Why The 'Race Card' Is Played

BLACK MEN VS POLICE According to several different studies, black men aged 15–34 are between nine and 16 times more likely to be killed by police than other people. In 2017, police killed 19 unarmed black males, down from 36 in 2015, according to The Washington Post. This year, 47 Black Men And Boys have been Killed By Police as of Sept. 2018. Meanwhile, 46 police officers were “feloniously” (as opposed to unintentionally) killed in the line of duty in 2017, down from 66 in 2016. Twenty-seven have been feloniously killed so far this year Modern policing did not evolve into an organized institution until the 1830s and ’40s when northern cities decided they needed better control over quickly growing populations. The first American police department was established in Boston in 1838. The communities most targeted by harsh tactics were recent European immigrants. But, as African-Americans fled the horrors of the Jim Crow south, they too became the victims of brutal and punitive pol...

Inmate dies in jail same day as his arrest Fulton County, GA (WGCL) — An inmate who died less than 24 hours after being placed in custody at the Fulton County Jail is now being investigated by the GBI. On September 11 Antonio May was arrested for criminal trespassing. Jail staff say a confrontation took place when the 32-year-old became combative and refused to comply with staff. As a result, the inmate was tased and pepper sprayed. Once staff gained control of May, he was decontaminated of the pepper spray. Not long after jail staff reported the inmate had become unresponsive. Medical staff performed CPR and Grady EMS were called in, however, May was pronounced dead on the scene. The GBI will conduct a separate investigation that will be turned over to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office for review. Results are still pending from an autopsy which will determine the official cause of death.

Harvard Slow to Act on Police Brutality of Black Student A university committee missed its deadline to address the abusive arrest of a student caught on video. Frank Kineavy  Sep. 11, 2018 Harvard University has failed to complete an examination of school policies after members of the Cambridge Police Department beat a Black student. In April, Cambridge police were recorded brutally attacking 21-year-old Selorm Ohene. The former university President Drew G. Faust formed a committee to investigate the arrest of Ohene, with urgency. The committee was supposed to complete and deliver recommendations on school policies by the start of the fall semester last week, but that has not happened, according to The Harvard Crimson. Five months after the incident, it has yet to be properly addressed. The Harvard Black Law Students Association wrote a memo explaining what happened to Ohene on April 13: "A naked, unarmed Black man stood still on the median at the center of Ma...

Video shows Dallas officer who killed neighbor being booked into jail Authorities in North Texas have released a video showing an off-duty white police officer being booked into jail after she was arrested in the slaying of a black neighbor in his apartment. The video shows Dallas Police Officer Amber Guyger in handcuffs and dressed in an orange jail uniform Sunday at the Kaufman County jail. She takes a seat in front of a desk and later leans her head down, bringing her hands to her face. Guyger has been charged with manslaughter in the Sept. 6 shooting of 26-year-old Botham Jean. Guyger told investigators she mistook his apartment for her own and court documents say she believed she had encountered an intruder. She has been released on bond.

When Raimundo Atesiano was the chief of police of a small village nested between North Miami and Miami Shores, he had a strategy to create a fictitious 100 percent clearance rate for burglaries. It involved arresting innocent black people to pin crimes on them, prosecutors said. Before joining the department of the Village of Biscayne Park, Atesiano had experience in the Miami-Dade County Corrections Department, and as an officer for the Hialeah Police Department. FBI agents and Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigators learned Atesiano ordered three of his subordinates at Biscayne Park to violate civil rights in three separate occasions. "Atesiano admitted that on one occasion he instructed an officer to falsely arrest and charge an individual for several vehicle burglaries based upon what Atesiano knew were false confessions," prosecutors said in a statement. As part of a plea agreement, Atesiano, 52, pleaded guilty in federal court on Friday to conspiring...

