As I have said, you may assume that I have cut the stories down; that there are more which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them, but I can't feature all of them, even all of them which are underreported. Because it's going to continue to be true for the foreseeable future. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as "unceasing," "grudging," and "vengeful destruction."
Let's start with a little update. Back in May I asked the Furies – all of them – to track down John R. K. Howard of Texas for an incident in Idaho. Well, the criminal charges have been resolved (no word that I am aware of on the civil suit), and it appears that Mr. Howard will serve no prison time. So, whatever counseling he received or is receiving from the Furies appears to be all he is going to get. Barf.
There are, of course, plenty of new things going on. Just last Saturday, on Fox News, for example, "Judge" Jeanine Pirro blasted Michelle Obama. (BARF BAG AERT)
How she managed to get the education she has without learning anything – well, she is not the only one, and I don't understand any of them. Just one point, how she can say with a straight face "America rejected you" when (a) there was no one named Obama on the ballot in any state, and (b) Hillary Clinton received almost 3 million more votes than the Cheeto-faced ferret-wearing Not My President is appalling. Of course, it's Fox, so no one questioned a syllable. Megaera, you want this one?
Then in Little Rock, AR, there was a road rage story with a child getting shot. No, not the eight-year-old that was shot in the foot, this is a different one (I know it's hard to keep them straight.) This was a three year old boy, and he died of it.
Acen King and his one-year-old brother were in the back seat going shopping with Grandma when she stopped at a stop sign. Behind her, the driver of a 2003 Black Chevrolet Impala honked at her. Instead of gunning the engine for her life, she honked back. That's when the driver of the Impala got out of the car and opened fire.
Grandma (Kim King-Macon, to be precise) did not immediately realize the child was hit, so drove the the shopping center and called police from there. Acen was taken to a hospital, where he died. Incidentally he was the second young child killed in a road rage incident just in Little Rock, just in the last few weeks. (The other one was not the girl who was shot in the foot either – she is still alive).
The police (who I must admit from the story sound very distressed about this) are still looking for the Impala and its driver. Tisiphone, I'll bet you can make some progress here. And if and when you do, you might consider, instead of tipping the police directly, instead giving the tip to someone who could really, really use the twenty grand reward which is being offered.
Unfortunately, not every community has police officers who are in the least concerned about children of color. In Fort Worth, Texas, for example, this happened –
Posted to numerous social media sites late yesterday was this video of a woman and her daughter being arrested by a Fort Worth, Texas police officer. Their crime? Being angry at police officer for not confronting the subject of the complaint: the white male adult who had allegedly choked the woman’s seven-year-old son.
(For an adult to choke a seven-year old is totally illegal, BTW)
Mom tells the officer that the white guy said the kid had "defied him." (The choking is still illegal.) The guy says that "the kid threw some paper on the ground—he littered—and when the man asked the kid to pick the paper up the kid didn’t and so he choked him." Mom also explains that she and her kids have lived in the neighborhood for years, and the guy knows them and where they live, and he should have come and told her.
Then the cop says this:
Why don’t you teach your son not to litter.
Anyone besides me think this sounds a lot like "Why don't you just dress modestly?"
At which point Mom stated to raise her voice. There is some escalation, all verbal. Eventually the kid's older sister steps in fron of Mom (not towards the officer), which he decides is justification to tackle and arrest them both.
There is virtually no follow up available. The officer has been placed on "restricted duty" (=paid vacation). The department has this video as well as the officer's body cam, but that have a law there which "limits the information that may be released, including the officer's body cam footage" in an internal investigation. It would be nice to learn whether the Mom and daughter are still stuck in jail or even hospitalized. But no. That is not available.
Someone in the comments stated that this happens all the time. Someone else responded that it is not all the time but it is still too much. I submit that, even if this kind of thing does not happen in every single interaction between law enforcement and persons of color, if it happens at least once a day to someone somewhere in the U.S. (and it does), the use of the expression "all the time" is justified. What do you think, Alecto?
The Furies and I will be back.
