Author: Ezeocha Post

I am passionate about politics and the social challenges that faces our country. As a firm believer in the goodness of man, and at the risk of sounding naïve, I am convinced that when people of goodwill driven by gallant ideas come together to fashion out a better world, and pursue these ideas with energy and vigor, that somehow they will prevail. My blog will seek to provide a platform through which these gallant ideas can be birthed for a better and equitable world.

FERGUSON, THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN RACE, AND DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA: THE DATA THAT MATTERS

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There is no dearth of data that African-American men and youths are indiscriminately stopped, brutalized, jailed, and many of the times, especially in recent times, killed by the American society and its judicial system. The data abounds. From Amadou Diallo in New York in 1999, Trayvon Martin in Florida in 2012, and just in this 2014, we have Eric Garner in Staten Island: July 17; Michael Brown in Ferguson: August 9; Akai Gurley in Brooklyn: November 20, and Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Ohio in November 22. The list continues.

Call it accidental killing or whatever cliché authorities across America may come up with to euphemize the forceful taking of an innocent life, African-American men and teens are killed like flies all over the country without any form of justice for the dead or consequences for their killers. Everybody knows, from the George Zimmerman trial charade in Florida, the grand jury travesty in Ferguson, and in the word of Fox News panelist Charles Krauthammer, the ‘totally incomprehensible’ grand jury decision in Staten Island, that America is saying unequivocally to the world that the life of an African-American man means shit (forgive my French) to them.

Have you ever watched television and seen some white kid get shot by accident?

Charles J. Johnson, digital news editor at the Chicago Tribune, has detailed his firsthand experience of how the police, during presumed hostile situations alters their rules of engagement, depending on the race of the presumed criminal involved. If the situation involves an African-American man, the default reaction would be to kill him on sight. The very reason officer Timothy Loehmann of the Cleveland Police killed 12-year old Tamir Rice within split seconds of arriving at the scene where the child was playing with his toy gun. Conversely, when the situation involves a white man, the rules changes and the default police training of negotiating a peaceful surrender of the criminal comes to play. And no situation demonstrates this better than the arrest of 31-year old Eric Frein – a white man. Despite killing a state of Pennsylvania trooper and injuring another, and despite being one of the FBI’s 10-most-wanted fugitives, when he (Frein) was reportedly cornered by U.S. Marshalls at his hideout on October 30, 2014, after 48-days of manhunt following his killing of the trooper, he was given a chance to surrender. A known killer. A grown man who has used firearm to kill and was reportedly armed, according to USA Today, at the time of his “surrender.” But a 12-year old child with a toy guy wouldn’t even be spared a 1 minute window to respond to police.

An analysis by ProPublica, a non-profit news company shows that young African-American men are 21 times more likely to be killed by police than young white men. These data are in public domain for all to see. They are irrefutable, they are not subject to argument, political manipulation, or any leap of intellectual faith. They are a national embarrassment, a threat to national cohesion, and renders ludicrous the U.S. international posture on justice anytime injustice is carried out against the citizenry of other nations by their own government.

Continue reading “FERGUSON, THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN RACE, AND DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA: THE DATA THAT MATTERS”

BE HAPPY PART 2: THE OLE BESSIE STORY

drug patrol

Farmer Joe decided his injuries from the accident were serious enough to take the trucking company responsible for the accident to court.

In court the trucking company’s fancy lawyer was questioning farmer Joe. “Didn’t you say, at the scene of the accident, ‘I’m fine,’” asked the lawyer.

Farmer Joe responded, “Well I’ll tell you what happened. I had just loaded my favorite mule Bessie into the…….“I didn’t ask for any details,” the lawyer interrupted, just answer the question. Did you not say, at the scene of the accident, ‘I’m fine!?’

Farmer Joe said, “Well, I had just got Bessie into the trailer and I was driving down the road….”

The lawyer interrupted again and said, “Judge, I am trying to establish the fact that, at the scene of the accident, this man told the Highway Patrolman on the scene that he was fine. Now several weeks after the accident he is trying to sue my client. I believe he is a fraud. Please tell him to simply answer the question.”

