Ferguson: Movie: BlackkKlansman

OK, no, BlacKkKlansman isn't about Ferguson. But, of course, it is, too. So I'm putting it into my Ferguson group.

Many members of the Ferguson Readings on Race Book Club went to see the movie together or within several days of each other.


The movie trailer below:

As entertainment, the movie is a winner. It kept my attention throughout; the two-plus hours flew by. A mix of humor, action, sadness, romance, fear, anger, injustice, justice - all of the things that make up a life were there.

I also appreciated how the movie pressed some buttons on how we, as individuals, have so many intersections of being-ness, and how these sections can conflict. Two examples from the movie:

1. Being a cop and a person of color
2. Being a cultural member of a religion often discriminated against versus being a practicing member of that religion 

Two other angles that Mr. Lee finessed well:

• The devaluation of women as co-actors by white supremacist groups; and
• How particularly insidious racism is when the person who carries the disease is "nice," such as the wife of one of the KKK members

There was a big ol' Fuck You out loud to David Duke, arching back to the 1970s and into the present. This felt satisfying.


With all that I liked about the movie, there was a fluffiness to it that didn't set right. For example, the happy outcome regarding the bad cop was Disneyesque in its sugar-coated superficiality.

This doesn't take away from my strong recommendation to watch the movie.

Boots Riley (screenwriter and director of the movie Sorry to Bother You) wrote a critique of BlacKkKlansman via Twitter. Fortunately for our eyes, Monthly Review Online laid out the full text nicely for us here. I encourage you to read it; the essay is an appropriate companion for the movie, either before or after you watch it.

The trailer for Mr. Riley's movie:

Ferguson: "Michael Brown Died Today."

Michael Brown, Ferguson, Missouri. Photo: Found at St. Louis Post Dispatch, attributed to a friend of Michael Brown's.

A few days before August 9, 2018, I created a reminder on my calendar for that date, which synced to my cell phone.

The reminder said: "Michael Brown died today."

On August 9, each time I accessed my phone, there it was:

Michael Brown died today.
Michael Brown died today.
Michael Brown died today.
Michael Brown died today.
Michael Brown died today.
Michael Brown died today.
Michael Brown died today.
Michael Brown died today.
Michael Brown died today.


When I think of Michael Brown, I think of:

.... an image burned into my brain, put there by a racist, hate-mongering individual in South Louisiana who is a minor celebrity. On his social media page, which he proudly affiliates with his employer, was a disgusting image of a "memorial" to Michael Brown, comprised of human excrement.

... the draconian military response to Ferguson protests by then-Governor Jay Nixon.

... people who are dear to me, who must always be ready for that surprise slap in the face, at any given moment, in any given place, by any unexpected person, that reminds them they can't move through their days with the same thoughtless presumption of emotional and physical safety as others can.

Opelousas: Outside My Window #1

This is a post about something I saw outside my window one year ago. The other Outside My Window posts are here.

It was a Sunday morning - March 21, 2015. I was in a zone, working happily on a creative project while listening to spirit-lifting Cajun tunes by way of the local cultural treasure, KRVS.

Presently, I notice sunlight peeking through the slats of my window blinds, and I went to open them to draw that light in.

This is what I saw right before me:

Opelousas incident, March 21, 2015, Louisiana

Let me cut to the ending right now: This story ended in tragedy. A man ultimately shot and killed himself, alone in his apartment. The man who killed himself had children. He lived with a girlfriend. Whether or not he was a good man, bad man, or something in between (one of the things that started all of this was a fight between him and his girlfriend where he evidently threatened her safety) - I don't know.

Opelousas incident, March 21, 2015, Louisiana

My first thought was that there was Something Big happening in the shopping center where we've got the Piggly Wiggly and a Mama's Fried Chicken and a Quiznos and a movie theater. An Operation that was the result of a long-term investigation.

My second thought was, damn, I had something similar happen in my backyard in Alamogordo, too! On that day, I saw a man in my backyard wearing a bullet-proof vest and carrying an automatic weapon. Can't believe I didn't write a post about it. Anyway, there were law enforcement crawling all over the vicinity in search of a fugitive. They found him hiding in the laundry room in the building next to mine. The law enforcement officer I saw in my Alamogordo backyard walked through my apartment to get to the front faster than if he had to walk all around the back of the building to get to the front.

Over time, as I watched the two Louisiana snipers on the roof, I realized the reason for there to be two was so that one could concentrate on the potential target while the other rested. I watched them take turns focusing on their objective.

