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S.W.A.G.G.E.R. ~ Yessir!!

Reverend Darren Ferguson


Last Updated: 8/10/2009

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Gender: Male
Status: Married
Age: 45
Sign: Capricorn

City: NEW YORK
State: NEW YORK
Country: US
Signup Date: 10/13/2006

Who Gives Kudos:


Tuesday, November 28, 2006 

Current mood:  angry
Category: News and Politics

I was almost in shock when I first heard about the case of 23 year old Sean Bell, murdered by police in the wee hours of the morning of Saturday, November 26th, 2006.  Police officers shot into the Nissan Altima that he was driving, hitting Bell 3 times, and killing him, while the two passengers in the car, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman were hit 3 times and 17 times, respectively. Sean was to wed his longtime sweetheart, Nicole Paultre, the mother of his two beautiful children just a few hours later.  A young black man in his early 20's, doing the right thing, marrying the mother of his children.  An Unarmed young black man coming out of a club where he celebrated his last night as a single man. It turned out to be his last night on earth.  The outrage is palpable, the leadership and desire for justice evident -- and the anger in the Black Community is clear and justified.  Mayor Bloomberg was even critical in his press conference, using words like "excessive" and "tragedy."  Unlike his mayoral predecessor, he did not immediately side with the shooters.  I can go on ad nauseam about the details, from the news coverage to the leadership displayed by the Rev. Al Sharpton, Charles Barron and others in the Black Community.  However, I have a more unpleasant task at hand --  I need to ask my brothers and sisters, my sons and daughters, my mothers and fathers out there a question --  when is enough enough?  A few sound bytes are not enough.  The use of the word "excessive" by the mayor, the leadership and the outcry from our leaders is NOT ENOUGH.  I want more this time.  More than Michael Stewart got. More than Eleanor Bumpers got, more than Zongo got, and more than Louima and Diallo got.  I do want the family to file a law suit and take enough money from the city to ensure that those children and Sister Nicole Paultre will never worry about anything financially again.  But I want more. I want the other two victims in this crime, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, to be compensated royally for being shot like dogs in a car with no way of defending or protecting themselves. But, I want more. I want the police officers that were involved in this murder, and that's what it was; murder, to go to jail to pay for their crimes just like millions of other young black men have. Just like Sean Bell would have if had been guilty of something, no matter how petty.  But, I still want more.  I want the Police Department to sit down with community leaders, ministers, activists and forward thinkers within the Black community to come up with trainings, seminars and classes for both police and citizens to reduce the likelihood of this ever happening again.  Still, I want more.   I want Black folks to stand up -- if there is no justice in this case, I want there to be NO PEACE in this city until justice is served; I want Black Folks to cripple this city economically by holding back our dollars, our service and our support if the courts, the police department and the mayor fail to do what needs to be done. I want this city to feel the wrath of our people if this case is not handled properly and brought to a swift and just conclusion.  But, I am still wanting more.  I want our people to understand that Sean Bell was the fiancée to not just Nicole Paultre, he was the betrothed of a generation, a young black man fulfilling the promise that was born in the bottom of slave ships in the middle passages and nurtured on plantations all over this country as our people were used to create wealth for our oppressors.  A Promise hinted at by the emancipation proclamation, peeked at by Brown vs. The Board of Education and embodied in Adam Powell Jr, Martin King, Malcolm Little, Marcus Garvey and Medgar Evers.  A promise that Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have been trying to remind us of, even though they were almost drowned out by Little John, 50 Cent and The Chicken Noodle Soup.  A promise that was given us in Paul's Epistle to the Galatians when he told us that "there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, but you are all one in Christ Jesus".  This promise, this promissory note has been held onto by our people for hundreds of tear-jerking years in this country, though time and time again, as Dr. King said, it has been "returned marked insufficient funds".  Now we must stand, united once again by tragedy, united once again by the blood of a young Black Man watering the streets of our city.  We must stand and realize that we have been waiting for someone else to make the necessary deposit to make good on this promissory note.  We must stand and realize that we ourselves must make the deposit that turns this dream into reality.  We ourselves must fight the good fight and demand of ourselves the greatness of which our ancestors dreamt.  If we are not willing to do this, we should just go to the leaders of this country, resign from every lofty position, elected office and high paying job and ask them to put us back onto the plantation.  Because, if we allow Sean Bell's death to go by without a fight, that is exactly where we belong.  

