Archives January 2012

Shaquille O'Neal: Cop.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.100428266715061.451.100002436630651&type=1
 Shaquille O'Neal
Shaquille O’Neal  isn’t your average superstar professional athlete.
He doesn’t get in trouble. He’s not vulgar and get this!, wants to join law enforcement upon his retirement!
Not many millionaires have such to-do lists, let alone young Black ones.
Shaq is a larger-than-life representative for Black men who aren’t cop haters nor thugs gone wild.
He’s invaluably contributed to closing the Black male/police divide by becoming a reserve officer with various agencies, even being made an honorary US marshal ( SEE BELOW ). 
Such stellar citizenship is what we need: more Black boys and men involved in public safety as soldiers- not suspects!
Shaquille O’Neal  is a quiet revolutionary in the positive sense: radically redefining what it means to be a celebrity; athlete and police volunteer.
His law enforcement participation stands in bold relief to numerous anti-social messages from most urban entertainers and today’s headlines.
We need more brothers and citizens like Shaq and less thugs- PERIOD!
Shaq’s Law Enforcement Efforts ( From Wikipedia ):
O’Neal maintained a high level of interest in the workings of police departments and became personally involved in law enforcement. O’Neal went through the Los Angeles CountySheriff‘s Reserve Academy and became a reserve officer with the Los Angeles Port Police. He appeared in a commercial for ESPN in Miami Police garb climbing a tree to rescue LSU‘s costumed mascot Mike the Tiger.[citation needed]
On March 2, 2005, O’Neal was given an honorary U.S. Deputy Marshal title and named the spokesman for the Safe Surfin’ Foundation; he served an honorary role on the task force of the same name, which tracks down sexual predators who target children on the Internet.[141]
Upon his trade to Miami, O’Neal began training to become a Miami Beach reserve officer. On December 8, 2005, he was sworn in, but elected for a private ceremony to avoid distracting attention from the other officers. He assumed a $1 per year salary in this capacity.[142] Shortly thereafter, in Miami, O’Neal witnessed a hate crime (assaulting a man while calling out homophobic slurs) and called Miami-Dade police, describing the suspect and helping police, over his cell phone, track the offender.[142] O’Neal’s actions resulted in the arrest of two suspects on charges of aggravated battery, assault, and a hate crime.[143]
NADRA ENZI AKA CAPT BLACK has promotes creative crime prevention. He’s also the founder of Good Citizens Supporting Good Cops and various police appreciation efforts.
(504) 214-3082
[email protected]

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Superhero Pub Crawl

DISARMED SOMEONE TODAY

  1. Nadra Enzi

    A crimson tide of a different sort was avoided in downtown New Orleans this morning while Alabama’s upset was being celebrated: I persuaded a brother to give me the pistol he intended to use on someone with whom he was having a heated argument.
    Tempers flare in the Hood ( and within Hood mentalities ) and become ballistic- everybody knows that. Headlines and broadcasts of this attrition rate have become routine, and even expected.
    For outsiders this is a peek at what Black citizens, concerned and otherwise, disproportionately face- violence wildly exceeding provocation.
    Compounding this defused attempt was the potential shooter’s status as a felon and probationer. Repeated reciting of both facts eventually swayed him.
    Black men are obviously free to sit on the sidelines while this mindset enlists more boys and adults into a fifth column laying waste to more lives than overseas combat. Ironically many brothers devoid of the Hood mindset often take more pains avoiding it than folks across town who’re terrified long range via media.
    Gun control isn’t the answer. Self-control is what’s needed. Law abiding citizens can possess arsenals in their homes and businesses and never commit violent crime. Concealed carry licensees as a group are far less likely to illegally use firearms than other segments of society.
    This morning’s episode underscores why I beat the Black male/Black cop unity drum. This union can hack into societal software brainwashing boys and men into justifying not just murder but sometimes mass murder because of little more than hurt feelings.
    I plan to have our group, Good Citizens Supporting Good Cops, do aftercare with him. Our prison minister actually counseled this man while he was in Orleans Parish Prison and now seems an even better time to do so again.
    We can’t blame other people when we’re the ones overwhelmingly misusing the Second Amendment against each other.
    NADRA ENZI AKA CAPT BLACK has promoted Black male/Black cop unity his entire life. He’s also the founder of Good Citizens Supporting Good Cops and various police appreciation efforts.(504) 214-3082
    [email protected]

