This a continuation of this article.
On the night of 7/5/16 I was watching Netflix and finishing my dinner. I washed my dishes sat down and opened Twitter. All I saw was #AltonSterling, the words black man, justice, and RIP. I knew what was up even before I read anything else. All I said was "when is this shit going to stop?"!
Alton was shot six times while pinned down by two officers and being tasered. The footage was caught from two angles. One initially by people in a nearby car which they had to duck down while the shots were fired and the actual shooting is heard not seen. Then in the morning other footage taken by the shop owner showed Alton being shot and even more gruesomely having a pool of his blood oozing out of him and splattered on the bumper of the car next to him.
Then his family read a statement concerning his death and calling for justice. In that video you see his 15 year old son uncontrollably crying and saying "I want my daddy!". Many people blame the problems of blacks on the lack of two parent homes in our culture yet here is video of a young man who is now forced to be the man of the house in a single parent home because of the lack of restraint by two cowardly officers of the law.
Then I am laying down to go to sleep and I scroll through Twitter to wind down and then what do I see? A video of a woman next to a man severely wounded in a car while a gun his being held on him by a police officer. This man's name was Philando Castille.
His girlfriend used Facebook's live feature to show the situation as it happened in order dissuade any erroneous description of the event.
Castille was asked to produce his driver's license to the officer. He was carrying a firearm as is his constitutional 2nd Amendment right, as many gun rights activists would decry (except of course when in comes to those Americans of color).
He had told the the officers that he did have a gun, legally, on his person and that he was going to get his license. The officer responded by opening fire on Castille while his girlfriend and 4 year old daughter were in the car. Instead of seeking medical attention the officers held his gun on Castille who at that point was dying, removed the child from the car and had the woman handcuffed and detained as Philando breathe his final breaths.
Many want to resolve that there is a war on cops. Are the bad cops? Yes. Are they all bad? No. But that is hard to decipher when incidents like this are happening and not enough police are coming out to admonish this disgusting behavior.
If someone at your job was going out of their way to do a poor job thus making your job that much harder would you not call them out on their lack of responsibility?
I work at a coffee shop. The other day a coworker of mine whom I hold as dear friend and have tremendous respect for had gotten loud and berated a regular customer, whose wife was also a regular. I had to confront my friend and told her what she did was not cool and it makes us look bad that we cannot hold our composure.
If I can do that from barista to barista why can a cop not come out and voice their displeasure in those officers action? Being a cop as any other job is a thankless job. You get more attention for doing bad than good, that attention is of course negative.
When we start to value the lives of everyone and get better policing it might not end all our troubles but is definitely a step in the right direction.
Thursday, July 7, 2016
The Disrespect of Dwyane
In May of 2003, many the NBA's lackluster teams had brought with them high hopes of securing the number one overall pick in that year's draft. A pick that could only become Lebron James, arguably the best player of his era, yet outside of the first 6 picks the consolation prizes weren't half as bad as they were in other years.
The ping pong balls were bounced and so it came. Cleveland won and gained the greatest player in they would ever have . Detroit whiffed on a foreign unknown. Denver got a National Champion and significant scorers. Toronto gained a talented big man from Texas. And then there was Miami.
Pat Riley had won titles with the Lakers and removed the Knicks from obscurity. He joined the Heat as team president and coach in 1996. They were at the top of the Eastern Conference from then until 2001 when franchise player Alonzo Mourning came down with kidney ailments. They faced two seasons in the bottom of the east. Then on draft night they acquired the most iconic player in their history, Marquette guard Dwyane Wade.
In his rookie year the Heat improved by 17 wins and gained a playoff spot. The next year they traded for Shaquille O'Neal and lost in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Detroit Pistons.
The next year they won their first NBA title and Dwyane Wade put on one of the greatest NBA Finals performances in history whilst capturing NBA Finals MVP.
