Racial Justice

Rightwing Media Exploits Unrest To Push “Race War” Narrative

April 27, 2015 Adam Johnson, www.alternet.org Resist! #BlackLivesMatter, Black Lives Matter (BLM), Media, Racial Justice

When Breitbart’s Matt Boyle isn’t framing xenophobia as “pro-worker” or rambling on about a big gay hate machine (don’t ask), he’s attending baseball games with his family. A harmless enough act, and one I’m glad to see rightwing demagogues and communists alike can agree is a wonderful way to spend a spring evening. While attending last night’s Orioles game, however, things quickly got out of hand for the Breitbart journo when unrest resulting from the apparent police killing of Freddie Gray boiled over into property damage and “clashes” between police and angry citizens outside of Camden Yards baseball stadium. Boyle's piece begins with the type of breathless hysteria one would expect from Breitbart: WAR ZONE: BALTIMORE ERUPTS INTO VIOLENCE, CHAOS AS #BLACKLIVESMATTER RIOTS RAGE.

Baltimore Police Acknowledge Mistakes In Freddie Gray’s Death

April 25, 2015 Luke Broadwater, www.baltimoresun.com Educate! Baltimore, police brutality, Police the Police, Racial Justice

Baltimore officials braced for large-scale protests Saturday over of the death of Freddie Gray, top police brass acknowledged that officers made mistakes during the arrest that ended with his slipping into a coma and dying a week later. At a news conference Friday at police headquarters, Commissioner Anthony W. Batts said protesters have a right to speak out, but he urged them to remain nonviolent. He also provided an update on the investigation, saying that officers violated department policies while Gray was in their custody. Police said Gray, who was dragged by officers to a transport wagon, should have gotten immediate medical attention. Batts said the department is investigating whether Gray's injuries resulted from his arrest or a "rough ride" — in which police vans are driven erratically to harm unbuckled, handcuffed detainees.

Baltimore Protests: 2 Arrested As Gov. Sends State Troopers

April 24, 2015 RT, www.rt.com Resist! Baltimore, police brutality, Police the Police, Protest, Racial Justice

Baltimore residents and police clashed as people marched downtown to protest the mysterious death of Freddie Gray in police custody. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said he will send 32 state troopers to the city in order to oversee demonstrations. No concrete numbers are in, but hundreds of protesters took to the streets of downtown Baltimore, rallying in front of City Hall and the US Courthouse while calling for justice in Gray’s death. The 25-year-old African-American man died as a result of a severe spinal cord injury, though it’s unclear exactly how or when he was hurt. His funeral is set for Monday. As demonstrators marched through the streets, they chanted phrases such as, "All night, all day – we’re going to fight for Freddie Gray” and “Hands up, don’t shoot!”

Taking Bold Action For Justice

April 21, 2015 Margaret Flowers, www.clearingthefogradio.org Resist! police brutality, Racial Justice

Maria and her family tried to make sense of the tragic circumstances which took Dontre from them at the age of 31, and waited and worked to obtain justice for their son and brother. Maria came to know the suffering which has been visited on all too many black mothers whose children have been victims of police or vigilante violence. Unarmed young black men in particular have been effectively executed for minor crimes, such as jaywalking, suspected theft of cigars, selling loose cigarettes, shoplifting, or, as in the cases of Trayvon Martin and Dontre Hamilton, the noncriminal acts of making white people uncomfortable or fearful in public. Maria determined to reach out to other bereaved mothers, in an effort to support each other and to advocate together for justice, and for a humane response and recognition from their fellow citizens. Thus began Mothers for Justice United.

Seattle Activists Fight Building Of New Youth Jail

April 21, 2015 Megan Sherman, www.therealnews.com Resist! Criminal Justice, Mass Incarceration, Racial Justice, Seattle

With the prospect for a new $210 million juvenile jail looming in Seattle, a coalition of activists group held what's known as a people's tribunal to formulate strategies to fight it. Ariel Hart, a youth organizer with YUIR, Youth Undoing Institutional Racism, talks about the purpose of the tribunal. ARIEL HART, YOUTH ORGANIZER, YUIR: It is important that as we're organizing, as we're trying to talk to the politicians and dismantle the system that we're building and we're healing and we're growing our community. SHERMAN: The struggle to block the jail comes as troubling statistics show African-American youth are disproportionately ensnared in the city's juvenile justice system.

