Page 22 - Florida Sentinel 4-7-17

National
Racist Promposal Has Gone Viral; Students Suspended
Historic Black Town, Lincolnville, Texas Gets Markers
GATESVILLE, TEXAS — Fannie Cook Brown did not want her 14 children to forget their roots or their heritage. Blood ties to the freedmen’s community of Lincolnville re- mained engraved on her heart.
After several years of work, the Coryell County Historical Commission has received an Of- ficial State His-torical Marker for Lincolnville, the Black com- munity established by former slaves shortly after the end of the War Between the States.
The marker was dedicated last Saturday.
Although the town has no remaining landmarks, the marker will be placed near where it once flourished.
Coryell historian Wanda Waite compiled the extensive research for the Lincolnville marker. “Despite ra-cial strife and the harsh conditions of the frontier, Lincolnville was a tes- tament to the efforts of the citi- zens who founded the community,” Waite said.
Forged from freedom
In 1865, upon first hearing of their emancipation, Coryell County African-Americans were finally free to make their own ways in the world. Many chose to stay where they were — either to continue working for their former owners or to start new lives on their own in Coryell.
After the war, the former slaves once “belonging” to Judge J.W. Mayberry founded a new community near the Moccasin Bend area and named it after the assassinated president who had freed them. The judge gave them some acres, where Lincolnville citi- zens eked out a living.
The State Historical Marker permanently engraves the story for all to see and remember.
Artist Creates Children’s Book For Black Boys To Learn To Respect Black Girls
Two white students and an obviously ‘not well informed’ Black student hold sign that has gone viral.
Artist and music producer Lawrence Lindell has released a chil- dren’s book to teach black boys to respect black girls.
Jim Edd Snow, 88, in this photo, points to a stretch of the Leon River called Moccasin Bend. Snow is standing on land that was part of the Coryell County, Texas commu- nity founded by freed slaves, including his great-grandfa- ther Jim Mayberry.
COCONUT CREEK, FL —- The art of the promposal is sup- posed to be sacred. In the digital age, the ceremony is now strictly to show the timeline and the 'gram how creative we can be when asking that special some- one out to the most important dance in the life of a high school student.
But as with anything that is precious and beautiful, espe- cially in this country, racism must seep through the cracks of this blessed tradition and rear its ugly head. Yes, even in 2017.
Monarch High School in Co- conut Creek, Florida is just one of the many places that these de- tractors to the promposal name have surfaced. In a since-deleted Instagram post, two white girls stood on either side of a black girl holding one of those card- board signs, all of them smiling.
At first glance, it seems like a promproposal gone right, but
after you read the sign, it be- comes extremely clear that it's not. The sign reads, “You may be picking cotton but we’re pick- ing you to go to PROM with us.” The father of the girl on the right told the Local 10 news that it was actually an inside joke made to the girl in the middle of the photo who was originally not going to prom. The father also said that the girl is home- schooled and is the heir to her grandmother’s cotton farm in Alabama.
“They really want to apologize for their extremely poor choice of words in this situation. They would like to take it back. They would like to find a different way to express this invitation to prom,” said a father of another student.
The girls in the photo that at- tend Monarch have been sus- pended until the investigation is over.
COMPTON, CA —- Lawrence Lindell wanted black girls to know they have much more value than a lack of media visibility and derisive comments from peers may lead them to believe.
So he created “From Black Boy With Love.” The children’s book, which was released in late March, con-tains 24 pages of il- lustrations of young boys ex- pressing uplifting messages of love to young black girls.
Lindell, a Compton, Califor- nia, native, is all too aware of the toxic mentality some black men and boys hold toward black women and girls. He told The Huffington Post last week that the book is actually an “al-terna-
tive to what [he] learned as a young boy.”
“It’s not just about the rela- tionship between black men and women, it’s the relationship be- tween men and women, period,” Lindell said.
“I’m Black and my commu- nity is full of black and brown women who I love dearly and I wanted to make something for them,” he continued. “But we as men have a huge problem with how we talk, treat and think about women.”
Lindell, a youth art educa- tor, said that he too frequently sees children berating others with one of the first targets of mockery being a darker skin tone.
Sanford Police Told Victim To
White Police Officer Charged For
Stop Calling 9-11 Hours Before
Fatally Shooting Unarmed Black
She And Her Son Were Murdered
The Sanford police officers told Latina Herring to stop calling 9-11. This is the same dept. that handled the investi- gation when Trayvon Martin was murdered.
Latina Herring and her son were both killed when her boyfriend Allen Cashe broke into her home and shot the place up.
Man Tells Her Side On ’60 Minutes’
SANFORD, FL ——The San- ford Florida Police Department is on the defensive over a fatal shooting last week that many say could have been prevented, but instead ended with two dead and four injured.
NBC News reports that San- ford police officers, who re- sponded earlier to domestic disturbance calls be-tween a couple, told the woman involved in the dispute to “stop calling 911,” hours before her boyfriend allegedly killed her and her son in a shooting rampage.
The news outlet said the police were called twice in the early morning hours on March 27 to calm an argu-ment between Latina Herring, 35, and her 31-year-old boyfriend Allen Cashe. They were arguing about house and car keys.After the sec- ond call, a police video shows Cashe handcuffed in a patrol car but released after the officers determined that it was not a criminal matter.
“She’s making false accusa- tions,” one of the officers is heard says, according to NBC News. “It’s the second time she’s done it.”
The outlet said another officer told Herring: “Just stop calling 911 and making accusations that you don’t know about.”
TULSA, OK —- The white Oklahoma police officer accused of fatally shooting an unarmed black man got to the tell her story prior to trial on CBS ’60 Minutes’ Sunday.
Betty Shelby claims, the vic- tim’s race played no role in her decision to pull the trigger.
“What I based everything on was his actions, his behaviors,” Tulsa Police Officer Betty Shelby said on Sun-day.
“Race had nothing to do with my decision making.”
Shelby was charged with first-degree manslaughter in the Sept. 16 slaying of Terence Crutcher, 40.
Video taken from a police dash-cam and helicopters flying overhead captured Crutcher’s final moments.
The married father of four is seen slowly walking away from the officer, his hands in the air, in the middle of a two-lane road.
Crutcher stops at the driver side door of the SUV as three of- ficers approach him from be- hind, their guns drawn.
The victim appears to be try- ing to open the door when an of- ficer fires. He drops to the
pavement, his white shirt quickly turning red.
Shelby says Crutcher re- fused her orders to stop and re- peatedly reached into his pocket, leading the officer to believe he was carrying a gun.
Crutcher’s twin sister said she wasn’t buying the officer’s story.
“Of course, she’s saying every- thing that she's supposed to say to defend herself,” Tiffany Crutcher says when inter- viewed on “60 Minutes.”
“What we saw on that video is what my dad always taught my brothers, taught us to do if we were pulled over by a police offi- cer. Put your hands in the air and put your hands on the car. And my brother did what my fa- ther taught us.”
Investigators say Cashe re- turned to the home hours later. He kicked in the door and fired 24 shots with an assault rifle, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
Herring was shot dead in her bedroom. Her 8-year-old son, Branden, who was sleeping on a couch with his younger brother, died on March 28 from injuries he suffered in the shoot- ing.
Four other people were injured in the shooting, including Her- ring’s 7-year-old son, her father and two by-standers. Authorities charged Cashe with two counts of first-degree murder.
Tulsa, Oklahoma police offi- cer, Betty Shelby fatally shot Terence Crutcher on Septem- ber 16, 2016.
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