The new report revealed that at least 28 percent of those killed were African Americans, who make up just 13 percent of the U.S. population. Although this figure is staggering, the Center for American Progress (CAP) noted that it is almost certainly under-represents the actual number of civilians who died while in the custody of the criminal justice system.
The decision not to charge the officers who shot and killed a Black child on sight encapsulates everything that is wrong with the Department of Justice under the current administration. Once again, it has protected the powerful at the expense of the powerless. Once again, it has failed to seek justice for a Black life.
For too long, Black people in America have been burdened with the unjust responsibility of keeping ourselves safe from police.
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, is a product of this history as we were founded in 1966 in direct response to the Watts Rebellion of 1965
Racism is America’s original sin. Racism that built this nation using the free labor of enslaved Africans. Racism embedded in our original Constitution, claiming that my Black ancestors held only 3/5 of value compared to a white person. Racism that led to racial segregation and discriminatory laws in education, housing and employment. Racism that created a system of law enforcement designed to disproportionately incarcerate Black Americans. For over 400 years, America has used racism to build a wall around Black Americans. This wall has kept Black Americans excluded from opportunities to learn, to work and to vote.
In the middle a global pandemic of unprecedented scale and disproportionate impact on the health and well-being of African Americans, the nation reckons with another.
Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-43) issued a statement on the murder of George Floyd of Minneapolis, MN. George Floyd was an unarmed African American man who died in police custody after Minneapolis police officers forced him to the ground and one officer pinned his knee on George Floyd’s neck for five minutes.
The racist public murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis has now added to a list of recent and historical victims of police violence and racist terrorism, including Devon Brown, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arberry, Tamir Rice, Atatiana Jefferson, Philando Castile and numerous others. And as our people rise up in massive resistance seeking justice for these Black men, women and children, martyred on the altar of White supremacy, they serve as bright lights and fierce fires lifted up to show the way forward in struggle. Indeed, they call on us to intensify and continue the struggle against the radical evil of these murderous police and vigilante practices and against the savage system which sanctions and supports them and other related forms of oppression. And we owe it to ourselves and to our martyrs to continue the intensified struggle, keep the faith and hold the line until victory.
As our fellow Californians and Americans protest across our country, we must not lose sight of why they are protesting. It’s because of a deep pain that we recognize all too well. The pain of not confronting a dark history that has spanned the life of our country. The pain of recognizing our fathers, uncles, brothers, mothers, sisters, and aunts in the faces of so many Black men and women who were taken from us because of racism and violence.
Social advocacy group Equal Justice Now recently collaborated with Attorney Benjamin Crump to hold its 1st Annual Benjamin Crump Equal Justice Now Awards, honoring those who’ve committed their lives to social justice advocacy and equal rights for the marginalized.
A Saturday morning shooting rampage in El Paso, Texas on August 3 took the lives of 22 people, and seriously injured more than two dozen others. Reportedly, the alleged shooter wanted to kill as many Mexicans as he could. Armed with safety glasses, ear coverings and an assault-style rifle, the shooter entered a Walmart store during a back-to-school sale.
He is magnificent in his perpetual movement to disrupt. Tall, ebony hue with long locks — Roger Ross Williams —the award-winning director, producer and writer first upset the proverbial “apple cart” when he won an Academy Award® for his short film “Music By Prudence” earning a place in the history books as the first African American director to earn that distinction.
Although not overwhelming, the blue wave of Democratic election victories has washed over the U.S. in an important and promising way and it is good to celebrate on one hand, but also to review and stand ready to resume, continue and expand our efforts in struggle beyond the electoral arena. For regardless of the final count of votes and the naming of those who won, the realities of race and righteous struggle remain ongoing and urgent. And thus, there is still organizing work to be done, struggle for racial and social justice and equity to be waged and a radical transformation of society to be achieved around the central and enduring issues of wealth, power and status, especially statuses of race, class and gender, as well as other identities by which people are singled out, interiorized and oppressed.
A rare scene in the American justice system unfolded Friday in a Chicago courthouse: A White officer stood before a mostly White jury and was convicted of killing a Black teenager.
BELLAIRE, Ohio (AP) — The former Cleveland police officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice has been hired by a police department in a small Ohio village. The Times Leader reports Bellaire’s police chief confirmed Friday he hired Timothy Loehmann as a part-time officer. Richard Flanagan said Loehmann was never charged in Tamir’s death and deserves a second chance. Bellaire is a village of about 4,000 along the Ohio River, more than 150 miles (241 kilometers) south of Cleveland. Tamir, who was black, was playing with a pellet gun outside a recreation center in 2014 when he was shot by