Tag Archives: USA

Train Tragedy and the Twitter Cruelty That Followed

Posted on by under Life and Death, Ruminations, Reflections, and Ramblings

On Monday night, December 17, two Chicago Police officers were struck and killed by a train while responding to a call of shots fired in the area around 103rd Street and Dauphin Avenue.  The officers were struck near 103rd and Cottage Grove.

According to the ABC7 News, “One of the officer’s bodycam videos shows the officers exit their patrol car, go up a hill to the Metra tracks at 103rd and Cottage Grove Avenue and talk about where the offender could have gone.”

“In the distance, the officers can see a train approaching heading north making noise. Police said it possibly masked the sound of another high-speed, Indiana-bound South Shore Line train full of commuters that was only feet behind them. The bodycam video then fades to black. Police said it happened fast and the officers died instantly.”  https://abc7chicago.com/body-camera-video-recovered-after-2-cpd-officers-fatally-struck-by-train/4921383/

Both officers were relatively new to the force.  Both were fathers and husbands.  Thirty-one year old, Conrad Gary had been a Chicago Police officer for eighteen months and leaves behind a wife and a six-month-old daughter.  Thirty-seven year old Eduardo Marmolejo, who’d been on the Department for two and half years, leaves behind a wife and three daughters.

Almost immediately, an outpouring of condolences and support flooded out from around the city and state.  Mayor Rham Emanuel (D) stated during a press conference, “This knocks you back on your heels… There are no words to express our grief, our sense of loss.”  https://abc7chicago.com/2-chicago-police-officers-hit-killed-by-train-while-chasing-suspected-gunman/4920789/

Outgoing Governor Bruce Rauner (R) said in a tweet, “Deeply saddened to learn of the tragic deaths of officers Conrad Gary and Eduardo Marmolejo. Our thoughts and prayers are with their families and the entire @Chicago_PoliceDepartment.“

Similar sentiments came in from around the country.

flowers from the NY Yankees

Flower arrangements sent to each of the families from the NY Yankees

It seems that in these days of political vitriol and partisan divisiveness, there are at least a few fundamental things on which people across divides can agree.  That this was a tragic loss of life to be mourned is one of those fundamental things, or so, one would think.  That you don’t make cruel jokes as little children’s hearts are breaking and they face a scary and uncertain future, having had a Dad that afternoon, and then with sudden horror to find out he wasn’t coming home from work tonight.  He was never coming home from work, ever, lost in a split second in a tragic and violent accident. Their young world forever changed, a hole cut into young souls that can and will never be mended.  You don’t mock those deaths.  You don’t add your own little sprinkle of cruelty to those young broken hearts who are learning much too young just how cruel life can be.

But, of course, it’s not.  Even this. Even two men, one white, one Latino, protecting a community from a man firing a gun, are accidentally killed by a train, one week before Christmas, each with little ones at home, is not universally considered tragic.  Sadly even this.

The officers were struck and killed around 6:20-6:30 Monday evening.  Approximately an hour and a half later, Carl Nyberg, a politically active volunteer in several Aldermanic campaigns and a committee person for the progressive advocacy group Northside Democracy for America (DFA), tweeted the following at 7:49pm:  “Two people too stupid to avoid getting hit by a train were given firearms & the authority to kill people by the Chicago Police Department.”

carl nyberg tweet

He posted this in response to a news article by Block Club Chicago about the officers’ deaths.

In the days since this tragedy occurred, journalists, the Mayor, the Governor, the Superintendent of Police, all used to seeing people at their worst, used to tragedy, used to seeing the unthinkable, were all audibly and visually moved to tears and near tears while somewhere in Albany Park, bathed in the icy blue glow of a computer screen sat a little man, his soul twisted and dark and disfigured by hate, fighting windmills and patting himself on the back for what he must see as his heroic crusade.

But why?  What would drive someone to so coldly and callously disseminate such a thing to the world?  He had no personal history with either man.  Didn’t know them at all.  No past slights.  No past arguments or fights.  No encounter whatsoever.  And still he felt the need to mock their deaths the way a Sox fan might gloat about beating the Tigers.

