Review: "The House I Live In" Remains a Timely Documentary

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 42 (of 2015) by Leroy Douresseaux

[A version of this review first appeared on Patreon.]

The House I Live In (2012)
Running time:  108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)
Not rated by the MPAA
DIRECTOR:  Eugene Jarecki
WRITERS:  Eugene Jarecki with Christopher St. John (additional writing)
PRODUCERS:  Sam Cullman and Christopher St. John
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Sam Cullman (D.o.P.) and Derek Hallquist (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Paul Frost
COMPOSER:  Robert Miller

DOCUMENTARY – Race, Economics, Politics, Society

Starring:  Eugene Jarecki, Nannie Jeter, David Simon, Michelle Alexander, Charles Bowden, The Honorable Mark W. Bennett, Mike Carpenter, Charles Ogletree, Carl Hart, Shanequa Bennett, Kevin Ott, Anthony Johnson, Maurice Haltiwanger, and Richard Miller

The House I Live In is a 2012 documentary from director Eugene Jarecki.  The film chronicles the War on Drugs in the United States.  Danny Glover, John Legend, Brad Pitt, and Russell Simmons are among the film's executive producers.

Eugene Jarecki's examination of the War on Drugs spring from a deeply personal place.  He takes notice of how drugs have affected Nannie Jeter and her family.  Ms. Jeter was the housekeeper in the Jarecki home, and she was the caretaker of the Jarecki children, especially of Eugene.

From there, The House I Live In shines a harsh light on “War on Drugs” in the United States and both its immediate and long-term impact on American society, especially at the bottom rungs of society where the working class, poor, and destitute reside.  Jarecki's film tells the stories of dealers, of police officers and other law-enforcement officials, of prison inmates, and of other people affected by this decades-old crusade against the sale and use of illegal narcotics.  Through these stories, the film reveals the profound human rights implications of America's “War on Drugs.”

Some documentary films are packed with information via interviews, archival information, omniscient voice overs (usually provided by the director or by a celebrity, usually an actor).  Some films have to be packed with information, simply because their subject matter is complex or because the subject is an event or program that has been occurring over several decades.

The House I Live In tackles subject matter that is both complicated and that is long ongoing.  When President Richard Nixon began what we know as the “War on Drugs” in 1971, people probably thought of it as simply “the war of drugs,” no capital letters.  At some point, however, the war of drugs became the “War on Drugs,” with capital letters.  This “war” was all-encompassing, becoming the biggest fight against crime in the U.S.  According to Jarecki, the country has spent over one trillion dollars on the War on Drugs, with something like 45 million people have been convicted of drug-related crimes.

More than anything, families and communities have been affected, and by affected, I mean damaged, ruined, and even destroyed.  That is where The House I Live In turns darker and becomes a little more complicated and controversial.  I don't want to spoil the film for those who have not seen it (and please, do see it), but this documentary flat out states that the beginnings of the “War on Drugs” goes back farther than many people realize and that the early battlefronts usually involved various minority and outsider groups.  What people did not realize in the past was that eventually this war would ensnare those who never thought their little tribes would be the focus of a state-sanctioned, destructive crusade.

As with many such documentaries, Jarecki includes interviews with numerous people who study or are involved directly or indirectly in the War on Drugs.  I suggest that viewers pay special attention to Michelle Alexander, a civil rights litigator and the author of the non-fiction book, The New Jim Crow.  She is one of most important voices in matters of civil rights and of American history concerning the lives and the oppression of slaves and their African-American descendants.

Once again, Eugene Jarecki has delved into the dark side of official America, the powers-that-be, as he did in his documentary film, Why We Fight.  The House I Live In is one of those documentaries that should be considered an educational film, a must-see for all middle and high school students across the country.  It wouldn't hurt for the general public to see this film; in fact, it might help the country.  The House I Live In is an engrossing, engaging documentary film that refuses to let you turn away, and most importantly, it is truly an “important film.”

9 of 10
A+

Tuesday, August 25, 2015


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

Everything's Peachy... if by "Peachy" You Mean Hemlock - 2015 - Updated #87

There's no "race problem" in America.  We all have black friends.  I even have more than I need.  [I call some of them relatives.]  Dr. King's dream has not become a nightmare.  It's become a dytopian vision of future that simply dresses the dark past in new fangled rags. - Leroy 16, Aug. 2014

From TheDailyBeast:  Fear of a dominant black woman, as seen in Serena Williams.

From Truthout:  In praise of Bree Newsome.

From TheAtlantic: Ta-Nehisi Coates on the Confederate flag.

From TheWashingtonPost:  Baltimore cop talks a horror show.

From TIME via RSN:  Baltimore is just the beginning.

From RSN:  Outrageous reasons cops gave for killing unarmed citizens.

From Truthout:  Swimming while black.

From Truthout:  Black and the U.S. military.

From GuardianUK: Banks targeted Black people with bad term loans - I think Rev. Jesse Jackson revealed this over a decade ago.

From Bloomberg:  How many indeed.

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From TheAtlantic: Take it down now - Ta'Nehisis Coates preaches!

From Truthout:  Two ways racists kill.

From TheDailyBeast:  John Oliver says "Kill the Confederate Flag."

From Intercept:  Only Muslims can be terrorists and not a white boy who slaughtered 9 Black people.

