Monday
Sep142009
Kudos to Pastor Darius Pridgen for Stating The Obvious in the Nicola Fletcher Case
Monday, September 14, 2009 at 8:45AM The Blogmother "I don't think people are willing to put Black youth in the firing line of the justice system"
Pastor Darius Pridgen on the brutal attack of Brian Milligan, Jr.
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
— Martin Luther King Jr.
As you know this blog has pointed out the absolute lunacy of the value of the lives of crime victims being determined by the race of who attacks them. Several people have forwarded me this story.
There is, after all, a certain egalitarian outrageousness in what happened to 18-year-old Brian Milligan. Getting hit in the back of the head with a chunk of concrete is getting hit in the back of the head with a chunk of concrete, whether you are Jew or Muslim, gay or straight, black or white.
That's reportedly what happened to Milligan the night of Aug. 18, after he walked his girlfriend to her home in their gritty Buffalo, N.Y., neighborhood. Milligan had headphones on, so he didn't even hear it coming. A mob of 10 to 12 black males then stomped and kicked him and hit him with more concrete — all in the head and face, says his father, Brian Sr., 41.
As they struck him, they taunted him. "We told you stay away from here. These are our streets. We told you stay away from our women."
Brian, you see, is white. His girlfriend Nicola Fletcher, 18, is African American. That difference in melanin has, they say, been a source of daily friction with a gang of black men in their neighborhood for months. She's been shot with paintballs, they've both been repeatedly cursed and taunted. "They would hit on her right in front of me," says Milligan. "They would call her 'baby' and all that." Source
Brian Milligan Sr., father of the Brian Milligan, Jr., a White teen is frustrated that a brutal attack on his son isn't being called what it is, a race-based attack meant to discourage people from carrying out fundamental freedom like VOTING or entering into a relationship with the person of their choice. Brian is dating Nicola Fletcher, a Black girl. This is also a gender-based attack, whereby a young African American girl is being denied the right to date whoever in the heck she wants to without fear of violence, but that's a WHOLE OTHER CONVERSATION. This young woman was being ROUTINELY physically assaulted IN PUBLIC in her own community, but you aren't hearing ANYTHING about that aspect of this story. Where is the outrage from Black men about this young woman being hit, pushed, shoved and shot with paint balls? Clearly the message was sent that this young woman could be physically abused in public without and repercussions for the miscreants responsible and finally their attacks escalated.
To the father, you are not alone, you should track down the mother of Sgt. Jan Pawel Pietrzak, authorities REFUSE to even publicly discuss the obvious, Sgt. Pietrzak and Quiana Faye Jenkins-Pietrzak were brutally raped and murdered because she was a Black woman married to a White man. Be glad your son is still alive.
One interesting note is that finally there is a Black leader with the courage to admit the obvious, this young man was attacked because of his race.The Mayor of Buffalo Byron Brown's cowardly response is in stark contrast with that of Pastor Darius Pridgen of the Bethel Baptist Church for admitting he was slow to respond and calling on his congregation to speak up about the crime. This pastor couldn't deny what was staring him in the face, Brian Milligan Jr. was attacked not just because he is White, but because he is a White boy dating a Black girl. My interest in this case is based on Nicola Fletcher's right to date WHOEVER she wants to and that right to associate with the person of her choice being denied by these attackers.
For the same reason that authorities in West Palm Beach, Florida will not admit that a Haitian woman and her child were brutally gang raped because of her national origin. Although at least one source has indicated that the fact that she was Haitian had EVERYTHING to do with her attack.
All these Black politicians lying to our faces and not conceding that these are hate crimes being carried out by Black teens are not doing us any favors.We are shooting ourselves in the foot as a community to cosset and protect Black people who are acting a fool and running around brutally attacking people based on race, gender, and national origin. It removes something our ancestors understood, Black folks need moral authority-our very freedom depends on it. We didn't control access to capital. We didn't have an army. We didn't have any real political power. All we had was the moral inconsistency between the Black Codes and Jim Crow with the stated objectives of the US Constitution. Moral authority used to be our most valuable commodity and we are just throwing it away.
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
— Martin Luther King Jr.
When they get through killing the Jason Milligans, the Pawel Pietrzaks and Quiana Faye Jenkins-Pietrzaks of the world, they are coming for YOU. When they get through raping an torturing the 35 year old Haitian immigrants and torturing her son, they are coming for your sons and daughters. This is the way it always starts. We developed hate crimes statutes for a reason.
