Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts published in “U.S.”

Prince to Play "Rally 4 Peace" Concert in Baltimore this Sunday

By goodblacknews on May 6, 2015

Prince at the Grammy Awards in February.
Prince at the Grammy Awards in February. (Credit: John Shearer/Invision, via Associated Press)

A protest song was not enough.

Days after announcing his song “Baltimore,” a tribute to Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old who suffered a fatal spinal-cord injury while in police custody, Prince has announced a surprise “Rally 4 Peace” concert in Baltimore. It will be held Sunday at Royal Farms Arena.

“In a spirit of healing, the event is meant to be a catalyst for pause and reflection following the outpouring of violence that has gripped Baltimore and areas throughout the U.S.,” Live Nation, the concert promoter, said in a statement. “As a symbolic message of our shared humanity and love for one another, attendees are invited to wear something gray in tribute to all those recently lost in the violence.”

Tickets go on sale today at 5 p.m. EST at LiveNation.com. Part of the proceeds will benefit Baltimore youth charities, organizers said.

While “Baltimore” has yet to be released — Prince said he was considering streaming the track on Jay Z’s Tidal service — its lyrics were made available online. The song begins:

Nobody got in nobody’s way

So I guess you could say

It was a good day

At least a little better than the day in Baltimore

Does anybody hear us pray?

For Michael Brown or Freddie Gray

Peace is more than the absence of war

Absence of war

article by Joe Coscarelli via nytimes.com

Baltimore Big Brothers Program Sees 3,000 Percent Increase in Mentorship Requests

By goodblacknews on May 4, 2015
Big Brothers of Baltimore announcing that inquiries were up 3000 percent in 36 hours following unrest. (Photo: BBBS GREAT CHESAPEAKE)

In just 36 hours, following shocking television images of youths rioting in the streets, the Baltimore chapter of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America has received the largest surge in mentor applicants in the organization’s history — a whopping 3,000 percent increase.

That spike in interest is unprecedented, President and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Chesapeake Terry Hickey told NBC News.

“To have people reach out and say, ‘I want to make a commitment for the next year of my life spending every week with a young man or woman,’ is blowing my mind actually,” said Hickey.

The organization has received over 500 mentor inquiries in the past few days, compared to the usual four to five inquiries a day.

“I was worried people would see the images on TV of young people looting… you don’t know how people are going to react to the image of young teens running through the streets,” Hickey said. “But people are having their own epiphany, they are saying, ‘It just dawned on me that by being an adult in one kid’s life I can make a real difference.'”

Hickey attributes this realization to all of the young people he has seen interviewed in the media expressing that they do not have adults in their lives who they feel listen to them and who they can trust.

“I’m hoping this means people aren’t about blaming kids for what’s happened, but are recognizing that mentoring needs to be right up there at the top of the list when you talk about building communities,” he said.

Interest in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program surged after protests erupted in Baltimore in response to the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray who was killed in police custody.

Baltimore City State’s Attorney, Marilyn Mosby, announced Friday that Gray’s death was ruled a homicide and other charges would be brought against the six Baltimore police who had contact with Gray.

In the past, Hickey said, it has been hard to recruit a significant number of volunteers, leaving more than 600 children in Baltimore city on the organization’s waiting list. The increase in mentors will help remove some of these children from the waiting list.

According to a press release from Big Brothers Big Sisters, national research found that after 18 months of spending time with their “Bigs,” Little Brothers and Little Sisters were 46 percent less likely to use illegal drugs, 27 percent less likely to begin using alcohol, 52 percent less likely to skip school and 33 percent less likely to hit someone, as compared to those children not in the program.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Chesapeake — which includes Baltimore — founded in 1952, is the oldest and largest youth mentoring organization in the State of Maryland.

article by Tracy Jarrett via nbcnews.com

“I’m Here For You”: Black Baltimore Police Sergeant K Glanville Gives Moving Speech To Protesters (VIDEO)

By goodblacknews on May 4, 2015

Baltimore Police Sgt. K. Glanville (Photo via YouTube)
Baltimore Police Sgt. K. Glanville addresses group of peaceful protesters. (Photo via YouTube)

A police officer’s kind words during a period of unrest over the death of Freddie Gray touched many across Baltimore, who have for so long witnessed police violence in their communities.
Sgt. K Glanville spoke to a crowd on Saturday during a festive rally about her role as a police officer and expressed that not all officers are in the business of harming unarmed civilians. Glanville retold stories of her encounters with pedestrians in the city and says she understands why so many have questioned the tactics of police officers.
The mother says she gives out her number to children in an effort to show she is a protector of the community. According to the Huffington Post,

“My heart is in this,” Glanville told a small crowd. “I’m not wasting time on someone that’s not trying to let me in, when I got all these other people that got the door wide open, saying ‘Sgt. Glanville, please step in.’ I am here, I’m available. I give kids my phone number, I tell people ‘you need something, you call me.’ It all starts with relationship building.”

