did she have to say "my black friend" when on the phone to her father?
Wha, you didn't get the memo, Benji Dear? Black people can't be just a 'friend, brother, sister, lover, husband, wife, etc.'...they have to be categorized by their melanin content (Article 187 in the "Cracker Laws" manual).
__________________
Gifts:
"To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men." Abraham Lincoln
Wha, you didn't get the memo, Benji Dear? Black people can't be just a 'friend, brother, sister, lover, husband, wife, etc.'...they have to be categorized by their melanin content (Article 187 in the "Cracker Laws" manual).
They didn't hand out those manuals at "Cracker School".
They didn't hand out those manuals at "Cracker School".
"Overcoming" we aren't.
Do you categorize your 'friends' like she did? Benji had a point. I found that odd and disingenuous, too. Bigotry, racism, or hate has no place in friendships. My sarcasm mocked the nature of her phone call.
If the cops were allegedly beating up a friend of mine (regardless of their melanin content or lack thereof) bringing up their skin color wouldn't cross my mind.
__________________
Gifts:
"To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men." Abraham Lincoln
yeah but jesse jackson doesnt come around when ward cleaver is getting his head bashed in by the cops. Everyone knows add the race and cha chiiing we got ourselves a real money making law suit. Without the race its a chump change lawsuit.
how do we know she said that. Maybe Benson told her to say that. Maybe the lawyer asked her to say that. Where are all the other people on the boat why dont they have anything to say?
we dont even know if the police were brutal with him yet until we hear the actual 9-11 tapes and see the pics and police tapes.
you know response is different when race is involved
Do you categorize your 'friends' like she did? Benji had a point. I found that odd and disingenuous, too. Bigotry, racism, or hate has no place in friendships. My sarcasm mocked the nature of her phone call.
If the cops were allegedly beating up a friend of mine (regardless of their melanin content or lack thereof) bringing up their skin color wouldn't cross my mind.
Oh, I understood Ben.
No, I don't bring up race, pretty much ever, unless required.
I just found it ironic that you use the term "cracker" while making a point about racism.
As far as the "my black friend" comment goes, here's the only other alternatives i can think of:
1.She has many friends, most are white, her father vaguely knows of cedric benson, so by calling him "my black friend" while talking to her father, she did it so her father would instantly know who she was referring to
or 2. She was talking about her special black friend that keeps her company on lonely nights and requires 2 D batteries.
As far as the "my black friend" comment goes, here's the only other alternatives i can think of:
1.She has many friends, most are white, her father vaguely knows of cedric benson, so by calling him "my black friend" while talking to her father, she did it so her father would instantly know who she was referring to
or 2. She was talking about her special black friend that keeps her company on lonely nights and requires 2 D batteries.
either way, its pretty odd.
Young people often without predijuce will describe a person by the first thing they think of..
He's my very tall friend.. he's by short friend,, he's my black friend he's my asian friend.. its meant as a desception not a racist comment.. unfort in this PC world many tiems it gets taken as racist..
And its great if they say "he's my friend" only.. but then takes another 10 questions to figure "which" of your friends it is when by a quick description of their most obvious assest is easier...
By Suzanne Halliburton AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Ex-Longhorns running back Cedric Benson is stepping up his defense against charges of boating while intoxicated and resisting arrest, hiring a new lawyer in Austin.
Sam Bassett said Wednesday he has begun interviewing the 10 people who were on a boat with Benson on Saturday on Lake Travis when Benson's boat was stopped by officers with the Lower Colorado River Authority.
"I do not believe from what I've been told that Cedric was intoxicated," Bassett said. "I do not believe he was aggressive toward an officer to warrant being pepper sprayed."
Elizabeth Cartwright, a friend of Benson's who was on the boat, is one of the witnesses who has come forward to speak with Bassett. Her fiancé, former Texas linebacker Aaron Harris, also was on Benson's boat. Harris said he took photos of Benson while he was undergoing a field sobriety test and being arrested. He plans to turn over the photos to Benson's lawyer.
Cartwright said she was so upset at Benson's arrest that she phoned her father from the boat.
"I told him to call 911 and tell them my black friend is getting beat up by cops on Lake Travis," said Cartwright, who added that she would have placed the call, but her cell phone was running out of power.
Krista Umscheid, a spokeswoman for the LCRA, said she could not comment on what Cartwright described.
