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Posts tagged as “Ferguson”

FBI To Finally Collect & Publish Info About Police-Involved Fatal Shootings

By goodblacknews on September 29, 2015

(Photo via Getty Images)
(Photo via Getty Images)

Responding to long running complaints about the lack of national data available for how often police resort to deadly force, the FBI on Monday announced plans to track and publish the statistics.
The Washington Post reports that FBI Director James B. Comey described the information as vital in the ongoing debate over policing in the United States.
Via the Washington Post:

Continuing “without comprehensive data only stalls meaningful conversation and fuels empty debates, both within law enforcement and in the communities we serve,” [Comey] wrote in a message accompanying the release of the FBI’s crime statistics for 2014.
This is not the first time Comey has criticized the lack of data available regarding how often police officers shoot and kill people. While the federal government does track some fatal police shootings, federal officials have acknowledged that this data is incomplete. Not all agencies in the United States participate in the voluntary reporting system, which had left a considerable gap in the ongoing public discussion.

Earlier this year, Comey joined former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr., who called the lack of information about the shootings “unacceptable,” notes the report.
The criticism came after protests against police violence following several high-profile law enforcement-involved deaths of unarmed Blacks, including Eric Garner in New York City, Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Ohio, and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
article by Lynette Holloway via newsone.com

Rapper Nelly Sends Two Kids to College Every Year for the Last 10 Years: ‘Only Way to Elevate Black Community is Education’

By goodblacknews on September 1, 2015

Photo: Joe Raedle/GettyIn the wake of the Mike Brown shooting and Ferguson protests last year, many in the Black community called for Black celebrities to speak out against the injustices shown to their own people. Some Black celebrities rose to the occasion, using social media and TV news outlets like CNN to say their piece.
Others, like Nelly, preferred to move in relative silence and let their actions do the talking. Following the events in Ferguson, the St. Louis rapper came under fire for not visiting the city right away. He eventually visited Ferguson to speak with protesters and created a scholarship fund in Michael Brown’s name.
The scholarship was not merely a sentimental act to honor the slain college student but a part of a strategic plan to help bring change to the Ferguson community in the only effective way he believes he can.
“I try to do it through education because that’s the only way we’re going to get it. The only way we’re going to get this is to elevate,” Nelly explained in an interview with Hello Beautiful just after the Ferguson anniversary on August 9, 2015. “We have to get the kids to go out of these communities. Graduate. Get the knowledge. Come back to the community, and then they can run it because they understand the people and understand the severity of the situation.”
The Mike Brown scholarship isn’t the only act of altruism Nelly has taken in the area of education. He has sent two students to college on scholarships every year for the past 10 years. To critics who have rebuked him for his lack of vocal support for the events at Ferguson, the “Hot in Herre” rapper asserts that sometimes it’s better to do things quietly.

Bill from CA Senator Holly Mitchell to Bar Secret Grand Juries in Police Deadly Force Cases Signed into Law by Governor Jerry Brown

By goodblacknews on August 13, 2015
Both measures were part of a spate of proposals introduced by lawmakers earlier this year on police accountability; some of the more controversial bills dealing with body-worn cameras or reporting on use-of-force incidents have stalled in the Legislature.
Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) offered the grand juries measure in response to high-profile incidents in Ferguson, Mo., and New York City, where grand juries declined to indict police officers for the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, respectively.
Mitchell said her bill, SB 227, would help make judicial proceedings more transparent and accountable. Los Angeles and Santa Clara counties already have opted not to use grand juries when an officer’s actions may have caused someone’s death.
“One doesn’t have to be a lawyer to understand why SB 227 makes sense,” Mitchell said in a statement.  “The use of the criminal grand jury process, and the refusal to indict as occurred in Ferguson and other communities of color, has fostered an atmosphere of suspicion that threatens to compromise our justice system.”
The measure was opposed by law enforcement groups, including the California Assn. of District Attorneys, which argued the grand jury system was a useful prosecutorial tool.