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LadyShay

 
AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Posted by LadyShay on Tuesday, November 28, 2006 - 1:56 PM
[Reply to this
My Name Is Victory!!

 

CHANGES

  - Tupac

 

I see no changes. Wake up in the morning and I ask myself,

"Is life worth living? Should I blast myself?"

I'm tired of bein' poor and even worse I'm black.

My stomach hurts, so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch.

Cops give a damn about a negro? Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, he's a hero.

Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares? One less hungry mouth on the welfare.

First ship 'em dope & let 'em deal the brothers.

Give 'em guns, step back, and watch 'em kill each other.

"It's time to fight back", that's what Huey said.

2 shots in the dark now Huey's dead.

I got love for my brother, but we can never go nowhere

unless we share with each other. We gotta start makin' changes.

Learn to see me as a brother 'stead of 2 distant strangers.

And that's how it's supposed to be.

How can the Devil take a brother if he's close to me?

I'd love to go back to when we played as kids,

but things change, and that's the way it is.

 

That's just the way it is. Things will never be the same.

That's just the way it is. Aww yeah...

 

I see no changes. All I see is racist faces.

Misplaced hate makes disgrace for races we under.

I wonder what it takes to make this one better place...

let's erase the wasted.

Take the evil out the people, they'll be acting right.

'Cause mo' black than white is smokin' crack tonight.

And only time we chill is when we kill each other.

It takes skill to be real, time to heal each other.

And although it seems heaven sent,

we ain't ready to see a black President, uhh.

It ain't a secret don't conceal the fact...

the penitentiary's packed, and it's filled with blacks.

But some things will never change.

Try to show another way, but they stayin' in the dope game.

Now tell me what's a mother to do?

Bein' real don't appeal to the brother in you.

You gotta operate the easy way.

"I made a G today" But you made it in a sleazy way.

Sellin' crack to the kids. "I gotta get paid,"

Well hey, well that's the way it is.

 

We gotta make a change...

It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes.

Let's change the way we eat, let's change the way we live

and let's change the way we treat each other.

You see the old way wasn't working so it's on us to do

what we gotta do, to survive.

 

And still I see no changes. Can't a brother get a little peace?

There's war on the streets & the war in the Middle East.

Instead of war on poverty,

they got a war on drugs so the police can bother me.

And I ain't never did a crime I ain't have to do.

But now I'm back with the facts givin' 'em back to you.

Don't let 'em jack you up, back you up, crack you up and pimp smack you up.

You gotta learn to hold ya own.

They get jealous when they see ya with ya mobile phone.

But tell the cops they can't touch this.

I don't trust this, when they try to rush I bust this.

That's the sound of my tune. You say it ain't cool, but mama didn't raise no fool.

And as long as I stay black, I gotta stay strapped & I never get to lay back.

'Cause I always got to worry 'bout the pay backs.

Some buck that I roughed up way back... comin' back after all these years.

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat. That's the way it is. uhh

 

Some things never change.

 

__________

 

Yo Big bro! Excellent post. But this incident, off the brink of KKKramer's comments has me in a serious state of mourning.  A paralyzing feeling.  I am in mourning, not just for Sean Bell and his boys but also for his wife to be.  And not just for them, but for their two children who now will have to be raised without a father, not because he was a dead beat, not because he refused to do right and provide for his children, but because some cop was bored and felt the need to create some action. Forced to become a statistic.  I'm not just in mourning for them tho, I am in mourning for our Nation...I am in mourning, not just for our Nation but specifically, for our African American people....I am in mourning, not just for our African american people, but specifically, for our MINDS!  It is NOT all good....when will enough finally be enough?? 

 

 

 

 


 
Posted by My Name Is Victory!! on Tuesday, November 28, 2006 - 6:23 PM
[Reply to this
PaidInFull

 
i with you brother i will do anything possible to create unity in my community to help rise a awarness inmy nieboorhood about what happend and what we should do
 
Posted by PaidInFull on Tuesday, December 05, 2006 - 3:30 AM
[Reply to this
Amy
Amy Sims

 
I totally agree with you, I hope that those police get life or the death penalty for what they have done and make sure when you go out there (cause I don't live in New York) that you add my name to that cause I want my voice to be heard. JUSTICE NEEDS TO BE SERVED!!
 
Posted by Amy on Thursday, December 14, 2006 - 1:12 PM
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