It's really not a game...

[rebelAfrika]

Video Shows German Army Instructor Telling Soldier to Envision Black Americans, Then Shoot
04-14-2007 4:35 PM
By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER, Associated Press Writer

BERLIN (Associated Press) -- A German army instructor ordered a soldier to envision himself in the Bronx facing hostile African-Americans while firing his machine gun, a video that aired Saturday on national television showed.

The Bronx borough president demanded an apology from the German military and said the clip "indicates that bias and assumptions and racism is alive and well around the world."

Coming after scandals involving photos of German soldiers posing with skulls in Afghanistan and the abuse of recruits by instructors, the video seemed likely to raise more questions about training practices in Germany's conscript army.

The Defense Ministry said the video was shot in July 2006 at barracks in the northern town of Rendsburg and that the army has been aware of it since January.

"We are currently investigating the incident," said Florian Naggies, a spokesman for the army and Defense Ministry.

He did not identify the instructor or the soldier.

The clip shows an instructor and a soldier in camouflage uniforms in a forest. The instructor tells the soldier, "You are in the Bronx. A black van is stopping in front of you. Three African-Americans are getting out and they are insulting your mother in the worst ways. ... Act."

The soldier fires his machine gun several times and yells an obscenity several times in English. The instructor then tells the soldier to curse even louder.

In New York, Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion Jr. said whoever was responsible for the video should be disciplined.

"We need to put to rest the prejudices and the hate that is allowed ... to be perpetuated so easily and cheaply," said Carrion, who is of Puerto Rican descent.

Carrion, who just returned from a trip to Germany to promote Bronx tourism, said he would be willing to go back to talk to people in the German military about his borough.

"If we can get a delegation of German military officials to come or government officials, I will host them," he added. "I'll take them around the Bronx."

The Rev. Al Sharpton said he was outraged that Germans were "depicting blacks as target practice."

"I think this is an incredibly racist kind of insult to African-Americans and it speaks to the kind of institutional racism that people think we are hallucinating about," he said.

The existence of the video was first reported on the home page of the German news magazine Stern on Friday and excerpts were aired on the news television channel n-tv on Saturday.

According to Stern, the 90-second clip had been posted on a Web site used by soldiers to exchange private videos. A soldier who used the site alerted his superiors, the magazine reported.

The video is the latest embarrassment for the German army. Eighteen army instructors are currently on trial for allegedly abusing and humiliating 163 recruits in 2004. Last year, newspapers published photos of German soldiers in Afghanistan posing with a skulls _ including one who exposed himself while holding a skull.

"We can no longer talk about an isolated case," said Lt. Juergen Rose of the Darmstaedter Signal, a group of current and former army officers and sergeants who independently review military procedures.

"Things like this don't happen in the army on an everyday basis, but unfortunately in recent years there have been a number of comparable incidents."

[Mamazen]

Originally Posted by rebelAfrika

Video Shows German Army Instructor Telling Soldier to Envision Black Americans, Then Shoot
04-14-2007 4:35 PM
By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER, Associated Press Writer

BERLIN (Associated Press) -- A German army instructor ordered a soldier to envision himself in the Bronx facing hostile African-Americans while firing his machine gun, a video that aired Saturday on national television showed.

The Bronx borough president demanded an apology from the German military and said the clip "indicates that bias and assumptions and racism is alive and well around the world."

Coming after scandals involving photos of German soldiers posing with skulls in Afghanistan and the abuse of recruits by instructors, the video seemed likely to raise more questions about training practices in Germany's conscript army.

The Defense Ministry said the video was shot in July 2006 at barracks in the northern town of Rendsburg and that the army has been aware of it since January.

"We are currently investigating the incident," said Florian Naggies, a spokesman for the army and Defense Ministry.

He did not identify the instructor or the soldier.

The clip shows an instructor and a soldier in camouflage uniforms in a forest. The instructor tells the soldier, "You are in the Bronx. A black van is stopping in front of you. Three African-Americans are getting out and they are insulting your mother in the worst ways. ... Act."

The soldier fires his machine gun several times and yells an obscenity several times in English. The instructor then tells the soldier to curse even louder.

In New York, Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion Jr. said whoever was responsible for the video should be disciplined.

"We need to put to rest the prejudices and the hate that is allowed ... to be perpetuated so easily and cheaply," said Carrion, who is of Puerto Rican descent.

Carrion, who just returned from a trip to Germany to promote Bronx tourism, said he would be willing to go back to talk to people in the German military about his borough.

"If we can get a delegation of German military officials to come or government officials, I will host them," he added. "I'll take them around the Bronx."

The Rev. Al Sharpton said he was outraged that Germans were "depicting blacks as target practice."

