Page 22 - Florida Sentinel 9-30-16 Online Edition

National
Forever Stamp Celebrating African American History And Culture
United Nations Group Report: U. S. Owes Black People Reparations
NEW YORK --- Colonial history, a legacy of enslave- ment and segregation are among the chief reasons reparations are owed to African Americans, accord- ingtoareportputoutbya United Nations group .
The U. N.’s Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, which re- ports to the U. N. High Com- missioner on Human Rights, presented its findings to the U. N. Human Rights Council on Monday, the Washington Post reports.
The panel, which visited the U. S. on a fact-finding mission in January, wrote in a statement that it was “ex- tremely concerned about the human rights situation of African Americans,” stating that there has been no real commitment to reparations, truth and reconciliation for people of African descent.
Despite substantial changes since the end of the enforcement of Jim Crow and the fight for civil rights, ideology ensuring the domi- nation of one group over an- other, continues to negatively impact the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of African Americans today. The dan- gerous ideology of white su- premacy inhibits social cohesion amongst the US population.
The panel likened the pattern of police officers killing unarmed black men to lynching, which it referred to as a form of “racial terrorism that has contributed to a legacy of racial inequality that the US must address.”
“Contemporary police killings and the trauma it creates are reminiscent of the racial terror lynching of the past. Impunity for state violence has resulted in the current human rights crisis and must be addressed as a matter of urgency,” the panel wrote.
The panel also noted that African Americans are dis- proportionately affected by “tough on crime policies,” mass incarceration, and racial bias and disparities in the criminal-justice system.
No Action Is Stance The Univ. Of Tennessee
A new Forever stamp that celebrates the National Mu- seum of African American History and Culture will be issued in 2017. Details on the stamp issuance will be re- leased later.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture occupies a 5-acre site on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The mu- seum is the 19th Smithsonian museum and the only na-
tional museum devoted ex- clusively to African-Ameri- can life, art, history and culture.
The stamp is based on a photograph of the museum by Alan Karchmer show- ing a view of the northwest corner of the building. Text in the upper left corner reads “National Museum of African American History and Cul- ture.” Art director Antonio Alcalá designed the stamp.
lege of Law Dean Melanie D. Wilson said in a statement. “Nevertheless, the tweet of- fended many members of our community and beyond, and I understand the hurt and frus- tration they feel.”
Reynolds’ account was briefly suspended by Twitter, but Twitter reinstated his ac- count after he agreed to delete the offensive tweet.
Is Taking Against Law Professor
Who Tweeted ‘Run Them Down’
Glenn Reynolds is a con- servative writer and law pro- fessor who created the Instapundit blog, tweeted, “Run them down” in response to a tweet from a news station in Charlotte that showed pro- testers on Interstate 277 after the fatal police shooting of Keith Scott.
The University of Ten- nessee will not take discipli- nary action against the law professor who urged Charlotte, N.C., motorists to run down protesters who were blocking roads last week, the school an- nounced Tuesday.
“In short, no disciplinary action will be taken against Professor Reynolds. The tweet was an exercise of his First Amendment rights,” Col-
Law professor Reynolds.
Glenn
Sister’s Call For Help For Brother’s Safety Ends With Police Killing Him
ATLANTA, GA — The 11th U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta in a 3-0 vote has ruled against a lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Op- portunity Commission (EEOC) against a company called Catastrophe Manage- ment Solutions. The ruling is that refusing to hire someone because of their dreadlocks (or locks) hairstyle is legal.
The lawsuit was filed by the EEOC on behalf of Chastity Jones, whose job offer was rescinded by Catas- trophe Management Solu- tions, a Mobile, Alabama-based company. Ac- cording to the case file, Jean- nie Wilson, a human resources manager for the company, made a comment about Jones’ dreadlocks dur- ing a private hiring meeting to discuss scheduling. She told Jones, “They tend to get messy, although I’m not say- ing yours are, but you know what I’m talking about.” Wil- son then told Jones that the company would not hire Jones if he did not change his hairstyle.
In the lawsuit, the EEOC claimed that this was a viola- tion of the Civil Rights Act of 1964’s Title VII. They argued in court that dreadlocks are a “racial characteristic” that have been historically used to stereotype African-Americans as “not team players” and as unfit for the workplace. There- fore, claiming that dreadlocks do not fit a grooming policy is based on these stereotypes and inherently discriminatory, as dreadlocks are a hairstyle “physiologically and culturally associated” with people of African descent.
The court of appeals, how- ever, disagreed and ruled that CMS’s “race-neutral grooming policy” was not discriminatory as hairstyles, while “culturally
Alfred Olango, 30.
SAN DIEGO, CA --- Police in El Cajon, a suburb of San Diego in California shot and killed a Black man Tuesday afternoon, sparking protests.
Police said they received a call from the man's sister say- ing he was “not acting like himself,” walking in traffic and endangering himself and motorists.
Two officers approached Alfred Olango, 30, and in- structed him to take his hand out of his pants pocket, police said.
Olango allegedly did not respond to the instructions and at one point "rapidly drew an object from his front pants pocket, placed both hands together and extended them rapidly toward the offi- cer taking up what appeared to be a shooting stance," po- lice said.
At that point, one officer discharged a taser while the other officer shot the man several times with his firearm. Olango was trans- ported to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Alfred Olango is shown in a screenshot during his con- frontation with the police be- fore being fatally shot.
A witness to the shooting provided a cellphone video that police say supports their version of events. The video has not yet been released.
However, a witness iden- tified as George says, "I did- n’t hear any command ‘Halt’, ‘Stop’ or ‘I’ll shoot,’". "I didn’t hear any command or yelling. I didn’t hear the man say anything. Next thing I see ‘Pow, pow, pow, pow, pow’ – five shots.”
“I called you guys to come help me and you killed my brother,” the sister wails in grief to the police at the scene. “You guys killed my brother!”
Police revealed in the news conference that it took them 50 minutes to respond to the sister’s 911 call, al- though it was unclear whether she called one time or as many as three. Dozens of protesters gathered at the scene of the shooting, chant- ing "Black Lives Matter!" and "hands up, don't shoot’’!
associated with race,” are not “immutable physical charac- teristics.” They said, in essence, traits in a person’s appearance that are tied to their culture, but are other- wise changeable are not pro- tected and can be used to deny job offers.
This lawsuit is not the only defeat when it comes to the dreadlock hairstyle. Restric- tions against dreadlocks have also been implemented in var- ious school districts across the country.
For example, Butler Tradi- tional High School in Louisville, Kentucky has an of- ficial dress code that specifi- cally prohibits “dreadlocks, cornrows, and twists.”
Jordan, however, did ac- knowledge in his ruling on Thursday that in recent decades, “There have been some calls for courts to inter- pret Title VII more expan- sively by eliminating the biological conception of ‘race’ and encompassing cultural characteristics associated with race,” but that he wasn’t pre- pared to lead that inquiry re- garding discrimination. He added, “As far as we can tell, every court to have considered the issue has rejected the ar- gument that Title VII protects hairstyles culturally associ- ated with race.” A spokes- woman for the EEOC told the Wall Street Journal after the ruling that they believe the court made the wrong deci- sion.
U. S. High Court Says Employers Can Say ‘No’ To Hiring A Person With Dreadlocks
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