Colin Ferguson and the Long Island Railroad Massacre

Colin Ferguson and the Long Island Railroad Massacre On Dec. 7, 1993, Colin Ferguson, a man long bothered by what he considered racism, boarded a Long Island commuter train and began shooting at the passengers with a pistol. The incident, known as the Long Island Railroad Massacre, resulted in six people killed and 19 injured. Background Ferguson was born on Jan. 14, 1958, in Kingston, Jamaica, to Von Herman and May Ferguson. Herman was the managing director for Hercules Agencies, a large pharmaceutical company. He was highly regarded and one of the most prominent businessmen in Jamaica. Colin and his four brothers enjoyed many of the privileges that come with wealth in a city where extreme poverty is common. He attended Calabar High School and, from all appearances, was a good student who participated in sports. At the time of his graduation in 1974, his grade average was in the top third of his class. Fergusons idyllic life came to an abrupt halt in 1978, when his father was killed in a car crash. His mother died from cancer not long afterward. Soon after both parents died, Ferguson had to cope with the loss of the family fortune. All the losses left him deeply disturbed. Move to the United States At 23, Ferguson decided to leave Kingston and move to the U.S. on a visitors visa, hoping for a fresh start and a good job on the East Coast. It didnt take long for his excitement to turn to frustration: The only jobs he could find were low-paying and menial, and he blamed racism in America. Three years after his arrival in the U.S., he met and married Audrey Warren, an American citizen of Jamaican descent who understood the cultural differences that affected her husbands ability to get along. She was patient and understanding when he lost his temper and went into rages, expressing his racial bigotry toward white people who he felt stood in his way. The couple moved to a home in Long Island, where he continued to rage about the mistreatment and disrespect he was shown by white Americans. He had been born to one of the top families in Kingston, and government and military luminaries had attended his fathers funeral. But in America, he felt he was treated as nothing. His hatred toward white people was deepening. Married bliss didnt last long for the couple. Warren found her new husband to be hostile and aggressive. They fought regularly and more than once the police were called to their home to break up a fight. Just two years into the marriage, Warren divorced Ferguson, stating differing social views as the reason. Ferguson was emotionally crushed by the divorce. He did clerical work for Ademco Security Group until Aug. 18, 1989, when he fell from a stool on the job, injuring his head, neck, and back and losing his job. He filed a complaint with the New York State Workers Compensation Board, which took years to come to a resolution. While he waited for their decision, he attended Nassau Community College. Disciplinary Problems at College He made the deans list three times but was forced to quit a class for disciplinary reasons after a teacher filed a complaint that Ferguson was overly aggressive toward him in class. That prompted him to transfer to Adelphi University in Garden City, New York, in 1990, majoring in business administration. Ferguson became very outspoken about black power and his dislike of whites. When he wasnt calling everyone around him a racist, he called out for violence and a revolution to overthrow white America. Ferguson alleged that a white woman at the library shouted racial epithets at him when he asked about a class assignment. An investigation found that no such incident had occurred. In another incident, Ferguson interrupted a faculty member giving a presentation about her trip to South Africa, allegedly shouting, We should be talking about the revolution in South Africa and how to get rid of the white people and Kill everybody white! After fellow students tried to calm him, he chanted, The black revolution will get you.   In June 1991, as a result of the incident, Ferguson was suspended from school. He was invited to reapply after satisfying his suspension, but he never returned. Brush With the Law In 1991 Ferguson moved to Brooklyn, where he was unemployed and rented a room in the Flatbush neighborhood. At the time it was a popular area for West Indian immigrants, and Ferguson moved right into the middle, but he kept to himself, rarely saying anything to his neighbors. In 1992 his ex-wife, who had not seen Ferguson since the divorce, filed a complaint against him, claiming he had pried open the trunk of her car. Anger was boiling up inside Ferguson, and he was nearing the breaking point. In February he was taking the subway when a woman attempted to sit in an empty seat beside him. She asked him to move over, and Ferguson began screaming at her, pressing his elbow and leg against her until the police intervened. He attempted to get away, calling out, Brothers, come help me! to