Mayor Byron Brown, this isn't just ANY OLD CRIME, it is a crime meant to discourage this young Black girl from exercising fundamental freedoms recognized by the Supreme Court of the United States. He wasn't beat up for his shoes, he was attacked because of the race of the girl he was dating.
My prediction is that the FBI gets involved because Daddy Milligan appears to be hellbent on getting justice for his son and CNN is covering this crime. If Nicola on the other hand had been the one attacked, we be happy to get two sentences in an AP story because she's a Black girl and we all know CNN doesn't care about us.
Nicola, sweetie, watch your back. Your community appears ready to throw you under the bus and look the other way if what happened to your boyfriend, happens to you. If they shot you with paint balls, they will shoot you with bullets or worse.
Please contact Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown and Police Commissioner H. McCarthy Gipson TO ASK IF the City of Buffalo is providing law enforcement protection to Nicola Fletcher.
Mayor Brown
Phone: (716) 851-4841
E-mail: MayorBrownWebMail@ch.ci.buffalo.ny.us
Commissioner H. McCarthy Gipson
Phone: 716-851-4571
Previous Posts
Quiana Jenkins-Pietrzak Raped and Slaughtered By Her Marine Husband’s Men- They Bragged on MySpace About It.
Dunbar Village a hate crime? No, says new state rep, attorney, Haitian
Lee: ‘I don’t think being Haitian has anything to do with’ Dunbar attack
Lee: Dunbar Village victim not as innocent as believed to be
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Reader Comments (34)
I think you have said it all. The only think left for us, your readers to say/do is to follow up with the contact info you gave. I'm at work now, but when I get a break, I'll call and send an email. Thanks, as always.
BTW, what are the various women's organizations in that city saying about this tragic incident?
Called. Concern logged. Supposed to get a call back. Keep calling folks remind them that this girl is being taunted, hit, shoved and shot with paint balls. What is the Mayor who said he is "concerned about ALL crime" doing about this.
Also given the Police Department resolution line. I am not posting it here because I want you to call the COMMISSIONER not his customer service rep.
This is always the case! Especially when it comes to black women dating outside of their race. The sad part about it is that people will defend a black male, come rain or shine, no matter what he has done. A black woman on the other hand, well they can be sacrificed on behalf of, the "struggle." They have a problem with the couple but it is ironic, that those same young black man would not have a problem with dating the daughter of a mixed race couple.
I am so tired of everyone cateringto, backing, and shielding black men as they continue to terrorize, abuse, murder, and destroy black women and children.
Well, it seems some how, the "brothers" do criminal things, stupid things, etc., because on not only their male priviledge, but also because they know some "sisters and brothers" will support them, even when they commit an obvious crime.
Just like some folks will defend Kanye West's rant last night at the VMA show. I'm glad Beyounce stepped up and was gracious and kind to Taylor Swift.
I guess when black women date outside the race they are traitors but when black men do it, it's a blow against "the man." However all of this brutality in our community boils down to the money paragraph in this post about the waning morality in our black communities. Has anyone questioned the local NAACP about their take on whether it's a hate crime or not?
Hate crime, pure and simple. How dare this young, white, male enter into "their" community and date one of their women?
You could put just about anything behind that, "How dare..."
How dare you live in a nice house nearby...how dare you drive a nice car, have a nice job, speak correct English, get a perm, make good grades, walk by and not acknowledge vulgar cat calls, and generally...how dare you appear to have a better life than I do."
My favorite part...stay away from their women. WTH? You're right. They've already assaulted this young man. They didn't see this young man as deserving to live his life as he saw fit and make no mistake they don't see the young woman any different.
She's like a toy they wanted left alone in case they decide to come back and play with it. It's a hate crime, pure and simple. They don't respect themselves much less anyone else. Another group of young men running to jail as fast as they can. No doubt that community is full of people who know exactly who did it and are ready at the drop of the hat to blame...the young man who was beaten and the young woman who was dating him.
"Believe me, when the people responsible are brought to account, all that the vast majority of Black America will see is more Black youth being persecuted by The White Man’s Justice System."
If that's true (and it quite possibly is) then the vast majority of Black America - at LEAST those of the criminal element and you'd have to be somewhat tied to the criminal element (at least emotionally so) to even attempt to excuse or downplay what those animals did to that young man - deserves EVERY BIT of the so-called "persecution" that the White Man's Justice System can bring on them.
That's my two-cents. I hope that young mans father CONTINUES to press the fact that this was a HATE crime. Pure and simple. Whether anything comes of his speaking out or not. Because it's the RIGHT thing to do.
Any "community" (or individual) that try's to excuse or downplay this kind of barbarism isn't deserving of any respect.
