Page 18 - Florida Sentinel 6-26-18

National
National Assoc. Of Black
Pittsburgh Teen Shot In The Back By Police; Protests Continue
Atwon Rose, Jr. was shot multiple times. Protesters marched into downtown Pittsburgh for the 3rd day.
Journalists’ Executive
Director Resigns Post
WASHINGTON, D. C. —- The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) board of directors accepted the resignation of its Executive Di- rector, Sharon Toomer.
Toomer’s resignation comes 3 months after she de- livered a blistering five-page letter to leaders of the organi- zation criticizing the “degree of bad business culture” she said the board of directors exempli- fied.
NABJ said last September that it had hired Toomer, “an accomplished media executive and nonprofit leader,” after an extensive national search.
The NABJ board, in a joint statement, said: "We thank Ms. Toomer for her contribu- tions and wish her much suc- cess in her future endeavors.”
Last month, longtime NABJ member Drew Berry of Drew Berry & Associates LLC was hired to assist with convention
SHARON TOOMER RESIGNS.
planning and will also work on national office operations.
Berry is a former television executive and has previously served as NABJ's interim exec- utive director.
The association will host its annual convention and career fair Aug. 1-5 in Detroit.
PITTSBURGH, PA — Atwon Rose, Jr. was un- armed when he was shot in the back as he ran from police offi- cers who pulled over the vehi- cle he was in during a traffic stop.
The officers were investigat- ing a drive-by shooting when 17-year-old Rose and his friends rode by in a Chevrolet Cruze that reportedly matched the description of the car in question.
East Pittsburgh police pulled over the car, and while the driver was being detained, two passengers ran from the car, in- cluding Rose. An East Pitts- burgh officer opened fire and Rose was struck by multiple rounds.
The car had bullet holes in the rear windows, the station reports.
Police found two semi-auto- matic handguns inside the ve- hicle, but none on Rose. No shots were fired at the officers during the encounter.
The shooting has prompted outrage in the community.
Rose was a student in the Woodland Hills School Dis- trict.
According to The Washing- ton Post, the officer involved is on leave pending an investiga- tion.
For the third day in a row, hundreds of protesters con- tinue to call for justice for the 17-year-old.
The protesters traveled through downtown Pittsburgh
and across the Rachel Carson Bridge on Friday, pausing at in- tervals to read from a poem the Rose, an honor student had written about police brutality two years prior to his death.
“I see mothers bury their sons,” the poem read, in part. “I want my mom to never feel that pain.”
Friday’s demonstration comes just hours after protest- ers blocked Interstate 376 in the city, shutting down por- tions of the highway for more than five hours from Thursday night into early Friday morn-
ing.By Friday afternoon, the protest was going strong once again and appeared poised to continue into the night.
Kirk Franklin’s Sister Sentenced To 30 Years In Prison
Owners Of Only Black Craft Beer Brewery In Georgia
Gospel star Kirk Franklin revealed that his sis- ter has been sentenced to 30 years in prison in Texas.
“My sister was just sentenced to 30 years in prison,” he wrote on Instagram. “I now feel the weight of wondering if I could have done more.”
It was not revealed as to what landed the Grammy winner’s sister behind bars. However, he has been open about his sister’s drug addiction.
For over ten years, my younger sister was incarcerated in a facility here in Texas. She was in love with a young man who was drug dealer,” Franklin said in 2015. “He in- troduced her to not only selling drugs, but using as well. When he was arrested for drug traf- ficking, she was arrested along with him. After she served her time, she was brought before
KIRK FRANKLIN
the review board who deter- mined she was ready to be re- leased and brought back into society. The documents were signed and she was set free... but only on paper.”
He continued: “After a few months back into the free world, it became obvious to me rather quickly that my sister was still in prison. It’s what they call being institutional- ized.”
ATLANTA, GA — Less than a year since the enactment of a new beer law, Georgia’s craft breweries are surging in value and number. And one of them is a bit of a trailblazer, in an in- dustry not previously known for its ethnic diversity.
Down Home Brewing is a startup, a craft brewery with an eye on eventually taking ad- vantage of a new Georgia law that expands the sales oppor- tunities of beer-makers. The two men behind it, Chris Reeves and William Allen Moore haven’t quit their day jobs, yet.
Georgia currently has 66 breweries, every couple of
Chris Reeves and William Allen Moore, owners of Down Home Brewing.
weeks, Down Home cans its product, a hundred cases at a time. While doing so, they blaze a trail of sorts. Down Home is the first production brewery in Georgia with African-American owners.
Reeves and Moore spoke recently about the challenges they face as trailblazers in the industry. The two men started canning beer in March 2018 at a space in Georgia's smallest production brewery.
Ransom Text Sent To Parents Of Missing Teen
White Man Blocks Black Doctor From Entering Her Gated Community
YPSILANTI TOWNSHIP, MI —- The parents of a missing Michigan teenager received a text demanding a ransom be paid for the girl’s safe return.
According to the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office news re- lease Shanijah Christionna Payne, 14, was last seen, Thursday, around 4:30 p.m. at her home in Ypsilanti Town- ship.
When Payne didn’t come home, her biological mother and grandmother received a
Shanijah
tionna Payne, 14, has been missing since Thursday.
group text de- mand- ing a ransom be paid in ex- change for her safe re- turn. So far, no one has
ATLANTA, GA — An African- American doctor returning home from an overnight shift was reportedly blocked from en- tering her gated community, where she has lived for the past 8 years, by a white man who parked his SUV in front of her car and refused to move.
A police report indicates that Dr. Nnenna Aguocha stated she was at- tempting to enter her Buckhead Townhome community after just coming off an overnight shift when another property owner stopped her at the gate entrance. She said he parked his car under
Dr. Nnenna Aguocha was ‘blocked while Black’ in her gated community.
the gate arm and refused to move forward to let her in, de- spite her repeated requests.
The doctor then whipped out her phone and started to narrate what was happening.
In the video, Dr. Aguocha said the white man at first
blocked the way and said he would only allow her to pass once she proved her residence there. He then got out of the car, accused the doctor of trespassing and also threatened to call the police. The man at last moved his vehicle after police arrived at the scene.
Aguocha then proved that she lived in the complex by en- tering her gate entry code.
The man said he blocked the woman’s way because there had been a lot of air conditioner thefts in the complex lately. However, other homeowners de- nied the claim.
Chris-
been able to locate or contact
Payne.
PAGE 18 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, JUNE 26, 2018