From GuardianUK: Jesse Jackson says we need more than prayer in the wake of Emanuel AME shooting.

From YahooPolitics:  Denmark Vesey, an American hero, finally gets a statue.

From TheNewYorker:  Charleston and the age of Obama.

From YahooNews:  I wouldn't forgive Dylann Roof, him or his Klanly... err... family.

From SPLC:  Southern Poverty Law Center statement on Emanuel AME shooting.

From YahooNews:  South Carolina State Senator, pastor Clementa Pinckney, among victims at Emanuel AME Church shooting.

From GuardianUK:  More on Pastor Pinckney.

From YahooNews:  What Dylann Roof said to his victims in Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

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From TheDailyBeast:  More pool trouble for Black children; this time in Ohio.

From the GuardianUK:  Witnesses contradict Tamir Rice's killer, Cleveland PD officer Timothy Loehmann.

From YahooNews:  New documents on Tamir Rice shooting in Cleveland.

From RSN:   Obama remembers what happened to MLK.

From GuardianUK:  Don't buy the "Ferguson Effect."

From RSN:  Baltimore explained.

From TheGuardian:  Wal-Mart: where white cops go to shoot black men, and this one is on his second killing.

From AlJazeera:  Mexico's brothel state.

From RSN:  Relatives of people killed by cops speak out.

From WashPost:  Funny: some pro-law and order talking heads insisted that the number of people being shot be cops was falling fast.

From BuzzFlash:  40 reasons our jails are full of Black and poor people.

From TPM:  White fragility.

From YahooNews:  30 years on Alabama death row for nothing.

From the WashingtonPost:  DEA steals $16,000 from a young black businessman.

From Truthout:  Police don't see black children's lives as the future, but as disposable.

From TheGuardian:  Cops stop black guys in nice cars - Chris Rock.

From Haaretz:  Black is being oppressed anywhere there is white superiority - even in Israel.

From ThePlayersTribune:  Go ahead and put a cap in that ass, David Ortiz.

From the GuardianUK:  Justice for Arfee... It will make you laugh-cry.

From  BuzzFlash:  Anti-gay Christian bigots attack Disney/ABC Family about a proposed TV series in which gay rights activist Dan Savage is a writer.

From Truthout:  The school voucher rackets begins to serve its intended purpose.

From RSN:  FBI convicted a man using hair analysis, but it was a dog's hair.

From SFGate:  Cornell West on more shootings.

From GuardianUK: Elton John and Michael Stipe on the danger of the silence around the abuse of transgender prisoners.

From YahooNews:  After a black woman wins mayoral election, white cops and politicians flee town. Hilarious.

From GuardianUK: The black guy dies at the end.  The white guy knows why.

From TIME:  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar asks who will lead Black Americans.

From WashPost:  In 2004, Texas executed a man for the arson murder of his three young daughters.  He may have been innocent.  Now, the prosecutor of that case is facing misconduct charges.

From FreeThoughtProject:  DEA does not enforce drug laws in rich communities...

From TheGuardian: Yes, White outrage at Walter Scott shooting is not enough.

From Truthout:  Hip hop and Palestine.

From BuzzFlash: Accusations of being Jewish, then a suicide - strange goings in Missouri GOP.

From RSN:  The roots of American racism run deep.  Sho' nuff.

From Quartz: The power of Chris Rock's police-stop selfies.

From AmsterdamNews:  Mumia is in a diabetic coma.

From TheNewYorker:  Seymour Hersh returns to My Lai.

From Mashable: Banksy in Gaza.

From BuzzFlash:  The American terrorism of lynching.

From YahooSports:  College baseball player loses his gig for ugly thing he said about Little League World Series heroine, Mo'ne Davis.

From NPR via RSN:  A Black Mississippi judge's speech to three white murderers of a black man.

From NPR:  The power of Malcolm X as a public speaker.

From YahooNews:  ESPN's Steven A. Smith encourages Blacks to vote Republican in an argument that is familiar.

From Time:  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on MLK Day.

From RSN:  "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" by Dr. Martin Luther King

From RSN:  Free speech in France... except for Muslim students.

From the WashingtonPost:  I didn't believe this statistic until I started working at LSU Graphic Services, when I discovered how many semi-literate white people held positions for which they were unqualified - as per the official requirements for their jobs.  Some made more money than Black employees with college degrees, and more shockingly, and also instructors and professors.

From YahooNews:  A Univision personality is fired for comparing First Lady Michelle Obama to Planet of the Apes.

From BuzzFlash:  Black man in Louisiana gets over 13 years for pot.

From AlJazeeraAmerica:  We need the Black Panthers.

From TheGuardian:  "The disappeared: Chicago police detain Americans at abuse-laden 'black site' "

From DemocracyNow:  Malcolm X remembered 50 years after his assassination.

From RSN:  Americans need fair housing free of discrimination, says Richard Trumka

From Truthout:  Update on Marissa Alexander who could not stand her ground in Florida as George Zimmerman.

From the NationalPost:  In Quebec, a young woman was locked in the back of a police truck with a man who then, raped here.

From NPR:  There is also a war on Black girls.

From ConsortiumNews:  How Jefferson Davis' name is synonymous with violence against African-Americans, especially in the form of lynching.

From AlJazeera:  In Hollywood, black lives don't matter (related to Oscars' snub of "Selma")

From Truthout:  Everything is not peach in LGBT equality.

