A last fire will rise behind those eye: Amber DeLoach Story (Overshadowed by Sharmeka Moffitt)

Amber DeLoach

Some people have no voice. Some people have no chorus to boast of their accomplishments and champion their accolades.

For a civil right hero like Sharmeka Moffitt, the world is like a dry sponge, ready to soak up every saccharine word that outlines her sordid tale. No matter that the tale she claimed – three Klansman stalking in night came upon a virgin, doused her in lighter fluid, set her on fire, and then carved their calling-card (“KKK”) in her car – was entirely made up.

She wasn’t even wearing an “Obama T-Shirt” when the purported attack occurred.

But still, Sharmeka is a “civil right hero,” engaged in the continual war on the type of white privilege that pervades the entire nation.

Her tale will live on, becoming the basis for an upcoming episode of “Law and Order” or perhaps “CSI”. Hungry writers will be sure that no fabrication goes to waste.

It will undoubtedly win an Emmy, and be shown in classrooms across the nation as an example of the type of world we can expect to live were a “Golden Dawn” style party to rise in America.

Meanwhile, down in Savannah – one of the most miserable cities in America – it’s truly Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

Back in early October, a white girl – 18-year-old Amber DeLoach – charred remains were found in the burnt out hulk of a rental car. For weeks, no arrests were made in a city.

You can view Amber’s Facebook page here, an eerie public picture book of a life we could never know, but through her pictures we can see as one that could have been our daughters; or sisters; or niece.

You see, Savannah is a city on edge. Blacks are the majority – and increasingly run – the city government. In 2010, the first black police chief – Willie Lovett – was appointed by retiring black Mayor Otis Johnson, who also hired the first black city manager of the southern port city.  Her name is Rochelle Small-Toney; she resigned on October 4, 2012, only a few days after DeLoach’s body was found.

Johnson was elected on a platform of aggressively fighting the black crime problem that plagued Savannah, and directly responsible for the white flight which made it possible for the city to have a 5-4 black/white city council dynamic for the first time in 2011.

With this, we have the usual trappings of majority rule, with the new black majority city council making such claims as “it’s our turn,” with Jim Goad reporting:

Savannah’s City Council, which has recently tilted 5-4 in favor of blacks, reportedly squabbles endlessly along racial lines, egged on by a black mayor who has said things such as “it’s our turn” and that he wants a city manager who “looks like me.” A local reporter calls Savannah “A diverse and divided city.”

Flash forward to October 22: a suspect is found in the murder of DeLoach. Like almost all of the crime in Savannah, it’s a black man:

A Savannah man has been charged with murder in the death of a woman found in a burning car Sept. 30. 

Shan Demetrius Cheley, 36, who lives in the Skidaway Road-Eisenhower Drive area, was charged in the death of Amber DeLoach, 18. 

Cheley has been detained in the Chatham County jail on other charges since Oct. 4 as Savannah-Chatham police homicide detectives pored through forensic evidence. He was held on contempt of court charges and possession of cocaine.

Another one of "Obama's Sons"

So far, police have been reticent to release details on the death of DeLoach, but an unflattering portrait of the suspected killer has been drawn that showcases another “civil rights hero” emerging in the case of Shan Demetrius Cheley:

The Savannah man charged with murdering 18-year-old Amber DeLoach has a criminal history stemming back to 1996 and has served multiple sentences for charges that include cruelty to children, aggravated assault, burglary and selling cocaine, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections. 

Shan Demetrius Cheley, 36, who lives in the Skidaway Road-Eisenhower Drive area, was previously housed at the Coastal Transitional Center before being released in 2008 after serving about four years for aggravated assault, among other charges. 

Speaking during a press conference on Tuesday, Savannah-Chatham police Chief Willie Lovett said it is frustrating when repeat offenders such as Cheley are released back onto the street. 

“Some people just need to be locked up,” Lovett said. “They are not going to change.” 

Lovett said the investigation into DeLoach’s death is ongoing and provided few new details about the case, a day after Cheley was charged with murdering the former St. Vincent’s Academy student and Islands High School alumna. 

