plezWorld Remembers 9/11

It was a bright sunny Tuesday morning, I had taken the week off from work because we were bringing the newborn SugarPlum home for the first time. My wife had gone into the office in downtown Atlanta to grab a few things and then were going to get our daughter at noon.

plezWorld saw something on the television about about a plane flying into the World Trade Center in NYC and decided to turn to CNN and see what was going on.  I turned on the TV just in time to see the second plane slam into the tower... in disbelief!  The imagery of the moment, no, that entire day will forever be etched in my memory.


The most joyous day of my life - bringing home my baby girl - merged with the most horrific day in US history. I remember holding her in my arms that afternoon and into the night wondering what had become of the world, when someone would plot and plan such a diabolical attack. And I remember fighting back the tears while thinking of what a hateful world we had brought my daughter into... I could only pray she would be capable of growing up devoid of the cynicism and hate this day brought us.


It is now a decade later, two wars have run their course, we have a Black President, bin Laden is dead... and my innocent little girl is a pre-teen. She is pretty as a button, lovable, and kind. But we have raised her in a changed world, where every motive is suspect, our freedoms have been abridged, our economy has tanked, and political vitriol has damn near crippled President Obama. This post-9/11 world is vastly different than the one I grew up in. I can only hope we can use this tenth anniversary of 9/11 to put this behind us and move on to a kinder, more understanding America.

John Lewis on McCain-Palin

Civil rights icon and Georgia congressman John Lewis is accusing John McCain and Sarah Palin of inciting hate, by invoking the name of George Wallace, the segregationist former governor of Alabama and presidential candidate, when referring to the atmosphere at their Republican campaign events.

If you recall, John Lewis was on the front lines on the hard fought battles for the civil rights of Black Americans during the late 1950's and early 1960's. Many don't realize that he was one of the speakers on the dais when Martin Luther King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963. But more importantly, Lewis was a recipient of seeds of hate the were sown by Gov. George Wallace when he was beaten bloody by a white mob in Montgomery, Alabama as a Freedom Rider in the spring of 1961. He still carries the scar on his head from that beating. He has the moral authority to speak of the hatred that was so pervasive in the country and how one could get that feeling from listening to the rhetoric that has been evident at McCain-Palin rallies of late.

Rep. John Lewis' statement (in part):

"What I am seeing reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history. Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse.

"George Wallace never threw a bomb. He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights. Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed on [a] Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama.

“As public figures with the power to influence and persuade, Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all. They are playing a very dangerous game that disregards the value of the political process and cheapens our entire democracy. We can do better. The American people deserve better.”

Of course, Sen. John McCain was "saddened that John Lewis" would make such a "brazen and baseless" attack on his character. Not to be outdone, McCain had to draw Sen. Obama into the discussion:

"I call on Senator Obama to immediately and personally repudiate these outrageous and divisive comments that are so clearly designed to shut down debate 24 days before the election. Our country must return to the important debate about the path forward for America.”

The Obama campaign had a response:

“Senator Obama does not believe that John McCain or his policy criticism is in any way comparable to George Wallace or his segregationist policies. But John Lewis was right to condemn some of the hateful rhetoric that John McCain himself personally rebuked just last night, as well as the baseless and profoundly irresponsible charges from his own running mate that the Democratic nominee for President of the United States ‘pals around with terrorists.’

"As Barack Obama has said himself, the last thing we need from either party is the kind of angry, divisive rhetoric that tears us apart at a time of crisis when we desperately need to come together. That is the kind of campaign Senator Obama will continue to run in the weeks ahead.”

On Saturday night, John Lewis released another statement, further clarifying his initial statement:

"A careful review of my earlier statement would reveal that I did not compare Sen. John McCain or Gov. Sarah Palin to George Wallace. It was not my intention or desire to do so.

"My statement was a reminder to all Americans that toxic language can lead to destructive behavior. I am glad that Sen. McCain has taken some steps to correct divisive speech at his rallies. I believe we need to return to civil discourse in this election about the pressing economic issues that are affecting our nation."