From YahooSports:  The story of Brian Banks - falsely accused of rape, his college football and NFL dreams were destroyed.  Now, he works for the NFL.

From AlJazeera:  2014 is the year that the myth of equality under the law in America was exposed.

From CrooksandLiars:  More on the white man who shot the Black chief of police and got away with it.  By the way, a bulletproof vest saved the police chief's life.

From YahooNews:  South Florida cops shooting at mug shots of Black men.

From TheGuardian:  Yeah, why did they?

From TIME:  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: The police aren't under attack...

From BuzzFlash:  Yes, the media does seem reluctant to call white supremacists and Christian fundamentalists terrorists when they commit acts of terrorists.

From Truthout:  The modern day lynching of Rev. Edward Pickney in Michigan.

From LATimes: Exonerated and broke.

From AlterNet:  A great review of the new film, Selma.

From YahooParenting:  7 things I can do that my black son can't.

From CNN:  I remember hearing about Macy's racial profiling case, but not this one involving "Treme" actor, Robert Brown.

Negromancer's Fave Poli-Reads - June 2015 Edition - Update #6

Posted by Leroy Douresseaux - support on Patreon.

From TheNewYorker:  Dennis Hastert's plea and silence.

From YahooPolitics:  Another Supreme Court for the ACA aka "Obamacare."

From RSN:  Yes, he can, and so can Obamacare.

From YahooNews:  The sister of a man who was abused, as a high school student, by Dennis Hastert gives an exclusive interview to ABC.

From TheIntercept:  For fearmongers, it's always the scariest time.  I 'm looking at you Lindsey Graham.

From ThinkProgress:  What is known about the men who impeached President Clinton.

The Killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson - March 2015 Edition - Update #30

From Gawker:  The NYPD plan to turn making someone into a felony easy-peasy.

From TechDirt: There is no such thing as "contempt of cop."

From RSN:  In this case, it's a white woman in prison for decades for a murder she did not commit.

From RSN:  Two inmates shot and one is killed... their hands were handcuffed behind their backs.

From ShreveportTime and RSN:  Former prosecutor's words are hollow.

From GuardianUK:  Cleveland PD still killing black teens.

From RSN:  Whatever.

From BuzzFlash:  Chicago PD uses stop-and-frisk against people of color at 4 times the rate of the NYPD.

From RollingStone:  Matt Taibbi on the decision to keep Eric Garner grand jury minutes secret.  I say if you have nothing to hide, what are you hiding.

From YahooNews:  San Fran pigs show their Klan-side in text messages.

From YahooNews:  Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kindel probably called his mother "Aunt Mama" and probably thinks the Ku Klux Klan is super-tubular-cool!

From Truthout:  A history of killing black men and getting away with it.

From CapitalNewYork:  The NYPD kills and abuses, and then changes the Wikipedia entries about those incidents.

From the NewYorker:  Release Eric Garner grand jury records... NOW!

From GuardianUK:  Two cops shot during recent Ferguson protests.

From GuardianUK:  Long overdue - Ferguson police chief Thomas Jackson resigns, but gets a a year's severance pay, $95,000.  The city manager left and got $120,000.

From Politico:  Yes, Obama's friend the professor found this out.

From RSN and Slate:  States take over Ferguson court system to restore order and to implement reforms.

From teleSUR:  White cop kills unarmed NAKED black man.

From YahooNews:  More on how Madison police chief is doing it differently from Ferguson Klan chief... err... I mean police chief.

From Truthout:  Why Black America, even the uncle toms, sometimes fear calling the police.

From TheGuardian: Madison police chief has a better control of things than that portly clown in Ferguson had.

From YahooNews:  Black, unarmed, shot dead by cop in Madison, Wisconsin.

From CBCNews: A police officer in Quebec drives 75 miles in a 30 mile zone and kills a five-year-old child.  Canadian media won't name him, nor has he been charged.

From AlJazeeraAmerica:  Shot in the back.

From The Post via RSN:  They're called "SCOPs" and you should know about them.

From TheWashingtonPost:  Attorney General Eric Holder is prepared to dismantle Ferguson police force if necessary.

From HuffPost:  This tale of a drunk white man at White Castle begins the Ferguson PD highlights from the Department of Justice's report.

From YahooNews:  Highlights or low lights from the DOJ's Ferguson Police Department report.

From TheVox:  A selection of 7 racist jokes from Ferguson police and court officials.  They're F'ed up.

From TheVox:  Justice Department's report on Ferguson PD is due this week.  Preview from the New York Times, includes racist jokes (including a horrid one about President Obama), and targeting black to raise funds for the city.

From TheGuardian:  The Chicago PD have their own CIA-like "black site."

From TheGuardian:  After Trayvon, a new Civil Rights movement.

From Cleveland.com:  City responds to lawsuit by Tamir Rice's family.

From Reuters via RSN:  Justice Department reportedly to sue Ferguson Police Department.

Negromancer's Fave Poli-Reads - March 2015 Edition - Update #27

From AlJazeeraAmerica:  the "Sodomite Suppression Act."

From InformedConsent:  Juan Cole on what happens when a clown car tries to drive debate.

From TheVox:  John Stewart and George Lucas mock FOX News.

From BillMoyers:  Danny Schechter has died.  He was the "News Dissector."

From RSN:  It's that bad.  Feminist writes want to retire.

