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The Story of Kareem Bynum
Published on April 13, 2004 By 6969jimbo6969 In Politics


A Slug in the Neck and a Slug in the Back for the Crime of Being Frightened While Black
GEORGIA IS A ‘RAISIN IN THE SUN’ READY TO POP!


THIS IS A FIRST INSTALLMENT. I AM FINDING MY WAY HERE. I INTEND TO GIVE SOME OF THE INCREDIBLE PEOPLE WHO HAVE PRIVILEGED ME, WITH THEIR PRESENCE IN MYLIFE, A SPOT OF SOME SORT IN THE CULTURAL PANTHEON.

THESE WILL OCCASIONALLY BE JUST “OCCASIONAL” EXPLORATIONS OF CHARACTER AND EVENT. OTHER TIMES, HOWEVER, AND THIS IS THE FIRST OF MY POSTINGS FOR WHICH I CAN ASSERT THIS, THE MATERIAL WILL SHOW UP AS AN EXTENSIVE, ONGOING, PERSONAL, SOCIAL, AND POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY.

KAREEM IS FROM SWAINSBORO. SWAINSBORO IS ESSENTIALLY A MODERN-DAY MAYBERRY WITH WHITE ROBES AND CROSSES STILL IN EVIDENCE PSYCHICALLY, ALTHOUGH GENERALLY IN THE CLOSET POLTICIALLY.

HIS FAMILY STORY THERE IS A SAGA OF TRIUMPH OVER THE LINGERING MIASMA OF SLAVERY IN SOUTH GEORGIA. THE BRUTAL CRIPPLING ATTACK ON HIM---AS AN INCIDENT OF ARROGANT AUTHORITY, OF MEDIA MALFEASANCE, AND OF CONTINUING SOCIAL COURAGE---IS CRUCIALLY IMPORTANT FOR AMERICANS AND PEOPLE EVERYWHERE TO KNOW.


Kareem Bynum
Prologue
Very quickly, his arms have become cords of steel. Perched atop the Naugehyde chair in his mother’s trailer, the moist warmth of a tidewater late November seeps through the doors and windows, and Kareem Bynum sits shirtless. The atmosphere is steamy as the wet air mixes with ten hours of cooking, and then joins percolating turkey, fixin’s’, and greens, along with the effluent of twenty years of human labor and love, fear and wonder.

Kareem combines an iconic Geronimo with a buffed Muhammed Ali. His pecan brown skin glistens when he shifts position and sweat catches light; he resembles a dark neon sculpture than winks on and off, now glowing like a banked fire, now only glimmering like distant lights through a foggy dusk.

His eyes measure each glance. “Can you meet me? Can you feel me? Can you hold me?” His spirit submerges a bit as I approach. Disquiet and uncertainty fight just below the surface of his fiercely maintained calm. Panic lurks like a frightened young beast, only a couple of layers down in his being.

If he could walk still, his legs would dance him away, his enigmatic grimace of a grin then fading like a fleeing Cheshire cat. But he can’t rise, doctors promise that he will never again walk. So he averts his eyes and mumbles, although he manages some real conviction nonetheless. “I’m fine… .you know, it’s hard, but I’m doing fine. …I’ll get through this.”

Introduction and Summary
One hundred eighty days have lapsed since a Georgia State Patrolman’s bullets ripped through the flesh of his back and neck and tore his spine asunder, at the fifth thoracic vertebrae. He tried to flee Swainsboro police and state troopers seeking to arrest him on a random and uncorroborated bench warrant, delivered at a midnight random traffic stop. The genermarie ran him down like errant chattel, and as he lay stunned and semi-conscious in the weedy ditch where his car had come to rest, one officer shot twice, without provocation, ending one way of life while creating another.

The presentation of Kareem’s personal saga is one part of this tale. It involves ties of blood and people who insist on seeing justice done, whatever the risks. It is funny and bawdy and bizarre, as well as tragic. It is about transformation and transcendence in the face of impossible circumstances.

Another part of the story is the bloody murder that is the rictus core of Emmanuel County’s history. To say that slavery never ended here is false. To deny the complexity of the past 150 years is foolish. But to overlook the way that terror and oppression has led here to an uneasy White supremacy is at best hypocritical and self-serving disingenuousness, some combination of the marginally moronic and the willfully ignorant.