Michael Brown Remembered With March, Moment of Silence on 1-Year Anniversary

By goodblacknews on August 9, 2015
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Michael Brown Sr. leads a march on August 8, 2015 in Ferguson, Mo. (SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES)

One year after unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot by Darren Wilson, a white ex-officer in Ferguson, Mo., family and activists gathered Sunday to commemorate the shooting that touched off a movement against police violence.
Scores gathered Sunday to participate in 4.5 minutes of silence, and a silent march to Greater St. Mark’s church, according to The Associated Press. The march was scheduled to get just before noon at the site where Wilson gunned down Brown on Aug. 9, 2014. “A grand jury and the U.S. Department of Justice declined to prosecute Wilson, who resigned in November,” writes the news outlet.
The events are among several this weekend in Ferguson and nearby St. Louis.
The still grieving Michael Brown Sr., Brown’s father, led a march of about 100 people on Saturday. He called for a nonviolent weekend.  “I want to have a peaceful weekend,” said Brown, according to KSDK. “No drama, no stupidity.”
In a recent NPR interview at the White House, part of which aired Sunday, President Obama told Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep that had Ferguson flared up in his first term, he would have addressed it, brushing back criticism that he failed to address issues of race after entering office.
“That I don’t buy,” Obama told NPR.”I think it’s fair to say that if, in my first term, Ferguson had flared up, as president of the United States, I would have been commenting on what was happening in Ferguson.”
Read more at Yahoo News, KSDK and NPR.
article by Lynette Holloway via theroot.com

Henry Davis Wins Appeal Against Ferguson Cops Who Beat Him; Can Now Sue for Excessive Force

By goodblacknews on July 30, 2015

Henry Davis was charged with bleeding on police officers' uniforms after Ferguson protests (photo: DailyBeast.com)
Henry Davis was charged with destruction of property for bleeding on police officers’ uniforms in Ferguson (photo: DailyBeast.com)

The Ferguson cops charged Henry Davis with destruction of property because he bled on their uniforms when they beat him.
Then, as if fearing it might be outdone in ridiculousness, a federal district court ruled that Davis could not sue the cops for violating his Fourth Amendment rights because they had not injured him badly enough as he lay handcuffed on the jailhouse floor, a working man arrested on a traffic warrant in a case of mistaken identity.
“As unreasonable as it may sound, a reasonable officer could have believed that beating a subdued and compliant Mr. Davis while causing only a concussion, scalp lacerations and bruising with almost no permanent damage did not violate the Constitution,” the district court ruled in tossing out the case.
Davis appealed and his attorney James Schottel responded to absurdity with legal reasoning. He argued that the decisive factor was not the seriousness of Davis’s injuries but the nature of the officers’ actions.
The district court had ruled that the officers enjoyed “official immunity” because they “acted within their discretion and caused only de minimis [slight] injuries.”
Schottel contended that official immunity “does not apply to discretionary acts done in bad faith or with malice.”
The appeals court could not have been clearer in its response on Tuesday.
“We agree.”
The court went on to say, “That an officer’s conduct caused only de minimis injuries does not necessarily establish the absence of malice or bad faith as a matter of law.”
In recapping the case, the appeals court noted that Davis had been arrested by Police Officer Christopher Pillarick early on the morning of September 20, 2009. Davis was brought to what the appeals court calls “the crowded Ferguson jail.” Pillarick and Police Officer John Beaird escorted Davis to a cell where the only bunk was occupied.
“Davis requested a mat from a nearby stack,” the court says. “Pillarick refused because Davis was not cooperating. Davis refused to enter the cell.”
The cops radioed for backup. Police Officer Kim Tihen and Police Officer Michael White responded, along with Sergeant William Battard.  “The deposition testimony differs dramatically concerning what happened next,” the court says. “It is undisputed that White pushed Davis into the cell and a short, bloody fight ensued.”
The court notes that there is no video of the incident, but there is “testimony supporting a claim that White, Beaird and Tihen each beat or kicked Davis after he was handcuffed and subdued on the floor of the cell.”

