Stuff About Black People Written By a Black Person

Psychologist testified that black people are more likely to commit crimes.

Yesterday, the Supremes stayed the execution of Duane Buck, on the grounds that the jury at his sentencing hearing was told Buck was a danger to the public because he is black:

Duane Buck, an inmate on Texas’s death row for the past 16 years, has been spared the lethal injection after the US supreme court stayed his execution on the grounds that the jury at his sentencing hearing was told he was a danger to the public because he is black.

The fact it took the highest court in the nation to prevent the judicial killing of a prisoner in such controversial circumstances will put the governor of Texas, Rick Perry, further under the spotlight. He was earlier approached by lawyers of Buck and exhorted to use his power to put a 30-day reprieve on the execution to give time for all parties to look at his case, but Perry did not act.

From Mother Jones:

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SCOTUS intervenes in Texas death penalty case on behalf of Duane BuckPost + Comments (59)

MLK was more than a speech to black people.

 I dare anyone to read what follows and then continue to exploit Dr. King’s legacy in an effort to prove to black voters why Obama is such a disappointment to them. Go on. I dare you.   If you want to argue points of fact or issues, then do it without dredging up the legacy of a man who lived and died so that black people in America could stand up and speak for themselves; so that black people could be free.

You who seek to twist and exploit Dr. King’s legacy should be embarrassed and ashamed of yourselves.  Please stop it. You too, Cornel West.

Just stop it.

All emphases are the author’s:

This will be a very short diary. It will not contain any links or any scholarly references. It is about a very narrow topic, from a very personal, subjective perspective.

The topic at hand is what Martin Luther King actually did, what it was that he actually accomplished.

The reason I’m posting this is because there were dueling diaries over the weekend about Dr. King’s legacy, and there is a diary up now (not on the rec list but on the recent list) entitled, “Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Dream Not Yet Realized.” I’m sure the diarist means well as did the others. But what most people who reference Dr. King seem not to know is how Dr. King actually changed the subjective experience of life in the United States for African Americans. And yeah, I said for African Americans, not for Americans, because his main impact was his effect on the lives of African Americans, not on Americans in general. His main impact was not to make white people nicer or fairer. That’s why some of us who are African Americans get a bit possessive about his legacy. Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy, despite what our civil religion tells us, is not color blind.

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“Most of you have no idea what Martin Luther King actually did” – Hamden RicePost + Comments (225)

… and sometimes you really wouldn’t understand.

The phrase “It’s a black thing, you wouldn’t understand” is a trite quip, and I’ve never cared for it.  I do use it sometimes, but only with my dad, only in jest, and only when we are teasing my mom.

Today, however, I find myself thinking about the phrase, and thinking I may have underestimated its truth.

Let me explain.

I had jury duty today. I wasn’t jazzed about having to go, not because I didn’t want to do my civic duty, but because my summons required me to show up at the courthouse at 7-fucking-45 a.m.

7:45!

IN THE MORNING.

If you know me at all, you know that I don’t believe in “7:45 a.m.” In fact, I don’t believe in anything before 9:30 a.m.

But I digress.

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Sometimes it really is “just a black thing”…Post + Comments (145)