[Hat Tip: Politico.com]

Read Pandagon's sarcasm-laced take on the John Lewis comment.

Read the New York Times op-ed piece about the racist-tinged rhetoric that comes from the McCain campaign here

Read the CNN.com article about McCain's reaction to Lewis's comment here and here.


plez sez: hmmmm, for the better part of the last two weeks, mccain and palin have been flying around the country saying that Obama is dangerous and that he supports domestic terrorism, and that isn’t character assassination; but calling mccain and palin out for running a campaign that very obviously incites hate (including threatening comments) is character assassination? {scratching my head}

Rep. John Lewis has a big scar on his head as a daily reminder of the "toxic language" of gov. george wallace. and i'm sure the chill that ran up his spine at listening to a mccain-palin rally is similar to that which he used to feel when listening to george wallace.

as they say down in this part of the country: "a hit dog will holler, and a stuck pig will squeal!"

palin's brand of populist rhetoric ("them vs. us", "liberal elites vs. true americans", "bad people like them vs. good people like us", "Obama is not a man who sees America the way you and I see America", etc.) is cut from the same cloth that was draped over the very words that dripped from gov. george wallace's racist lips! i guess palin forgets that she's pallin' around with an adulterer and an infidel! i guess she forgets the moral failings of her running mate while decrying the character flaws of her opponent.

as evidenced by mccain's reaction at rallies over the past couple of days, he sees that his words are getting out of hand; his campaign is already a lost cause, his entire career would be loss if the end product of this campaign is Obama's blood on his hands and race riots in the streets.

blog post artwork: Barry Blitt - New York Times - 10-12-2008

John McCain's Spiritual Guide

If you ever thought that aligning oneself with Rev. Jeremiah Wright was a bad political move, check out who Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain describes as his "spiritual guide", a pastor by the name of Rod Parsley. He hates Islam and speaks of the beginning of a Holy War with the religion.

Check out Rev. Rod Parsley of Ohio:

...have you seen these clips repeated over and over on the nightly news, lately?

A few Rod Parsley quotes:

"Islam is an anti-Christ religion..."
"America was founded - in part - with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed."
"Muhammad received revelations from demon spirits, not from the living God."
"When it comes to Islam, the greatest religious enemy of our civilization in the world, it's dangerous."

Read more about John McCain's spiritual guide in Mother Jones.


plez sez: hmmmm... i wonder how many times this wack-job's comments will get looped on fox news network?!?


ole johnny came out today to reject the endorsement of rev. john hagee after he said that hitler was sent by god to hasten the jews return to israel. mind you, this was an endorsement that sen. mccain had sought out to shore up the religious right vote. and in an obvious swipe at Barack Obama, mccain says that at least he didn't attend hagee's church for the past 20 years! soon there after, rev. hagee rescinded his endorsement of mccain... some would call that a draw!

now, it appears that sen. mccain enjoys being in the company of religious zealots! this rod parsley guy is an unabashed islam basher! and some of his comments rank up there as ridiculous: i'd like to see one instance where the framers of the constitution even mention islam during the founding of the united states.

plezWorld is of the opinion that mccain will repudiate this guy in a few days. he should do it over the memorial day weekend... that tends to be a slow news period!

Obama and Race in America - Guest Blog

Andrew C. White of "The 10,000 Things" blog - who incidentally is white - wrote a fitting reply to a racist and hate filled rant about Barack Hussein Obama's win in the Democratic Iowa Caucus.


Republicans are ugly.

[The racist drivel f]rom freeperville:

Is Hussein Obama the weakest Dem for the General election?
Iowa Caucus ^ | January 3, 2008 | nwrep

Posted on 01/03/2008 9:07:11 PM PST by nwrep

Did the weakest Dem candidate for the general election won tonight? I think so.

By sending forth Hussein Osama out of Iowa, Democrats have unwittingly weakened their general election prospects.

