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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 5 months

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By: Abigail Shrier

Published: May 3, 2024

Frat parties with offensive themes are swiftly punished. But publicly contemplate murdering Zionists? That’s a different story.

A police officer who pulls over speeding black motorists—and only black motorists—isn’t protecting “law and order.” He’s engaging in invidious discrimination. So too the university administrators who suddenly discover they are free speech absolutists only when student protesters call for the death of their Jewish classmates.

In January, a junior at Columbia University, Khymani James, told a disciplinary committee at the school that Zionists “don’t deserve to live.” “Be grateful that I’m just not going out and murdering Zionists,” he instructed them. Then, James headed back to campus, scot-free. (If he hadn’t also posted a recording of the meeting to his social media site, discovered four months later, there might never have been any repercussions at all.)

It was the sort of stunt a star quarterback for the football team could have gotten away with a generation or two ago, when college coaches might have been eager to sweep sexual assault allegations under the rug. Or the son of a major donor to the university. James apparently enjoys a level of privilege every bit as sacrosanct: as a leader of the pro-Palestinian encampment at an Ivy League school, he could threaten Jewish students at his pleasure, university codes of conduct be damned.

If there was ever doubt whether calling for the genocide of Jews violates Columbia’s code of conduct, on April 23, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) asked four Columbia University professors and administrators this explicitly. Every one of them said: “Yes, it does.” As for the encampments, they violate Columbia’s Rules of University Conduct, disruptive behavior standards, university policy regarding “tenting,” disciplinary rules against “vandalism/damage to property,” unauthorized “access/egress” rules as well as Columbia’s policy against harassment, according to a Notice to Encampment circulated by the university.

In the last two weeks, self-proclaimed pro-Palestinian protesters have set up encampments at dozens of American universities. Heedless of university restrictions against intimidation and harassment, they demonstrate where, when, and how they like. They cry “Go back to Poland,” “baby killers,” and “globalize the Intifada” at Jewish students. They wave the flags of designated terrorist groups, like Hezbollah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and hold up signs that beckon “Al-Qasam’s Next Targets,” with an arrow pointing at Jewish counterprotesters. (Al-Qassam is the wing of Hamas that carried out the October 7 massacre.)

On campuses that have—for a decade or more—repeated ad nauseam that priority one was the creation of a “safe, inclusive, supportive, and fair” community, the pro-Palestinian demonstrators wave Hezbollah flags, wear Hamas headbands, and conceal their faces with masks. They ignore all time, place, and manner restrictions on student demonstrations set by their schools, and refuse all demands from the universities to take down their tents or to move their protests elsewhere. And at Columbia, until April 30, when protesters took over Columbia’s Hamilton Hall and the NYPD was at last called in, they almost got away with it.

At UCLA, protesters blocked students from entering the library during the midterms, asking those who wished to enter: “Are you a Zionist?” After a Jewish girl was reportedly beaten unconscious by pro-Palestinian protesters, pro-Israel counterprotesters at UCLA arrived in masks and hoodies, shooting off fireworks, firing tear gas, and throwing objects at the pro-Hamas protesters and attempting to physically destroy the encampments. Only then did UCLA call in the police to remove the encampments.

Instead of immediately suspending the pro-Hamas protesters for breaking university rules, for weeks, university administrations instead chose to “negotiate” with the rule-breakers. At Columbia, the administration offered to review its policy on “socially responsible investing” (read: divesting from the world’s only Jewish state), and offered to “make investments in health and education in Gaza.” At Brown, the administration promised protesters that they would put divestment from Israel on the agenda. At Northwestern, the administration meekly tossed rewards, including the promise to establish a full-ride scholarship for Palestinian students and guaranteed faculty jobs for Palestinian academics.

At Columbia, protesters rejected the offers, knowing they had the upper hand. When police arrived to break up the encampments, Columbia faculty in orange vests linked arms to form a human wall against the police, shielding the rule-breakers.

