Law | [fung'ke] [blak] [chik]™

I Got A Six Shooter & A Horse Named Trigger

Posted under: law, politics

All of my life I’ve had a fascination with guns. I used to follow my uncles to the range and sit there with sheer fascination. Every time a gun would go off, it would send goosebumps through my body. Back then, I knew when I got older I wanted a job where I’d be able to use weapons, responsibly. I think I was the only little girl who had dreams of being a detective or sharp shooter. Go figure. Instead of Barbie dolls, I had G.I. Joe toys and toy guns. I never bothered to play with my younger sisters, but my younger brother and I got along because we were always playing cops & robbers or some sort of make believe army game.

Fast forward 20-something years later.

No, I’m not in Law Enforcement or the military, but I still have a secret love of weapons. Only a few people in my family know about it, I hardly ever mention it to friends. One of my best friends in the area is on the SWAT Team for the Secret Service and when he found out about my shooting skills a few years ago, he couldn’t believe it. I happened to tag along with him to target practice one day, and asked if I could give it a ‘try’, unbeknownst to him I wasn’t an amateur.

From that day on, I’ve had a new range partner. On my 30th birthday he gave me and nice shiney new toy (pictured above). Needless to say, minus the day I gave birth to my son, that was one of the most happiest days of my life.

There is always going to be the argument over the right to bear arms. What people fail to realize is that a gun is an inanimate object. It’s the person behind the gun that pulls the trigger to kill someone. If the gun is just laying there, chances are it’s not going to cause any one harm.

For the record, I am not a member of the NRA. Just a responsible and licensed gun owner. Most people who are licensed gun owners don’t even own one out of the sheer aspect of possibly shooting a would be intruder, but for the sport of it. Chances are, if I owned a motorcycle, the chances of me killing myself or someone else with it is greater.

Of course there are criminals out there with access to fire arms. But, there are also the criminals masquerading around in police uniforms who have access to them as well. I’m not sure which is the lesser evil. But if there’s a chance that I can protect myself from either of them, I’m willing to take it.

Dear R. Kelly:

Posted under: law

I guess money does buy alot of things! I’m not sure how much you paid the girl’s family or even the girl herself, but you’ll eventually have to only answer to one person. I hope your daughters never come across someone as vile and filthy as yourself.

I was so hoping that you’d be marked with the scarlet letter of “PEDOPHILE”, but a jury has just given their not guilty verdict. I’ve never been a fan, and never will be. Just the sight of you absolutely disgusts me!

You are now free to molest and continue about your business. I was hoping that you’d end up in a 10×10 cell, but a jury saw fit to find you not guilty. I’m just wondering, how many of those jurors were, dumb, deaf and blind and the parents of teenage girls?

Once again, the justice system has failed.

What is your opinion on the verdict? Share & discuss!

No Child Left Behind: Color Consciousness in Adopting

Posted under: family, law, politics

In 6th grade I had a very close friend named Parminder, I think we both got along because we were quiet and kept to ourselves. The one thing that always intrigued me about Parminder, was the contrast between her skin tone and hair. She had the blackest hair I had ever seen, and her skin was the color of copper. It was rare occurance for Parminder and I to see each other outside of school, but one day she invited me over to her house. When I walked into her house, I expected to see parents that looked just like her, but I saw two very blond hair and blue eyed people and that’s when it dawned on me that Parminder was adopted. Being the nosey kid I was, when I asked her about it, she told me she was from India and was adopted when she was 2 yrs old. I didn’t think anything about it until I was listening to the news these past couple of days.

In recent news, The Multi-Ethnic Placement Act (MEPA) has been questioned in regards to transracial adopting practices and procedures. Basically the MEPA prohibits race from being considered a factor in most decisions about adoption from foster care. Whether you’re black or white, you’ll go through the same adoption training as someone who wants to adopt a child from their own race. Statistics show that there is a larger number of minority children in the foster care system compared to white children.