Or any justice under the "White man's laws".
Just like the lynching of innocent BM committed by racist whites was wrong and evil, the murder and attempted murder of innocent WM today by racist blacks is equally wrong and evil.
Again, respect is EARNED. And anyone who attempts to justify or downplay cold hearted blatant hatred and barbarism, has forfeited their right to it.
Clarity is happening: the CRIC (the Civil Rights Industrial Complex) is really about black male empowerment (to do ANYthing) and black women's permanent and total servitude to black men.
"Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."
"How dare you live in a nice house nearby…how dare you drive a nice car, have a nice job, speak correct English, get a perm, make good grades, walk by and not acknowledge vulgar cat calls, and generally…how dare you appear to have a better life than I do.”--Yme
--get a perm??? What? Are we putting getting a perm in the same category as making good grades and speaking correct English?
More contact information:
NAACP Buffalo Branch
naacp@apollo3.com
President, Frank B. Mesiah
Sadly, I've experienced this type of hostile behavior from young, black men when I'm with my girlfriend who is a black woman. (I'm a white man in my mid-30’s.)
I honestly don’t care if someone disapproves of the person that I'm with. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and beliefs. What I’m more concerned with are those who want to inflict violence on those who are in interracial relationships. That greatly troubles me as you can well imagine.
I've personally experienced a few bad situations such as name calling and verbal harassment, not from individuals per se, but instead from small groups of younger, black men when out on a date with a black woman. With that said, I’ve never experienced the same “in-your-face" hostility as I just described from any other group (whites, Asians, etc.) while with a black woman. Fortunately, none of this "hostility" has ever led to any violence. I’m very cautious when out in public with my girlfriend because of these experiences.
In my opinion, this is an often overlooked reason why there may be some reluctance among white men to pursue relationships with black women. Who wants to get beaten to a pulp and end up in the hospital?
Thanks for the posting about the other side of this attack and what it symbolizes..
Thanks yme too for the how dare you....
@deborah
Quote: "get a perm??? What? Are we putting getting a perm in the same category as making good grades and speaking correct English?"
No, we aren't. I am.
It wasn't about the perm. The point of my little tirade was that it isn't so much the individual issue...it's about control. It's about black people controlling the behavior of other black people.
It was part cynical, but part real if you've ever been approached by the hair patrol...people who decide they can evaluate your level of blackness by the hair style you choose to wear, the school you decide to attend...basically you name it...it's as if we trade one set of "masters" for another.
And, another thing...about the pastor's comments about the reluctance to turn over black youths to the justice system. I realize that our current justice system basically sucks...but that's our clarion call to help clean up the system...not decide that rapists and people who assault our neighbors should get a pass because they "may" be treated unfairly by the US justice system.
"I realize that our current justice system basically sucks…but that’s our clarion call to help clean up the system…not decide that rapists and people who assault our neighbors should get a pass because they “may” be treated unfairly by the US justice system."
You're right, but here is the problem with the whole "the system sucks so we shouldn't arrest young Black men." In MOST places where a system breaks down, people come up wiht something to replace it. So lets say the justice system breaks down and the community chooses not to participate in it, then they have an obligation to have their own community "system" of accountability.
So for example, if these ten acted a fool and brought shame, embarrassment or attention to the community, they would get sent away or shunned. They might have been protected from the larger system, but the smaller internal system would have insured that these idiots didn't pull this mess again. Who the heck holds Black people accountable other than "the system"? No, seriously. Who holds us accountable? The church? Nope. Black business leaders? Nope. Families? Nope.
Yet let you get it into your head that you want to go to college or make your subject and verbs agree, and there are innumerable people running around trying to enforce a code of conduct for.
I just sent off an mail to Mayor Brown of Buffalo. I will also call his office and the office of Police Commissioner Gipson. I also plan to write a letter to Rev. Pridgen; he's in a much better position to rally the community and get some folks to talk. Perhaps he realizes this, but you and I all know there's a mom, a dad, a sister, brother, grandma, etc., that knows their loved one did this, but they don't want to turn him and his friends in. You know, that darn "don't snitch" rule again at work.
:( It also seems Mayor Brown is up for re-election this fall and his closest rival is a White man.
BTW, I think there's another angle to this we must explore. If appears Brian and Nicola are from working class backgrounds. I went to the Buffalo News and read more about the situation. Brian dropped out of school, but was encouraged to go back to school by his girlfriend Nicola; he also plans to become a welder. So that may also be why the police AND the mayor AND the local CRIC have been mum on this case, a working class White man that dates a Black woman? Why, who cares? Yep, classism is a real you-know-what as well.
