What!!!? Will Smith to Produce the George Zimmerman Story?

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

What!!!? Will Smith to Produce the George Zimmerman Story?

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HOW SOON WE FORGET

Americannews.com,  Power105.1fm.com, and several other entertainment sites on the web are reporting that Will Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment, which produced I Am Legend, Hancock, and The Karate Kid, is producing the George Zimmerman Story, starring Smith’s son, Jaden Smith, as Trayvon Martin. According to reports, the film is targeted to be released in the Spring of 2015 and George Zimmerman himself will be working on the film as a consultant for, get this - $3.2 million. When I first saw the report I couldn’t believe my eyes.
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We contacted Overbrook Entertainment to get confirmation on this story, but they referred us to their Publicist, Forty-Two West. The publicist indicated that they weren't able to either confirm or deny the story.
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We find that quite astonishing, since this story has been out over 10 days, and it's spreading like wildfire all over the net. Since it's such a potentially toxic story, one would think that Will's publicist would be all over it by now unless they're totally incompetent. That's led this writer to believe that this may be a trial balloon to measure public response, or maybe they're beginning to feel the heat and they're backing off the project.
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Should We Wait For Confirmation On Zimmerman Story?
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It has been suggested that Will and Jada are out of the country, so we should wait for confirmation before we get too excited over this story. I disagree.
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They have a multi-million dollar production company, a publicist, and staff. This story has been circulating for over 10 days and is as toxic as they come. How much time would it have taken anyone of those people to say that this story is ridiculous? Why are they being so tentative when contacted? Why haven't they publicly issued an unequivocal denial, effectively killing the story?
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They could have done any, or all of those things to kill this story. But they haven't, so it is important for the community to treat this story as though it is true, because it may have been planted as a trial balloon to measure public reaction. Another reason we should treat the story as true is because we don't want to see George Zimmerman get a dime, and if we don't start going crazy RIGHT NOW at the mere hint that something this ridiculous is in the works, Zimmerman may just get his $3.2 MILLION, and they may move forward with the project.
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Those who advocate waiting for confirmation have failed to consider the possibility that Will and Jada just might be out of the country for good reason - so they won't have to confirm or deny the story. They're just letting the rumor float out there so they can measure public reaction. So let's give it to them.
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If this story does turn out to be true, however, we have but one question to ask - is there no shame among people when it comes to making a dollar?  Just the hint of any truth to this story should bring the Black community to full attention. If this doesn't wake us up, we’re in a coma, and beyond help.
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If George Zimmerman had stalked, and then brutally murdered an innocent child from any other community, he would have had to leave the country and hide in a cave - and they STILL would have sought him out. But if this story is true, what do we do? We make him a celebrity and a multi-millionaire for brutally murdering one of our children. That's absolutely unbelievable - even for us.
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According to reports, in response to this question, Smith is quoted as saying, "It’s obvious that he’s [Zimmerman] not America’s sweetheart right now but his story is intriguing and it needs to be heard. Hitler wasn’t popular. Does that mean his story is any less interesting? Of course not. Slave masters aren’t popular but 12 Years a Slave was phenomenal. Wait until you see the finished product and judge for yourself."
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That’s got to be one of the biggest cop-outs I’ve ever heard in my life - it’s insulting! First, Hitler $3.2 million reward for killing Jews. So if Will Smith does decide to pursue this project the Black community needs to rise up and tell Mr. Smith the following, and in no uncertain terms:
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"Will Smith, we've got the finished product - Trayvon Martin is dead because he was born Black in America."

