By Antonio D. French
Filed Thursday, February 07, 2008 at 11:00 PM
Labels: Crime"All We Want is Justice!"
That was the last statement made by Charles "Cookie" Thorton before he opened fire in Kirkwood City Hall. The tragedy in Kirkwood, MO where six people lost their lives is a result of the continuation of racial tensions that bubble and erupt.
The Organization for Black Struggle (OBS) is saddened by the preventable loss of life and the impending sorrow that will grip the affected families and community. We hope that the City will seriously begin to address the racism and deep feelings of disenfranchisement by African-Americans who reside in Meacham Park.
OBS Chair Jamala Rogers talked with Thornton last year as the trial of Kevin Johnson was underway. Johnson was on trial for the 2005 murder of Kirkwood police officer William McEntee.
"Cookie Thornton was adamant that he was not going to be intimidated, disrespected or dismissed by the City," stated Rogers, "and as a black man in America, that has consequences." Rogers encouraged Thornton to stand up to the injustices but also cautioned him to be careful. Most of Thornton's protest actions were solo including his interaction with the courts where he served as his own legal counsel.
OBS urges the Mayor and Police Chief to take some leadership and immediately bring the community together to resolve divisive and deadly issues which keep getting glossed over. Beefing up security in City Hall is merely a bandaid for a festering cancer in the City of Kirkwood.
32 Comments:
What injustices are you talking about? Thornton was breaking several laws. His killing innocent people is the injustice. Killing isn't going to solve any problems but it will only make white people look at blacks as violent. Complaining that society is racist does not justify murder. MLK wanted peace. So if you break the law, get punished for it, and happen to be black, it's racist?! That's bull. And blacks can be racist too! Good God, you just can't go around killing people--lame ass excuses or not! My heart goes to the families of these victims. God bless them. They'll have to live with pain for the rest of their lives b/c some black guy somewhere felt jilted over property.
2/08/2008 12:23 AM
Please tell me the OBS statement is a joke.
2/08/2008 12:29 AM
LoL, they may wish to re-name their organization. OBS is Police jargon for an insane or mentaly unstable person. Wait, justification of mass murder and political assassination? I suppose the name fits.
2/08/2008 2:37 AM
Was this started over code violations
or Eminent Domain proceedings? I have a fist full of violations, but have held off ED.
2/08/2008 5:52 AM
the probably is obviously with our mental health system, not race relations.
2/08/2008 7:21 AM
As a St. Louis City resident, I received a couple of citations on my property. I didn't like them, but I went ahead and corrected the issues the citations noted.
All citizens are subjected to codes, ordinances, statutes, laws. We have to deal with them civilly, legally, and responsibly.
It appears to me Thornton suffered from a disordered mental state. This was not a racial issue; it was a civil issue, and he chose the wrong way on several occasions to deal with the problems.
To make everything a racial issue only causes less credibility for any true racial issue.
2/08/2008 7:37 AM
to the student of history---it doesn't matter what the real issue is.. this blog will make a race issue. I am white and I don't fault thornton for being black, but I do see and issue that he was nuts.
2/08/2008 7:58 AM
"Cookie Thornton was adamant that he was not going to be intimidated, disrespected or dismissed by the City..."
Isn't it convenient when one can just throw down the race card and claim a civil rights violation for being held to objective standards for behavior.
From what I read today, the Kirkwood City Council continued to allow Thornton to speak at meetings though he was disruptive, curtailing his speech only in specific instances after it became unconstructive, i.e. when he began personal attacks. Judge Perry, one of the more liberal in the E.D.Mo., agreed, and issued the correct ruling recently.
Attempts to justify this shooting are offensive.
2/08/2008 8:11 AM
"My fear was not of death itself, but a death without meaning. I wanted my death to be something the people could relate to, a basis for further mobilization of the community."
"Black Power is giving power to people who have not had power to determine their destiny."
"I do not expect the white media to create positive black male images."
-Huey P. Newton
2/08/2008 9:48 AM
Thornton had the power to "determine his destiny" by not ignoring the parking rules or paying the fine.
6 people could still be alive today
2/08/2008 10:16 AM
"I do not expect the white media to create positive black male images."
It's a bit difficult to create a positive male image, black or white, for a murderer.