By this time the judge was fairly interested in what Farmer Joe’s answer and said to the lawyer, “I’d like to hear what he has to say.”

Joe thanked the judge and proceeded. “Well, as I was saying, I had just loaded Bessie into the trailer and was driving her down the highway when this huge semi-truck and trailer ran the stop sign and smacked my truck right in the side. I was thrown into one ditch and Bessie was thrown into another. I was hurting real bad and didn’t want to move. However, I could hear ole’ Bessie moaning and groaning. I knew she was in terrible shape just by her groans.

Shortly after the accident a Highway Patrolman came on the scene. He could hear Bessie moaning and groaning so he went over to her. After he looked at her he took out his gun and shot her between the eyes. Then the patrolman came across the road with his gun in his hand and looked at me. He said, “Your mule was in such a bad shape I had to shoot her. How are you feeling?”

 

I hope this story brings a smile to your face and may laughter never cease in your life. Be happy!

 

 

 

 

Happyness

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So the sun came out today and we all have seen it. And it’s one helluva of a reason to be happy.

You probably woke up this morning, rushed into your bathroom to prepare yourself for work, and obviously, you had a chance to see your reflection in the mirror and loved the person that stared back at you. You stopped, observed you for a while and smiled. The beautiful you. The macho you. The curvy you. The big-boned you. The thick you. The pot-bellied you. The slender-built you. The athletic built you. Whatever your body type, you probably are in love with it and carries yourself with confidence, projecting an image of self-assurance. You should. You have the Ezeocha element in you and I love you. Be happy.

Even though Picasso said there is nothing more beautiful than the line on a woman’s back. Yeah. But if your own line has disappeared, maybe because you are probably overweight, still be happy with yourself. You are alive and you saw the sun come out!

Unemployment is at 5.9% in the USA. Probably lower in some places around the world. Few places. But definitely higher in many places around the world, including Nigeria, my beloved fatherland. But I still implore my brothers and sisters in Nigeria, be happy. Worse come to worse, there will always be Garri for ‘soak and travel’ and with 10 bucks, which you can easily hustle off any kindhearted brother walking by, you can buy yourself better fried peanut to garnish the oto with. So be happy.

ISIS is messing things up for brothers in the Middle East. Whether you are a brother living in Iraq, Syria, or in the Kurdish world, please be happy. Even though you are on what seemed to be an indefinite unscheduled and unpaid time off from work, still be happy. Even though some of y’all now live in refugee camps and not in your luxury homes that is beautifully colored with the love of your wives and the innocence of your vivacious children, still be happy. The perseverance and resolve of the U.S. Armed Forces will wipe ISIS off the map in no distant time.

For folks protesting another abortion of justice in the broad-daylight murder of another African-American teenager. In spite of this sad situation, please find a way to be happy. At least we have our First Amendment right which we are expressing to the fullest. So be happy. At least Ferguson have not turned to Tiananmen Square. So be you happy while you protest.

President Barack Obama. Be happy. Despite how much America seem to not appreciate all you have done for her through your thoughtfulness and prudent policies and programs. Please be happy. At least you have control of your administration and fires and hires as you wishes. So be happy. John F. Kennedy couldn’t even fire General Curtis LeMay at the peak of his insubordination. So be happy, brother.

I am so happy today just because the sun came up and I witnessed it. Not because I won any lottery jackpot. Not because I became six feet tall overnight. Not because I checked my bank account balance and I saw seven figures. And definitely, not because I am taking Kim Kardashian out on a date. Which may happen soon. Am kidding. Lol.

Today is Wednesday, and it’s a beautiful day to be happy. So be you happy all ye people of the world. I love you. God bless you and may God continue to bless the United States of America….

Annise Parker: The Villian Of Freedom Of Speech

Annise Parker

 By Chinedu Ezeocha for Ezeocha Post
Originally Published on Monday October 20, 2014 at 1:57 AM CT

Annise Parker; the Mayor of Houston is a lesbian. That is the choice she made for herself. We Houstonians love her as both a person and as a politician. And that was why we elected and re-elected her into the hallowed Office of the Mayor of the City of Houston.