The lower court had contended that “a reasonable officer” could believe that in beating their handcuffed prisoner they were not violating the Constitution.  The court further notes, “After the incident, Beaird completed four complaints charging Davis with the offense of ‘Property Damage’ for transferring blood onto the uniforms of Beaird, Tihen, White, and Pillarick.”

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

By goodblacknews on May 3, 2015
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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

2 Ferguson Police Officers Quit & 1 Clerk Is Fired After Racist Emails Are Made Public From Justice Report

By goodblacknews on March 8, 2015
Ferguson Police Department
(Photo courtesy Getty Images)

Three Ferguson employees are currently out of jobs after racist emails discovered during the course of the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation of the city’s racial bias against African-Americans in the police department and judicial system. Capt. Rick Henke and Sgt. William Mudd of the Ferguson police department resigned from the force on Thursday and the city’s top court clerk Mary Ann Twitty was fired earlier in the week once emails showing President Barack Obama as a chimpanzee were found in the DOJ’s investigation.  CNN is reporting several of the employees shared and forwarded the emails but none of them were punished, until now.

Other disgusting emails featured a topless woman dancing in Africa with the caption, “Michelle Obama’s High School Reunion,” was sent Oct. 2011 and in June of that year of a man being described as attempting to place his dogs on welfare due to the animals being “mixed in color, unemployed, lazy can’t speak  English and have no … clue who their Daddies are.” Meanwhile, demands for Police Chief Thomas Jackson’s removal from office were made yet again, after the DOJ cleared ex-cop Darren Wilson who gunned down unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown, of federal civil rights charges.There is no evidence which suggest Jackson and other police administrators were aware of the emails.

In the DOJ’s report, it described a “pattern and practice” held by the Ferguson police and courts of discrimination against Blacks. The report revealed black drivers were more than twice as likely than others to be searched during a traffic stop, face excessive force by the police during unnecessary stops.

article by Jillian Bowe via hellobeautiful.com

Justice Department Finds Pattern of Police Bias and Excessive Force in Ferguson

By goodblacknews on March 3, 2015
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Ferguson, Mo., police officers at a news conference in August. A Justice Department report will force Ferguson officials to either negotiate a settlement with the department or face being sued by it on charges of violating the Constitution. (WHITNEY CURTIS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES)

WASHINGTON — Police officers in Ferguson, Mo., have routinely violated the constitutional rights of the city’s black residents, the Justice Department has concluded in a scathing report that accuses the officers of using excessive force and making unjustified traffic stops for years.

The Justice Department, which opened its investigation after a white Ferguson police officer shot and killed a black teenager last summer, says the discrimination was fueled in part by racial stereotypes held by city officials. Investigators say the officials made racist jokes about blacks on their city email accounts.

Ferguson is a largely black city with a government and a police force that are mostly white. After the shooting of the teenager, Michael Brown, the city erupted in angry, sometimes violent protests and looting. Since then, Ferguson has been at the center of a national debate over race and policing that has drawn in President Obama, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey.

The report’s findings were summarized by a federal law enforcement official. The full report is expected to be released on Wednesday. A separate report is expected to clear the officer, Darren Wilson, of any civil rights violations in the shooting of Mr. Brown.

Ferguson officials now face the choice of either negotiating a settlement with the Justice Department or potentially being sued by it on charges of violating the Constitution.

In compiling the report, federal investigators conducted hundreds of interviews, reviewed 35,000 pages of police records and analyzed race data compiled for every police stop. They concluded that, over the past two years, African-Americans — who make up about two-thirds of the city’s population — accounted for 85 percent of traffic stops, 90 percent of citations, 93 percent of arrests and 88 percent of cases in which the police used force.

Black motorists were twice as likely as whites to be searched but were less likely to be found in possession of contraband such as drugs or guns.