From RSN:  Likely 2016 presidential candidate, Martin O'Malley, the former governor of Maryland, says the big banks must be broken up.

From TheNation:  An inconvenient truth about terrorists in America.

From InformedConsent: Juan Cole on Obama as the new Mr. Spock - at least in the way he comments about Israel.

From TheNation: The Pentagon finally, officially admitted that Israel not only has nuclear weapons, but also advanced armaments.

From Haaretz:  John Boehner is officially the teen girl that Barack would not date in high school.

From RSN: Re Patreus - golden boys always get special priviledge.

From RSN and RSN: President Obama should give it up.  Netanyahu is a racist.

From The Atlantic via RSN:  Al Gore running...

From GuardianUK:  Obamacare triggers massive drop in the number of uninsured Americans.

From RollingStone:  Matt Taibbi once again on the hilarity that is NYT columinst, David Brooks.

From TheDailyBeast:  It's a dumb idea because the people behind it are dumb, educated people.

From Politico:  Actually, it was an opportunity to show just how that the GOP is now the PWPP - the preserve white power party.

From RollingStone: Matt Taibbi on the clown show of Netanyahu's Congress speech.

From CounterPunch via RSN:  Drone warfare and civilian carnage.

From InformedConsent:  GOP and Iran hardliners - kissin' cousin.

From ReverbPress:  Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas bows down to his weapons lobbyist masters.

From HarvardCrimson:  Speaking of Tom Cotton, read this hilarity from his days at the Harvard Crimson.

From TeleSur:  Israel beats women for International Women's Day.

From RSN: This Billionaire Governor Taxed the Rich and Raised the Minimum Wage. Now, His State's Economy Is One of the Best in the Country

From YahooNews:  Colin Powell - a dark vein of intolerance in GOP.  For sure on that.

From ABCNews: I wonder if the ABC network news reported this anti-Netanyahu rally.

From BuzzFlash:  America's history of terrorism - lynching.

From RollingStone:  Matt Taibbi - Scott Walker, a man born to be slaughtered in a general election.

From NYMag:  Frank Rich on the Giuliani circus.

From Counterpunch:  The rise of fascism is again the issue.

From RollingStone:  Matt Taibbi dogs Rudy Giuliani.

The Killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson - February 2015 Edition - Update #11

From Cleveland.com:  City responds to lawsuit by Tamir Rice's family.

From Reuters via RSN:  Justice Department reportedly to sue Ferguson Police Department.

From YahooNews:  The Department of Justice will announce that it will not file civil rights charges against George Zimmerman for killing teenager, Trayvon Martin.  Looks like we need some street justice on this one.

From Reuters:  A cop who shot an unarmed man is indicted in Kansas City.

From RT:  Protests ignite in Pasco, Washington over the police killing of a Latino man.

From YahooNews:  Cop who killed a black man in a Brooklyn stairwell is indicted.

From Guardian:  I can't even describe this one, other than police kill black man, because it so bizarre and ridiculous.

From RSN:  Cop who shot a young man in the back is charged with murder.

From TheDailyKos:  The emerging trend of innocent black men and boys dying after calls to 911

From YahooNews:  A man from India was profiled in the neighborhood where his son lives; then, he was severely beaten by an Alabama cop.

From Esquire:  Civil rights attorney sues over Ferguson's debtor's prisons.

From ThinkProgress:  Cops who want a free hand to kill unarmed civilians attack New Mexico prosecutor.

From YahooNews:  Brawl erupts at meeting to find peace between black people and St. Louis cops.  White cop antagonizes until brawl erupts.

From DetroitFreePress:  After two hung juries, Joseph Weekley, the white Detroit cop who fatally shot a seven year old black girl during a raid, will not face a third trial.  The shooting happened during a raid that was filmed by the show, "The First 48."

From NYT:  The Justice Department will not bring charges against Darren Wilson, the man who killed Michael Brown.  Mike is dead.  Wilson is now a millionaire because of donations he received for killing a black man and the $500,000 ABC News gave him for exclusive, softball interview.  The victim is dead.  The killer is rich.  Yep, doesn't sound like a civil rights violation.

Negromancer's Fave Poli-Reads - February 2015 Edition - Update #8

From NewYorkTimes: It is racist because you are a racist, Giuliani.

From RollingStone:  Matt Taibbi dogs Rudy Giuliani.

From Reuters via RSN:  Kate Brown, the new governor of Oregon, becomes the first openly bisexual governor in U.S. history.

From RawStory:  I am always amazed by Sarah Palin's ability to be both pimp and prostitute at the same time.

From Esquire:  Charles Pierce - Why didn't Scott Walker graduate from college.

From Reuters:  John Stewart is leaving "The Daily Show."

From YahooNews.  The racist senior advisor to Rep. Aaron Schock (R. Ill) resigns.

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From The Intercept via RSN:  Glenn Greenwald on whiny, privileged celebrity journalists.

From NewYorkMag:  Greenwald's target.
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From RSN:  President Barack Obama: Blueprint for Middle-Class Economics

Negromancer's Fave Poli-Reads - January 2015 Edition - Updated #27

From TheNewYorker:  By Andy Borowitz - 6 weeks leave opposed by people who get 33 weeks paid leave.