[ Faculty of Columbia University link arms to protect students inside threatened with suspension if they refused to voluntarily dismantle the pro-Palestine encampment on campus by 2 pm on April 29, 2024. ]

The lengths administrators have gone to placate, encourage, and embolden the pro-Hamas protesters in the past weeks provide a signal reminder that there are at least two sets of rules governing elite universities today: one for the favored, protected class; the other for everyone else. And in case anyone has any doubt which category Jewish students fall into, the unwillingness of universities to enforce their own codes of conduct against pro-Hamas protesters in the months since October 7 should disabuse them.

Consider how racist speech (or even racially insensitive speech) has been received on virtually any major American campus for decades.

In 2017, an anonymous jerk put flyers up around American University’s campus. The flyers displayed a Confederate flag, a stem of raw cotton, and read “Huzzah for Dixie” and the like.

American University immediately launched into emergency response mode, treating the flyers as a criminal threat. It published CCTV video and solicited help from the public in identifying the man who posted the flyers. An all points bulletin called “CRIME ALERT” went out for the man’s arrest. The New York Times covered the incident; the words “free speech” do not appear once in the article. Instead, it approvingly noted that in a previous incident—when bananas were found hanging from nooses around campus—the FBI had been called to investigate.

Nor could I find any evidence of any free speech organization rushing to defend the man who posted the flyers—nor the racist provocateurs in any of dozens of similar incidents. No prominent “free speech absolutists” appear to have considered the expressive value of “Huzzah for Dixie” worth defending. Nor did pundits claim that inviting law enforcement to investigate such acts of hate—i.e., “calling the police on your own students”—was in any sense inappropriate or disproportionate. In almost every single case—at schools like Stanford, Johns Hopkins, Michigan State, University of Florida, Duke, and American University—where a symbolic noose was discovered on a campus, it was treated as a criminal threat, never as speech.

After the Huzzah for Dixie flyers were found, the president of American University quickly issued a statement: “I ask you to join me in standing together and show that we will not be intimidated. AU will respond strongly to attempts designed to harm and create fear,” she wrote. “When one of us is attacked, all of us are attacked.”

Today, in the face of months of bloodthirsty cries aimed at Jewish students (“globalize the Intifada”), university presidents line up to assure the protesters of their right to free speech.

In the abstract, if “Huzzah for Dixie” is worth the full mobilization of university resources and law enforcement, then waving the flag of a terrorist group, or writing “burn you filthy zio” to a student chat, or telling Jewish students to “go back to Poland” where millions of Jews were murdered in gas chambers, or pulling down the American flag over a statue of John Harvard and replacing it with the Palestinian flag, or painting “Ziosgetfuckt” on UPenn’s statue of Ben Franklin, or calling Jews “Hitler’s children”—all insults hurled at Jews on campus—are at least as menacing.

But in practice, the two types of incidents—rather, the two targets of the incidents—are treated entirely differently. Punishment is meted out swiftly and mercilessly, and with no consideration for free speech principles, any time Confederate flag flyers are posted, any time students hold culturally insensitive themed frat parties, any time colleges uncover student use of the N-word while in high school (or even a word in Mandarin that sounds like the N-word), or even when students or faculty make the familiar conservative argument that affirmative action sets black students up to fail. Rinse and repeat and repeat.

Speech on college campuses has been stultifyingly narrow—and very far from free—for decades. That pro-Hamas students cheer freely for “intifada” doesn’t make it any freer now. The fact that certain students are allowed to call for the death of their Jewish classmates does not herald a new era of free expression. It only underscores that some bigotries enjoy the official sanction of these schools, and are accepted, tolerated, and rewarded with special dispensations and, indeed, goodies.

Use of the N-word on campus or misgendering a classmate will no doubt be met with as swift punitive consequences as they have been for decades, as have a vast and more minute array of “microaggressions.” I invite anyone who doubts this to parade through any of our elite campuses with insulting cartoon depictions of the Prophet Muhammad.

After weeks of violent, destructive protest, which left campuses trashed and buildings damaged and graffitied, administrators have at last begun to enforce their own rules and call in the police. Perhaps they felt they had no choice: commencement ceremonies loom and lawsuits, recently filed by Jewish students, are on the way.