Lovett said DeLoach met Cheley downtown in an outdoor public place and befriended him the day before firefighters found her body inside a burning car on Sept. 30 in the Yamacraw Village area, but he refused to divulge more about the circumstances surrounding the meeting or where it occurred. 

“There are some things that we are still checking into,” Lovett said. “I don’t want to get into the depth of the investigation, but those questions will be answered.”

Our society is… sick. We have allowed a great city like Savannah to become just another dying 21^st century American town. Spared from being burned by the Union forces at the conclusion of the Civil War, it is now a city on fire – a fitting reminder of the glories of what the “civil rights” revolution unleashed.

In 2003, a black mayoral candidate ran on the platform of trying to stamp out black crime; in 2011, a newly majority black city council bragged about their power, channeling Thurgood Marshall and admitting it was “their turn” to enact discrimination on the powerless white minority.

Now, the death of Amber DeLoach is just another event, just another name that will be forgotten; a white girl whose death at the hands of a black, career criminal represents exactly the type of freedom that the “civil rights” unleashed.

We can even speculate that “CSI” or “Law and Order” will transplant this story to New York, so that DeLoach can – through the glory of script writing – become a young, virginal black girl, killed by a gang of racist whites engaging in gentrification in Harlem.

Let’s not even get started on Autumn Pasquale…

Just know that the story of Sharmeka Moffitt is more worthy of dissemination, even though it’s a hoax, then Amber DeLoach’s life and untimely death.

My Black Journey

We already know about McDonald's 365Black campaign, a marketing strategy that targets solely black consumers to take advantage of the numerous opportunities and programs created specically for them under the Golden Arches:

Amtrak goes after the black market

At McDonald's®, we believe that African-American culture and achievement should be celebrated 365 days a year — not just during Black History Month. That's the idea behind 365Black.com. It's a place where you can learn more about education, employment, career advancement and entrepreneurship opportunities, and meet real people whose lives have been touched by McDonald's.

You probably are aware of American Airline's Black Atlas, which offers travel tips to potentially black travelers (solely black travelers) who will be purchasing tickets and heading to particular destination the airline travels to:

A unique online community that offers travel insights from an African-American perspective.

 Now, fresh off of learning that Amtrak is basically a "people of color" jobs-program on wheels (40 percent of the 20,000 employees are "people of color") comes the news that, like McDonald's and American Airline's, it has a marketing strategy aimed squarely at black consumers. My Black Journey doesn't have a "about us" feature, but the Web site touts trips to Historically Black College and University (HBCU) football games; Family Reunions (black people love these events); and girlfriend escapes.

American Airlines: A true black experience? Check out Detroit!

The girls of Sex and the City, were they to take a weekend trip, would just jump on a plane; taking Amtrak is much cheaper and target marketing that's segmented to the black consumer might make since in this case, considering your median net worth of a single black female is $5 dollars.

Hard to get a plane ticket with that amount of money in your bank account, even if American Atlas Black Atlas subsidizes the ticket. But hey, that $5 dollars goes a long way at the McDonald's 365Black dollar value menu.

It should be pointed out that My Black Journey (powered by Amtrak) targets interesting "destinations" that are increasingly appeal to only black travelers: Detroit, Birmingham, Atlanta, Memphis, New Orleans, Orlando, New York City, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Baltimore.

These cities are... blessed with high populations of black people. It's cheaper to move large groups of black people (think black families traversing great distances to pick up the latest version of the highly-sought after "family reunion"shirt) via train instead of plane, so let's give Amtrak the benefit of the doubt in their My Black Journey marketing tactics.

But there is an interesting destination in the My Black Journey list of target destinations for black people that seems woefully out of place: Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, the self-proclaimed "Waterpark Capital of the World."

A town of just under 3,000 people (97 percent white), Wisconsin Dells is the tourist destination for water enthusiasts. Recall that in "No Dr. King, Your Daughter Can't go to Funtown," we learned that Martin Luther King lamented that his daughter wasn't allowed to go to an amusement park because she was black.

McDonald's campaign offers a look into the marketing strategy of the managerial elite

Since the lifting of segregation, an untold number of businesses, parks, resorts, malls, playgrounds, entire sections of cities (many of those same cities that are listed as destinations on the My Black Journey site), and amusement parks have either closed, imposed curfews, been rebuilt elsewhere (for cities, think the white suburbs), abandoned, or become off-limits because of the new freedom giving to blacks.

