Month: December 2013

Categories
Featured Racism

Houston Cops Arrested Black Dance Instructors Because They Had a White Student

Did Houston police illegally arrest three teens? Landry Thompson is 13 years old, white, and a dancer. She was traveling from her home in Oklahoma to Houston, Texas, with her dance instructors, who are both Black.

Thompson’s mother had given them a signed and notarized letter giving full guardianship and custody to dance instructor Emmanuel Hurd, for their trip to meet with other dance teachers. But Houston police managed to handcuff the teens and wrest the girl from her guardian — and hand her over to Child Protective Services.

Hurd told KHOU that the three dancers where parked at a gas station, and “were on the GPS trying to figure out where the hotel was.” That’s when the cops “just pulled us out of the car and put our hands behind our backs like we were criminals.”

“The officer asked me ‘who’s the girl?’ and I said ‘she’s my student,’” Hurd says. “I told him I had a notarized letter from her parents stating that we have full guardianship over her while we’re here.”

Not only did Houston police detain and handcuff Thompson and Hurd, but they removed the teenaged girl from her guardian and gave her to local Child Protective Services. Police “put handcuffs on me and it really scared me,” Thompson says. “And they put me in the back of a cop car and I was terrified.”

Cops initially demanded Thompson’s mother travel from Oklahoma to Houston to retrieve her child, but later allowed her to be released back in Hurd’s custody.

“She was with the people I wanted her to be with,” Destiny Thompson says. “She was with people I trusted. And now she was taken away from those people and in a shelter with people I didn’t know.”

Categories
Health

Magic Johnson Talks – Coping with AIDS

Magic Johnson has been living with the HIV virus for over 20 years now and throughout that time, he acknowledges that much has changed.

“At that time, AIDS was a death sentence. And now, things have changed,” Johnson told the Huffington Post.

“Twenty-two years ago, there was only one drug available. Now, there’s more than 30 drugs, and they’re really great drugs too. And that’s the reason for hope: Doctors and health care providers are so much better and knowledgeable today than they were in the past,” he added.

In honor of World Aids Day, which is celebrated every year on Dec. 1, the NBA-legend-turned-entrepreneur discussed his personal bout with the virus.

Johnson said HIV was primarily only of concern among the gay, white community when the virus first gained recognition.

Yet, he discussed how the public’s perception of HIV and AIDS has shifted across various races and age groups.

“Now, it’s an issue in the black and brown community, especially the African American community,” Johnson said. “Things have changed just that fast.”

According to Johnson, the rise of other health issues has reduced the awareness and attention surrounding AIDS and HIV.

“HIV has been pushed out, and it’s not at the forefront anymore. People are not talking about it as much as they used to. And in the black community especially, we really need to be talking about it.”

Categories
Politics trayvon martin

Melissa Harris Perry’s Open Letter to Angela Cory – Stop Blaming The Victim – Video

Melissa Harris Perry wrote an open letter to Florida’s Prosecutor Angela Cory – the same Angela Cory who sent Marissa Alexander to jail for 20 years for firing a warning shot to scare off her abusive husband, and the same Angela Cory whose prosecution team allowed George Zimmerman to walk free after killing Trayvon Martin.

And in her letter, Perry shed some light on a little nugget that I’m sure many have missed, that Angela Cory appears to penalize the victims more than she does the perpetrators. Melissa focused her letter on Cory’s prosecution on Merissa, but her words could have very well be for Cory’s failure in finding justice for Zimmerman’s victim, Trayvon Martin.

There is nothing like being home for the holidays with your loved ones. So I can only imagine that this Thanksgiving is particularly bittersweet for Marissa Alexander, who was granted a special pre-trial release at 10:30 PM on Wednesday – Thanksgiving Eve – after spending more than 1000 days in jail, and barely seeing her youngest child who just recently turned three.

But my letter is not to Marissa. Sis, I am saving that one for when you are finally freed for good. No, my letter this week is to the woman that worked to put you in jail in the first place: Florida State Attorney for the fourth judicial circuit, Angela Corey.

Dear Angela Corey, It’s me, Melissa.

Angela, there are few times in life that we get second chances to right our wrongs. Well Angela, this is yours.

You have been called a fierce victim’s advocate, so it is way past time that you start acting like it.

Because a woman who was hospitalized in 2009 after being shoved into a bathtub and hitting her head – she is a victim.

A woman whose estranged husband has admitted to abusing all five mothers of his kids – she is his victim.

And when that woman, that victim, who has just recently given birth, fires a warning shot near the man that has cornered her in her home – she is a victim who feels she has no other recourse.