For Every 1,000 People Killed By Police, Only 1 Is Convicted

April 18, 2015 Josie Wales, www.alternet.org Educate! Criminal Justice, Inequality, Law, police brutality, Racial Justice

A new study released by the Washington Post reveals that for every 1000 people killed at the hands of police, only one officer is convicted of a crime. Since 2005, although there have been thousands of fatal shootings by police officers, only 54 have been charged. Of those charged, most were cleared or acquitted. It stands to reason that if there are thousands of fatalities due to police shootings, the number of police charged would be much higher than it is. According to the analysis, in order for prosecutors to press charges, there had to be exceptional factors at play. These include “a video recording of the incident, a victim shot in the back, incriminating testimony from other officers or allegations of a coverup.” According to Bowling Green criminologist Philip M. Stinson, “To charge an officer in a fatal shooting, it takes something so egregious, so over the top that it cannot be explained in any rational way. It also has to be a case that prosecutors are willing to hang their reputation on.”

Diversifying The Environmental Movement Isn’t Enough

April 17, 2015 Olivia Aguilar, www.truth-out.org Strategize! Economic Justice, Environmental Justice, Racial Justice

We have known for quite a while the environmental movement is stubbornly White. Most recently, Barbara Grady, of GreenBiz Group, noted that improvements are in the works, citing that the leaders of the EPA and NRDC were women of color. Unfortunately, this doesn't address the elephant in the room. Environmentalists don't have a diversity problem, they have an identity problem. And it's rooted in a racist history and unchecked biases. The past is complex. Historians have noted that even in the early 19th century, long before the modern environmental movement began, racist rhetoric was used to push for clearing Native Americans from potential land preserves. Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, published in 1962, did little to help.

Walter Scott, Million Moms March & Stop Mass Incarceration

April 16, 2015 Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, www.blackagendareport.com Organize! Mass Incarceration, police brutality, Racial Justice, Resistance

The killing of black men in America appears to have reached epidemic proportions. The fact of the matter is that murder of black men has remained a closely held prerogative of white supremacy exercised by agents of the state since the arrival of Africans in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619. These agents, purveyors of state-sponsored violence in African communities, discharge their lethal weapons with effectiveness and efficiency under the cover of law. These agents have been known by various titles throughout US history: slave patrols, Klu Klux Klan, plantation owners, White Citizens’ Council or police officers. Last week, National Coast Guard veteran Walter Scott, 50 joined the thousands of black boys, men and women whose blood has soaked the soil of America and who die alone, frightened and terrorized while their assassins laugh at their handiwork.

Story Of Danielle Hicks-Best

April 15, 2015 Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, www.blackagendareport.com Educate! Criminal Justice, Law, Police the Police, Racial Justice

An 11 year old African girl, Danielle Hicks-Best, reported to Washington, DC police that she had been raped twice by older men (in their early to late 20’s) in her neighborhood. In both cases, forensic medical evidence supported her claims. Considering her age and the ages of the assailants, one would have assumed that the police would have conducted an investigation into statutory rape. Instead under the mis-leadership of DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier, Danielle, then 12 years old, was charged with filing false police reports. “After 11, she lost the rest of her childhood,” her mother Veronica Best lamented. Ms. Best launched a campaign to save her daughter’s life that leads all the way to the Washington, DC Police Chief Lanier. The family devoted their limited financial and emotional resources to addressing their daughter’s legal entanglement and providing psychological support against a system with unlimited financial resources.

Killer Cops Boost Body Count In War On Black America

April 13, 2015 Glen Ford, www.blackagendareport.com Strategize! Criminal Justice, Ferguson, police brutality, Racial Justice

The United States produced a bumper crop of what Billie Holiday would call “Strange Fruit,” in March: at least 111 bodies, the majority of them unarmed men of color, shot down by police in the blood-fertilized streets of American cities. Yet, in the same month, President Obama declared Venezuela a threat to the national securityof the United States, based largely on the death of 14 “dissidents” during a period of anti-government disturbances back in 2014. Many of the dead were pro-government activists killed by “dissidents.” By contrast, Philadelphia police have been shooting an average of one person a week for the last eight years, the overwhelming majority of them Black and brown, according to a new U.S. Justice Department report. As Frederick Douglass said, “for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.”

