From: Trip Reynolds

Subject: WHERE’S YOUR APOLOGY?

Date: March 27, 2015 at 7:23:23 PM CDT

To: ghadley@leg.ne.gov, rbaker@leg.ne.gov, dbloomfield@leg.ne.gov, kbolz@leg.ne.gov, lbrasch@leg.ne.gov, kcampbell@leg.ne.gov, ccoash@leg.ne.gov, jcraighead@leg.ne.gov, scrawford@leg.ne.gov, adavis@leg.ne.gov, lebke@leg.ne.gov, cfriesen@leg.ne.gov, tgarrett@leg.ne.gov, mgloor@leg.ne.gov, mgroene@leg.ne.gov, khaar@leg.ne.gov, mhansen@leg.ne.gov, bharr@leg.ne.gov, rhilkemann@leg.ne.gov, showard@leg.ne.gov, dhughes@leg.ne.gov, jjohnson@leg.ne.gov, bkintner@leg.ne.gov, rkolowski@leg.ne.gov, mkolterman@leg.ne.gov, bkrist@leg.ne.gov, jkuehn@leg.ne.gov, tlarson@leg.ne.gov, blindstrom@leg.ne.gov, jmccollister@leg.ne.gov, bmccoy@leg.ne.gov, hmello@leg.ne.gov, amorfeld@leg.ne.gov, jmurante@leg.ne.gov, jnordquist@leg.ne.gov, ppansingbrooks@leg.ne.gov, mriepe@leg.ne.gov, jscheer@leg.ne.gov, kschilz@leg.ne.gov, dschnoor@leg.ne.gov, pschumacher@leg.ne.gov, lseiler@leg.ne.gov, jsmith@leg.ne.gov, jstinner@leg.ne.gov, ksullivan@leg.ne.gov, dwatermeier@leg.ne.gov, mwilliams@leg.ne.gov

WHERE’S YOUR APOLOGY?

First, with regard to recent comments made by Senator Ernie Chambers, I carefully read the official Transcript prepared by the Clerk of the Legislature for the Judiciary Committee meeting of March 20, 2015.

My ISIS is the police. And you know what the county attorney said, Don Kleine: If the officer makes a mistake, if he's wrong but he had reason to think that he was right, then he's clear. I cannot get away with that and shoot you and say, well, I thought he was going to do something. They say, uh-uh, buddy, that doesn't work. Well, now we presume that these officers are trained. To show how little their training means and how they hide behind it, some guy out east was fired because he was dealing with a guy who had a mental problem and wound up...he was on duty, shot the guy 14 times, and he was fired. Now he's trying to get his job back. And you know what the lawyer is arguing? And he's justified in view of the not finding any fault in what these cops are doing. He said, yes, he shot the man 14 times, but it was within his training. So now, if the police are trained to shoot somebody in the back, then the cop who shoots in the back says, it was pursuant to my training, and he's home free. That's what's happening. I would tell young people: If you tell somebody to go across the world to fight for ISIS, they can put you in jail if you just talk about it. If you want to fight injustice, don't...you don't have to go around the world to find the ISIS mentality. Your ISIS is in America and you're likely to die over there, one way or the other. So if you're going to die, die making your home safe.My home is not threatened by ISIS. Mine is threatened by the police. The police are licensed to kill us, children, old people. They showed a guy on a highway. The highway trooper, he had this elderly black woman down on the ground, just beating the stew out of her, and nothing was done to him. That's what I see. Now suppose somebody told me somebody from ISIS did that. Then everybody is up in arms: See what cowards they are? They beat women in broad daylight. But when a cop does it, it's all right. I don't feel that way. And if I were going to do something--but I'm not a man of violence--I wouldn't go to Syria, I wouldn't go to Iraq, I wouldn't go to Afghanistan, I wouldn't go to Yemen, I wouldn't go to Tunisia, I wouldn't go to Lebanon, I wouldn't go to Jordan. I would do it right here. Nobody from ISIS ever terrorized us as a people, as the police do daily. And they get away with it and they've been given the license now. And people don't like me to say this. Then you rein in your cops.

 

Second, ISIS to Senator Chambers (and to me) is analogous to the Viet Cong and legendary boxer Muhammad Ali.  When it comes to justice, why do so many White people consistently demonstrate a selective memory?  Here’s what Ali said:

“Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No I’m not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of White slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality. If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years.” - Muhammad Ali, 1967

 

How dare you demand Senator Chambers apologize for telling you the facts about the Black experience in North Omaha and throughout the U.S.?  How dare you?  Instead, why don’t Nebraska’s White and White-controlled Black elected officials apologize for the blatant and ongoing attacks by Omaha police against Black people, and other people of color?  Where’s that apology Mayor Stothert?  Where?  While you’re thinking about it, Governor Ricketts, where’s your apology for Nebraska’s ISIS-like theft of land from the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska and its horrendous treatment of Chief Standing Bear?  Where’s that apology?  Given such hypocrisy, why are so many White people pointing fingers at Senator Chambers, when they really should be looking in a mirror and pointing fingers at themselves?

