San Francisco – Melanoid Nation Foundation

Mary Ellen Pleasant: The 30 Million Dollar Mother of Civil Rights in California

Melanoid Nation — Wed, 31 Aug 2016 18:43:22 +0000

Countless Black people have fought tirelessly for our liberation, and because of this, many of them have been lost in the tides of history. At this time, it’s necessary to give a nod to one of those under-the-radar historical figures of the past.

Had she remained in the Deep South, Mary Ellen Pleasant could have possibly received as much–if not more–recognition for her contributions as Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver, and Rosa Parks…to name a few. Ms. Pleasant’s story was unique in comparison with many Blacks who were enslaved in the Antebellum South: Born in Augusta, GA in the early 1800s, she was born as the illegitimate daughter of the son of then-Virginia governor and a Haitian voodoo priestess, who was enslaved as well.

As a child, Pleasant was taken out of slavery by an unknown family. As a young woman, Pleasant married a wealthy Mulatto abolitionist by James Smith sometime in the 1840’s. After her husband’s untimely death, Pleasant inherited his substantial fortune.

Moving to New Orleans shortly after this turn of events, she connected with a woman named Queen Marie Laveau–also known as one of the greatest voodoo priestesses to reside in the “Crescent City”. It was said that Pleasant studied under Laveau to learn the science of voodoo as a means of empowering her people. In spite of her selfless acts of service to her fellow Melanoid people in New Orleans, it was a short matter of time before she would be on the move again — this time to San Francisco.

In April of 1852, Mary Ellen Pleasant arrived in the Bay Area’s largest city. Once she got there, she had to take on two identities, due to California’s Fugitive Slave Act of 1852 –in order to avoid being captured by slave hunters. Under her two identities, she lived a double life — One as “Mrs. Ellen Smith” (her married name), and the other as “Mrs. Pleasants”, who operated as a businesswoman and abolitionist. Under the “Ellen Smith” moniker, she worked as a white boardinghouse steward and cook. With a job in the service sector, she was often in the midst of a sizable number of wealthy white businessmen in ‘Frisco, who she served as she worked. She was well-liked by many of the men, but she used their admiration for her as leverage to have them hire Black people, and give them benefits they were previously denied access to. It was because of her personal brand of power brokering that many people in her circle nicknamed her “The Black City Hall”.

With a secret business partner, Pleasant eventually amassed a fortune worth over $30 million. She used much of that fortune to challenge the white supremacist status quo that’s always plagued this country, with her most notable deed being that she financially backed the storied abolitionist, John Brown.

For more on the story of Mary Ellen Pleasant, follow this link.

B. Clark

Asian Cop in San Francisco Caught Sending Racist Text Messages

Melanoid Nation — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 18:25:35 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — In a city that’s already in hot water for some of its police officers exchanging a series of racist text messages last year, the SFPD has received yet another stain on its growing reputation of having an alarming number of race soldiers in its ranks.

Jason Lai–a six-year veteran of the SFPD–resigned earlier this month after a slew of text messages containing anti-Black rhetoric was found in his phone. Among the inappropriate texts he sent out, one of them were in reference to NBA superstar LeBron James, to which Lai messaged, “F___ that nig”.

His disparaging texts weren’t limited to public figures such as LeBron and President Barack Obama (whom he also made racist remarks about via text message). It was also discovered that Lai made generalizations about some of the Black citizens of San Francisco’s Tenderloin District–an area generally known for having a sizeable Black population–by stating that “They’re all drug dealers in the TL (Tenderloin)”.

Lai, who is Chinese, also regularly refers to Black people as “hak gwai”, which is a demeaning racial slur that racist Chinese people use towards Melanoid people. In addition to his overtly racist texts, Lai has been involved in a sexual assault allegation from a woman who claimed that was raped by him last year. Although prosecutors dropped the rape charges due to insufficient evidence, he is, however, set to be arraigned on May 3 for illegal usage of DMV (Dept of Motor Vehicles) computers.

For more on the story about race soldier cop Jason Lai, follow this link.

Jason Lai represents a recent surge of Asian police officers who have taken on the white supremacist ideologies of their colleagues from the dominant society, and are now carrying out the same heinous deeds of injustice by acting as the proverbial eyes, ears, and mouthpieces for their white cohorts. From Peter Liang, to Daniel Holtzclaw, to Jason Lai, it now appears that the face of white supremacy has changed yet again to suit its best interests to ensure that Melanoid people are kept in last place.

One-Legged Homeless Black Man Brutalized By San Francisco Police

Melanoid Nation — Mon, 28 Sep 2015 19:57:49 +0000

It took 14 San Francisco Police Department officers to take down and restrain a one-legged, Black homeless man, who was “armed” with crutches and apparently “dangerous”. The incident is the latest embarrassment for the US police, who face constant accusations of illogical brutal use of force.

The confrontation was captured on video and shows white police officers taking down a one-legged homeless black man on the city’s central Market St. According to witnesses, police were called in to the scene to take care of a suspicious man waving some “sticks” around in the middle of the street.

The video was shot in August by Chaedria Labouvier, who is heard calling out to police throughout the video, shows the extent of humiliation and brute force exercised immediately after the man was wrestled to the ground by SFPD officers. As the disabled- and believed to be mentally challenged Black male struggles to move, 4 cops pin him down, after officers called for an Extended Range Impact Weapon (ERIW) which is a less lethal use of force due to the circumstances.

“These are my crutches. I use these to walk,” the man tried to explain. But even after realizing that the man had a prosthetic leg, the police officers continued to use overwhelming physical restrain and man-handled him, forcing his head to the ground.

In the video you can clearly hear the homeless man complying with the cops and asking them to get off his prosthetic leg while hand-cuffed, as well as a Woman saying “Oh my God –you´re on his prosthetic leg?”

The video shows that the officers used their body weight to subdue the subject by attempting to hold him still for no reason-since the man was restrained.

San Francisco police spokeswoman Grace Gatpandan said officers encountered the 42-year-old man waving around wooden sticks and detained him for a mental health evaluation as he walked toward street traffic.

Witnesses in the video can be heard saying the man used the sticks as his crutches and was simply crossing the street.

Police chief Greg Suhr and others would “look into this situation thoroughly and determine if there were any violations of department policy”. She said the case was also sent to the independent office of citizen complaints.

This incident comes after a recent incident where San Francisco’s chief of police has moved to dismiss eight officers who sent and received racially charged and homophobic text messages that included references to lynching’s, white power and burning crosses.

Here’s the video of the incident below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=4&v=0P0gywymL1s

Written By Carlos G