He wasn’t standing up against injustice.  He wasn’t railing against abuse of power.  He was simply being mean for the sake of being mean.

And he wasn’t being mean to these two officers.  They’re gone.  They’ve passed beyond the reach of petty meanness.  So Mr. Nyberg’s post has zero impact on them.  Who isn’t beyond that reach of cruelty, are the ones those men left behind.  Mr. Nyberg was being intentionally mean and cruel to the widows and daughters and parents who just an hour and a half prior lost their loved one, and at the time of the post, were most likely just finding out.

Social media gives voice to everyone, and some of those will be extremists.  Some of those will purposely say inflammatory things to garner attention.  The idea of obscurity frightens them, I believe.  To think that their life is relatively meaningless in the grand scheme of things inspires them to lash out with the most provocative and attention-grabbing statements they can think of in order to garner the attention they so desperately crave. But obscurity is in the cards for us all.

Name the top ten movie stars of the 1920’s, quick.  You can’t? Neither can I.  Even the famous are relegated to obscurity after a few decades. The nameless… they’re relegated to obscurity at birth.  Such is the case with Carl Nyberg.  Only he can’t seem to deal with that.  And so he purposely places himself in the spotlight as much as he can. Nonetheless, obscurity is his destiny.

Now in the days of social media when anyone and everyone can garner a large audience if what they say is extreme enough, it’s no surprise that an obscure attention-seeking inconsequential person would post a defamatory tweet in an attempt to prove to himself his own relevance.  It happens everyday, though rarely so heartlessly.

What is a surprise, is how long it’s taken and how reluctantly, those associated with Mr. Nyberg were to denounce his hate-speech.  Political survival alone should’ve been enough to motivate his friends to deald Raymond Lopez 15th ward reaction to Nybergnounce his hatred in a heartbeat.  But they didn’t.

Within two hours of Nyberg’s tweet, Alderman Raymond Lopez of the 15th Ward took to twitter to publicly denounce and challenge Mr. Nyberg’s post.  In comparison, it took almost two full days for Alderman John Arena, through a spokesperson, to do the same.  Nyberg has long been a supporter and campaign volunteer for Arena.  As of this writing, John Arena has yet to personally, directly, and publicly denounce the words of his long-time supporter, Carl Nyberg, on his social media pages despite a recent visit to the 16th Police District where he vowed support of the Chicago Police officers who patrol his 45thWard.

Arena with the 16th District police officers

It also took nearly two full days for the Northside DFA to sever ties with Nyberg and officially denounce his cruelty.  That is a curiously long time to decide how to react to something that is so clearly and unarguably wrong, hateful, and mean.

And so on a grey, lonely December morning on the south side of Chicago, a young widow stands flanked by two female Chicago police officers, one gripping her hand, the other cradling a six-month old girl who will never have the chance to get to know and love her Daddy.  Shock, sorrow, uncertainty, fear, and the wailing cry of bagpipes are all that fill the frigid air.  Today, the scene replays again.  Another grieving widow.  Three young daughters who’ve lost their Daddy a week before Christmas.

I’m not ashamed to say that I’m brought to tears now at the thought as I have been a few times this week.  I’m not alone.

I will never be able to fully comprehend how a tragic event that has brought hardened politicians, cynical journalists, and strangers citywide and across all walks of life to tears can at the same time ignite such hatred and cruelty in the heart of Carl Nyberg and a slow cautious reaction to that cruelty from his political allies.

There is no understanding of it.  There are mean people in the world, which is exactly why we need people like Conrad Gary and Eduardo Marmolejo to stand up and combat that evil.

As far as Nyberg goes, all that’s left to say is shame on him.  May he scuttle back into the hole of obscurity to chase his windmills in the recesses of his darkened heart.

In the meantime, it’s going to be a very long time before this city forgets Eduardo Marmolejo and Conrad Gary.  Bravery and kindness always outlast cowardice and cruelty.

GoFundMe accounts have been set up for both Gary’s family and Marmolejo’s family. Police on Wednesday confirmed they are official accounts.

carl nyberg tweet

Wednesday afternoon, Edward Brown, 24, of Chicago, was charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and reckless discharge of a firearm.