There is no need to even point out the double-standards in the marketing strategy of McDonald's, American Airlines, or Amtrak's black-centric marketing campaign; there is no need to point out that if a company were to solely target the white consumer (which would make good business sense, considering the purchasing power of this group and credit at their disposal), it would immediately be denounced, sued, harassed with Alinsky-style "proxy attacks," and instantly become the pariah of the business community; no, all we can do is point and laugh at yet another company pursuing the stated goals of nation dedicated to the never-ending uplifting of that one group of people.

Black-Run America (BRA) has many corporate sponsors. In time, more of these corporations will jump on the target market bandwagon that McDonald's, Amtrak, and American Airlines have joyously joined.

Were a traveler interested in seeing the true impact of black Americans on the nation, they'd merely jump on Amtrak (or perhaps book on American Airlines) and travel to those destinations profiled on My Black Journey. The state of Detroit, Birmingham, Baltimore, Memphis... a perfect representation of what happens when a city goes 365Black.

Going to 90 percent black Detroit, or 72 percent black Birmingham, or 64 percent black Baltimore, or 67 percent black Memphis is your opportunity to stamp your passport to the true black experience of America.

Don't forget your gun!

Dark Territory: Amtrak and the Pursuit of "Return on Diversity" (ROD)

In a perfect world, you'd have a high speed rail system in the United States that was the envy of every nation on earth.

Amtrak: 40 percent of its employees are the highly sought-after "People of Color" Demographic

With efficient, high-speed rails connecting Washington D.C. to Philadelphia, Atlanta to Birmingham, Charlotte to Richmond, you'd be able to live in one city and work in another. But then again, with America's transformation into one giant service economy, with people making a living selling some form of insurance to one another, what's the point of making such a wise investment in the future of transportation?

But then again, most of America's major cities are crime-ridden, bankrupt, examples of urban misery, completely controlled by entrenched black political power. Why would high-speed rail be needed to go to Milwaukee, Detroit, or Cleveland in 2012 America? Capital is fleeing these cities. 

In our world, we make investments that are measured, not in such financially important terms as Return on Investment (ROI), but as how this money is best spent to improve the never-ending social engineering in America. We call this Return on Diversity (ROD).

Take Amtrak for instance. Clark Whelton, in the pages of City Journal, recently dubbed the 20,000 person strong organization, "Bottom line: Amtrak is a jobs program on wheels."[The Cross-Country Jobs Program/Notes on riding Amtrak, Autumn 2012].

This got me interested in the dynamics of Amtrak's employees - "the corporation created by Congress when private industry abandoned U.S. passenger rail" - since they make, on average, $90,000/year. 

Having read that drugs (specially cocaine and marijuana) and alcohol abuse plagues Amtrak employees [Amtrak workers failing drug tests more often, Associated Press, 9-28-2012], the demographic breakdown of Amtrak employees intrigued me further. 

Reading in the New York Times that Amtrak costing the taxpayer big-time when it came inefficiently run/managed food and beverage department made me realize that the ROD cost of funding Amtrak must be through the roof [Amtrak Losing Millions Each Year on Food Sales, by Ron Nixon, 8-2-2012]:

 Amtrak lost more than $800 million on its food and beverage services over the last 10 years, largely because of waste, employee theft and lack of proper oversight, government auditors have found. 

According to audits by the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress, and the railroad’s own inspector general, Amtrak loses about $80 million a year selling food. Since 2002, Amtrak’s food service has lost $834 million. 

Amtrak said it was increasing the use of credit cards for food sales to cut down on cash thefts by employees, reducing staff, creating a better system to track inventory and to collect revenue. It has also set up a three-person loss-prevention unit. 

Mr. Alves, who issued a report on the problem last year, estimated that theft by Amtrak food service employees could cost the agency $4 million to $7 million annually.  

All businesses, be they private or public, deal with shrinkage of inventory through employee theft or embezzlement of funds. Those businesses whose managers pursue the ever more important ROD, as opposed to the ROI, look the other way.