Annise Parker is first an American, and then a member of the Democratic Party. Being an American and a politician, I have no doubt in my mind that Mayor Parker is very familiar with the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America which prohibits the making of any law or decree or ordinance to abridge the freedom of speech of any U.S. citizen.

I am not an expert in American history. But I know a little more than the average Joe about the past of the United States. And from the little that I know, I can say that dating back to the early 20th Century, the only time an elected official have tried to suppress, through the powers of his or her office, the rights of other citizens to freedom of speech, is during the era of Joe McCarthy. Joe McCarthy was an eccentric senator from Wisconsin who saw almost everyone with opposing ideas to his as a communist or a communist sympathizer who deserves to be treated as enemy of the United States. And Joe McCarthy was a Republican.

Republicans are known for making laws to disenfranchise citizens from their voting rights just because they vote Democratic Party; they are known for thinking that only them have monopoly of wisdom and love for ole America, and of course, Republicans have this weird inkling that if democracy doesn’t work for them, then fuck democracy. Forgive my French. Why else would an elected official in Jefferson County, in the beautiful state of Missouri call for military coup d’état to remove President Obama from power?

Those kind of stuff are what Republicans are known for. It’s atypical of Democrats. Hence my surprise, the surprise of every lettered man, and the surprise of every constitutional law scholar at what Mayor Annise Parker is doing in the City of Houston, trying to be a ‘modern day authoritarian in a democracy,’ by demanding that preachers bring to her sermons they have written to preach in their churches for her approval [first] before they can preach it in their various churches. Because she want to filter anti-LGBT rhetoric [If any] from the sermons the preachers have penned down to preach to their congregation before they can go ahead and preach her approved version.

Continue reading “Annise Parker: The Villian Of Freedom Of Speech”

THE ATTITUDE OF COMMODIFYING PEOPLE: THE TEXAS EXAMPLE

apartment
 
By Chinedu Ezeocha for Ezeocha Post
Originally Published on Friday October 3, 2014 at 4:37 PM CT

 It is no secret that in Texas, businesses runs the government. Friendly laws and policy decisions are made to benefit businesses than we the people – the very consumers that businesses rely upon for their survival. This is because of the generally accepted belief that businesses create jobs and by so doing help grow the economy. We the people on the other hand are seen more often as unwelcome inconveniences especially when we demand from government certain social privileges or when we demand that our rights be protected against predator businesses that prey on the vulnerable. In a nutshell, if there is ever a contest match in Texas between businesses and we the people, and the state government is the umpire, businesses will always win no matter how hard we the people try.

In this essay, I am going to argue that the shylockian exploitation of ordinary Americans in Texas by businesses, actions that are encouraged by policies of the state government, has reached an alarming crescendo and need to be discussed and efforts made to reverse the ugly trend. I will make my case using the ‘loan shark’ businesses and the relationships that exists between apartment renters and apartment managements as my references.

In early 2012, I needed to buy my first car in America. I just got my work permit and all the good jobs (when I say good jobs I mean better than minimum wage) I was getting were at places where the METRO bus system do not go to. So in order to secure these good jobs and better take care of my family, I needed to buy a car. I needed extra $1000.00(one thousand dollars) to complete the money I already had to get the most affordable car available to me then. Family and friend could not lend me the money. So I went to Ace Cash Express (a loan shark company) to borrow the money. They agreed to lend me the money but for the $1000.00 that I needed to borrow from them, they wanted me to return it back to them in two weeks time and by the time I will be returning the money, they wanted me to return $1500.00(one thousand, five hundred dollars) to them. $500.00 (five hundred dollar) interest in two weeks for a loan of $1000.00 (one thousand dollars). And that is a 150% interest in just two weeks. Nobody makes that kind of extreme gains in business in such a short time. Else, everybody will be a businessperson and nobody will be working for anyone else. Out of curiosity, I asked them how much I would be required to pay back if I chose to repay the $1000.00 after one month. And they told me that I have to return $3000.00 (three thousand dollars) to them by the end of one month if I choose to rather than two weeks, pay them back in a month’s time. And that, my friends, is a 300% interest rate. Just for a month.

The Texas-big question now is: where else besides Texas does a business make this kind of outrageous gains on an investment in such a short period of time?

Just hold your thought.