From TheVox:  Even FOX News is ripping on the John Beohner plot to invite Benjamin Netanyahu (Throw -A-Net-Over-That Yahoo) to speak before Congress.

From TheDailyDot:  Blogger who outed Congressman Steve Scalise for his connection to Louisiana Klansman and Nazi, David Duke, had his home Internet connections cut.

From TheGuardian:  Eric Garner prosecutor has gall - I'll give him that.  His campaign for Congress should go through hell.  Hopefully, the activists will give him hell.

From Time:  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on what terrorists attacks are about.

From BuzzFlash:  The American Sambo Right (black conservative) manga Dr. King's message.

From YahooNews:  Steve Scalise voted "No" to MLK holiday while in the Louisiana legislature.  We're not surprised.

From TheDailyBeast:  This may be irony when it comes to cops and open-carry activist.

From TheDailyBeast:  Steve Scalise's Louisiana Nazis.

From RollingStone:  They are not exactly Charlie by Matt Taibbi.

From ReaderSupportedNews:  Senator Elizabeth Warren announces her support for California Attorney General Kamala Harris in her bid to replace retiring Senator Barbara Boxer.

From WashingtonPost:  The Dept. of Justice curbs civil asset forfeiture.  I think the Washington Post's article last September helped this decision come to be.

From WashingtonPost:  The legacy of Bill Moyers.

From YahooNews:  Republicans can't condemn Klan-boy, Steve Scalise, but they'll compare President Obama to Hitler.

From CenLaMar:  The story that originally busted Steve Scalise as a Duker - a supporter of David Duke.  OK, that's not what the article said...

From TheIntercept:  David Cameron marches in Paris, while at home in the U.K., brown people are prosecuted for speech that offends white people

From HuffingtonPost:  A list of Charlie Hebdo cartoons that made the magazine a target.

From the NYT:  President Obama orders full restoration of relations with Cuba.

From USAToday:  Pope Francis plays role in Obama's Cuba plan.

From YahooNews:  The U.S. Supreme Court rejects a new challenge to the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare), although it is currently hearing one.

From RollingStone:  6 ideas for a cop-free world.

From TheIntercept:  In case you hadn't heard, Cuba is not returning Assata Shakur.

From CounterPunch:  I am a 20th century escaped slave.

From CounterPunch:  Raul Castro speaks.

From YahooAutos:  President Obama warns Americans not to get to comfortable with falling gas prices.

From RSN:  Yeah, this makes sense.

From NYT:  Ask Congressman Steve Scalise if he ever voted for David Duke.  For a lot of white men who were eligible to vote in the late 1980s and early 1990s, that will be their political kryptonite.

The Killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson - January 2015 Edition - Update #20

From YahooNews:  Brawl erupts at meeting to find peace between black people and St. Louis cops.  White cop antagonizes until brawl erupts.

From DetroitFreePress:  After two hung juries, Joseph Weekley, the white Detroit cop who fatally shot a seven year old black girl during a raid, will not face a third trial.  The shooting happened during a raid that was filmed by the show, "The First 48."

From NYT:  The Justice Department will not bring charges against Darren Wilson, the man who killed Michael Brown.  Mike is dead.  Wilson is now a millionaire because of donations he received for killing a black man and the $500,000 ABC News gave him for exclusive, softball interview.  The victim is dead.  The killer is rich.  Yep, doesn't sound like a civil rights violation.

From NYT:  New Mexico killer cops charged with killing homeless man.

From RSN:  The cops who killed Tamir Rice tackled his sister to the ground when she tried to help her dying baby brother.

From FireDogLake:  Activists move to remove St. Louis County Prosecutor, Robert McCulloch, from office.

From TPM and News9:  White man shoots black police chief and will apparently get away with it.  Chief was not killed because he was wearing a bulletproof vest.

From StLouisDispatch:  A member of the Mike Brown grand jury wants to speak, and is suing district attorney, Bob McCulloch, to do so.

From Esquire:  Mike Brown, Sr. and the agony of the black father.

From YahooNews:  Trayvon Martin's killer ordered to turn in his weapons after this third arrest for domestic violence.

From TheDailyKos:  This Montana police officer specializes in killing unarmed men during routine traffic stops.  He's never been charged.

From RSN:  Over $300 million paid to settle misconduct suits and claims against the NYPD from 2006 to 2012.

From RSN:  The Justice Dept.'s report on the Cleveland Police Department.

From YahooNews:  #EndWhiteSilence - Pittsburgh's new police chief has more balls than the Steelers showed Saturday night.  15 points on offense? Really?

From YahooNews:  The "Black brunch" protests take off in NYC and Oakland.

From BuzzFlash:  Darren Wilson was likely paid for his ABC interview.  To date he may have received $1.5 million is fees and donations.  Consider that a bounty for killing a black man.

From AlJazeeraAmerica:  Decision reversed; "I Can't Breathe" T-shirts can be worn.

From People:  President Obama praises athletes for "I Can't Breathe" stance.

From CrooksandLiars:  Of course, the bastard did, and it is apparently not the first time.

From RSN:  The abuse of Mayor Bill de Blasio by the NYPD and related unions.

From TheGuardian:  Dear Fellow White People...

From TheGuardian:  Another "I Can't Breathe" t-shirt controversy.  The truth hurts, doesn't it.

From YahooNews:  There was hell to pay for the callous comments about the Mike Brown memorial in Ferguson.