Hussein's exotic mixture of radical liberalism, Kwanzaa Socialism, antipathy towards the unborn, and weakness against his jihadi brethren will all come back to destroy him against almost any Republican opponent, even the snake-grope from Hope.

I think we as Republicans should be celebrating tonight at the coronation of Hussein, in whose presence millions of Democrat women, from elementary school teachers to journalism majors to law school grads to dykes on bikes will go weak in their knees.

As defenders of this great Republic, and of the pinnacle of Western civilization that it represents, we should all come together tonight and agree on a common strategy that will keep the White House from becoming a madrassa.

God Bless America, Land of the Free.

My brother asked me back at Thanksgiving dinner “Is America ready to elect a black man or a woman as President?” To which I answered, “We’re as ready as we’re ever going to be before actually doing it.” He replied, “I hear you… but are we ready?”

If Obama continues and becomes the presumptive Democratic nominee (and his chances got a lot better last night) it is going to get ugly. Real ugly. Racism is alive and well in America. We are ready to elect a black man President and if Obama wins the nomination we will elect him but his campaign, and everyone else on the Democratic side, is going to have to be ready to win a race war. Us white folks are mean sons of bitches when someone threatens OUR power.

I’m not talking about the KKK or Stormfront obvious nutcases but mainstream Mom and Pop white folks that don’t think of themselves as racist but really don’t want those people living in their neighborhoods or dating their daughters. The ones that live in towns across America that are 88% white and 12% other and really don’t have much if any association with black society.

And make no mistake, electing a black man threatens white power, control, and dominance. Note also that Obama is a black man despite being 50% white. We have never claimed half-whites as white. They are black. We don’t claim them as even half white. They are black.

As an aside, it was a revelation to me as a teenager when a friend told me he got the same from black society. That it was a real struggle for him because he wasn’t treated by the black community as black. It had never occurred to me that he wasn’t black despite the fact his skin color was closer to mine then most of our black friends.

The Republicans will come at Barack Obama with the Hussein stuff. The Osama-Obama stuff. The Indonesia-madrassa stuff. Heck! They’ll probably blame the current unrest in Kenya on him and claim that he’ll bring the same to America (something the worst amongst them can turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy). But it’ll be race that is their strongest gut level, divisive playing card… and they will use it.

I am half hoping they do and that they overplay their hand. I think we need to be ready to point out the ugliness, the racism, overt and covert, of their actions. They’ll claim we’re playing “the race card” but we can’t be side tracked by that.

And we can’t foist this off on our black friends and compatriots.

This is a battle within white America to get the hell over itself and its... our ... racist past… and present. White Americans need to “lift up” our own people out of these ignorant views. Most whites have no idea just how racist America is. Black people don’t need educating on that subject. They know. White people do. And they need to hear it from other white people. Their peers. Us. Not liberals to conservatives. Not educated to uneducated. Not Democrats to Republicans. White average Americans to white average Americans.

The Obama campaign itself needs to steel itself… and I do mean steel… and be prepared for the attacks. The have to respond and they have to respond well. They cannot ignore it. At the same time they need to stay above them and keep their campaign about a positive vision for Americas future. They can’t allow themselves to get bogged down and lost in a race war.

The rest of the Democratic community needs to be prepared to do the ugly, trench work on this one. We need to talk race and we need to talk it openly and honestly. Preferably not angrily. I’m thinking a passive-aggressive approach may well be best. Let the freepers froth at the mouth about race while we talk dispassionately and openly about it. Let the ugliness be repellant all by itself. I’m not sure. I think it will depend on a case by case basis but I am thinking that is the best overall approach. Shine a light on the ugliness and place it smack dab in the middle of the village square but stand off to the side and allow Americans to say “I’m not like that” and come to the healing message, the reconciliation, of brotherhood and away from the ugly troll of racism convulsing in the light of day.