 

Repeated attempts to contact Alderman Arena’s office have gone unanswered.  His only comments were to the blockclubchicago.org

My request for comment by the Northside DFA was answered with the following press release:

NDFA PR 12-19-18

 

 

 

SEPTEMBER 11th MATTRESS SALE!!! OUR PRICES ARE CRUMBLING!!

Posted on by under Ruminations

SEPTEMBER 11th MATTRESS SALE!!! OUR PRICES ARE CRUMBLING!! Pretty offensive isn’t it? I agree. But I use that to make a point. Will one day such an obviously callous advertisement become the norm? It’s possible. We do the exact same thing to Memorial Day. Over 1 million US military men and women have died in service of our country from 1776 to 2015.

Memorial Day began as Decoration Day in 1866. Various towns across the country held their own observances at the time, one of the first being in Carbondale, IL April 29, 1866 (though Waterloo, NY is officially recognized as holding the first Decoration Day on May 5 of that same year). The idea quickly spread and by 1868 it became an unofficial day for the nation to decorate the graves of those killed on both sides of the Civil War. Decoration Day was held on May 30 most likely due to the fact that flowers would be in full bloom nationwide. After the First World War, the day of observance was expanded to honor those lost in all American conflicts. It wasn’t until a hundred years after the first Decoration Day was held that President Johnson signed the bill officially declaring Memorial Day a national holiday and moving it to the last Monday in May effective May 1971.

In 1868, General John A. Logan said this of Decoration Day, “We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. … Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.”

The purpose of the day we now call Memorial Day was also clearly stated by President Theodore Roosevelt in a speech delivered on May 30, 1902 at a Memorial Day observance at Arlington National Cemetery: “on this day, the 30th of May, we call to mind the deaths of those who died that the nation might live, who wagered all that life holds dear for the great prize of death in battle, who poured out their blood like water in order that the mighty national structure raised by the far-seeing genius of Washington, Franklin, Marshall, Hamilton, and the other great leaders of the Revolution, great framers of the Constitution, should not crumble into meaningless ruins.”

And yet, here’s how we celebrate what has in reality simply become the official start of summer:

Memorial Day, Decoration Day, Sales

Memorial Day, Decoration Day, Sales

images-2 12.54.45 PM images-3 12.54.38 PM images-4 12.53.38 PM  images-6 images Unknown-1 12.54.51 PM

And last but certainly not least:

images-5

Happy Memorial Day!!! Are you kidding? 1.1 Million people dead so you can enjoy your hot dogs, happy day!!!!

Now listen, I am not against bar-b-ques and picnics and ballgames this holiday weekend. I think one of the best ways to honor those who died for our freedom is to spend some time enjoying that freedom with friends and family. But I also think time needs to be taken to remember why it is we have the day off from work, why it is we are able to grill out in the yard while the kids run through the sprinkler and Bob Seger blasts from the speakers and it has nothing to do with 25% off sales or freaking Mickey Mouse. Real lives were lost. Real men and women died in muddy fields far from home, cold and alone, in jungles and on blood soaked beaches, in the sweltering heat of deserts and frozen and frostbitten in what would become New England as well as half a world away, they drowned in burning seas and were beaten and tortured in POW camps, they died of disease and malnourishment on the Bataan Peninsula and in airplanes over the Pacific, and they died back here at home from wounds both mental and physical, of cancers, suicides and other maladies directly caused by their time of service. In most cases the casualties were young – in their teens and early twenties. Young, brave, self-sacrificing and dead.

All the great things we have today, the freedoms we enjoy, the rights that protect us from our own government, the ability to come and go and work and play and read what we want, say what we think, write out our beliefs and distribute them to others, and to worship or not worship in the manner we choose, all of that is because those men and women died on the battlefields, in the camps, and while training so that we may live our lives in liberty. Most of them died at a time when the comforts and privileges of life in 21st century America couldn’t even be imagined. Think about that, they died not only to preserve the life they knew then, but also to protect a future America they couldn’t imagine in their wildest dreams. Our America. And we use the day set aside to honor their sacrifices to save 30% on towels? That, my fellow Americans, is wrong.