2/08/2008 10:31 AM
I went to school with Cookie and he was the most gentle soul you ever could meet. What happened is certainly a tragedy. But as a former City Official, I take it as a warning to begin treating people as human beings. I have seen City Officials abuse their power simply because they can. Kirkwood could have tried to compromise by reducing the cost of the tickets and helping him relocate his trucks.
But that would have taken more than the easy solution.
City Officials "Wake Up" and realize that you are dealing with people who may be going through a hard time and act accordingly before this happens again!
2/08/2008 10:55 AM
Wait, so some crazy guy kills a bunch of people because his first amendment rights have been "violated?" . I won’t dignify this legal “argument” with a response. It’s a foolish claim, you clearly know nothing about the law. And these so-called independents who claim that government needs to be overthrown are just infantile. Actually you're probably nuts. Small local government isn't constantly colluding with the man to keep us small folk down.
You people are blind. I won’t even suggest what you’re blinded by, but I don’t need to. It’s quite clear.
Anybody else does this and they’re condemned. Mr. Cookie was a monster, and murder can never be excused.
2/08/2008 11:05 AM
Wait, so some crazy guy kills a bunch of people because his first amendment rights have been "violated?" . I won’t dignify this legal “argument” with a response. It’s a foolish claim, you clearly know nothing about the law. And these so-called independents who claim that government needs to be overthrown are just infantile. Actually you're probably nuts. Small local government isn't constantly colluding with the man to keep us small folk down.
You people are blind. I won’t even suggest what you’re blinded by, but I don’t need to. It’s quite clear.
Anybody else does this and they’re condemned. Mr. Cookie was a monster, and murder can never be excused.
2/08/2008 11:05 AM
I wrote that goverment officials often use their power to torture citizens for no good reason.
You need to know that everything has a breaking point-even steel.
Are you so narrow minded that you can't see what is going on in your own back yard? Cookie was not a monster until yesterday when he just snapped!
You are the problem!!!!!!
You people think that because you are white, everyone that complains against injustice is either too touchy when it comes to race or can't see the truth.
Well, the truth is in your face today and the chickens keep coming home to roost.
If you white folks don't change and share the power, this will continue to happen.
You need to treat people with respect and let them at least have their dignity.
2/08/2008 2:11 PM
The mayor of Kirkwood has a few more pressing issues right now that he has to deal with instead of meeting with this organization.
2/08/2008 3:08 PM
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
2/08/2008 3:23 PM
Cookie has been breaking the law time and again.
He didn't just become a monster. The rest of us have to deal with the same laws, the same tickets, the same citations.
He chose to continue down this path. I have a "white" nephew who is making the same choices and paying the same penalties. It's stupid on their part to not grow up and start being more responsible.
2/08/2008 5:27 PM
NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE!!!!!!!!!!!!
2/08/2008 6:41 PM
"NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE!!!!!!!!!!!!"
That's a very interesting concept. What is unjust about being ticketed for infractions of the law and being escorted out when using inflammatory language and disrupting a meeting for other citizens?
"Cookie" seems to have expected entitlements, not justice. We all face justice when we refuse to comply like everyone else to rules, regulations, codes, laws, statutes. Justice is objective and applies equally to all regardless of gender or race.
"Cookie" should have moved to where the laws were to his liking.
2/08/2008 9:54 PM
I am amazed at how upset the white folks are about this. Everyday there are news stories of stupid white folks killing large numbers of people for nothing. They actually get reward for killing people. Now, someone black does what they do ALL the time, and people act like violence is a senseless "black thing." Get real...Don't worry the Latinos will be more a problem than the blacks have ever been. Welcome to the world that you can get some of what you put out into the atmosphere. The slaying were sad, but so is racism, genocide of Indians, neo-segregration, and the oppression of non-white people world-wide. Grow up white folks everybody will not be passive and accepting of being treated as inferiors. You love Timothy McVeigh...love Thorton too. Some use fertilizer bombs, and he used guns. In my view, at least he did not kill other people of color like most non-white do when they have the urge to hurt others. Kirkwood is infamous for its racism and bigotry...
You white folks have had 500 years to screw people, and you are so used to it that you find it impossible to to believe that someone non-white could take your lives as cheaply as our have been taken for centuries. People still get lynched in Missouri in Springfield...the capital. You folks are liars in your souls. You live in denial that you benefit from the murder and suffering of non-white people. This horrible crime committed is a symptom of the undercurrent of rage about how non-whites are treated.