Personally, I believe that it shouldn’t matter who adopts these children, as long as they’re given a chance to get out of the ’system’, but I do feel that if a white couple does venture out to adopt a minority child, there should be some type of ‘ethnic’ & cultural sensitivity training involved. I think these children should be able to live in an environment that provides the child an opportunity to participate in positive experiences with their culture, religion, and language. A child should be able to interact with parents who have an understanding what it feels like for the child to look different from their parent and also to have a parent that has knowledge of special dietary, skin, hair, and health care needs. Although there are private organizations who take part in similiar trainings, I think this should be mandatory and State funded initiatives.

One incident in particular that I remember was how Parminder would always lotion herself up through out the day at school and she would never want to play outside when it was really sunny. When I asked her why, she always said she didn’t want to become darker and since the lotion was white, she would hope that it would change her to a lighter color, so that she could match her family. When I look back at the years of friendship I had with Parminder, I can see where her parents failed her. She wasn’t taught anything about her Indian culture, she thought because her skin was darker than her parents and sibilings that something was wrong. It wasn’t until we attended college at Rutgers University, which has a large Indian population, that she was able to learn and appreciate her culture and embrace it.

Mommie Dearest

Posted under: family, law

“No more wire hangers, no more wire hangers!”, I’m not sure why every time I see that scene in, “Mommie Dearest”, I practically die from laughter. I think I might have watched that movie about forty-eleven times growing up. It seemed as though it aired about once a month on the new defunct WPIX Channel 11 in the NYC/NJ area.

As a child, I can honestly say I didn’t have it to bad. My sisters/brother & I were far from being spoiled kids, but we also clearly recognized the boundaries and when NOT to cross the line. Once we crossed that line, we knew there were always going to be some serious repercussions & ramifications.

I think I had it particularly hard because I was the oldest. I also got the “You Need To Set An Example” lecture. But in the back of my mind, I said, “Damn an example, I’m setting precedents”. Yes, I was the first to do many things. The first to run away, the first to cut my hair without my mothers permission, the first to get a tattoo without permission and the first to steal and get caught by the man who owned the bodega across the street from my house.

Now, don’t think all of my firsts were bad! I have done some crazy things growing up, some that still have gone unnoticed, but I rarely got in trouble for them because I was the “Model” student. Good grades were my anti-beatings. Every time I would sense I was about to get into trouble, I’d bring up another “A” I got in school, or an award I won, or how well I did at a track meet or basketball game.

People used to tease my mother by calling her “Mommie Dearest” because of the tight reign she kept on us. But when I think back, I think she did a pretty damn good job raising us. I can honestly say, that during my childhood, I only received two ‘whoopings’ and I can still feel the sting of the ’switch’ when I think about it. The last ‘whooping’ I received at the hands of “Mommie Dearest” was when I was 14 years old and she discovered that I had a tattoo on my arm, I guess the two weeks work I put into hiding it was a waste of time.

Now with that said, I am a firm believer in spanking a kid’s behind! I came across a You Tube video earlier this week of 7 year old boy who decided to steal his grandmother’s truck, so he could do ‘hood rat stuff’! I repeat, this kid is 7 years old!

Where is his Mommie Dearest?!?!

This kid could have killed people, but he wanted to do ‘hood rat stuff’ with his friend!

But guess what people, the grandmother is afraid to ‘whoop’ him because she’s afraid she might go to jail! The kid feels that an appropriate punishment would be a weekend of no video games (I’m quite sure his grandmother rushed out to buy him Grand Theft Auto, when it was released as well).

This is a prime example, in MY OPINION, of how kids are beating the system. I’ve heard children tell their parents that if they hit them, they’ll call the police! I’ll be damned if my 8 year old threatens me with a call to 911.

So here we have this 7 year old, who knows his grandmother won’t beat him because she’s afraid of what might happen to her. In this day, people are more afraid of their own kids and the ‘paybacks’ they may face from them if they choose to discipline them in their own way.

Jail bait.

I’m sorry, but that’s what that kid is. Is it to late for an intervention? No, I doubt it. Will his grandmother find the means to intervene? Who knows. But there’s one thing I’m certain about, when you’re the parent, it’s your JOB to instill fear in the heart of you kid, not the other way around!