Enjoy the day. Grill out, let the kids play, but take a moment to remember what the day is all about. Let’s not get so caught up in our consumerism that we become the generation to have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.

I’ll Begin With The Gettysburg Address

Posted on by under and Ramblings, Reflections, Ruminations

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate… we can not consecrate… we can not hallow… this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task before us… that from theses honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth.

— Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863

President Lincoln delivered those words at the dedication of The Soldier’s National Cemetery on a battlefield in Pennsylvania. Though that civil war is over, I can’t help but think that the fight for a ‘government of the people, by the people, and for the people’ is an ongoing one. Not all wars are fought with bayonets and rifles, with missiles and tanks. It seems to me that whenever people are free, wherever there is liberty for the masses, someone is at work to take that freedom away.

As a result, the war for the idea of America… the idea that all men are created equal has been fought on the battlefields at home and abroad, in courtrooms, town squares, and in our city streets since we won our independence so many years ago. We have won some battles which have brought us closer to the ideals on which we were founded, evidenced by a Presidential election that saw a Latino, a black man, and a woman vie for the Presidency of the United States, as well as the increasing recognition by individual states that sexual orientation should not be used as grounds for withholding the basic human rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

However, the fight continues with new and resurgent attacks against our liberties. New technologies that invade our privacy by both government and business interests have infiltrated our daily lives and invaded our homes. The oft effective and readily used excuse of safety and security is once again at the forefront of reasons why we the people should relinquish that very basic and human right to privacy. That argument is being wielded as it has been throughout the course of history by those in power to leverage their will upon the people by convincing the people to voluntarily give up what was so violently and costly won.

There also seems to be a contradictory struggle between those fighting for liberty against the tyranny of those who would impose his own religious beliefs upon society at large. I call it a contradictory struggle because the basic strategy in that fight is to attack and suppress the basic freedoms of religion. It is no more your right to extinguish your neighbor’s right to worship as it is his right to force upon you his beliefs.

We must rediscover a balance, or find a new balance in these changing times and shifting mores, in which we are all free to worship or not, believe or not, in the manner which we choose for ourselves. The global war we find ourselves in these days is the result of religious extremism and lack of tolerance. Why is it then that our response to that threat is to scatter to our own corners of intolerance and religious or secular extremism. We are strongest when we are one nation, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Whether you feel that nation is under God or simply under the clear blue skies of freedom, our collective response should be in the spirit of Liberty. Under that spirit, we are indestructible by outside forces. Respect your neighbor’s belief in God. Respect your neighbor’s lack of faith in a higher power. Share the earth hand in hand and let God or nature prove who’s right and who is wrong at the end of time, but don’t spend your life fighting over what is so personal and unprovable. To fight over that is contradictory to the both the Bible and the ideals of Liberty. So live and let live and stand together as Americans. That is what sets this nation apart from so many others on earth.

This is a nation of the people, by the people, and for the people. It is our duty as citizens of this great nation to educate ourselves, to read, reason, and react rationally to the issues of our day and to become involved in a process that has been hijacked by special interests and greedy politicians. In this way we can ensure that those who have fought for, died for, marched for, and lived for our freedoms have not done so in vain.

If America is ever to crumble, it will be from within. Our greatest enemy today is the corruption of our government. Of the people, by the people, and for the people does not exist if those whom are elected to power are there to serve only their self-interests and are willing to do so at the expense of our nation’s. It seems to me that that is becoming more and more the case. Record tax revenue is met with record spending and yet so many of our population goes without the basic necessities of life. Our bridges and infrastructure crumbles, our schools fail, our elderly go hungry, our veterans go without medical care, our borders are porous, and our debt rises all the while rich men and women get elected to public office to be servants of the public but behave only as servants of themselves and they become richer on the backs of the American people. This trend has got to stop. Without a representative government, this notion of Liberty and justice for all cannot survive.

We cannot forget what President Lincoln so eloquently said that day in Pennsylvania, “It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task before us… that from theses honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth.”

Happy Fourth of July everyone. Stay safe. Put aside your political and theoretical differences for the day and embrace the ideals we share despite our differences and celebrate that great notion upon which this country was founded. Celebrate that idea because that idea is America, and America is beautiful.