The finish of the primary tryptic that makes up this account is the current portrait of Swainsboro, over the years of Kareem’s life that he has been a father and a worker, and now, a paraplegic. Swainsboro’s surface appears like an idyllic “Mayberry”. The scrolling color photo on the City website shows fifty-odd people in close-ups and medium shots, 3 of whom in the background are Black. From sixty per cent to six per cent is a neat trick, although all of them being in the background is surely a reflection of the City’s reality.

As the members of his family who were able to---a sister in California; a brother in Connecticut; and his elder brother, in Iraq; could not be present---prepared a South Georgia grassroots Thanksgiving feast, the tale of Kareem’s personal thanksgiving glittered like ancient star shine winking through scudding country clouds. This luminescence was most powerful in the troubled eyes of Kareem’s elder son, who at nine years old has just begun to make sense of the enormity of his father’s loss.

In this serene, if surreal, presentation of social substance, the brutality visited on young Kareem Bynum is jarring. One way or another, the crime committed against him is percolating a social cauldron here, discernible in schools, churches, social clubs, and commercial establishments as well. Swainsboro will undergo a transformation, or it will explode, like an improperly vented septic tank filled far beyond its capacity, unable to absorb further fecal matter without a volcanic reaction.

Kareem Bynum’s magnificence, as a man and as a moral arbiter, is a metaphor for the South today. The relations of power and domination here cripple the potential for moving forward, but like someone who confronts an accidental second infancy and must learn to cope in the face of apparent incapacity, Kareem reflects how, even in the teeth of this viciously snapping maw, one can transcend anything that leaves life and breath in a body. We must all watch, and learn, or surely the future is a bleak disaster that will crush our lives and the hopes of our children.

THUS ENDS THE FIRST KAREEM BIO INSTALLMENT, AS NOTED ABOVE THREE INTERRELATED STORIES COMBINING TO MAKE HIS LIFE. THESE THREE SECTIONS OF THE BOOK OF KAREEM WILL APPEAR, IN ORDER, BIT BY BIT HERE AND ELSEWHERE FOR PEOPLE TO PERUSE.

Overview
The Big Picture data is daunting. Of 50,000 plus Georgia citizens behind bars---qualifying us here in the Peach State for the number one prison-population-rate on earth ---nearly 35,000 are African Americans. As Joseph Lowery puts it, “Anybody who thinks that Black people are committing 75% of the crimes in Georgia, they’re crazy!”

Blacks do tend to have a higher crime rate than Whites, which makes sense, inasmuch as the number one correlative for lawbreaking is poverty. Black households are poor at a rate two to three times greater than White families. Unemployment among African Americans in Georgia also occurs at more than double the frequency among those of us with ancestors from Europe. Ultimately, prison is the wages of poverty and joblessness. What makes these phenomena especially ugly, of course, is the specter of racism.

The system is ludicrous and hilarious, if the vantage point for viewing it is distant enough. Up close, racial profiling, attack-the-poor profiteering, White supremacist divide-and-conquer politics, and other attributes of the Prison Industrial Complex are like parts of some nightmare vision of hell on earth. I have witnessed crass harassment of Black friends over and over again, in small towns and every big city but Atlanta.

The police shoot numerous Black men every year, killing a dozen or so in the last twelve months, and maiming many others. The disparities and discrepancies in treatment and options have reached a point where HUGE social unrest is pending, not in Georgia alone, but definitely around the region, and possibly around the nation as well, where the patterns are nearly as pronounced and obvious as they are here in Dixie. This work is thus both a description and a call to action. Let us address the inequitable iniquities that plague us, lest we spend fifty years---or all eternity---whining and complaining about the beautiful possibilities for life which we flushed down the toilet of intolerance and bigotry instead.

Comments
on Apr 13, 2004
This is really good writing. Don't get discouraged by lack of comments around here. I was thinking of seeing if my brother's friend, a member of The Black Panther Party, would be a guest writer for me. I can imagine the silence!
on Apr 13, 2004
Thank you WiseFawn! I feel the potential exists in my work for mass impact, even popularity, especially if I can collaborate with editors who might tone and slim the behemoths I am wont to create. This whole situation here is so mind-bogglingly amazing I can't help but love it. It's sort of a BLOG-BOGGLE, maybe(LOL).

The only thing that discourages me is how little, a mere milliionth on a good day, of what is coming at me I am able to process. That is why your idea, of inviting your bro's friend to come along, is exciting to me. If you are ever interested in building something, a citizen's publication network of some sort that stands for social progress, count me in. That's why I'm here, really. A cell phone that frequently reaches me is 678-886-3277.