A Baltimore native and a 19-year veteran, the officer has never received a complaint. Her speech brought tears to the eyes of many in the small crowd. Glanville told onlookers that everyone has to start working together to stop the problem of police violence.

”We have to start doing better,” Glanville told the crowd. “We know better, and we have to start doing better. It doesn’t matter what color you are. People are watching to see the next move that Baltimore makes coming out of this … I want other cities to look at this and be able to see a template….And the main thing we need to do is make sure these babies are ok.”

The following day, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced the overnight curfew would be lifted effective immediately. In a statement, Rawlings-Blake expressed that the curfew had helped reduce violence in the city following last Monday’s riots after Gray’s funeral.
Check out Glanville’s speech to the city of Baltimore below:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVAIUs83VBE&w=560&h=315]
article by Desire Thompson via globalgrind.com

Loretta Lynch Unveils $20,000,000 Program to Expand Cop Body Cameras

By goodblacknews on May 3, 2015
487194809-loretta-lynch-united-states-attorney-for-the-eastern
Loretta Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, speaks at a press conference on April 28, 2014 in New York City. (ANDREW BURTON/GETTY IMAGES)
Just a week on the job, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Friday unveiled a $20 million pilot program to expand the use of police body cameras for “transparency” amid nationwide protests over law enforcement treatment of suspects, according to NBC News.
“Body-worn cameras hold tremendous promise for enhancing transparency, promoting accountability, and advancing public safety for law enforcement officers and the communities they serve,” Lynch said in a press release, notes the television news outlet.
The move follows protests over allegations of police brutality in black communities across the nation following several high profile deaths, including Michael Brown by a white officer in Ferguson, Mo., the killing of a homeless man on Los Angeles’ Skid Row and most recently the spinal injury while in police custody that led to the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray, the report says.
NBC says the program includes $17 million in competitive grants for cameras, $2 million for training and technical assistance, and $1 million for evaluation.
Police departments around the nation have begun equipping officers with the cameras, with encouragement from the Obama administration, which has asked Congress for increased funding for the cameras, notes NBC.
A day after Lynch announced the program, the Democratic National Committee at its quarterly meeting on Saturday in San Francisco, Calif., supported the program and passed a resolution calling for reform of the criminal justice system and community investment.
“[S]ince Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson, we have witnessed over a dozen high profile officer-involved shooting cases and the loss of dozens more unarmed black men and women whose names we do not see in headlines or hashtags,” the resolution reads in part. “We can no longer endure the pain, heartbreak and destruction.”
article by Lynette Holloway via theroot.com

Home of Civil Rights Pioneer Pauli Murray Designated a “National Treasure”

By goodblacknews on May 3, 2015

Civil Rights Pioneer Pauli Murray (Photo via thegrio.com)
Civil Rights Pioneer Pauli Murray (Photo via thegrio.com)

The National Trust for Historical Preservation has designated the childhood home of Pauli Murray in Durham, North Carolina, a “National Treasure.”
A native of Baltimore, Pauli Murray was orphaned at age 13. She went to Durham, North Carolina to live with an aunt. After graduating from high school at the age of 16, she enrolled in Hunter College in New York City. She was forced to drop out of school at the onset of the Great Depression. In 1938, she mounted an unsuccessful legal effort to gain admission to the all-white University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 1940, 15 years earlier than Rosa Parks, Murray was arrested for refusing to sit in the back of a bus in Virginia.
PMC-House-SignMurray enrolled at the Howard University in 1941 and earned her degree in 1944. She later graduated from the Boalt Hall Law School at the University of California at Berkeley. She became a leader of the civil rights movement and was critical of its leadership for not including more women in their ranks.
The Pauli Murray Project at Duke University has been working to restore the home and the federal designation may help secure additional funds for this purpose. The group hopes to make the home into a museum.
In 1977, Murray, at the age of 66, was ordained a priest of the Episcopal Church. She died in Pittsburgh in 1985.
article via jbhe.com
 

Six Baltimore Police Officers Face Criminal Charges in Freddie Gray's Death

By goodblacknews on May 1, 2015
All six Baltimore police officers involved in the arrest and transport of Freddie Gray, who was fatally injured while in police custody, will face serious criminal charges ranging from second-degree murder to assault, Baltimore State’s Atty. Marilyn J. Mosby said on Friday.
At a news conference, Mosby announced that Gray’s death had been officially ruled a homicide and that the investigation by city police and her office had found probable cause to charge all six officers.

