Friday, April 6, 2012
Who Fears Who? Sanford, Florida Prepares to "Explode" Over Trayvon Martin Case vs. The Tulsa, Oklahoma Racial Pogrom
This story is bubbling up on the white supremacist websites. The mainstream media is floating the black people ready to riot story as it is a classic "if it bleeds it leads" narrative. And now with the arrival of neo-Nazis in Sanford, Florida (who are there to "protect" the white community) matters are only made worst. I love a good dust up. I also smile whenever groups like the National Socialist Movement take one on the chin. However, now is not the time for such shenanigans.
As I pointed out in an earlier post, historical context matters. As the news media frame another story about negro uprisings and rebellions, it is important to push back and to highlight how riots and organized violence have been 1) almost the exclusive domain of whites against people of color in the United States, and 2) as the late Joel Olson pointed out, a primary means of both creating, as well as reinforcing, herrenvolk White Democracy in the American Republic.
Who should fear who in this context? How many more tens of thousands of African Americans have been killed by whites in organized acts of racial violence than the other way around?
Never forget.
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36 comments:
The South has risen again!
I predict Zimmerman is going to walk. I predict that because if anything at all could be found to charge him with they would have already done it to put this situation to bed. I suspect what will happen afterwards will be very ugly with a lot of people, both black and white, being hurt.
I'm no journalist or newscaster. But I think they've been missing something here they should have been looking into. Even I would have already checked with local gun shops to find out how their sales have been over the past few weeks. Or if they even have any inventory left at all.
I think it's going to get very ugly in Sanford. Just how ugly it does get will decide how far it spreads around the country, and how many people are ultimately hurt.
We're already seeing stories of whites being beaten by blacks in other parts of the country in the name Travon. Whether that be the case or just a convenient excuse.
I think the drums of ignorance and emotion have been banged so loudly that there probably isn't any way people can hear calls of tolerance or understanding. So I doubt there is any way to stop it from happening.
There are no good options. The only option if it comes to my home, in order to be left in peace and protect my family, I'll lock and load.
@Nomad. She never went down ;)
@Sledge. I just don't know. I think that he will walk given the police misconduct--and the whole department should be cleaned out from top to bottom and its officers made to reapply for their jobs. Mass violence? I doubt it. Knucklehead moments? For sure.
I hope you're right about the mass violence. I wouldn't be surprised if the Sanford PD takes a hit what with the State and Federal investigations. I don't know what is true in the media and what is not. But from what I understand Sanford PD has had problems in the past.
I also read that they didn't contact Travon's parents for three days after the shooting even though their numbers were on his cell phone. That is inexcusable bordering on evil if it is true.
I agree that the State or the Fed have to do something about that department if stories like that turn out to be true.
CD,
Your last two posts are incredibly insightful and reveal what is at the heart of the black, white, violence triangle.
I’m reminded of hurricane Katrina and the media coverage that followed the initial disaster. The anticipation of Black violence was implicit in most of the early coverage. Eventually, it became the leading story. The same thing happened after the Haiti earthquake in 2011. I thought I was watching the New Year’s Eve show waiting for the clock to hit 12:00 am the way the networks were anticipating an outbreak of violence.
If Zimmerman isn’t arrested Sanford may explode. If it does I don’t think it will be the only place. As you mentioned, the history of racial violence is overwhelmingly white against black. History proves this from slavery to the “War on Drugs”. Of course the response from the State would be as expected; violent and accompanied by a political shift among white people towards the right. Only the difference now is that there is an African American president which changes the game somewhat. I wonder how he would respond. Something tells me he will stick to the script and use it as an opportunity to secure the white blue collar vote. I’m sure this sounds cynical.
Furthermore, what I find interesting is that the Trayvon Martin situation is not really unique. Black people are killed every day in absurd circumstances. Just watch “The First 48”.
I’m always curious about what motivates black people to act against the social order. The obvious analogy here is to the Rodney King beating. In that case a clear cut example was presented in the form of a video of a malicious and brutal assault. The “Justice System” failed to convict and the people responded in a spontaneous way.
In this case we have a clear cut example of murder with no justifiable qualifier and a shooter that was let go for no damn intelligible reason.