But watch the marble carefully as university administrators spin the cups. When a favored group is attacked, they discover a “community safety” concern with remarkable alacrity. When it’s a disfavored group, suddenly the cup reveals “free expression.” The game is fixed, and the administrators show their hands. “Community safety,” or was it “free speech”? Surprise! They don’t believe in either.

#Abigail Shrier #free speech #freedom of speech #pro hamas #hamas supporters #hamas #antisemitism #free expression #censorship #hypocrisy #student protests #student violence #palestine #pro palestine #religion is a mental illness

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meandmybigmouth · 2 years

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Another moment in America! Elected white members of the government practicing treason walking around free and the murder of black Americans goes on!.

#ronald greene

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newstfionline · 2 years

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Sunday, January 29, 2023

Tyre Nichols’ brutal beating (AP) Authorities released video footage Friday showing Tyre Nichols being beaten by five Memphis police officers who held the Black motorist down and repeatedly struck him with their fists, boots and batons as he screamed for his mother. The video is filled with violent moments showing the officers, who are also Black, chasing and pummeling Nichols and leaving him on the pavement propped against a squad car as they fist-bump and celebrate their actions. The footage emerged one day after the officers were charged with murder in Nichols’ death. The chilling images of another Black man dying at the hands of police renewed tough questions about how fatal encounters with law enforcement continue even after repeated calls for change. Protesters gathered for mostly peaceful demonstrations in multiple cities, including Memphis.

As the Colorado River Shrinks, Washington Prepares to Spread the Pain (NYT) The seven states that rely on water from the shrinking Colorado River are unlikely to agree to voluntarily make deep reductions in their water use, negotiators say, which would force the federal government to impose cuts for the first time in the water supply for 40 million Americans. The Interior Department had asked the states to voluntarily come up with a plan by Jan. 31 to collectively cut the amount of water they draw from the Colorado. The demand for those cuts, on a scale without parallel in American history, was prompted by precipitous declines in Lake Mead and Lake Powell, which provide water and electricity for Arizona, Nevada and Southern California. Drought, climate change and population growth have caused water levels in the lakes to plummet. “Think of the Colorado River Basin as a slow-motion disaster,” said Kevin Moran, who directs state and federal water policy advocacy at the Environmental Defense Fund. “We’re really at a moment of reckoning.” Negotiators say the odds of a voluntary agreement appear slim. It would be the second time in six months that the Colorado River states, which also include Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, have missed a deadline for consensus on cuts sought by the Biden administration to avoid a catastrophic failure of the river system.

Parenting worries (Pew Research Center) In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and amid reports of a growing youth mental health crisis, four-in-ten U.S. parents with children younger than 18 say they are extremely or very worried that their children might struggle with anxiety or depression at some point. In fact, mental health concerns top the list of parental worries, followed by 35% who are similarly concerned about their children being bullied, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. These items trump parents’ concerns about certain physical threats to their children, the dangers of drugs and alcohol, teen pregnancy and getting in trouble with the police. In a nod to the adage about family life that parenting is the hardest job in the world, most parents (62%) say being a parent has been at least somewhat harder than they expected, with about a quarter (26%) saying it’s been a lot harder. This is especially true of mothers, 30% of whom say being a parent has been a lot harder than they expected (compared with 20% of fathers).

How to fix a howitzer: US offers help line to Ukraine troops (AP) On the front lines in Ukraine, a soldier was having trouble firing his 155 mm howitzer gun. So, he turned to a team of Americans on the other end of his phone line for help. “What do I do?” he asked the U.S. military team member, miles away at a base in southeastern Poland. “What are my options?” Using phones and tablets to communicate in encrypted chatrooms, a rapidly growing group of U.S. and allied troops and contractors are providing real-time maintenance advice—usually speaking through interpreters—to Ukrainian troops on the battlefield. In a quick response, the U.S. team member told the Ukrainian to remove the gun’s breech at the rear of the howitzer, and manually prime the firing pin so the gun could fire. He did it and it worked. The exchange is part of an expanding U.S. military help line aimed at providing repair advice to Ukrainian forces in the heat of battle. As the U.S. and other allies send more and increasingly complex and high-tech weapons to Ukraine, demands are spiking. And since no U.S. or other NATO nations will send troops into the country to provide hands-on assistance—amid worries about being drawn into a direct conflict with Russia—they’ve turned to virtual chatrooms.