History shows that Anglo-Saxons only respect force and violence. Thornton reached an interesting conclusion. I wished that it never happened, but I wish that Slavery, Racism, and most things that hurt my people never happened. However, most of you white racist brutes think that everything is wonderful, and that blacks came on the Mayflower to collect welfare.
Your empire will fall one day soon. Bush has destroyed the economy, and people the world over will have a unique hatred for Anglo-Americans. I can't wait to live to see your people get some of what you dish out to people who have never done anything to you.
2/09/2008 2:18 AM
It is not race in NH. We had a similar situation where town officials were killed. Recently we had a kid that killed a cop. Abuse of power has consequences.
Those in power did not support these killing. Those not in power supported them.
2/09/2008 5:22 AM
"Everyday there are news stories of stupid white folks killing large numbers of people for nothing. They actually get reward for killing people."
Everyday? Where? And who gets a reward? Most of the murders I read about are poor blacks killed by blacks. And look what goes on in Kenya, Rwanda, Sierre Leone, and Liberia. Not one white person is killing others; it's mass murder of blacks by blacks. We have refugees here in St. Louis who suffered terrible traumas because of the black on black violence.
"You love Timothy McVeigh..." Who loves McVeigh? Everyone was outraged by what he did.
"People still get lynched in Missouri in Springfield...the capital." Name those who have been lynched and who did the lynching.
"However, most of you white racist brutes think ..." It appears to me the only racist brute on this post was up at 2:18 a.m. fuming with hate against people who have done nothing to harm him/her or his/her people.
I'm sure glad some of my best friends who happen to be both African and African American are more rational and see all of mankind as flawed, but are willing to be friends of people of different races.
If anonymous 2:18 a.m. wants an appropriate target for hatred, look to the Sudanese Arab/Muslims and what they are doing to his/her people.
By the way, Anonymous 2:18 a.m., which tribe do you claim? Hutu or Tutsi? Kikuyu or Luo?
2/09/2008 6:59 AM
Anonymous at 2:18 am...
You really do not understand "white people" as much as you think you do.
Your statements may contain some truth for a small proportion of the population but for the vast majority of us "white people" you are sooooo WRONG it is sad.
2/09/2008 10:15 AM
"People still get lynched in Missouri in Springfield...the capital."
Springfield is not the capital of Missouri.
2/09/2008 11:50 AM
"I won’t dignify this legal “argument” with a response"
You already did with that long assed disortation.
2/09/2008 1:09 PM
Well,I guess that's how the "COOKIE" crumbles!
2/09/2008 1:51 PM
Which "long-assed distortion?" Oops, I corrected a teacher's spelling. I should have written disortation.
2/09/2008 2:10 PM
anon @ 2:18 am
many whites were also lynched.
it is sad but it was a histotically accepted form of punishment for criminal behavior.
I'm not saying that unwarrented lynchings did not exist, but they were very rare.
2/09/2008 9:08 PM
Anonymous 2/09/2008 2:18 AM, you are hereby reconized as the moron of the month.
Sherman, is that you?
2/09/2008 10:15 PM
Anonymous @ 2/09/2008 2:10 PM
dissertation, not distortion
and for the record, I am not a school teacher
2/10/2008 2:00 AM
Oppression is not an excuse for choosing to kill others. NEVER.
So, "Cookie" Thornton felt put up upon by the city of Kirkwood? It did not give him ANY right to kill those five people.
Maybe had he spent some money and gotten a real lawyer, the judge's ruling to his law suit might have been different.
To the OBS: encouraging blacks to kill, by saying all you want is justice (thus equating what "Cookie" Thornton did with justice) is not seeking or promoting justice.
If anything it sets justice and race relations back by several decades.
When people say "Cookie" Thornton is a hero they are doing a huge disservice to their community. Already far too many people think the black community glamorizes and idealizes law breaking via rap and the "hip hop" culture. Elevating "Cookie" Thornton to hero and victim status will do nothing to counter that stereotype.
I feel for his wife and family but not for him. They will have to live for the rest of their lives knowing he was a murderer.
2/10/2008 2:44 PM
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