Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Furious!

This story and the embedded video inflames me to my core. It begs the question: where are all those civil rights advocates that jump at every opportunity to get their face on camera when the rights of someone of their own race are violated? Jessie Jackson? Al Sharpton? Perhaps even Ruben Navarrette?

Nope. None of those gentlemen will show up in Tampa to protest or draw attention to the situations we families of exceptional folks still face. Most of the time the abuse is much more subtle. I think the general public would be surprised at how many places are still not very handicap accessible.

There is still so much more that is left to be done than the lip service we receive from our leaders and politicians. I'm thrilled that the racial divide has lessened in my lifetime. Too bad a canyon still exists between folks with disabilities and those without.

10 comments:

Gretchen said...

DISGUSTING! I could cry.

Anonymous said...

Where's Mike Wallace? This needs to be p

Anonymous said...

Sorry, not sure what happened there. I was just about to say that this proves that the government should leave the NFL and MLB alone and start dealing with real issues.

And I keep telling my boys that police officers are heroes. Not these people.

Ben and Bennie said...

Hey Mark, this was all due to a traffic violation. Sterner uses "pedals" to drive and steer. Don't let your boys think about police persons being otherwise. Most of them are heroes in my book.

Gretchen said...

My oldest is interested in law enforcement. This is about the LAST thing he'd think about doing to another human being. I think these fools are in the minority.

Kyla said...

Oh. My. God. I can't even BELIEVE that. What is wrong with people?

we_be_toys said...

Oh my god, I am shocked and appalled at those heinous people. I cannot, for the life of me, understand how anyone could be that cold-blooded or that stupid, to think that poor man was faking it???
I hope he sues the pants off of them, including the ass at the end who was laughing - that is some SERIOUS discrimination, AND police brutality, caught on film.
There is absolutely ZERO reasons for that kind of treatment, and these people, as public servants, ought to know better.

Anonymous said...

That sickens me SO MUCH!! Florida is a horrible place to live for disabled people IMHO. That is why I moved far far away from there with my little girl. There aren't many programs to help the disabled, there's no home care, the doctors are horrible......ugg don't even get me started!!

I hope this man sues them, gets and apology, and hopefully some of his dignity back after being treated like THAT. Whether it was just a traffic violation or something else he didn't deserve that AT ALL!

www.caringbridge.org/oh/skyecoleycole

Unknown said...

One thing: You're right about the lack of civil rights voices sounding off about this, but there's a huge difference between race and physical disability. The difference? Exposure, my friend.

There was no movement to get the "exceptional" people into the spotlight. There was no Million Man March, no Martin Luther King Jr. And due to that fact, the needs, and rights of people like our friend in the wheelchair are largely viewed as an annoyance and a hinderance. What can be done to change this? Sadly, I'm not sure that it's going to change any time soon.

I feel for the guy honestly, and I'm so happy that the officer involved in this was relieved of duty. She's not fit to wear the badge, but I'm not as furious as you are, and that's probably due to my disconnection from your situation.

But come on... are you serious? you expect Jesse and Sharpton to give a damn about this? Those cats barely care about black folks unless they're getting their pictures int he paper.

Good to visit your pages again. been out of the loop for too long.

Anonymous said...

SKP, great to hear from you my friend! You are so very true about Jessie and Sharpton. Not enough exposure for them.