Dear uncomfortable officer of the law:
Today is December 3, 2014. It is now 117 days since the murder of Mike Brown. It’s also 59 years and 98 days since the murder of Emmett Till, whose death represented a pivotal moment for civil rights activists. I bring up this fact because almost 60 years have passed since Till’s racially motivated murder, and Black men are still being lynched.
You might ask: How can I classify Brown’s murder as a lynching? Well, let’s start with how his body was left on the hot pavement for four-and-a-half hours; it would stain Canfield Drive for many days after he was finally carried away into an unmarked black SUV. A nurse who lives in the area attempted to check the pulse of Brown while he lay out there but was turned away by police officers on scene. The...
Lifestyle
Dear American Public,
Please turn off your TVs. Our black voices have been tuned out for far too long. We are all conditioned to think the Civil Rights revolution has already been won in America. Our parents and grandparents fought tirelessly for respect and marched hundreds of miles in protest for the liberation of our people. Yet the commemoration of Black History Month has become monotonous praise of a manipulated version of our truth. People recite Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s most famous quotes on nonviolence in the same breath that they call us “thugs” and “animals” to justify our bloodshed. Because even though the Civil Rights movement paved the way for black people in America to graduate from Ivy League schools and even become president of our nation (for two terms), there is...
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Dear Parents-of-the-Young-Woman-Picked-Up-By-Moral-Mumbai-Police,
I write this as a citizen, outraged by the actions of the Mumbai Police in picking up consenting adults from private hotel rooms. I write this as someone who feels strongly that last week forty couples became the victims of misplaced morality policing. I write this as someone who sympathises strongly with the young people who were just unlucky to be in those hotel rooms when the Mumbai Police went on their ridiculous raid.
I also write this as someone who was once a young woman sharing a hotel room with a man I wasn’t married to. I write this as a daughter and a mother. I write this as a teacher, who has heard many stories from young people who were and are shamed by receptionists at hotel desks for not being married...
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Dear Mumbai Police,
I hope this letter finds you in the pink of health. Hopefully, I’m not disturbing you at the moment. I’m sure there are many more hotels and pubs and parks to raid in this country but I promise this won’t take time. I know it’s solely because of you that we sleep peacefully every night at our homes. And if it weren’t for you, my daughter would have probably been pregnant by now. So firstly, Thank You so much for being around to take care of my kids who are really going out of hand these days. Thank you for slapping them when they have really crossed all limits. I mean come on — look at them.
FROM PUBS AND PARKS, THEY HAVE TAKEN TO HOTEL ROOMS NOW. THAT TOO, SHAMELESSLY — AFTER GIVING THEIR IDENTITY PROOFS AND MONEY. THEY SHOULD AT LEAST HAVE THE SHAME TO PRODUCE...
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Dear Sean Whent,
I realize you’re a busy man, so I’ve hidden truffles all through this communiqué, to help you keep up your stamina. I realize it probably takes a lot to get a rise out of a “Top Cop” like yourself, but I assure you, you’ll be doing barrel rolls all the way back to Walnut Creek. As well, given the high rates of cuckoldry in your profession, and the prettiness of your wife, let’s keep this short.
Top Cop, you have upset the most transformative and influential economic force in Oakland, since the CIA first dropped off cocaine on our shores. You have meddled with the almighty Hipster Dollar. The Tumblrsphere is ablaze with accounts of paramilitary forces impeding their rightful access to Uptown savories and cocktails (apparently PBR is passé, didn’t you know?). NOW you...
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Dear ACLU of Illinois:
We are writing in complete dismay and utter disgust upon learning—on the very day we were filing the Stops Transparency Oversight and Protection Act (“STOP Act”) in Chicago’s City Council—that you were in the midst of finalizing a “settlement” with the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and Mayor Emanuel’s office on the collection of stop and frisk data by the CPD. As a result of these secret negotiations, Mayor Emanuel requested that our aldermanic sponsors Proco Joe Moreno, Roderick Sawyer and Roberto Maldonado delay filing our ordinance until the September City Council meeting. In light of the Mayor’s request, after consulting with our aldermanic sponsors, we did not file the STOP Act despite We Charge Genocide (WCG) and Chicago Votes’ announcement that we would...
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To the Editor:
I was deeply saddened to read Barry Posternak’s letter in Saturday’s Herald expressing his concern about “the integrity of the (Portsmouth) Police Department.” I don’t personally know any of the officers of the Portsmouth Police Department but I suspect that 99 percent of them do not deserve to have their integrity questioned.
You two gentlemen presumably know many of the officers personally and you see the toll the Goodwin scandal is having on them individually and on the department you oversee. This scandal did not end with last month’s termination of Sgt. Goodwin.
A portion of the Roberts Report reads: “We have no explanation for why the PPD or the Police Commission did not intervene during the 2011-2012 timeframe to alert Sgt. Goodwin of a concern with policy...
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Dear “That Kid,”
When I first saw you placed on my class roster, my heart skipped a beat. And in that moment, I couldn’t breathe. My face turned white, and all I could hear was ringing in my ears. Please forgive me for the way I reacted. In my heart, I knew you were on my roster for a reason. We were made for each other.
Before the school year started, I didn’t get the chance shake your tiny hand at “Meet the Teacher Night.” I didn’t get a chance to give you all the things you would need for the first day. I just left your papers on the desk alongside your new supplies in hopes that the office would call for them before the first day of school started.
You walked in on the first day of school, and I noticed you weren’t wearing brand new clothes like some of the other kids...
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Dear Parent,
When I started refereeing four years ago, I accepted that I would be the target of ridicule and aggression from time to time. To my surprise, I underestimated the frequency and extent of referee dissent. Sometimes the belligerence and disrespect comes from children as young as 10-years-old. Why does this happen?
In my roles as a youth soccer coach, game official, and veteran centre back, I do what I can to influence how people treat referees. As there’s no one more influential in children’s lives than their parents, l want to take this opportunity to talk to you about your role in helping to end this behaviour.
Whether you’re a volunteer coach, “the snack mom,” a team trainer, or a ball retriever, I’ve seen you cheering from the sidelines, and it’s wonderful. Perhaps...
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Dear Mayor Murray,
My name is Lisa Decker and I am the parent co-founder of the child-generated movement Children Helping Elephants. [1] On 4/6/2015 the children and I came to speak at City Council and delivered a document to your office. I hope you have had a chance to look at it and see the powerful way that the children are advocating for Chai and Bamboo through their words and their art. Every child who has created art for our movement is now connected to this issue in a deep and lasting way. These kids are motivated and I believe they will all become lifelong advocates for one of the most intelligent, most empathetic and most endangered species on our planet. If you haven’t listened to the words of brave, 8-year old Autumn Miller speaking at council on 4/6, I strongly urge you...
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