African-Americans on the train. He was arrested and charged with harassment. Ferguson wrote letters to the police commissioner and the NYC Transit Authority, claiming the police had brutalized him and were vicious and racist. The claims were later dismissed after an investigation. Worker's Compensation Claim Settled It took three years for his workers compensation case against Ademco Security Group to be settled. He was awarded $26,250, which he found unsatisfactory. Stating that he was still suffering from pain, he met with a Manhattan attorney, Lauren Abramson, about filing another lawsuit. Abramson later said she asked a law clerk to join the meeting because she found Ferguson to be threatening and uncomfortable to be around. When the law firm rejected the case, Ferguson accused members of the firm of discrimination. During one phone call, he referenced a massacre in California. Many at the firm began locking their inner-office doors. Ferguson then tried to get the New York State Workers Compensation Board to reopen the case but was rejected. However, Ferguson was placed on a list of potentially dangerous people because of his aggressiveness. Fed up with New York City, Ferguson moved to California in April 1993. He applied for several jobs but was never hired. Gun Purchase That same month, he spent $400 on a Ruger P-89 9 mm pistol in Long Beach. He began carrying the gun inside a paper bag after he was mugged by two African-Americans. In May 1993, Ferguson moved back to New York City because, as he explained to a friend, he didnt like competing for jobs with immigrants and Hispanics. After he returned to New York, he seemed to be deteriorating quickly. Speaking in the third person, he went on rants about blacks striking down their pompous rulers and oppressors. He showered several times a day and chanted continuously about all the black people killing all the white people. Ferguson was asked to vacate his apartment by the end of the month. The Shooting On Dec. 7, Ferguson boarded a 5:33 p.m. Long Island commuter train leaving Pennsylvania Station for Hicksville. On his lap were his gun and 160 rounds of ammunition. As the train approached the Merillon Avenue Station, Ferguson stood up and methodically began firing at passengers on both sides, pulling the trigger about every half second and repeating Im going to get you. After emptying two 15-round magazines, he was reloading a third when passengers Michael OConnor, Kevin Blum, and Mark McEntee tackled him and pinned him down until police arrived. As Ferguson lay pinned to a seat, he said, Oh God, what did I do? What did I do? I deserve whatever I get. Six passengers died: Amy Federici, a 27-year-old corporate interior designer from MineolaJames Gorycki, a 51-year-old account executive from MineolaMi Kyung Kim, a 27-year-old New Hyde Park residentMaria Theresa Tumangan Magtoto, a 30-year-old lawyer from WestburyDennis McCarthy, a 52-year-old office manager from MineolaRichard Nettleton, a 24-year-old college student from Roslyn Heights 19 passengers were injured. The Note Police searching Ferguson found several scraps of notebook paper in his pockets bearing headlines such as reasons for this,  racism by Caucasians and Uncle Tom Negroes, and a scribbled reference to his February 1992 arrest that referred to the false allegations against me by the filthy Caucasian racist female on the #1 line. Also among the notes were the names and telephone numbers of the lieutenant governor, the attorney general, and the Manhattan law firm that Ferguson had threatened, whom he referred to as those corrupt black attorneys who not only refused to help me but tried to steal my car. Based on the notes, it appeared that Ferguson planned to delay the killings until he was beyond the New York City limit out of respect for outgoing Mayor David Dinkins and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly. Ferguson was arraigned on Dec. 8, 1993. He remained silent  during the arraignment and refused to enter a plea. He was ordered held without bail. As he was escorted from the courthouse, a reporter asked him if he hated whites, to which Ferguson replied, Its a lie. Investigation, Trial, and Sentencing According to trial testimony, Ferguson suffered from extreme paranoia involving many races but mostly centering on the feeling that white people were out to get him. At some point, his paranoia had pushed him into devising a plan of revenge. To avoid embarrassing Mayor Dinkins, Ferguson had selected a commuter train headed to Nassau County. Once the train entered Nassau, Ferguson had begun shooting, selecting some white people to gun down and sparing others. The reasons for his selections were never made clear. After a circus-like trial in which Ferguson represented himself and rambled on, often repeating himself,  he was found guilty and sentenced to 315  years in prison. As of November 2018, he was in the Upstate Correctional Facility in Malone, New York. Source:The Long Island Railroad Massacre, AE American Justice