Facing hardest election yet, Turkey’s Erdogan woos voters with ‘good news’ (Washington Post) Facing a difficult election in just a few months, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has unleashed a wave of public spending—to help the millions in his country reeling from economic hardship, and to ensure their votes go his way. The enticements—aimed at students, working people and business owners, commuters and others—have included tax relief, cheap loans, energy subsidies and even pledges not to raise road and bridge tolls. Their rapid rollout has highlighted the electoral stakes for Erdogan, a popular leader who has dominated Turkey’s politics for two decades and assumed a pivotal mediating role during Russia’s war in Ukraine. Despite his stature, at home and abroad, he finds himself more vulnerable to opposition challenge than ever before, as a public battered by historically high inflation is, in many quarters, clamoring for change. “The economy is eating into his base,” said Berk Esen, a professor of political science at Istanbul’s Sabanci University. The president and his ruling Justice and Development Party have suffered an erosion of popular support during a long economic crisis marked by spiking household prices and the collapse of the currency.

Business empire of Asia’s richest man hit by sell-off after fraud report (Washington Post) Shares of the Adani Group, the Indian energy and infrastructure conglomerate headed by one of the world’s richest men, Gautam Adani, plummeted Friday after a U.S. research firm published extensive allegations of fraud that rocked business circles in the world’s fifth-largest economy. The sell-off, which triggered Indian markets to halt trading on several Adani subsidiaries, came three days after Hindenburg Research, a short-seller firm based in New York, published a lengthy report that accused Adani of, among other things, artificially boosting his share prices over several decades by using a network of overseas shell companies linked to his family members. The firm said it believed Adani companies were dangerously indebted and its stock prices were overvalued by more than 80 percent. By the end of Friday, shares in Adani Enterprises, the group’s umbrella holding company, fell by more than 18 percent, while several other subsidiaries, including Adani’s renewable energy and electricity transmission businesses, fell by 20 percent. The seven publicly traded Adani companies lost roughly a combined $50 billion in market capitalization this week, according to Bloomberg News. The Hindenburg report and resulting stock collapse has dented the image of India’s leading business titan, a self-made billionaire. Until this week, Adani’s net worth seemed to grow exponentially, rising from $9 billion in 2020 to $127 billion in December, making him at one point the world’s second-richest person.

U.S. general warns troops that war with China is possible in two years (Washington Post) China could be at war with the United States two years from now, a top Air Force general predicted in a bombastic and unusual memo to troops under his command, asserting a shorter timeline before potential conflict than other senior U.S. defense officials. Gen. Michael A. Minihan, who as head of Air Mobility Command oversees the service’s fleet of transport and refueling aircraft, warned personnel to speed their preparations for a potential conflict, citing Chinese President Xi Jinping’s aspirations and the possibility that Americans will not be paying attention until it is too late. “I hope I am wrong,” Minihan wrote. “My gut tells me we will fight in 2025. Xi secured his third term and set his war council in October 2022. Taiwan’s presidential elections are in 2024 and will offer Xi a reason. United States’ presidential elections are in 2024 and will offer Xi a distracted America. Xi’s team, reason, and opportunity are all aligned for 2025.” A U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said that Minihan’s comments “are not representative of the department’s view on China.”

Holiday trips within China surge after lifting of COVID curbs (Reuters) Lunar New Year holiday trips inside China surged 74% from last year after authorities scrapped COVID-19 curbs that had stifled travel for three years, media reported on Saturday. The Lunar New Year is the most important holiday of the year in China, when huge numbers of people working in prosperous coastal cities head to their hometowns and villages for family reunions. But for three years people were told not to travel during the holiday, with those who insisted facing the risk of snap lockdowns, multiple COVID tests, quarantine and even admonishment by their work units. An estimated 226 million domestic trips were made by all means including plane during the holiday week that ended on Friday, state broadcaster CCTV reported, citing government figures.

