Page 20 - Florida Sentinel 1-1-19

National
Supreme Court Decides 'Stand Your Ground' Law Applies To Florida Police As Well
You can practically hear the death toll of men-of-color rising.
Black Marriott Exec Was Allegedly Compared To ‘Buckwheat,’ And Told To Dance For White Colleagues
In a landslide decision, Florida police officers will now be able to enforce the state's controversial "stand your ground" law to claim self-defense according to the New York Times. The Stand Your Ground is a law passed by the Florida govern- ment in 2005 generally allow- ing people to stand their ground instead of retreating if they believe that doing so will "prevent death or great bodily harm," according to Find- Law.
According to Fox News 13, the judges ruled unanimously in a 7-0 vote that because the law is designed for "any per- son" who is acting in self-de- fense, that since cops are technically people, they too should be included under the protections.
Though many cops and politicians are elated about the decision, many people of color have expressed their outrage. Being that police of- ficers rarely face punishment in racially charged shootings at the hands of law enforce- ment, members of Black Lives Matter have come forth to speak their minds.
“Police officers already have full immunity to kill us at will,” said Tiffany Burks, a Black Lives Matter Alliance Broward activist. “This is an extra bonus on top of that. It reallyisaslapintheface—a blatant one at that.”
This case was reportedly triggered by an incident in 2013, where Jermaine McBean, a mentally ill man, was shot and killed after walking down an Oakland Parkway with an unloaded rifle slug. After entering an apartment complex he was approached by three Broward County sheriff’s deputies who requested for him to drop the weapons. He was unable to hear because he was wearing headphones.
The officer maintains that Mcbean turned his gun on him, but there are witnesses supporting the notion that he
never pointed the weapon in the cops direction.
Gun violence has seeped into the American culture sinking its claws into every- day life. With 53,492 shooting occurring in 2018, the result was more than 13,700 gun- related deaths, reported by the Gun Violence Archive. A new study led by a professor at Boston University has found that the life ex- pectancy of African-Ameri- cans has lowered by more than 4-years due to gun vio- lence.
Based on federal data col- lected between 2000 and 2016, the research concluded black Americans died more frequently due to homicide among younger ages, al- though white American gun deaths are linked more so to- ward suicide amid older folks. Published Dec. 4 in the BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine journal."Our study using cu- mulative data from 2000 to 2016 demonstrates a total firearm life expectancy loss of 905.2 days, which is nine times greater than observed in 2000, indicating increas- ing life expectancy loss by year," wrote Bindu Kale- san, the lead author of the in- vestigation.
Furthering the discussion surrounding firearm injury, Kalesan inferred that gun- related injury causes Ameri- cans to "lose substantial years." A common miscon- ception surrounding shoot- ing victims, only 30% of people struck by bullets die. However, the trauma en- dured is now linked to the shortened life expectancy.
One of the studies calcu- lated in the 2000s, "con- cluded that shootings reduced the average Ameri- can lifespan by about 100 days, with a significant gap between black and white men: Black men lost 361.5 days, while white men lost 150.7 days," wrote Nick Wing, a journalist at Huffin- gton Post.
Daryl Robinson began working in February 2017 as a sales executive with the company. As the only African-American employee in the office, several of his white colleagues found it quite challenging to process his “colorful” presence. As such, Robinson says he was asked on multiple occasions to dance by a director of sales during meetings as entertain- ment for other employees, usually to music by Michael Jackson.
In his lawsuit, he also al- leges that a photo of the char- acter Buckwheat was used to represent him during a team building exercise, nbc- news.com reports.
On another occasion, the director of sales noted that “we have a good looking crew” then looked at Robin- son and allegedly said, “Daryl looks ready to break-
A Black former sales execu- tive for Marriott Vacations Worldwide alleges in a lawsuit that he was often subjected to white supremacist ideology that made his working condi- tions intolerable to the point where he had to leave the posi- tion.
dance.”
Robinson said his co-
workers laughed at the re- mark while he felt “humiliated, dejected and felt completely defeated.”
The suit also states that Robinson was not given a cubicle like the other sales reps, instead, he worked out
of a “cramped” storage closet that had no air conditioning. He claims his co-workers even questioned if he was put there because of his race.
Robinson says the racism and humiliation took a toll on him and his doctor put him on a medical leave because of his anxiety. He “was forced to give up his employment,” the suit states.
Per the NBC News report, Robinson is suing for un- lawful race discrimination, unlawful race harassment, failure to prevent race dis- crimination and harassment and retaliation for opposing forbidden practices.
Marriott Vacations World- wide spokesman Ed Kin- ney told NBC News on Wednesday: “We are aware of the allegations of this suit but as a policy, do not com- ment on legal issues and mat- ters.”
Lawyer For Man Who Killed
Nia Wilson Claims That He
Is Mentally Unfit For Trial
An attorney for the man who killed Nia Wilson could be building an insanity de- fense. John Lee Cowell is exhibiting signs of “extreme delusion and paranoia,” his lawyer, Christina Moore, said during a plea hearing Thursday (Dec. 20), the East Bay Times reports.
“I don’t believe he’s able to assist me,” Moore told the Alameda County Superior Court. “We are unable to have any conversation about the case.”
According to the San Fran- cisco Chronicle, people in the courtroom gasped at Moore's claims.
“It’s a lie,” Wilson’s mother, Alicia Grayson, said after the hearing. “That’s what white privilege [does] ... That’s like war. All white peo- ple do is say they’re crazy.”
A hearing will be held next
The family of Nia Wilson outside of the courthouse.
week to determine if Cowell should be granted a mental evaluation. If so, “neutral court appointed” doctors will be commissioned to assess Cowell’s mental state.
Cowell fatally stabbed 18- year-old Wilson and criti- cally injured her older sister
while the two were at an Oak- land BART station, in July. Cowell, 27, cleaned off the knife used to stab Wilson and fled the scene. He was ar- rested a day later at a nearby BART station. Prosecutors have not yet announced if they will seek the death penalty.
PAGE 20 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND TUESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2019