:( :(
This should be charged as a hate crime.
Dear god. I'm very well acquainted with Buffalo. :-| I'm not one bit surprised at the attitudes of the dirtbags who savagely beat this kid and continue to harass his girlfriend. Outside of the college areas, many of the people (young and not-so-young alike who are not enrolled in said colleges) are quite ignorant. And I'm being nice by using the word "ignorant".
________________
As they struck him, they taunted him. “We told you stay away from here. These are our streets. We told you stay away from our women.”
They are out of their fucking minds. I am NOT their woman. I am NOT their property.
Reason number 1,000,000,000 why I hate people more and more every day. This jetlag has made it worse. :-|
@Yme...thanks for the clarification. I'm not into control; I asked a question. I didn't make a statement or attempt to direct anyone's hair choice.
Historically, and in the contemporary period, most of the "hair patrol" attacks have come from people who felt the need the control and criticize black women who wore their own hair, as it naturally grew from their own heads.
That's why I raised the issue.
@deborah
That's okay, deb. I wasn't fussing at you personally. LOL. As I said, I just had a ranting moment. I really didn't want you to think I had a hierarchy of importance and I was including hair in an upper echelon with education.
To me, any issue can get you a "beat down", a talking down to, etc...it just depends on the aggressor of the moment. It seems some of us in the black community clearly understand that its wrong for that beat down to come from outside of our community, but when it comes from within...its the aggressors that are coddled and protected.
I don't know about where you all live, but here in Virginia there is a black radio show on station 92.1 that talked about this attack today on my way to school. Even though it's run by 2 black men and 2 black women they all agreed that the group of attackers should be sent to prison.
In the words of the DJ, "Hate is hate no matter what color you are."
Buffalo, NY... Isn't this one of the cities where negroes lost their ever-lovin' minds because Popeye's ran out of chicken on 5 dollar chicken day? It was covered by several major news outlets and even got a NATIONAL BY-LINE.
So negroes being deprived of fried chicken makes news... White man having the crap kicked out of him for dating a black woman AND black woman being assualted for whom she chooses to love doesn't get the same level of coverage.
Ms. Fletcher and her beau should consider getting licenses to carry handguns. Bullets always beat concrete in a scuffle.
@BlkSeaGoat, I feel ya, but please, let's not advocate that kind of violence.
I sent an email to Mayor Brown and I'm writing a letter to Rev. Pridgen; I think I know some folks who know him and the NAACP there in Buffalo. I'll send this all out, make a couple of calls and let you all know; Sis. Gina gave us contact info to make calls, so we need to do that to keep pressure on folks to do the right thing.
:) :)
I'm sorry, but let's me clear, as bad as Brian was beaten, out numbered even, the hate crime was really directed towards Nicola. LET'S BE SURE WE KNOW WHO THE MESSAGE WAS REALLY DIRECTED TO. :( Do these young teen terrorists beat up brothers who walk around with, date non-African women? NOT! :( :(
Reverend Mama,
I advocate effective self defense.
I'm not so sure...I think this was directed at both of them. It definitely wasn't directed at ONLY Nicola. They beat the daylights out of this boy. I can not say that had he been walking through this neighborhood with a white girlfriend he would not have been beaten.
This hate crime was definitely against Brian...directed against Nicola, sure. I am just as sure this was personal for them with Brian also. I think that beat down was their way of saying this kid couldn't have everything he wanted...as if he was trying.
Many black youth think all white people live a privileged life simply because they're white. So, when this kid (privileged to them already) also walks around "their" neighborhood with a black girl...they peg him as wanting and having "everything". What he has naturally (in their mind) and Nicola, too.
That's a stereotype many of us have allowed some youth to indulge in and its just wrong. Now, this is clearly just my opinion. I have no idea what was really going on in their heads...but a concrete beat down. This was defnitely a hate crime against Brian.
I'm personally convinced of it. And, I always thought this was going to be a problem with "hate" crime legislation. When we get into deciding "why" a thing was done and trying to interpret their underlying intent. But, since we have hate crimes, I think we have to be even handed with it. As black folk, we know we can be targeted for crimes simply because we're black.
Clearly, it's no stretch to believe that other people can be targeted simply because their white, homosexual, etc. If we're going to have hate crimes. We've got to acknowledge they exist as a very real defense for everyone.
