This Chinese-American Cop Is an Obvious Scapegoat - Welcome to NY City, City of Injustice

{{{Officer Peter Liang hears an incredible verdict}}}

Peter Liang was a new police officer for the people of New York City. He had dreamed of being of service and was proud to serve. He may now go to jail for purely political reasons. 

As a new cop (police officer), Liang was assigned to a very dangerous task (activity). There are numerous housing projects throughout New York City. These are tall and ugly buildings where poor people, primarily of color, live for free or for a very low fee. Some people live in 'the projects' their whole lives and politicians make no attempt to help them move out to better things or places. 

These projects are among the most dangerous places in New York City. It is a disgrace that no serious effort has ever been made to eliminate them. So Bloomberg, you want to be president? What the hell did you do to get rid of the projects and help the poor in them move to better places? NOTHING. You did not do a damn thing. You are responsible for the death that occurred in one of them recently, not Peter Liang.

It was Peter Liang and his partner Shaun Landau's job to walk up a stairwell of one of New York City's most dangerous housing projects in Brooklyn. This housing project was so neglected by the city that there were NO LIGHTS in the stairwell. Furthermore, two cops who had this same type of job were shot and KILLED by residents of this type of housing project recently. The city throws cops into incredibly dangerous situations and blames them when things go wrong.

Liang and his partner were new cops and should NOT have been given such a dangerous assignment. They were rightfully scared. As they were moving through this dangerous stairwell they heard a sudden sound. Liang's gun went off and his bullet hit a wall before ricocheting and hitting a guy coming down the stairs.

The prosecutor (the lawyer for the state of New York), said Liang deliberately shot this man. By accidentally shooting at a wall? What? You went to law school to say something this crazy? That was a blatant lie. The prosecutor lied in court. The jury should have laughed at this type of ridiculous argument - instead they found Liang guilty of manslaughter. Manslaughter is when you kill a person because you are not careful. Then throw de Blasio in jail and the police commissioner because they put this inexperienced cop in harms' way! How careful was the city to put Liang in a situation he couldn't handle yet?

If you put anyone in that situation who is not an experienced cop, you are going to get the same results. It was NOT  Liang's fault that this man died. It is a tragedy that the man died, but the heart of the tragedy lies in the fact that 1) we have these dangerous housing projects that nobody is trying to get rid of and 2) the most inexperienced cops are sent there. The city of New York and the Bloomberg and de Blasio administrations are responsible for this man's death.

Peter Liang is a scapegoat. It disgusts me that a jury found him guilty.

Here is an article about this situation:

http://nypost.com/2016/02/12/liang-verdict-will-have-chilling-effect-on-policing-union-head/

Vocabulary:

a scapegoat - an innocent person who gets blamed for a serious problem. There have been cases where black men in the USA have been killed by cops and the cops were not held accountable. Liang was found guilty to make up for this situation.

a cop - a police officer

a verdict - a decision of guilt or innocence

chilling - frightening

union head - the head of the police union...a union is an organization that represents a group of workers

blasted - strongly criticized

to hinder - to make something more difficult

bloodshed - when violence occurs causing people to bleed

Patrolman's Benevolent Association - the organization that represents police in NY City

vertical patrols - when police go up and down stairwells in housing projects trying to prevent crimes

fatally shot - shot to death

to brag - to be proud of something and to speak about it proudly

closure - an end of something

A guy got his arm torn off in a botched robbery attempt

botched - if a plan is botched, it does not work out well. In fact, a botched plan is a plan that goes very badly.

There is a lot of pressure on poor teenagers in New York City to wear 'cool' clothing. Air Jordan sneakers (athletic shoes) are considered cool shoes. If you are a teen and do not wear cool clothing to school, other students will mock you (make fun out of you - criticize you).

Therefore, some teenagers are so desperate for expensive clothing and athletic shoes, which they cannot afford, that they try to steal these things.

This is a horrible story in which a 17 year old African American student answered an advertisement on a website to buy a pair of  Air Jordan sneakers for $199.00 (one-hundred ninety-nine dollars). The man selling the shoes agreed to drive to the student's neighborhood to sell him the shoes. However,when the student got into the man's car, he pulled out a gun and stole the shoes. 

As the boy started walking away, the man then decided to run the boy over with his car, tearing the boy's right arm off of him. The boy then, unbelievably, climbed out from under the car, missing an arm, and started running away. He even got onto a bus and demanded that the driver help him escape.

Folks, this is what's called a "New York Story" - this kind of thing only happens in New York City.

So the boy will be arrested for trying to rob the shoe seller and the shoe seller will be arrested for attempted murder because he ran over the boy with his car. Do you think this is fair? 

