Portside

• Rapper to Stand Trial on Gang Conspiracy Charges for Lyrics – Andie Adams and Liberty Zabala (NBC 7 San Diego)
• Why Ava DuVernay's 'Selma' Oscar Snub Matters – Scott Mendelson (Forbes)
• How Clint Eastwood Ignores History in ‘American Sniper’ – Peter Maass (The Intercept)
• 'American Sniper' movie sparks hateful reaction toward Arabs on Twitter – David Boroff (New York Daily News)
• Pacifica Radio Archives unearths missing 1964 London speech by Martin Luther King Jr – Ben Mook (Current)
• Family Outraged After North Miami Beach Police Use Mug Shots as Shooting Targets – Mc Nelly Torres and Willard Shepard (NBC 6 South Florida)
• Tulsa-area ministers will preach in hoodies Sunday to protest bill – Bill Sherman (Tulsa World)

Rapper to Stand Trial on Gang Conspiracy Charges for Lyrics
By Andie Adams and Liberty Zabala
December 5, 2014
NBC 7 San Diego

A San Diego rapper is facing "criminal street gang" conspiracy charges in nine shootings but not because of any direct involvement. He's facing prison time because of his lyrics.
Brandon Duncan, also known as “Tiny Doo,” is charged with multiple counts of conspiracy to commit a felony with a criminal street gang. The 33-year-old, who prosecutors say was part a Lincoln Park gang, faces 25 years to life in prison.
The district attorney says Duncan can be charged under a section of the penal code approved by California voters in 2000 because he profited from these gang activities through album sales, even though there is no evidence connecting him to the actual shootings.

Why Ava DuVernay's 'Selma' Oscar Snub Matters
By Scott Mendelson
January 15, 2015
Forbes

It’s a sad reflection of a year when a number of good, great, and lousy fictionalized true-life biopics about allegedly great or somewhat interesting white men are well-represented while one of the very best-reviewed movies of the year went with hardly a single relevant nomination, aside from getting into the expanded Best Picture field, arguably on account of controversy over its accuracy. Considering the obstacles that Ms. DuVernay faces in terms of just steady employment by virtue of her gender and skin color, the risk of Selma being defined not by its once-unquestionable quality as a motion picture but rather by the context of its back-and-forth bantering over its alleged historical embellishments is more than just trivial.

How Clint Eastwood Ignores History in ‘American Sniper’
By Peter Maass
January 8, 2015
The Intercept

The film faithfully recycles [Iraq war sniper Chris] Kyle’s crude language [from his memoir], and while shocking to some viewers, his slurs are the least surprising or objectionable part. Dehumanizing the enemy is common in almost any conflict, particularly for snipers, who see their foes up close. If you regard your target as a savage or an infidel, it’s easier to squeeze the trigger. Kyle’s blinkered attitude was not unusual among the fighters I spent time with in Iraq. It’s the truest part of the movie and belongs in it.
The problem is that the film makes no attempt to tell us anything beyond Kyle’s limited comprehension of what was happening. More than a decade after America invaded and occupied Iraq, and long after we realized the war’s false pretense and its horrific toll, we deserve better. There’s a dilemma at work: a war movie that is true of one American’s experience can be utterly false to the experience of millions of Iraqis and to the historical record. Further, it’s no act of patriotism to celebrate, without context or discussion, a grunt’s view that the people killed in Iraq were animals deserving their six-feet-under fate. When the movie’s villain, an enemy sniper named Mustafa, was killed by Kyle, the crowd at the theater where I was watching broke into applause.

'American Sniper' movie sparks hateful reaction toward Arabs on Twitter
By David Boroff
January 19, 2015
New York Daily News

The new film "American Sniper" has been slammed by critics as pro-war propaganda, but as far as some hateful Twitter users go, the movie is right on target.
The Clint Eastwood-directed film tells the story of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, portrayed by Bradley Cooper. The film scored six Oscar nominations, including for Best Picture and Best Actor for Cooper.
However, the movie's gung-ho message inspired many bigoted and offensive reactions on social media.

Pacifica Radio Archives unearths missing 1964 London speech by Martin Luther King Jr
By Ben Mook
January 16, 2015
Current

Fifty years ago, Pacifica Radio correspondent Saul Bernstein recorded a 62-minute speech delivered in London by Martin Luther King Jr., in which the civil rights leader spoke about apartheid and the then-recent sentencing of Nelson Mandela.
The recording, believed to be the only full record of King’s speech, was thought to be lost to time. But a half-century later, Pacifica Archives Director Brian DeShazor uncovered Bernstein’s recording in a dusty box while working on a Saturday, researching another project

Family Outraged After North Miami Beach Police Use Mug Shots as Shooting Targets
By Mc Nelly Torres and Willard Shepard
January 17, 2015
NBC 6 South Florida

 A South Florida family is outraged at North Miami Beach Police after mug shots of African American men were used at a shooting range for police training.
It was an ordinary Saturday morning last month when Sgt. Valerie Deant arrived at the shooting range in Medley, or so she thought.
Deant, who plays clarinet with the Florida Army National Guard’s 13th Army Band, and her fellow soldiers were at the shooting range for their annual weapons qualifications training.
What the soldiers discovered when they entered the range made them angry: mug shots of African American men apparently used as targets by North Miami Beach Police snipers, who had used the range before the guardsmen.

Tulsa-area ministers will preach in hoodies Sunday to protest bill
By Bill Sherman
January 16, 2015
Tulsa World

Several Tulsa-area ministers will wear hooded sweatshirts while they preach Sunday to protest what they see as racial overtones in a proposed Oklahoma law that has been dubbed the “hoodie bill.”
Senate Bill 13, proposed by state Sen. Don Barrington, R-Lawton, would make it illegal for people to intentionally conceal their identity in a public place by wearing a robe, mask or other disguise. It expands an existing law that forbids wearing hoods and other coverings while in the commission of a crime or for purposes of coercion, intimidation or harassment.
The Rev. Michael Riggs, the minister of the First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in downtown Tulsa, who is spearheading the local protest, said he opposes the bill because it has “a racial component as well as a free speech component.”
“Hoodies are identified with the protest movements, like ‘Black Lives Matter,’ …” he said.
“If you’re standing up for your community and your rights, you shouldn’t be criminalized for wearing a hoodie.”