At no point during Wade's Heat tenure has he been the highest paid member of the team. Even the lean years between the 2006 title and the arrival of Lebron James and Chris Bosh due to the team acquiring expiring contracts of lapsed superstars such as Jermaine O'neil and Shawn Marion.
Wade held his resolve for the good of the franchise under the belief that one day he would be repaid for all he has done.
Through these last two years we have seen that unless Wade was going to get paid an extraordinary amount to become and maybe 50% stake of the franchise, I mean after all Dwyane Wade is about 75% of the Miami Heat as a franchise's history.
People say Wade would tie the franchise up financially like Kobe Bryant had the Lakers had in his last years, keep in mind Kobe had won 5 titles with them and was a franchise icon at the time. Bryant also didn't force the team to trade prospects such as De'Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, and Jordan Clarkson for superstars thus leaving them with nothing after his retirement, which I suspect Wade would also do for the Heat.
Since James left the team in 2014, Wade has played on 1 year contracts. He did this not to give himself an exit strategy as some have accused him of. This was to give Pat Riley and the Heat flexibility to compete on the court and during free agency.
At the ages of 32, 33, and 34 with a bit of an injury history it is quite risky to gamble with your financial security. But he did that for the team he had thought was a family.
It was Wade's right to make sure he was compensated adequately and after a few moves he finally was, by his hometown Chicago Bulls.
I'm sure Riley and Heat owner Mickey Arison will send well wishes and as soon as Wade retires they will hang his #3 in the American Airlines Arena and embrace him as the cornerstone of their franchise, but will regret not doing it during his 13 years there.
The ping pong balls were bounced and so it came. Cleveland won and gained the greatest player in they would ever have . Detroit whiffed on a foreign unknown. Denver got a National Champion and significant scorers. Toronto gained a talented big man from Texas. And then there was Miami.
Pat Riley had won titles with the Lakers and removed the Knicks from obscurity. He joined the Heat as team president and coach in 1996. They were at the top of the Eastern Conference from then until 2001 when franchise player Alonzo Mourning came down with kidney ailments. They faced two seasons in the bottom of the east. Then on draft night they acquired the most iconic player in their history, Marquette guard Dwyane Wade.
In his rookie year the Heat improved by 17 wins and gained a playoff spot. The next year they traded for Shaquille O'Neal and lost in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Detroit Pistons.
The next year they won their first NBA title and Dwyane Wade put on one of the greatest NBA Finals performances in history whilst capturing NBA Finals MVP.
At no point during Wade's Heat tenure has he been the highest paid member of the team. Even the lean years between the 2006 title and the arrival of Lebron James and Chris Bosh due to the team acquiring expiring contracts of lapsed superstars such as Jermaine O'neil and Shawn Marion.
Wade held his resolve for the good of the franchise under the belief that one day he would be repaid for all he has done.
Through these last two years we have seen that unless Wade was going to get paid an extraordinary amount to become and maybe 50% stake of the franchise, I mean after all Dwyane Wade is about 75% of the Miami Heat as a franchise's history.
People say Wade would tie the franchise up financially like Kobe Bryant had the Lakers had in his last years, keep in mind Kobe had won 5 titles with them and was a franchise icon at the time. Bryant also didn't force the team to trade prospects such as De'Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, and Jordan Clarkson for superstars thus leaving them with nothing after his retirement, which I suspect Wade would also do for the Heat.
Since James left the team in 2014, Wade has played on 1 year contracts. He did this not to give himself an exit strategy as some have accused him of. This was to give Pat Riley and the Heat flexibility to compete on the court and during free agency.
At the ages of 32, 33, and 34 with a bit of an injury history it is quite risky to gamble with your financial security. But he did that for the team he had thought was a family.
It was Wade's right to make sure he was compensated adequately and after a few moves he finally was, by his hometown Chicago Bulls.
I'm sure Riley and Heat owner Mickey Arison will send well wishes and as soon as Wade retires they will hang his #3 in the American Airlines Arena and embrace him as the cornerstone of their franchise, but will regret not doing it during his 13 years there.
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