Here is an article about this horrible situation:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3445009/Carjacker-17-critical-condition-having-ARM-ripped-trying-rob-man-met-Craigslist.html

Vocabulary from the article:

excruciating - extremely painful

robbery - when someone illegally takes something from another person

a scam - a plan to steal something or make money illegally

accused of - if a person is accused of something, it is claimed that the person did something illegal

a revolver - a gun

headlong - right at, directly at

He managed to flee - he was able to run away

He is charged with attempted murder - to be charged with a crime means that a person has been arrested for a specific crime. So if a person is arrested for murder, after the paper work is done, the police will say, "He has been charged with murder..." He will have to go to trial for murder.

armed robbery - robbery with a gun or other weapon

squirming out - crawling out slowly, like a worm

bystanders - people standing around

to stun - to shock

"I saw the gun on the floor. The arm was in the floor..." - should be: on the floor

instant karma: karma basically means you get rewarded for good behavior and punished for bad behavior. Instant karma would be an immediate reward or punishment.  John Lennon wrote a song called Instant Karma:

All Hamburger Meat Has Poop in It

Hmmmm, does that hamburger look good to you?  Does poop look good to you? Yes, it looks as if every sample of hamburger meat tested last year had some poop in it (poop is otherwise known as 'crap' or 'shit' in America - it is waste material...the stuff that drops out of your butt and into your toilet bowl).

How did poop get into all hamburger meat? I don't know, nobody is saying. But since I read this article back in April of 2015, I have not had one hamburger. Cows love me now. And I probably won't get cancer as quickly either.

Yes, I would advise you to please stop eating poop...I mean hamburgers.

The article:
http://nypost.com/2015/08/24/your-ground-beef-is-probably-contaminated-by-poop/

Vocabulary from the article:

to be contaminated by - this means that something you think is pure really has something else in it that you don't want to have in it

Labor Day barbecues - Labor Day is in May - it is a holiday celebrating work. Many people barbecue in their backyards on a grill on this day.

fecal - poop-like

urinary tract - the little biological tube that allows the pee to leave your system and go into the toilet

antibiotics - medicine to kill germs

a sustainable environment - an environment which is not being destroyed, an environment which can survive on its own

to confine animals - to keep them in small areas

to slaughter - to kill animals for food

to crank out - to produce quickly with little regulation or monitoring

superbugs - germs that can't be killed (bacteria or viruses)

160 degrees F = 71.1 C

to be on guard - to be super careful, to watch something or some situation closely

Reparations for black folks in the USA?

{{{A photo of a black child picking cotton - after the Civil War black people who had been slaves were not given many opportunities for success.}}} 

After the US Civil War, black people could no longer be used as slaves. However, they had few opportunities. Many of them continued working on the farms where they had worked as slaves. They were now paid, but they were paid very little.

Some historians believe that African Americans in the USA still suffer from unequal economic, social and educational situations because they were not helped after the Civil War.

Therefore, many African Americans, these days, are asking for 'reparations'. Reparations payments are usually paid by losing countries to winning countries after wars are over. In this case, however, African Americans believe that an injustice was done to their ancestors and that they should now receive money from the US government for all the years their ancestors worked as slaves. Many Americans feel this money would finally help African Americans to get on the road to true freedom and equality in the USA.

Here is an article about a UN group and about how horrible conditions are for black folks in the USA. The Christian Science Monitor magazine might force you to take a brief survey to read the whole article. Sorry about that. I took the survey quickly - it was two questions.

The Article:

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2016/0131/UN-group-recommends-reparatory-justice-for-African-Americans

Vocabulary from the article:

reparatory justice - justice meant to fix or repair a wrong situation

disparities - differences that constitute inequality

preliminary - the first draft

the legacy of slavery - the history which continues to affect black people

subordination - forcing people to become inferior in status

reconciliation - making up, fixing problems so that nobody feels resentment or hurt any more

due diligence - conscientiousness, a sense of doing the right thing

disproportionate imprisonment - black people are thrown in jail at much higher rates than white folks

a massacre - when many innocent people are killed at one time

persistent - in this case: continuing

structural discrimination - discrimination is applied racism and if it is structural, it is built into the system

de facto barriers - 'in fact' barriers...they are not supposed to be there, but they are, in fact, there

wealth - amount of money and property

commemoration - remembering

profound - in this case: serious

manifestations - how something shows or reveals itself

xenophobia - hating people who are different or who come from different countries

reignited - started again...to ignite a fire is to start a fire

internment camps - places people are held temporarily until a time comes when it is felt safe to release them. Japanese Americans were forced to live in such camps during World War 2 because the US government did not trust them.

sins - wrongs done, usually to God, but a sin can be a wrong committed against another person.

maturation - growth, development