But that is part of the problem, Angela. You never saw Marissa as a victim. You saw Marissa as the aggressor and even justified why the infamous “Stand Your Ground” law was not applied in Marissa’s case.

Because, as you put it, she was not fleeing from an abuser, even though Rico Gray, her estranged husband, has admitted telling Marissa that he would kill her if she ever cheated on him.

You have said that the shot fired was not consistent with a warning shot because it was at adult head height. Marissa is three inches shorter than Rico Gray.

And according to you she didn’t have to get 20 years in jail. That also was her fault, right Angela? You said to NBC’s the Grio back in May: “She didn’t have to get 20 years, because I took into account their prior domestic history and her lack of a [criminal] record, and we offered her the three year mandatory minimum.”

Marissa is a mother of three. And she is a victim of abuse.
Any mother knows that one day away from her child is 24 hours too long.

And when you are an abuse victim, you have to believe that the courts will finally free you from the cycle of violence instead of criminalizing you for trying to protect yourself.

If nothing else, the last two years should have shown you that an aggressive prosecution is not always the best one.

So while I know Marissa is thankful this holiday to be home with her family while she awaits her new trial on March 31st, 2014, maybe you should spend this holiday being thankful that you have a second chance to right this obvious wrong.

Sincerely,
Melissa

Categories
Politics

Bernie Sanders – I’m Willing To Stand Up and Be President in 2016

Today, Bernie Sanders almost made it official. In an appearance on MSNBC’s The Ed Show, Sanders was asked to respond to the many speculations that he may run for president in 2016.

After spending most of the segment discussing the improvements in the Obamacare website, host Ed Schultz asked, “what are the possibilities of you running for the Democratic nomination or Independent nod to be a presidential candidate.”

Sanders responds;

Well Ed this is what I said. There are enormous problems facing this country you and I talked have talked about them. Income wealth inequality, massive high unemployment, fact that we are the only country in the industrialize world which doesn’t guarantee healthcare to all people, global warming.

It seems to me it will be a real disgrace if we had a campaign with those issues, the needs of working family, the needs of the middle class, the needs of the elderly were not front and center. We need people out there fighting for ordinary people and not simply taking campaign contributions from the wealthy and a powerful. So what I have said and that candidate is needed. And if somebody else doesn’t step up, I am prepared to do it.

You got my vote Bernie, but if Hillary runs… well, I’m gonna have to think about this.

Video

Categories
Celebrities

Tyrese Breaks Down at Site Where Paul Walker Died

This is just heartbreaking.

Tyrese couldn’t contain his emotion when he visited the site where his Fast and the Furious costar Paul Walker died in a car crash Saturday in Valencia, Calif.

The singer-actor broke down at the scene, with tears rolling down his face as he stood in front of a makeshift memorial holding a flower for the late star.

“My heart is hurting so bad no one can make me believe this is real Father God I pray that you send clarity over this cause I just don’t understand My heart hurts it’s broken no one can convince me that this is real…. Prayer warriors please pray real hard for his only child, his daughter and family…#HeartOfAnAngel13YrsFamilyForever WeJustCelebreatedYour40thBirthday….. My God… My God… I can’t,” Tyrese posted on Instagram Saturday evening after learning about his friend’s passing.

He went on to post an Instagram shot of the last conversation he had with Walker, in which he told him he loved him and thanked him for his friendship.

“At least I got to say I love you…. #OurLastExchange but our laughs and moments will live forever #ThisIsWorstThanMyWorstNightmare #GodiLoveYouAndiwillneverquestionYou…. But this I just don’t understand #PaulForeverFamily #MyHeartHurtsSoBad please pray for his daughter and family…”

Other mourners have also arrived at the scene to pay tribute to Walker and his late friend Roger Rodas, leaving behind flowers candles and DVDs.

Categories
Georgia Politics shooting

Elderly Man with Alzheimers Shot Dead on Another Man’s Property

A 72-year-old who suffered from Alzheimer’s was shot dead after wandering onto a man’s property early Wednesday morning, ringing the doorbell and turning the door handle. After Joe Hendrix’s fiancé called 911 to report a possible intruder, Hendrix went outside to take matters into his own hands, and fired four shots at a silhouette in his yard, killing Ronald Westbrook.

Hendrix admitted to shooting Westbrook in the yard of his rural northern Georgia home after calling out to him and hearing no answer. The county sheriff said Hendrix went outside after waiting 9 or 10 minutes for the police, while his fiancé was still on the phone with the 911 dispatcher. The county sheriff said was “certain” he and his fiance felt threatened.

