Police abuse Black political activist as he moves into his own house

[MrScorpio]

Cops caught on tape slamming Georgia man into a wall as he moved into his new home
By Arturo Garcia

Monday, May 19, 2014 20:40 EDT



An Atlanta-area man filed a formal complaint against local authorities on Monday after video surfaced of an officer slamming him to the ground in front of his own home, WAGA-TV reported.

“I assumed — apparently incorrectly, and naively — that they were pursuing someone on foot that had fled through my yard, and I was unaware of it,” 69-year-old Dhoruba Bin-Wahad said at a press conference Monday afternoon. “I thought that that’s why they had their guns drawn.”

The May 2 encounter began when Clayton County police were called to Bin-Wahad’s residence by a neighbor who reported seeing a “suspicious” male on the vacant property. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that another witness thought Bin-Wahad was a “pervert trying to look at her or her children from the vacant location through the woods.”

According to a police report of the incident, officers described Bin-Wahad’s behavior as “uncooperative and verbally argumentative.” He was accused of taking “a bladed stance with his right side of his body” and allegedly refused to sit down when ordered to do so by them.

“When I came out of the house, the first thing I said was that ‘I’m moving in. I have the key,’” Bin-Wahad said on Monday. “They asked me why was my car in the back. I said, ‘It’s my house. I was loading boxes.’”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/05/19/cops-caught-on-tape-slamming-georgia-man-into-a-wall-as-he-moved-into-his-new-home/

Attica is All of Us - Dhoruba Al-Mujahid Bin-Wahad, We live in a Police State

[DetlefK]

1. Bill O'Reilly claimed that he never experienced white privilege.

When was the last time something like this happened to a white person?

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

2. Deja vu.

Henry Louis Gates all over again.

Don't believe in white privilege? Here it is writ large. White people moving into houses don't have the cops called on them, then get assaulted for the crime of 'being black when buying a house and returning into it'. The automatic assumption is NOT that they are a burglar, or a 'pervert looking at children'.

Being black equal 'being suspicious'.

Welcome to the real world, privilege denialists.

[Springslips]

9. My only post about the privilege.

I don't participate in the privilege conversation because it's asinine. To deny that there is white privilege is laughable; it right there in front of our face. You really have to shove your head up your ass pretty far to deny it.

And that is my contribution.

[AverageJoe90]

26. Systemic discrimination is very much a tangible reality....."white privilege", not so much.

There are indeed people out there who deny the very real problem of systemic discrimination. But how can one "deny" "white privilege"? "White privilege" was originally only a descriptive(and not literal, I might add!) term to describe the social scales of American society, and systemic discrimination. It wasn't supposed to be this literal tangible thing that people could actually experience.....and that's how it was until the Internet era. Enter Tumblr, and a new generation of activists, many of them white college kids, if perhaps most of them well-meaning, who really didn't have that much of a clue of how the world actually works, and with a few malcontents thrown in, and there you have it.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

33. The fact that you can't see something doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

And words evolve in their meanings. You want to cling to a 40-50 year old definition, while the world has moved past you and your condescension about 'well-meaning college kids' and 'malcontents'.

'privilege' literally came from words that meant 'private' or 'hidden' 'laws', and that's the way it literally applies to the phrase today. Society has separate and unequal unwritten laws about how white people are treated and how minorities are treated. And given that minorities get the short end of the stick constantly, I see no reason they should be expected to be 'content' in a society that automatically considers them 'suspicious' or 'dangerous' simply because they have a bit more melanin in their skin, one in which they are constantly treated as potential perpetrators by police, while their white counterparts are citizens to 'protect and serve'.

So 'there you have it'. The phrase means more today than it did a half century ago.

Edit: Actually, having read a thread on this elsewhere, apparently you're the only one who ever believe it meant something different 40 years ago, unless you've finally managed to produce even one social scientist who supports the meaning of the phrase you keep clinging to.

[AverageJoe90]

37. " The fact that you can't see something doesn't mean it doesn't exist." There's nothing to see.