First African American Miss Universe, former Miss Texas, Chelsi Smith dies at 45 Chelsi Smith, the first African American Miss Universe, died Saturday at her home in Redwood City, California, according to a statement from the organization. She was 45. Smith became Miss Universe in 1995 after winning Miss USA for the state of Texas. According to wikipedia, Smith was born in California but was raised in Kingwood, Texas by her grandparents. Smith attended Deer Park High School and San Jacinto College. Miss Universe released a statement that read in part: We mourn the loss of Chelsi Smith, who is gone way too soon. She was special to so many. May you Rest In Peace, Chelsi. Chelsi won Miss USA in 1995 representing the state of Texas. She was also named Miss Congeniality that year. Chelsi was the first African American woman to win the state’s title. Chelsi went on to represent the USA at Miss Universe where she won the crown. An incredibly bright woman, role mode...

2020 Democratic hopefuls wage invisible primary for black voters WASHINGTON — When Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren traveled to New Orleans for a major gathering of liberal activists last month, she also made sure to spend time at the city’s historically black college. One of former Vice President Joe Biden’s few major fundraisers of the 2018 cycle is not on behalf of a candidate but for a political action committee focused on black voter turnout. And New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker has spent more time traveling through the most impoverished areas of the Deep South than in Iowa or New Hampshire. While an ambitious crop of young Democrats have sought to raise their profiles with visits to the earliest presidential voting states, some of the party’s biggest names are waging an invisible primary battle for the constituency that may prove decisive in what will likely be a crowded and prolonged 2020 nominating race — African-Americans. And maintaining their support and ent...

Amber Guyger’s Family Denies They Are Racist Despite Photos That May Suggest Otherwise The family of Amber Guyger—the Dallas police officer who shot and killed unarmed 26-year-old Botham Jean in his apartment last week—is speaking out to defend themselves against accusations that they are racist. Various social media photos are being circulated as proof that the family is either racist or has racist leanings.   As the  Dallas Morning News reports , there are three different pictures being shared on the internet to illustrate that Guyger’s family members may have racist ties. Guyger, who is white, shot Jean—who was black—after she “mistakenly” entered his apartment and thought it was her own. One picture shows Guyger’s brother-in-law, Noe Garza, flashing the “OK” symbol—a symbol some say has been co-opted by white supremacists. In a phone call with the Morning News, Garza denied the allegations. “My last name is Garza. I’m a Mexican,” he said. “I do...

There's a New Report on Black America's Digital Habits and I Have Some Questions While we have long recognized the power of the black dollar, when we see major corporations introduce marketing campaigns that look like a Benson & Hedges ad from a 1980's issue of Jet magazine, it highlights the fact that black consumers have become one of the most sought-after segments of the consumer population. “African American influence has long resonated cross-culturally, and now it’s being delivered directly from creator to consumer. Give talented, creative people unobstructed access to the world stage and, inevitably, they will shine,” said Cheryl Grace in a press release. She’s Nielsen’s senior vice president of U.S. strategic community alliances and consumer engagement, who might be the only executive with a title longer than Omarosa Manigault Newman, who served as the White House senior black person in charge of surreptitious recording and secretary of line dances. Th...

Minneapolis microbrewery begs for $700K in donations to move out of ‘dangerous’ neighborhood after gentrification plan fails A microbrewery in Minneapolis is seeking donations to move it’s brewery out of a “dangerous” downtown location after its hopes of helping gentrify the neighborhood failed, r e p o r t s t h e M i n n e a p o l i s S t a r - T r i b u n e . B o o m I s l a n d B r e w i n g , which has been around for seven years making mostly Belgian-inspired ales, is asking customers to donate $500,000 to $700,000 to help it find a more suitable location. According to the S t a r - t r i b u n e , owner Kevin Welch moved into the overwhelmingly white city’s m o s t d i v e r s e n e i g h b o r h o o d where he “hoped to be part of West Broadway’s transformation.” Instead of a “transformation,” though, Welch and his employees have witnessed violence and seen customer’s cars damaged. They complain that “biker gangs started peddling drugs in the alley...