From Yahoo News via RSN:  Hundreds of cop killings of civilians not reported to the FBI.

From Reuters via RSN:  Hillary Clinton backs federal probes of Mike Brown and Eric Garner killings.  Already she has more balls then so-called Democratic governors in Missouri and New York.

Negromancer's Fave Poli-Reads - December 2014 Edition - Update #10

From TheGuardian:  Kyle Orton and the search for NFL liberals.

From RSN:  If Obama were a White Republican...

From FoxNewsLatino:  There was actually a scheme to use the Cuban hip-hop scene to ferment revolution.

From BuzzFlash:  Stephen Colbert's finest moment; yes, it was.

From the WashingtonPost:  Of course, not some, but many Republicans won't accept Obama as President of these United States.  D'uh, it's because he's black.

From YahooNews:  President Obama only answers questions from female reporters in his press conference before his Christmas vacation.

From RSN:  Wonder why Palestinians feel loathing about the U.S.

From YahooNews:  Alan Gross freed from Cuba; this leads to talks between the Obama administration and Cuba to resume diplomatic ties.

From ConsortiumNews:  Cuz like... America's totally awesome.  Poor baby, she is some FOX honcho's jizz jar.

From TheDailyBeast:  The Hunger Games economy.

From ThinkProgess:  The Christian terrorist movement that few people know of - the Phineas Priesthood (although I first heard of them several years ago.)

From Slate:  Not that this will stop the GOP from throwing Benghazi in Hilary's face.

The Killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson - December 2014 Edition - Update #28

From TheGuardian:  Another "I Can't Breathe" t-shirt controversy.  The truth hurts, doesn't it.

From YahooNews:  There was hell to pay for the callous comments about the Mike Brown memorial in Ferguson.

From Yahoo News via RSN:  Hundreds of cop killings of civilians not reported to the FBI.

From Reuters via RSN:  Hillary Clinton backs federal probes of Mike Brown and Eric Garner killings.  Already she has more balls then so-called Democratic governors in Missouri and New York.

From YahooNews:  If you don't want to hear "wings on pigs," then, don't do this.

From YahooNews:  Off-duty, black cops feel the boot of their white colleagues, also.

From YahooNews:  Black, unarmed, and shot dead by a cop in Houston.

From the NYT:  Sad story about a Ferguson moment in Louisville, Kentucky back in 1999.

From the NYT:  Okay, don't act like you don't know why some people react crazily.

From the NYT:  Yes, police must stop the abuse of Black men.

From RollingStone:  Matt Taibbi: The police in America are becoming illegitimate.

From YahooNews:  Ray Kelly, who sires rapists, and Giuliani, whose vanity led to the deaths of scores of firemen, on 9/11, blame President Obama and Mayor de Blasio for the murder of two New York policemen on 12/20/2014 by a lone gunman.

From AlJazeeraAmerica:  Yeah, we should be suspicious of the Oath Keepers.

From YahooNews:  Why the LAPD is not like the NYPD or Ferguson Police Department.

From YahooNews:  Could NYPD killings trigger a backlash against protestors.

From YahooNews:  Baltimore gang member kills two New York policemen, before killing himself.

From Esquire:  Why police unions have been making deranged responses to the responses to their brutality.

From YahooParenting:  Second graders do Ferguson protest.  One student's father is a cop.  "Daddy, do you shoot people?" he claims she asked.

From TheGuardian:  Remember John Crawford, shot dead by a cop in an Ohio Wal-Mart?  Well, The Guardian has obtained video footage of cop threatening his girlfriend.

From RSN:  Football still representing... damn what the pig's unions have got to say.

From RSN:  FBI to investigage North Carolina trailer park lynching.

From RSN:  Huge marches protesting police violence.

From YahooNews:  The National Bar Association wants Darren Wilson stripped of his license to carry a badge anywhere in Missouri.  The NBA is the nation's largest group of African-American lawyers and judges.

From ThinkProgress:  The woman who could hit reset on Mike Brown-Darren Wilson case.

From ThinkProgress:  The one word that kept Darren Wilson out of jail (It's "reasonable").

From GuardianUK:   In Brooklyn, a rookie cop kills an unarmed black man and calls his union rep instead of 911.

From YahooNews:  No indictment for Eric Garner's murderer.

From YahooNews:  Another angry white guy.  No, "Morning Joe," even 95 percent of white people don't agree with you.

From YahooSports:  Angry old white guy, Mike Ditko, embarrassed for the Rams players and demands that we not weaken the police anymore than they already are.  First, I'm sure the Rams players don't give a f**k.  Non-indictments say Ditko is clueless about the weakness of cops - especially post 9/11.  Maybe, he just needs a Viagra and beer.

From RSN:  A "Dear White People" essay from Carl Gibson.

From YahooNews:  America's mayor, Rudy Giulani, says that Ferguson grand jury should not have indicted.  This from a man whose vanity caused the death of many fireman on 9/11, an event from which Giulani made tens of millions of dollars.

From YahooSports:  One of America's favorite media quote machines, Charles Barkley, is down with Darren Wilson.

From YahooSports:  St. Louis cops union pissed at St. Louis Rams.

From WashingtonPost:  Holding an entire community in contempt by Eugene Robinson.

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THE BASICS:

From TheIntercept via RSN:  Klan jury... I mean grand jury in Mike Brown's shooting began Wednesday, August 20th, 2014.

