Page 19 - Florida Sentinel 10-25-16 Online Edition

National
2,000 Seattle Teachers Wear ‘Black Lives Matter’ T-Shirts To School To Teach Racial Equality
Mayor And
Cop That Shot And Killed Man In August Is Arrested For Sexual Assault
City Council
Apologize
For
Treatment
After Video
Goes Viral
Teachers in Seattle wear Black Lives Matter Shirts to school.
MILWAUKEE, WI --- A Mil- waukee police officer who shot and killed a man in August — setting off nights of protests in the city — was arrested Wednesday following a sexual assault investigation, police said.
According to the New York Daily News, sex assault accusa- tions against Dominique Heaggan-Brown reportedly emerged Aug. 15, two days after he shot and killed Sylville Smith.
The victim's report set off an internal investigation that cul- minated with a criminal com-
plaint filed Tuesday by the Mil- waukee County District Attor- ney's Office.
The investigation "revealed additional allegations, resulting in added charges,"police said.
Heaggan-Brown — a two- year department veteran who once performed as an amateur rapper — remains in custody and was suspended by the de- partment, police said.
Smith, 23, was shot and killed after fleeing from a traffic stop. Authorities said Heag- gan-Brown shot Smith after he refused orders to drop his gun.
SEATTLE, WA --- Teachers, students and parents across Seattle public schools are wear- ing "Black Lives Matter" t- shirts Wednesday to promote racial equity in schools.
Organizers say many edu- cators in Washington's largest school district are voluntarily using the day to lead discus- sions about institutional racism, teach about black his- tory and hold rallies.
High school teacher and or- ganizer Jesse Hagopian says the day of action offers oppor- tunities to address racial in- equities in schools. He notes, for example, that graduation rates are disproportionately lower and suspension rates much higher for black students compared to white students.
At Garfield High School, teachers held a rally on the steps during the lunch hour, sharing their struggles and de- termination to close the achievement gap for their stu- dents.
The teachers were backed by the teachers union along with the school district.
A spokesperson from Seattle Public Schools said in a state- ment, "We are united in our commitment to eliminate op- portunity gaps.
Teachers have a First Amendment right to wear their speech. We respect our teach- ers’ rights and desire to express themselves. T-shirts are a good visual. We hope the message inspires people to do the work on eliminating opportunity gaps."
Plainclothed police officers arrested man after he told them he was walking in the street to avoid sidewalk con- struction. He was charged with ‘disturbing the peace.’
MINNEAPOLIS, MN ---- The mayor and City Council of Edina, Minnesota, have pub- licly apologized for a video- taped altercation between a white police officer and a Black man that circulated heavily on social media, after hearing emotional testimony from the audience about race relations there.
Edina is a wealthy Min- neapolis suburb that is 15 min- utes south of the city, and has a population that is 88 percent white and 3 percent Black, ac- cording to Census figures.
The video from last Wednesday showed Larnie Thomas being held back by his jacket by a plainclothes po- lice officer who refused Thomas' demands that he be released. In it, the officer told Thomas that he was walking in the middle of the street.
Thomas responded that he was avoiding sidewalk con- struction. Throughout the video, Thomas' frustration was apparent, and at one point Janet Rowle, a bystander who filmed the altercation, told the officer that Thomas was "scared."
Thomas removed his jacket, then his shirt to escape the officer's grasp. A second of- ficer arrived and arrested Thomas.
The disturbing the peace charge against him has been dropped.
Councilmember Bob Stewart said, “I think we can do better.”
As for the charges against Thomas being dropped, the Minnesota NAACP wrote on its Facebook page that "this is not justice, but it is a step in the right direction."
Female Rapper Talks About The ‘Forgotten Black
Suspended police officer, Dominique Heaggan-Brown was ar- rested last Wednesday. He was the officer that killed Sylville Smith, 23, in August.
Emmett Till’s Memorial Sign Riddled With Bullet Holes
Emmett Till was murdered in Mississippi that sparked the Civil Rights Movement. One of the Memorial Markers was riddled with bullets.
Rapper Remy Ma knows all too well the struggle of being incarcerated and its lingering effects.
When she said incarcerated Black women are routinely for- gotten while on HuffPost's weekly rap show, "BARS," she wasn't lying.
Once a Black woman makes it out of prison she still isn't free of her past. "You try to fill out ... a job application,” she said, “You try to get housing. You try to do anything simple as voting you can’t do it be- cause of something that you did. So it’s never really like you paid your debt to society. You’re constantly paying for it over and over. ... The system is designed for you to fail.”
According to The Sentencing Project, women comprise a larger population of the prison system than ever before. The number of women going to jail has outpaced men by more than 50 percent. For Black women, the numbers are even more alarming, as the impris- onment rate of Black women is more than twice that of white women.
As the mass incarceration epidemic is growing, the num- ber of Black women who are still being punished after serv- ing their time is as well.
The rising cost of rent cou- pled with the lack of housing options makes it hard to find somewhere affordable to live. It also makes it harder to find a safe place to live. Despite these being some of the challenges being faced in the housing mar- ket, Black women are faced with an even bigger challenge.
Award winning female rap- per, Remy Ma spent 6 years in prison for allegedly not having compassion for a person that was shot after an alleged inci- dent with her.
A report from the Equal Rights Center explains that Black women who have a crim- inal background have a harder time securing housing than their white counterparts.
According to Alexis Squire of ERC, “This report shines a light on what is happening to these women long after their interaction with the criminal justice system has ended."
The report concluded that there is a difference in how in- formation and service are pro- vided to Black women. This difference includes things like being offered different housing fees (application fee, renter's fee). It also found that there were different reactions to an applicant's criminal record when white rather than Black. The study found that white women were more likely to re- ceive helpful info and a sympa- thetic reaction to their history.
A memorial sign which marks the location where Em- mett Till’s brutalized body was discovered in a Missis- sippi river in 1955 was discov- ered riddled with bullet holes, the New York Daily News re- ports.
According to the report, it is not the first time that the sign has been vandalized since it was put in place in 2007. Till’s August 28, 1955 murder rocked the nation and sparked the civil rights movement.
The 14-year-old from Chicago was kidnapped, tor- tured and killed for allegedly whistling at a white woman while visiting relatives down south. The Emmett Till Me- morial Commission put up eight-site markers at impor- tant locations, including the sign that was damaged.
According to the Daily News, filmmaker Kevin Wil- son, Jr. posted a photo show- ing the sign riddled with approximately 50 bullet holes.
Women In And Out Of Prison’
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