Third, what about Senator Tommy Garrett?  Is it really okay for Senator Garrett to argue for a bill that would allow citizens to carry “concealed weapons” into a bar or other places that serve alcohol, which clearly provides the potential for armed conflict between police and citizens who are drunk and armed? With the approval of LB635, here’s what’s most likely to happen, which is why comments made by Senator Chamber have great value to most Black people: Omaha police will find cause to go to bars or clubs or restaurants on Ames Avenue, or elsewhere where Black people frequent, and then shoot and kill a Black man because they “perceived” he had a concealed weapon.  This is exactly what police do, and why many Black people do not trust police or any aspect of law enforcement.  Here’s proof: 

http://gawker.com/unarmed-people-of-color-killed-by-police-1999-2014-1666672349

Finally, why do so many White people actively avoid taking any responsibility for their racist past and present, and instead like an Ostrich they bury their head in the ground; or even worse, White people intentionally promote their ongoing racism and overt privilege over all aspects of Black people. For the clear majority of Nebraska’s Black residents, Nebraska is a “police state” where it remains the documented practice for police to unilaterally and arbitrarily beat, arrest, incarcerate or kill Black men.  The majority of Black men do not have a criminal record, and don‘t own a gun, but Black men cannot “trust” the police, because it would be blatantly stupid to trust an armed militia who have a documented practice of routinely beating and killing them and consistently getting away with it. As clearly documented by White authorities such as the U.S. Department of Justice, Nebraska EEOC, the 2013 Sentencing Project, the June 2014 issue of “The Atlantic” magazine, plus “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander," and dozens of other sources of empirical veracity, there is an overwhelming bias against Black people in every aspect of the judicial system.  “ISIS” is not a threat to Black men, but Black men do have a 1 in 3 chance of imprisonment in the U.S., which is a far greater threat than ISIS.

If you don’t like Senator Chambers or his message, well that’s just too bad, he told the truth.  Senator Chambers is your constant reminder of how White oppression, White racism and White privilege continue to function as “ISIS-like” law enforcement to prevent Black people from truly achieving life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Except for a few tokens, as with most of the U.S., Nebraska is a “police state” where the majority of Black people are constantly targeted, intimidated, and oppressed by police and intentionally confined by other aspects of White privilege.  Here’s more proof:

1.	One of every four drivers pulled over by Omaha police officers in 2010 was black. Omaha Police Department stops and arrests Black drivers at rates higher than their proportion of the population. Source: Martha Stoddard, Omaha World Herald, April 6, 2010.
2.	As captured in a video on May 29, 2011 Robert Wagner, a Black man, was beaten, stomped, kicked, and repeatedly tasered by Omaha Police Officers in the parking lot at Creighton University Medical Center. Source: http://youtu.be/amrYSVpGRxA
3.	As captured in a video on March 23, 2013 Octavious Johnson, a Black man, was beaten, stomped, kicked by Omaha police. Source: http://whotv.com/2013/03/23/excessive-force-omaha-family-police-claim/
4.	On December 28, 2011 vandals painted, “I HATE NIGGERS . . . FUCK YOU” on external brick walls facing the children’s playground at Adams Elementary School, 78th and Pinkney Street, in Omaha, Nebraska. Source: http://www.kmtv.com/news/local/136351358.html
5.	Among America's 100 largest metro areas, Omaha has the third-highest Black poverty rate in the United States. Source: Omaha World Herald, 2011; United Way of the Midlands, “Poverty in the Omaha Metro, September 2012,” and The Women’s Fund of Omaha’s report, “How Are Women Doing in Omaha 2013?”
6.	Even before admission to the Union in 1867, White people, and only White people have consistently been in complete control of the formal education of Black students in Nebraska - for more than 147 years, but the educational performance of Black students has never equaled the performance of White students. As reported by Omaha Public Schools, over 50% of Black males fail to graduate from Omaha high schools, while White controlled public and private colleges and universities generate revenue through "slave labor" scholarship recruitment of Black male students to carry a football or shoot a basketball.
7.	Although eventually condemned by the Omaha Board of Education, nevertheless, initially use of the word “NIGGA” was considered “acceptable” for White and Black students as approved for publication by school administrators at Omaha’s Benson High School newspaper in 2007. One might wonder if events in Omaha prompted the use of “NIGGER” as the pre-game chant for the girl’s varsity basketball team in Buffalo, NY in 2011.
8.	Let’s not forget that, prior to becoming an actor, 14-year old Henry Fonda watched as a Black man, Will Brown, was beaten, then lynched, then shot, and then burned to death in the center of downtown Omaha, Nebraska on September 28, 1919 and although 120 or more White people were indicted for involvement in the beating, stabbing, shooting, hanging, burning and murder of Will Brown, not one person was successfully prosecuted. Source: http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0700/frameset_reset.html?http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0700/stories/0701_0134.html.  Given the deaths of Trayvon Martin (Sanford, Florida), Michael Brown (Ferguson, Missouri), Tony Robinson (Madison, Wisconsin) and hundreds and hundreds of more Black men killed by White police officers and pseudo-cops, the true power of White privilege is the ability to beat or kill Black men with absolutely no expectation of prosecution or conviction, and such expectation is an enduring fact-of-life for living in a “police state.”