In both cases we have media saturation and sympathetic solidarity from white liberals on a large scale. This could be a perfect storm.
But the craziest thing to me is that this is exactly the 20 year anniversary of the LA riots. I’ll leave that alone. I’m sure it means nothing.
I neither approve nor disapprove of Black uprisings as they have previously occurred. I’m excluding slave rebellions.
It is obvious to me that Black people adopted this mode of social protest out of frustration and in response to the pogroms and lynchings after slavery. The Great Migration provided an escape but no real justice. The urban areas provided new experiences that changed the nature of protest.
As long as white supremacy is the hegemonic ideology governing this country we will have periodic ruptures of violence as a spontaneous response to the status quo.
Remember what happened in England last year?
You sir, are striving to be as awful as Attorney Benjamin Crump's HYPE - MAN, Reverend Al Sharpton, the problem is that now you've crept out on this tenuous limb, you and other hyperreactionary Negroes, do not want to admit it.
How Lawyer Got Nation Talking About Trayvon Martin;
http://www.npr.org/2012/04/05/...
http://addins.whig.com/blogs/i...
http://media.npr.org/assets/im...
Yikes. So if black people today were as angry and powerful as white people in the 20's, we'd have between 30 and 300 whites/hispanics killed by a black mob, 6,000 detained in internment camps, and the white part of Sanford would be burned to the ground.
Speaking of Tulsa, is this a reaction by raw elements of the White Supremacy Dynamic to the legitimate demands for justice for Trayvon Martin?
http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/07/us/oklahoma-shootings/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Tulsa, you said?
Geez, CDV, you've gone from commentator extraordinaire to diviner before us.
You're turning into a comic book hero before our very eyes.
So sad that it has to be through these kinds of divinations that you reveal yourself.
CNu, bear in mind that I say this as a white woman, raised in rural Alabama:
You are full of shit. Black people don't need some figurehead to tell them to be offended by the way the Trayvon Martin case is being mishandled--I certainly didn't, and the more I hear about Zimmerman's (thus far) successful evasion of justice, the more sickened and enraged I become.
A child was killed for the heinous crime of carrying snacks home at night while wearing a common article* of casual attire. That is disgusting enough. The child was also killed by someone with a history of overreacting to the presence of black youth in his neighborhood. Zimmerman is on record as having complained about the "suspicious" circumstance of a 7-9 year old black boy being present. That makes this extremely likely to be a case of racism. But what really makes my blood boil is that, in the 21st century, a white man can kill an innocent black child for NOTHING and get away with it. We should be better than this by now.
Seriously, people like you make me ashamed to be from the South. Take your bigoted rhetoric somewhere else.
*I can't think of anyone I know between the ages of 15 and 30 who hasn't worn a hoodie, and I've known lots of people of a variety of races and socioeconomic backgrounds. On a cold night, of which even FL had several in February this year, it is not uncommon to raise your hood.
Laura,
I say this to you as a Black Man raised in Kansas and now living in the final confederate frontier of Missouri.
Emotional North American Negroes, on Tuesday 2012.04.10, the Florida special prosecutor assigned to the George Zimmerman case will decide to do one of three things:
not to arrest and prosecute George Zimmerman for the death of Trayvon Martin;
to arrest and prosecute George Zimmerman for the death of Trayvon Martin;
or to send the case on to the grand jury for their decision to prosecute or not to prosecute
Negroe emotionalism, Negroe marching, Negroe singing, et alia, demanding the arrest and prosecution of George Zimmerman for the death of Trayvon Martin, doesn't mean a punk-gawd-damn thing in this situation.
Charles Blow has it right;
As a black man who thought O.J. Simpson was as guilty as the day is long, I found black people’s consistent and overwhelming belief in his innocence a low point. I eventually chalked it up to a perverse pursuit of equal justice by a people who saw the system as unfairly stacked against them. If the system was broken was it unbiased in its brokenness? Was part of equal justice equal injustice?
You can argue that intellectually, but the argument is morally bankrupt.
There is no right in aligning yourself with wrong.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04...
Oh, and only an exceedingly silly white woman would be wont to think or express that this has anything whatsoever to do with wearing a hoodie. It has a great deal to do with a failure of parenting on the part of Tracy Martin dragging his multiply suspended no_limits_nigga, pants-sagging, grill wearing young punk of a son to his girlfriend's house for the weekend and do nothing to keep track of the boy's whereabouts - and - never having discharged his duty to properly train the boy to handle himself under any circumstance.
