Another black person is dead as a result of wrongful arrest. That in itself is not remarkable, unfortunately. And while there appears to be some social media debate as to who was in the right and who was in the wrong in this case, a look at the police dash-cam video is as unambiguous as, well, the one featuring Eric Garner’s summary execution. Sandra Bland, pulled over for not signalling a lane change (for Christ’s sake!), is arrested for not being sufficiently subservient to a Texas State Trooper with a chip on his shoulder. “I will light you up,” the trooper threatens when Bland resists his order to leave the car – a demand issued because the young woman declined to extinguish her cigarette when asked. (Yes, asked, if somewhat testily.)
The video of this incident is chilling, and instructive. It is a window into the mentality of entrenched white domination of black people; nothing less than this. Irritation should not be sufficient cause for arrest, whether it’s being projected by the motorist or the arresting officer. Sandra Bland was not doing as she was asked. She was not bowing and scraping. At the same time, she was not violently confrontational. The Texas State Trooper could have just handed her the ticket – or a warning – and walked back to his cruiser. Once he decided to be a dick about it, there was no backing down – not as the white cop disciplining the black miscreant.
Did she suicide? If she did, I can understand how she got to that place. She had had problems with depression, but for chrissake … she was about to start a new job, and then on the basis of nothing at all, she was taken to jail, held on $5000 bond, her prospects in ruins. The arbitrariness of the criminal justice system – the same injustice against black people she had criticized – was landing on her neck, reducing her to the status of a slave.
Being white, I don’t claim to understand the black experience. But by considering the hard facts of black life, the constant harassment, the endless traffic stops, the serial humiliations, the threats to life and limb, white people can gain a small measure of that understanding. We have to keep that in mind when we hear stories like that of Sandra Bland, or Eric Garner, or Michael Brown, or so many others. Not so easy.
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jp
If this keeps up, I’m going to do a deep dive into some unreleased material from yesteryear. I was listening to a live tape of us from back in 1993. That’s never been transcoded, so hell, time to get busy. Marvin (my personal robot assistant) can get started on that anytime. Or not. (He thinks transcoding involves switching his gender identity somehow. Not sure where he got THAT idea.)
Before anyone accuses me of it, I am not a fan of the clerical regime in Iran. The Iranian people have, however, been subjected to sustained attack by the United States since we expanded our empire during and after World War II. We have caused them immense suffering, through the overthrow of their democratically elected government in 1953, through the imposition of our close ally, the Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, through our support of Saddam Hussein in his murderous war against Iran, through decades of draconian sanctions. There are many Americans – some friends, even – who will list for me the strikes against Americans attributed to Iran (all in the context of various military adventures on our part), but in all honesty, they pale in comparison to what we have done to them.
In spite of what our neighbors think (or demand), making music is an intrinsically noisy business. We are working on an album, for chrissake. That means take after take, recording rhythm parts, experimenting with sound – painstaking work that generates a lot of ambient sound, despite Mitch Macaphee’s efforts to soundproof our makeshift studio. His latest attempt involved having Marvin (my personal robot assistant) hold up sheets of foam core, one in each claw. Did it work? Your answer is nailed to our front door.
The irony, of course, is astounding. When it faced crisis in the early 1950s, Germany’s creditors – including Greece – 
What have we been doing with all of our free time? Thought you might want to know. Actually, Matt’s been chasing Peregrine falcons around downtown Utica, like the very good fellow he is. (You can check on his efforts – and even contribute to them, if you like – on the 
Marriage equality is seen by some evangelical Christians as a threat to their beliefs. Those who confer marriage licenses in some official capacity as well as those whose businesses serve the wedding market want the option to deny service to gay couples. Religious liberty statutes are cropping up everywhere. So, my question for these folks is, let’s consider the potential harm on either side. For the evangelicals, if gays can marry, their forfeit is being outraged and offended; it may affect their mood around the dinner table at Christmas. On the other hand, for gay couples, being denied the right to marry means not being able to share your life with the one you love, tend to them when they’re sick, build a life with them, etc. Far greater harm, I would argue.
Paper Clip shortage – As you probably know from reading the major newspapers, there is a nationwide shortage of paper clips. This is due to extreme weather caused by climate change – the entire Nevada paper clip crop was lost. Can’t finish a podcast without paper clips. (Oh, you DON’T read the newspapers? Well … that explains your ignorance around this vital topic.)
It’s vintage American political theater, kind of like the ubiquitous flag pin. (Pin on, hero! Pin off, traitor!) We are so obsessed with symbolism that we invariably miss the fundamentals. Reverend Barber was talking about this over the last few days, countering a lot of the happy talk about everyone coming together and pulling down that offending flag. Seriously, when I watched Nikki Haley making her dramatic announcement, all I could think of was the thousands of working families in South Carolina – many of whom are African-Americans – who could benefit from Medicaid expansion under the ACA, if only she and her party would allow it. Sure – symbols mean something to those who have suffered under them. That’s reason enough to pull the stars and bars down. But let’s not stop there.
Well, as you can see, the bottom is falling out of Big Green, economically speaking. Nothing new, right? As a class, musicians tend to be monetarily challenged, let’s say. Doing music for a living is tantamount to perpetual unemployment, interrupted by occasional contract work. And when you’re a plainclothes band, the gig money sucks. Usually you get a percentage of the door. If you’re more well known, they might give you the WHOLE door. And if you draw a good crowd, they might even throw in a window as well.