 

Will Brown Omaha, September 28, 1919	Robert Wagner Omaha, May 29, 2011

Then and now, the true power of White privilege is the ability to beat or kill Black men with absolutely no expectation of prosecution or conviction. Nothing changes.

9. As validated by EEO-4 reports compiled in 2007 by the EEOC (and again in 2011), even though 97% of all state, county and local government jobs in Nebraska that pay over $70,000 a year are held by White people, on November 4, 2008, (thanks to Ward Connerly) White people in Nebraska passed ballot Initiative 424, which eliminated the application of Affirmative Action for all state, county, and local government jobs in Nebraska. White people clearly want to hold the remaining 3% of all state, county and local government jobs in Nebraska that pay over $70,000.

10. Of course not all White people are racist, but as reported in the June 2014 issue of “The Atlantic” magazine (see #b below) the clear majority of White people continue to embrace, promote, and actively sustain their supremacy over Black people and other people of color, and they have absolutely no interest or intent to relinquish their White supremacy, which is necessary to secure true equality for all people.

a. http://youtu.be/Pm9DJuTrO8Q

b. http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/05/the-case-for-reparations/361631/

c. http://billmoyers.com/2014/05/22/these-eight-charts-show-why-racial-equality-is-a-myth-in-america/

d. http://vimeo.com/44918795

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (except slaves and their descendants, Native Americans and their descendants, non-Whites and their descendants, no women, etc.) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator (but only if and when White men deem it appropriate to believe the Bible is the written word of God) with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Really? “Black Like Me” is a nonfiction book first published in 1960 by White journalist John Howard Griffin, who intentionally passed as a Black man to learn about the Black experience. Every White Omaha police officer should be required to “live” as a Black men to learn first-hand what it’s like to live in a “police state.” Keep in mind, while dressed and living as a Black man, they’ll have a 1 in 3 chance of imprisonment, and being innocent doesn’t matter.

So, with the passage of Senator Tommy Garrett’s LB635 should Black people apply for as many “concealed weapon” permits as possible to arm themselves from Omaha’s racist White police officers? Probably, because in a “police state” the police function as judge, jury and executioner, and even oppressed people will eventually protect themselves. Wouldn’t you? Again, one of every four drivers pulled over by Omaha police officers in 2010 was black.

Where’s your apology?

H. Reynolds

From: Mike Groene <mgroene@leg.ne.gov>
Subject: Re: WHERE’S YOUR APOLOGY?
Date: March 27, 2015 at 9:51:10 PM CDT
To: Trip Reynolds

Mr Reynolds,
First I do not define myself by the flesh I live in, as a white person. I am a human being. Never in the history of my family did we own slaves. Never did we try to stop anybody from voting or going to the school of their choice. My maternal great-grandfather (Irish) fought in the union army at the age of 16. How easy you forget that it was people of European decent who fought and died to stop slavery in America. Maybe could it be that they still remembered how they were treated by their fellow man in Europe. Color has nothing to do with human cruelty to each other. Have you looked at the history of Africa, or is that a truth you would prefer to ignore?

Senator Chambers does the people of his district a disservice, by telling them there is no hope. People of all nationalities work for the Railroad in my district in North Platte. They all work together and nobody cares what their neighbors heritage is.

It is time to let the past be in the past. This whole episode is foolish.