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"Smith, Trayvon was minding his own business, and Zimmerman stalked him - after being told by the police to remain in his car - and brutally murdered him. That's what's called a prima facie case.
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"Even if Trayvon DID fight him back, didn't Trayvon also have a right to "stand his ground" after being stalked by a stranger? Being placed in fear of bodily harm is in an assault. So Zimmerman literally assaulted Trayvon: 
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Assault:
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"An assault is carried out by a threat of bodily harm coupled with an apparent, present ability to cause the harm. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in either criminal or civil liability. Generally, the common law definition is the same in criminal and Tort Law. There is, however, an additional Criminal Law category of assault consisting of an attempted but unsuccessful Battery."
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"Thus, we know that 1). Zimmerman was told by the police dispatcher to remain in his vehicle; 2). Zimmerman ignored the dispatcher’s instructions, and thereby, set the chain of events into motion that led to the death of Trayvon Martin; 3). Zimmerman assaulted Trayvon; 4). Trayvon had the right to self-defense; 5). Zimmerman killed him for availing himself of that right.
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"So what Zimmerman got away with is the direct equivalent of an ARMED mugger stalking an UNARMED victim who weighed at least 50 lbs, less than himself, and then because the victim fought him back when he was assaulted (being placed in fear of bodily harm is an assault), the mugger claims in court that he had to kill the victim in self-defense.
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"That's a RIDICULOUS defense!!! - and that's what the prosecutors should have brought out, and would have, if Trayvon would have been a White child and the trial wasn't a sham.
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"If Trayvon's name would have been Trayvon Bush, or Cheney, Zimmerman would be on Death Row awaiting execution as we speak. What this trial said was it's a capital offense for a Black person to defend himselve - you know, like under Jim Crow law.
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"Based on the verdict of this case, a paid hit man could brutally murder his victim, call the police, and then claim self-defense. Then, if there was no one to contradict his word, walk away scot-free.
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"So again, Trayvon Martin is dead because he was born Black in America - period. So spare us the bullshit, Smith. The only one who thinks Zimmerman is "intriguing" is you. He's just a bigoted, garden variety murderer, and we don't need to hear anything else about him.  
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"Thus, we don’t give a damn about Hitler, and we don’t give a damn about slave masters; but what we very much give a damn about is that you’re making a disgusting brute who stalked and murdered one of our children a multi-millionaire, and that's unacceptable.
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"We're certain that if Zimmerman had killed your son, Jaden, you wouldn’t have thought the story was so "intriguing," and "needed to be heard" so badly that you’d have made him a multi-millionaire to tell it. So again, spare us the bullshit.
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"We know everything about George Zimmerman that we either need, or want to know. The only thing that will interest us about George Zimmerman is if something horrible befalls him, or the day he stops breathing. Now, that’s not to say that we’re wishing these things upon him - at least, not all of us - but we’re just being real here.
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"So stop trying to insult our intelligence, Smith. While we’re not rich - like WE made you - neither are we stupid. So you can make George Zimmerman a multi-millionaire if you like, but understand this - on the day that you sign that check, essentially PAYING him for murdering Trayvon, from that day forward, Mr. Fresh Prince, you’re no longer one of us. We’re going to ostracize you, spit every time we hear your name, and boycott any and everything your name is associated with. We’re going to make an example of you, Mr. Smith, for all of your rich, and formally Black peers to see, because we’re tired of this sort of thing."

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There are many reasons why the Black community should take this outrage so seriously. Of course there’s the obvious - it’s inappropriate, insensitive, and a slap in the face of the Black community to pay George Zimmerman $3.2 million for murdering one of our kids. But it goes beyond that. It also places other Black people in danger. What’s to stop some down-and-out bigot in one of those  "Stand Your Ground" states from reasoning, "Maybe if I go kill me a nigger I can make me a few million dollars?" But did Will Smith give that even a moment’s thought? I don’t think so. If this story is true, all he’s thinking about is his own pocket.

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Another reason the Black community needs to wake up and sniff this funk is because it’s past time for us to get the attention of ALL of these millionaire celebrities who made their fortunes from our dollars. The Black community is in dire need of assistance in the form of jobs, investment in the community, mentors, scholarships, etc.  Yet, most of these people are nowhere to be found. The only time we even see them is on television flaunting their wealth in our face.  It’s time to bring that to an end. We’ve got to see to it that these people understand that if they want our support, it’s going to have to be a symbiotic relationship. They’re going to have to deliver some support back into the community. That’s how other communities prosper, but for far too many Black people, having "arrived" means getting as far away from other Black people as they can possibly get.
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So again, Will Smith, spare us the bullshit about "a story that needs to be heard." Yeah, we made you rich, but in spite of that, we’re not completely stupid. You don’t give a damn about Zimmerman’s story. Since when have you been a connoisseur of history? Your intent is to make THE archenemy of the Black community a multi-millionaire so you can drag yet more dollars out of an already economically depressed community. That’s unconscionable, brother, and we’ll never forgive you for it. 

 

ABOUT CHARACTER

NOW THEY WANT TO PIMP
MY GRAVE!!!?

One of the big problems that we're having in the Black community is we're grouping people in the wrong way. We're putting our trust in people based on skin color, clout, and popularity rather than the qualities that we should be - character and class. Bigotry and injustice is not so much about race or color as it is opportunity. I learned that as a union rep in the post office. I found that you can take the most "down for the cause " brother or sister in a facility, and then give them a raise and a little power, and some of them will become the biggest tyrants you've ever known.
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I once won an EEO for a young lady who used to be crying on my shoulder every single day. As part of my resolution I got her manager fired, and got the sister elevated into management. Then, a month or two later I went to her office to discuss a problem that another employee was having. The problem was quite similar to the one I had addressed on her behalf. But when I walked through the door of her brand new office, she casually looked up and asked, "What can I do for you MR. WATTREE?" It was as though we were strangers - AND later, she used the new authority, THAT I HAD GOTTEN FOR HER, to have me followed around and spied on in an attempt to find a pretext to build a case against ME! She eventually came to herself, and we're dear friends to this day, but that experience taught me that the tendency to be self-serving and corrupt is in all of us. The only difference between a good person and a bad person is the ability to recognize it in ourselves, and the desire to keep it in check.
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I learned a lot about human nature as a union rep within the postal service, and one of the most important things I learned was, you've got to pick your people based on character, not skin color. I learned that lesson well in the post office - and the Postal Service is simply a microcosm of the world at large.