People like you should simply be ashamed to exhibit your vapid stupidity in public.
CNu??? Who are you???
I know hundreds of black people who've I've worked with over the years. Both low income and high income. But I've only heard one other black guy who talks like you do. I've always attributed that to the fact that he was older and raised in the Bahamas.
Talk about no nonsense! You, him and me are kindred spirits. Say it the way it is and let the chips fall where they may. Other people may not love, like or agree with you. But they have to respect a man who takes a stand even when it's unpopular with those around him.
I don't know who you are, but I do know that you are one ballsey guy.
I tip my hat to you sir.
Police: 2 suspects arrested in Oklahoma shootings
http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20120407/US.Oklahoma.Shooting.Spree/
Damn straight! These two A@@holes deserve the needle if found guilty. The survivors should be able to identify them.
I know that there have been people convicted who were later shown to be innocent. But Personally, I've always thought that in outright open and close cases like this. That the family members of the victims should be allowed to beat the living crap out of vicious murderous dogs like these before they are executed.
I know, it's not very Christian. I try to be a good man. But I've never claimed to be perfect or above temptation in matters like these.
CNu??? Who are you???
lol, son of a Black man who was born in 1907, supported his mother and 4 siblings from the age of 12 forward, became the first Black gun dealer in the state of Kansas in 1957 - and scrupulously and meticulously taught me how to think like, act like, and BE an uncompromising commander of respect.
Folks of every stripe wasting ink on, marching, protesting, handwringing and pandering to vulgar and incompetent peasants need to be shot with hot pee.
@Cnu. You wrote : "It has a great deal to do with a failure of parenting on the part of Tracy Martin dragging his multiply suspended no_limits_nigga, pants-sagging, grill wearing young punk of a son to his girlfriend's house for the weekend and do nothing to keep track of the boy's whereabouts - and - never having discharged his duty to properly train the boy to handle himself under any circumstance."
I could see you hanging out with Booker T carrying a sign or giving a corner sermon from a box on how the negro population could avoid lynchings by behaving with proper comportment and respect for white sensibilities.
Is that good or bad? That is not for me to decide.
Allowing all of what you wrote and more about Trayvon--much of it typical teenage b.s.--Zimmerman should still swing. We shall see.
lol, that'd be Robert Taylor, not no dayyum Booger-T....,
chaunceydevega I agree with much of the things you write, and then other things just make me shake my head.
Like this: "how the negro population could avoid lynchings by behaving with proper comportment and respect for white sensibilities."
How are black sensibilities different than white? How is respect earned or deserved different whether you are black or white? Other than color what is different about all people?
We all try to make through the day as best we can, look for love, worry for our our children, ask ourselves if we made the right decisions, feel guilt over mistakes made and try to face ourselves in the mirror.
If it's something to do with slavery I call BS. I'm sure you've heard before that no one alive today has ever owned or been a slave. Well, that might not be entirely true.
My wife's grandfather was one of the over 50,000 children sold from English orphanages into indentured servitude until he was 21 to a family in Canada in 1905. It continued for some time after that so some of those kids could still be alive today.
People make of themselves what they will no matter the circumstances they find themselves in. I've lived long enough to learn that "every" problem a person faces in their life can be traced back to their own making. I know mine have been.
I guess George Zimmerman will think twice about volunteering with the next "help a scummy, feeble-minded inner city nigger" charity!
No but seriously, something is going to go down when you visit a gated community, in a state with a stand your ground law and your young and black. Life is not fair, we are not all the same and once this is realized we will have a big summer 2012 chimpout in the America's inner cities. Oh well, the only people really affected will be urban liberal yuppies ("Oh but we're the good white people!").
@Cnu. You are funny. You got the allusion as always. I have something for Monday you may get a kick out of...and others may be pissed off about. But can't please everyone.
@Sledge. "How are black sensibilities different than white? How is respect earned or deserved different whether you are black or white? Other than color what is different about all people? "
That is the point isn't it. How our common humanity has been denied across the colorline for the psychic, material, political, and institutional wages of whiteness. Go back to Bacon's Rebellion and track it forward. Or sit down and read Invisible Man to clear the head.
