Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 6-23-17

White House and Political News
Cuba Says ‘NO’ To Turning Over Black Activist Joanne Chesimard To U. S.
Assata Shakur is a hero- ine to many as a fighter for black rights, but a villain to others who think she hides her crimes behind revolution- ary rhetoric. Cuba, having granted political asylum to one of America’s Most Wanted, falls in line with the former and does not plan on relinquishing her.
Deputy director of Ameri- can affairs at the Cuban Min- istry of Foreign Affairs, Gustavo Machin, told Yahoo News that he has no intention of returning the woman born Joanne Chesi- mard to the United States. “I can say it is off the table.”
Joanne Chesimard aka Assata Shakur will not be returned to the U.S.
On last Friday (June 16), Donald Trump delivered his Cuba policy address in Miami and demanded that the Castro regime return
Shakur, who was con- victed of killing a New Jersey state trooper before escaping from a United States prison in the 1970s.
DOJ Seeks Meeting With Eric Garner’s Family
NEW YORK —- The Justice Department has been investi- gating the death of Eric Gar- ner for years, but his daughter, Erica, recently revealed that the DOJ contacted her, a possi- ble first step toward the end of the case.
“The DOJ just reached out to me and said they want to meet to give me an update,” Erica Garner wrote on Twitter on Monday.
“Word of mouth is that they are going to have a meeting. I don’t know when or where or what it’s about,” Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, told the New York Daily News.
A federal grand jury has been investigating NYPD Officer David Pantaleo since the death of Eric Garner on July 17, 2014, after Garner was selling loose cigarettes.
Pantaleo put Garner in a banned chokehold, and his final words, “I can’t breathe,”
Eric Garner was put into a chokehold on a NYC street for selling loose cigarettes. The police officer that used the band method was not con- victed by a grand jury, and was given a raise by the police de- partment.
became a rallying cry for protest movements across the country. Although Garner’s death was ruled a homicide, Pantaleo was not convicted by a Staten Island grand jury.
Pantaleo’s lawyer, Stuart London, said that he was un- aware of a meeting set to take place, as was a police spokesperson.
Report: President Trump Calls For Sharp Cuts In Housing, Except Where He Makes Millions
According to the Washing- ton Post, President Trump’s budget calls for sharply reducing funding for programs that shelter the poor and combat homeless- ness — with a notable excep- tion: It leaves intact a type of federal housing subsidy that is paid directly to private landlords.
One of those landlords is Trump himself, who earns millions of dollars each year as a part-owner of Starrett City, the nation’s largest sub- sidized housing complex.
Trump’s 4 percent stake in the Brooklyn complex earned him at least $5 million be- tween January of last year and April 15, according to his recent financial disclosure.
Trump’s business empire intersects with government in countless ways, from taxa- tion to permitting to the issu- ing of patents, but the housing subsidy is one of the clearest examples of the con- flicts experts have predicted.
Starrett City is the largest federally subsidized housing complex in the U.S. has made $490M since 2013. It is located in Brooklyn. HUD is under fire for nominating event plan- ner Lynne Patton to run NY di- vision.
While there is no indication that Trump himself was in- volved in the decision, it is nonetheless a stark illustra- tion of how his financial in- terests can directly rise or fall on the policies of his admin- istration.
The federal government has paid the partnership that owns Starrett City more than
$490 million in rent subsi- dies since May 2013, accord- ing to figures provided by a spokesman for the Depart- ment of Housing and Urban Development. Nearly $38 million of that has come since Trump took office in Janu- ary.
HUD, meanwhile, has come under fire in recent days after news of the ex- pected nominee to lead the department in the New York region: Lynne Patton, an event planner who has no professional experience in housing, but who is a former vice president of Eric Trump’s foundation and who helped plan his wedding.
The administration’s deci- sions on housing programs were not influenced by Trump’s interest in Starrett City, HUD spokesman Jereon Brown said Tues- day. Several experts said cut- ting the subsidy paid directly to landlords can be politically difficult.
Texas Governor Signs Revised Sandra Bland Act
TEXAS —-Sandra Bland’s death continues to reign as precedence in a brutal and un- just justice system in terms of the darker communities.
Last Thursday (June 15), Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed the Sandra Bland Act into law in order to address the ultimately-fatal circumstances that led to Bland’s death in July 2015.
The law addresses issues from mental illness, substance abuse, de-escalation training for officers, investigating jail deaths.
But, Bland’s family is disap- pointed with, what they claim as “gut-wrenching” revisions to the soon-to-be law.
Bland’s sister Sharon Cooper expressed her dismay with the act in May, claiming, “It’s a complete oversight of the root causes of why she was jailed in the first place.”
The revisions that were re-
Sandra Bland died in a jail cell in Texas after being de- tained for a traffic stop and al- tercation with the officer.
moved included a requirement for additional proof for stop- ping and searching vehicles.
On July 10 in 2015, Bland was detained for initially being stopped for a traffic violation, which led to her denial of ad- hering to the officer’s request to put out her cigarette. She was forcefully removed from her vehicle and placed in jail with a $5,000 bond.
In the three days following her arrest, Bland was found dead in her cell, with her death being ruled as a suicide.
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