plez sez: it was only a matter of time - in this case, a few hours - before the racists and pinheads would begin a full frontal assault on Barack Obama. as he has done this entire political process, i expect that he will continue to take the high road and not gravitate to those elements of our society who are so hell-bent on the destruction of anything good.

as Andrew White writes in his blog entry, it is really going to be up to upstanding white folk to distance themselves from this racist rhetoric, childish name calling, and hate mongering. i cross-posted this blog entry not to call attention to the hate, but to applaud those who will support Barack Obama on his merits and his ability to be the one who unites us rather than divides us.



plezWorld purposely omitted a link to "free republic" as i do not want to provide additional traffic to this right wing racist site.

[Hat Tip: This blog entry is also cross-posted at the albany project]

The Black KKK by Whitlock & McWhorter

The blogosphere is wrought with posts decrying the state of Black America and the latest boil up has been over Jason Whitlock's reference to the Black KKK. plezWorld happened upon a New York Sun article written by John McWhorter which seems to encapsulate many of my thoughts on the matter.


To put things in the proper context, one should first read what Jason Whitlock wrote about the Black KKK and the death of Washington Redskins player Sean Taylor here.

Here are a few excerpts from the Whitlock article:

There's a reason I call them the Black KKK. The pain, the fear and the destruction are all the same. The Black KKK claimed another victim, a high-profile professional football player with a checkered past this time. I could very well be proven wrong for engaging in this sort of aggressive speculation. But it's no different than if you saw a fat man fall to the ground clutching his chest. You'd assume a heart attack, and you'd know, no matter the cause, the man needed to lose weight.

Well, when shots are fired and a black man hits the pavement, there's every statistical reason to believe another black man pulled the trigger. That's not some negative, unfair stereotype. It's a reality we've been living with, tolerating and rationalizing for far too long.

When the traditional, white KKK lynched, terrorized and intimidated black folks at a slower rate than its modern-day dark-skinned replacement, at least we had the good sense to be outraged and in no mood to contemplate rationalizations or be fooled by distractions.

No disrespect to Taylor, but he controlled the way he would be remembered by the way he lived. His immature, undisciplined behavior with his employer, his run-ins with law enforcement, which included allegedly threatening a man with a loaded gun, and the fact a vehicle he owned was once sprayed with bullets are all pertinent details when you've been murdered.

Rather than whine about white folks' insensitivity or reserve a special place of sorrow for rich athletes, we'd be better served mustering the kind of outrage and courage it took in the 1950s and 1960s to stop the white KKK from hanging black men from trees.

Our self-hatred has been set to music and reinforced by a pervasive culture that promotes a crab-in-barrel mentality.

You're damn straight I blame hip hop for playing a role in the genocide of American black men. When your leading causes of death and dysfunction are murder, ignorance and incarceration, there's no reason to give a free pass to a culture that celebrates murder, ignorance and incarceration.

The "keepin' it real" mantra of hip hop is in direct defiance to evolution. There's always someone ready to tell you you're selling out if you move away from the immature and dangerous activities you used to do, you're selling out if you speak proper English, embrace education, dress like a grown man, do anything mainstream.

The Black KKK is enforcing the same crippling standards as its parent organization. It wants to keep black men in their place — uneducated, outside the mainstream and six feet deep.

[T]he Black Klan and its mentality buried Sean Taylor, and any black man or boy reading this could be next.

This is a rarity, but I would like to share with you McWhorter's response to the Whitlock article, in its entirety:

[Jason Whitlock is] a black sports columnist at FOXSports.com, and he is disgusted with much of the black punditocracy's response to the murder of Redskins football player Sean Taylor. Some are claiming that he was a target because he was an athlete. Others insist that it is wrong and even racist to bring up that Taylor had spent a lot of time on the wrong side of the law.

But the tacit assumption would appear to be that the staggeringly high murder rate among young black men these days is just the way it is. Mr. Whitlock calls these murder[er]s the Black KKK.

