Category: Race,

Alabama police leave black woman topless after violent arrest, video shows

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Race,Leave a comment

Alabama police leave black woman topless after violent arrest, video shows | US news | The Guardian4

All three officers should be immediately stripped of their badges and arrested for assault. But if they are not stripped (immediately and permanently)of their badges then Saraland cannot claim to be a place of law and order.

IF it occurs to you to ask whether or not I think due process should slow that process? You show me officers in one of these situations that did not go immediately to violent extremes and appoint themselves judge, jury and executioner. If that is the kind of law they are upholding, then that is the kind of law that they deserve to experience.

Philadelphia’s top cop apologizes to black men arrested at Starbucks – CNN

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Local Interest,, Race,Leave a comment

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross apologized Thursday to two black men who were arrested while waiting for a business meeting at Starbucks, saying he made the situation worse by initially defending his officers’ actions.

…”The optics are not lost on me. It is obvious the issue of race is indicative of a larger problem in our society, and I should not at all be the person that is a party to making anything worse relative to race relations. Shame on me if in anyway if I have done that. … I have to do better.”

No charges were filed against the men.*****

Philadelphia’s top cop apologizes to black men arrested at Starbucks – CNN

Damn straight, you should have done better!

***** = IT’s important to note, especially in light of this apology, that the reason these men were not charged with a crime is not be cause the police decided on their own to release them. It is because the DA’s office declined to prosecute.

Diante Yarber: Police kill black father with barrage of bullets in Walmart parking lot

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Diante Yarber: Police kill black father with barrage of bullets in Walmart parking lot | US news | The Guardian

Aghgggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Until our police officers are prosecuted for the cold-blooded murders and inexcusable and life-endangering lapses in judgement they make we might as well be a nation without any laws.

Philadelphia mayor ‘heartbroken’ after black men arrested at Starbucks

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Mayor Jim Kenney said the coffee giant’s apology was not enough and that the city Commission on Human Relations will examine the firm’s policies and bias training provided its employees.

“I am heartbroken to see Philadelphia in the headlines for an incident that — at least based on what we know at this point — appears to exemplify what racial discrimination looks like in 2018,” Kenney said in a statement.

…“What did they get called for, because there were two black guys sitting here to meet me,” Yaffe says on the video. “What did they do? What did they do?”

A woman can be heard saying, “they didn’t do anything, I saw the entire thing.”

Starbucks: Philadelphia police chief backs cops who arrested black men

The police chief’s loyalty to the thin blue over the community he serves and the law they are supposed to uphold is gross. He needs to go.

The Starbucks Arrests and the Toll of Routine Bias

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Race,Leave a comment

Over the weekend, a viral video showing the unwarranted arrests of two black men at a Philadelphia Starbucks led to protests and calls for a nationwide boycott of Starbucks.

…In her tweets highlighting the episode, Melissa DePino, who is white, said that the police had been called since the men hadn’t ordered anything, but they hadn’t ordered anything because they were still waiting to meet a friend. That friend, a white real-estate developer named Andrew Yaffe, arrived after the police and can be seen confronting the officers in both videos, asking them why they were called, and wondering aloud if it was “’cause there are two black guys sitting here meeting me?” Other people in the Starbucks can also be heard saying that the men did nothing wrong.

In the longer video, before the men are handcuffed, Yaffe tells the police that he and his friends will just leave and go somewhere else, but one of the officers dismisses the idea.

“They’re not free to leave,” the officer replies. “We’re done with that.”

The officers then handcuff the men, who do not resist, and take them outside.

…The Philadelphia police later said that the men were arrested for “defiant trespassing,” but were released about nine hours later, at 2 a.m. Friday, after the Starbucks employees and the district attorney’s office declined to press charges.

…One patron who spoke with WPTI-TV confirmed that the incident began after the men were refused access to the restroom, but she claimed that the Starbucks manager did not ask the men to buy something or leave, and just called the police instead. She also said that she had seen a white woman obtain the code for the bathroom without buying something right before the men were arrested, and that during the incident, another person in the Starbucks announced that she had been sitting in the location for hours without purchasing anything.

…No witnesses have described anything the men did that could qualify as causing a “disturbance.”