Arrest warrants have been issued for the officers, she said.
Mosby also spoke directly to the protesters who have marched in riot-scarred Baltimore and around the nation.
“I heard your call for no justice, no peace,” Mosby said, “but your peace is sincerely needed as I work to bring justice for Freddie Gray.”
Gray died on April 19, a week after he was arrested by Baltimore police. Gray, hands cuffed behind him, was placed in a police van to be taken to the precinct where he was expected to be charged with illegally possessing a knife, according to charging papers released by police weeks ago. At the end of the ride he was hospitalized where he later died of a severed spine.
On Friday, Mosby said police lacked probable cause for the initial arrest. The knife was not a switchblade and was legal under Maryland law.  Mosby also detailed how Gray was transported in a police van that stopped four times.  Gray was not secured in a seat belt during the trip and was repeatedly refused medical care, she said.

Officials regained control by imposing a 10 p.m.-to-5 a.m. curfew and sending in thousands of National Guard troops and police officers from municipalities throughout the region.
Protesters and community leaders have demanded to know what happened to Gray during the 45 minutes from when he was taken into custody on April 12 to when he arrived at the police precinct and how his spine was severed.
“Mr. Gray’s death was a homicide,” Mosby declared Friday, a day after formally receiving a police investigation that supplemented her office’s work throughout the crisis. The final autopsy report on Gray’s death was delivered to the prosecutor Friday morning.
Gray’s arrest was illegal and the way he was treated by officers led to the charges of murder and manslaughter, Mosby said.  The most serious charge was second-degree “depraved heart” murder lodged against the driver of the van.

Three other officers face charges of involuntary manslaughter and two were charged with assault.
The top charge carries a penalty of 30 years in prison. Conviction on the manslaughter charges carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.
“No one is above the law,” Mosby said at a news conference.
article by Timothy M. Phelps and Michael Muskal via latimes.com

Eric Garner's Mother Gwen Carr Appears Before Lawmakers, Says Baltimore Riots Should Be A Wake-up Call

By goodblacknews on May 1, 2015

Gwen Carr According to Eric Garner’s mother Gwen Carr, the riots going on in Baltimore should serve as a wake-up call to lawmakers in New York that something needs to change.
Carr, along with several relatives of police victims traveled to Albany, New York Tuesday to demand that Governor Andrew Cuomo sign an executive order that would allow special prosecutors to step in to investigate police-related shootings, The New York Daily News reports.
She went on to say that many of the people who are rioting in Baltimore have reached a breaking point and in many ways, they are risking their lives to protect the lives of others who are in danger of being killed off by police in the future.
“It is very sad to see the city burning like that but sometimes people get so frustrated and they say enough is enough,” she said about Baltimore. “It just seems to me just watching it that they’re just laying their lives on the line to protect other people in the future.”
As for lawmakers, Carr had this to say:  “They need to wake up and see what’s really going on,” Carr said. “What caused this to happen? That’s the question they should ask and then correct that.”
Governor Cuomo had initially proposed criminal justice reforms that include appointing a special monitor to review cases involving deadly police encounters but has not gone as far as to allow special prosecutors to step in.
Carr and others, however, did not feel that this would be enough. Following their meeting Tuesday, Alphonso David, counsel to the governor, said that Cuomo promised to approve special prosecutors if the Legislature did not pick up his plan.
“We had a productive meeting, where both the Governor and the families of these victims had a detailed and respectful discussion on how to best reform the criminal justice system,” said David. “The Governor believes that his reform package is a balanced approach that would correct real and perceived inequities that exist within the system and he is intent on passing them in the remaining weeks of the legislative session.”
“He made it clear that if these reforms were not approved by the Legislature, he would sign an order creating a special prosecutor for police-involved fatalities,” David continued.
In a perfect world, lawmakers would have begun paying closer attention to these police-involved killings a long time ago. Hopefully, Governor Cuomo keeps his word and lawmakers across the nation will follow suit.
In other news, Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced that she will be sending two government officials to Baltimore to meet with faith and community leaders, as well as city officials.
article by Jazmine Denise Rogers via madamenoire.com

ACLU of California Launches Cellphone App to Preserve Videos of Police

By goodblacknews on April 30, 2015

A homeless man on skid row was shot to death last month during an altercation with Los Angeles police. Cellphone video captured the incident. (Los Angeles Police Department)
A homeless man on skid row was shot to death last month during an altercation with Los Angeles police. Cellphone video captured the incident. (Los Angeles Police Department)

Californians who use their cellphones to record police encounters with the public on video will be able to automatically transmit them directly to their local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union using a smartphone application launched Thursday.
By using the Mobile Justice CA app to send recordings to the ACLU, leaders of the organization said, people can ensure that video of potential police misconduct is preserved, even if their cellphone is tampered with or destroyed.