'privilege' literally came from words that meant 'private' or 'hidden' 'laws', and that's the way it literally applies to the phrase today. Society has separate and unequal unwritten laws about how white people are treated and how minorities are treated. And given that minorities get the short end of the stick constantly, I see no reason they should be expected to be 'content' in a society that automatically considers them 'suspicious' or 'dangerous' simply because they have a bit more melanin in their skin, one in which they are constantly treated as potential perpetrators by police, while their white counterparts are citizens to 'protect and serve'.

And yet this overly simplistic attempt at an explanation does not at all take into account the fact that wealthy and/or politically connected People of Color are still likely to get off quite a bit better than poor or lower middle class white folks with practically nothing. And, by the way, look at what happened to Cicely McMillan in New York back in 2012. She was "white", basically. And there was no sympathy garnered to her. Because she was a liberal and an activist; her being white(or even a woman!) just didn't matter in that case.

Systemic discrimination(including that which isn't necessarily overt) is a tangible reality. "White Privilege" isn't. White people as a whole don't benefit from the maltreatment of their fellow citizens. In fact, it's actually the opposite, and even history has shown this to us, over and over again. And we can't forget those lessons, or history will end up repeating itself.

[JustAnotherGen]

3. 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 . . .

Any minute now someone is going to pop up and state how Mr. Bin-Wahad was in the wrong.

I would have been verbally argumentative too - if the police were sticking their nose in where it didn't belong.

[Gormy Cuss]

19. I've been "verbally argumentative" to a cop. More than once in fact.

When I'm minding my own business and doing nothing wrong I don't have to be nice to the police. I only have to answer reasonable questions like IDing myself and explaining briefly why I'm where I am or what I'm doing. I've ticked off officers but never been slammed into the ground for it.

But then again, I'm white.

[JustAnotherGen]

42. I'm not white

I do as you do - but as a female . . . I might get away with being a bit lippier than my brother or nephews to people/cops who butt in where they don't belong.

[LiberalArkie]

23. He was wrong in not properly communicating his place in this world.

As a back man, he should have been in bowed posture and saying "yes masser", and "No masser"

[heaven05]

50. I chuckled, but you are correct

[historylovr]

4. Good grief.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. looks like his house will be paid for soon.

That county is part of Atlanta Metro area, and is only 19% white.
Would love to know more about the neighbor who called the police.

[Warpy]

7. My usual guess would be that it's one of those fluttery types who think black men find them

absolutely irresistible, although given the neighborhood mix, it was more likely someone who had a partial view of his car with the trunk lid up, didn't see him carrying things into the house, and took a flying leap to the wrong conclusion.

It's probably a good neighborhood where people do look out for each other. There are just some bad cops patrolling it.

[dembotoz]

6. the old way to great a new neighbor was a plate of cookies.....

as i type that i remember that i live in an apartment complex and the unit next door has had many different tenants that i don't even meet them anymore--but i don't call the cops either

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

10. We take a jar of black raspberry jam.

Since we make a lot of jam every year, and the harvest is usually good enough that we have more than we eat during the year. The last guy who moved in a few houses up walks his dog all the time, so he got a baggie of homemade peanut butter dog cookies as well.

[heaven05]

8. typical response

by 'peace officers' these days to a threateningly looking, "bladed stance"????? 69 years old black gentleman.

[awoke_in_2003]

11. Bladed stance was thrown in there

because most white folks will come away with the idea that he had a knife.

[heaven05]

14. thanks

learned something.

[awoke_in_2003]

15. For the record, that was my opinion...

but I have never heard the term before. Maybe it is an Atlanta PD thing.

[heaven05]

16. ahhhhh

makes sense though.

[intaglio]

32. "Bladed Stance" confused me too

But for the police it seems to be standing with one foot advanced and torso slightly sideways like a boxer but not necessarily with the hands raised; shooters also sometimes term the Weaver Stance a bladed stance.

[msanthrope]

36. No--it's a specific term that implies the person is in a defensive position,

and therefore, the police would be within their rights to use force to prevent attack.

[heaven05]

45. you're saying

they were within their rights to do what they did to this 69 year old. Right?

[msanthrope]

46. Hells no! This criminal defense attorney is pointing out that the cop is covering his ass

by using that term.

