OT Ice Cube's Contract With Black America

I LOVE this!!

Ice Cube's Contract With Black America is out!

Over the past few months, as it relates to BLM, etc., I've mentioned grass roots efforts being a key many, many times. Folks, THIS is what I'm talking about!

 

this great on multiple levels! And he is spot on on pretty much everything he said.

ive been saying that instant change on multiple levels would bring chaos and that in order to continue to progress, change needs to come in increments.
He just explained it in a way that i now see why a few thingd need to happen at once.
Like prison reform at the same time as “defunding” the police.
And he is right about voting.
If people would understand how powerful their vote actually is when they unify, change CAN happen within the current process.
And local involvement of communities, both by residents and officers is essential. And he is right that cops should police their own communities.
Ive always liked ice cube. I spin lethal injection on a regular basis. But i never knew he was as rational as this.

Im going to read the contract after i eat some breakfast.

Good find!

 

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/29/obama-police-reform-341685 https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/yvewn7/how-criminal-justice-reform-died-bill-keller
there have been grass roots efforts in the past that exploded into national movements, such as MLK's million man march, the core of which was economic justice. community involement by the police and holding the department and officers themselves to a higher standard with the goals put forth at the federal level and over-site from the feds was a policy of the obama administration implemented after the ferguson riots. the present administration abolished those standards and practices and by doing so has made themselve complicit in the current social unrest/riots IMHO. the underpinnings of the current demonstrations fall on the Trump administrations. BLM came out of Ferguson, and has become the standard bearer as the national organization of racial injustice in many ways because the isses still haven't been addressed or have gotten worse. criminal justice reform was a major effort by the obama administration that had a large coalition of divergent and groups including newt gingrich and the Koch brothers organization, yet McConnell in the senate refused to put the bipartisan bills up for a vote.
"And even the most modest proposals ran into fierce opposition from a handful of hawks such as Republican senators Tom Cotton, of Arkansas, and Jeff Sessions, of Alabama. (Cotton has indicated he might even block a bill intended to protect juveniles from being locked up with adults, and to ban incarceration for "status offenses" like skipping school or breaking curfew. That measure is so non-controversial it passed the House 382–29 last week.)"
"For example, a single senator can prevent a bill from getting expedited attention and consign it to a bureaucratic slow boat. Even though Speaker Ryan was reportedly willing to hold a vote in the House, Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, refused to make room on the calendar for any issue that aroused dissent within his caucus."
those two quotes are from the link posted here. the justice reform bills were from 2014, so anyone saying the problems were caused by obama is being disingenuous. IMHO the republican senate is the major culprit in the case of a lack of meaningful criminal justice reform and the current administration for the lack of police reform including an executive order demilitarizing the police.

 

I think the difference now is social media. social media can help the movement from dieing out by replaying and pushing the agenda out there.

In the past there was very little that could be done outside of actual protest marches.
Now there are multiple platforms of which ground can be held without falling backwards.
I think ice cube nailed it on the voting.
It starts there. We need to take back the politicians and force them to remember they work for us. Without that, nothing else can come to fruition. Its all about the politicians and getting them back to working for the people and not themselves and big business.

 

I'm sorry, but BLM ain't showin' anyone these days where it's at to effect serious change/reform. In fact, they're becoming more counter-productive and destructive as time rolls on.

 

i think you are missing the point i was trying to make in that the moment for change already happened and that reforms to both the criminal justice system and policing policies were already passed with bipartisan support before the wilodfires were lit that have led to the outrage we are seeing now and that it far exceeds the past moment when the fires could have been extinguished or at least brought down to embers. i also placed the blame IMHO squarely on those that ignored the moment and the good that the bills and reforms would have provided. and that they were only 3 1/2 years ago. the pain and rioting are now the responsibility of those that refused and failed to act.

 

Good! Hope they continue to follow through. This was from 5 years ago.

Campaign Zero: Black Lives Matter activists' new, comprehensive policy platform, explained
By German Lopez Aug 21, 2015, 2:51pm EDT


Black Lives Matter activists finally have an answer to critics demanding specific policy proposals.

This has been a central question posed to the movement, which aims to eliminate racial disparities in the criminal justice system, since it rose to national prominence following the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. A lot of groups — from supporters to media to Hillary Clinton — have challenged the movement to define its policy agenda.

"You're going to have to come together as a movement and say, 'Here's what we want done about it,'" Clinton said in a meeting with Black Lives Matter activists last week. "Because you can get lip service from as many as white people as you can pack into Yankee stadium and a million more like it, who are going to say, 'Oh, we get it, we get it. We're going to be nicer.' That's not enough — at least in my book. That's not how I see politics."

But now activists have an answer to Clinton's call with the launch of Campaign Zero. The website details several proposals to limit police use of force, particularly shootings against black people who are disproportionately likely to die at the hands of police. The proposals aren't particularly surprising for anyone who's closely followed the Black Lives Matter movement, but it's the most comprehensive set of ideas ever released by advocates.

https://www.vox.com/2015/8/21/9188729/police-black-lives-matter-campaign-zero

 

Yep. And let's keep watching for those results. Not the type we keep on seeing on the streets of our beloved country.

 

...and for them. Meanwhile, there are plenty of folks who think they ain't the answer. Glad folks like Ice Cube are stepping up.

At any rate, there are issues at every corner. Who know where this ends....

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opin...-matter-but-only-sometimes-column/3264946001/

 

i hate to assume racial bias in anyone's motivations, but i have to ask myself if the only reason the moment has "woke" folks that ignored it 4 years ago had to do with the fact that many of the proposed changes came from a black president and the obstructionism from the predominantly white republican senate that refused to act.

 

Protests, yes. Violence, no.

All in all, it's still a somewhat complicated equation....

https://fivethirtyeight.com/feature...hurt-biden-the-two-dont-appear-linked-so-far/

 

Definitely 12 & 13. Much of which goes hand-in-hand:

12. AJP Program for Education and Jobs. Adoption of AJP, A Public/Private program that provides access to jobs and education and/or training for people willing to put in the work and commitment.

13. Black Responsibility. Chronic poverty creates an atmosphere full of negativity, frustration, hopelessness, depression, alcoholism, drug abuse, crime, and violence. These are some of conditions that plague the Black Community which is dealing with extreme generational poverty. As we begin to gain social and economic equality it is our duty to clean up ourselves and our community. This contract is a 2-way street. As we gain social and economic equality, we must begin to dissolve any bitterness in our hearts for past wrongs. We must become better citizens who are more productive on all levels of American society. We really must step up after we pass the Contract with Black America with no more excuses left in the kiddie. Our entertainers should be persuaded to deliver more positive content that leads our youth to make better choices in life. A new pride must develop with these new opportunities and we must fight against negativity, frustration, hopelessness, depression, alcoholism, drug abuse, crime, and violence.