Whatever happened to tough love?

(p.s, I am not condoning the abuse of children which is what Joan Crawford inflicted upon her children.)

For some reason, this is alot funnier in Spanish!

Sexual Harassment On The Playground: Gone Are The Days of Double-Dutch & Hopscotch

Posted under: law

When I was in 8th grade, it never ceased to amaze me how certain girls in my class felt that it was an ‘honor’ to get randomly felt-up by a male classmate, especially if he was the cute popular one. Back then, at the ages of 12/13, every one’s hormones were raging, but my mother didn’t raise a ‘fast-tail’ girl (that’s what my grandmother called them).

I remember one incident in particular and it took place during 7th period Chemistry class. Mr. Sakowitz had his typical coffee in one hand and cigarette in the other, yes my teacher smoked during class. As I made my way to my desk, I was approached by another classmate named Mustafa. Typically I tried to avoid him at all costs because he was a known culprit when it came to ass grabbing.

When I finally reached my desk, he did the unthinkable, and groped my behind. I immediately dropped my books and yelled at him. He looked at me as if I was in the wrong and called me a “bitch”. At that point, the next thing I knew, I threw a right hook and punched him dead in the eye and all I could now hear playing in my head as I’m writing this is Queen Latifah singing in my head, “Who you calling a bitch? I punched him dead in the eye..U.N.I.T.Y!”.

Once he managed to get back on his feet, the whole class was basically in tears from laughter. Mr. Sakowitz, took a drag from his cigarette and said to Mustafa, “Well, ain’t that something. Girls, maybe some of you need to take a few boxing lessons from (insert legal name) and boys, next time think twice before you try grabbing a girl”.

Now, that was back in 19_ _ and I was in 8th grade. I guess you can say that was typical pre-teen/teen behaviour. But nowadays it’s a whole different type of ball game.

Yesterday afternoon, my nephew and son were sitting at the dining room table doing their homework. My son called me in because he said he saw something disgusting happen at school during recess. He goes on to tell me that he saw a 4th grade boy put his hands down a 4th grade girl’s pants. It took everything for me not to curse out loud and say, “What the fuck!”. I asked him did he tell any of the teachers that were out there and he said he did, but they didn’t do anything. At this point, I asked my nephew if he saw the same thing, and he said yes as well.

My question is, what are parents teaching children nowadays? But more importantly, what are they not teaching their children?

Some people will blame it on the media, i.e, tv, video games, music. But parents need to be held accountable for the actions of their kids. My son shouldn’t have to come home from school and the subject of conversation shouldn’t be about the fresh-tail kids on the playground. Did I mention this was an ELEMENTARY school from K-5?

This morning I placed a phone call to the school and the Board of Education, expressing my concern about certain things that have taken place on the playground in recent weeks. I’ve also talked to the teacher who’s students were involved in the incident. Not only does it seem that Sexual Harassment training needs to take place in the workplace, but it also needs to take place in the school systems as well, because obviously some one’s parents have failed them.

50 Shots vs Unpaid Taxes

Posted under: law, politics

Ladies and gentleman, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the American legal system has proven once again to be one of the biggest jokes in history. I’m pretty sure other countries have had a good laugh at us in regards to last weeks most popular court verdicts.

First we have Wesley Snipes standing before the courts in Florida, with $5 million dollars in hand, as a good faith gesture for his delinquent tax bill.

Now, let me be the first to say, I AM NOT A FAN of Mr. Snipes and I also believe that if I have to pay taxes, so should he. Every time I see the amount of taxes taken out of my paycheck I want to cringe, but it’s one of those necessary evils that the government will not let go and never will.

In any event, Wesley Snipes received the maximum sentence that the courts could impose on him, which was 36 months. Even with the money presented to the courts, he wasn’t able to buy his way out of the sentencing. Of course, he was made an example of. In the eyes of the court he purposefully evaded paying Uncle Sam, and on top of being famous and *gasp* dare I say, ‘black’, what else did you expect?