Continue reading “THE ATTITUDE OF COMMODIFYING PEOPLE: THE TEXAS EXAMPLE”

When Courage Takes Flight

Cadets toss their hats in the air as the Thunderbirds fly over Falcon Stadium at the United States Air Force Academy Commencement ceremony, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. May 28, 2014.

 

By Chinedu Ezeocha for Ezeocha Post

Originally Published on Saturday September 20, 2014 at 00:45 AM CT

 TIMES Magazine reported two days ago  that henceforth the United States Air Force (USAF) have promulgated a new policy saying that airmen trying to join USAF will no longer be required to say “So help me God” during their oath-taking ceremony.

This was in reaction to the threat of a lawsuit last week against the USAF by an airman that was trying to re-enlist into the service but was prohibited from doing so until he uttered the phrase “So help me God” during his oath-taking ceremony. Which he chose not to do.

For analysis sake, the prospective airman has previously served in the Air Force. He was trying to re-enlist. So he know the initiation rituals and code of conduct at the USAF. I beg to assume therefore that he enjoyed his service years in the Air Force and that was why he wanted back. You never try to go back to a job you never liked or enjoyed.

Continue reading “When Courage Takes Flight”

WHEN THE STATE BECOMES A TOOL OF VENGEFULNESS

Eric Garner, a 44 year old African-American man being strangled to death by officers of the New York Police Department. July 17, 2014.

 

By Chinedu Ezeocha for Ezeocha Post
Originally Published on Tuesday August 12, 2014 at 6:30 AM CT

 Ideally in criminal justice, when a crime is committed, a suspect is never arrested for the crime until a compelling evidence amounts that he apparently committed the said crime. Then will a warrant for his arrest be issued. Except in cases where the suspect(s) is caught in the act by law enforcement agencies. This is because in our present-day society, every arrest for whatsoever crime seemingly (I used seemingly because people has been framed for a crime they didn’t commit and evidence planted to pin the crime on them) committed goes into public record and counts against the name of the person with the criminal record. For example, if it is on record that a man was once arrested for pedophilia, just that very fact will make it almost impossible for him to get a decent job in this society because of the stigmatization associated with such crime. Regardless of whether he was later absolved from the crime or not. In the same light, if a man is jailed for rape or murder, after he has served his time, he may not be able to vote again. A criminal record can abort one’s career; condemn him to menial jobs where his supposed criminal record will not pose a threat to his employer, and some of the times, a criminal record can deny a person his civil liberties such as voting in elections.  The act of rushing into the arrest of a suspect in a crime without proper investigation can destroy the suspect’s life forever especially when the suspect is innocent of the charges. And in this 24-hour news cycle of ours where the media is always on the roll chasing after latest headlines, a rushed arrest and imprisonment can cause irreparable damage to a man’s integrity especially if the mass media that broadcasted his guilt to the world, typically, does not show up (they seldom do) to retract their statements after the suspect who is now a victim of overzealousness has been proved innocent of the crime. Hence the need for decorum and thorough investigation before any arrest.

This essay will not be focusing on the O.J. Simpson’s or the Oscar Pistorius’ kind of cases that enjoyed/enjoys international media coverage because the suspects in these cases are celebrities. This essay’s main focus is the regular guy on the street who got arrested and jailed by cops because he looked a certain way. It is about the guy who went into a consensual sex with an adult female who however had sinister thoughts towards the guy and shouted rape once both of them are naked. And it is also about the man who is a constant victim of domestic violence and abuse by his wife or girlfriend, but could do nothing to defend himself because 99% is the chance that upon his reaction the woman will call cops on him, cops who will unwisely arrest and jail the man only on the woman’s word without any form of investigation.

Continue reading “WHEN THE STATE BECOMES A TOOL OF VENGEFULNESS”

THE LESSONS OF FLIGHT MH17

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By Chinedu Ezeocha for Ezeocha Post
Originally Published on Saturday July 19, 2014 at 1:05 PM CT

 The tragedy of the downed Malaysia Airline M17 has thought us one important lesson: We are all interconnected. After this incident, no nation can be able to say that whatever crisis or conflict that is going on in another country is an exclusive problem of that country. A conflict in Ukraine, a country located in Eastern Europe, didn’t even claim a single Ukrainian life in this instance; rather it claimed hundreds of lives of Holland nationals, scores of Malaysians, many lives from Western European countries of United Kingdom, Germany, and Belgium, and what more, lives of citizens of faraway New Zealand.

