Perverting his message

July 24, 2010: Indianapolis, City Municipal Gardens hosting a Youth Outreach program:

IMPD Sgt Matthew Grimes was asked to speak to the youth of a primarily black church, Mount Vernon Missionary Baptist Church. He was invited by Pastor James Harrington to spread goodwill among the black youth and the police department.

During his speech, there was an "apparent" argument in the back of the room between two adults that became so confrontational, the office hurried to the back of the room to diffuse the situation. The "argument" quickly got out of hand and then became physical. In trying to break up the disagreement, the participants threw the officer to the ground, injuring his back.

While on the floor, the officer began to reach for his tazer.

It was only then that Pastor Harrington started yelling, "'Don't shoot! This is staged. This has been staged'."

This church Pastor premediated a set-up hoping to entrap a white IMPD officer by staging a fight in front of some troubled black youths. It has now been reported by the local news stations the Chief of Police is calling for charges in this incident

Sgt. Grimes back may be permanently injured according to the doctors and is currently having to be relegated to desk duty due to the injury.

As if that isn't bad enough, the church finally issued an official statement about the incident yesterday, eight days after the incident.

"We first deny any criminal activities as it relates to the actions of Friday evening at the Municipal Gardens. Mt. Vernon did not organize nor participate in this event," said Vernita Moore, Mt. Vernon trustee. "Rev. Jimmy Harrington acted in his own individual capacity as a member of the community."

Instead of the "We first deny any criminal activity..." they should have FIRST apologized for the actions of their "pastor". Sadly, the late Mozel Sander's former church has now shamed his name. And perverted Dr. King's message. Both of these fine men would be turning over in their graves.

Racism is racism, no matter the color. And, as a warning, all racists comments of either kind will be deleted.

I only wish Sgt. Grimes hadn't waited so long to pull the tazer. If the participants and the idiotic, racist Harrington had a few volts of a tazer jumping through their bodies, the shock might have, just might have zapped Dr. King's message into their brains. But I doubt it.

With our black youth being "led" by the likes of Harrington, is there any wonder why there were TEN kids shot during Black Expo this year?

This has now made national news, if the Pastor thought this was going to go away easily, he is sadly mistaken.


August 28, 1963, Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC

He said: (emphasis added)

"But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.


We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

...
I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." ...

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. ...."

So many people seem to have forgotten Dr. King's last seven words.

The Bad Guys Always Wear Black

Quick question.   How many of you would open the door of your house and let two complete strangers in that look like this?

If I saw these guys at my door, I have no doubt I would not only not even go to the door, I'd be calling 911 before they even hit the front porch.

Now on the other hand, let's imagine another set of strangers that just might look like these guys.

Who would look at those two and hear that little voice in your head that tells you to be cautious?  Voices?  None, nothing, nada, zip. 

And so it went this morning for my father-in-law. 

A couple of normal looking guys come to the front door, which has security bars on it and fast talk their way into their very modest home.  They had a roll of linoleum.  My father-in-law can't hear that well and these guys managed to fast talk their way into the house.  I can only assume my father-in-law couldn't hear them and absentmindedly let them in the house.  They looked like normal guys, right?

The fast talking began and they claimed they were opening a store and one held up the linoleum roll while the second guy made his way into a spare bedroom and proceeded to go to the closet and steal a box of gold coins. 

Somewhere along the way, they found my mother-in-law and one of the "hope-you-burn-in-hell" men greeted her with a hug and a kiss on the cheek.  While the linoleum was still being shown to my father-in-law, he hears the front door shut.  Then the other guy leaves quickly, they jump in their car and they are gone in just a few short minutes.

I'm aching for my in-laws tonight.  The slap of reality that these two scum were in their house and knew right where to go within just minutes will leave them sleepless and scared for how many nights?  And the worry if they could be coming back, next time for something even worse.

Bob was just a few minutes away by the time his mother called.  He arrived as the police were still there.

Bob told the detectives that the guys had to know there was an elderly couple that lived there.  They knew the layout of the house and they knew where to look for the coins. 

Two weeks ago, they had cable installed and a week ago, another cable guy came back out to fix the signal.  When Bob mentioned that to the detectives, his mother said they didn't go into the bedroom.  Bob pointed out that the cable guy was there awhile and they could easily spend a few minutes without the constant eyes of my in-laws.

The cable guys have been the only strange guys in the house lately.  The more we've thought about it, the more we're convinced one of them may be working with these con artists.  He can tell them which are likely victims and where something of value may be. 

It was all too slick not to have had prior knowledge of the people, the house and the location of valuables.

It's a good reminder for us all to stay with repairmen, cable men, and strangers you have in your house all of the time they are there. 

These scum didn't just steal away with a few gold coins, they stole my in-laws' security, peace of mind and, I have no doubt, left my father-in-law feeling like a fool.  It just makes me sick.  But, they were very, very lucky that it was just a few coins and not some tragic event that we would have been hearing about on the news tonight.

Tonight, please say a little prayer for their continued safety and for some peace.