Jerusalem attacks (AP) A Palestinian gunman opened fire in east Jerusalem on Saturday, wounding at least two people, less than a day after another assailant killed seven outside a synagogue in the deadliest attack in the city since 2008. Police shot the attacker, but there was no immediate word on his condition. Saturday’s events raised the possibility of even greater conflagration in one of the bloodiest months in Israel and the occupied West Bank in several years. On Friday, a Palestinian gunman killed at least seven people in a Jewish settlement with a large ultra-Orthodox population in east Jerusalem, including a 70-year-old woman. The events pose pivotal test for Israel’s new far-right government. Its firebrand minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has presented himself as an enforcer of law and order and grabbed headlines for his promises to take even stronger action against the Palestinians.

Wheelchair users in Africa await pope (AP) When Pope Francis arrives in Congo and South Sudan next week, thousands of people will take special note of a gesture more grounded than the sign of the cross. Watching from their wheelchairs, they will relate to the way he uses his. The pope, who began using a wheelchair last year, is visiting two countries where years of conflict have disabled many, and yet they are among the world’s most difficult places to find accessibility and understanding. His visit is heartening Catholics and non-Catholics alike. “We know that it’s a suffering, but it also comforts us to see a grand personality like the pope using a wheelchair,” said Paul Mitemberezi, a market vendor in Goma, at the heart of the eastern Congo region threatened by dozens of armed groups. “Sometimes it gives us the courage to hope that this isn’t the end of the world and one can survive.” Mitemberezi, a Catholic and a father, has been disabled since he was 3 because of polio. Francis has insisted that his mobility limitations don’t affect his ability to be pope, saying “You lead with your head, not your knee.” He has lamented how today’s “throwaway culture” wrongly marginalizes disabled people. He makes it a point to visit places serving the disabled during his foreign trips, and routinely spends time greeting wheelchair users at the end of his general audiences.

Washboards (WSJ) The Columbus Washboard Company is the last manufacturer of washboards in America, having successfully navigated the past 128 years and deftly avoiding the washing machine-related doom that befell its once rivals. They sell 11,000 washboards a year, with one model going for $27.49, down from a million boards per year in the 1940s when the craft peaked. Their utter domination of the market is in no small part thanks to folk music, where percussionists account for about 40 percent of their sales.

#headlines #news

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zayaanhashistory · 2 years

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The 1992 Los Angeles Riots

The 1992 Los Angeles riots—also called the Los Angeles uprising—sprung from years of rising tensions between the LAPD and the city’s African Americans, highlighted by the 1991 videotaped beating of motorist Rodney King. On April 29, 1992, anger boiled over after four LAPD officers were found not guilty of assaulting King, leading to several days of widespread violence, looting and arson throughout L.A. By May 3, thousands of National Guardsmen and federal troops had largely curbed the uprising, which left more than 60 people dead and produced about $1 billion in damage.

The 1980s brought rising unemployment, gang activity, drugs and violent crime to the poorer neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Aggressive efforts to exert control by the Los Angeles Police Department fostered a belief among minority communities that its officers were not held liable for abusive police actions. In August 1988, as part of LAPD Chief Daryl Gates’s “Operation Hammer” drug sweeps, more than 80 officers tore apart a pair of apartment buildings on Dalton Street in South L.A., leaving dozens homeless. In January 1990, a skirmish between the LAPD and Nation of Islam members following a traffic stop resulted in the death of 27-year-old Air Force veteran Oliver Beasley.

Early on March 3, 1991, an intoxicated parolee named Rodney King led police on a high-speed car chase before stopping in Lakeview Terrace. His subsequent beating, which left him with a fractured skull and cheekbone, was caught on video by Lakeview resident George Holliday, who forwarded it to local station KTLA. Within days, the footage of police repeatedly hitting a Black man with batons was airing on all major networks, drumming up nationwide outrage against the officers involved. On March 15, LAPD Sergeant Stacey Koon and officers Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind and Theodore Briseno were indicted for assault in the King beating, with Koon and Powell also charged with filing false police reports. The African American community endured another blow the following day, when 15-year-old Latasha Harlin's was shot and killed by Korean grocer Soon Ja Du over a disputed shoplifting. Shortly afterward, L.A. Mayor Tom Bradley formed the independent Christopher Commission, named for co-chair Warren Christopher, to investigate operations within the LAPD. In July, the commission published a report that detailed repetitive use of excessive force and recommended a new system of accountability, though Gates staunchly defended his practices. On November 15, Du drew a sentence that included community service and suspended jail time, a decision that outraged Harlin family and supporters. Eleven days later, it was announced the trial for the four officers in the King beating would be moved from Los Angeles County to predominantly white Ventura County. In February 1992, the trial commenced with a 12-member jury that included one Latino, one Asian American and one half-African American.