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LISTEN TO THE LATE DR. AMOS WILSON. HE WAS A PSYCHIATRIST BY PROFESSION:

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18A180ECB72DAEE8&v=EXB9mz5Btkc.
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GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY, "YOUR BROTHER" WILL TREAT YOU WORSE THAN THE WHITE MAN.  STOP LETTING IT HAPPEN.
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Eric L. Wattree
http://wattree.blogspot.com/
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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Black Racists and Their Thinly Veiled Racist Rants Against Obama

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

Black Racists and Their Thinly Veiled Racist Rants Against Obama

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In a comment on Electronic Urban Report (http://www.eurweb.com/2013/08/an-open-letter-to-tavis-smiley/#comme...), a gentleman by the name of Earl Wilkerson said the following:

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"Many of the arguments Mr. Smiley and Mr. West have concerning the African American community still exists and always will. Oh My how have we often forgotten President Obama Mother is a White woman to many this does not truly represents a African American fully. In fact, many may call him a half breed."

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Mr. Wilkerson’s "half breed" comment was nothing less than a not so thinly veiled racist rant, much like those of Cornel West. I found his allusion to "half breed" laughably ironic, since Barack Obama is perfectly symbolic of the African-American culture itself – part African, and part American. MOST African Americans are mixed, and a very short excursion among REAL and PURE Africans would clearly demonstrate that fact. Afros, Dashikis, and exotic-sounding names notwithstanding, we’re clearly not the genuine article.

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Our mixture may not be as direct as Obama’s, but I’d be willing to bet that as many as 90% of us have a "White boy" lingering somewhere in our family tree – I know I do, in spite of my large lips, kinky hair, and beautiful BROWN skin. And to listen to some of you – at least, with respect to your hostile attitudes towards Obama – it’s clear that more than a few of you not only have White boys lurking in your family trees, but those White boys brought their sheets along. Clear evidence of that is, instead of heatedly discussing the Republican attempt to reverse the Voting Rights Act, all of your anger is focused on the first Black President of the United States. No other culture in America would be that stupid – do you hear me, Smiley and West?

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And about President Obama’s seeming inability to part the Red Sea

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 Why is Unemployment So High?

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It is clear that the corporate/Republican alliance have decided that it’s in their best interest to keep unemployment artificially high. We know this is true because they’re making more profits than they’ve ever made in their history, so there’s no reason for unemployment to be so high. There are several reasons why it’s in their advantage to do so.

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1). It’s to their political advantage to keep the American people angry, miserable, and divided during the Obama administration. That’s why we have gridlock in congress.

2). They know that by allowing the poor and middle class to obtain any disposable income whatsoever it will stimulate the economy and create even more jobs, because the TRUE job creators are the poor and middle class. The poor and middle class create jobs when they have the disposable income to purchase goods and services, because that forces businesses to hire people to provide those goods and services.

3). The corporate/Republican Alliance doesn’t want the economy to be stimulated because their agenda is to place so much pressure on the American Middle class that they’ll be less resistant to accepting a lower standard of living, and thereby, be dragged down to a standard of living that conforms to the new GLOBAL economy where countries are paying their workers less per week than many American workers spend on lunch per day.

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So if that is the case, and the corporatists are REFUSING to hire, is there anything in a free society that President Obama can do to FORCE corporations to hire workers if they’ve decided that it’s not is their best interest to do so?

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You see, the problem with the thinking of people like Tavis Smiley, Cornel West, and other Obama critics is they seem not to recognize – or at least, don’t want the people to recognize – that Obama is merely the President of the United States, not the King of the United States. So these people are either not very bright, or they’re purposely trying to mislead the people – which do you believe it is?

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And by the way, it’s no accident that once Smiley and West lost the confidence of the Black community, they switched their strategy to start calling Obama a war criminal. By doing so, they’re trying to reach out to another constituency. Thus, while their lips say their interest is with what’s in the best interest of the Black community, their behavior clearly demonstrate two so-called brothers running all over the place trying to find ANYTHING that they can use to smear this Black president.

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Their antipathy towards President Obama is much like that of the Republican Party and social bigots - the only way the president could possibly appease their hostility would be to resign and apply for White House butler. So their behavior is not only embarrassing, but it’s disgustingly racist, and the Black community shouldn’t tolerate it.

A BLACK RACIST
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHSH1GYJXEE

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President Obama: Protect America From Economic Terrorists

http://wattree.blogspot.com/2011/09/president-obama-protect-america-from.html

 

 Eric L. Wattree

http://wattree.blogspot.com/

Ewattree@Gmail.com

Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)

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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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The Zimmerman Verdict - A Return to Jim Crow “Justice”

Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree

The Zimmerman Verdict - A Return to Jim Crow "Justice"

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The Zimmerman verdict was a return to Jim Crow justice. The ONLY solid evidence in this case was that Zimmerman stalked, approached, and killed an innocent Black child. That was proven. Everything else was simply the word of a murderer trying to justify his crime.
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We didn't have to prove that Zimmerman murdered Trayvon. That was a fact already in evidence. Thus, it was then up to ZIMMERMAN to prove that there were mitigating circumstances that justified his committing the crime, otherwise, he would have simply gone to jail for murdering a child.
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Thus, the case boiled down to who the jury chose to believe, a murderer trying to get off the hook, or their lying eyes, and due to their racist attitudes toward Black males, they chose to believe the murderer - in spite of the fact that every act he engaged in prior to the murder was improper. So it was a racist verdict - period.