The bottom line is that coming to know of you and your great heart, even if only virtually, has made this adventure worthwhile all by itself. Keep at it and keep me posted.

Ciao for now,

Jimbo
on Apr 14, 2004
Thank you so much. I had one guest writer already, am thinking of having the hooker next door write, want my daughter to and am trying to talk a senator into it.
I will no doubt keep you in mind, thanks for the number. And please keep me in mind for the same reasons!
on Apr 14, 2004
OK!

You can have "the hooker next door write for you," but unless you make the movie with that title within the year, I'm announcing it out loud! I'M STEALING THIS TITLE. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. LOL!!

You are great.

CFN,
J
on Apr 15, 2004
It's interesting, but this article doesn't seem to list some information that the Augusta Chronicle includes. Are you sure you are reporting all the facts?

Trooper shoots man who ran checkpoint

A Georgia State Patrol trooper shot a man who authorities said ran through a police checkpoint early Saturday.

Trooper David Holloway, of the Swainsboro post, shot Kareem Edward Bynum, 24, after Mr. Bynum did not stop for the checkpoint set up by the Emanuel County Sheriff's Department and Swainsboro Police Department, said Gordy Wright, a Georgia State Patrol spokesman.

At about 12:30 a.m., Trooper Holloway was called to assist in a chase as officers tried to stop Mr. Bynum.

Mr. Bynum rammed the state patrolman's vehicle twice, causing both cars to run off the road and strike several trees.

After Mr. Bynum pulled out a gun, Trooper Holloway fired two shots - hitting Mr. Bynum once in the left shoulder, Mr. Wright said.

Mr. Bynum was treated at Emanuel County Hospital and later airlifted to Medical College of Georgia Hospital. He was in critical condition late Saturday.

The trooper was not injured, Mr. Wright said.

Source: http://www.augustachronicle.com/stories/083103/met_029-1236.000.shtml

You have to register to actually access the article.

I'm not sure I agree that ramming a police car twice and pulling a gun qualifies for "without provocation".

What are you sources of information for your version of the events? Do you have any first hand knowledge of the incident?

VES
on Apr 15, 2004
A fascinating part of the story is how the Augusta, Swainsboro, and Macon papers all reported the incdident accordin to what the State Troopers said, without ever checking for corroboration from anyone in Kareem's family, let alone tlaking to him, let alone doing any investigation. Each paper is party to an upcoming libel suit, and the two police departments will also be sued. I have talked to all of the parties involved, seen a copy of the police report(IT IS LAUGHABLE, LIKE A COMIC STRIP FROM"BEETLE BAILY" IN ITS IMPOSSIBLE DESCRIPTION OF WHAT HAPPENED,), and I've seen the physical evidence---the scene and the car, for example---and I am confident that the FACTS are as I represent. That Kareem shot at them is an insane assertion, if you consider simple logic. Here is a Black man at midnight who comes out guns blazing. Only one officer fires, two shots? The rules of engagement are that eachofficer will fire repeatedly. Here is a Black man who tries to kill White police, and the police don't bother to charge him; it's been 8 months, and their response has been, "we're studying what charges to bring." Maybe you have a different view of the world than I do, but I would wager my LIFE that a majority of any random citizen sample would see the picture very differently from the State's version, which the Augusta Chronicle, et. al. parroted like well-trained pets.
on Apr 15, 2004
I'm not sure I see the world any different than you, but that's not the issue. And the paper didn't say Kareem came out guns ablazing, it just said he pulled out a gun, nothing to do with firing it. How did you interpolate "guns ablazing" from that? What I see however, is you have an expectation that I (or we) should accept your version as being more credible. I have been involved in many situations where the suspect, family and friends had it in their best interests to misrepresent the facts of an incident, much as your representing the state as doing.

I have also seen many situations which defy what people would "normally" do in high stress incidents. Why? Because when involved in a high stress incident, you don't behave as a normal person usually. And there are no such "rules of engagement" that insure all officers there will fire their guns repeatedly. I can personally vouch for beng in a situation with no such rules of engagement like that, where one officer's perception is different from anothers, and they don't all fire their guns. And you are free to SAY that you would wager your life as you see fit, but that alone offers no additionally credibility. To me, such outlandish proffers are suspect, much like swearing on a stack of bibles, or some relatives grave. It's an attempt to gain acceptance by playing on what people feel is sacred.