One Vote Can Make a Difference - What Are the Odds

One Vote Can Make a Difference - What Are the Odds The odds that one vote can make a difference in an election are almost nil, worse than the odds of winning Powerball. But that doesnt mean its impossible that one vote can make a difference. Its actually happened. There have been cases in which one vote decided the election. Odds That One Vote Can Make a Difference Economists Casey B. Mulligan and Charles G. Hunter found in a 2001 study that only one of every 100,000 votes cast in federal elections, and one of every 15,000 votes cast in state legislative elections, â€Å"mattered in the sense that they were cast for a candidate that officially tied or won by one vote.† Their study of 16,577 national elections from 1898 through 1992 found that only one had been decided by a single vote. It was the 1910 election in New York’s 36th Congressional District, won by a Democrat who claimed 20,685 votes to the Republican candidate’s 20,684. Of those elections, the median margin of victory was 22 percentage points and 18,021 actual votes. Mulligan and Hunter also analyzed 40,036 state legislative elections from 1968 through 1989 and found only seven that had been decided by a single vote. Of those elections, the median margin of victory was 25 percentage points and 3,257 actual votes. In other words, the chance that your vote will be the decisive or pivotal one in a national election is almost zilch. The same goes for state legislative elections. Chances That One Vote Can Make a Difference in a Presidential Race   Researchers Andrew Gelman, Gary King, and John Boscardin estimated the chances that a single vote would decide a U.S. presidential election to be 1 in 10 million at best and less than 1 in 100 million at worst. Their work, titled Estimating the Probability of Events That Have Never Occurred: When Is Your Vote Decisive? appeared in 1998 in the Journal of the American Statistical Association.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Given the size of the electorate, an election where one vote is decisive (equivalent to a tie in your state and in the electoral college) will almost certainly never occur,† Gelman, King and Boscardin wrote. Still, the odds of your one vote deciding a presidential election are still better than your odds of matching all six numbers of Powerball, which are smaller than 1 in 175 million. What Really Happens in Close Elections So what happens if an election really is decided by a single vote, or is at least pretty close? It’s taken out of the electorate’s hands. Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt, who wrote Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, pointed out in a 2005 column in The New York Times that extremely close elections are often settled not at the ballot box but in courtrooms. Consider President George W. Bush’s narrow victory in 2000 over Democrat Al Gore, which ended up being decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. â€Å"It is true that the outcome of that election came down to a handful of voters; but their names were Kennedy, OConnor, Rehnquist, Scalia, and Thomas. And it was only the votes they cast while wearing their robes that mattered, not the ones they may have cast in their home precincts,† Dubner and Levitt wrote. When One Vote Really Did Make a Difference The races won by a single vote, in addition to the new 1910 Congressional election in New York, according to Mulligan and Hunter, were: A 1978 race for Rhode Island state Senate was tied at 4,110 votes, and decided by a second runoff election. So was a 1980 race for New Mexico state House, at 2,327 votes for each candidate.A 1982 state House election in Maine in which the victor won 1,387 votes to the loser’s 1,386 votes.A 1982 state Senate race in Massachusetts in which the victor won 5,352 votes to the loser’s 5,351; a subsequent recount late found wider margin.A 1980 state House race in Utah in which the victor won 1,931 votes to the loser’s 1,930 votes.A 1978 state Senate race in North Dakota in which the victor won 2,459 votes to the loser’s 2,458 votes; a subsequent recount found the margin to be six votes.A 1970 state House race in Rhode Island in which the victor won 1,760 votes to the loser’s 1,759.A 1970 state House race in Missouri in which the victor won 4,819 votes to the loser’s 4,818 votes.And a 1968 state House race in Wisconsin in which the victor won 6,522 v otes to the loser’s 6,521 votes; a subsequent recount found the margin to be two votes, not one.