…[Melissa DePino]is trying to raise white awareness about white cluelessness when it comes to understanding racial discrimination and bias.

“Ever since I posted [the video],” she tweeted on Friday, “I’ve had white strangers AND friends say ‘there must be something more to this story.’ That assumption is a big part of the problem.”

…As Owens and many others have tried to explain this weekend, some variation of what happened in that one Starbucks happens every day all over the country to a lot more people than most of us realize. Addressing it will demand attention and empathy, from outside communities of color, at times when there is no spectacle or novelty to focus on, or corporation’s app to delete, or white woman’s cell-phone video to share.

The Starbucks Arrests and the Toll of Routine Bias

First off, so much for the bs story from Philly’s top Uncle Tom, err, I mean top cop’s story that the officers didn’t want to arrest the two gentlemen involved.

And secondly?

sigh……..

SCOTUS nixes part of law requiring deportation of immigrants convicted of some crimes

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The Supreme Court on Tuesday invalidated a provision of federal law that requires the mandatory deportation of immigrants who have been convicted of some “crimes of violence,” holding that the law is unconstitutionally vague.

…As expected after the oral argument, Justice Neil Gorsuch joined with the more liberal justices for the first time since joining the court to produce a 5-4 majority invalidating the federal statute. In doing so, Gorsuch was continuing the jurisprudence of Justice Antonin Scalia, who also sided with liberals when it came to the vagueness of statutes used to convict criminal defendants.

SCOTUS nixes part of law requiring deportation of immigrants convicted of some crimes – CNNPolitics

hmmmm

Black Marjory Stoneman Douglas Students Say Police at School Make Them “Feel Like Prisoners”

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Race,, Schools,Leave a comment

As reported by the Miami Herald and documented in tweets from WLRN reporter Nadege C. Green, students held a press conference Wednesday to show a more diverse image of their high school, where black students make up 11 percent of the student body, according to the Herald. They wanted to address the predominately white image portrayed in the national media coverage following the February 14 mass shooting. Those students, including Mei-Ling Ho-Shing, a 17-year-old junior, spoke up about wanting to be represented in the national conversation around March For Our Lives, especially because gun violence impacts communities of color (and particularly, as per a 2015 Brookings Institute report, young black men.)

…“I know a lot of minorities are not joining us because they don’t see people like them talking about it,” Mei-Ling told Teen Vogue. The students she joined on Wednesday said they wholeheartedly support the movement and just want to be seen as a part of it.

…[Kai Koerber, a 17-year-old junior] said the heightened police presence at MSD that has come in response to the shootings is an alarming trend.

“It’s bad enough we have to return with clear backpacks,” he said at the press conference. “Should we also return with our hands up?”

For Kai, adding more police officers is far more concerning than reassuring. U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights data indicates that black students are disproportionately arrested at schools compared to their peers, as PBS reported. Kai told Teen Vogue that he has already been racially profiled at school by an officer.

https://twitter.com/ChaniceALee/status/979135379206037504

“If we are going to have more police officers at school, that only makes the problem worse,” he said. “We are trying heal from the tragedy we experienced, but we’re being made to feel like prisoners.”

Black Marjory Stoneman Douglas Students Say Police at School Make Them “Feel Like Prisoners” | Teen Vogue

sigh….

Trump judicial nominee refuses to say if landmark civil rights opinion was correctly decided

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, Education,, Race,Leave a comment

Wendy Vitter..who is the General Counsel of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans and is married to former Louisiana Republican Sen. David Vitter, who was implicated in the sex scandal concerning the so called “DC Madam” back in 2007… [Vitter]refused on Wednesday to say whether a landmark civil rights opinion was correctly decided, triggering outrage and renewed criticism of the President’s efforts to reshape the judiciary.

….Brown v. the Board of Education — a seminal opinion that held that state laws requiring separate but equal schools violated the Constitution.
“I don’t mean to be coy,” Vitter, who is up for a seat on the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, said at her confirmation hearing, “but I think I can get into a difficult, difficult area when I start commenting on Supreme Court decisions — which are correctly decided and which I may disagree with.”

Trump judicial nominee refuses to say if landmark civil rights opinion was correctly decided – CNNPolitics

…That fuck?!!

Purchase of Mount Ida is an insult to UMass Boston

On By peanutgallerynhIn Boston,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Race,, Schools,Leave a comment

[UMass Boston] …students — who make up the most diverse campus in New England — are getting another painful lesson about where they stand in the university pecking order. As low as it goes.

…The 72-acre Mount Ida campus will give UMass Amherst students a pastoral base of operations for internships and academic collaborations in Boston. Meanwhile, UMass Boston students have endured months of administrative turmoil and cold-hearted cost-cutting on a campus infamous for its crumbling infrastructure.

…And now Meehan, with customary rubber-stamped approval from the UMass board, is taking on debt at Mount Ida that is estimated to run from $55 million to $70 million.

……The memo states that the university will cut the funding for the centers and institutes that require the biggest subsidies. They include the William Monroe Trotter Institute for the Study of Black Culture, the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy, the Institute for New England Native American Studies, the Labor Resource Center, and the Center for Social Policy.

…Mills is closing the deficit by slicing away at programs that make up the heart and soul of UMass Boston. The cuts are not coming from the top. They are coming from the most vulnerable — children, women, veterans, and minorities.

…The cuts will reportedly save up to $1.5 million out of a $430 million operating budget. Meanwhile, there’s enough money in the overall system to take on debt-ridden Mount Ida and send its students to UMass Dartmouth at a reduced rate.

Purchase of Mount Ida is an insult to UMass Boston – The Boston Globe

Jeezus…

Secret use of census info helped send Japanese Americans to internment camps in WWII

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It is illegal to release information that would identify individuals or families.

But that does not mean that census data has not been used to target specific populations in the past.

In fact, information from the 1940 Census was secretly used in one of the worst violations of constitutional rights in U.S. history: the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

…Even lawful disclosures can raise alarms. The Census Bureau came under scrutiny in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, when the bureau gave publicly available information to the Department of Homeland Security about neighborhoods that were home to large numbers of Arab Americans.

Secret use of census info helped send Japanese Americans to internment camps in WWII – The Washington Post

Aghhhhhhhhh

Black Stoneman Douglas Shooting Survivors: Minority Voices

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Race,, Schools,Leave a comment

“We are proud to say we are from Douglas, we are proud to say that those who are at the front are doing a great job, but we have so much to say too,” Mei-Ling Ho-Shing said.

A black male student gave a speech about police having PTSD and “mentally ill” police officers on campus that may racially profile students and treat them as “potential criminals.”

“It is estimated that one-in-three police officers suffer from untreated post-traumatic stress disorder,” student Kai Koerber said. “When mentally ill police officers are invited to safeguard a traumatized student body that becomes a recipe for disaster. Police need to stay on the perimeter of our schools. Those chosen to work at school should receive PTSD counseling and special diversity training,”

Black Stoneman Douglas Shooting Survivors: Minority Voices Not Valued As Much As White Students | Video | RealClearPolitics

hmmmm

Stephon Clark shot 8 times, mostly in the back, private autopsy finds

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Unarmed Stephon Clark was shot eight times — mostly in the back — by two Sacramento police officers in his grandmother’s backyard, according to an independent autopsy released Friday.

…”This independent autopsy affirms that Stephon was not a threat to police and was slain in another senseless police killing under increasingly questionable circumstances,” said Benjamin Crump, a high-profile civil rights attorney hired by Clark’s family.

…Crump said the results directly contradict the narrative from Sacramento police and shows Clark wasn’t a threat.

…The narrative that had been put forth is that they had to open fire because he was charging at them.

…Clark didn’t immediately die from his wounds, he said, even though just one of the wounds could have been fatal on its own.

Authorities have said several minutes passed before Clark was treated because of fears he was armed.

“Whether you’re fatally wounded or not you should receive immediate and timely medical and surgical intervention,” Omalu said, citing the 2011 shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

She survived after being shot in the head “because of the timely, immediate medical and surgical intervention,” he said, adding “every minute you wait decreases the probability of survival.”

Stephon Clark shot 8 times, mostly in the back, private autopsy finds

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

We’re at a point in our society where officers sworn ot uphold the law and protect the citizenry from harm routinely murder the very citizens they are sworn to protect and afterwards lie about the circumstances of these cold-blooded killings to justify their actions and normalize their dangerous incompetence, inability to think calmly under pressure, and clearly racist paranoias.