You also wrote:
If it's something to do with slavery I call BS. I'm sure you've heard before that no one alive today has ever owned or been a slave. "
Historically myopia is mighty convenient, is it not? Especially when such narrow views of history's continuity in the past is real in the present, i.e. wealth and income inequality, wage disparities, internalized white racism, are so obvious and glaring. Folks may not have owned slaves in the present--a cousin to the European immigrant deflection--but they sure as hell benefited from the hierarchy and maldistribution of resources it created. No?
@chaunceydevega
You're a great history buff. But that's all your last post was, a history lesson.
I'll remind you that many blacks prospered in the same era. I'll wager because they earned it instead of looking for excuses of why they couldn't have accomplished what they did. The same is true for all colors still today.
Don't blame people of any color, including white, because they tried harder to accomplish goals. It's not a color thing as you imply, but an individual thing.
Your "hierarchy and maldistribution of resources" comment ignores the fact that then and now there are/were millions of poverty engulfed whites in this country.
They too failed to achieve for the same reason as the blacks who failed to achieve. Not because "the man held them down" but because they failed to pull themselves up.
They all,poverty stricken blacks and whites, have and are still finding it easier to complain and place blame elsewhere than to act.
The great sin here is that they never come to realize that they, and they alone, control their individual destiny. And that there is always someone around willing to console them with "yes, you are so held down. Poor, poor you. It's just not fair that the person over there won't let you win. It's all their fault you're not a winner."
Do you have any idea what a difference it would make to the black community's individual success rate if they were inspired instead of consoled?
@Vill
Have you been an ass all of your life or just recently? Do you think you are superior to blacks with your racism? You do realize that there are some blacks who put you to shame in the racism department don't you?
So you aren't even in the top tier as a racist. Guess that just makes you a mediocre clown.
Are there rules in this blog regarding insults. Sorry if I'm in violation.
The white woman from the Heart of Dixie is right on: “Black people don't need some figurehead to tell them to be offended by the way the Trayvon Martin case is being mishandled.”
Critical thinking involves balance, an emotional and a rational engagement of issues. The grassroots people who have organized protests and who have expressed moral outrage towards the law enforcement establishment in Sanford have been extremely disciplined.
“There is no right in aligning yourself with wrong.” – Cnu
Bro. Nulan’s creative editing of the Charles Blow article to defend his point is a dog that will not hunt.
[The Martin case, on the other hand, holds the potential to be a high point. There is nobility in the advocacy for truth and justice for a dead child who would still be alive if Zimmerman had not pursued him. While opinions shouldn’t get ahead of the facts — and we must all remember that what is right and what is legal don’t always dovetail — public pressure for a thorough investigation and fair dealings in this case needn’t and mustn’t be defined as a black issue. It’s a universally human issue.
Furthermore, Trayvon’s death and the public outcry about the case has shined a harsh light on the plight of young black men in America and the shadow of suspicion that hangs over them. It has also renewed the debate about racial-profiling — which is completely incongruous to any basic concept of fairness. Guilt isn’t genetic. Color and culture don’t dictate criminality. Innocence must be the default assumption. No one should be punished for another’s sins.
And, as the investigation progresses, it may well open the conversation even wider to consider unequal treatment of boys and men — by all authority figures in this country — and the heavy toll that that takes.
This lifetime of harsher treatment seems to stand in stark contrast to the authorities’ treatment of Zimmerman. This perception of unequal treatment eats away at the psyche of these men and boys of color and erodes their faith in a just and honest society. That is its own tragedy.
That makes this case simultaneously simple and complex. In the decision not to charge Zimmerman, was the boy with the candy accorded the same presumption of innocence as the man with the gun?
This isn’t 1995. This is the good fight. This is about restoration of faith. Until there is a trial for George Zimmerman, the whole justice system is on trial.]
Blow’s article is a far cry from the assault on “Negro emotionalism” Bro. Nulan would have us believe.
But, since he raised the issue, there’s no greater example of “Negro emotionalism” than being suckered by a “change you can believe in fraud” as Nulan was in 2008.