But on the flip side, you have the Sean Bell case. I waited on CNN’s website practically all day to read what I expected to be a guilty verdict across the board. But of course, the scales of justice were not balanced as usual.

I was shocked to say the least. I was more pissed than anything. I could feel my face turning red and a wave of nausea hit me. Fifty shots were being justified. Witnesses were not credible to the judge because of their own backgrounds.

I’ve never been the one to label police officers as ‘pigs’, even after my own questionable traffic stops and tickets that I eventually went to court for and had them tossed out. But after reading the verdict, the only word that I could think of was ‘pigs’.

I’ve always tried to instill in my son and nephew that police officers are there to help, but now what do I tell them? In writing this, I remember a time a few months ago the three of use were at Popeyes restaurant in Laurel, on Rt. 198 (the Anne Arundel section of Laurel). There were three uniformed officers sitting there having lunch and my son looks over to them and waves. To my astonishment, not one of the police officers offered a wave back. I looked at them and gave them one of the most evil glares I could muster and they knew the reason why. Before we left, I approached the female officer and asked her if it would have been so hard to return a wave to a kid. She looked at me as if I was crazy and then I walked away.

So this week in American History, we’ve learned that if you don’t pay your taxes, you go to jail, but, if you’re protected by the shield of blue and you shoot a man 50times you’re allowed to roam the streets freely. It definitely puts a different spin on the whole “Protect & Serve” motto.

As a sidenote, I happened to be flicking through cable channels Friday evening and came across BET’s 106 & Park. The show included a few journalists and was centered around the Sean Bell verdict. I came in on the tail end of a phone call with Mos Def, but of course at the height of his ‘call for community action’ and not for people to take this verdict lightly, his call was disconnected. Tsk, tsk on BET. I’m quite sure the call was disconnected on purpose. Also, may I offer a bigger “TSK TSK & FUCK YOU” to BET in regards to the disclaimer I noticed at the end of the show, “The views expressed on today’s show were not those of BET”, is how it went. Now, I remember why I stopped watching that channel years ago.

WWB(Walking While Black)- Mumia Abu Jamal’s reaction to the verdict:
http://www.zshare.net/audio/111246732c5d053c/

It Takes A Village

Posted under: law, sex

…to come together to stone a man as vicious as this person pictured to the right. Michael Chaffer, who is 40 years old, is accused of raping and impregnating his girlfriend’s 10, YES, you read correctly, 10 year old daughter!! When I initially read the news article a wave of nausea hit me. Oh, let me not forget about the mother who failed to protect her little girl from this animal. It seems as though she knew what was going on, and even after there was an order for him not to be around her daughter, she continued to let him in her house! Let me guess, because she LOVED him.

For the record, I am an advocate for the death penalty. Yes, that’s my only conservative stance. I have come across so many cases of child molestation that I feel certain people shouldn’t be allowed to even have a chance to live and pedophiles are one of those groups. This case also brings up the fact that some people should not be allowed to procreate. This mother should be thrown behind bars for allowing such atrocities to happen to her child and felt the need not to do anything about it!

In Michael Chaffer’s case, the maximum sentence he could possibly receive depends on a variety of issues. If he’s only charged for a crime of rap, the term would be 10 years, but if he’s charged with sex with a child under 13 it is considered statutory rape, a crime punishable with a life prison term.

Yes, I’m sure everyone has their own reasons in opposing the death penalty, but I definitely have mine in being an advocate. Of course, everyone in prison says they’re innocent. Sure, there are types of people who can be reformed, but in my opinion, some don’t deserve the access to oxygen. Of course Chaffer probably denied even touching the child, but DNA results proved otherwise.

So now we have an 11 year old who was ripped of her innocence, a new born baby who is now a product of the ’system’, but on the bright side, if Michael Chaffer is released from his 10 yr prison term, he can go back to being a productive member of society. How about that for irony.

The video below is a court case in Fulton County, GA. A man was sentenced to a life prison term for molesting his girlfriend’s children. My friend was the prosecutor in this case and I think the judge rightfully went after the mother as well.

To Catch A Predator: