Michelle Obama - FIRST LADY by Karine Percheron-Daniels

Hope for Africa

Magazine Fuera de Serie 2012/Aug/10

Ah, the formula for trivial controversy. The public loving or hating something is irrelevant as long as there is a buzz about it. A Spanish periodical, Magazine Fuera de Serie,  has published a photoshopped image of , a partially nude, First Lady Michelle Obama sitting with one breasts exposed.  Many in the American media claim it is insulting, the first black First Lady of the United States is being depicted as a slave. Based on the reaction to the image I assume that, generally speaking, Americans and surprisingly many in the media, have little knowledge of art and lack the motivation to research it before condemning it. I can't tell you the intentions in the heart and minds of the artists, the magazine's columnist or editors. I can give my interpretation.

The creator of the work, titled First Lady, is famous for her portraits of  Barak Obama, Einstein, Lennon, Yoko Ono, Che Guevara, Eva Peron, Prince William (surprisingly no Duuurty Harry), Duchess Of Cambridge, Lady Di, QEII, Liz Taylor, Abe Lincoln, Michael Jackson, for some reason the only person fully clothed, and others. She is artist, Karine Percheron-Daniels. In context with her other works FIRST LADY could be considered quite respectful. Many of her works, including depictions of members of the British Royal Family (pun intended) and other global icons, have subjects posed in full frontal nudity. If portraying a subject in the nude is disrespectful, let me tell you, this artist has much more respect for the FLOTUS than QEII or Lady Di and Prince William. That's good enough for me. 

On her FineArtInAmerica.Com profile she posted: 

STATEMENT: MICHELLE OBAMA NUDE AUGUST 2012 

If any of you have found this piece of art insulting I would like to say that my GENUINE intention was never to chock or upset anyone. 
I created this picture as part of a series of other famous nudes 
As an artist I only paint and create pictures of people I admire and feel passionate about 
Michelle Obama is one of these people. 
In my eyes , the picture I created here is of a beautiful woman with a beautiful message : The first Lady of America in the first time in history is a black woman who proudly and confidently displays her WOMANHOOD (the nude) her ROOTS (the slave) and her POWER(the First Lady of America embraced by the American flag). 
This picture, is a celebration of EVERYTHING GOOD, it is a celebration of achievment and in my opinion is not a racist slur. 

I am not a racist: I admire people regardless of their colour and this picture was ment to be a tribute....totally lost in translation . 

With my art I try and show beauty NOT DIRT. 

Thank you for reading 

 I would like to note that those who know their history and symbolism are aware the peace sign is also a death rune and broken cross of Nero. Many ideas can be attached to one symbol as can many symbols be to one idea. 

  Portrait D'une Negresse by Marie-Guillemine Benoist (1800)  

Percheron-Daniels is obviously making a symbolic connection. The original painting Portrait D'une Negresse by Marie-Guillemine Benoist, a 19th century feminist/humanist,  is not of a slave but of a free woman at the dawn of a new era for black people. First black FLOTUS - a free woman at the dawn of a new era for black people. There's even an American flag draped over her chair (nice touch). The original was "Painted six years after the abolition of slavery, this picture became a symbol for the emancipation of women and black people. At the time of its title, the word “Negress” wasn't pejorative."  wikipedia:Marie-Guillemine Benoist - Portrait D'une Negresse 

This is art not racism. It may be disturbing and provoking. It should make you think and discuss (and google). The artist, intentionally or not, is inciting the media and us to respond with a knee-jerk reaction based on what is from our perspective a negative interpretation. I would accept a prudish statement of "OMG her breast is exposed" over claims of racism. Percheron-Daniels seems quite even handed in what could be seen as her mockery of the ultraelite. 

IGNIS IGNIS CUM GNOSIDIS / IGNITE THE FIRE WITH KNOWLEDGE. Rage on a higher level, know what you are raging about and why. "You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every barking dog.-"Sr. Winston Churchill (Yeah, he's white but the quote really hit the final nail on the head).

President Barack Obama NudeStudy
by Karine Percheron-Daniels

If the FLOTUS picture was disrespectful then this is one of the POTUS is blasphemy. You could spin it another way and say black people are under represented in her sauna of an iconic art gallery. Only 3 out of 26 or that she could have been more generous to Barack with the brush stroes. 

I'm disappointed in the media in general these days and don't take much at face value. I've noticed a tendency towards shock value, lack of research, bias and extremely subjective cut and paste journalism. It took about 2 minutes to find out the story behind the original painting and another 2 to find out about the artist, look at her gallery and come to my own conclusion. Sometimes we need to travel a little higher up the mountain to see more of the horizon from multiple perspectives. 

Now that the excrement has hit the ventilation system the artsy set will say, "These people don't know the art, artist or their own history. Why are they so angry?" Wether one considers these works art or filth the Obamas are in excellent company in Karine's metaphoric sauna. Strictly steaming royalty and sweaty global icons. What a way to break the barrier. The elite adore things well hidden in plain sight. This time it's a compliment disguised as an insult. Sneaky buggers. What is really disturbing is all the talk about a nuuude portrait of Barbra Bush. No offence. Jus' sayin'.

Anyhooo, with or without intent, mission trivial controversy accomplished for the  Magazine Fuera de Serie, Karine and Marie. 

Snoop Lyin', Delirious Pimp, Nemo Homos,? Who knows?

 "In the very center of Hell, condemned for committing the ultimate sin (personal treachery against God), is Satan. Satan is described as a giant, terrifying beast with three faces, one red, one black, and one a pale yellow:

He had three faces: one in front bloodred;

and then another two that, just above

the midpoint of each shoulder, joined the first;

and at the crown, all three were reattached;

the right looked somewhat yellow, somewhat white;

the left in its appearance was like those

who come from where the Nile, descending, flows.

Satan is waist deep in ice, weeping tears from his six eyes, and beating his six wings as if trying to escape, although the icy wind that emanates only further ensures his imprisonment (as well as that of the others in the ring)."

No homo(phobia)? Hip-hop’s shift in anti-gay tone By MESFIN FEKADU
The Associated Press

First Published Aug 23 2012 07:26 pm 

New York • Snoop Dogg has rapped in songs where the f-word — the other f-word — has been tossed about. He’s even said it, part of a long list of rappers who have freely used the gay slur in rhyme.

For years, anti-gay epithets and sentiments in rap have largely been accepted, along with its frequent misogyny and violence, as part of the hip-hop culture — a culture that has been slow to change, even as gays enjoy more mainstream acceptance, particularly in entertainment.

Snoop Dogg Says Hip Hop Is Ready For Openly Gay Rapper by SLAVA KUPERSTEIN

posted August 26, 2012 at 1:30PM EDT

Snoop Dogg thinks Hip Hop's opinion on homosexuality has shifted.

I wonder if Snoop Lyin' feels the same way. You can't eat all the pies and have all the pies. Who is this guy, Marley reincarnated, Serious Pimp or Nemo Homos? I've got nothing against gays but Snoop is flip floppin' one day and hip poppin' the next. If he starts chanting FREE PUSSY RIOT, time to drip drop him. Actor can play Acta' but RASTA IS ALWAYS RASTA. C'mon dread.


 "Rastafari have also interpreted Biblical proclamations on homosexuality — such as Leviticus 18:22: "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination" — as proof of God's hatred of queers. Rastafari believe that homosexuality is a product of Babylon (corrupt modern society) and will not be found in Zion (the black homeland and birthplace of humanity)." Rastafari homophobia is biblical - Krishna Rau

Flip floppin', shoppin' and hip poppin.
Snoop Lyin', Delirious Pimp, Nemo Homos,
Bark for a Cure Doggie Bandana's - $6.66 (joke). 

I thought he was about to claim his soul back with the help of the Most High. Somewhere in the confusion of the gamble baalzebub may have won his mind as well. "Snake Eyes!" Fashion Dread on some high level POLITRICNOLOGY snakeoil sales for the Lord of the Flies. It seems he is attempting to KONY Rastafari, H.I.P. H.O.P., reggae and hip hop fans by Jafakin'. Snoopy jus' wan' fe sell everyting to everybatty. Love his music, acting (comedy) and charity football. Hell, I still love him. Is he committing  blasphemy motivated by greed, due to schizophrenia, a combination of the two? Perhaps he is just an enterprising Rasta gangsta'  who is concerned with the rights of gay men and lesbians.

I have no problem with gays but with the hypocrisy of simultaneously using Rastafari (personal treachery against God) and sympathizing with homosexuality to pimp out wares and earn up. Forget the red the black and the green a minute, pink is the flavor of the day we sellin'. No man can be all things to all people at all times.

PUSSY RIOT controversy: Radical Feminist Analysis

Pussy Riot: whose freedom, whose riot?

BY RADFEM NEWS SERVICE

Please reblog this radical feminist analysis of the Pussy Riot controversy.

Recently there has been lots of noise around the arrest of three members of Pussy Riot, a Russian anarchist female punk band. The media almost unequivocally represented them as the modern heroines of our time, fighting for freedom, democracy, sexual liberation and peace against a dark and ruthless dictatorship (articles are to be found in the NYT, Le Monde. The Guardian, etc.) Feminist groups all over the Western world are sending links and petitions to “free pussy riot”, and demonstrations have even been organised in support of the group by big institutionalised organisations such as “Osez le féminisme” (dare to be a feminist).

Now while I support without ambiguity the liberation of Pussy Riot’s members, it’s worth pausing for a minute to ask ourselves, as radical feminists, what the political dynamics are here. Why would Western media denounce so passionately the repression of feminists in Russia, when it usually only diffuses information that supports male supremacy and patriarchy? Feminism has long disappeared from any malestream media, except when journalists can turn it into male masturbation material, that is pornify either our suffering or our resistance to it. What’s going on here?

Before learning more about the case, the first thing that made me frown was the fact progressives were hailing Pussy Riot as the “new feminists”, despite that their name is fairly insulting to women. It is certainly not apolitical, since we are in a context in which pornography has deeply colonised our movement and the only groups that the media presents as feminist are those that either insult us or reclaim the very instruments of our subordination, that is, male sexual violence, PIV, pornified femininity and all the associated harmful cultural practices. These tactics of destroying the meaning of feminism form part of a general worldwide backlash against women.

I found it suspicious that Pussy Riot was getting so much media attention, even for pseudo feminist standards. You can measure the degree of feminism of an action by how men react to it, and if men collectively cheer and celebrate it, then you can be pretty sure there’s something wrong about it, or that it doesn’t somehow support our liberation from men. And as far as I can recall, even the slutwalks didn’t get as much coverage or public appraisal. What was it that men liked so much about Pussy Riot?

Well, under closer inspection I discovered that the high level of coverage was related to – though indirectly – promoting men’s right to women’s sexual subordination and the pornification of our movement. The arrested women actually form part (and are victims of) a mixed anarchist group called “Voina” (meaning “war”), founded in 2007 by two men called Oleg Vorotnikov and Leonid Nikolaïev, who regularly engage the women in extreme and degrading women-hating pornographyas part of their public “political stunts”. Some of Voina’s men have actually already been incarcerated in 2011 for hooliganism – which is punished for 7 years of prison in Russia, but their bail was paid for by an artist named “Banksy” four months after their imprisonment. (More information can be found here and here)

Included in their anti-government actions are a “public orgy” in the national museum of biology in a room full of stuffed bears, where several men anally penetrated their female partners in a position of submission, including one heavily pregnant women, as a metaphor to “bugger/fuck Medvedev”. “Medved” means “bear”, hence all the stuffed bears – this was meant to be symbolic, artistic and revolutionary according to the activists. Here the male anarchists literally used women as dead bodies or receptacles through which to make a political point to other men. Violating women as a means to offend other men is nothing else but an age-old patriarchal mechanism – behind which the intended target are us, for men to bond over our annihilation.

Another planned stunt in the name of “sexual freedom”, inspired by extreme forms of pornography such as zoophilia/ necrophilia, includes a member of Pussy Riot masturbating with a dead chicken in a supermarket under the watch and camera of the anarchist males, after which she inserts the dead chicken entirely into her vagina and hobbles with the chicken inside her out of the supermarket. This is how the male members themselves describe their act of “liberation”:

“How to Snatch a Chicken: A Tale of How One Cunt fed the Whole of the Group Voina… in honor of their hero,a 19th century political philosopher/prisoner, Voina’s president’s wife dubbed “Vacuous Cunt With Inconceivably Huge Tits,” smuggled a chicken out of a grocery store in said “Vacuous Cunt…”  [the journalist comments] : First, the troupe searched for a large and fresh enough chicken. Then, the store isles and CCTV cameras were blocked by the members of the group holding up banners with “FUCK WHORING YOURSELF!” smeared on them in I-don’t-want-to-know-what. The blockade allowed Vacuous Cunt to promptly stuff and smuggle the poultry out of the store, which was then presumably cooked and eaten.[1]

The president is presumably Oleg, and the woman in question, apparently his wife – a situation which would qualify as domestic abuse and sexual slavery given the level of violence, women-hatred and humiliation directed at the women involved. The woman is reduced to a corpse to be ‘stuffed’ in the most degrading and insulting way. No woman would desire such things as inserting a dead chicken in her vagina in public were she not under heavy control and terror. Also of note is the fact that one of their children was brought to this stunt, visibly no older than four. Sexual exhibitionism in the presence of children may also qualify as child sexual abuse. How deeply has women-hatred sunk into men’s minds, that they are incapable of imagining a riot without it being a by-the-book copy of a gonzo porn film? Here again, we see men instrumentalising women and using sexual torture of women as a means to communicate a political message (which if not totally vacuous, communicates nothing other than their hatred of women).

Perhaps the most saddening action of all consisted in filming one of the women naked, covered in cockroaches, meant to be understood as “sexy”. The association of women to filth and parasites to be eliminated couldn’t be clearer. This is women-hating, genocidal propaganda at its most dangerous form. Voina’s men give the world to see where women’s place must be, even when fighting against authoritarian regimes: head down, underneath men and fucked by them.

Now what does this mean for us, what can be understood from the media’s silence about Voina’s pornographic exploitation of women, when all the attention is focused on promoting Pussy Riot as our modern heroines? The effect and intent is political. While all the public eyes are set on the Russian representatives of the state and religion as the ultimate fascists, dictators and machos, we are made to forget that the primary oppressors and tyrants of these particular women are the men closest to them, that is, Voina’s men and their use of pornography to demean, oppress and enslave their female comrades. They are their everyday police, the fascists and colonisers breaking the women’s resistance, occupying their souls, sentencing them to public humiliation and subordinating them through sexual abuse. We are made to forget that these women are doubly victimised: first victims of the violence by the men of their own group, they are then punished and held responsible for the abuse committed against them.

By holding Pussy Riot as examples of resistance, being silent about the pornographic violence and denouncing the state and religious authority as the only oppressor, it follows that the media is complicit with the men from Voina. It protects the anarchist’s individual impunity, and more generally, furthers all men’s interest in promoting rape and women-hating propaganda. It also prevents women in general from identifying men’s sexual violence and the harms of the penis as the primary agents of our oppression. It distracts and disgusts women away from feminism. What kind of dignity and respect for our movement can women have if the only models of resistance given to us by the media are those to be seen by millions of men as humiliated, soiled and degraded in this way?  Even the most brave and valiant women, who fight bare handed and alone against Putin and the religious authority, must be shown by men to the world as surrendering and conquered.

If we want justice for the women imprisoned and to show true solidarity, we need to not only denounce the injustice by the Russian state, but also denounce the violence by the men from Voina. We need to recognise and openly denounce the pandemic levels of sexual violence present in most male-centric leftist or anarchist activist groups, whereby women are often pimped by the men of the group for pornography or expected to submit to extremely violent or degrading acts in the name of “sexual freedom”. What counts for these men is to fight for men’s total public access to women, especially militant women, because it really serves to put all women back in line. The weapon of mass destruction against women is the penis and this is why all men are focusing on making Putin look bad while they say nothing about the bastards of Voina.

For our sisters, for all women, we need to say out loud that this is not feminism.

–  RADFEM NEWS SERVICE

[1]http://www.animalnewyork.com/2010/voinas-latest-action-is-fowl/ (Warning! Pornographic still image included in this link.)

VOINA’S LATEST ACTION IS FOWL

By Marina Galperina | July 26, 2010 - 10:45AM

Russia’s shock/protest art group Voina takes it to the next level of WTF with their latest action, “How to Snatch a Chicken: A Tale of How One Cunt fed the Whole of the Group Voina.”Now picture that in the most literal and unhygienic way possible… Yup.

While their previous actions like the Giant Galactic Space Dick-ing of a St. Petersburg bridge were eloquent acts of political vandalism, it’s been all cockroaches and food fights with them, recently.

Most recently, in honor of their hero, a 19th century political philosopher/prisoner, Voina’s president’s wife dubbed “Vacuous Cunt With Inconceivably Huge Tits,” smuggled a chicken out of a grocery store in said “Vacuous Cunt.”

See the extremely NSFW video below (and photos here). First, the troupe searched for a large and fresh enough chicken. Then, the store isles and CCTV cameras were blocked by the members of the group holding up banners with “FUCK WHORING YOURSELF!” smeared on them in I-don’t-want-to-know-what. The blockade allowed Vacuous Cunt to promptly stuff and smuggle the poultry out of the store, which was then presumably cooked and eaten.

So… are they still a performance art group or a XXX version of Jackass?

ANIMALNEWYORK

Tags: Art, bring back the classsics, disgusting, gross, NSFW, Performance Art, Rusky Beat, Russia,Voina, voina handbook

Radfem News Service

Pussy Riot's Hope Tolokonnikova

Hope Tolokonnikova & her husband Pyotr Verzilov participated in public group sex at the Moscow Biological Musem - 2008

The nine months pregnant woman is Hope Tolokonnikova. She is, a now jailed member of Pussy Riot, "demonstrating" with Voina, the organization behind PR (Pussy Riot or Public Relations). No wonder PR don't produce quality music and only have six songs. They must be busy and too tired from making public gang-bang porn. "Let's get "woof woofed" in a museum for free speech and women's rights." Incredible idea (sarcasm). Uninformed feminists and clicktivists KONYed by MASSA MEDIA into supporting PR, a bunch of mindless anti-Putin trisexual anarchists.

CNN interviewed her husband,,Pyotr Verzilov, (He's behind her all the way pushing forward, as can be seen in the video) and passed him off as some kind of saint to the American public. They won't be showing the video posted below. They failed to menton the public group sex and other antics the good old folks at Voina/PR get up to. You know how mainstream USA loves their public group sex especially if it's for a good cause. I may be wrong but even Madonna wouldn't pull a stunt like that (probably mostly for legal reasons). 

Why do these crazy KONY/PR stunts seem to end up in some public nudity scandal?

Article and video from  LIVELEAK

Voina fucks for the heir Puppy Bear

On February 29 Voina has staged the "Fuck for the heir Puppy Bear!" action.
The action took place in Moscow's Biological museum in time for the upcoming presidential elections in Russia.
The collective fuck action in the space of a museum is our parting wish to the young leader at the beginning of his long path, our way of artistically supporting the yet inexperienced Puppy Bear.
As usual, the public and civic order guards decided not to intervene with the course of the action.

http://ru.indymedia.org/newswire/display/20133/index.php
A spectator's account - http://plucer.livejournal.com/55710.html

The action was announced on February 23 at a political rally of the "United Russia Young Guard" youth movement. Video and photo accounts of the action's announcement:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-ZY3Yo-2Ks
http://ru.indymedia.org/newswire/display/20111/index.php

Translated article from Russian blog Cyanomod Live Journal.

A little about Hope Tolokonnikova

• Mar. 9th, 2012 at 2:41 AM

Hope Tolokonnikova, feminist, activist, fag. fag parade in Moscow in May 2011 Campaign "kiss Garbage" Tolokonnikova during the shooting of the next action in the company of cockroaches: This includes being pregnant for 9 months took part in a group pornography. February 29, 2008 at the Biological Museum in Moscow held a campaign called "Ebis the heir to the Bear!". "Collective Fucking in the museum space - our artistic support more inexperienced Bear at the beginning a long journey." - so participants explained their escapade. Four days after This orgy fucking baby. The day after the March of Dissent, where she went with the poster "I fuck bear". In 2009, Hope Tolokonnikova hounded out of the art group "War" with the words "for the provocation and the surrender of the activists to the police." Even these perverts did not stand mindless behavior girl. Here's what they write about and expelled Tolokonnikova Peter Verzilova named "Peter-pidorok" on the official website :

- Hope Tolokonnikova (Nadia Oatmeal, Trolokno), Peter Verzilov (Petya-Pidarok, Piglet Peter) Nadia Tolokonnikova - student dropouts from Norilsk, Peter Verzilov - young rascal with a Canadian passport in his pocket, they were extras on the actions of a few, but was not authors of a single idea. All this does not prevent them to call themselves all Muscovites and group leaders.

The "war" on them and subsequently continued trying to distance itself . But Tolokonnikova and uses "brand." And of course blasphemous outburst Tolokonnikova at Christ the Savior is obvious that the girl, to say the least, inadequate.

Tags:

• Hope Tolokonnikova

WILL THE REAL PuSsY RiOt PLEASE STAND UP.

PuSsY RiOt

LUISA* Drums
KATERINA* Guitar/Screams
ANASTASIA* Bass
Genre: Alternative/Grunge
Location: Termoli/Bologna, IT
Website: Myspace.com/PuSsY RiOt

What's your alltime favorite PUSSY RIOT album, song, lyric? Aha... I don't like it but I've got to use the term SHEEPLE. I just saw the original Italian PuSsy RiOt, founded in 2004's Myspace page. They sound good, like a mixture of Fuzzbox and Motorhead. Lightyears ahead of their Russian namesake because they are an actual BAND. They have playlist, albums, a record label etc. Anyhoo the bandwagoneers are leaving messages of support for the anti-Putin PR (Pussy Riot or Public Relations? lol). Hello, wrong band in the wrong country! The sadness of flavor of the moment CLICKTIVISM. KONYed again by the Majik of Massa Media using PR .

Киска бунт! Нет! 

I am not trying to offend anyone but my opinion is that PR is a farce. They are the new Invisible Children. Six "songs" and five videos since the end of 2011 do not a great band make. The band has been together for nine months, five of which were spent in jail. That's four months as a "band". Taste is subjective but technically their music is laughable. They pop up out of nowhere do an anti-Putin PR stunt and suddenly music legends and the media are swarming around them like they are steaming Lords of the Flies.                                                                                      

I understand the causes of freedom and equality are worthy ones but I question the amount of media this "band" has received. While this circus was going on Moscow banned all LGBT marches for 100 years, the USA arrested a Marine, Brandon Raub, for his anti-government posts on FB, 85 000 people in central Africa have contracted cholera (found out because my friend in Sierra Leone is shitting his pants and has isolated himself on his farm - 200 dead there 6000 infected) and the list goes on. Where is the western media?!

PR desacralized the state church in Putin's Russia. They were practically begging to be arrested. They were and have been punished leniently, two of a possible seven years. They will do their time in the gulag under the microscope of the international media and emerge as international pop icons. In the age of Obama citizens in the USA's  fear law enforcement for the "crime" of "walking or driving while brown". Wearing masks staging a PR stunt/Flashmob/concert in a place of worship in Washinton, DC without permission and harassing clergy (suicide mission)?!

The same people that sold KONY 2012 are now selling PR. FYI Suzanne Nossel, the head of USA Amnesty International is a Hilary Clinton Aide. Hmmm...

Excuse my grumpy old man rantings but it's my truth. I have a feeling the west is using PR a la Invisible Children in an attempt to shame Putin and put him between a rock and a hard place over a trivial controversy. You can make up your own mind.

The hypocrisy of Witchhunting witches hunting Witchhunting witches. Which is which? -EXHALE

Maybe PR would be free if they knew these lyrics or maybe they are not because they do.

JPD RECONSTUCTION VIDEO CHAVIS CARTER DEATH

KAIT-Jonesboro, AR-News, weather, sports, classifieds
KAIT-Jonesboro, AR-News, weather, sports, classifieds

VIGIL FOR CHAVIS CHACOBIE CARTER

ABC24 - MEMPHIS.

READ THE POLICE REPORT

Vigil Held as Mysterious "Suicide" Investigation Continues

Reported by: Eli Ross 

Email: eross@abc24.com

JONESBORO, AR (abc24.com) - More than 200 people packed a candlelight vigil, as a city continues to search for answers more than a week after a Southaven man was found dead in the back of a Jonesboro Police patrol car. The man, Chavis Carter, 21, had a gunshot wound to the head.

"The type of person he was, he was just so full of life, a good person." said Demetris Itson, Carter's longtime friend.

The vigil comes as the FBI and Jonesboro Police continue to investigate Carter's death. What we do know is that Carter was pulled over after a traffic stop on July 29th.

Police say they searched Carter twice, handcuffed him and put him in the back of the patrol car.

What still isn't clear is how Carter ended up with a gunshot wound to the head.

Police say they recovered a .380 caliber semiautomatic handgun from near Carter, but it is also not clear how the gun ended up there.

"I don't see him doing it to himself, that is crazy to me. That's not real to me," Itson said.

Teresa Carter, Carter's mother, attended the vigil, and spoke briefly to thank everyone for attending.

Police said Monday they continue to investigate, and are waiting for results from the State Crime Lab.

"Even though it is sad, to see everyone come together like this ya know, come out and show love and support, it is beautiful," said Itson, as he looked around the vigil.

Jonesboro PD: Suspect's Alleged Suicide "Remains Unexplained"