Michael Brown, 18, was shot to death, reportedly by police officer Darren Wilson, on Saturday, August 9th, 2014 at approximately 2:15 pm on Canfield Drive in Ferguson, Missouri.  Ferguson is a small city in St. Louis County.  The shooting of the unarmed Brown sparked a furious backlash and days of protests, some violent and involving looting.  What follows is a list of links to news articles about the shooting and related matters:

From the StLouisPostDispatch:  An early article about the Michael Brown shooting

From the LosAngelesTimes:  This is the earliest (or oldest) article that I could find about the Michael Brown shooting.

From HuffingtonPost:  Another early article about the local African-American community's reaction to the shooting of Brown

From PrisonCulture:  A searing image of Michael Brown's father

From the WashingtonPost via RSN:  More of Darren Wilson's history and background emerges; it seems that he was previously associated with another police department that had a bad relationship with the local black folks.

From  Al Jazeera via RSN:  Darren Wilson: Judge, jury, and executioner.

From YahooNews via CSM and the AP:  Shooter a.k.a. Darren Wilson tells his "side" of the story about how he shot an unarmed black man to death.

Updated Shooting Timeline:  The AP via YahooNews.

Everything's Peachy... if by "Peachy" You Mean Hemlock - Update #77

There's no "race problem" in America.  We all have black friends.  I even have more than I need.  [I call some of them relatives.]  Dr. King's dream has not become a nightmare.  It's become a dytopian vision of future that simply dresses the dark past in new fangled rags. - Leroy 16, Aug. 2014

From AlterNet:  A great review of the new film, Selma.

From YahooParenting:  7 things I can do that my black son can't.

From CNN:  I remember hearing about Macy's racial profiling case, but not this one involving "Treme" actor, Robert Brown.

From Reuters via RSN:  Off-duty, Black NYPD cops feel threat from White colleagues.

From TheDailyBeast:  After they fired the shots, they're the victims...

From NYTimes:  Police shootings reveal racial chasm... D'uh.

From Time:  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to White people feeling targeted by Ferguson protests - Welcome to our world.

From MiamiHerald:  The rules are indeed different for Black people seeking justice.

From TheGuardian:  Gentrifiers having to throw people out of their homes.

From CNN:  Racism without racists.

From the GuardianUK:  Jesse Jackson says we can still get justice for Mike Brown.  I kinda doubt it, but I'm hopeful.

From Esquire:  The rise in police shootings, even in places like Utah.

From YahooNews:  Another black male with a toy gun shot to death by cops - this time the black male is a child.

From CSMonitor:  Mumia Abu-Jamal sues over the Pennsylvania law specifically meant to gag him.

From RSN and FirstLook:  Yes, we do need someone to judge the judges because Judge Edith Jones is an ignorant racist bitch.

From FirstLook:  How the innocent are screwed into pleading guilty.

From NPR:  Black and dead in Brazil.

From ConsortiumNews:  Is Arlington, VA racist?  Probably.

From RSN:  Did you know that Denver cops had killed an unarmed street preacher.  It costs them $4.6 million?  That was an expensive cap-popping.

From RawStory:  Dead in Alabama jails to save money.

From TheNation:  How racism stole black childhood.

From RSN:  Cops killed 77 people in September 2014.

From the NYT:  Civil asset forfeiture - makes me wanna support Clive Bundy.

From Demos via RSN:  A third of Americans live at or near poverty.

From YahooNews:  Expelled Nazis and SS still get Social Security paychecks.

From Think Progress via RSN:  Funny Ebola freak-outs.

From YahooNews:  Michael Dunn gets life for killing 17-year-old Jordan Davis.

From Truthout:  Incarceration, mass murder, and genocide of Black men.

From FreeThoughtProject:   Cops with gang tattoos to celebrate the people they kill.

From Truthout:  Understanding our many Fergusons.

From YahooNews:  Another unarmed, innocent black teen attacked by white cops on a racial profiling rampage.  Luckily, the cops didn't kill him.

From GQ via RSN:  An interesting article about murderer, George Zimmerman's crappy family.

From News 13 via RSN:  Michael Dunn found guilty of murdering black teenager, Jordan Davis.

From Truthout:  Cops retaliate against citizens group that monitor police activity.

From Salon via RSN:  America's summer of white supremacy.

From InformedComment via RSN:  $8.7 billion in food stamp cuts, but $22 billion to fight ISIS.

From TheNewYorkTimes:  When Whites Just Don't Get It Part One and Part Two.

From the HuffingtonPost:  Los Angeles law enforcement kill about one person a week - I'm not surprised.

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From YahooNews:  JUSTICE:  Woman beat up by CHiP cop, wins $1.5 million and cop resigns.

From NPR:  INJUSTICE:  Grand Jury refuses to indict murders... I mean cops involved in the shooting death of an unarmed man in Ohio Wal-Mart shooting.
-----------------------

From BearingArms:  Family wants charges against fat lying bastard who made the 911 call that led to the murder of their son.

From Salon via RSN:  The strange death of Charles Smith.  Shot to death while handcuffed, supposedly in possession of gun.

From Salon via RSN:  Rock the Vote joins militia group to intimidate Wisconsin African-American voters in November.

From CBS:  WHITE South Carolina state trooper charged in shooting of UNARMED BLACK MAN.