Oh sure, if it's brought up people shake their heads. And certainly there are "Stop the Violence" forums and such.

But very few are as truly, lastingly aroused by issues such as these, which involve the black community looking inward, as they are by nooses hung from a tree, someone saying a bad word, or the latest study showing that racism still persists in one way or another in "institutional" guise. No one takes to the streets about the Black KKK, and academics find it much less interesting than, say, a study that some employers reject job applications with black-sounding names.

Friedrich von Hayek once noted, "It seems to be almost a law of human nature that it is easier for people to agree on a negative program — on the hatred of an enemy, on the envy of those better off — than on any positive task." That's Black America's problem right now.

Mr. Whitlock seeks "the outrage and courage it took in the 1950s and 1960s to stop the white KKK from hanging black men from trees." Instead, "we take great joy in prescribing medicine to cure the hate in other people's hearts. Meanwhile, our self-hatred, on full display for the world to see, remains untreated, undiagnosed and unrepentant."

The question Mr. Whitlock leaves, however, is precisely what we are to do about our internal cultural problems. Everybody knows how to protest. And sometimes a protest is necessary. But obviously, protest alone isn't working. How do you actually build something?

For one thing, get a copy of Bill Cosby and Alvin Poussaint's new book, "Come On People" and read it cover to cover, because it is all about precisely what needs to be done and how to do it. If Mr. Whitlock has written the best race column of the year, Messrs. Cosby and Poussaint have written the best book.

All black people should read it. The audiobook should be played in barbershops. Maybe somebody needs to set it to some "phat" beats so people can dance to it.

Read of how Joyce Riley's 24th Street Non-Violent Marchers actually got the thugs out of her Kansas City neighborhood. Read about how to get a degree and a job even if you're not on your way to college — step by step. And to top it all off, "Come On People" is a great read.

No, Tavis Smiley's book "The Covenant with Black America" from last year was not the same thing. Reading it you'd barely know the Black KKK existed, and the theme is reform of the system, when the solutions that help people almost always involve working within it. Or, instead of waiting for that great day when all inner city kids are taught by awesome teachers in glimmering buildings, focus on something that can happen in the real world. Become active on your local school board, and simply insist that students are taught to read with phonics-based programs. It's how poor kids learn to read, period. So much starts from there.

Another one: If you're going to vote for a Democratic presidential candidate, vote for the one most interested in things that will help black people to help themselves.

Upon which, note that this person is not Hillary Clinton. The fact that it is even possible that the black electorate will elevate Mrs. Clinton over Barack Obama because of her mere familiarity, or residual affection for her "black president" husband, is frankly a little embarrassing.

Those who say they don't "know" Mr. Obama need to get to know him, now. And if Mr. Obama is "not black enough," I would think that his commitment to reconnecting ex-con dads with their kids, not to mention his days doing community work, would qualify him as, at least, brown.

Mr. Whitlock's point about self-hatred is also key. Currently, in large swathes of the black community, an able-bodied young man who doesn't hold down a 40-hour-a-week job is considered normal even when he has kids. We must get to the point that men like that are considered as socially unacceptable as they are in a Scarsdale[, NY] living room — as they were even in black slums until the 1970s.

I vary from day to day as to how likely I see it that one day black America will be as committed to helping itself as, say, Israel's first residents were to reviving Hebrew. There is no telling how far we could go if only most of us found reading instruction programs as interesting as nooses.

John McWhorter is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

Read the McWhorter opinion article here.


plez sez: mcwhorter really packs a punch... he is quite the wordsmith and has an excellent economy of words. i loved his article.

there were a few points that jumped out at me while re-reading his article for this post:

1. you will find a glowing recommendation to read "Come On People" by Cosby & Poussaint.
   plezWorld has been reviewing this book (here, here, and here,) for the past two weeks and echoes mcwhorter's suggestion. if only the people who need to read it (i.e. those Black Klansmen) would read it! and i would love it if i went into my barbershop one morning and they were playing the audiobook version of the book.
   