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To all those who are trying to bend reality and common sense by saying that the jury merely followed the law and jury instructions and came to a completely objective and color-blind verdict, I simply say the following. If that were indeed the case, it would be a matter of record that Black people and Whites get equal justice under the law, but every statistical study ever done on our judicial system clearly shows that’s not the case.

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All laws and jury instructions are open to interpretation. That's why we have juries. In this case, this jury, chose to believe that Fred Flintstone actually existed and graduated from Yale in the Spring of 21000 B.C., and every non-racist, clear-thinking in America knows that, so you might as well stop trying to debate this issue.

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By trying to justify this blatantly racist atrocity, and claiming that anyone who doesn’t want to accept the ridiculous justification for this murder and verdict is race-baiting, your merely making our case regarding the continuing strain of racism that's so pervasive in this country. Because such an argument is the height of racist arrogance, and it's an insult to the intelligence of anyone with common sense. It’s the murder and verdict that’s race-baiting.

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In essence, what racists and the obsequious idiots who follow them expect us to believe is Zimmerman was found not guilty because an innocent dead child failed to prove that he had a right to live. That argument is as stupid as it gets. It's a throwback to the Jim Crow era when bigots used to be acquitted on the grounds that "the nigga forced us to lynch him."  So if you embrace that rationale, you’re either stupid, or a racist.

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Racist Rant From George Zimmerman's Brother

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6cfOSnRJj8

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Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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Racists Convicted Trayvon Martin of Failing To Prove He Had a Right to Live

Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree

Racists Convicted Trayvon Martin of Failing To Prove He Had a Right to Live

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Zimmerman Supporters are insisting that anyone who points out racism as a component of the Zimmerman verdict is a race-baiter, while at the same time suggesting that we accept out of hand that because Trayvon was a young Black male, Zimmerman was justified in his assumption that he constituted a threat to the community. How is that not racism?
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More evidence of a racist mind-set is the fact that most Zimmerman supporters are blindly accepting the murderer's version of events - a murderer, I might add, who has been caught in several inconsistencies, and refused to explain how he got to his gun under the scenario that he described. How do they justify that? 
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If a guy is arrested for shooting someone in an alley, would they blindly accept the murderer’s word that the victim attacked him? If so, what's to prevent every murderer from claiming that he was being attacked? Thus, if every murderer was treated with the same level of deference that George Zimmerman was treated, the only way to convict anyone of murder would be with an independent eye witness (http://www.thestate.com/2013/07/10/2856356/sc-supreme-court-stops-murder.html).
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We have no evidence whatsoever to suggest that Trayvon did any of the things that Zimmerman claimed. Yet, Zimmerman supporters are claiming that we have to prove Zimmerman guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Well, it had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Zimmerman initiated a chain of events that ended in the death of an innocent kid. Thus, the murder had been proven, so it was up to Zimmerman to prove that there were mitigating circumstances that made the murder of an unarmed child justified.
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In addition, even if Trayvon did get into an altercation with Zimmerman, didn’t Trayvon have a right to defend himself against a man who 1). stalked him, 2). weighed 40 pounds more than he did, 3). unjustifiably approached him at night, 4). didn’t identify himself, and 5). didn’t have any visible sign of authority? All of those factors made Zimmerman’s claim of self-defense ridiculously flawed.
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But in spite of all that, instead of holding Zimmerman accountable for his reckless behavior, they convicted Trayvon - who was guilty of nothing more criminal than going to the store - of not being able to prove he had a right to live. How is that not racism?
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Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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Save Your Breath, Zimmerman Supporters - The Black Community Know You Better Than You Know Yourselves

Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree

Save Your Breath, Zimmerman Supporters - The Black Community Know You Better Than You Know Yourselves 