 

Safe, Proper and Fun

Greetings!
I’m finally getting a few moments to write.  Ever since the weekend of Superheroes Anonymous 5, there has been a virtual whirlwind of activity surrounding me, keeping me from writing my blog. A good deal of it is tech related so I will relay a few details to you about it.
First I want to talk to you about technology abuse. This is directly related to this blog. It seems there is some new spider software that seeks out blog comment areas and automatically dumps comments containing links to other sites that sell bull sh!t that people are trying to scam a buck from. I have gotten at least 75 of these comments in the last 3 months!
Do you see any spam links in my comments? No. That’s because I moderate all my comments. If you send me a BS comment it will go straight into the trash. So don’t bother. Because it aint happenin’!
That is an example of improper use of technology.
 
Now that is out of the way, I’ll let you know what I been up to.
 
Project EON:
Project EON was pushed to the back burner for some time due to a shift in my work schedule and the accompanying free time restrictions. Now that the holidays are behind us, I should start to have a bit more free time to work on the Mach 2 skeleton.
The Skeleton needs a strong foundation at the ankles. This is the crucial point for maintaining balance and stable safe operation of the Mach 2 and Mach 3 systems.
This is an example of the safe use of technology
 
The Website:
I oversaw the design and layout of the new Team Justice website. www.teamjusticecharity.org. It features a donation area and swag store. The donation area has been a constant and growing source of funds for various immediate needs issues for helping families and children with pressing financial problems. The swag store features gadgets, fan gear, tee-shirts and other items.
The site was programmed and maintained by Kapes. She set it up though her company AVS Productions that has been making fine internet websites for over a decade. She also has Team Justice officially partnered with the Humane Society of Pinellas! As a result Team Justice is being asked to appear at an upcoming Humane Society event.
This is an example of the proper use of technology.
 
The Robot:
I have been frantically building a robot superstructure over a modified, re-purposed radio control monster truck that I got at a rummage sale. I love rummage sales.  Anyway, it is to be debuted at Megacon in Orlando in the middle of February. This is 6 weeks earlier than I thought it was going to be. So I have been hustling to complete it.
When Miss. Fit was in town I showed it off a bit in its unfinished state. It’s not really a Hero gadget, though it could be adapted as a search drone. Mostly it’s just something I am building for fun.
An example of a fun use of technology.