Lol, as for being "suckered" by the Hon.Bro.Preznit, there are 602 posts on my blog relating to Obama going back to March 2008. I dare you to find a single instance in which I was "suckered" by the Manchurian Candidate.
The only thing more pathetic and useless than a geriatric 2nd/3rd line inheritor of the civil rights movement, is a geriatric afro-trekkie jiggaboo "Bro." Makheru....,
@Sledge. Keep on writing. You are only digging your hole deeper.
"They too failed to achieve for the same reason as the blacks who failed to achieve. Not because "the man held them down" but because they failed to pull themselves up."
Did you even watch the clip on Tulsa? Lord. Those are great narratives with which to console yourself. They are very much untrue. We could do a book party here, but for starters check out How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America. Then read A Nation Under Our Feet for a thorough dismantlement of the lazy blacks not striving pulling themselves up meme. Alternately, you could do a little research on the white lie of individualism and the Horatio Alger myth. Pretty easy to make it when the State gives you free money, jobs, and makes sure that your white skin privilege is in full effect.
Or alternatively, was it Elie Wiesel who said that there are some people who need to have their boots on the throats of others in order to prop themselves up? Seems to apply here.
How can you allow yourself to think so narrowly as opposed to structurally and institutionally about problems? You do know the individual exists in a social context, no?
@chaunceydevega
Thank you for the invitation. I'll keep digging. I've dug more than one ditch in my life.
Oh please! Did you really go to the lazy blacks thing? They must have been the people living across the tracks from the lazy white poor people. Or did you miss that color? I need a face palm emicon here.
I never said or insinuated anything about anyone being lazy. Although, some of both colors could have been I guess. I did say most of the population of both colors didn't try to succeed because they were uninspired. They didn't realize that they controlled their own individual destiny. Most still don't.
If you say successful whites have succeeded by having their boots on the throats of others. Then the same would have to be said for successful blacks. I'm not buying any of it. And I am surprised someone as intelligent as you seem to be would believe this line.
The only free money the state ever gave me was for a college education. But then I had to spend time in the military to get it. Yep, it's great to be white. Wait a minute. There were black guys in my unit that got the same benefit. Damn, now I don't feel so special.
I understand that you feel that I think narrowly because we disagree on certain topics. The fact is that I narrow in on the truth and the heart of the matter. Individual effort is the only thing that attains success for each individual. Success cannot come without the attempt.
Thinking structurally and institutionally is a great past time for academia.(Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach.) But it will never result in individual success the way that individual effort will.
Yes, I did watch the Tulsa clip. Very ugly. Odd coincidence that Tulsa would be the scene of the recent racial shootings. If I had my tin foil hat on I might say too odd.
Why is it that when they catch the people, of all colors, who do this kind of crap. That they always look like the scum of that race? Perhaps because they are the most easily manipulated.
You could come up with hundreds of ugly scenes from the past. I could come up with hundreds of ugly scenes on the other side. Where would that get us? When you emphasize one side's ugliness while ignoring the ugliness on the other side. It just leads one to think that there is an agenda at work.
What agenda are you hoping to attain?
chauncey I can hardly wait to see what you've written to post up tomorrow. ;)heditua tesotvike
@sledge,
The thing is, there is a calculateable factor called Social Mobility and if everything were fair and equal accross race lines, and things truly were just based purely on merit, not on the wealth of your parents then there would be no correlation whatsoever between a childs income and their parents. The fact is that there is. The United States has one of the worst Social Mobility ratings in the developed world. Which means it is more difficult in the U.S. to move up in class from where you were born than it is in many other places. If things were truly based on pure merit, this would not be the case. They can statistically look at sociological factors that influence one's ability to move up in social class. Access to good education and healthcare are some contributing factors. People of color disproportionately live in communities with poor education and healthcare, (due in part to historical factors such as white flight and other manifestations of racism such as segregation etc.). On an individual level, you can say people can achieve anything, and perhaps they can. But when you look at the data accross the country, you see huge trends in the numbers that completely refute the concept that everything is individual drive. If it was so, the numbers would be random, not show statistical factors that impact ones ability to raise their social class. It's a nice sentiment, but on the whole it doesn't hold up under investigation.