If a civilian committed these acts we would be calling for the death penalty. Until we treat violent murderers in police uniforms the same as we would a poor person of color we are a nation without law and order.

Black Marjory Stoneman Douglas students feel overlooked

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Black students gathered in Parkland Wednesday said they felt overlooked and underrepresented by both the media and their peers leading the charge for more gun control. And some of the solutions meant to keep them safer in the wake of a gunman slaughtering 17 of their classmates leave them feeling more afraid than before.

Kai Koerber, a 17-year-old Marjory Stoneman Douglas student, returned to school after the shooting to see his slain classmates’ empty desks turned into memorials — and a campus swarming with police officers. To him, extra cops around doesn’t mean more people to protect him; it means more chances to become a victim of police brutality.

…Kai worries that police will racially profile students and treat them as “potential criminals,” particularly students of color.

“It’s bad enough we have to return with clear backpacks,” he said. “Should we also return with our hands up?”

Black Marjory Stoneman Douglas students feel overlooked | Miami Herald

hmmmm

Black students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS want to be heard

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Race,, Schools,Leave a comment

“I would say that our voices were not intentionally excluded, but they were not intentionally included,” said Kai Koerber, a junior. “Now more than ever, it is time to represent the diversity of our school, and the diversity in the world.”

…About 11% of the high school’s 3,000 students are black, and some say their concerns about gun violence are not getting enough attention, WPEC reported.

“We are proud to say that we’re from Douglas,” student Mei-Ling Ho-Shing told reporters Wednesday, WPEC-TV reported.

“We are proud to say that those who are in the front are doing a great job, but we also have so much to say.”

…”The police are making their own rules and are turning our school into a police state,” he said. “Every day, students lose more and more freedoms at MSD. Students of color have become targets and white students have become suspects. …”

“Students of color, black and brown students, like myself have been racially profiled while we are on heightened alert, fearing the emergence of another Caucasian shooter,” [Junior, Kai] Koerber said.

“I would like to see us not only reclaim our school, but our right to privacy on campus. We do not welcome the militarization of MSD. It is terrible to see our school lose control over the protection of their students and their facilities.”

Black students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS want to be heard – CNN

Yup.

Parkland Student David Hogg Says Black Classmates Weren’t Given a Voice by Media

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Speaking at an Axios event Friday focused on the gun debate, Hogg was asked about where the news media tripped up in its coverage of the tragic shooting at his Parkland, Florida school that left 17 people dead.

“Not giving black students a voice,” Hogg responded, via Axios. “My school is about 25 percent black, but the way we’re covered doesn’t reflect that.”

Parkland Student David Hogg Says Black Classmates Weren’t Given a Voice by Media

hmmmm

17 States, 7 Cities Sue To Remove Citizenship Question From 2020 Census

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New York state is leading a group of 17 states, seven cities and the U.S. Conference of Mayors in a lawsuit against the Census Bureau and Commerce Department to try to remove a new citizenship question from the 2020 census questionnaire. It comes more than a week after California filed a similar lawsuit in San Francisco federal court against Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who oversees the bureau, and Census Bureau officials.

The states joining New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s lawsuit filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court are Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington. The cities are Washington, D.C.; Chicago; New York; Philadelphia; Providence, R.I.; Seattle; and San Francisco, plus the United States Conference of Mayors, a bipartisan group.

The census has not asked all U.S. households about citizenship since 1950.

17 States, 7 Cities Sue To Remove Citizenship Question From 2020 Census : NPR

hmmmm

Israel Reaches Deal To Send 16,000 African Immigrants To West

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Israel said on Monday it has canceled a plan to deport African migrants to Africa and reached an agreement with the U.N. refugee agency to send more than 16,000 to Western countries instead.

Other migrants, many of whom are seeking asylum, will be allowed to remain in Israel for at least the next five years, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

Netanyahu named Canada, Italy and Germany as some of the nations that will take in the migrants – although they appeared not to have been informed of the plan yet.

Israel Reaches Deal To Send 16,000 African Immigrants To West – The Forward

hmmmm