From Salon via RSN:  Yes, Justice Scalia is "an utter moral failure."

From the Guardian UK via RSN:  Cops act like gang in assault on Latino man.

From the AP via RSN:  Students walk-out in protest over conservative school board's attempt to make history education emphasize respect for authority and the free-market.

From the Guardian UK via RSN:  By the way, a federal judge approved New York City's settlement with the Central Park Five.  Former mayor, Michael Bumberg, had fought the lawsuit.

From The Washington Post via RSN:  Cops seizing hundreds of millions in cash and property from motorists not charged with crimes.  First heard about this a month ago, and I'm still shocked.

From Campus Reform via RSN:  Students and faculty have to tell Clemson University how many times they've had sex...  Apparently, this is real.

From The Daily Beast via RSN:  Ferguson cops caught in a lie about blood on their uniforms and got away with it... for now.

From BuzzFlash via Truthout:  For Black youth, no mistakes allowed.  It could be fatal.

From TheWashingtonPost:  White rage against Black progress.

From the GuardianUK via RSN:  Yep, the cops shot Darrien Hunt in the back.  Had to admit it.

From Esquire via RSN:  It's never about race, right?  Riiiiiight.

From The Intercept via RSN:  No heads in the sand on ISIS beheading videos.

From Truthout:  NRA hold "killer cop contest."Includes a "Head Shots Only" competition.

From the SPLC via RSN:  Neo-Confederate group forms paramilitary unit to advance a second secession.

From YahooSports:  Yeah, there are good cops...

From CBSLocal via RSN:  Free Patrick McLaw - A teacher an self-published science fiction author placed on administrative leave after his work was discovered.  Free Patrick McLaw.

From ABCNews:  John Crawford, Jr., the father of Wal-Mart shooting victime, John Crawford, III, hears his son's dying breaths.

From YahooNews:  So-called witness in John Crawford shooting - the guy who called 911, has changed his story.

From BuzzFlash:  Black men who "open carry" get a cap in the ass from cops.

From TomDisptach via RSN:  We made ISIS.

From Truthout: U.S. slammed for failure to end all forms of racial discrimination

From Reuters via RSN:  Federal prosecutors will investigate the shooting death of Victor White III, a Louisiana man whose death had been previously ruled a suicide.  Supposedly, he shot himself while handcuffed in the back of a police car.

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From LATimes:  Two brothers who were wrongly convicted of the murder and rape of an 11-year-old girl in North Carolina were freed Wednesday morning, September 3, 2014.  They spent 30 years in prison.  One was 19 and the other were 15 when they were arrested in 1983.

So is a Black man in America more afraid of police and the justice system or of ISIL/ISIS?
------------------------------------------

From ThinkProgress via RSN:  Ain't it the truth, girl - America has a real racial problem - Justice Ginsburg.

From GlobalVoiceOnline:  Israeli soldiers used Gazans as human shields  This is not the first time I have heard of this.  They way Israelis act, one would think Palestinians were the ones who caused the Holocaust.

From Truthout:  Black women on "Women's Equality Day."

From NateSilver via RSN:  Most police don't live in the cities they serve.

From TheNation:  How Trayvon Martin's death launched a new generation of black activism.

From MotherJones:  How indeed.

From BuzzFlash: A piece on Ferguson police officer, Dan Page, and his racist speech given before the Oath Keepers in April 2014.  From TheAdvocate and TheGuardian - Page's speech.

From YouTube:  Ferguson police officer, Dan Page, threatening CNN's Don Lemon.

From Truthout:  "We won't go back" - the march for Eric Garner.

From Truthout:  The killing of black men continues...

From YahooNews:  Activist carry the coffin of a black woman killed by a white Phoenix police sergeant to the steps of City Hall.

From Valid:  More commentary on Michelle Cusseaux, the black woman killed by a white Phoenix police officer.

From BuzzFlash via Truthout:  Most whites still don't understand the danger of being a black man in the U.S. ...

From Esquire via RSN:  Charles Pierce - Ferguson: The Limits of Everything

From Reuters via RSN:  President Obama order review of police militirization

From Salon via RSN:  How to Wreck the GOP in 3 Easy Steps! - Obama and weak-kneed Democratic leadership won't do this.

From RSN:  Where Were the Soldier Cops at Bundy Ranch?  - Good questions, Marc Ash.  There is a markedly different response to black protestors in Ferguson, Missouri than there was to the white, gun-toting protestors at the Bundy Ranch in Nevada.

From Popular Resistance via Truthout:  The reality of militarized, racist policing ...according to a recent study, a black man is killed every 28 hours by police, security guards or vigilantes. The whole nation is experiencing these tragedies; reality is being forced upon us.

From Time via RSN:  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: "The Coming Race War Won't Be About Race." He says that it will be about class.  He also wonders if the event in Ferguson, Missouri will disappear down the memory hole as the shootings at Jackson State in 1970 - 10 days after the Kent State shooting.

From Salon via RSN: The criminalization of Black mothers.

From Truthout:  It's worth standing with Keith Ellison.

From BuzzFlash:  President Nixon's Vietnam treason confirmed


OTHER:

From The Intercept via RSN:  How Gary Webb was destroyed.


MISC:

From Suggest:  10 celebs you didn't know were black.

From RedFlagNews, you will learn that everything is not peachy.