When I went to the other side of my apartment and looked out my bedroom window, I saw the funeral home parking lot packed with law enforcement vehicles. I saw different law enforcement branches - state police, local police, sheriff's department.

Opelousas incident, March 21, 2015, Louisiana

I found one faction unsettling. Black SUV vehicles with windows tinted so dark, you couldn't see inside. The men who seemed to go with them wore black t-shirts and khaki-colored pants. The black t-shirts had OPD on the front and the motto "Throw Back, Take Down" on the reverse. What has happened to "protect and serve"? Why do the windows of the vehicles need to be dark, secret?

Opelousas incident, March 21, 2015, Louisiana

Rightly or wrongly, when I see "throw back, take down" - with a lightning bolt within a fist, which is the graphic on the OPD t-shirt, I assume the "take down" refers to this. And the "throw back" this. About a month after the incident, I asked a couple of police officers about the t-shirt, and they denied any knowledge about its meaning. They did say, however, that these are the folks who do the regular roundups in partnership with the marshalls and other law enforcement entities. 

Opelousas Police Department t-shirt "throw back and take down." Credit: Daily World.

So there was a lot of manpower, a bevy of police vehicles, and a shitload of weaponry. At a certain point, everyone stood down, and presently an ambulance appeared and soon after that we bystanders learned that the man had killed himself.

Sad.

Updated: Taking a Budget Road Trip, Part 5: Loose Ends

On June 30, 2011, I published Taking a Budget Road Trip, Part 5: Loose Ends. This was from my Take a Road Trip series.

Art and ATM in Armenia. March 2012.

In Part 5, I tie up loose ends:

•     Money
•     Should I rent a vehicle for my road trip?
•     Ask to see the room
•     Mile markers, exit numbers, and odd/even highways
•     Road-tripping while brown

Ware Street car, Jefferson City, Missouri. December 2006.

Money

Common budget busters


In the previous articles, I covered the biggest budget busters. Below are some more: 

Not keeping track of your spending along the way. Note your expenditures in a small notebook as you go. (This is actually faster than using your smartphone to do it.) If you don't write down what you spend, you will lose track of your spending. And this means you’ll likely over-spend. Writing down the expenses is also important if you're traveling with others and you split costs. Avoid conflict later. Write. It. Down.

Watch the card use!  We can lull ourselves into thinking that if we put it on plastic, it doesn't really count. Or we rationalize an impulse buy ("A balloon ride! Only $200? Life is short!") that is going to hurt us really bad when we're back home and have to come up with the extra $$$ to pay off that unanticipated credit card debt. But see "forms of money to take" below.

Buying new clothes for the trip. The cost of the trip starts when you start buying trip-related stuff. Instead of buying new clothes "for the trip," go the opposite direction: A road trip presents an opportunity for unloading clothes that you're ready to retire. Old underwear especially - wear 'em, then pitch 'em. Those trousers that are almost, but not quite ready to be tossed? Perfect for long driving days when your only goal is to chew miles. Wear them on those long driving days, then pitch them when done.

Souvenirs. Consider making your road trip a souvenir-free trip. Or set a souvenir budget before you leave and factor it into the overall cost of the trip. Consider what you might do with the money if you choose not to get any souvenirs. Spend an extra night on the road? Pay for a tank of gas? Pay the admission to an additional event or attraction?

Highway 104 between Las Vegas and Tucumcari, New Mexico. August 2013.

Forms of money to take

When I'm at home in the US, wherever that might be, I operate almost entirely by debit card, thus carry minimal cash.  But if I'm on a road trip, I'll consider these options:


Credit card. I have a cash-back credit card, so as long as I have the money set aside to pay my credit card in full after my trip, using my credit card on a road trip offers some advantages. One benefit, of course, is the cash back. Another benefit is that the credit card statement serves as a tidy tracking and analytical tool post-trip. Finally, the credit card company offers me some protections in case I lose the card or I buy defective goods or have a dispute with a vendor.

Paying with a credit card is NOT a good idea for those of us who already have a lot of debt or who tend to be over-spenders.

Debit card. My debit card is my usual payment method of choice for a road trip. Because the money is withdrawn from my checking account immediately, it keeps me on my budget. I also take a credit card; sometimes I'll use it throughout the trip to pay for gasoline.  