At about 3:15 p.m. on Wednesday, April 29, the jury released their verdict: All four officers were acquitted of charges in the King case, save for a mistrial on one charge against Powell of excessive force. The response was immediate, as protesters took to the streets. Hundreds of people gathered at the Los Angeles County Courthouse to protest the verdict. By 5:30 p.m., the unrest had grown violent near the intersection of Florence and Normandie Avenues in South L.A., where locals attacked passing motorists and forced overwhelmed LAPD officers to retreat. A news helicopter captured footage of white truck driver Reginald Denny being pulled from his rig and beaten nearly to death, with no signs of police assistance. Minutes later, a Latino driver named Fidel Lopez endured a similar attack.

In a matter of hours, neighborhoods across South and Central Los Angeles were in flames as rioters firebombed thousands of buildings, smashed windows, looted stores and attacked the Parker Center police headquarters in downtown L.A. By the end of the day, California Governor Pete Wilson had declared a state of emergency and ordered the activation of reserve National Guard soldiers. The citywide unrest showed little signs of abating on April 30, prompting the suspension of rapid transit, mail service, schools and professional sports games. Many businesses closed, leaving residents to wait in long lines for food and gas, while other store owners, like bands of armed Korean merchants, chose to engage the looters. Although some 2,000 National Guardsmen had reached the city by 8:00 that morning, a lack of proper communication and equipment prevented effective deployment until later in the afternoon. May 1, the third day of continued rioting, was marked by the televised appearance of King, who asked for the mayhem to stop, quietly pleading, “Can we all get along?” That evening, President George H.W. Bush also took to the airwaves to denounce both the “senseless deaths” of the riots and the police brutality that inspired them, and to announce the dispatch of thousands of federal officers to Los Angeles.

By May 2, with 6,000 National Guardsmen bolstered by the addition of another 4,000 federal troops and Marines, the disorder had largely quelled. An estimated 30,000 people marched at a peaceful rally for Korean merchants, and volunteers began cleaning up the streets. Meanwhile, arraignments began for some 6,000 alleged looters and arsonists. Highway exits reopened and police began recovering stolen merchandise the following day, the only significant trouble coming when National Guardsmen shot a driver who attempted to run them over. On May 4, Mayor Bradley lifted the citywide curfew, and residents attempted to resume day-to-day activities with schools, businesses and rapid transit resuming operations. Federal troops stood down on May 9 and the National Guard soon followed, though some soldiers remained until the end of the month.

The final tally for the L.A. riots included 2,000 injuries, 12,000 arrests and 63 deaths attributed to the uprising. Upwards of 3,000 buildings were burned or destroyed and 3,000 businesses were affected as part of the $1 billion in damages sustained by the city, leaving an estimated 20,000 to 40,000 people out of work. At the conclusion of the riots, elected officials set about putting the city back together through a combination of federal grants, collaborations with financial institutions and tax proposals. Governor Wilson and Mayor Bradley tapped Major League Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth to lead the “Rebuild L.A.” effort, which attracted nearly $400 million in corporate investments and set in motion a series of grassroots movements to foster job training and community involvement.

Attention was also focused on the culpability of the city’s law enforcement. On May 11, former FBI Director William H. Webster was named to head an investigation into the LAPD response during the riots, and in late June embattled Chief Daryl Gates stepped down. In October, the commission issued a report that criticized both the LAPD and City Hall for being unprepared and slow to handle the response to the riots. It issued a list of recommendations, including redeploying desk officers into community patrols and upgrading the city’s communications and information systems. Critics of the LAPD earned some vindication in 1993 when officers Koon and Powell were sentenced to 30 months apiece for violating King’s civil rights. In April 1994, King was awarded $3.8 million in a civil lawsuit against the city. Although the LAPD demonstrated improvements with community-based programs, it resisted implementing most of the recommendations of the 1991 Christopher Commission. It wasn’t until the Rampart Scandal of the late 1990s, which exposed widespread corruption within an LAPD anti-gang unit, that serious change was enacted.