Nursing theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Nursing theory - Essay Example Orem’s nursing model recognizes universal self-care requirements namely, progressive self-care fundamentals, and health-deviation self- care basics. It evidences in importance of self-care and rehabilitation settings and encourages individual independence during treatments. Hence, self-care incorporates individuals own innovation and suitable implementation strategies for health improvement (Alligood, 2014). If a person takes full responsibility over his or her health, then self-care is achievable. Orem’s self-care theory explains complex interplay of patient’s psychological and socio-economic surroundings on health. Therefore, enlightens individuals to embrace appropriate life styles to minimize lifestyle diseases. Owing to the provisions Orem’s theory, nurse training takes into consideration the changing health care needs and teaches nurses to design issue specific nursing system for care delivery. The principal concepts of the theory identify self-care deficits and characterize individuals and nurse roles in addressing health demands. The components add to the nurses’ career skills to produce and efficiently manage the health scare systems. Therefore, the knowledge base enable nurses to determine extent of self-care need, assist clients to uphold a satisfactory state of self-care determine extent of nursing and utilize theories in practical cases. Since the nursing model centers on individuals capabilities, it helps nurses to conduct and empower people in order to promote healthy living. Dorothy Orem’s self-care system is an excellent education process component that helps students to learn the main health care concepts by examining individuals’ role or enhancing impressions of thought and feelings (Taylor & Renpenning 2011). Largely, the theory aims to overcome human  confines in the provision of nursing services and nursing education programs. The contemporary nursing

Argue that Austen's novel is a reflection of its revolutionary age Essay

Argue that Austen's novel is a reflection of its revolutionary age - Essay Example Sandwiched between her older sister Elizabeth who stands in for her mother in her widowed father’s esteem and affection and her younger sister Mary who has made and advantageous and fruitful marriage to a young man due to inherit his own landed estate, Anne’s curious social position allows her a possibility of social mobility that echoes the social shifts taking place across Europe. As a woman, Anne’s social position would be inherently precarious, dependent on her father first and then on the man she married. The undefined nature of an unmarried woman’s social standing gave young women a certain social mobility that was universally acknowledged. A young woman could marry her way into improved social standing – as Austen’s two Miss Bennets do with their marriages to Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice – or, as Lady Russell warns Anne Elliot in Persuasion, a bad marriage could plunge a poor young woman â€Å"into a state o f most wearing, anxious, youth-killing dependance.† (1158) As a member of the early-nineteenth century aristocracy, Anne is a member of a landed gentry that makes dubious claims about the inherent nobility of birth. For every prudent, thoughtful aristocrat like Emma’s Mr. Knightley, there is an equal an opposite aristocrat in the style of Anne’s father. Sir Walter takes inordinate pride in his ownership of Kellynch Hall and his storied family tree, but he himself has frittered away his family fortune to the point that he must lease his ancestral home in order to maintain his lifestyle. Tellingly, Sir Walter’s lessee is no landed gentleman or wealthy second son of a gentleman but a professional man, an admiral in the British navy, who can afford the rent and upkeep of the estate. Perhaps most interestingly, as a rational person, Anne is willing to be persuaded, as the novel’s title suggests. Though she has a healthy appreciation for tradition, Anne a ppreciates – and responds to – plain good

Hamlet †the Irony Essay -- Essays on Shakespeare Hamlet

Hamlet – the Irony  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   The existence of considerable irony within the Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet is a fact recognized by most literary critics. This paper will examine the play for instances of irony and their interpretation by critics.    In his essay â€Å"O’erdoing Termagant† Howard Felperin comments on Hamlet’s â€Å"ironic consciousness† of the fact that he is unable to quickly execute the command of the ghost:    Our own intuition of the creative or re-creative act that issued in the play also assumes a struggle with the literary past, but one of a more complex nature. It would seem to be Hamlet who is unable to impose successfully the model of an old play upon the intractable material of his present life, and Shakespeare who dramatizes with unfailing control the tragic conflict between his heroic effort to do so and his ironic consciousness that it cannot be done, with the inevitable by-products of hesitation and delay. (107-108)    Right at the outset of the drama, there is irony exhibited in the manner in which Shakespeare characterizes King Claudius – he is simply the perfect ruler – and yet, shortly hereafter when the ghost appears, he is revealed as a truly evil sort. George Lyman Kittredge, in his book, Five Plays of Shakespeare, describes the Bard’s excellent characterization of Claudius:    King Claudius is a superb figure – almost as great a dramatic creation as Hamlet himself. His intellectual powers are of the highest order. He is eloquent – formal when formality is appropriate (as in the speech from the throne), graciously familiar when familiarity is in place (as is his treatment of the family of Polonius), persuasive to an almost superhuman degree (as in his manipulation of the i... ...go: Greenhaven Press, 1996.    Rose, Mark. â€Å"Reforming the Role.† Modern Critical Interpretations: Hamlet. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986.    Rosenberg, Marvin. â€Å"Laertes: An Impulsive but Earnest Young Aristocrat.† Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Masks of Hamlet. Newark, NJ: Univ. of Delaware P., 1992.    Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html No line nos.    Wright, Louis B. and Virginia A. LaMar. â€Å"Hamlet: A Man Who Thinks Before He Acts.† Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Ed. Louis B. Wright and Virginia A. LaMar. N. p.: Pocket Books, 1958.      

