Homeland Insecurity
| Homeland Insecurity |
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| Written by Paradise Gray ID2966 |
| Friday, 25 August 2006 13:21 |
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Homeland Insecurity By: Paradise Gray Did you see the new reality show in Pittsburgh? It's called "Tanks in the Hood". On Aug 19, 2006 six people (including two children) were shot in the Homewood section of Pittsburgh in what appeared to be separate incidences. The city's response to the shootings was an excessive show of force featuring swat teams with carrying M-4s and AR-15s stopping cars and searching empty lots and abandoned buildings long after the bullets stopped flying. But that was just the opening scene; the star of the show according to Homewood residents was a Military Tank rolling down the streets in the hood. This is very disturbing to me as it is the second time that unnecessary (heavily armed) military action has been brought out in the Black community this year. Was "CJ" running around in Homewood with 6 Stars? Or were they expecting Hezbollah to come jumping up out of alleys with Russian made, shoulder fired stingers? Seriously, who or what would you use a armored tank against in the hood? How can we expect Homeland security when we can''t even get proper Homewood security? Due to the lack of press coverage, many of you may not remember the FBI's siege on the Light of The Age Mosque on the North side of Pittsburgh in June, where heavily armed FBI agents stormed the Mosque on their day of prayer (similar to raiding a church on a Sunday morning). The FBI agents kicked down doors and sent in drug sniffing dogs and a robot (after apprehending the person that they had a search warrant for outside of the building nearly an hour earlier). Do I see a trend developing here? Fresh in my mind as we fast approach the 1 year anniversary of Katrina and the FEMA debacle, I remember hearing of rioting and looting in the media before hearing about the situation that faced the people due to the dangers of the levee system break. I also remember seeing Military troops sent in with orders to shoot to kill before being sent in to save lives and evacuate people from the predominantly Black city of New Orleans. A neighboring community sent it's police force out to man the bridge and actually fired shots over peoples heads telling them to go back across the bridge into the flood zone rather than rescuing the people. I recently patrolled the Homewood community with Minister Jasiri X Of Muhammad's Mosque 22 who organized a group of 20 Black men in cooperation with the Millions More Movement to walk the streets at night for 2 hours on Monday August 21, 2006. It was great to walk to the talk by taking it to the streets with a group of Blackmen from the Christian and Muslim faiths. It was during this street walk that we learned of the Tank that was paraded through the hood. It was also during this walk that we talked to two different groups of young girls who after seeing so many well dressed Blackmen walking together, asked us if we were coming from a funeral. As we walked Minister Jasiri X explained to me:"The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan taught us years ago that the day would come where we would see tanks brought into our community to be used against our people, so this was no surprise to his followers. This is why one of the Millions More Movement ministries is the Ministry of Defense. It is time for black men to stand up to be trained properly to police the communities in which we live." Thoughts of Tiananmen Square flashed across my mind as the people told us about how intimidated and scared they were when they saw the tank. Minister Jasiri is correct in his assessment that it is time for black men to stand up! Wake up! Take responsibility for our own communities. It sounds like an impossible if not difficult task. How do you get young men to be responsible for their community, who are finding it difficult to care for themselves and their own children? Firing shots into the homes of our precious babies, shooting twoof them in their tiny little hands. The worst part of this is that I can''t find the words to defend yall (us) right now. And I really want to, because I understand what we are victims of and I love you, but I do not love what we do to each other. At some point in time we are going to have to stop being victims and stand on our own two feet and say enough is enough. We cannot wait for politicians to change things in our community, that's not going to happen, we have to stand up and demand change. Rhetoric nor pretty words are going to save us, A Savior is not going to fall from the sky and save us, only US can save US! The Power is in the people. STAND UP! Our people are not weak, we never have been, never will be. We have to stop looking around for leadership, no one's coming. We are the ones that we have been waiting for. Look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself what you are waiting for. With the introduction of "The Patriot Act", "The Enemy Combatant Laws" and the existence of more new laws and statutes than can be kept up with by lawyers. The Constitution is under daily attack, the checks and balances that protect us in the event that our government becomes corrupt are corroding like New Orleans Levees. The government is getting desperate and nervous, the face of crime in America is already painted black and it is no stretch to imagine that someone is hard at work painting the new face of domestic terrorist on bodies with sagging pants and white T's. I warn all blackmen that a day is coming that will make all other bad days that our people have experienced in America seem like "Good Ole'' Days" by comparison if you do not Wake up, Grow up and Stand up. Paradise Gray Honorary Chairman, Pittsburgh LOC National Political Hip-hop Convention Grand Arkitech Of The BlackWatch Movement Minister Of Arts And Sciences Millions More Movement Director Of Almost Home Youth Ministries One Hood |