Kevin Marshall, diversity initiatives director at Amtrak, recently bragged about the ROD the 20,000+ organization represents, gloating that 40 percent of organization is a "person of color" (roughly 8,000). He wrote [Amtrak welcomes diversity aboard, Diversity Careers]:

Amtrak employs more than 20,000 people and understands the value of diversity as a social and business imperative. Its corporate culture includes a commitment to diversity in all areas of the organization. "Key to maintaining this appreciation is Amtrak's diversity training program, which makes clear the corporation's position on diversity and provides the background, information and resources necessary to work successfully in a diverse environment," Marshall notes. 

"Our diversity training program is designed to be an ongoing journey that emphasizes key principles of diversity and inclusion. Since its inception it has been an important vehicle used to make certain that employees have a clear understanding of the company's expectations for sustaining a diverse, inclusive environment." 

Amtrak's numbers are impressive. Overall, a quarter of its employees are women and two out of five are persons of color. In the management ranks almost a third are women and a third are persons of color. African Americans make up the largest minority group, followed by Hispanics. 

For new hires in Amtrak management, 37 percent are women and 37 percent persons of color. After African Americans, Asians and Hispanics are best represented.

So Amtrak might be a gigantic waste of money, but continuing to subsidize the system employees 20,000+ (40 percent being the highly sought after "people of color" demographic) means that the ROD is... priceless.

Like so much of the federal government, the ROD costs blinds all other goals at so many of the departments and federal agencies.

You can have nice things, or you can continue to tolerate the rising societal costs of a government that values ROD above all other metrics of efficiency. The costs to building community (social trust) are astronomical when the pursuit of ROD is the noblest goal of the managerial elite in charge of the nation.

Back in 1998, when Republicans controlled Congress and were talking austerity measures to save the taxpayers money, Black employees of Amtrak rallied to ensure the ROD investment wasn't cut-back [Black employees file bias suit against Amtrak Class-action case alleges discrimination in hiring, promotion, other areas, Baltimore Sun, 4-9-1998]:

 In a class action that could involve thousands of current and former employees, 10 Amtrak workers filed suit yesterday against the ailing passenger railroad company, alleging racial discrimination in hiring and firings, promotions, training, pay and job assignments. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia. The allegations were brought by a union and 10 current and former employees who claim white engineering managers in Boston, Washington and Philadelphia permit -- and in some cases condone -- a hostile work environment in which racial epithets and demeaning remarks are routinely made to African-Americans. 

The lawsuit also alleges that black workers are overwhelmingly confined to low-level and low-paying jobs. 

The lawsuit comes at a critical time for Amtrak, officially known as the National Passenger Railroad Co. Republicans in Congress are insisting the railroad company must turn a profit by 2002 or go out of business, forcing the company to eliminate 20 percent of its routes and reduce its work force by 2,000 through layoffs, early retirements and buyouts. 

Although minorities now represent approximately 34 percent of the company's overall work force, the lawsuit accuses Amtrak of failing to promote and treat its African-American employees fairly. 

One employee, machinist Henry Crawford, 54, of Boston, said his managers discouraged him from taking a test that would have allowed him to move into a higher-paying job. Crawford, an Amtrak employee in Boston for 11 years, said although he took and passed a required test, he was later told he had failed an interview. 

"I've worked hard," Crawford said. "All I want now is to be treated fairly, and I want that for all my people on the job."

Nothing, nothing can jeopardize the quarterly and yearly goals of improving ROD. Not even the ruin of a nation.

In a perfect world, we'd fire the bulk of Amtrak's employees and start over, figuring out which routes made sense to invest in with greater resources. The ROD would be abandoned for the pursuit of improving ROI.

But more importantly, the ROD investment would be retired for the pursuit of actually improving the nation for Americans; instead of improving the fortunes of "people of color" at the expense (and on the tab) of white people.

PK NOTE: I was joking about the whole ROD thing, but I actually came upon some nut who peddles himself as a Diversity Return on Investment (DROI) guru. 