Checks. Not an entire checkbook, which is bulky and just weighs me down, but depending on the road trip length, one or several loose checks. There are many small vendors out there who don't take plastic, but they will take checks, even an out-of-state check. I burn a check when the desired purchase will use more cash than I want to release at one time, such as for a local artisan item at a market or fair.

Cash. There are several ways to go with this, such as: 

• Assume 80% reliance on plastic, and bring 20% of your budgeted amount in cash.  
• Decide to go primarily with cash so you are more likely to stay within your budget, and in that case, distribute the cash among three places: your wallet, a piece of luggage, and perhaps a money belt.

For me, it's annoying to have to replenish a cash supply, so I prefer to estimate how much cash I'll need and have it with me from the start. My default is the first option above. 


What to have in your wallet

This falls equally into a security category as it does in a money category. Don't take wallet items that will be a pain in the ass for you to replace if your wallet disappears.

• Credit cards: Take only one. Leave others at home. 
• Debit cards: Ditto.  
• Library cards and other local membership cards: Leave at home.
• Social Security card: You shouldn't have this in your wallet even at home. 
• Driver's license: Take. 
• Car insurance card: Take.
• Health insurance card: Take.
• Travel club membership cards, e.g. AAA: Take

Should I rent a vehicle for my road trip?


There's no right or wrong answer to this question. Factors to consider include: 
 

• Number of people in the party 
• Road types, e.g. paved roads, some gravel/dirt that are level and in good condition, or some gravel/dirt roads that are heavily rutted 
• Condition of your vehicle 
• Gas mileage of your vehicle 
• Your personal deal-breaker threshold re: the reasonable likelihood of a breakdown in your vehicle or your ability to deal with a break down if it happens 
• Duration of road trip

If I use myself as an example, I won't hesitate to take my 1995 Toyota Camry (150k 199k miles) on a road trip of any duration or distance, assuming:

• Number in my travel party is no more than two, maybe three adults
• The roads I'll be on are paved or gravel/dirt in good condition (my car rides low)
• My car passes a thorough pre-trip check at my auto repair shop or I can get current or potential problems fixed before the trip

I have AAA roadside service membership, so I'm not that concerned about dealing with a breakdown. I also figure that if my car breaks down on the road, it would have also broken down at home, so I just factor in the repair bill as an ordinary cost of using my car.

Unlike the hapless family in National Lampoon's Family Vacation, it hasn't been my experience that auto repair people have tried to gouge me when I've had a problem on past road trips. (I’ve had a flat tire on the Denali Highway in Alaska, a flat tire in Nebraska, locked my keys in the car in Sedona, needed a jump start in Albuquerque, and needed a couple of new tires in Cuba, New Mexico.)

On a road trip with three or four people, with all their gear, I’d likely be looking at sharing a roomy rental with good gas mileage unless one of my companions owns something comparable and s/he is OK  using it for the trip.

Here's another voice on the matter of renting or not: Your Next Road Trip: Is it Better to Rent a Car or Take Your Own? at PT Money.

Vaughn, New Mexico. July 2013.

Ask to see the room


When you go to a motel, hotel, or hostel, it is perfectly OK to ask to see the room before you commit for the night. No matter how low the price, it is appropriate to expect:

• Clean bathroom
• Working locks on the doors and windows
• Clean bedding (feel free to pull back the bedspread a bit to ensure the sheets are clean)
• Working shower, sink, and light bulbs

If the room you're shown lacks the above, you can either ask to see a better room or move on to another place.

But let's say you don't find out til after you check into your room that it's a bad one. Don't unpack. Leave your stuff in the room, proceed directly to the front desk, explain the problem, and ask to see a different room. Look at the alternate room before moving your gear. If it's OK, then move. If not, request a refund, put your gear in your car, and go somewhere else.

Be calm, polite, and firm. Most places will try to make you happy.

Columbus, New Mexico and Las Palomas, Chihuahua border

Mile markers, exit numbers, and odd/even highways



Which way? I'd be embarrassed to say how old I was before I knew that odd-numbered highways go north/south and even-numbered highways go east/west. (Don’t try to apply this in Lafayette, Louisiana, however, because you will go mad in the attempt.)

Exit numbers. In most states, exit numbers correspond to the mile markers for the highway they're on.

