"It makes me feel like a failure," he said of that photo. "I'm sitting here wishing I had done more. I wish I had made one more phone call. I wish we would have been able to give him a few more hours."
I'm deeply saddened by this response. I've felt it so often. But what would Jamar have been able to do with those few more hours? What could have stopped this tragedy from speeding down to its inevitable end.
he didn't have the structure to be the person he wanted to be
What does that mean?!? Is it something in him? In our schools? In his experiences in his adoptive family? In not having a steady job? In getting pushed in and out of jail? What?
Clark's sly grin in a selfie, wearing his Copeland Trucking hat.
terroristic threats
Come again?
"He cared about his family being connected with each other. He cared about having somebody care about him."
I guess this is a basic human need: connection. But I'm struck with how sensitive Jamar was about this need. This sentence makes me want to write a song or a poem about Jamar, the lovely repetition of "cared" and "care."
When things were going well, he was a nurturing, loving man who was drawn to her four children,
This sentence and others in this article point to Jamar's connections to family: biological and adoptive parents, 14 siblings, wanting a family of his own, and a nurturing, loving man. And the police call him a "bad actor." Which is it? I guess he could be both. What does this phrase "When things were going well..." mean? Does it mean when Tim was providing employment and a motel room?
The system failed miserably
That seems pretty clear by now, a tragic series of events with Jamar going "in and out" of prison for three of his most precious years, his early 20's. But what can we imagine instead? How might "the system" respond to "troubled youth"? Who can we help now to avoid Jamar's path?
Hoag was sure
What gave Tim Hoag this optimism? What was he missing? Or is it just luck who can move past "it" and who can't.
Clark spent much of his 20's in and out of prison
Once back on the streets there were times when I couldn't afford to take the bus I didn't know where I was going to sleep at night Thank God for Tim who would get me a motel room, and a job when he could.
I've made mistakes in my life, and I've paid my dues.
When the cops stopped us after a high speed chase in July, did they have to beat me too?
Tim Hoag and his wife hired Clark earlier this year
I want to know more about Tim Hoag and his wife and their rental properties. And how Jamar came into their orbit. How could government have supported Tim Hoag and his wife in their reaching out to Jamar?
Here's the beginning of a lead to learn more about Tim Hoag. He's the President of Copland Trucking. http://www.copelandtruc-king.com/team.htm
petty misdemeanor for possessing a small amount of marijuana in 2009.
Piecing this together, it seems that many of Jamar's troubles started with this "petty misdemeanor" for marijuana possession when he was 18. How can we see this story as being about a young Black man who was ensnared in a system of prison and crime that would only make things worse for him.
At times he couldn't afford bus fare for work and struggled with stable housing. Hoag put him up at a motel for a few days to help out, and gave him as many hours of work at Copeland Trucking as he could, helping in the warehouse or on moves.
I'm writing this from a workshop that Renee Watson and Linda Christensen are doing at NCTE about housing and racism in Portland. Reading this sentence, I can't help wonder how housing and incarceration and racism and joblessness are at the heart of Jamar's anger and difficulties in his relationship with his girlfriend. And given his struggles for stable housing, doesn't that help us understand what is going on with Jamar as he faces the police after having another fight with his girlfriend. The last sentence in this article must be given attention. How could we have done one more thing to help him?
protesters outside the police precinct insist Clark was handcuffed before he was shot, which police dispute.
Okay, so which of these is more credible. Isn't it irresponsible journalism to just report such an important detail as he said/she said? Which of the people who the reporter interviewed seemed most credible? Who was actually there?
a July arrest for fleeing police in a high-speed chase.
Sarah Gartnor, a friend of Chris Rodgers -- who took us over to the 4th Precinct yesterday (Thursday) -- told us that when she was sitting in the Mayor's living room the night before as part of a protest, a special prosecutor told her and her fellow protesters that Jamar had been beaten at the end of this high-speed chase. He was about to testify about that beating in January, he told her.
on probation
He's had a hard time, but this sounds ugly.
three years in and out of prison
What does this mean? Was he is prison or not?
they contend he was reaching for an officer's gun when he was shot.
Okay, he was either reaching for a gun or he was handcuffed. How does a reporter merely report this without pointing out that this is clearly NOT what many witnesses said happened. And I would assume that she did follow-up interviews with quoting these eye-witnesses. what did these "union reps" have to say about why their story is so different?
police union representatives
Putting this out there like this: Are we expected to trust this or not. Is this totally up to the reader and his/her background as to whether or not we are to trust the "police union representatives?" Certainly we can all agree that these reps have a reason to make Clark look bad. Why doesn't the writer remind us of that fact?
He cared deeply about his parents — biological and adoptive — and his 14 siblings, and had a job and hopes of going to college.
What a sentence! I keep reading it and wondering what he would say if he could read it. Twenty-four -- with the last three years in prison, living at times in a motel, and he cared deeply about his parents and 14 siblings!
troubled past that Jamar Clark struggled for years to escape
Is this a formula? Dragging up a victim's past? And what's going to happen as I read this (again). On my first reading, I was upset with how Jamar was trying (sometimes unsuccessfully) to escape the criminal justice system, and now it finally caught up to him.
The “patriotic” and supposed “Spanish Only” blanquit@s also can articulate English and Spanish very well while the poor and scrutinized in public schools learn only Spanish. Isn’t it easier and more fruitful to speak about race, language, diaspora openly instead of having a racist and irrational “todos somos iguales” discourse? I guess white supremacy and privilege are more important than caring for our own people. But yes, many white Puerto Ricans have done incredible work for Afro-Puerto Ricans, other black bodies and low-income Puerto Ricans of all hues but rest assured; they are the overwhelming minority.
William Garcia explains his stance on the importance of acknowledging racism in Puerto Rico gives counter arguments to those who deny it's existence .
Behind Closed Doors: 'Colorism' in the Caribbean
Interesting Interview of how being black is perceived in the Caribbean, more specifically in the Dominican Republic.