Why I think Privacy in RLSH forums is a necessity

Heya Folks,
Maybe a whole lot of you weren’t aware of this, but RLSH forums used to be different than they tend to be at this particular moment in time. There is a current upheaval.
Some of us have seen the hey-day of years ago and frankly, this ain’t it. I’m not meaning to criticize and believe me, I couldn’t do better and I’m in regret for not living up to my own part as a Moderator in a previous forum when I said I would.
I failed. And here’s what’s happened as a partial result.
We seem to be seeing an evolution of ALL of the RLSH forums at the same exact time.
It’s come to my notice because of some dissatisfaction among some of my elder RLSH friends and now I’m being contacted by newer Real-Life Superheroes asking, “Where are the cool forums?” And I guide them to where I can, including here at www.reallifesuperheroes.org. But this is not a self-promotional rant. Not at all.
Okay, I think I know the reason “the times, they are a’ changing.”
Facebook. That’s how we’re now communicating and networking among RLSHs and also our “civilian” friends. And that’s very incredibly awesome. But not good enough.
Wonderful, but take it for what it’s worth. It doesn’t fill our needs. Not at all, if you’re a Real-Life Superhero. Fine if you “Like” us, but if you’re actually one of us, it leaves us lacking support from our specifically-RLSH friends and even our detractors who we could be on a conversational level with. But we’re not. Not really. Not on facebook. It’s really just sort of throwing comments out there and there’s little, if any discussion.
Some of the forum sites are getting to “No privacy policy,” and while I appreciate the concept, I don’t enjoy it. It’s just not fun.
RLSH forums are also steering to a “this is just information and not conversational” and frankly, I think any kind of exclusiveness if going to kill a forum.
My former favorite forum of Heroes Network was in my opinion, killed by being just a bit more exclusive by membership requirements. Yes, the Admins were INCREDIBLY awesome (Love ya both!), but we never really got the nut-jobs or the whackos to debate with to make the efficiently-run forum truly interesting enough to visit often. I’m truly not criticizing the folks who ran it. I just wonder if it wouldn’t have been more active if it was a bit more loose. I appreciate the dedication, hard work and the concept, regardless.
I loved the idea. It was well-run and we’ve never seen anything quite like it before. Who knew that if you only got the “best and tried and true people” (and that I would be lucky enough to be in that group) into it, that they’d be of little interest and have little to talk about? I was honored to have counted myself among that number. But I know how boring I can be. Go figure.
Back to the “No Privacy” thing…
If you’re a Real-Life Superhero: You’re getting back from a patrol, hot and sweaty, or maybe cold and chilled and you want to talk some things out with someone on your level, who can understand or assume what your night or day might have been like. You want to avoid all the chit-chat BS. Or maybe you need to find some diversion among friends who understand what we do. You don’t want to be confronted by a random fb friend showing all of his friends his favorite Youtube video of a random band.
They don’t know what you did that night. -Or couldn’t prevent being done.
You want to commiserate and relate… make inside jokes and maybe kid around with your best RLSH friend who is also online, but in front of your other friends so that they can see how much mutual respect you have for each other to treat them like you do.
You need an RLSH private area.
No media AT ALL. Few, if any, kind “civilians” (No disrespect intended, My Friends.) Where we can just be among ourselves and sort of let down our guard and be our occasional asshole-selves and enjoy those moments with people who also have done the stupid things we’ve done. -(“Dude, don’t hand the guy an ice-cold Pepsi in a blizzard. Wouldn’t a hot coffee been a better idea? You’re such an A-hole, Geist ;)”)
Facebook is absolutely a wonderful thing. And media-friendly forums ABOUT Real-Life Superheros are a wonderful thing.
But if people with secret identities can’t have a place where, as a somewhat exclusive group can’t talk in privacy, then what’s the point of a forum FOR RLSHs?
_______
I might for instance, want to give Razorhawk a hard time about his white and black costume concept, I might want to kid Superhero about his constant smile, I might want to wonder outloud why Watchman is never actually on the forums, and give a hard time to my Buddy Blue for thinking I’m not thinking of him. These are all dear friends of mine. And yeah, I want to give them some kidding. Can I do that in front of the world without you getting the wrong ideas? Not really.
_______
But also, and more importantly, we need a place where RLSHs can speak of issues out of the media eye. I mean, we need to talk about potential press coverage and whether “this or that” might be a good idea, based partially upon our friends’ opinions. Or whether “this or that” was the right approach on a patrol we just had.
“What would you have done? I’m such an F-up. How can I do better next time?”
Over the years, some incredibly private issues have been brought up from our number of RLSH friends. Some of them even put to group discussions. Granted, I’m thinking back to when there were fifty of us online and not 750 or whatever. But there are still some things that I would like to hear about or talk about that are JUST private and among like-minded friends. No offense…
That’s just my take on the current trends.
All My Best,
Geist

BLACK COP APPRECIATION MONTH

 Nadra Enzi

http://moveonup.ning.com/profiles/blogs/black-cop-appreciation-month


BLACK COP APPRECIATION MONTH ( January 2012 ) is another effort to unite public safety’s two most ( ironically ) balkanized groups: Black male citizens and Black police officers.
 
In the spirit of Dr. King Black men should recognize brothers and sisters in law enforcement as a ” minority within a minority ” whose unique experiences with discrimination include once not even being able to arrest White people; being subjected to more disciplinary action than peers and the unique frustration of not being ” Black enough for some in the community and not blue enough for some fellow officers. “
 
Black citizen/police unity creates relationships and shares resources necessary to reduce murder rates rivaling Third World casualties.
 
In some ways creating such unity constitutes another quantum leap in civil rights.
 
Eventually this can give rise to teams of Black male citizens and police patrolling high crime areas addressing quality of life and safety issues as shareholders instead of current cold war conditions.   
 
Is a simple word of appreciation or  ” thank you ” invitation for Black officers to dine at local Black owned restaurants asking too much?
 
Especially when crime and mutual hostility threaten both Black male citizens and Black officers more than other Americans? 
 
NADRA ENZI AKA CAPT BLACK promotes creative activism in crime prevention; homeless outreach and political advocacy. He’s also the founder of Good Citizens Supporting Good Cops. (504) 214-3082 and [email protected]