The vast majority of people in this country - both Black, White, and others - are good people. While we all have a strain of racism in us, it’s not a conscious racism, and most of us of normal intelligence are engaged in a constant internal struggle to eradicate it when we recognize it in ourselves. What makes it such a struggle is we’re constantly inundated by it in this country, and the reason we try so desperately to weed it out is, being of normal intelligence, we see it for what it is - a form of gross stupidity.
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But as a Black man - one who has three mixed grandsons, including Eric Wattree III, and a daughter-n-law who is so pure in her White heritage that she makes Mitt Romney look like an Angolan immigrant - I’ve found the debate over the George Zimmerman verdict very enlightening. I used to think that racism was a choice, but now I see that there is a group of people, of normally good conscience, in this country whose racist strain is so innate to who they are that they are completely blind to it. They don’t intend to be racist, nevertheless, their racist attitudes and assumptions seep all the way to their bone marrow. We’ve seen a clear example of that in the Zimmerman verdict.
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One's predisposition colors the way that one perceives the world. Therefore, in my opinion, the only way that it would be possible to view George Zimmerman’s actions in a less than culpable manner is to view reality through the clouded lens of, at the very least, a predisposition towards latent and unrecognized racism.
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Many who support the verdict, yet recognize it as the brutal assault on American justice that it is, are trying to hide behind the law by saying that they had no choice but to let Zimmerman off due to the reading of Florida law. But that’s not only a weak argument, but a transparent attempt to justify their innate predisposition not to hold Zimmerman accountable for his actions. 
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This verdict boiled down to whether or not the jury believed Zimmerman's story, in spite of all its flaws. It wasn't the law that determined whether or not the jury accepted Zimmerman’s story that Trayvon attacked him, or that he feared for his life against a child who weighed 40 pounds less than himself, or that once he had the gun out he had to pull the trigger. It was their predisposition to want to believe him.
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The bottom line is, this verdict essentially, and in fact, convicted an innocent victim instead of a murderer who engaged in a series of extraordinary and improper actions that led to the victim's death. Thus, in order to excuse the murderer's improper actions, and to convict the victim instead of the murder, it required a mind-set that betrays a racist predisposition - whether the assessor of fact was trying to act in good faith or not.
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It takes either racism or a complete lack of common sense not to clearly recognize that racism played a huge role in both George Zimmerman’s motives, and his intent. First, the only thing that caught Zimmerman’s attention about Trayvon Martin was the fact that he was a Black male. Secondly, Zimmerman contacted 911 more than 40 times, and virtually every call involved Black males. Third, Zimmerman was instructed to remain in his car, and he ignored those instructions. Fourth, Zimmerman claimed he murdered Trayvon in self-defense, but regardless to what took place after he approached Trayvon, Zimmerman had to approach Trayvon to place himself in a position to require him to have to defend himself. And fifth, Zimmerman claimed that he had to resort to lethal force because Trayvon, who weighed 40 pounds less than him, was banging his head against the concrete so vigorously that it caused him to fear for his life. Yet, all he had to show for this brutal assault were a few scratches, not the huge lumps on his head that you would expect from a person whose head had been banged against concrete.
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Thus, I feel safe in saying that no parent in America - Black or White - would find that anywhere close to a justifiable excuse for the murder of their child - a child who was doing nothing more criminal than going to the store to get a bag of Skittles. So I submit that it takes either gross racism or gross stupidity to accept such a story as a justification for murder.
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In order for people to accept such a story they have to be of the following mindset:
1). Simply because Trayvon was Black that was an acceptable reason for Zimmerman to suspect him of criminal activity.
2). Again, because Trayvon was Black, he posed a serious enough threat to the community to justify Zimmerman ignoring police instructions to remain in his car.
3). Since Trayvon was Black, they should ignore the fact that Zimmerman actually approached him in the first place.
4) Since Trayvon was Black, it was the height of audacity for him to think he had the right to defend himself after being confronted by a man who wasn’t a police officer, and who didn’t have any visible sign of authority.
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If the above seems reasonable to you, you're a racist - period.
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If we accept that as the standard for justice in this country, that could cause murder-for-hire to overtake drug dealing as an easy source of disposable income. What’s to prevent some woman’s boyfriend from dragging her husband in an alley, blowing his brains out, and then calling the police and claiming self-defense? Or what’s to prevent a robber from killing his victim to cover his crime, and then calling the police and claiming he was attacked? Thus, the standard that Zimmerman was freed on was absolutely ridiculous - and clearly racist in nature.
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An assault is an intentional act by one person that creates an apprehension in another of an imminent harmful or offensive contact. So just by following, and then walking up to Trayvon at night constituted was an assault, because you don't have to put your hands on a person for it to constitute an assault. Putting you hands on them is assault and battery. An assault is merely placing them in fear for their well being. So it was Trayvon who had the right to defend himself. If the exact same scenario had taken place, but it had been a Black man who killed a White kid, the Black man would undoubtedly already be on Death Row - for first degree murder.
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But Black people are used to such ridiculous standards being applied to them, because many Americans, when it comes to self-serving comfort of racism, have a pronounced blind spot - and it’s historic in nature. The blind arrogance of many Americans is absolutely astounding - and then they’ll say things like, "There you go playing the race card again!" Of course we are, because you’re a racist, idiot!
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How in the hell can a White person even presume to tell a Black man about racism, and the state of racism in America? They have absolutely no idea what America looks like through the eyes of a Black man. George Zimmerman stalked an unarmed Black child, who was minding his own business, AFTER being told by the police to stay in his car, then shot and killed him. That’s murder, regardless to how you slice it - Period.
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Now, I love this country, but I don’t suffer any illusions about what it represents. But if you relate the truth about this country to some White folks - especially conservatives - they’re so blind to reality that they’ll call you un-American, regardless to how many facts you bring to bear. The reason for that is, as Americans, we’re expected to adhere to an unspoken agreement to perpetuate the American myth.
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But the easily demonstrable fact is, the United States is one of the most racist countries on the face of the Earth - and it always has been. All this "freedom and justice for all" was a lie when it was written, and it's still a lie.
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Again, Americans have a delusional blind spot when it comes to this country. We condemned Hitler for killing 6 million Jews, but we conveniently ignore the fact that Americans killed over 100 million Native Americans - and some historians place the number at closer 300 million. We call Al Qaeda unconscionable terrorists for killing three thousand Americans, then we trot right over to Iraq and kill over one million innocent women and children - and for absolutely nothing! Then we talk about the war against terrorism, but we're the only country on Earth that has dropped not one, but two, atomic bombs on Japan - one each, on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing and maiming thousands of innocent men, women, children, cute little puppies, and cuddly little kittens.
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Yeah, I know - we were at war with Japan. But we were at war with the Japanese government, not innocent noncombatants, and terrorism is defined as "the killing of innocent noncombatants for political purposes." So based on that definition, the United States is the most brutal and prolific terrorist nation in the history of mankind - and I didn't even mention the atrocities committed during slavery, the Jim Crow years, and during WWII when Black war heroes were forced to give up their seats on the train for Nazi prisoners of war.
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So George Zimmerman supporters can talk until their mouths are dry about why he was justified in killing that innocent child, but they’re not fooling the Black community for one second. Because contrary to what they’ve obviously convinced themselves to believe, being a minority and being dumb is far from synonymous, so we know them much better than they obviously know themselves.