   
2. we are spending too much time and energy trying to cure the hate in other people's hearts.
   michael roberts used the n-word, imus called the rutgers basketball team a group of nappy-headed-hos and then got his job back 8 months later, some slack jawed hicks hung a noose in someone's cubicle at work, blah!, blah!, blah!!! get over it, people! we have mountains of issues in the Black community (education crisis, family crisis, disease crisis, employment crisis, etc.) that should preclude us spending time chasing after a mole hill of white folk begging for acts of contrition.
   
   where is the contrition from the Black people who are murdering other Black people in Philadelphia, Detroit, Newark, and Atlanta? where is the contrition from the gangsta rappers who perpetrate their filthy language, misogynistic lyrics, and self-hating ways in their music[sic]? where is the contrition from those Black teachers who continually miseducate and under educate our Black children? and where is the contrition from the Black communities who let the Black KKK wreak havoc on our communities while throwing mere pebbles at a whiff of injustice by others?
   
   EXHIBIT 1: three Black guys invade a white guy's house planning to steal drugs and money. they beat the white guy's stepson to a bloody pulp. when they attempt to escape, all three are shot in the back by the white guy, killing two of them. the survivor is charged with the murder of his two partners in crime. now the NAACP is protesting the murder charge saying that it is racist... WTF?!?
   
   
3. stop sucking up to hillary clinton, because bill clinton was not a "black president!"
   "earth to those mindless Black democratic voters who think that january 20, 2009 will usher in a new age of enlightenment as long as hillary clinton is taking the oath of office"... it ain't gonna happen! as a matter of fact, her poll-watching ass may decide that it's time to end the affirmative action tit that so many of you like to suckle up to for comfort. she may not be the awe-shucks saxophone playin' "black person" that so many of you still think her husband to be. she may decide that we ought to stay in Iraq a little bit longer, she may decide that an invasion of Iran is in order, she may decide to extend those no-bid contractors that don't need any minority representation, she may lose that "ole time religion" and that "fake ass southern accent" that she dons everytime she speaks (down) to you!
   
   there's only one BLACK man who could possibly be heading to the white house, and his name ain't bill!
   

Blogging for Justice - Against the Rape of Black Women

The Case of The Torture & Rape of Megan Williams

Megan Williams thought she was going to a party with some friends. For more than a week, authorities say, the 20-year-old mentally disabled black woman was kept captive in a shed, tortured, beaten, forced to eat rat, dog and human feces, and raped by six white men and women who taunted her with racial slurs. "They just kept saying 'This is what we do to niggers down here,'" Williams told The Associated Press in one of her most extensive interviews since the shocking case made national headlines last month.

According to evidence gathered, Megan was sodomized with a stick and a noose was tied around her neck for lengthy periods during this week long ordeal that is verified by confessions from several of the co-defendants. At one point, she was sexually assaulted while scalding water and melting hot wax from a candle was poured on her body. At another point she was forced to lick the toes of the sadistic defendants. She was stabbed in the leg at least four times and both of her ankles were cut by a female suspect who allegedly taunted her, saying, "This one is for Kunta Kinte, and that's what we do to niggers around here."

West Virginia does not have a death penalty, but the six suspects could spend the rest of their lives in prison if convicted of rape and kidnapping charges. Still, Williams and her family want more. They want the case prosecuted as a hate crime as well, something authorities have so far stopped short of doing.

How to Help: Sign the online petition in support of Megan Williams

Hat Tip: Electronic Village for background information


The Case of the Dunbar Village Assault & Rape

Four Black teenage boys — ages 14, 15, 16, and 18 — have been charged as adults in a 14-count indictment that could send all of them to prison for life.

Hoping to steal money and jewelry, Avion Lawson, 14, said he and someone else wore masks when they entered a 35-year-old woman's apartment on the evening of June 18, 2007 in West Palm Beach, Florida, according to court documents. Once inside, Lawson said, he and his accomplice, whose name is blacked out on the report, encountered the woman in bed with three other masked males around her. Lawson told police he sexually assaulted her and stole two video games and the victim's truck.

