Page 10 - Florida Sentinel 9-2-16 Online Edition

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Graduating Cum Laude, Spoken Word Artist Plans To Attend Law School
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
Earlier this month, the Uni- versity of South Florida held its graduation. And several indi- viduals left the campus armed with their respective degrees.
One of those individuals was LIFE Coleman, who gradu- ated Cum Laude. Coleman earned his B. A. Degree from the College of Arts and Sci- ences. His chosen major was in Africana Studies.
Coleman said, “I enrolled in college mainly for my son, Lyfe Lazarus Coleman, an example of academic excel- lence as he was approaching college age. Lyfe, however, was murdered on January 5, 2015, before he could see the fulfillment of the scholastic ef- forts he inspired.”
Returning to school after being separated from the aca- demic world, Coleman en- rolled at Hillsborough Community College in 2013.
“After enrolling, it became important to reward my mother, Ernestine Cole- man, who invested thousands of dollars in my primary and secondary education with the honor of attending my Bac- calaureate Commencement,” he said.
A native of Tampa, Cole- man graduated from Jesuit High School in 1992, with an appointment to the United States Naval Academy to play
LIFE COLEMAN
football.
Coleman was honorably
discharged from the Navy a year later because of Garveyite leanings. “The movie “X” by Spike Lee compelled me to read books that changed my outlook on the world and my place in it as an African and the United States Navy and I could no longer maintain a relation- ship.”
Coleman had last attended an institution of higher learn- ing when he enrolled at More- house College in 1994. However, he dropped out a year later to pursue a career in music as a rapper.
He moved back to Tampa in 1998, and obtained employ- ment. Later, he became a full- time Spoken Word artist.
Having accomplished this goal, Coleman plans to con- tinue his education by attend- ing law school in the fall of 2017.
AFL-CIO Civil Rights Director Rallies Black Women Voters
AFL-CIO Civil, Human and Women’s Rights Director, Carmen Berkley, wants to rally African American women voters across the country, and send out a message to all can- didates.
“We want them to know that we have a voice, and we can be the difference in win- ning or losing a campaign,” said Ms. Berkley
“Many of us are still living in the glow of the Obama era, and we were hoping we’d feel the same way about this pres- idential election. Whether you’ve been riding with Secre- tary Clinton’s campaign since day one, you rode hard for Senator Bernie Sanders, or you’re feeling disconnected from politics all together, let’s take a step back, and acknowl- edge that Donald “You’re Fired” Trump is not a viable candidate for Black women.”
Ms. Berkley said Black women have the opportunity
CARMEN BERKLEY
again to shift the electorate by using their power to register, educate, and turn out other Black folks to vote.
“Let’s face it black women hold a lot of power in our households, from being deci- sion makers to bread winners.
“When we engage our fam- ilies in political discourse, we’re able to shift opinions,
hearts, minds, and votes. Whether it’s at the hair salon, the grocery store Bible study, or brunch, we must utilize our Black girl magic for social change. Our pocketbooks and economic stability depend on our ability to shift the elec- torate once again.”
Ms. Berkley said Black women have the opportunity to invoke their inner FLOTUS (Michelle Obama) and de- liver her message of when they go low, we go high.
“We cannot afford to sit this election out or stay sour over the loss by Bernie Sanders. A loss for Secretary Clinton is a loss for the Black family, from the White House to the Supreme Court.
“We can do what we do best. Talk to our communities about what’s at stake if we let an entertainer and not a poli- cymaker, make decisions that affect everything from our families to our jobs.”
Prosecutors Can Move Forward With Death Penalty Cases
CARLOS BENITO STEVEN CECIL CHARLES CARLOS RUBEN JONES DYKES ANTHONY FOSTER RIVAS
On August 10th, a state ap- peals court rejected lower court rulings that blocked prosecutors from seeking death sentences in four mur- der cases.
The Second District Court of Appeal sided with Attorney Pam Bondi’s office in cases from Hillsborough and Pinel- las counties, where judges pointed to a U. S. Supreme Court decision in barring pros- ecutors from pursuing the death penalty.
The decision by the Supreme Court found that Florida’s death penalty sentencing sys- tem was unconstitutional be- cause it gave too much power to judges instead of juries in deciding whether defendants should be executed.
After the decision state law- makers and Governor Rick Scott worked fast to revamp the state’s sentencing system. However, the Florida Supreme Court continues to ponder a series of cases that raise ques- tions about how the decision should be applied and its po- tential legal fallout.
In the four Hillsborough
and Pinellas cases, defendants were accused of committing murders between 2011 and 2015. The indictments came before the decision although the defendants had not gone to trial.
After the decision two of the defendants asked judges to prevent their trials from mov- ing forward as death penalty cases; a request that was granted by the judges.
In the other two cases the defendants sought to plead guilty in exchange for guaran- tees they would be sentenced to life in prison. The judges in those cases found that life in prison was the only available sentence despite objections from prosecutors.
Bondi’s office took the is- sues to the appeals court, who consolidated the four cases. In a nine-page ruling, a three- judge panel said the decision does not prevent prosecutors from seeking the death penalty.
The appeals court also took issue with the fact that the cir- cuit judges made the death penalty decisions before the
defendants had been to trial. The appeals court did not describe details of the underly- ing murders cases which in- volved Carlos Benito Jones and Steven Cecil Dykes in Pinellas County, and Charles Anthony Foster and Carlos Ruben Rivas in Hillsbor-
ough County.
It had been reported that
Dykes had been accused of fa- tally shaking and striking his infant daughter in February 2015. In rejecting prosecutors’ attempt to seek the death penalty against Dykes, Circuit Judge Michael Andrews wrote that he concluded there currently exists no death penalty in Florida that there is no procedure in place.
Rivas was accused of killing a homeless man in 2012. In 2012, then 25-year-old Carlos Benito Jones and his brother were accused of mur- dering a scientologist as he was cycling home after attend- ing a meeting. Charles An- thony Foster, then 28, was convicted of the murder of two men in Seffner.
PAGE 10-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2016