In 2000, the city of Los Angeles entered a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice that allowed an independent monitor to oversee reforms. After taking over as LAPD chief in 2002, William Bratton was credited with taking steps to overhaul and improve the perception of the department. In 2013, Department of Justice oversight of the LAPD was fully lifted. However, a 2020 report by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights found that thousands of non-traffic infractions issued by police in California were being disproportionately enforced on Black and Latino residents.

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lboogie1906 · 7 months

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Michael Griffith (March 2, 1963 – December 20, 1986) was killed in Howard Beach in a racially motivated attack. He and two other African American men were set upon by a group of white youths outside a pizza parlor. Two of the victims, including him were severely beaten. He fled onto a highway where he was fatally struck by a passing motorist.

Three local teenagers, Jon Lester, Scott Kern, and Jason Ladone, were convicted of manslaughter for the death of Griffith. A fourth assailant, Michael Pirone, was acquitted.

He was born in Trinidad. He was a member of Our Lady of Charity Catholic Church in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

His death provoked strong outrage and immediate condemnation by Mayor Edward Koch, who referred to the case as the “No. 1 case in the city”.

The Griffith family retained the services of Alton H. Maddox and C. Vernon Mason. Maddox raised the ire of the NYPD and Commissioner Benjamin Ward by accusing them of trying to cover up facts in the case and aid the defendants.

After witnesses repeatedly refused to cooperate with Queens District Attorney John J. Santucci, Governor Mario Cuomo appointed Charles Hynes as special prosecutor to handle the Griffith case. The move came after pressure from Black leaders on Cuomo to dismiss Santucci.

Ultimately nine people would be convicted on a variety of charges related to Griffith’s death. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

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datzhott · 2 years

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GRAPHIC BODY CAM FOOTAGE: Louisiana Cops Kill Unarmed Black Man After Neighbor Complains About Noise

GRAPHIC WARNING: Body cam footage released in officer-involved shooting death of Alonzo Bagley.ODY After receiving the complaint, officer Tyler and his partner arrived at Villa Norte Apartment Complex around 11 p.m. to investigate the call. When the officers encountered Bagley, he allegedly jumped from a balcony, trying to escape on foot. Authorities then say that’s when officer Tyler saw Bagley round the corner of a building. Tyler then fired one shot, hitting the unarmed Black man in the chest. Bagley was given CPR and then taken to a hospital where he later died. Louisiana State Police Superintendent Col. Lamar Davis told the public during a recent press conference that the incident was recorded on police body camera, and will be made public, though his timetable for the release was vague. Davis has asked the public to “remain patient as we continue to conduct a very thorough investigation.” A spokesperson for the family told KSLA, that the incident started when a neighbor called the police because the music was too loud in Bagley’s apartment. He went on to say that Bagley and his wife were both inside the apartment when police came and at some point, Bagley did run from the police before he was shot. The family has also hired attorney Ron Haley, whose clients include the family of Ronald Greene, a Black motorist killed in 2019 by Louisiana state police. “Our office will walk through this process with the Bagley family, to ensure transparency and accountability,” Haley’s firm said in a statement posted on Facebook. Officer Alexander Tyler, who was hired by SPD in May of 2021, has been placed on administrative leave pending an ongoing investigation. According to WBRZ, the FBI and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division have been contacted about the shooting. Alonzo Bagley’s death comes just a month after Tyre Nichols was brutally beaten and killed by Memphis police after he was pulled over at a traffic stop for “reckless driving.” His death as well as Bagley’s have sparked a renewed demand for congress to pass comprehensive police reform legislation. Read the full article

