Page 14 - Florida Sentinel 7-19-19

News From Around The Nation
Rev. Al Sharpton Is Fighting To Get A$AP Rocky Released From Swedish Prison
Atlanta HS Students Make History At Harvard's International Debate Tournament
By Securing Second Championship
Two high-school students led their all-Black debate team to their second consec- utive championship at Har- vard’s international debate tournament. The two boys also set an unprecedented and undefeated record at the tournament.
According to a press re- lease issued by The Art De- partment, each member on the team is from Atlanta. De- spite having no prior experi- ence in debating, team members DJ Roman and Keith Harris beat competi- tors from 15 different coun- tries around the world.
“This is the moment that we’ve worked so hard for,” said Roman. “Our accom- plishment is far bigger than us; we are showing the world what black youth are capable of achieving when given equal access, exposure, and opportunities. This win is for our ancestors, our city, and
DJ Roman and Keith Harris
most of all our culture.”
The students have been able to receive debate train- ing as a part of the Harvard Diversity Project, which Blavity has previously pro- filed. For the past 10 months, the students have been train- ing on weekends under Brandon P. Fleming, Har- vard’s assistant debate coach. “Knowing that they will
compete against hundreds of scholars who have years of debate experience combined with the benefit of private and prep schools to their ad- vantage, we seek to level the playing field by introducing our students to higher level academic disciplines that are typically unavailable in tradi- tional school settings,” said Fleming.
Former Florida Deputy Arrested For Allegedly Planting Drugs During Traffic Stops
Rev. Al Sharpton tweeted, with the family of ASAP ROCKY and the family of the other 2 men locked up with him. They joined us at the Saturday action rally to call for justice to releasing these men from being held in Stockholm Sweden. We will stay on the case.
Ever since it was revealed that A$AP Rocky was locked up in a Swedish jail for reportedly fighting off stalkers, an outpouring of support has erupted.
The #JusticeForRocky hashtag surfaced on social media in recent days, with fans and celebrities calling for his release. News of the horrid conditions at prison have also amplified their cause.
Now, civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton is join- ing the fight for the Harlem- born rapper’s release. On Wednesday (June 10), Sharpton met with Renee Black, Rocky’s mother, and other relatives at his Na- tional Action Network corpo-
rate offices in New York. Sharpton is calling on members of Congress to join him in attempting to appeal to the State Department for intervention. He is also seek- ing permission to visit
Rocky as a minister. “Reports of the condi-
tions in A$AP’s jail cell and violation of his consular visi- tation rights are concerning,” Sharpton said in a state- ment. “We at National Ac- tion Network are appealing directly to the Swedish au- thorities for complete trans- parency and A$AP’s swift return home.”
Korey Wise of the Ex- onerated Five also joined the meeting between Sharp- ton and Rocky’s family.
A former Florida deputy has been arrested on a slew of charges for allegedly planting drugs on people he pulled over.
Zachary Wester, 26, a former deputy with the Jack- son County Sheriff's Office, was charged with 52 counts of racketeering for allegedly using the sheriff's office to commit various crimes, Florida State Attorney Bill Evans said in a news confer- ence Wednesday.
Investigators found 42 items of drug paraphernalia in Wester's car, including 10 separately packaged quan- tities of methamphetamine and five separately packaged quantities of marijuana, said Chris Williams, assistant special agent in charge of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Pensacola re- gion.
Eleven people have testi- fied that Wester planted
Zachary Wester in a police booking photo.
drugs on them, Evans said. The majority of the victims were locals, but it does not appear that Wester was tar- geting a specific group of peo- ple, said Evans, who declined to speculate about the motive behind Wester's actions.
There were several in- stances in which Wester's body camera was turned off
before the drugs were "lo- cated," and other instances in which the body camera was "turned on only after the drugs were located," Evans said.
Wester was a deputy with the Liberty County Sher- iff's Office for less than a year before he was hired by Jack- son County in May 2016, Williams said.
An internal investigation was launched after concerns arose surrounding Wester's work. Jackson County Sheriff Lou Roberts asked state authorities to conduct an in- dependent investigation after Wester was fired last Sep- tember, Evans said.
Wester made more than 100 arrests during his time with Jackson County, but in- vestigators do not believe that "every one of those is a false arrest or that he planted drugs on every one of those," Evans said.
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