Senator Groene

From: Trip Reynolds
Subject: Re: WHERE’S YOUR APOLOGY?
Date: March 28, 2015 at 10:04:31 AM CDT
To: Mike Groene <mgroene@leg.ne.gov>

Dear Senator Groene:

Yet again, as with most White people, you make the lame excuse that YOU and your family never owned slaves, and therefore, claim it’s "politically correct" to label yourself as exempt from the perpetual hardships YOUR RACE placed on Black people. Wrong! White people did NOT end slavery to free Black people - please study your U.S. history for the truth for ending slavery. If your family owned any property or received any commercial goods or financial services, you and your family benefited from genocide against Native Americans, and from slavery and the Eugenics movement against Black people. I’m not talking ancient history, Senator Groene, because I was raised in Lincoln, NE and vividly remember my father and mother being prohibited from access to Gold’s of Nebraska and other stores, churches, etc., and being prohibited from owning property. Consistent with “White privilege,” you and your family were exempt from racism.

People of color have NEVER been in power to create laws that prohibit people of color from owning businesses, or living in “White” neighborhoods, or attending “White” schools - your parents and ancestors did that, not mine. In fact, OPS and other metro Omaha K-12 school districts continue the same race-based demographics.

You’re NEVER at risk for being beaten and killed simply because you’re White, but you ignore this constant reality - and the facts of racism - Black men face from all aspects of law enforcement. Why are you so scared to address the facts, and even worse, why are you scared to legislate viable solutions? Instead, you and your peers do nothing.
CLICK THIS LINK - http://gawker.com/unarmed-people-of-color-killed-by-police-1999-2014-1666672349

YOUR COMMENT: Senator Chambers does the people of his district a disservice, by telling them there is no hope.
RESPONSE: I’m not representing or speaking for Senator Chamber, but I can confidently tell you Senator Chamber has never told the people of his district “ . . . there is no hope.” Your statement is a blatant lie. The truth? It’s the practice of White people to constantly tell Black people there is no hope.

1. White people tell Black people that the income and wealth gap between Whites and Black is greater now than at any time after slavery, and therefore, no hope.
2. White people tell Black people there is an overwhelming bias against Black people in every aspect of the judicial system, and therefore, no hope.
3. As I detailed in numbers 1 through 10 in my previous email (and I could easily provide more facts), White people constantly tell Black people about their ongoing failure to achieve equal status in the U.S., and therefore, no hope.

You’re the problem. The past is not the past when the overall status of Black people has not changed.

Again, in 1967 Muhammad Ali refused to fight the Viet Cong, because "The real enemy of (our) people is here.” There are more Black men in prison now than in 1967; there are more eligible and available unemployed Black men now than in 1967; the mortality rate for Black men is higher now than in 1967. The past is not the past when the overall status of Black people has not changed, it’s worse. Albert Einstein said it so clearly, “Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Your denial is the problem.

And yes, I’ve got solutions, which don’t involve getting handouts from White people. Handouts are an insult. Meet with me, and I’ll enlighten you.

Or, as Albert Einstein said, you can continue "Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” which makes you and your legislative peers insane.

Have a great day!

Trip Reynolds
http://www.tripoetry.com/Black.htm

From: John McCollister <jmccollister@leg.ne.gov>
Subject: Re: WHERE’S YOUR APOLOGY?
Date: March 29, 2015 at 9:06:42 AM CDT
To: Trip Reynolds
Cc: Abid Kassim <akassim@leg.ne.gov>

I've been following the string of emails (particularly the addressed to Senator Groene and noted your willingness to meet with Senators to discuss legislation. Let's set something up after session, okay? Thank you

John McCollister

NE State Senator John McCollister
District 20
402-471-2622
jmccollister@leg.ne.gov

From: Trip Reynolds
Subject: Re: WHERE’S YOUR APOLOGY?
Date: March 29, 2015 at 11:44:56 PM CDT
To: John McCollister <jmccollister@leg.ne.gov>

Hello, Senator McCollister:

I welcome an opportunity to meet with you and others to constructively discuss legislation to improve the well-being of citizens of Nebraska.

When and where would you like to meet?

Have a great day!

Trip Reynolds

From: Trip Reynolds
Subject: Re: WHERE’S YOUR APOLOGY?
Date: May 7, 2015 at 5:15:00 PM CDT
To: John McCollister <jmccollister@leg.ne.gov>

Hello, Senator McCollister:

Would you please schedule a date and time for us to meet?

FACT: Since 2007, Nebraska has held the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd highest Black homicide rate in the U.S.

QUESTION: Given the dismal reality of “Being Black” in Nebraska, do you really think Nebraska, especially Lincoln and Omaha, are immune from what happened in Baltimore and Ferguson?

Please respond.

Have a great day!

Trip Reynolds

WHITE PEOPLE (U.S. CITIZENS) HAVE KILLED MORE BLACK PEOPLE
THAN ALL OF THEIR ENEMIES COMBINED.
YOUR ENEMY IS NOT MY ENEMY.
IF YOU WANT BLACK PEOPLE TO STOP THINKING OF WHITE PEOPLE AS "THE ENEMY" STOP KILLING THEM.