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Racist Rant From George Zimmerman's Brother

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6cfOSnRJj8

Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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Let Us Use Trayvon’s Death to Breathe Life Back Into America

Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree

Let Us Use Trayvon’s Death to Breathe Life Back Into America

Many bigots in this country are giddy with delight over what they view as a victory for bigotry in the George Zimmerman verdict. But since scientific studies have shown that racist attitudes have a positive correlation with gross ignorance (http://www.livescience.com/18132-intelligence-social-conservatism-racism.html), many of them are probably not familiar with the concept of "unintended consequences?"

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So while bigots may think that they’ve won a victory in the Zimmerman verdict, they also thought they won a victory with the murder of Emmett Till, the bombing of the 16^th Street Baptist Church, and the arrest of Rosa Parks, that initiated the Civil Rights Movement. So this unconscionable verdict just might be exactly what was needed to awaken a sleeping giant, those Black, White, and various other Americans of good conscious who have been in denial about what's been taking place in this country over the past 30 years.

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Admittedly, this writer is not one to be found sitting up in church every Sunday - while, ironically, many of those applauding this verdict are - we do recognize that there is much wisdom to be found in the Bible, and the Bible does say in effect, that "God works in mysterious ways." So what we might have just witnessed in this verdict is the dying gasp of Jim Crow.

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There’s been a raging debate going on in this country every since President Obama was elected, as to whether or not his election signaled a "post-racial" America. Some believe that it does, by mere virtue of the fact that enough White people came out to vote for this Black man to elect him President of the United States in the first place. Others argue that the election of Barack Obama was just an illusionary ploy to silence the Black community’s complaints over racism in America.

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I take the position that we are in both the best of times, and the worst of times. President Obama’s election demonstrates without a doubt that racism among the vast majority of Americans is nowhere close to what it was in the past, but on the other hand, those who are determined to "conserve" America’s racist tradition are both more vehement and powerful - and much more dangerous - than ever before.

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It is these malevolent forces who are now celebrating the unconscionable verdict that freed the man who killed Trayvon Martin, an innocent kid whose only crime was having the audacity to think it was safe to go to the store to buy some candy in America. Thus, by finding the freeing of this child’s murderer a cause for celebration, these people have clearly defined themselves, and they’ve also defined the kind of America that they look forward to maintaining.
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We shouldn't worry about the verdict, per se, because while Zimmerman supposedly "got off," he's far from free. He's gonna have to live the rest of his life like a mole. Imagine having to live your life worried about millions of potential hit men. So justice is prevailing. No more strolls on the beach, no leisurely walks in the park, no more going to the movies with family and friends, or to dinner and a night club for a quick drink - he can no longer do any of those things. He’s essentially in a prison without bars. He's not only going to have to look over his shoulder until the end of his days, but he’s also cursed his entire family.
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So again, God, Nature, or the Universe - take your pick - works in mysterious ways. Thus, maybe like Emmett Till, Trayvon Martin’s only purpose in life was to serve as a catalyst to wake up America. 

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History is filled with examples where the fate of ordinary individuals has changed the course of history. So while we mourn Trayvon and the gross injustice of his untimely death, we should also honor his death by using it to awaken the sleeping giant within our midst, that vast majority of Americans of good will, to crush those malevolent forces among us who threaten to destroy all of the poor and middle class in America, in the very same way that their view of America snatched the life from Trayvon Martin.

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So let us ensure justice for Trayvon, by shoving him down their throats and making him the poster child for all injustice."TRAYVON LIVES!" should be our fight song to address all injustice towards the poor and middle class across this nation. In that way we can bring attention, and the passion of this moment, to the cause of the poor and middle class, and we can also honor both Travyon, and his family, by using his untimely death to defeat all injustice, and to breathe life back into America.

