Omar Thornton Victim of Racism and Union Management Corruption

Omar Thornton Victim of Racism and Union/Management Corruption

(With Permission from Broadway Stagehands Democracy)

The editorial staff held a meeting yesterday regarding the murders in Connecticut. We concluded that when Omar complained to union and management about racism that the Teamsters and Management built a phony case of stealing against him to cover their Racism and Lack of Union Democracy. We have seen the same story repeated over and over again in Local One IATSE. Complain and they set you up. Omar was not correct in his shooting spree but he too was a victim.

Kristi Hannah, girlfriend of Omar Thornton, recalls gunman's goodbye, racism concerns

BY Matthew Lysiak In Enfield, Conn., and Corky Siemaszko
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Originally Published:Wednesday, August 4th 2010, 11:37 AM
Updated: Wednesday, August 4th 2010, 12:06 PM

CT shooting suspect Omar Thornton with his girlfriend at left Kristi Hannah.

Hill/AP

Authorities converge on Hartford Distributorsin Manchester, Conn., Tuesday.

The girlfriend of the Connecticut truck driver who killed eight of his co-workers said Wednesday that on the morning of the massacre "he was in a daze."

Speaking exclusively to the Daily News for the first time since Omar Thornton ended his deadly rampage by shooting himself, Kristi Hannah said she did not he was planning to unleash hell - but she knew something was not right when he left her apartment.

"That morning he seemed like he was in a daze," she said, speaking at her mom's house. "His eyes weren't right. They were empty. I kept asking him what was wrong but he wouldn't tell me."

Thornton, she said, "was quiet."

"He gave me a weird hug," said Hannah. "It was really long. And a kiss and said goodbye. He looked at me hard and told me he loved me."

Then he was gone.

A short time later, Hannah said, the cops showed up.

"Two detectives showed up asking for Omar," she said. "I texted Omar and asked, 'Why are two detectives at my door? You've never done anything wrong in your life.' He didn't answer. I texted him again, 'Are you okay?'"

Still, there was no answer from Thornton.

Then, Hannah said, she saw the reports flashing across the screen of her TV and a horrible realization set in.

"I saw the news and I collapsed on the ground," she said. "I couldn't even move. I felt so sick."

Hannah said that all their plans for the future crumbled in an instant.

"We were engaged, we were talking about having a family," she said. "I fell in love with him because he was the most gentle man I had ever met. His eyes were so kind. He would never hurt another creature."

Hannah said she can't reconcile her memories of Thornton with the cold-blooded killer who turned the beer and wine wholesaling business where he worked into a slaughterhouse.

"Omar was very kind," she said. "His sister had a drug problem and Omar spent a lot of time caring for his nephew."

Hannah also backed up claims by Thornton's kin that the 34-year-old gunman finally snapped after years of being subjected to racist taunts by co-workers.

"Everyone of \[the victims\] was a person I heard Omar mention," she said. "He didn't go around randomly shooting people. He knew these were the people who harassed him."

Thornton, a black man, "was very sensitive about his race," said Hannah.

"If you called him a n----r he would go off," she said. "But he kept it inside. He kept it all bottled up."

Thornton was reportedly about to be fired for stealing cases of suds, but his girlfriend denied he was a thief and claimed he was a good worker who was recently promoted to driver.

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Friday, July 31, 2009

From Times Online

July 31, 2009

'Friendly' beer summit calms race row tensions

Henry Louis Gates Jr meets with Barack Obama

(Saul Loeb/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

Henry Gates and Sergeant James Crowley share a beer with Barack Obama and Joe Biden

Tim Reid in Washington

The white US police officer at the heart of a fierce national debate about race and law enforcement said he would continue to meet the black Harvard law professor he controversially arrested after the two men shared a nationally watched beer with President Obama.

Sergeant James Crowley spoke after the most widely covered beer in US history, a drink with the man he arrested – Professor Henry Louis Gates Junior – around a table in the White House Rose Garden with President Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden.

Sergeant Crowley, at a press conference shortly after an event that the press corps could only briefly photograph, out of ear shot, said that he and Professor Gates were "two gentlemen who agreed to disagree".

After the US networks had universally shown footage of the “beer summit” – a 50-yard shot of the four men drinking their respective brews and eating peanuts - Sergeant Crowley then gave some idea of what had transpired.

Sergeant Crowley did not apologise for arresting Professor Gates, but said he “respected him a great deal”, there had been “no tension” at the beer meeting, and that they had “cordial and productive discussions.” He said they would continue to meet each other privately in the coming weeks.

The four men ate peanuts as they chatted over their favourite beers. Mr Obama drank a Bud Light; Sergeant Crowley a Blue Moon; Professor Gates a Sam Adams Light; Mr Biden a non-alcoholic Buckler.

Afterwards, Mr Obama described the "friendly, thoughtful" conversation as a success.

"I have always believed that what brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart," the president said. "I am confident that has happened here tonight, and I am hopeful that all of us are able to draw this positive lesson from this episode."

Professor Gates hailed the "great opportunity" fate had given him and Sergeant Crowley. He said their task must be to foster sympathy among Americans about "the daily perils of policing on the one hand, and for the genuine fears of racial profiling on the other hand."

The meeting, which was the culmination of a race row that has consumed America since Sergeant Crowley arrested Professor Gates at his home on June 16, came hours after the controversy took another explosive turn: the description of Professor Gates as a “banana-eating jungle monkey” by a Boston police officer.

Boston police suspended Officer Justin Barrett, who first e-mailed anonymously to The Boston Globe and then to friends in the local National Guard: “If I were the officer he verbally assaulted like a banana-eating jungle monkey I would have sprayed him with OC.”

Officer Barrett, 36, was stripped him of his gun and badge and placed him on administrative leave. He later said: “I didn’t mean it in a racist way.”

Last month, Sergeant Crowley had been called to investigate a suspected burglary at Professor Gates’s house. The scholar had just returned from a foreign trip and had trouble opening his front door.

Sergeant Crowley said that when he confronted Professor Gates the academic became abusive. Despite knowing that no burglary had taken place, the policeman ended up arresting him for disorderly conduct, handcuffing him and taking him down to the station. The charges were later dropped. Professor Gates has said that he was the victim of racial profiling.

Mr Obama, a friend of Professor Gates, fuelled the controversy when he accused the Cambridge police of acting “stupidly”. Two days later, after an outcry from police groups, Mr Obama expressed regret and said he had telephoned Sergeant Crowly, who suggested a White House beer with Professor Gates.

One person who was not there was the woman who made the original emergency call to report the possible burglary. The police first claimed that she reported “two black men with backpacks” trying to get into the house. In fact, Lucia Whalen, who gave a tearful press conference on Wednesday, never mentioned race. She told reporters she had feared for her safety after being vilified as a racist.