Food Intake Analysis Essay

Yesterday morning is when I started my food intake analysis by writing down what I ate for the whole day an then go back to my work at night to figure out which foods I ate belonged to what food group. I entered my information to the BMI calculator and heres what my results are Based on the height and weight entered, the BMI is 18.6 , placing the BMI-for-age at the 31st percentile for boys aged 14 years 10 months. This teen has a healthy weight. Eating healthy foods Participating in physical activity on most (preferably all) days of the week Limiting television viewing I don’t even have cable so I don’t watch television, I BMX and play basket ball very often and I kept the eating healthy foods part in the back of my mind that day. For breakfast I ate one bowl of cereal and one cup of strawberries (6). The cereal is in the grains group and strawberries are in the fruits group. Later in the day I drank a small Blueberry Pomegranate smoothie from McDonalds which had fourteen ounces in it and belonged to the fruits group. I also bought a salad an that was part of the vegetables group,meats and beans group, the grains group and also the dairy group. For dinner I had one half of a steak which is in the means and beans group an had seven ounces in it. I also had one egg which is in the dairy group, one medium sized piece of fried doe which belongs to the grains group and one cup of milk. I think I did good eating, I dont see where I would try to make a better decision during that day besides maybe the smoothie from McDonalds but its a smoothie because they claim to use real fruit when they make them.

Analysis Of Lorenzo Ghibertis Genesis From TheGates Of...

In Lorenzo Ghiberti’s â€Å"Genesis from the ‘Gates of Paradise’† (c.1435)(fig.1), Giacomo Balla’s â€Å"Swifts: Paths of Movement and Dynamic Sequences† (c.1913) (fig.2) and Alexander Calder’s â€Å"Untitled† (c.1972)(fig.3) there is a theme of movement or more specifically flight. Each artwork portrays flight, however each has their own interpretation, use of medium, and innovation of their time period. Flight is a very broad term that can be defined in various ways. In the piece Swifts: Paths of Movement and Dynamic Sequences, Balla alludes to flight in the title as the â€Å"paths of movement in the title probably refer to the flight paths of swifts, while the beating of their wings are referred to as dynamic sequences†(Guggenheim). The dynamic†¦show more content†¦Balla, Ghiberti, and Calder all use different materials that make their piece unique to the category of flight and add to their effect of motion. Balla’s piece is a oil painting that is unique because the lines are layered making them seen woven into each other. Balla really used oil painting to its potential by using its ability to blend into softer tones to create the various layers of woven lines which create the dynamic movement. Ghiberti uses bronze, which is the hardest of the three materials. His bronze piece is well known around the world and has been critically acclaimed by Michelangelo. Ghiberti is able to capture flight with his minute details such as the lines that signify the air moving behind the angels making it realistic and adding to the importance of flight. In the installation Untitled, Calder positions triangular pieces that are red which contrast to the wedge-like black pieces in a natural curve giving the piece realism and balancing the positive and negative space. Because Calder used an aluminum material the mobile is light enough for air currents to move the sculpture to where it almost touches opposing walls. The various materials are a part of the artist’s interpretation and are further innovations of the theme flight. They elevate the work, and add to the dimension that is trying to be recreated. Not only do the pieces of Ghiberti, Balla, and Calder showcase flight, but they are also