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Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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Trayvon Martin is Dead Because He Was Born Black in America - Period

Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree

Trayvon Martin is Dead Because He Was Born Black in America - Period

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White conservatives often criticize Black people for being too quick to play what they call "the race card." On the other hand, many Black people criticize America for not being sensitive enough to the reality that race plays in American life. George Zimmerman’s trial for the murder of Trayvon Martin clearly validates the Black community’s point of view.
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Trayvon Martin is dead for no other reason than he was born Black in America. That’s a non-debatable fact. Had he been a White kid, Trayvon would have still been alive today. Yet, even as the jury is out deliberating Zimmerman’s fate, there’s a raging debate going on in America over whether or not Zimmerman was justified in taking this mere child’s life.
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Regardless to the eventual verdict in this case, the trial itself clearly demonstrates how the laws of the land are routinely bent against the interest of the Black community while still managing to maintain the illusion of justice for all.
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The bottom line is, Trayvon Martin was guilty of absolutely nothing. He was simply engaged in an activity that millions of kids - good kids - engage in all across this country on a daily basis. He wasn’t casing the neighborhood in preparation to commit a crime, he wasn’t walking down the street smoking dope, nor was he walking the street in search of a potential victim. He was simply an innocent kid on his way home after going to the store to buy a bag of Skiddles and a soft drink. So how, in a just society, can he end up dead, and his killer - an armed adult, who stalked him, and outweighed him by forty pounds - can now be claiming self-defense in his murder? The very scenario strains credulity to the limit.
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One would think the facts above would be crystal clear to every single person in America - and they would be if the situation was exactly reversed. If Trayvon Martin had been the adult in this scenario, and he stalked and killed a White kid under the exact same circumstances - if he stalked the kid, weighed forty pounds more than his victim, and he was armed while the kid was not - chances are, he would already be on Death Row for First Degree Murder - that is, assuming he survived to reach the police station.
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In addition, what many are failing to realize is, by trying to bend the law to accommodate their racism they're cutting their own throats. You see, many people think an assault is a physical attack, but that's not true. An assault is simply putting a person in fear of bodily harm? So what most people think of as an assault - physically attacking someone - is actually an assault and battery. So when Zimmerman confronted Trayvon and placed him in fear for his well being, that constituted an assault. Therefore, he committed a crime against Trayvon, and Trayvon had every right to defend himself. So if Trayvon would have had a gun and shot Zimmerman he would have been well within his rights. Thus, if Zimmerman is found not guilty, that will set a precedent saying that if a guy tries to rob you and you fight back, he has a right to kill you in self-defense.
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While one might say, that doesn't apply since the guy is engaged in a  criminal act, who will be around to attest to that?  Just like Trayvon, you'll be dead, so there will only be the criminal's word for what took place. Therefore, if Zimmerman is found not guilty of this grievous crime, it will not only be a slap in the face of justice, Trayvon Martin, and the Black community, but it'll be an assault on the personal security of every American across this land.  In fact, it may even give criminals an incentive to kill in order to cover-up their crimes.
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That's a high price to pay to accommodate racism, but in spite of that, I don’t take the position that all White people are malevolent, nor am I one who's prone to looking under every rock for the existence of racism whenever Black people don’t get their way. I do, however, stand firm in the belief that racism is such an historically pervasive part of American life that many Americans - both Black and White - harbor grossly racist attitudes towards Black people that are so deeply ingrained that they don’t even recognize it themselves.
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You don’t think so? Watch any hip hop video and count the number of beautiful dark-skinned sisters you find. I guarantee you, you’ll find very few - and even when a dark-skinned sister is so strikingly beautiful that they can’t avoid using her, they’ll usually shine a light on her to make her look orange.
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So I reiterate, Trayvon Martin is dead due to the gross racism of a grossly racist society - Period.

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Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.



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Are the Democratic and Republican Parties One and the Same?

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

Are the Democratic and Republican Parties One and the Same?

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Those of you who like to go around saying that there’s no difference between the Democratic and Republican Parties should pause a moment to take note. The Republican led United States Supreme Court is currently poised to give you some of that good old-fashion Republican love. They’re currently considering whether they can get away with taking away your healthcare, just as they all but disenfranchised you by declaring that corporations are people in their ‘Citizens United’ decision, and completely overruled your vote by appointing George Bush President in the 2000 election after you clearly voted for Al Gore.