The victim returned home from her job delivering phone books about 9 p.m. the night of the attack, according to her statement to police. While fixing her son something to eat, a young male with braids knocked on her door to tell her the tires on her truck were flat. Once outside, she said, she saw a male with a large gun and two others armed with guns. They wore black clothing over their faces, she said, and ordered her back into the apartment, where they demanded money.

After being told there was no money, the attackers tore off the woman's clothes and raped her until five others arrived, according to the documents. The new arrivals took turns having sex with her and then sodomized her. The mother was then ordered into a tub filled with vinegar and water where they used hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, nail polish remover and ammonia on her. At gunpoint, the assailants forced the mother and son to have sex.

Throughout the attack, the victims suffered beatings, including having a bowl and light bulbs smashed over their heads. The encounter was recorded on a cell phone camera, according to the mother.

Before leaving, the males looked for a lighter to set the two on fire but couldn't find one, she told police. They ordered the pair to stay in the tub and took off. About 30 minutes later one of the males returned to sexually assault the mother one last time. Before leaving, he scribbled a man's name and 6-CO, the name of a local gang, on a piece of paper and told the woman he hangs out on Sixth Street and that's where he could be found. He grabbed a Sony PlayStation 2 before fleeing the scene.

Police believe at least ten teens/men were involved, but only four have been charged.

Read the Sun-Sentinel article here.

How to Help: St. Ann's Catholic Church will accept donations on behalf of the family. Checks can be made payable to the Dunbar Village Victim Assistance Fund - St. Ann's. The address is: St. Ann's Catholic Church 310 N. Olive Avenue West Palm Beach, FL 33401

Hat Tip: What About Our Daughters for background information


plez sez: in these two incidents, over 13 lives have been destroyed by hate, bigotry, and inhumanity. the west virginia case is horrific and beguiles me with the depths of human depravity. the case in florida is horrific and beguiles me with the depths of human depravity.

i cannot think of a person or thing that could evoke such a desire to destroy, humiliate, and violate... the behavior in both cases goes beyond negligent indifference to barbarism and the inhumane. a jail cell for any of these perpetrators is luxury; surely this country has a few gallows and nooses capable of hastily ushering these individuals to the depths of Hell where they belong as companions for their hellish acts.

some have a desire that the west virginia six be subject to hate crime statutes, but wasn't what happened in florida just as hateful? to my way of thinking, any crime of terror, horror, and inhumane treatment is a crime of hate... why the need for additional laws and statutes? the criminals in florida are no less hateful just because they share the same race as the victims of their rampage. don't all of those Black boys have Black mothers? what drove them to brutalize another Black mother in such a depraved manner?

both cases are sickening and worrisome to plezWorld because my mother, my wife, and my sister are Black women and Black mothers. i shudder to think that either of them would be subject to such inhumanity. my blood boils with the desire to "reach out and touch and dismantle" all of the perpetrators of these crimes.... i only pray for the mental and physical recovery of the victims. AND i pray that the criminals and rapists get the worst punishment available.


National March Against Hate Crimes: Black Lawyers for Justice (BLFJ), the Williams family, and the usual cast of characters have called for a march on the state capitol of West Virginia on November 3, 2007. plezWorld does not support this march because another march will do little to shed light on an isolated case of mayhem by a bunch of slack jawed hillbillies in West Virginia. i don't see what a lost day of work or classes for students will solve or fix or illuminate for those who don't see that anything is broke. and as i stated earlier, the black-on-black crime in the dunbar village rape case won't be addressed by this march... so who is marching and pontificating against Black people who ravage and destroy Black communities turning them into ghettos that attract the lowest dregs of society?

i hate to get biblical on you, but "stop looking for the speck in another's eye when you got a friggin' log poking out of yours!"