Are they just now beginning to suspect foul play in the Mitrice Richardson case?

According to the L.A. Times, the sheriff's department has decided to start a homicide investigation for Mitrice Richardson. In case you are not familiar with this story, Mitrice was at a restaurant and unable to pay for her meal. Apparently, Mitrice was talking and behaving oddly; people at the restaurant thought she may have had some mental issues. Her grandmother was called and she offered to pay for the bill, but didn't have access to a fax machine. The couldn't accept her card payment over the phone. So, the police were called and she was arrested. The police department claims she showed no signs of drunkenness or mental issues, so they released her.

This young woman disappeared after being released from the Malibu police department in mid-September. The police claim that they had no reason to hold her at the station because she did not show any signs of being drunk or being mentally incapacitated. Now it turns out she may have had some sort of breakdown, so how is it that the police saw no reason to hold her, at least until a family member could come to the station and take her home? Mind you, she had no car (it was miles away, at the restaurant where everything started), no money, and no cell phone. Instead of dropping her off at home or simply taking her back to her car, the police department let her walk off into the night. Now she's missing. The sheriff says that they do not believe she is dead, but by starting a homicide investigation, more resources can be used to find her.

Wouldn't it have made more sense to use more resources months ago? Leads that could have been discovered back in October may be long gone! I hope that is not the case, but I'm upset at the fact that her strange disappearance did not seem to warrant a massive media blitz. I know, the story was featured on CNN Headline news, but I haven't seen or heard much else about her disappearance since October. I pray they find Mitrice and that she is able to go home to her family.

Violence against women: A spectator event...

I don't understand this teenagers today. So angry, so violent, so desensitized to anger and violence. I'm going to write this and I ask that you bear with me because I might babble...so many thoughts are running through my head. A few hours ago, I read an article on CNN.com about a young girl, possibly 15 years old, being gang-raped and beaten by four males (can't call them men because true men do not do such things and can't call them boys because they were old enough to know the difference between right and wrong). This disgusting and violent crime happened right outside of her high school's homecoming dance. This alone makes me want to react violently, but add the fact that approximately 15 people, perhaps students, stood around and watched this girl's brutal violation and DID NOTHING TO STOP IT...NOTHING! When you add that to this story, it makes it that much more sickening! This girl was going through the ugliest, scariest, most traumatic and humiliating moments of her life and there were people standing there watching! I can only imagine that she would have been thinking "Someone please help me! Please! Someone stop this!" But no one had it within them to push these guys off of her? I mean dang, even if you want to use that weak excuse of "being afraid for one's personal safety", someone could have ran inside the school and told a teacher what was happening outside of the school! But nope, each person chose to be a spectator to the abuse of this girl. They probably have no idea that they were bearing witness to her mental breakdown, or maybe they did and they did not care at all.

I do not understand where we are as a society where violence against women is just something to watch, something to accept and not something to stop.  Women face so much hatred (direct and indirect) and abuse (physical, emotional, and mental). And we often become just as desensitized as men to the violence commited against us. Rumor is that that some girls went to a party after the crime was committed and they were overheard joking about it...joking about the fact that a girl was beaten and raped. As I said, this is a rumor, but would this surprise me if it were found to be true? Not at all. There is no solidarity among us women. We fall into the catty, back bitting foolishness and in extreme cases we defend the abuser! What in the world?!?! Maybe some of us feel that if we defend the woman, we are bashing the man? I don't believe that it has to be an either-or situation. But if it comes down to a choice between the two, I'm choosing my sisters...those deserving, of course. I say "deserving" because I know that there are women out there who lie about being abused, whether it is to save themselves from some consequence (see Hofstra rape) or to get revenge (see Megan Williams). In situations like the Hofstra story and Megan Williams, when found guilty of falsely accusing someone of rape, there should be legal consequences. But that is another story...

My main point is that we have to stop standing by, letting women be abused, and doing nothing to stop it. It's one thing to walk around wearing ribbons for Domestic Abuse Awareness, but it's a whole other thing to actually have the courage to be proactive about stopping the abuse. We have to teach our daughters, sisters, and other female relatives that violence, any violence, against women is WRONG! We have to teach our sons, brothers, and male relatives the same thing. And we have to get rid of the "stop snitching" mentality! This is probably the reason that no one went inside the school and told someone that the young girl was outside being brutalized! If you see wrong happening, SPEAK UP! If just one person had done so, maybe the what happened outside of that high school would have went differently.

