When All Else Fails, Arrest The Person Of Color

Raimundo Atesiano, the chief of police chief in Miami Shores, Florida, stands accused of encouraging his officers, Raul Fernandez and Charlie Dayoub, to pin unsolved crimes on random, nearby black people so his department would have a better arrest record.

It all broke when the chief and the two officers were found to have falsely accused a black Haitian-American teenager with burglaries in Miami Shores.

All three have pleaded not guilty to the accusations. But apparently there has been a long history in Atesiano’s police force of targeting random people … random people of color, mind you … so his department could appear to have a spotless crime-solving record. And who cares if you send innocent folks to jail; especially, you know, when they’re brown-skinned folks.

Officer Anthony De La Torre, as part the internal affairs probe, says:

“If they have burglaries that are open cases that are not solved yet, if you see anybody black walking through our streets and they have somewhat of a record, arrest them so we can pin them for all the burglaries.”

In addition, four other officers—a third of the tiny, 12-man force—admitted to an outside investigator that they felt pressured to file inaccurate charges, but De La Torre is the only one that mentioned targeting black people.

In 2014, when the investigation began, Atesiano abruptly resigned, which seemed odd, given that during his time as Chief, he had an impressive rate of solving 29 of 30 crimes. The year after his departure, not a single burglary case out of 19 was solved.

But what about that black Haitian-American teenager that was arrested? He was charged with four previously unsolved burglaries though the police reports cited not one single witness, there were no fingerprints, no evidence, no confessions and no retrieval of stolen property.

Naturally, the Miami-Dade state attorney’s office dismissed all the charges against the teenager, including previous accusations of fleeing and eluding the scene of a crime and those related to a rape case as he was never formally charged with any crime.

Both Atesiano, and Capt. Lawrence Churchman, who has not been indicted with a crime, have denied pressuring cops to make unwarranted arrests, but many in the department say Churchman regularly used racist and sexist comments:

“The captain has said on several different occasions he doesn’t want any n-----s, f-----s or women bitches working at Biscayne Park.”—Officer Thomas Harrison

Churchman was suspended during the investigation and officially left the department in 2014.

I would say this was America in the Age of _____, but this all happened in 2014, so it's just America. And while this new president-for-now encourages and promotes hate and hate speech, this is a continuation of our country’s long struggle with racism.

How do we stop that?

Speak up. As some of those officers did; speak up when someone says something racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, or just plain nasty; tell people that’s unacceptable.

Put the racists back in their dark closets, alongside their sheets.

If you say nothing they think you agree, and they become emboldened.

Don’t do that.

The Hill

Enchanted Creations Will Bake An Anti-LGBT Hate Cake, But They Have A Good Reason

Enchanting Creations is a small bakery down in Miami Shore, Florida, a kind of gayish neighborhood north of Miami. In fact, the owners have an LGBT pride flag in their window, so you know they're gay-friendly. What they also are is inclusive because they say that they will gladly bake an anti-gay hate-cake for a homophobic bigot, if someone wants one.

In a section on the company’s web site [HERE] titled “Hate Cakes, Human Rights, And Where We Stand,” Enchanting Creations explains that they have recently received a number of inquiries from people asking if they will make anti-gay cakes:

“Unfortunately, we haven’t been the only targets; the idea of “setting a trap” for small bakeries to catch them in the act of discrimination has become increasingly more common, and we feel it’s time to clarify our stance on this issue.

The fact of the matter is that we are an American business. As such, it is our responsibility to uphold the law and to refrain from discriminating against our customers, no matter how hurtful or personally offensive we might find their particular beliefs.

We believe that no one should ever be refused service – opposing discrimination by practicing it is not the answer. The only way to uphold our integrity as a company, and to maintain any hope of an eventual triumph over bigotry and discrimination is to act in accordance with this belief. We will not discriminate against potential customers, not even against those whose beliefs directly contradict our own – if the request is protected by the First Amendment we will honor it. This issue isn’t about approval; it’s about respect.”

I kinda get it, but it kinda irks me … but I get it; if you are against discrimination then you are against all discrimination. But that’s not all that the good folks at Enchanting Creations want you, and those folks who want a hate cake, to know:

“That said, so far these inquiries have amounted to nothing more than trolling; we have yet to receive a serious order. However, should the day come when an actual order is placed and paid for, we will not profit from discrimination.

Today we pledge that any profits we generate from the sale of a cake intended to discriminate against same-sex couples will be donated to the Human Rights Campaign, an organization who continues to fight for LGBT Equality.

We are extremely honored to be featured as an LGBT-Friendly vendor on both EnGAYgedWeddings.com and GayWeddings.com, and we will continue to proudly serve South Florida’s gay community. 

We sincerely hope that others will join us in finding ways to derive something positive from this ongoing negativity, because in the end we truly do believe that love.”

And money is good, even money from a hate cake can be used to do some good. And, well, if I worked at Enchanted Creations, I would love to have someone order an anti-LGBT cake just so I could tell them that I’d bake it, and I’d sell it, and I’d give all the money to a n LGBT charity.

The looks on their faces would be priceless.

via If You Only News

Enchanting Creations Facebook Page