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The Republican Party’s only platform and sole purpose in life is to make absolutely sure that the American people hate one another more passionately than they love themselves. That’s why Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and other Republicans are defending George Zimmerman after he killed Trayvon Martin. But that’s not surprising, since they created the environment that led to Zimmerman killing Trayvon in the first place. They’ve done that by convincing many undereducated and weak-minded Whites that ALL Black men are out to kill their sons, steal their possessions, and rape their daughters. So for all of you who claim that Democrats are no different from Republicans, take a moment to ask yourself, "Who’s disseminating that message, Democrats or Republicans?"
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The Republican leadership benefits from the Black, public outrage over this atrocity. That’s why conservative pundits eagerly fan the flames of the anger in the Black community over the obvious injustice of this incident. The case is clear. Zimmerman, a full grown man, arm with a 9 mm pistol and weighing, reportedly, a hundred pounds more than his victim, stalked and killed a Black child armed only with a bag of Skittles. And that was AFTER being instructed by the police to remain in his vehicle. Thereafter, Zimmerman, the son of a retired judge, was routinely released as though he’d been picked up for a traffic ticket. It should have been an open and shut case, but they didn’t even bother to collect a shred of evidence. Imagine what the consequences would have been for Trayvon if the situation was exactly reversed - in fact, under the given circumstances, Trayvon would have undoubtedly been jailed if he had managed to kill Zimmerman even in self-defense after being stalked.
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But by continually inserting red herring defenses and other justifications for Zimmerman’s deadly assault on Trayvon - the fact that Trayvon was wearing a hoodie, he had been suspended from school, showing a picture of Trayvon wearing a gold tooth, etc. - conservative pundits are purposely further enraging the Black community, and thereby, planting the seed in the White community’s mind that Black people are being both racist toward Zimmerman and unreasonably hateful toward White people in general. That serves to drive a wedge between the Black and White communities and distract them away from the recognition that the throats of both communities are being cut by Republican policies.
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If the middle class, and indeed this nation, is to survive, it is incumbent upon us to realized that we are now engaged in a class war, in which race is merely a tool to drive a wedge between us to keep us divided - and anyone who perpetuates that effort, including Tavis Smiley and Cornel West, is the enemy.
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Sure there are poor and middle-class racists in both communities. Racism has been built-in and carefully nurtured into our society, but we’ve been conditioned to be racist and divided by the social manipulation pointed out above. Thus, the only way that the poor and middle class are going to save themselves is for them to start doing more thinking, and stop allowing the social manipulators to control their thoughts through manipulating them into caving in to knee-jerk reactionism.
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The fact is, the corporate powers that be don’t care any more about White people than they do Black people. The attack on Social Security, Medicare, and organized labor isn’t race specific. It’s an assault on the poor and middle class of all races. Of the millions of people across this land who were thrown out of their homes, they weren’t just Black. They were people of every race, creed, and color. And when Bush and Cheney sent our troops to Iraq without the necessary equipment to protect their lives, neither was that race specific. That was a direct assault on poor and middle class America as a whole. In fact, the children of the rich are no longer even expected to defend this country. Dying for America has now become the job of the "little people." Thus, the Republican Party is trying to drag America back into a social structure that our founding fathers left Europe to get away from - one based on class and social status.
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As a result, our government institutions have now morphed into facades designed to give us the ILLUSION of justice. Anyone who doubts that should try suing any major corporation. So in order to save ourselves we must ban together to FORCE American institutions to function as they are suppose to, and a huge part of that effort is coming together and learning to recognize demagoguery.
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A prime example of the demagoguery that we must be on the alert against comes in the form of idiots running around claiming that there’s no difference between the Democratic and Republican parties. That’s a flat-out lie that benefits no one but the social manipulators themselves. Granted, there are problems within the Democratic Party and there are more than a few Democrats that need to be thrown out of office, but that's a result of a combination of factors, including human greed, selfishness, and the public’s tendency to be inattentive and apathetic. By allowing ourselves to become solely preoccupied with our own self-interests we've allowed politicians to become a class within themselves, a class that’s become a subset of the class that we’re fighting. That’s an issue that we must address through taking another look at political salaries and perks. So it's more a problem of the emergence of a new political class than it is the philosophy of the Democratic Party itself.
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The primary reason that the Democratic Party has moved farther to the right is because that's where the votes are. Idiots like Ralph Nader, Tavis Smiley, and Cornel West have confused the left so badly that politicians can't depend on our votes. Then once the left suffers the resulting loses attendent to our confusion, the people mentioned above simply go back to their lucrative hustles of complaining about the peoples’ misery until the next election - completely ignoring the fact that they are a major cause of that misery.
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The bottom line is, the more the poor and middle class are abused, the more people like Nader, Tavis and West are paid to complain about it. So if the poor and middle class ever did achieved true justice, it would be West's worst nightmare, because he’s reportedly paid $30,000 a speech to complain about our condition.
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So we, the people, are just not getting it. We're being blinded by West’s woolly hair and carefully nurtured persona. We're suffering from a superficial view of reality - "If he looks that Black and the White folks at Harvard says he's brilliant, he must be the man!" That’s a bunch of crap! Cornel is the one who’s the puppet. He and Tavis are not the darling of the corporate establishment for nothing - they play an indispensable role in maintaining the status quo by keeping us divided.
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Once Again Nader and West Team to Elect a Republican President

Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com

Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)

Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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TRAYVON MARTIN

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

TRAYVON MARTIN

(February 5, 1995 – February 26, 2012)

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MURDERED FOR THE UNLAWFUL POSSESSION OF BLACK SKIN

Eric L. Wattree

Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)

Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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