tell three people then twenty or more people know." In this case the deceived preacher's story got back to this blog writer.

These same preachers are representative of trotted out Negro leaders used by white power structure to divide people or keep them confused. The most recent case of this can be seen in Face Book pictures of black clergy in discussions with HPD publicity / media people. For years these same Negro clergy male / female have sought to curry favor from white power brokers. But let me not digress from the point. Black leaders accepted money as payment to destroy hopes and aspirations associated with black empowerment. And the black preachers do not even feel ashamed !!

ACTIVISTS POINTED OUT SOME OF THESE ITEMS YEARS AGO BUT MANAGEMENT WENT TONE DEAF

Following Monday’s release of a report by a national expert, the Department of Children and Families said it plans to focus more on rehabilitation and less on restraint and seclusion at its locked facilities for boys and girls in Middletown.

The 52-page report from Robert Kinscherff of the National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice offers several observations about DCF’s practices and facilities, including the Connecticut Juvenile Training School and the Pueblo Girls Program on the grounds of the former Riverview Hospital, referred to in the report as the “Pueblo Unit.”

Kinscherff observed that there is tension about whether the goal of the two locked facilities is to rehabilitate the boys and girls through therapy, or to incarcerate them.

( entire story can be read at CT News Junkie ).

The last paragraph in this long story was broached by activists years ago at CJTS. Cornell Lewis a former employee sent a one page letter to Superintendent William Rosenbeck asking "whether CJTS was a rehabilitation facility for boys or training school seeking to change boys through therapy." It must be mentioned how management rather than answer the question, decided to go into bunker mentality. The white administrators took exception to an intelligent black man posing such questions and branded Lewis as trouble maker, finally using a trumped up charge at the facility to get rid of him. Now the "chickens have come home to roost" and someone else made those same observations and was paid $40,000 plus dollars for a study of things needing to be fixed at CJTS plus Pueblo Unit [ newly built girls facility ].

Several other points in this study were brought up by Lewis in the past, only to fall on tone deaf ears by management interested only in maintaining their hegemony and expanding white privilege on the DCF Plantation.

A CHRISTIAN REPLY TO RECENT BLOG STORY

 This reply is from Rob Daniels about a story recently posted on this blog titled : Has the acceptance of Christianity robbed blacks of their will to fight oppression ?

 

..and it is a very good question. Exactly what the answer is or needs to be, I cannot answer that. It is a complex issue as well. Particularly given the history in our nation as it relates to black bodies. I do know this, I suspect you may be on to something in a very real senseCornell... in that the swiftness of "forgiveness" being offered in the case of the Charleston terrorist is irksome to many. The recent NY Times article by Roxane Gay addresses some of what I think maybe quite a few people feel about this issue. Still, I can't help but wonder what the other option(s) are... it seems to me that in light of all that cannot be controlled in cases such as these, the one thing that can be decided is how to go forward in one's own heart and mind... is that answer to forgive and move on or is it something else? I can't say with certainty what that is.

 

 

 

CRITIQUE OF DISCUSSING RACISM WITH WHITES

These words were taken off FaceBook and authored by John Metta

https://medium.com/@johnmetta/i-racist-538512462265

"Living every single day with institutionalized racism and then having to argue its very existence, is tiring, and saddening, and angering. Yet if we express any emotion while talking about it, we’re tone policed, told we’re being angry. In fact, a key element in any racial argument in America is the Angry Black person, and racial discussions shut down when that person speaks. The Angry Black person invalidates any arguments about racism because they are “just being overly sensitive,” or “too emotional,” or– playing the race card. Or even worse, we’re told that weare being racist (Does any intelligent person actually believe a systematically oppressed demographic has the ability to oppress those in power?) But here is the irony, here’s the thing that all the angry Black people know, and no calmly debating White people want to admit: The entire discussion of race in America centers around the protection of White feelings." And this is why so many supposed 'good white people' want headpats and lollipops for being decent to the one black kid from 4th grade whenever racism comes up. THIS is why white folks shut down or tap out when the discussions get hard. It is the ULTIMATE show of white privilege to say "Well if I am guilty just because I am white I am just not going to talk about this anymore."

HAS ACCEPTANCE OF CHRISTIANITY ROBBED BLACKS OF THEIR WILL TO FIGHT OPPRESSION ?

The recent shooting deaths of nine people in a South Carolina church during Bible study was indeed horrific. What really caught my attention [ besides the fact the shooter was a white youth spewing hatred about blacks ] is how black Christians forgave the murderer so quickly. When the murderer appeared in court shortly after being captured, relatives of those killed in church said "we forgive you" to someone that showed no remorse for those killings. It is true that the religious faith of those people who forgave the killer motivated them; but why was it necessary to look into television cameras and say "we forgive him for the killings." The media loved the forgiveness angle and proclaimed it on all their outlets for days. In communities all across America black Christians were smiling like damn fools saying "hate never wins" and "love conquers all."

I have a question that is addressed to those reading this story -has acceptance of Christianity robbed blacks of their will to fight oppression ? Author and historian E. Franklin Frazier wrote in his book The Negro Church in America : " the uprooting of Negroes [ from Africa ] and the transportation of them to an alien land undoubtedly had a shattering effect upon their lives. In destroying their traditional culture and in breaking up their social organization, slavery deprived them of their accustomed orientation toward the world..... The vast majority of the slaves submitted to their fate and in their confusion and bewilderment sought a new meaning for their existence in the new white man's world. The new orientation to the world was provided by Christianity as communicated to the slaves by their white masters."  In the 500 years of blacks living in America the onslaughts of racism, oppression, lynching, denigration etc. has been continuous. During all of these years blacks have [ with only brief periods of self defense or armed resistance ] forgiven the oppressor at every chance.

Justification for blacks forgiveness of their oppressors has roots in the religion of Christianity accepted shortly after arrival in America. However it is this same religion that has somehow seemed to rob blacks of any determination in their fight against oppression. For according to the forgiveness model, a benevolent and merciful God will correct all injustices [ if not on earth, then in heaven ] all the faithful believers need to do is wait on divine unction from some being in the clouds. It reads in biblical literature how God answered prayers of His chosen people and delivered them out of the hands of many enemies. In America the so called Negro has cried out for hundreds of years for deliverance but what is the response ? A young white male walks into a black church and kills nine people during Bible study. What has been the response to this latest indignity to the black nation? It is found in the language of forgiveness of the shooter-days after he appeared in court.

Black people rely on some being in the clouds to save them from oppression. Gone is the fighting spirit that motivated our ancestors to rise up at various times in history and take visible stands against monolithic oppression embraced by the majority population. If an honest critique is presented about this issue of forgiveness, the present black Christian position shown to the killer of nine people in that black church, came out of a Christian religion that Frazier  states "was communicated to the slaves by their white masters." In contemporary times the theme of forgiveness is still being communicated by power brokers in society who feel more comfortable with blacks mouthing forgiveness of oppression than those blacks seeking freedom "by any means necessary."

In the final analysis history is clear that no group of people ever won their freedom from oppression by waiting on someone or something in the sky to save them.


...never in history have groups nations, classes, races-voluntarily relinquished a favored position.
  - Reinhold Niebuhr