The findings reinforce what the city’s African-American residents have been saying publicly for the past year: that years of discrimination and mistrust created the volatile environment that erupted after Mr. Brown’s shooting.

article by Matt Apuzzo via nytimes.com

Talib Kweli’s Action Support Committee Raises Over $100,000 For Ferguson Activists

By lorilakinhutcherson on February 17, 2015

Talib Kweli Rare Portraits Gravitas
In the wake of former officer Darren Wilson’s shooting of Ferguson, Missouri teen Michael Brown that left Brown dead and Wilson a free man, dozens of protestors and organizers took to the Missouri streets. Some were pepper sprayed and even arrested, and in the midst of the unrest, hip hop artist and activist Talib Kweli helped establish a The Action Support Committee. The Committee aimed to raise $25,000 and disperse the money in the form of grants to those in need. Kweli addressed the Committee’s goals via the following written statement:

These are young men and women who have put their lives on hold to stand up for all of our freedoms. The overly militarized police force in Ferguson has attempted to criminalize them by harassing and throwing them in jail for exercising their right to peaceful protest. We hope these funds help to empower.

Led by Kweli, Donna Dragotta, and Autumn Marie, the Committee’s GoFundMe campaign surpassed the $25,000 goal and raised $112,052 before the fundraising campaign ended in January. The first $48,800 funding phase will be distributed as follows:
Jail & Bail Fund ($35,000), Artists as Tutors ($2,000), Revolutionary Reading Program ($2,000), Tech Impact Initiative ($2,000), Latino youth leadership program Juventud Raza Unida ($2,000), The Transitional Housing Program ($2,000) and Bereavement Fund ($3,800).
Additional funds are scheduled to be distributed to the Action Support Committee’s Revolution School and programs “committed to sustaining the recent momentum of social justice organizing.”
article by Omar Burgess via elev8.hellobeautiful.com

Dartmouth College to Launch 10 Week #BlackLivesMatter Course

By goodblacknews on February 7, 2015

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#BlackLivesMatter grew from a hashtag to a movement and is now a college course at Dartmouth College.

This spring, the Ivy League college will offer a new class, “10 Weeks, 10 Professors: #BlackLivesMatter,” which will examine race, violence and inequality through current events and throughout history.

The 2014 deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in New York during confrontations with police sparked conversations on social media and protests around the world, including Dartmouth’s Hanover, New Hampshire, campus.

“Even though we might be sort of cloistered away in the ivory tower or something, we felt very much moved by, incited by, inspired by a lot of the activists’ work following the failure to indict Darren Wilson after the events in Ferguson,” said Aimee Bahng, an assistant professor of English at Dartmouth. “We wanted to not leave this behind after winter break.”

Then, around Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Missouri Rev. Starsky Wilson, co-chairman of the Ferguson Commission, spoke with Dartmouth faculty about “teaching Ferguson.” By the end of Wilson’s two-hour workshop, faculty members were already brainstorming how to integrate the events and the response into coursework and campus life.

The result was a teaching collective that draws faculty from geography, history, English, math and other areas, and the idea for an interdisciplinary course crafted and taught by all of them. The course is also expected to draw outside speakers and to explore ways to engage the community beyond parading professors in front of lecture halls.

“There is a special energy around this,” said Abigail Neely, an assistant professor of geography at Dartmouth. “It’s designed to transgress the boundaries between disciplines in an effort to do some really deep, sustained critical thinking about some of the most important issues in the country and world at this moment.”

The course came together quickly with support from college leaders and Dartmouth’s African and African-American Studies Program, Neely and Bahng said. Enrollment opened on Friday, but faculty members are still finalizing the syllabus and deciding how many students will be admitted.

An early lesson is expected to focus on St. Louis and its racial history. Another will consider poetry, prose, music and religious sermons. Still others will look at how events in Ferguson were documented through different media and how black activism has evolved, “from hip-hop to hashtags.”

As word spread about the course, there’s been an outpouring of support on campus, Bahng and Neely said. Far more than 10 faculty have signed on — as of Wednesday, 21 are “thinking together, teaching together, working together” — and students have approached to ask whether they can sit in on the course, even if they aren’t enrolled.

In planning the course, “we’ve already begun the work as a teaching collective,” Neely said. “I’m so excited to see what happens when the students join.”

article by Jamie Gumbrecht via cnn.com