NAACP Says Blacks Targeted Most by Tasers

NAACP Pittsburgh Branch is openly talking about taser torture in America. Most of the folks at a recent NAACP community meeting said tasers are being used disproportionately against African Americans. [NOTE: Our blog is documenting taser-related deaths in America this year].

“In the African-American community we know it’s different and it can’t be different,” NAACP President M. Gayle Moss said. “I find that these young new police officers are afraid and some of our young men are tired of being assaulted so they just say come on with it.”

The overwhelming conclusion at the July 9 meeting addressing the use of tasers by police was that the police should devise a coherent system for gathering data on taser use and that these records should be made readily available. Currently, although data is recorded regarding when tasers are used and the race of any individual involved in an incident, these two pieces of information aren’t necessarily in the same place.

“In fact, we don’t know who it’s being used on more or less, but that’s because there’s no data,” said panelist David Harris of the University of Pittsburgh Law School. “There’s something about this area. In Pennsylvania, everything is a secret.”

I wonder if other NAACP branches have begun discussions about taser torture in Black America? More to the point, I wonder if they will join in our call for congressional hearings on this issue?

What say u?

Noose Threatens Construction Worker in Pittsburgh

A worker at a construction site in the Pittsburgh area found a noose on the second floor of the site in his work area. The construction company, Zambrano, turned the incident over to the O'Hara Township police and the FBI. This is the third similar incident in the Pittsburgh region this week.

On Wednesday, a Verizon worker said someone left a noose around a doll's neck with a note saying she didn't deserve a promotion. The doll was left on her desk in an inner-office envelope at the Verizon Wireless complex in Cranberry. Verizon is still investigating.

On Monday, a doll bearing a racial slur was found hanging in the hallway of the Port Authority's East Liberty garage. Officials said the threat was not directed at a specific person. Police are investigating, but no arrests have been made.

Villagers, it is more and more evident that the three child 'pranksters' in Jena, LA that hung those nooses on the white tree at the local high school have unleashed a virulent form of racist behavior in our country. Law enforcement officials need to catch some of these fools before the stakes are elevated by an actual lynching attempt. We see more and more incidents ... however, we are not seeing anyone getting arrested for these hate crimes. What's up with that?