"I think this is an incredibly racist kind of insult to African-Americans and it speaks to the kind of institutional racism that people think we are hallucinating about," he said.

The existence of the video was first reported on the home page of the German news magazine Stern on Friday and excerpts were aired on the news television channel n-tv on Saturday.

According to Stern, the 90-second clip had been posted on a Web site used by soldiers to exchange private videos. A soldier who used the site alerted his superiors, the magazine reported.

The video is the latest embarrassment for the German army. Eighteen army instructors are currently on trial for allegedly abusing and humiliating 163 recruits in 2004. Last year, newspapers published photos of German soldiers in Afghanistan posing with a skulls _ including one who exposed himself while holding a skull.

"We can no longer talk about an isolated case," said Lt. Juergen Rose of the Darmstaedter Signal, a group of current and former army officers and sergeants who independently review military procedures.

"Things like this don't happen in the army on an everyday basis, but unfortunately in recent years there have been a number of comparable incidents."

Why is this still surprising us? Why is this still surprising anyone?

For those of us who do not have our heads in the sand, this is not news.

[RBG Street Scholar]

All i have to say to this is this " if we don't stop spinning our wheels and clowning in whte folx cloth" ain't gonna be no real Black folx in 50 years.They already destroyed a generation.

They killin us and we killin us. Check out this piece:

America Has Lost A Generation Of Black Boys March 21, 2007

There is no longer a need for dire predictions, hand-wringing, or apprehension about losing a generation of black boys. It is too late. In education, employment, economics, incarceration, health, housing, and parenting, we have lost a generation of young black men. The question that remains is will we lose the next two or three generations, or possibly every generation of black boys hereafter to the streets, negative media, gangs, drugs, poor education, unemployment, father absence, crime, violence and death.

Most young black men in the United States don’t graduate from high school. Only 35% of black male students graduated from high school in Chicago and only 26% in New York City, according to a 2006 report by The Schott Foundation for Public Education. Only a few black boys who finish high school actually attend college, and of those few black boys who enter college, nationally, only 22% of them finish college.

Young black male students have the worst grades, the lowest test scores, and the highest dropout rates of all students in the country. When these young black men don’t succeed in school, they are much more likely to succeed in the nation’s criminal justice and penitentiary system. And it was discovered recently that even when a young black man graduates from a U.S. college, there is a good chance that he is from Africa, the Caribbean or Europe, and not the United States.

Black men in prison in America have become as American as apple pie. There are more black men in prisons and jails in the United States (about 1.1 million) than there are black men incarcerated in the rest of the world combined. This criminalization process now starts in elementary schools with black male children as young as six and seven years old being arrested in staggering numbers according to a 2005 report, Education on Lockdown by the Advancement Project.

The rest of the world is watching and following the lead of America. Other countries including England, Canada, Jamaica, Brazil and South Africa are adopting American social policies that encourage the incarceration and destruction of young black men. This is leading to a world-wide catastrophe. But still, there is no adequate response from the American or global black community.

Worst of all is the passivity, neglect and disengagement of the black community concerning the future of our black boys. We do little while the future lives of black boys are being destroyed in record numbers. The schools that black boys attend prepare them with skills that will make them obsolete before, and if, they graduate. In a strange and perverse way, the black community, itself, has started to wage a kind of war against young black men and has become part of this destructive process.

Who are young black women going to marry? Who is going to build and maintain the economies of black communities? Who is going to anchor strong families in the black community? Who will young black boys emulate as they grow into men? Where is the outrage of the black community at the destruction of its black boys? Where are the plans and the supportive actions to change this? Is this the beginning of the end of the black people in America?

The list of those who have failed young black men includes our government, our foundations, our schools, our media, our black churches, our black leaders, and even our parents. Ironically, experts say that the solutions to the problems of young black men are simple and relatively inexpensive, but they may not be easy, practical or popular. It is not that we lack solutions as much as it is that we lack the will to implement these solutions to save black boys. It seems that government is willing to pay billions of dollars to lock up young black men, rather than the millions it would take to prepare them to become viable contributors and valued members of our society.

Please consider these simple goals that can lead to solutions for fixing the problems of young black men:

Short term
1) Teach all black boys to read at grade level by the third grade and to embrace education.
2) Provide positive role models for black boys.
3) Create a stable home environment for black boys that includes contact with their fathers.
4) Ensure that black boys have a strong spiritual base.
5) Control the negative media influences on black boys.
6) Teach black boys to respect all girls and women.

Long term
1) Invest as much money in educating black boys as in locking up black men.
2) Help connect black boys to a positive vision of themselves in the future.
3) Create high expectations and help black boys live into those high expectations.
4) Build a positive peer culture for black boys.
5) Teach black boys self-discipline, culture and history.
6) Teach black boys and the communities in which they live to embrace education and life-long learning.