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newswireml · 2 years

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Without police brutality bill, George Floyd, Tyre Nichols deaths are in vain – New York Daily News#police #brutality #bill #George #Floyd #Tyre #Nichols #deaths #vain #York #Daily #News

You would think that after what happened in Memphis, legislators would be tripping over themselves to get to the House floor to pass a new law that promises real police reform. Let’s recap: A motorist was brutally beaten to death last month by a group of rogue cops who blatantly abandoned their pledge to protect and serve. They punched Tyre Nichols. They kicked him. They shot Tasers at him. They…

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breaknewsnow · 2 years

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#IFTTT #YouTube

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hrexach · 2 years

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😡 … “MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Authorities released video footage Friday showing Tyre Nichols being beaten by five Memphis police officers who held the Black motorist down and repeatedly struck him with their fists, boots and batons as he screamed for his mother. The video is filled with violent moments showing the officers, who are also Black, chasing and pummeling Nichols and leaving him on the pavement propped against a squad car as they fist-bump and celebrate their actions. The footage emerged one day after the officers were charged with murder in Nichols’ death. The chilling images of another Black man dying at the hands of police renewed tough questions about how fatal encounters with law enforcement continue even after repeated calls for change.” … 😡 (at Haciendas Del Club Golf Y Playa) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cn9lgJkOewl/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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swldx · 2 years

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6195Khz 0458 24 JAN 2023 - BBC (UNITED KINGDOM) in ENGLISH from WOOFFERTON. SINPO = 55444. English, dead carrier s/on @0458z then ID@0459z pips and newsday preview. @0501z World News anchored by Gareth Barlow. President Joe Biden is urging protests in Tennessee to remain peaceful as officials plan to release video of an arrest that led to a motorist's death. Five Memphis police officers have been fired and are facing murder charges after Tyre Nichols, 29, died three days after a traffic stop on 7 January. Bodycam footage of the encounter is expected to be released on Friday evening local time. Lawyers for the Nichols family said it will show him being severely beaten. Palestinian militants on Friday fired two rockets from the Gaza Strip towards southern Israel that were intercepted by missile defenses, and Israel then carried out strikes in Gaza. The cross-border fire came after an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank on Thursday that led to the largest single death toll in years of fighting. Rebel police officers rioted in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince on Thursday in protest at the killing of more than a dozen colleagues by criminal gangs. The rioting officers blame the government for not taking action. Scores of civilians and angry police officers took to the streets in Port-au-Prince to denounce the violence following the murder of two officers inside a police station in a town in northern Haiti and the execution-style killing of four more on the street outside. Some of them reportedly went to the official residence of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, Vant Bef Info said. Tracking what shoppers buy, via loyalty-card data, can help spot those with early signs of cancer, doctors who have been running a study say. Frequent purchases of over-the-counter painkillers and indigestion tablets revealed a higher risk of ovarian cancer, they found. Ovarian cancer is often diagnosed late. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the appointment of a special representative on combating Islamophobia that will advise the federal government on how to better fight discrimination against the Muslim community. Human rights activist Amira Elghawaby will be responsible for serving "as a champion, advisor, expert and representative to support and enhance" the government's efforts, the federal government said in a statement. An asteroid passed by Earth a short while ago. About the size of a minibus, the space rock, known as 2023 BU, whipped over the southern tip of South America just before 00:30am GMT. With a closest approach of 3,600km (2,200 miles), it counts as a close shave, closer than some communication satellites. Roadblocks set up across Peru by demonstrators demanding the resignation of the country's president will be dismantled, officials have said. Supporters of former President Pedro Castillo took to the streets after he was impeached and arrested for trying to dissolve Congress in December. They want his successor Dina Boluarte to quit and hold fresh elections. The ministry of the interior tweeted that "blocking communication routes is a crime" and said that 10 people had already died because ambulances could not get through roadblocks. On January 27, the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in 1945, the world commemorates the 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and millions of other Nazi victims. @0506z "Newsday" begins. MLA 30 amplified loop (powered w/8 AA rechargeable batteries ~10.8vdc), Etón e1XM. 200kW, beamAz 160°, bearing 47°. Received at Plymouth, United States, 6312KM from transmitter at Woofferton. Local time: 2258.

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