Protests Explode Over KKK Plot To Kill Black Florida Prisoners

April 11, 2015 Zaid Jilani, www.alternet.org Resist! Mass Incarceration, Racial Justice

Last week, the state of Florida arrested three alleged members of the Ku Klux Klan who had plotted to kill an African American inmate after he was released from prison. While white supremacist terror plots are not uncommon, this one had a peculiar twist: two of the suspects involved were officers at the Florida Department of Corrections. The incident has incited outrage across the state. On Tuesday the Senate Criminal Justice Committee heard testimony from prisons chief Julie Jones, who said she's unaware of other Klan activity in the prisons, but that it's difficult to ascertain because the department is not allowed to ask about political affiliations during the hiring process. The residents of Tallahassee, Florida are not content to live with this uncertainty about extremists working in the Florida prison system.

Walter Scott’s Killing A Direct Result Of Current Policing

April 11, 2015 Ezekiel Edwards, www.aclu.org Educate! police brutality, Racial Justice

It’s déjà vu. And it’s also a nightmare. Police gunning down unarmed black men and boys is an American horror film that keeps getting replayed. Except that it isn’t a movie you can turn off: It’s a painful, outrageous, and unacceptable reality. The latest iteration is the execution of Walter Scott – pulled over for a traffic violation, and who allegedly owed child support – by a South Carolina police officer. As Scott ran away from the officer, four bullets slammed into his back and one hit his ear. After the shooting, the officer walked calmly over to Mr. Scott’s body, lying in the grass – and then, for good measure, handcuffed him. Why was Walter Scott killed? Why does this keep happening?

North Charleston Reacts To Police Killing Very Differently Than Ferguson

April 9, 2015 James Woods, www.dcmediagroup.us Educate! police brutality, Racial Justice, South Carolina

Last Saturday in North Charleston, South Carolina, a routine traffic stop ended in a police shooting, and the death of Walter Scott. Under normal circumstances there would have been nothing remarkable about Scott’s death. Local media spent the weekend recounting the incident as told by Officer Michael Slager via his attorney, who claimed that Slager shot Scott after the traffic stop “turned into a physical altercation.” As the weekend progressed, more local affiliates in the area reported and recounted the same story, with the police report of the incident the only piece of information to rely upon as “fact.” And then the amateur video hit the airwaves… Overnight, what had been another “unfortunate incident” became the biggest piece of news in America, and the national media descended upon North Charleston like a pack of locusts.

These College Students Want To Fix The Criminal Justice System

April 8, 2015 Rebecca McCray, www.takepart.com Resist! Criminal Justice, Racial Justice, Student Activism

There are a bunch of new allies in the criminal justice reform movement, and they’re a force to be reckoned with. No, we’re not talking about conservatives like Newt Gingrich or the deep-pocketed Koch brothers. We’re talking about millennials. On Monday, student organizers at nine universities are joining forces to make it clear they care deeply about the movement to reform our country’s criminal justice system. In particular, this week’scampaign will tackle the solitary confinement of juveniles. Organizers hope to catch the attention of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. “We’re going for the big fish,” said Savion Castro, a 20-year-old sophomore at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and the campaign director for the Student Alliance for Prison Reform.

How Detroit Police Slapped False Murders On Young Black Men

April 3, 2015 Aaron Cantú, www.truth-out.org Educate! Corruption, Law, Mass Incarceration, police brutality, Racial Justice

A 2005 report published by the Northwestern University School of Law traced the first documented use of "snitch testimony" in the United States to 1819, when the state of Vermont convicted Jesse Boorn for murder based on testimony from his cellmate. The cellmate told a judge that Boorn confessed to the crime inside their jail cell while awaiting his trial. In exchange for testifying, the cellmate was freed after Boorn's trial, and Boorn was sentenced to the gallows. This basic reward system underpinning jailhouse informant testimony persists into the present day. It's not difficult to imagine why a prisoner informant would lie about overhearing a confession if it means real material benefits.

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