In the same way this conflict or near civil war in Ukraine have touched lives, albeit disastrously , across continents, same way can hunger or subhuman conditions of living in another country tragically affect lives in faraway countries that may not even share continental affiliation with that particular country.

Hunger breeds anger and anger breeds resentment. A hungry, angry and resentful person is a vulnerable person who can be easily exploited by terrorists and be indoctrinated to do bad things to good people.

Terrorists have resources and exploits people’s vulnerabilities for their selfish ends. So it will not be surprising for a middle-aged man from say, Somalia, who is having problem providing for his family, to give in to the advances of terrorist recruiters, who would not only entice him with fat money for his family’s upkeep for a long period of time, but would also brainwash him into believing that strapping a bomb to his body to bomb, say, the Calgary International Airport, will secure for him more wives, more wealth, and a royal livelihood with Allah, wherever.

Therefore, every country on Earth, no matter how meager its resources may be, owe it to itself to look at crisis happening in neighboring country(ies) or faraway countries and act compassionately and reasonably towards the people of that country to mitigate the crisis before it metamorphoses into an international crisis of the like we are seeing presently.

Continue reading “THE LESSONS OF FLIGHT MH17”

IN DEFENSE OF PRESIDENTIAL DECISIONS

Barack Obama making his 2nd Inauguration Speech As The 44th President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States of America. January 20, 2013.
By Chinedu Ezeocha for Ezeocha Post
Originally Published on Monday June 23, 2014 at 4:54 PM CT

In 2008 we elected Barack Obama to four years in office as the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. By so doing, we deferred to him the mandate to make decisions on our behalf as a nation, both in domestic and in foreign policies. Good or bad, we live the consequences of his decisions. The buck stops with him.

Because we were satisfied with the choices and decisions he made on our behalf in his first term, such as killing Osama bin Laden and passing the Affordable Care Act – which has now become law, when in 2012 he sought re-election, we voted him back to the Oval Office to continue to make decisions on our behalf as a nation.

Presidents are mere men who are susceptible to making error of judgments just as we all do. Barack told us while he was running for the Office of the President that there will be false starts and that he will make mistakes.  He never promised to get it right at all times. Presidents make mistakes, but what is never questionable is the motive behind every decision a president make, whether good or bad. Which are always in service to country and in service to humanity. Meanwhile, in their hallowed position, presidents some of the times make decisions which may be unpopular with the masses as at the time the decisions were made, but which in the long  turns out to be wonderful decisions because they had privileged information and intelligence that informed their decision. Information which are classified and therefore not available to the average joe, the paid  political analyst on television who knows nothing more than the average joe, the radio talk show host, and of course, the political strategists from the opposition party.

Continue reading “IN DEFENSE OF PRESIDENTIAL DECISIONS”

The Leader the World Needs

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By Chinedu Ezeocha for Ezeocha Post
Originally Published on Tuesday June 17, 2014 at 10:10 AM CT

The jury have decided and there is now a general agreement that President Obama have diminished America’s power and global influence through his policies.  Consequent of his lax foreign policies, oppressors like President Assad of Syria got away with killing thousands of Syrians with chemical weapons even when President Obama told the world Assad will face serious consequences if he did so. Assad called him bluff and did exactly that and Obama didn’t come up with any punishment. That is unpresidential.

On Iran’s nuclear weapon’s program, the President is kowtowing to the dictates of the ayotallahs, trotting along with them around the world on a globally acknowledged sham and fruitless negotiations, and seriously resisting every attempt by Congress, even calls from lawmakers in his own party, for a more biting economic sanctions that can force Iran’s hand and make them reconsider their nuclear weapon’s ambition. That also is a flat out error in judgment as if someone didn’t learn anything from Chamberlain. Appeasement makes the aggressor more aggressive. You do not kowtow to Iran. You force their hand.

Continue reading “The Leader the World Needs”