Mile markers. The mile markers correspond to the number of miles on a given highway within the state you're in. So it's kind of nice to know that if you're going west on Interstate 70 in Missouri, for example, you know exactly how many miles you have left til you get to Kansas. This is because the mile markers descend in number. Once you hit the Kansas border, the mile markers start over; they begin with the last mile, thus you know immediately how many miles you've got to go before you arrive in Colorado, should you follow I-70 the whole way.

Going around. Want to avoid going through a city and instead go around it? Cities of sufficient size build highways that divert traffic around them. They mark such highways by adding a numeral (e.g. 1, 2, 3, or even a 4) in front of the through-going highway’s number. For example, Highways 170, 270, and 370 in the St. Louis Metropolitan area move you temporarily from Interstate 70 to a highway that swings you around parts of St. Louis, and then returns you to Interstate 70 on the other side.

The hotel so hard to find in Dubai's Gold Souk, you need a map.

I mentioned this in Part 4, but it’s worth repeating here: When on a road trip, have paper maps on hand even if you’ve got a smart phone or a GPS.  Phones and GPS devices are too small to give you the big picture you may want (or need) to make informed decisions about where you want to go. Also, mechanical devices and connections fail on occasion.

The Negro Motorist Green Book, 1940, by Victor H. Green. Credit: Wikipedia

Road-tripping while brown

At the time of this update in 2015, there seems to be a spike in overt racism (and, at the same time, an environment of greater harmony). The vast majority of time on a road trip, I'd not anticipate any ugliness. But as one friend has told me, he never knows when it's going to pop up and surprise him.

From 1930 to 1966, African-American road-trippers could consult The Negro Motorist Green Book for guidance on how to get from Point A to Point Z safely and enjoyably. (You can read the entire 1949 issue here.)

You might think such a guide isn't necessary today, but you never know.

NPR's Latino USA did a show on Traveling While Brown, which you can listen to here. Summary: "For people of color, travel can bring all sorts of unexpected experiences, both good and bad. We talk to journalist and author Farai Chideya about how blending in or sticking out can affect travel."

If you run into unpleasant situations in restaurants, motels, or stores, there are good mechanisms for dealing with these (usually after the fact, alas), such as traveler review sites (e.g. tripadvisor and yelp) and letters to managers, owners, or corporate headquarters.

Police stops have the potential to be a different matter, so:

Police stops

Road trips, by their very nature, take us through speed traps and into areas that are hyper-alert to people who look different from the usual residents. If we've got out-of-state plates on the car, all the safer (politically) to stop us.

The following guides are good for all of us, but especially for road-trippers who are brown, for those who are under 25, and for those who appear poor (i.e., without allies):

• From the ACLU: What to do if you're stopped by police, immigration agents, or the FBI
• From BlackPolice.org: What do do when stopped by the police
• From Ohio State Bar Association: Your rights if questioned or stopped by the police
• From Louisiana Public Defenders Office: Know your rights on the streets and in Lousiana courts

Be a more boring driver when you're on a road trip. Watch your speed. On the interstate, stay in the right lane unless you're passing. (On the first day of one road trip, I got pulled over - and received a ticket! - for driving in the left lane on a Missouri interstate.) Use your turn signals. Come to complete stops at stop signs.

Tickets are expensive. They could raise your car insurance premiums. They really mess with your happy road-trip vibe. 

Near Capulin Volcano, New Mexico.

Louisiana Lit: Dave Robicheaux, Police Violence, and our Complicity in Same

Who is Dave Robicheaux? 

He's the protagonist in 20 books written by James Lee Burke, a New Iberia, Louisiana, writer.

Dave is a homicide detective in New Iberia, Louisiana. Cajun. Recovering alcoholic. Vietnam war veteran. A man who marries. A father.

You can read more about Dave here. And what he thinks about north Louisianans here. And alcohol here. And some music here. On human exploitation here. On Angola here. On Louisiana's shadow self here. Ack. I just realized that my selections might give the impression that Dave Robicheaux (channeling James Lee  Burke) is a real downer about southern Louisiana. Of course, Dave Robicheaux is a homicide detective, so that has an effect on the topics he talks about, but even so, Dave's love of Louisiana, the people, and culture do shine through.

Dave and violence 


Dave Robicheaux is a violent son of a bitch. So violent, it can be difficult at times to rationalize that Dave is a good guy, and not one of the bad guys. It doesn't help that Dave has tremendous admiration for sometimes-partner Clete, who's got to be a psychopath. (Lucky for Dave, he's not Clete's enemy.) 

Dave does have some insight into his violence, which he attempts to explain in Dixie City Jam below.