Cross posted to Care2 at http://www.care2.com/news/member/101612212/4028048
8 Responses to “Everyday Erinyes #56”
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Magaera: I can't stand her. Sorry, I couldn't stomach watching this, I only got to 2:47 before I had to stop!! What a mean, spiteful, hateful woman. And…I might add…clueless (in a bad way).
Tisiphone: Absolutely heartbreaking. I got choked up hearing about this on the news!! Who…in their right mind??? would/could DO this? Hope they find the pos who did this.
Alecto: This cop needs to be fired. Period. So sad for the family and this little one to experience this too.
Did anyone see this? "Prince Charles' Thought for the Day' sermon mixes religion with politics: Prince calls for tolerance and says rise of populist political groups has 'disturbing echoes of the 1930s'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4057762/Prince-Charles-says-rise-populist-groups-echoes-1930s.html#ixzz4TmBd9lTZ
I echo Gene's comment in how our world is changing, and so quickly. We're in for a long haul with Mr. 'Meadow Muffins', I need to go clean my Barf Bucket.
Furies, I know that you will be very busy, as we are living in a meaner, callous world.
Pirro makes me want to puke.
I hope they find the Republican driving the Impala.
It appears Texas had made littering a capital offense.
Great job, JD!
I have a brief update on the last story, but it doesn't address what has happened to the arrested mother and sister. It's just some stupidity from a charter school principal who can't spell "principal."
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/keep-your-fat-mouth-shut-trump-backing-school-principal-under-fire-for-attacking-texas-cuffed-mom/
Mom appears to be not in jail, and she has a lawyer. There was a press conference Thursday. I still don't have sound. But I'm glad to know she's out. I was worried.
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/lawyer-for-black-woman-violently-arrested-by-cops-says-racism-is-all-over-the-video/
What have you be doing, Furies, sleeping on the job? I know, that would only be because you're so busy that you hardly get any shut-eye these days. But having that Howard kid get off scot free…only in Texas, I hope.
Jeanine Pirro: I can count myself lucky I can't see the video, I guess. I heard that in some states people can be elected as a judge without having any legal education at all, so that may explain her "title", but it sure doesn't explain her "opinion". You'd think Faux News couldn't sink any lower than the level it has been at this year, but Drumpf's Russian Electoral College win has kicked out the bottom of their barrel, it seems. Will Megaera dare to follow them there?
Road rage: It must have been hard for Tisiphone to find the madman who killed a little boy in a rage through her tears, but luckily she had some help: he turned himself in. And by the looks of it, it wasn't a "color induced" crime, but "substance induced" comes to mind in cases where police sees fit to charge the man with terrorist acts when shooting at a grandma with two very small children in the car for whatever stupid reason he came up with after that. Tisiphone better make sure the charges stick.
Alecto will really have to get cracking and start putting these police officers in their place ALL THE TIME these encounters with their fellow citizens of color happen. She may have her hands full with just the incidents in Texas – a lot of these things seem to happen in Texas – so she better get some assistance from her sisters. Because the white man who thought it perfectly OK to choke a seven-year old black kid because he defied him, needs some attention from a Fury too. They better act fast. All too soon this will be the new normal for police officers around the country when confronting someone from a minority group.
Thanks for the update on the Impala driver – I missed that one!
Thank you for this update, Joanne.
The most disturbing thing, is that a neighbor took it upon himself to physically assault this young child, and the cop should have adhered to his code of ethics, and after talking to the neighbor, should have arrested him for physical and bodily harm to this child. THE END. The measure of understanding/compassion this, in (some) police officers is lacking and disturbing. I shake my head in disbelief when I read these stories, and I pray for justice for this family. I hope that this little boy is all right. I am embarrassed at times to be living in this deep red state, and I pray and hope for a better day tomorrow. Unfortunately, the way 'things' are going, my prayers are not being answered.
The thing you need to remember in color stories is that neither the neighbor nor the officer see the little boy (or the family) as human (and they not out petiitioning or demonstrating for animal welfare). Fortunately, someone in the department MAY see it differently. I hope. Prayers are always answered, but it gets old fast hearing "Nol" all the time.