@ gem2001, BTW, if you don't mind me asking here, jury selection for Jakaris Taylor in the Dunbar Village case is going on now. Will you be able to cover his trial as well? Thanks. :)
Unfortunately we don't have a system of checks and balances in our community like civilized communities do. A civilized community does not wait for someone else to to put the negative elements in their community in check...they do it themselves. If we were a civilized community the thugs in our community would understand that there is a serious price to be paid for bringing down your own people. A healthy fear of reprisal needs to be instilled in our communities. So if you bring down your people on stage, on screen or on the street there is a serious price to be paid. As a black male I think that this is a very important website for black men to see, so I spread the word whenever and wherever I get the opportunity.
"I advocate effective self defense."--BlkSeaGoat
Thank you!!!
We are as entitled to effective self defense as any other people. I wonder why we resist that thinking.
EVERY creature in nature defends itself.
@RevMaAfrik like seriously, can't I get a break? I'm not the news service. I'm one woman, you can always organize your own Dunbar Village coverage. The next trial I am interested in covering is the Dorothy Dixon case, and that's only if I can locate a free lancer in time.
I just sent an email to the mayor. However, I have to agree with anonymous to a point, that IF the mayor takes any action there will be some backlash. Yet I feel that if I don't say anything it is as bad as if I pointed the dang paintball myself.
BTW, I got a generic letter from the FCC a few weeks ago stating they would investigate the allegations regarding the BET awards. The fact that the letter was obviously a computer generated reply causes me to not get to enthusiastic.
@Yme
“Many black youth think all white people live a privileged life simply because they’re white.”
Yes, I would agree having experienced this firsthand. It’s hard for some folks to understand that not all white kids come from wealthy parents, go to the best schools, and get all the breaks in life. Many of us grew up dirt poor and had to struggle day and night for what little we have in this world. Many whites live in communities where they are the minority.
Here’s another example from the news today. A white kid at a low-income, predominately black school was surrounded and beaten on a school bus by a group of black kids, while the other students cheered. Of course the school district will tell you the attacks were not racially motivated.
http://videos.stltoday.com/p/video?id=6172583
Well, Mayor Brown was re-elected by a margin of 63 percent to 37 percent; he beat a White man named Kearns I believe. So maybe now Mayor Brown will say and do more?
I followed up my previous email with a call to the mayor's office; strange, I got a machine rather than a person. I also just called a friend of mine at the NAACP who knows a higher up in the NAACP, a well known man from the civil rights movement who is also in an interracial marriage. Something will be done, but it may be done behind the scenes. :( We'll see what happens. :)
@Duane
I apologize for Black racists and their weak justifications for their stupid behavior.
You're clearly the victim of the PC "narrative," in which only White people can be racist jerks. This excellent video explores this and other double standards:
http://www.pjtv.com/video/Afterburner_with_Bill_Whittle/MSNBC_%26_The_Great_Liberal_Narrative%3A_The_Truth_About_The_Tyranny_of_Political_Correctness/2343/
This is another good one, "Whites are People, Too":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GTt41rKvaM
So, you're not alone in getting fed up with Black racists and their apologists.
I'm from buffalo, born and raised, and it's racist as hell and mostly from the white side of things. I grew up in a white upper class neighborhood my parents house was vandalized on a regular basis by the white kids and the police did sh*t even though they were seen doing it and running away right to their homes, my best friend was lured out to south buffalo by a white girl for the sole purpose of having 10 white boys kick his ass and call him a n*gger while they did it he was 15 and these were grown men, it never made the news and the police still did sh*t, when I was 8 a truck of 3 white guys tried to grab me off the street and have their way with me at least that is what they said they were going to do to me, I told my parents I told the police and those three white bastards said they were just playing around and nothing was done to them (by the law) and a white man tried to bomb a black church here he said he didn't do it because it was a black church so no hate crime for him, my cousin was followed to his car and beaten on chippewa for buying a white girl a drink in a mostly white bar a black woman living in black rock had n*gger spray painted on the side of her house and nothing was done that is what Buffalo is like, so f*ck that white boy, people saying that if it was a black guy it would have been different are right, it would not have made the news sh*t like this happens all the time in buffalo to black males dating cave bitches and we are told to get over it so his family should get over it too. Where was the girl when it happened? why isn't she talking and nameing names? if she claims it must have been the people that have been bothering them for quite some time, he doesn't even have any recollection of who it was or even what happened, it could have been some white boys that beat his ass. Payback is a b*tch, just remember how many black men have died unavenged and in silence just for looking at white women.
@truth, please change your name from "Truth" to "wrong and cowardly." :(
Mature, well-thought out payback is when you out smart and out organize your enemies. Guess you wouldn't know anything about that, huh? :( :(