Be that as it may however, very often people believe what they want to believe even in contradiction to the facts. I guess we will see upon the results of all these suits though. Maybe. I have access to the ability to check out Mr. Bynum's criminal record, though it appears from your writing that he was a pillar of the community. However, doing such without a legitimate law enforcement purpose would violate the laws of my state. To verfity an internet blog hardly meets that condition so I will not do that.

Suffice to say, your dramatic and descriptive representations may be enough to convince your random sampling of citizens, but I remain unconvinced, EITHER way. Apart from being a cop, I am also a random sampling of the citizenry.

What I found peculiar about your article is this, and it's not a criticism about your writing style. On the contrary, you write very well, kudos for that. If you don't already make money writing books, perhaps you should give it a shot. I just find it strange that you write the first part as though you are writing a novel, and the second part as a fact based presentation. One would think that you were trying to stir the emotion at first, rather than stimulate the reasoning of the reader. I grant that this offers no inherent deficit of credibility, but it is suggestive in my mind.

VES
on Apr 15, 2004
You know!!!

I think we do see things differently. I've read the police report. I've talked with the parties involved who have evinced a willingness to talk to me. Not one reporter saw fit to check with Kareem or his family. Don't you find that a bit out of line? Just a little? Maybe it's just me. I'm going to be writing about this case, a lot, as it develops. Maybe your perspective will change as I offer more details. Maybe not. What happened to Kareem Bynum was, in my estimation, a legal lynching that left him paralyzed for life instead of dead.

As to the 'guns blazing,' the Keystone Kops police report, about which more later---there's just so much reporting to be done---offered that as the rationale for the shooting. It's worse than absurd, none of it adds up, and the FBI trained ballistics expert agrees with Mr. Bynum's story as well.

We'll see how it all develops, "many a slip twixt the cup and the lip" an essential perspective for us all to maintain, eh? I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors and appreciate your excellent writing. In my estimation, however, your reasoning and analysis, not to mention your lack of historical perspective, leave a lot to be desired.
on Apr 16, 2004
Your estimation (read opinion) is duly noted without agreement. I could have said the same of you, but why bother. An exchange on an internet blog hardly represents an in-depth analysis of a person or set of circumstances. My experiences differ from yours, and I see many false accusations and exaggerated claims people make against police officers fairly frequently, and with the benefit of FIRST HAND knowledge many times.

To be honest, it would take alot to change my opinion (which to clarify if you didn't catch it the first time is I have no real opinion on the case you report). No offense intended, but to me you are just another guy on the internet who may or may not have an agenda, reporting something that most likely cannot be corroborated by the vast majority (if not all) of the readers. Really, unless you, or anyone for that matter, have the credentials to back up the validity of your investigation and subsequent analysis, your word means only as much as the next guy. Particularly to me, since I conduct investigations as well, and know how many times information and motives are subjective. (I've documented situations that resulted in officers being terminated, so I have no hang ups with getting rid of dirty cops.) I share this opinion about alot of people, not just you, as the Internet seems to filled with wise pundits who have it all worked out. Just look at all the political discussion on here about opinions of the world and it's leaders. I'm sure I've been thought of in the same light.

VES

PS: I don't believe in luck either so I'll just bid a peaceful adieu to you as you pursue your endeavors.
on Apr 17, 2004
You are a very smart cookie, as my mom used to say. Faye Coffield was one of the investigators on this case, one of two former police officers who has helped to develop the evidentiary basis for legal action. She served 22 years as a cop---some of her stories are so unbelievable, they make "NYPD Blue" seem like a commercial for Seltsin Blue Shampoo---ten of them in Atlanta, Zone 3, which was a complete nightmare(her posting there a result of her being loud and Black and female). She says the same things to me you do. She's more interested in demonstrating procedural "i's" not dotted, training "t's" not crossed, than in looking at things historically or socially.

I push the envelope. I don't have an 'agenda' any more formal than finding an audience to read what I write and watch what I produce, although I think follow-up conversation and democratic reforms are essential if we're going to avoid lethal social chaos, especially as my children come of age and I move on to totter and die. I tend to say ciao for now, but if I'm pressed I suppose that

adieu will do!
on Aug 03, 2004
Jimbo, my friend, if your personal situations are getting better, it would be lovely if you could come back to JoeUser!