[frylock]

44. exactly..

a white person would've assumed a defensive stance.

[AverageJoe90]

27. I didn't see anything threatening myself.

In fact, he seems like a grandfather-type figure. Hardly the type to be concerned about!

Unfortunately, there is a very tragic truth that systemic discrimination is very real, and happening to many people in this country. Now that *can't* be denied.

[Enthusiast]

12. Another injustice!

[DesertDiamond]

13. Charged with "moving into own house while black."

[Mr Dixon]

17. IMO

SAD but not surprising

[malaise]

18. Living while black can be deadly

[TheBlackAdder]

20. What worries me is the psychologically impaired neighbor who hypothesized 'child pervert'.

What kind of mental derangement does one need to possess to extrapolate a man in the back yard of a property to being a ... “pervert trying to look at her or her children from the vacant location through the woods?”

That woman needs a serious mental evaluation.

[msanthrope]

41. It's Sarah Palin, redux...

http://www.today.com/id/37445469/ns/today-today_news/t/author-next-door-palin-im-not-stalking-her/#.U3uK4p3D9es

[grahamhgreen]

21. Don't worry. Obama will invite the cop over for beer.

[AverageJoe90]

22. This poor man was clearly innocent. What the fuck, Clayton County PD?

Unfortunately, there's no doubt that there's still a fair amount of racism plaguing police departments across the country.....and certain segments of society at large, at that.

With that said, however, since a certain subject has been broached by others, I might as well throw my hat into the ring: While this is, indeed, a case where a person of color was basically attacked and wrongfully arrested, which does unfortunately happen disproportionately to PoC.....this is NOT an example of literal "white privilege". Because "white privilege" does not exist in any tangible form.(not to mention that cops have also abused "white" citizens as well)

Let's just call this what it is: systemic discrimination. It DOES exist in a tangible form. It is very real, and experienced by many.

[bettyellen]

31. still hoping and wishing that term would go away, huh? you must realize that no one will stop using

it just because it bothers you, right? why bother, unless.....

[Starry Messenger]

47. It's called *structural racism* which is fostered by *white privilege*

[PumpkinAle]

24. For the fuller version go to this link - it is well worth the read

and includes the full video of what happened.


http://www.ajc.com/news/news/man-says-clayton-police-roughed-him-up-for-enterin/nfzTJ/

[Baitball Blogger]

25. And not too long ago a black man was shot by the neighbor for doing the same thing.

The pattern is so obvious.

[sufrommich]

28. Obviously he hasn't learned that even white people

arouse suspicion by parking their car too far back in the driveway.
Anyone who believes that a white guy saying "I have my keys,I live here" wouldn't be quickly released with an apology for the misunderstanding is an idiot.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

34. What the hell does 'parking their car too far back in the driveway'

even mean? I park my car wherever the heck in my driveway I please, depending upon what I'm doing. Anyone who jumps to conclusions about people being criminals because of 'where they park their car' in a driveway is an idiot.

[msanthrope]

35. It means that neither the neighbor, nor the police, could see what the Black man

was up to, because he had parked his car too far in the back.

In other words, because he had not made himself available for their scrutiny, the Black man must be up to something.

[heaven05]

48. what? that's automatic with? you and these neighbors

or just the neighbors because this black man could not be scrutinized. The 69 year old gentleman is lucky to still be among the living with that type of scrutiny. Trayvon didn't make it through the scrutiny of this society. What the police did was wrong.

[msanthrope]

49. I really, really need to use the sarcasm smiley more. nt

[AverageJoe90]

38. I can agree with that. nt

[sufrommich]

39. Yes,for the sarcasm impaired,that was my point.nt

[Android3.14]

29. So many reasons to remove these officers

For one, they are so dense that the melding of the digital video recorder and cell phone technology apparently went by without them noticing.

[MohRokTah]

30. Living while Black.

[AverageJoe90]

40. Sad but true. Systemic discrimination is very much a reality.

And we need to continue to combat that. But is all this hullabaloo about literal, tangible, collective "privilege" of all white folks really helping us get that message across? Is it?

[frylock]

43. fuck tha police

and fuck those asshole neighbors while I'm at it.