On a day I decided to take advantage of what little there is left of NY’s Summer. I ventured about midtown east before migrating west through the city to the lower west side of central park at 59th and Columbus.
Let’s move. The idea was come downtown and shoot some images of the 59th Street Bridge aka “Ed Koch” Bridge
From here I decided to head toward the west side.
Stay tuned for Photo Walk continued… All images are the property of THEJNSREPORT.com (c) 2014
Is it truly a sign of the times? Or is it something more? Within a several week span we now have yet another murder of an unarmed black male at the hands of the police this time down south.
It appears there is a competition ongoing between the Northern and Southern states to see who can kill as many black males as possible and get away with it.
Both the deaths of Eric Garner and now Michael Brown Jr at the hands of the police occurred in broad daylight. No rioting occurred after Trayvon Martin’s killer George Zimmerman was set free to kill again.
No rioting occurred after the murder of Jordan Davis and his killer Michael Dunn found guilty of 3 counts of attempted murder due to the survival of his friends.
If he (Dunn) wasn’t charged with attempted murder he too would be free under the same “Stand your ground” self defense claim.
The precedent was set. All one has to do to justify murder is blame the victim and claim fear of imminent great bodily harm. Everyone ignored the fact that a grown man murdered a teenager because the teenager was black and claimed he was “afraid”.
The media has helped to portray and perpetuate this notion that black men are something less than human and worthy of being feared like big game animals in the wilds of Africa.
No rioting took place in the immediate after math of Eric Garner being strangled/choked to death in broad day light by police either.
Instead calls for calm and investigations were at the forefront. Talk of the victim’s arrest record were used as a red-herring to what actually happened.
Eric Garner’s body was left handcuffed even as he lay dead on the sidewalk after saying at least 10 times he couldn’t breathe. He was left handcuffed even as an “EMT” attempted (and I use that word loosely) to check for a pulse.
The latest killing of unarmed teenager Michael Brown Jr. has sparked riots down south according to news reports and to me this should be expected, because open season has been declared on black people but especially black men.
Modern day lynchings are happening in broad day light. Our lives are mere trifles and after-thoughts to the police patrolling our neighborhoods and cities.
There is little to no faith/ trust left for many of us in the justice system because too often the system has failed us and let murderers of our people walk free to receive congratulations and pats on the back.
How can you expect peace if there is no justice? Too many of us are dying unarmed and for no reason. It’s like an older gentleman once told me. We hope for the best but expect the worst.
Growing up as a kid when I was picked on in school I only found that I was respected and left alone when I stood up for myself and fought back against my attackers.
This was and is my code. I held true to that code even as I was labeled as the problem child and blamed for my being bullied.
Bullies fear when the bullied stand up and say no more! Bullies are punks and cowards and only pick fights with those who they perceive can’t or won’t fight back.
We’ll have progress and real dialogue when the same thing starts to happen to cops at an alarming rate.
We’ll have calls for calm and stop the killing of unarmed citizens when it’s not just black teens, men and women being killed and forgotten about. It’s the way of the world.
Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Getting Away To Governor’s Island Pt. III
So many directions to choose from which way to go?
Church anyone?
We loved the architecture of this old chapel.
It became a little more cloudy as I stopped to take this shot up close.
As we continued our journey we came across the Children’s Museum of the Arts. Unfortunately the building was closed. So we could only guess at what the inside of this house looked like.The above is not the C.M.A but another building along the path we took after passing the C.M.A.
This place too was closed and merely a standing relic of days past.
Now that’s a tree.
Teasing us.
Pick a side… A or B?
The Center for Holographic Arts. Would have been cool to see what they did there.
Cannons out front. Defense system ready.
Can you imagine what it sounded like live when those bad boys went off?
The opening is smaller than I anticipated but a cannon’s a cannon right? 😉
So this building with the cannons out front was the Commanding Officer’s Quarters. Designed in 1843 by prominent New York architect Martin E. Thompson. An army commander lived on premises until 1966.
By now we began to wind up our tour of the island as it was getting close to time for the last ferry to depart back towards the city.
Looks like a greenhouse to me.
Next time here we’re going to pedal around the island too. Our next stop on our tour before making our way back to the ferry was Fort Jay.
Didn’t feel much like descending to walk on the lawn at this point so we just walked around the perimeter at the top of the stairs.
One could only guess how much each one of those weigh. From here we made our way back to the ferry ending our tour of the island.
Once back on the ferry I took a few more shots of the city from across the water and as we approached the dock.
And that was the end of our day trip. Till next time this has been THEJNSREPORT’S: Getting Away To Governor’s Island. All images are the property of THEJNSREPORT.com (c) 2014.
Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S:Getting Away To Governor’s Island Continued… Picking up from where we left off and continuing to make our way through Governor’s Island we continued documenting our trip through the island.
Apparently Governor’s Island is an oasis for many different bird species.
Read the sign and learned something new.
The lamp
Which way do we go?
A Road divided
I love this concept. I mean if it were customizable that would be sick!
The new charging stations I see popping up are cool. Solar power.
Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Getting Away to Governor’s Island On a glorious day off I ventured away from the sounds and craziness that is NYC…sort of. The local tourist in me awakened in a day I would be able to spend with my baby at Governor’s Island. Our trip began with a walk from the subway through lower Manhattan. I snapped these along the way to the Governor’s Island Ferry.What does this say to you? This is very creative.
I’d heard the stories of America with “Streets paved with Gold” never thought I’d see “A Street Named Gold”. Where’s One? Did somebody say “GreenLight”? The clouds were painting an insane backdrop for the ships in the port.
Approaching Governor’s Island somehow reminded me of entering Jurassic Park.
Looking back at the city.
A castle in the distance.
I caught this as I turned my gaze from Castle William.
Now back to Castle William. What does this say to you? The Statue: What does it really represent? NJ across the way. We continued our trip around the island perimeter and happened upon him/her sitting atop a light pole.
Take a look at the amazing futuristic car!!! No joke image it people drive cars by pedaling like in the picture which is hooked up to something that stores the energy generated by the pedalers to be used as a battery. Serves several purposes helps cause weight loss and gets everyone off wasting natural resources in favor of bio-powered exercise!!!
The Geese were out in full force.
Turning your back on us.
If you take your time and look, you’ll see these two are different…
Stay tuned for Governor’s Island Continued…
All Images are property of THEJNSREPORT.com (c) 2014.
Who are we as people, human beings, and citizens within the supposedly wealthiest nation on earth? Are we in fact living within modern day Babylon? Are we in fact living in the hellish prison system sectors where an ordinary citizen can have his/her life taken from them for no “real” or “legitimate” reason (In BROAD DAY LIGHT) right in front of all of us by those sworn to protect and serve us?
Are we worthless grotesque creatures loathe of respect and dignity? No we are not. We are people, we are human beings, we have minds, souls, bodies, and the ability to create and live to do wonderous things.
Yet there is this constant battle going on within each of us. To know truth and lies, to know good from evil, and to that end live our lives with a basic tenet God told us to live by which is to love your neighbor as you love yourself. How simple is that?
We are doomed as people to destroy ourselves when we ignore that basic principal. Killing breeds more killing. Retribution is every bit a part of human nature as any other emotion we experience and/or endure.
I’ve heard the typical view point whenever a black man is killed by police that somehow they brought it upon themselves. In no universe I know of would it or could it ever be conceivable that killing an unarmed human-being supposedly for past business transactions is justification for harassment and murder.
What were his misdemeanors for? Selling wait for it wait for it… “Untaxed cigarettes”. Are you f&*%Kn kidding me? Real bad guys are getting away with every crime under the law, hiding behind the blue wall, fully armed with guns & badges. The criminals even higher up the food chain wear $2000, $5000 suits and sell a hell of a lot more than “untaxed” cigarettes.
The fact of the matter is the cowards that killed and assisted in the killing of Eric Garner including that trifling & heinous actress calling herself an EMT and her cronies all need to be fired, stripped of their shields & guns and tried for this man’s murder.
The female EMT knew Eric Garner was dead. She I’m sure, if we were to check her credentials to be a licensed EMT must know how to properly check for the carotid artery. She would know how to check breathing not rubber neck a yeah he’s breathing. Her hand placement to check his pulse was casual and careless at best. And those cops huddled over his lifeless body propping him on his side, and nudging him to make it appear as if he’s still moving didn’t (nor could they)fool me for a second.
Eric Garner did nothing to warrant what happened to him and plead his case. He didn’t resist the police. And why is it they always need about 10 to 20 cops for one black man? That’s what cowards do (get together and literally) “gang” up on people they feel they are better than or more powerful than.
Eric Garner chose to stand up as a man for himself, demanded respect and to be left alone. What he got was murdered for his decision. What will we the people his people do now?
Are we willing to cower and let the police continue to get away with slaps on the wrists, desk duties, and eventual promotions for their evil? I pray to God that we are not.
R.I.P Eric Garner and the many other strong black men we’ve continually lost to the murderous methods and ways of the “police”.
We have a right to be here…ALL of us human beings!
R.I.P to Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Oscar Grant and all the black voices silenced from this world.
You know you are on the right path when the world hates you. They hated God too. When all the good people are gone from this world what will you have left?