Cleveland: Rocks! Carl Stokes and the Fall of Cleveland

PK NOTE: Between now and November 6, SBPDL will be dedicated to looking at major cities that elected a black mayor and the expectations surrounding this monumental, progressive, transcendent event. But we will do more: we will ask what happened to cities such as Rochester, Cleveland, Chicago, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Birmingham, etc. after black political power was gained.

Black advancement = Civilization retardation 

Carl Stokes, who was charged with stealing a bag of $17.25 dog food when he was Cleveland Municipal Judge, was the first black mayor of a major American city. Elected in 1967, Stokes aligned himself with the black power element in the city (as we discussed here in the McDonald's/Cleveland Boycott of 1968). He, of course, enjoyed more than 90 percent of black vote in the 1967 election.

Racial solidarity is to be expected, even celebrated among black people.

It is in Carl B. Stokes and the Rise of Black Political Power that we get a glimpse of the type of expectations (and federal financing) this first black mayor received upon taking office. On p. 191-192:

When Carl Stokes became the first black mayor of a major America city in 1967, black Clevelanders expected him to revitalize their neighborhoods, provide more low-to moderate-income housing, end police brutality, create a plethora of social welfare programs, and devise endless economic opportunities. As a veteran of the civil rights movement, Stokes agreed that his primary responsibility as mayor was to elevate the social and economic conditions of black residents. Second, Stokes also understood that as the first black mayor of a large city, he was a symbol of pride and that s such he represented to a large extent the aspirations and hopes of a ll African Americans.

More bluntly, he was supposed to  prove to all white that an African American was capable of governing. Stokes eagerly embraced these twin mandates, and in the process he wanted to set an example for other mayors to follow.

Upon taking office, Stokes immediately took steps to restore the city's federal funding. He also reorganized the Cleveland Police Department, secured a much-needed tax increase, and launched Cleveland: Now! a $1.5 billion urban redevelopment package designed to address virtually every facet of the city's problems: housing, employment, health and welfare, neighborhood rehabilitation, economic revitalization, and city planning. 

He had inherited a dying city. A declining tax base, conservative federal and state governments, a continual influx of poor citizens, and white residential and commercial flight made it difficult to find the revenue for implementing many of his reforms. Although Stokes was able to rely upon large scale federal support for Cleveland: Now! his major redevelopment package, once the conservative administration of Richard Nixon came into office, Stokes had to seek alternative sources of funding.

Further, once the Cleveland business community made it clear that it would no longer support Stokes legislative agenda, Stokes was forced to govern a city with virtually no money.

So wait: why was Cleveland in such need of revitialization? Well, because the white population that had created and sustained the city had seen its overall percentage of the population of Cleveland erode with the arrival of black people.

Cleveland: A Metropolitan Reader provides an accurate descrpition of why this Cleveland's fortunes erodes as its black population grew (p. 127):

Following the large increase in Cleveland’s black population during World War I, the city’s black community continued to grow in size each decade, although at a reduced rate. Whereas the black population increased 400 percent to 35,000 between 1910 and 1920, it increase by a much smaller 100 percent to 72,000 by 1930 and by only 18 percent to 85,000 by 1940. But again, as had been the case during World War I, during World War II the black migration to Cleveland accelerated dramatically as poor, rural southern blacks streamed into the Forest City hoping for jobs in the burgeoning war production effort. Between 1940 and 1950 Cleveland’s black population almost doubled to 148,000; in the 1950s, as the city’s industrial production continued at high levels and southern blacks continued to come north in search of jobs, the black population against almost doubled to 251,000. The white population shrank, leaving a black presence in the city that was becoming more and more sharply defined.

  "Racist" police departments were needed in cities with large black populations, to ensure that the city would be safe for white inhabitants. Once City Hall was taken by black political power, police reforms meant the teeth were taken out of the police by a new, friendlier social contract aimed at improving black/police relations. This happened in Cleveland; this happened in every city that a black mayor took control of, ensuring that the trickle of white flight became a torrent.

Why did Cleveland need $1.5 billion from the federal government to improve "housing, employment, health and welfare, neighborhood rehabilitation, economic revitalization, and city planning."

Do you really need the answer to that question?

Cleveland, despite the hope and change that Carl Stokes election promised, effectively died when black political power was democratically voted into being there. 

Who else got more than 90 percent of the black vote recently?