Page 20 - Florida Sentinel 2-5-19

National
GM Poised To Lay Off
Detroit Cop Posts Racist Snapchat Video Mocking Black Woman In Freezing Cold Temps
More Than 4,000
Workers On Monday
As federal workers across the country struggle to regain traction after the government shutdown, General Motors workers are bracing for lay- offs set to start next week.
Detroit giant GM is ex- pected to begin laying off 4,250 salaried workers on Monday as part of a 15 per- cent reduction in the com- pany’s white collar jobs, CNN and The Detroit News are re- porting.
GM announced the layoffs in November at the same time it also revealed it also would close four of its plants in the United States and a fifth plant in Canada.
The cutbacks that GM says are designed to help the com- pany free up $6 billion for de- velopment of electric and self-driving vehicles and other industry innovations have been criticized by Pres- ident Trump, whose base
GM announced that 4,000 employees will be fired.
has been working-class mid- dle America. The move also will allow GM to develop a ride-hailing service, accord- ing to CNN.
The GM plant in Lord- stown, Ohio, is one of the four U. S. sites affected, CNN re- ported. It also is a site that Trump promised he would revive during his 2016 White House campaign.
A Detroit police officer has sparked outrage after posting an insensitive Snapchat video of a Black woman freezing in the cold during a traffic stop. According to the Huffington Post, Tuesday, officials from Detroit Police Department confirmed that Officer Gary Steele had been reassigned while they investigate the video. The clip in question was taken after Steel pulled over Ariel Moore for having an expired registration and seized her vehicle.
Detroit station WXYZ re- ports that once Moore was told to exit the vehicle so it could be towed, she was of- fered a ride to her home but declined. The 23-year-old in- stead chose to walk a block home in below-freezing
Ariel Moore and Officer Gary Steele.
weather. That’s when the offi- cer decided to poke fun at her plight and start filming her.
In Steele’s video the young woman can be seen walking away as one of the officers mocks her and says she is doing the “walk of shame.” Making the ill advised video even worse is the fact that stickers were added to the footage that read, “What black
girl magic looks like” and “cel- ebrating Black History Month.”
The racially charged clip ends with an officer saying, “Bye, Felicia,”
When the local news sta- tion showed Moore and her mother, Monique Mobley the video they were stunned.
“I’ve never had this hap- pen to me in my life. I’m kind of shocked — I don’t really know how to feel right now. I’m still trying to take it in,” said Moore.
“What they put on there, that’s racist. They’re demean- ing my child for no reason,” added Mobley.
Thursday, Detroit Police Chief James Craig told press that he agrees that what those officers did was unacceptable.
Good Samaritan Pays Hotel Tab For Dozens Of Homeless In Chicago Amid Dangerous Cold Snap
Portland Sergeant During Precinct Roll Call: ‘If You Come Across A Black Person, Just Shoot Them’
A Portland police officer in riot gear in Portland, Oregon.
Dallas Cop Who fatally Shot Botham Jean Makes A Court Appearance
An anonymous donor paid for hotel rooms for several dozen homeless people who had been camped out in tents in Chicago as temperatures dipped to dangerously cold levels Wednesday. The good Samaritan picked up the hotel bill for about 70 people after donated propane tanks that kept them warm in sub- zero temperatures were con-
fiscated, the Chicago Trib- une first reported.
The homeless had set up tents in a makeshift camp near an expressway in Chicago, where tempera- tures plummeted to 22 de- grees below zero. They were using propane tanks that were donated to them until one exploded Wednesday af- ternoon, prompting a re-
sponse from the Salvation Army, a spokesperson for the organization, Jacque- line Rachev, told CBS News.
The blast didn't injure any- one but it caused a small fire, which led the Chicago Fire Department to take away the propane tanks, leaving the homeless encampment with- out a source of heat
The fired Dallas cop who shot and killed Botham Shem Jean in his apart- ment last year, made a court appearance on Tuesday, The Daily Mail reports.
Flanked by her attorneys, Amber Guyger, 30, ap- peared at the Dallas Criminal Courthouse but State District Judge Tammy Kemp did not conduct a hearing in the courtroom for Guyger’s ‘an- nouncement’ setting. No word on what attorneys dis- cussed during the appear- ance, The Dallas Morning News reported. Neither Guyger or her attorneys commented as they left the hearing, obeying a judge’s order not to publicly discuss the case.
Guyger told investigators
Amber Guyger and Botham Shem Jean
This week, Portland resi- dents found out just how derogatory and racially charged the remarks made by Portland police Sgt. Gregg Lewis had to be in order to get him fired.
According to OregonLive, Wednesday, City Commis- sioner JoAnn Hardesty quoted Lewis’ comments on the record with the hopes of putting a stop to a proposed settlement that would allow Lewis to be reinstated.
Hardesty reported that on Feb. 12, 2017, while speak- ing to officers at a Central Precinct roll call, Lewis in- structed those in attendance to place civil holds and taken to a detoxification center if
any individual suspected of public intoxication is found inebriated in public or in public garages.
Seems fine, until he then playfully added, “If you come across a Black person, just shoot them.’’
To add insult to injury, Lewis’ made the racist quip only three days after the fatal police shooting of a young, Black man, 17-year-old Quanice Hayes. Hardesty says that incident makes it clear that Lewis is unfit to serve the community and should instead retire with back pay to ensure an arbi- trator couldn’t overturn his firing and put him back to work.
that she had just ended a 15- hour shift when she returned in uniform to the South Side Flats apartment complex. She parked on the fourth floor, instead of the third, where she lived, according to the affidavit, possibly sug- gesting that she was confused or disoriented.
When she put her key in the apartment door, which
was unlocked and slightly ajar, it opened, the affidavit said. Inside, the lights were off, and she saw a figure in the darkness that cast a large silhouette across the room, according to the officer’s ac- count.
She claims she shot Jean, a 26-year-old accountant, thinking he was an intruder in her apartment.
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