She said there is no video of the arrest, but officers have an audio recording. The recording won't be released until the investigation is completed, Umscheid said.
Cartwright said she and Harris have been on Benson's boat six times when it was pulled over for safety checks by lake authorities.
That was the case Saturday night about 9 p.m. when officers with the LCRA conducted a safety check on Benson's 30-foot Cobalt speedboat, which he has owned for 18 months.
Benson, who now plays for the Chicago Bears, had invited friends and his mother, Jackie, to join him on the lake.
Cartwright said they had been puttering about Devil's Cove for much of the evening. She said Benson had cut the engine and come to the back of the boat to sit down. They had not dropped anchor, but the boat was drifting while everyone decided where to eat.
That's when LCRA officers approached the boat, she said. Cartwright said Benson rose to speak with the officers. She said he was initially hesitant to board the officer's boat.
Cartwright said once Benson boarded the LCRA boat, an officer asked if any of the guests was sober enough to drive Benson's boat. Cartwright said some of Benson's friends had beer. There also was a nearly full bottle of vodka on board, but she said several volunteered to take a breathalyzer.
On the LCRA boat, officer Leonard Snyder was putting Benson through a field sobriety test. Snyder wrote in his arrest affidavit that Benson flunked the test. Snyder added that Benson "continued to remain argumentative," saying he had passed the tests.
Later, the affidavit states, Snyder pepper sprayed Benson in the face.Cartwright said she heard Benson cry out.
"Cedric screamed," she said. "He was saying, 'Please stop. Why are you doing this to me?'
"He was leaning over. His arms were behind him. It looked like he was handcuffed. He was crying.
He wasn't bawling, but crying in pain. He was calling for his mom."
The LCRA, the Travis County Sheriff's office and Texas Parks and Wildlife all conduct safety checks on Lake Travis.
Last year, LCRA and sheriff's officers conducted 1,346 safety checks, not including those undertaken by Texas Parks and Wildlife, which did not have statistics available. The three agencies issued a combined 467 citations, including eight for boating while intoxicated.
Over the past five years, the LCRA's figures show its officers making 457 arrests on the lake. Of those people arrested, 428 were white and 10 were black.
There is no open-container law restricting boaters, and a driver may legally consume alcohol while operating his boat.
It is illegal, however, to operate a boat while legally intoxicated. If a boater declines a breathalyzer, as the affidavit stated Benson did upon reaching jail, his auto driver's license will be suspended.
Cartwright said Benson was drinking out of a cup, but she wasn't sure what was in it. She said he is on an "organic diet" and does not eat or drink anything with wheat, including beer.
Benson, in brief interviews, said he has "nothing to worry about because I didn't do anything wrong." He said he was "polite" to the officers before and after he was pepper sprayed. He has declined further comment on advice from his lawyer.
Benson flew to his home in Chicago on Tuesday to meet with Bears coach Lovie Smith.His lawyer will represent him in a preliminary hearing, May 19, in front of a Travis County administrative judge.
As far as the "my black friend" comment goes, here's the only other alternatives i can think of:
1.She has many friends, most are white, her father vaguely knows of cedric benson, so by calling him "my black friend" while talking to her father, she did it so her father would instantly know who she was referring to
or 2. She was talking about her special black friend that keeps her company on lonely nights and requires 2 D batteries.
either way, its pretty odd.
That's weak and you know it. By your assessment, it's perfectly normal for white people to categorize their 'friends' by race? Do you do this if you have gay 'friends', Asian 'friends', Puerto Rican 'friends', etc? And bringing up Jesse Jackson, whatever has NOTHING to do with this girl's odd reference of race for someone who's supposed to be her friend.
You can't clean that up. That mindset is twisted, no matter the circumstances. And sarcasm is apparently lost on you, JD Dear. It worked, since you seemed to bypass the point of my post to MOCK her need to label/categorize her 'friends'.
Until the full report comes out, we don't know if he was a victim of police brutality or not, which is the one of the main issues behind this weekend boat party. If Cedric was being drunk and stupid, then the police had every right to arrest/subdue him, as long as it was within the law. I doubt he being a pro athlete, black, whatever had anything to do with the inspection, anyway. One article stated there were numerous fatalities on the river due to drunk boaters and the police trying to curb that is a good thing.