Police violence - or abuse of power


From Dixie City Jam (1994)

I always wanted to believe that those moments of rage, which affected me almost like an alcoholic black-out, were due to a legitimate cause, that I or someone close to me had been seriously wronged, that the object of my anger and adrenaline had not swum coincidentally into my ken.

But I had known too many cops who thought the same way. Somehow there was always an available justification for the Taser dart, the jet of Mace straight into the eyes, the steel baton whipped across the shinbones or the backs of the thighs.

The temptation is to blame the job, the stressed-out adversarial daily routine that can begin like a rupturing peptic ulcer, the judges and parole boards who cycle psychopaths back on the street faster than you can shut their files. But sometimes in an honest moment, an unpleasant conclusion works its way through all the rhetoric of the self-apologist, namely, that you are drawn to this world in the same way that some people are fascinated by the protean shape and texture of fire, to the extent that they need to slide their hands through its caress. 

A Stained White Radiance (1992) 

Policemen often have many personal problems. TV films go to great lengths to depict cops' struggles with alcoholism, bad marriages, mistreatment at the hands of liberals, racial minorities, and bumbling administrators.

But my experience has been that the real enemy is the temptation to misuse power. The weaponry we possess is awesome - leaded batons, slapjacks, Mace, stun guns, M-16s, scoped sniper rifles, 12-gauge assault shotguns, high-powered pistols and steel-jacketed ammunition that can blow the cylinders out of an automobile's engine block.

But the real rush is in the discretionary power we sometimes exercise over individuals. I'm talking about the kind of people no one likes - the lowlifes, the aberrant, the obscene and ugly - about whom no one will complain if you leave them in lockdown the rest of their lives with a good-humored wink at the Constitution, or if you're really in earnest, you create a situation where you simply saw loose their fastenings and throw down a toy gun for someone to find when the smoke clears.

It happens, with some regularity.

People like Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Maricopa County (Phoenix), Arizona, are real-life examples of what Dave Robicheaux is talking about above. Including how we are complicit in such activities. Since my September 2013 post referencing Sheriff Arpaio, Maricopa County has spent even more millions of dollars to settle lawsuits that have arisen during Sheriff Arpaio's watch. .... And the people of Maricopa County keep him in office, re-electing him as recently as 2012. He won't be up for re-election until 2016. Reminds me of the perhaps-apocryphal statement made by a past president about one of our murderous allies in Central America: "He may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch."

The New Orleans Police Department has a woeful reputation for corruption and brutality.What does it signify that "everybody" knows this, and has known it for a long time, and yet ... it continues?
  

Teaching Police versus Children

A child student excuses himself from class: I have to go to the bathroom.

A police officer student excuses himself from class: We just caught a killer.




One hopes the student washes his hands before returning to class.

First Day in Rustavi

Credit: Magnus Hoffman

To protect privacy, I'm not going into much detail, but I'm now in my new home in Rustavi.

First, Rustavi itself. The first impression of Rustavi is the stereotype of what one thinks of a "traditional" Soviet city. Flat ground. Row after row of what some call in Tbilisi the "commie flats." Apartment houses. And that's it. A few pockets of trees. Some laundry fluttering from windows. It's a little disorienting, frankly.

Credit: Panoromio

Host family - friendly, gracious, accommodating, interested.

My host - who I'll call Giorgi, the Georgian version of John Smith - turned me on to the three kick-ass Georgian police videos below. In the last decade, the Georgian police has undergone a massive upheaval from old-school badness (i.e., corruption, impotence in the face of mafia-style criminals, complete mistrust by the populace, etc.) to an astonishing new world order of modernization, training, and accountability.

The police videos below reflect a systematic effort to change how police are perceived in Georgia. Whoever created them must be a master of persuasion. They touch all the buttons.

Every new police stations (and, if I'm not mistaken, every town has a new police station) are made of glass. This is to reassure the citizens that the police are transparent in their operations and behaviors.

Police officers receive very good pay. It's so good, and the reputation of police is now so high, that the work draws attorneys and other professions who didn't traditionally consider police work as a career option.









By the way, I loved our lunch and dinner today at my new digs:

• Grilled eggplant with cilantro
• Fresh tomato
• Fresh watermelon
• Bitingly salty and vivid cheese
• Two shots of cognac, with a taste of cinnamon, made by "Nino," the woman of the house
• Grilled potatoes
• Bread
• Water