@Weird Beard
That is very well explained. Thank you. I agree with your observations on social mobility. It's not easy to start from the bottom. Also, people who start out with money have an advantage in an easier hill to climb.
A post CNu wrote above reminded me of a saying my mother had. There is nothing more pathetic than a wealthy man's son. I've witnessed some truth in that.
This isn't the place for this but it is bothering the heck out of me.
I hate this!
I'm member of several prepper sites and this New Black Panther video calling to let the blood flow on April 9th is all over the place.
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2012/04/08/New-Black-Panthers-Call-For-Race-War-Blood-Shed-Kill-Crackers-For-Trayvon-April-9th-Day-of-Action#disqus_thread
I'm pleading with the black folks. Do not get involved with this! This is not the way to handle anything. People on those sites are worried and they are not the kind of people you want to scare.
Their motto is Beans, Band Aids and Bullets. Most of them, like myself, just want other people to leave them alone. But these folks are prepared for doomsday and are highly trained and armed. I'm not talking bolt action rifles here, although most do have a distance weapon in their arsenal. Many are ex military. Survival at all costs is the main focus of their lives.
The New Black Panthers have no idea what they are going to be into if they hit the wrong areas and come across some of these people.
I haven't even looked at any of the militia sites yet. I got away from that a few years ago because they were getting a little too far out there even for me. I can imagine what is going on with those guys.
Please do not allow yourself or your family to get involved with this call for violence. It won't end well at all for anyone.
Relax magne.., aside from marching, protesting, holding vigils, hunger strikes, whooping their gums and generally assing up the media commons, black folks ain't.gonna.do.a.dayyum.thing.
As far as the Guns, Grain, and Gold goons go, there are enough Black colonels and iron majors in the ranks of military fire control to ensure that if anything jumps off on any consequential scale, that everybody goes down all at once in a blaze of glory.
Makheru stated- "Blow’s article is a far cry from the assault on “Negro emotionalism” Bro. Nulan would have us believe."
Agreed. I too was wondering why the remaining of the article was not included.
I hope you're right CNu. When they put out calls like that it is some scary crap for a white guy. So much hate in their words. Things I would never say back to them.
I'm ashamed to say to it CNu but I carry concealed everywhere. If I see a black guy get to close to me today I'll be watching him.
Man I hate this crap. I'll probably get mugged by a white guy while I'm watching the black guy.
UPDATE - Emotional North American Negroes, on Tuesday 2012.04.10, the Florida special prosecutor assigned to the George Zimmerman case will decide to do one of TWO things:
not to arrest and prosecute George Zimmerman for the death of Trayvon Martin;
to arrest and prosecute George Zimmerman for the death of Trayvon Martin;
The special prosecutor investigating the shooting death of unarmed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin has ruled out using a grand jury in the case, meaning her office alone will decide whether to charge shooter George Zimmerman with a crime.
Apparently, the black community has thankfully disregarded the New Black Panther Party's calls for violence.
The only action taken in Sanford, FL today so far, is a group of students with a painted sheet, who marched and a group of six (four wearing hoodies) who are blocking the police station door. There were no visible/audible Black Panthers nor Neo-Nazis.
The student coalition group Dream Defenders is planning a noon protest (of the Stand Your Ground law) outside Rubio's office.
I'm not sure what the special prosecutors statement means or how to take it. I would think it means they are going to arrest Zimmerman. But then again if that's the case, why wouldn't they do it today instead of tomorrow?
I guess we'll just have to stay tuned.
@CNu LOL, you were suckered when you pulled the lever.
When you pull that lever in 2012, bend over and spread your cheeks.
Strip-Searches: Obama Wants You to Bend Over (Or Squat) and Spread ‘Em
http://blackagendareport.com/content/strip-searches-obama-wants-you-bend-over-or-squat-and-spread-%E2%80%98em
For anyone who thinks demands for justice for Trayvon Martin was driven by “Negro Emotionalism.”
Outrage over "Stand Your Ground" Laws After Trayvon Martin Killing Sparks Corporate Exodus from ALEC
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/4/12/outrage_over_stand_your_ground_laws
ALEC Drops Push for Voter ID, Stand Your Ground Laws After Public Outcry Sparks Corporate Exodus
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/4/18/alec_drops_push_for_voter_id
This is critical thinking at work!
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