__________________
Gifts:
"To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men." Abraham Lincoln
New witness calls pepper spray 'ludicrous, no point for it'
By David Haugh | Tribune reporter 1:30 PM CDT, May 8, 2008
Often accused of being nonchalant in Chicago, Cedric Benson has been anything but laid-back trying to clear his name back home in Texas.
Benson continued an aggressive approach to defending himself against charges of boating while intoxicated and resisting arrest by hiring a new attorney considered one of Austin's finest and most high-profile defense attorneys.
Lawyer Sam Bassett already has interviewed 10 people who were on Benson's boat Saturday night when Benson was arrested on Lake Travis, outside Austin, and described, according to a Lower Colorado River Authority police report, as being cocky, combative and smelling of alcohol. Bassett has scheduled additional interviews.
"I do not believe that Cedric was intoxicated when his boat was boarded by the LCRA officers for a safety inspection," Bassett said Thursday in an e-mail to the Tribune. "I also am concerned that the force used by the LCRA officers, particularly the use of pepper spray, was not necessary under the circumstances."
Bassett, perhaps best known in Austin for defending a man convicted last year of murdering Texas student Jennifer Cave in a case that drew national attention, takes over for Brian Carney. Carney has been a friend and ally of Benson's since high school but his office is in Benson's hometown of Midland, Texas--300 miles from Austin.
"There is a lot of work left to be done and I am not privy to all information regarding the case at this juncture," Bassett said. "Cedric is interested in focusing on football right now and we will work hard for him while he prepares for the season."
Benson faces a May 19 court date but can be represented by Bassett. That also is the first day of organized team activities at Halas Hall, an important step for a running back coming off ankle surgery fighting for the NFL life in Chicago--even before last weekend's arrest.
Another eyewitness has emerged to support Benson's claim that he was mistreated.
Toby Patch was at nearby Emerald Point Marina on Saturday night when he claims he saw police "manhandling" Benson after taking the running back off the boat and heading to a squad car. Patch was not one of the 15 people on the boat.
"As they were taking him up the dock, they stopped, he said, 'I am fine, I can continue walking,' and they put their legs behind his knees and knocked him over his knees and started hog-carrying him," Patch told KXAN-TV in Austin.
Near the parking area, Patch says the treatment of Benson worsened.
"They ended up--I don't know why--but laid him on his back, I heard him say, 'Please don't pepper spray me, please don't pepper spray me,'" Patch said. "It was uncalled for, it was ludicrous, no point for it."
Patch's version sounded similar to the account Benson friend Elizabeth Cartwright, who was on the boat, gave the Tribune on Tuesday night.
Benson is back in Chicago and has not commented since proclaiming his innocence Sunday night and saying police mistreated him. He is considering a lawsuit.
That's weak and you know it. By your assessment, it's perfectly normal for white people to categorize their 'friends' by race? Do you do this if you have gay 'friends', Asian 'friends', Puerto Rican 'friends', etc? And bringing up Jesse Jackson, whatever has NOTHING to do with this girl's odd reference of race for someone who's supposed to be her friend.
You can't clean that up. That mindset is twisted, no matter the circumstances. And sarcasm is apparently lost on you, JD Dear. It worked, since you seemed to bypass the point of my post to MOCK her need to label/categorize her 'friends'.
Until the full report comes out, we don't know if he was a victim of police brutality or not, which is the one of the main issues behind this weekend boat party. If Cedric was being drunk and stupid, then the police had every right to arrest/subdue him, as long as it was within the law. I doubt he being a pro athlete, black, whatever had anything to do with the inspection, anyway. One article stated there were numerous fatalities on the river due to drunk boaters and the police trying to curb that is a good thing.
Well i was just giving those options as jokes pretty much (especially the 2nd one).
But since you brought it up, i think its perfectly fine when describing someone to someone else who might be vaguely familiar with who your friends are to use descriptions. There's nothing racist about saying "my black friend" just as there's nothing racist about saying "my Jewish friend" or "my paraplegic friend" or whatever. Cedric benson is black. He is also her friend. So there is no lie or malcontent in using those terms together. People use descriptions all the time, and there isnt anything inherently wrong with describing someone by what they are.
I just disagree with the argument that if i have a friend who is black, that i cant refer to him as "my black friend"
We're far from Overcoming.... 
Do you categorize your 'friends' like she did? Benji had a point. I found that odd and disingenuous, too. Bigotry, racism, or hate has no place in friendships.
