Page 7 - 3-17-15 Tuesday's Edition

National
Civil Rights Activist, Rev. Willie T. Barrow Dies
Secret Servicemen Involved In Incident May Be Fired
Mark Connolly is second in command on President Obama’s detail. Here he is with the President.
WASHINGTON, D.C. --- On March 4, special agents Mark Connolly and George Ogilvie drove an agency SUV on Pennsylvania Avenue toward the White House, heading to an investigation for a suspicious package.
Officials say the vehicle ran through security tape at the White House compound before slamming into barricades that were set up for the investigation.
Sources say the agents ap- peared to be under the influence of alcohol after attending a re- tirement party for a colleague.
Officers wanted to arrest the agents, but were ordered to go home.
The Secret Service has been under scrutiny. In 2012, 13 agents were suspected of solicit- ing prostitution and bringing strippers back to a hotel room.
Last year, a man got by agents at the White House and man- aged to run through the man- sion’s main floor.
“These issues have brought Republicans and Democrats to- gether to address them,” said Maryland Congressman Eli- jah Cummings.
Rep. Cummings is the top Democrat on the House Com- mittee that monitors the Secret Service.
“No doubt about it, it does tar- nish the agency’s reputation,” he said.
Ritter: “Secret Service has a new director, Mr. Clancy, who President Obama appointed last month to get a hold on inci- dents just like this.
What do you think he needs to do specifically?”
Cummings: “He will proba- bly be dismissing some people from the agency or inviting them to leave.”
If the allegations are true, Cummings believes the direc- tor will send a strong message to the entire agency.
“This incident is a wake up call, a very clear wake up call, that there’s still much more to be done,” said Cummings.
Cummings believes the in- vestigation will wrap up quickly. “If these facts are proven to be true, the Secret Service cannot afford to have these types of
things happening,” he said. Both agents were reassigned, but not placed on administra-
tive leave.
Agent Connolly is second in
command on President Obama’s detail.
Top White House officials are irritated they learned about the alleged incident for the first time Monday–four full days after it occurred.
Hundreds Protest In Atlanta After Police Officer Kills Naked Man
Protesters take to the streets in Decatur on Wednesday. Anthony Hill was an Air Force veteran.
CHICAGO, IL --- Rev. Willie T. Barrow, an influ- ential pioneer during the civil rights movement, has died.
Rev. Barrow, who was dubbed the “The Little War- rior,” marched with Dr. King in Washington and in Selma. She was also one of the founding members of the or- ganization that is now known as the Rainbow/PUSH Coali- tion. Her fight for equality went beyond the civil rights movement; she was an advo- cate for both women’s rights and labor rights.
President Obama re- cently released a statement about Rev. Barrow’s pass- ing: “Nowhere was Reverend Barrow’s impact felt more than in our hometown of Chicago. Through Operation Breadbasket, the Rainbow/PUSH coalition, and
REV. WILLIE T. BARROW
her beloved Vernon Park Church, she never stopped doing all she could to make her community a better place,” he said. “Michelle and I are deeply saddened by Reverend Barrow’s pass- ing, but we take comfort in the knowledge that our world is a far better place because she was a part of it.” Rev. Willie T. Barrow was 90.
ATLANTA, GAL ----Hun- dreds took to the streets of De- catur, Georgia, stopping traffic, chanting and holding signs like “Demilitarize the police” to protest the officer-involved shooting death of Anthony Hill, an unarmed 27-year-old black man in DeKalb County, a suburb of Atlanta.
Protesters, using hashtags like #Antlanta and #Anthony- Hill are questioning the use of force against Hill, an Air Force veteran who was naked and un- armed, when he was shot and killed by a white police officer on last Monday.
Activists announced the protest with an email asking this very question reports the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
“Anthony was naked and unarmed at the time of the shooting, yet Officer Olsen found him to be enough of a threat to take his life.”
The officer who shot Hill, a seven-year veteran of the force has been identified by police as Robert Olsen, and has been placed on administrative leave.