The incident is the latest in a series of fatal shootings by residents who said they feared an intruder. Last month, protests erupted while a Detroit-area district attorney mulled whether she would file charges against a homeowner who shot a 19-year-old girl, reportedly seeking help after a car accident. Theodore P. Wafer was ultimately charged with murder, but his lawyer invoked the language of the state’s “shoot first” laws that authorize deadly force in self-defense, suggesting Wafer may seek immunity against charges.

Like Michigan and Florida, Georgia has an aggressive law that permits deadly force in self-defense, both inside and outside the home. Walker County Sheriff Steve Wilson told the Times Free Press in Chattanooga, Tenn., that he expected the district attorney to consider Georgia’s Stand Your Ground law in deciding whether to press charges

Categories
Featured Racism

Today in Racism – Arrested For Standing Black in Rochester New York

In a very affluent neighborhood, school children waiting for the bus is still profiled and arrested… if they are black. That is apparently what happened to three members of the Edison Technical High School basket ball team in Rochester New York, as they stood waiting for a bus.

Main Street merchants have long been clamoring for the police to keep young blacks off of the street and this appears to be part of that campaign.

Police, acting on a complaint from a merchant who has a history of these kinds of complaints, charge that they were obstructing the street and loitering at a location where there is a bus shelter and bus stop. The boys maintain that they were doing nothing wrong and were only waiting for the bus as instructed.

Their coach, Jacob Scott who is also the guidance counselor, says that they are all good students who have never been in any trouble. He says that he informed the officer that he was supervising them and they were waiting for a bus — at which time the officer told him that if he didn’t leave he too would be arrested.

Scott said, “He goes on to say, ‘If you don’t disperse, you’re going to get booked as well.’ I said, ‘Sir, I’m the adult. I’m their varsity basketball coach. How can you book me? What am I doing wrong? Matter of fact, what are these guys doing wrong?’”

The officer, backed up by his sergeant, said that if he had a big enough vehicle he would arrest them all.

School board member Mary Adams appeared at the arraignment and said, “I think the charges should be immediately dropped and I think the district attorney’s office should be stepping in an looking at these kinds of matters.”

The parents of the three arrested had to post $200 bail in order to have their sons home for Thanksgiving dinner and they will appear in court again on December 11.

Watch the video below from WHEC 10.

Categories
Domestic Policies News Politics

The Wages Are Sinful

You’ve heard about the healthcare website. You’ve heard about Iran. You’ve heard about the fiscal negotiations. You’ve eaten, shopped, dozed, decorated and lit candles.

Get ready for the wage fight, which could be the most important issue we’ll face in the next few months. On Thursday, fast food workers in 100 cities plan to strike at fast food outlets across the country to publicize the fight for a livable minimum wage. Right now, that wage is $7.25 per hour and hasn’t kept pace with the cost of living or the rate of inflation…ever. To give you some perspective, and to show just how old I am, I remember my first job at Korvettes making $2.50 per hour in 1977. The present wage isn’t even three times that much and over 35 years have passed.

The protests now are asking for a wage of $15 dollars per hour, which still isn’t much, but would allow some people to actually live a middle class existence without having to get more than one job. Consider these statistics from this article about one such person who is trying to survive on the minimum wage:

According to a study released in October, only 13 percent of fast-food workers get health-insurance benefits at work. In New York State, three in five have received some form of government assistance in the last five years. Meanwhile, executive pay and profits in the industry are on the rise. Last winter, Bloomberg News determined that it would take a Chicago McDonald’s worker who earns $8.25 an hour more than a century on the clock to match the $8.75 million that the company’s chief executive made in 2011.
The classic image of the high-school student flipping Big Macs after class is sorely out of date. Because of lingering unemployment and a relative abundance of fast-food jobs, older workers are increasingly entering the industry. These days, according to the National Employment Law Project, the average age of fast-food workers is 29. Forty percent are 25 or older; 31 percent have at least attempted college; more than 26 percent are parents raising children. Union organizers say that one-third to one-half of them have more than one job — like Mr. Shoy, who is 58 and supports a wife and children.

The argument against a rise on the minimum wage has always centered around the notion that raising the wage would force small businesses to lay off workers because labor costs would eat into profits. I can see this happening to a certain extent to local businesses and independent stores, but there’s simply not a lot of evidence to suggest that this would be an issue for large retail outlets, fast-food restaurants or national chain stores. In fact, the data suggests that raising the wage would even help the economy and lift spending, which would then allow companies to hire more workers to meet demand.

The other problem is that this is a moral issue that is reaching far beyond what many people consider to be a teenage, burger-flipping concern. More and more families rely on the minimum wage to get by and more adults, whose higher paying jobs have fled or disappeared, are now working the lower paying jobs. Children are now in danger of living below the poverty line. That’s a huge concern.