“We’re merging the power of technology with the power of the ACLU and the power of the people,” Hector Villagra, the executive director for the ACLU of Southern California, told reporters Thursday. “We are so proud to put an innovative new tool in people’s hands, empowering people to know, to assert and to protect their rights.”
Peter Bibring, a senior staff attorney for the ACLU of Southern California, told The Times that work on the app began before the recent national outcry over how police officers use force, particularly against black men. But, he said, the recent string of controversial police killings have shown the importance – and impact – of civilian-captured video.
“As we’ve seen in headlines over the previous few months, recordings by members of the public is a crucial check on police abuse,” Bibring said. “We’ve seen a number of examples of high-profile incidents of abuse and unlawful shootings or killings that never would have come to light if someone wouldn’t have pulled out their phone and taken video.”

#BaltimoreUprising Protests Spread To NYC, DC And Beyond

By goodblacknews on April 30, 2015

Screen Shot 2015-04-29 at 11.58.56 PM
New York City Protest for Freddie Gray (Photo: Michael Skolnick)

Wednesday evening protests inspired by those who marched for answers in the death of Freddie Gray spread from Baltimore to other cities. Some highlights:
-In New York City, protesters starting at Union Square in Manhattan marched throughout the city, at one point shutting down the West Side highway and Holland Tunnel., according to CBS-2. At least one dozen arrests were made, according to USA Today, and Michael Skolnik of Interactive One, who was out with the marchers, and sent out a photo of Instagram of one of them. His caption: “Lots of arrests in NYC tonight. This could be a very long night…”
-In Washington, DC, NBC-4 reported that “a large group of protesters,” rallied peacefully after gathering at Gallery Place and DuPont Circle.
-In Denver, a rally that started at the county jail ended with several arrests and police pepper-spraying protesters, reported ABC-7.
-In Minneapolis, about 1,500 people marched throughout the downtown area, reported the Star Tribune. There were no arrests.
-In Boston, the Boston Globe reported that more than 500 protesters marched after gathering behind police headquarters in the Roxbury section of the city.
Meanwhile, back in Baltimore, the epicenter of protests in reaction to the death of Freddie Gray after suffering a severed spine in police custody, USA Today reported that thousands gathered outside of City Hall. Eighteen people had been arrested in Baltimore by 8 p.m., including two juveniles, the paper reported. Just after a citywide 10 p.m.-5  a.m. curfew took effect, conditions were reportedly calm.
article via newsone.com

President Obama: Police Must Hold Officers Accountable for Wrongdoing

By goodblacknews on April 29, 2015

President Barack Obama (Photo via thegrio.com)
President Barack Obama (Photo via thegrio.com)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said the Baltimore riots show that police departments need to hold officers accountable for wrongdoing “instead of just the closing-ranks approach that all too often we see.”
In an interview broadcast Wednesday morning on “The Steve Harvey Morning Show,” Obama said his heart goes out of the Baltimore officers who were injured by rioters. He said there’s no excuse for that kind of violence and Baltimore police showed “appropriate restraint.”
But he said police departments have to build more trust in minority communities by building accountability and transparency.
“It’s in their interest to root out folks who aren’t doing the right thing, to hold accountable people when they do something wrong, instead of just the closing-ranks approach that all too often we see that ends up just feeding greater frustration and ultimately, I think, putting more police officers in danger,” Obama said in the interview taped Tuesday and broadcast on black radio stations nationwide.
Obama said Attorney General Loretta Lynch is reaching out to mayors to let them know what resources are available for retraining police and providing body cameras to hold them accountable. But he said solving the problems is going to require a broader political movement that addresses problems like poor education, drugs, absent fathers and limited job opportunities.
“If all we’re doing is focusing on retraining police but not dealing with some of these underlying issues, then these problems are going to crop up again,” Obama said.
“Unfortunately we’ve seen these police-related killings or deaths too often now,” Obama said. “And obviously everybody is starting to recognize that this is not just an isolated incident in Ferguson or New York, but we’ve got some broader issues.”
“I’ve seen this movie too many times before,” he added.
Asked whether he would visit Baltimore, Obama said he didn’t want to draw resources away from addressing the violence. “Once things have been cleared up, I think there’s going to be a time I go back to Baltimore.”
article by Nedra Pickler via thegrio.com