Phillip Jackson
Executive Director of the Black Star Project
Chicago, Il.
blackstar1000@ameritech.net

[rebelAfrika]

Originally Posted by Mamazen

Why is this still surprising us? Why is this still surprising anyone?

For those of us who do not have our heads in the sand, this is not news.

Kwame Ture said that the Ku Klux Klan as an organization studies racist literature and ideology together...that they go to the shooting range together...and that even their women get together and sow the sheets for them. The point he was trying to make was the importance of organization.

I agree that what I posted is not surprising and this is "REALLY" not news. I'm hoping though, that people take this information as a call to higher levels of organization. One of the MAJOR weapons used against our people is the emphasis on individualism. There are too many people running "one man army" or "Rambo" campaigns against the enemy. These efforts are EXTREMELY valiant...and minimally effective. I only want to urge those of us who are conscious of what is happening to us (who are not actively involved in an organization) to consider swallowing our pride, humbling ourselves, and joining an organization that is struggling for our people. If there is not one with the program that you think is effective...then we should consider CREATING the organization.

Thanks for the input Mamazen.

[rebelAfrika]

Originally Posted by RBG Street Scholar

All i have to say to this is this " if we don't stop spinning our wheels and clowning in whte folx cloth" ain't gonna be no real Black folx in 50 years.

The enemy is organized against us. We need to organize against the enemy. Otherwise...all we gonna do is "spin the wheels." Kwame Ture said it ain't no such thing as "Rambo" or "Superman" meaning that we can't really fight a war as individuals. Rambo and Superman is part of capitalist mythology. If we don't fight as a collective, then nobodies "invidual progress" is really safe or secured. Not even Oprah's. We can play if we want to...but we gotta know that while we are playing, german soldiers are training to kill us.

[Jalili]

Originally Posted by rebelAfrika

The enemy is organized against us. We need to organize against the enemy. Otherwise...all we gonna do is "spin the wheels." Kwame Ture said it ain't no such thing as "Rambo" or "Superman" meaning that we can't really fight a war as individuals. Rambo and Superman is part of capitalist mythology. If we don't fight as a collective, then nobodies "invidual progress" is really safe or secured. Not even Oprah's. We can play if we want to...but we gotta know that while we are playing, german soldiers are training to kill us.

I that case it's really time to start reaching out to our closed minded brothers/sister and really get them on our level we all should print this thread and and pass them along to others to try to give them the idea that it's time to wake up.

[Nefertiti]

We need to organise and go to shooting ranges and sow sheets too!!!(not exactly do that) But we need a plan,... of course were aware but what are we doing about it!...nothing!... some of us are so comfortable in our material life and 401k's and cable television( just to name a few meaningless things) were not ready to for hard core brick ass revolution kkkrackkka is planning secretly all the time everyday(abroad and here) even teaching the young kkkrackka children how to shoot and underground survival skillz...what we got planned for em...

[Ezekiel]

You're right, the people do need to be able to defend themselves again the enemy. Anyone else who says otherwise is someone who will never have to be in a situation where they would need to protect themself.

[Tehuti-4]

Last Updated: Saturday, 14 April 2007, 22:05 GMT 23:05 UK
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German army in 'racist video' row

German peacekeepers in Kosovo
The German army has faced a series of scandals in recent years

Video and reaction
A video aired on German TV has shown an army recruit on firing practice being ordered to pretend he was in New York's Bronx facing hostile African Americans.

In the grainy 90-second video, the instructor tells the soldier to swear as he fires his gun.

US civil rights leader, Al Sharpton, said it was outrageous to depict blacks as "target practice".

New York officials say they are saddened and frustrated that the Bronx district is depicted so negatively.

"Clearly these folks don't know anything about African-Americans or the Bronx," said Bronx borough president Adolfo Carrion Jnr, who recently returned from a trip to Germany to promote tourism to the district.

He has demanded an apology from the Germany military over the clip.

Skulls

During the filmed training session, an instructor tells the soldier: "You're in the Bronx, a black van pulls up in front of you and three African-Americans get out and start really insulting your mother... act!".

The soldier then fires his gun several times and shouts obscenities in English, as the instructor encourages him to curse even louder.

The clip was filmed in a forest in July 2006, near the barracks of the northern German town of Rendsburg .

The German army said it has been aware of the video since January and was investigating it.

It is the latest in a series of scandals to hit the German military.

A group of 18 army instructors are on trial in the country accused of abusing and humiliating recruits during training in 2004.

Last year, German newspapers published images of German soldiers serving in Afghanistan posing with skulls.