Page 28 - Florida Sentinel 12-11-20

National
Louisville Police's 'No-Knock' Warrants Most Often Targeted Black Residents, Analysis Shows
The House Voted To Decriminalize Weed
WASHINGTON — The House voted last week to de- criminalize cannabis, a historic symbolic moment marking Congress’ belated move toward embracing the views held by a large majority of Americans.
The House voted to pass the Marijuana Opportunity Rein- vestment and Expungement Act on Friday, the first time ei- ther chamber of Congress has ever voted on marijuana de- criminalization.
The final vote was 228-164, with most Democrats joined by 5 Republicans and an inde- pendent to pass the legislation. Most Republicans and six De-
MARIJUANA PLANT
mocrats opposed the bill.
The bill is a major symbolic
victory for marijuana rights advocates and criminal justice reform. But it’s likely not going anywhere soon: Senate Repub- licans have indicated there’s no appetite to pass the measure.
While federal law on mari- juana has been largely stag- nant in recent decades, voters have been moving hard to- wards support of legalization across the country. Voters in four more states voted to legal- ize marijuana in the 2020 elec- tion—Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota— bringing the total number of states where marijuana is legal to 15,
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Police disproportionately targeted Black residents for "no-knock" search warrants like the one that led officers to Breonna Taylor's door the night they fatally shot her, an analysis shows.
The findings by the
Louisville Courier Journal, part of the USA TODAY Net- work, echo the concerns of civil rights advocates and ex- perts who say no-knock war- rants are used more frequently against Black and brown Americans.
"The common factors are the poor and people of color – in a
highly disproportionate way," said Peter Kraska, a profes- sor at Eastern Kentucky Uni- versity who has testified before the U. S. Senate on law enforcement's use of military tactics and equipment.
In the past two years, before the city banned them in June, Louisville Metro Police De- partment officers received court approval for at least 27 no-knock warrants – allowing police to legally break in to homes without first knocking, announcing themselves and waiting for residents to re- spond, usually about 30 sec- onds.
Employee Said She Was Fired For Calling Out The Google's Treatment Of Minority Employees
A Black woman known as a “rare voice of public criticism” at Google has been fired by the tech company after sending an internal email calling out the company’s treatment of mi- nority employees—and in par- ticular, those who are Black and female.
Timnit Gebru, who co-led the Ethical Artificial Intelli- gence team at Google, is con- sidered a pioneer in the field, with a particular focus on how facial recognition software is biased against people of color. As Bloomberg reports, Gebru says she was fired by the head
of Google’s AI division on Wednesday for an email she sent to coworkers in which she
said she felt “constantly dehu- manized” at the tech company. Gebru says she believes that her firing was intended to have a chilling effect on other em- ployees, sending a message about the consequences of speaking up.
The email followed a strug- gle between Gebru and the company over a research paper Gebru had co-written with six other people, includ- ing four Google employees, which was critical of AI sys- tems known as “large language models,” the Washington Post reports.
Teacher Who Adopted Her Former Student And His Brother Eliminates Over $48,000 In Debt
A 29-year-old woman who adopted a former student and his brother is now celebrating being completely debt-free.
Chelsea Haley of Marietta, Georgia, has eliminated a total of $48,683.41 -- the amount she owed in credit cards and student loans with interest.
"It doesn't feel real yet," Haley, mom of Jerome, 17, and Jace, 6, told "Good Morning America." "It's so amazing. I even logged into my student loans and it said, 'Cleared. Zero balance.'"
Haley was teaching in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 2015, on a two-year commit- ment to Teach for America, which is an organization that recruits recent college gradu- ates to work in low-income schools. Her son, Jerome, was in her 4th-grade class at
JEROME, JACE AND CHELSEA HALE,
the time.
When Haley saw Jerome
getting suspended from school and failing to progress academically, she started
spending time with him -- going to his football games, buying him school supplies and more, she told "GMA" in 2018.
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