We are living in a country where the top wage earners have seen a fabulous rise in their incomes, and for the most part they have earned that. But if we don’t help those who struggle at the bottom–people who are working–then what does that say about our country?

There’s an argument about what might happen if we raise the wage, but we know what will happen if we don’t raise it. Make this a personal issue. Respect the fast food strike on Thursday. Make sure that all people get their shot at the American Dream.

For more please go to:
www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives and Twitter @rigrundfest  

Categories
Healthcare ObamaCare Politics

Here’s The Link: CNN Poll – 70% of Young Adults Believe Obamacare Will Work

Earlier today, I tweeted a recent poll by CNN saying that 70% of young Americans believe the problems with the Obamacare website will eventually be fixed.

Here’s the tweet:

Needless to say, some Republicans on Twitter couldn’t believe that this poll actually existed, and thought that I was making it up. I don’t blame them for thinking this. Their political leaders are constantly feeding them false information which they readily eat up, so naturally when someone shares the truth, they feel the need to question it as well.

Here is one example of the replies I got to the tweet mentioned above:

So with that said, here is the link to the A CNN/ORC International poll where that tweet came from. And here is a CNN article that mentions this data. Below is an exert of the actual article.

Younger Americans are much less likely to express negative views of the new health care law.

“Only 25% of 18-to-34 year olds say that the new law is a failure, compared to more than four in 10 in any other age bracket. Seven in 10 younger Americans think the current problems faced by Obamacare will eventually be fixed. Senior citizens are split, and most people between 35 and 65 years old think that the system is permanently broken,” said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

The poll was conducted November 18-20 for CNN by ORC International, with 843 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey’s overall sampling error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

To the doubters: – Where it says “only 25% of 18-34 year olds say that the new law is a failure,” it means that the remainder 75% think the law is NOT a failure. And where it says, “seven in 10 younger Americans think the current problems faced by Obamacare will eventually be fixed,” that “seven in 10” actually mean 70%.

Hope this helps.

Categories
Politics right winged

Right Winged Mega-Church Pastor Accused of Plagiarism – Video

Mark Driscoll, a right-wing megachurch pastor best known for his chauvinistic,bullying, anti-gay and domineering preaching style, is facing charges of plagiarism from his fellow conservatives. When talk show host Janet Mefferd confronted him about the plagiarism claims in an interview last week, Driscoll was offended that Mefferd dared to ask him such questions and told her that she was “grumpy,” “rude” and “not very Christ-like.”

He patted himself on the back for being “gracious and humble” through it all, adding that he couldn’t appropriately answer Mefferd’s questions because he had a cold and was doingher a favor by appearing on her show. Driscoll’s publisher similarly claimed that it was not Driscoll who was at fault but Mefferd for taking a “belligerent tone” with him, and supporters eagerly piled on.

Christian blogs have noted that Driscoll himself preached against plagiarism as a “Satanic issue.”

Categories
Healthcare ObamaCare Politics

Victory Decleared In Obamacare Website Fixes

(Reuters) – The Obama administration declared victory on Sunday in its effort to get HealthCare.gov working smoothly for the vast majority of users, saying the site had reached a goal of handling 50,000 simultaneous users after a five-week “tech surge.”

In a six-page progress and performance report, administration officials said the troubled website could now handle at least 800,000 visitors per day, with the system remaining up at least 90 percent of the time.

The new performance levels mark significant improvement after the Obamacare website’s disastrous October 1 launch, when it crashed in the face of high traffic volumes and remained down 60 percent of the time for weeks.

But officials remain concerned about high volumes this month, with the potential for large numbers of people entering the site to apply for insurance coverage beginning January 1.

Categories
News

Major Train Derailment In The Bronx — Some Dead, Passengers Trapped Inside

UPDATE: Four people have died and 48 are injured following a Metro-North train derailment in the Bronx. Hudson Line service is suspended in the area.

There has been a major train derailment in the the Bronx on the Metro-North rail line. CBS New York, citing FDNY sources, is saying there are “several injuries.” There’s no word on severity or whether there are any deaths. Some passengers are still reportedly trapped inside.

From ABC7:

It happened at 7:20 Sunday morning at Palisades Avenue and Independence Avenue in the Spuyten Duyvel section.

Police say four cars are off the tracks and two are on their side.

There was an initial report from the AP that “some cars” had gone into the water. However images from news organizations, as well as social media show multiple derailments with cars near, but not in, the water.

Here are some screenshots from social media.

Read more: BusinessInsider

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