Hill was shot after he was dealing with what looked to be a mental health issue, said the DeKalb County police Chief Cedric Alexander on Mon- day. Alexander confirmed that police received a call about a man “acting deranged, knock-
ing on doors, and crawling around on the ground naked.”
After “running towards a re- sponding officer,” Hill was shot twice. Police found no weapon. Almost immediately, Twitter was flooded with the hashtags #AnthonyHill and #BlackLivesMatter.
Ironically, Hill had used the #BlackLivesMatter himself in the days before his death, re- ports Reuters:
In another post the same day, he said, “No man (or woman) is ever going to stop me from liv- ing the life I envision...Em- power yourself. Show these kids that #blacklivesmatter by living yours like it does.”
Hill is at least the third African-American man since Friday, March 6th who was unarmed when shot dead by police. Thousands have been rallying for the last few days in the streets of Madison Wiscon- sin for 19-year-old Tony Robinson, who was killed by police last week. Aurora, Col- orado police confirmed that Naeschylus Vinzant, 37, was unarmed when he was shot and killed with one bullet by police on last Friday.
Hill’s shooting investigation went to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in an effort at “transparency.”
Frat That Declared 'There Will
Never Be A N*Gg*R In SAE' Hazed
Black Student To Death
Four years ago Cornell Uni- versity closed down their chap- ter of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. Many members of the fraternity left the school al- together. They had just killed a man.
George Desdunes, an as- piring doctor, was a 19-year- old sophomore from Brooklyn, New York, and the son of Hait- ian immigrants. His hands and feet were tied with duct tape and zip ties. Blindfolded, he was given so much alcohol that he died within a few hours of the hazing. All alone and com- pletely unconscious, he was found dead by a college clean- ing crew the following morn- ing. His mother filed a $25 million wrongful death suit in the case.
On its own merit, the hazing death of George Desdunes is tragic, but when viewed in
George Desdunes before he was killed in a hazing incident with SAE fraternity.
light of recent racism that has been exposed within the SAE fraternity, one has to wonder if George Desdunes was treated any differently because he was black. When a popular fraternity chant song has vio- lent lines about lynching black men, everything should be on the table.
Man, 20, Charged With Shooting 2 Officers In Ferguson
Another Unarmed Man Killed By Police In Colorado
CLAYTON, Mo. — A 20- year-old man, Jeffrey Williams, charged Sunday with shooting two police offi- cers watching over a demon- stration outside the Ferguson Police Department had at- tended a protest there earlier that night but told investigators he wasn't targeting the officers, authorities said.
St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch said sus- pect Williams told authorities he was firing at someone with whom he was in a dispute.
"We're not sure we com- pletely buy that part of it," Mc- Culloch said, adding that there might have been other people in a vehicle Williams is accused of firing from.
Williams is charged with two counts of first-degree as- sault, one count of firing a weapon from a vehicle and three counts of armed criminal action. McCulloch said the in- vestigation is ongoing.
The police officers were shot early Thursday as a late-night
AURORA, CO --- Aurora, Colorado police confirmed that the man killed by police in an officer involved shooting was, in fact, unarmed.
The victim is Naeschylus Vinzant, 37, who police say absconded parole on March 2 by removing his ankle bracelet. Vinzant was also wanted in connection with an alleged domestic vio- lence incident, which included charges of kidnapping, rob- bery, and assault, according to police investigators.
Police at a Monday press conference said that “mem-
bers of the SWAT team at- tempted to take the subject into custody, at which time one shot was fired and the subject was struck one time in the chest.” Vinzant was taken to the hospital, where he later died. Aurora Police Com- mander Paul O’Keefe said officers didn’t learn Vinzant was unarmed until after he was shot. No officers were in- jured in the incident wherein a SWAT team descended upon one man.
The coroner’s officer ruled the death a homicide.
JEFFREY WILLIAMS
demonstration began to break up following the resignation of Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson in the wake of a Jus- tice Department report that found widespread racial bias in the police department.
Williams, who St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Bel- mar said is Black, is being held on $300,000 bond. County po- lice spokesman Brian Schell- man said he didn't know whether Williams had an at- torney or when he'd appear in court.
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