*****UPDATE******
According to the Los Angeles Times, a girl, who heard some people talking about the rape, called the police. Thank goodness there was at least one person with the decency to call 911. So far, several guys have been arrested. I wish those who stood back and watched could be charged with something! I've been on simmer since last night, but now getting fired up all over again...

Seriously? Seriously NASA?

Why must we, human beings, blow things up? Cause destruction? In the name of science? Apparently destroying Earth is no longer enough; now scientists are "bombing" the Moon! "Why?" you ask.Well, our planet is in dire need of water, so....oh? What? We aren't in need of water? Well, NASA will crash a spacecraft into the moon tomorrow morning (10/9). According to this article (click here to read), they are interested in water ice that may be in the moon craters. This has to be one of the stupidest waste of resources! Not to mention causing an explosion on the moon just seems wrong, dangerous even. While I worry about the future of my people, I also worry about the future of all human beings...some things need to be left alone.

And another one!!!

On Wednesday, I did a blog post regarding a rally concerning a noose-hanging incident at the city water plant. At said rally, we protested the way the case was. or is, being handled and demanded that there be a no-tolerance policy for such incidents, or hate crimes. At this time, there have been no arrests made for the water plant incident and according to the newspaper, the two men responsible are still working at the plant. That's some bull, right? Well, I guess seeing the lack of consequences in this case, another man decided "Hey, I'm gonna hang a noose at a different city work site! That will be funny!" The only difference in this incident, is that this man was arrested, but for disorderly conduct. There's that phrase again...disorderly conduct. Why is this city so afraid of calling a spade, a spade! These actions are HATE CRIMES!!!! Stop coddling and trying to sweep this shit under the rug! The first two men should have been arrested, just like this new guy was arrested! What is the hold-up?! Oh yeah, supposedly the mayor's blood is involved in the first case...the names of the first two idiots have yet to be released to the public, so that theory is starting to look more and more plausible. Again, I say call this what it is...RACISM!!!

Here's a link to this new story: http://www.sj-r.com/homepage/x1331799616/Mayor-Davlin-to-discuss-arrest-of-city-employee

Guess what I did today in post-racial America???

Alright folks, all over the nation they are coming out of the woodwork. They? Who is this "they" you speak of Tiff? "They" is in reference to the people who have been masking their racist and/or prejudiced feelings toward African Americans. Here's the situation: African American man arrives at his city job for CWLP, ready to get to work. He walks to his designated work area and guess what's there? A pile of work? A bouquet of flowers? A welcome back present? Nope, nothing so pleasant. Hanging in the man's work area was a noose. Yes, a noose...hanging in a black man's work area. Ha Ha, funny, right? Yeah, I don't think so either, and neither do the people who showed up at tonight's rally. A rally was held prior to the city council meeting where this issue would be discussed. Varying ethnicity showed up to voice their outrage at the fact that this even occurred and also at the fact that "disorderly conduct" is being considered as the charge. Yes, disorderly conduct! This was a HATE CRIME and that should be the charge! The brotha who was the target of this hate crime said that the investigation was performed without asking him for his side of the story. apparently they didn't even ask him if he was having issues with any co-workers! Wouldn't you ask that question in a thorough investigation? Rumor has it, that one of the two men involved in committing the crime is the nephew of the mayor. Again, this is currently just a rumor. So you know we gotta stay on top of this in order to make sure justice is served and that the both men are terminated from their jobs.

Here's a link to the story: http://www.sj-r.com/homepage/x1543607867/Police-CWLP-investigating-noose-hung-in-water-plant-workstation

I'll be sure to comment further on this when I find out more information...

What a world...what a world...

People we are in the last days indeed. How can you not believe that something deep and serious is going on. Look at the news, today and every other day! Just got done reading an article about a 23 year old young man who stabbed his 17 year old sister with a knife, decapitated his 5 year old sister, and tried to kill his 9 year old sister but was shot by the police before he could. When I read this story all I could do was call out to Jesus because there were just no other words.