Official Protest Thread...
- Thread starter Camille
- Start date
Great thread.
Bubbling under and not mainstream just yet......
Mississippi Police Officer Allows K-9 to Maul Man’s Testicles before Shooting Him 4 Times
BY CALEB GEE on JULY 2, 2016 • ( 8 )
Antwun “Ronnie” Shumpert
Last month, 37 year old Antwun “Ronnie” Shumpert of Tupelo was racially profiled by a white police officer by the name of Tyler Cook who pulled him over for no other reason than being a Black man driving a car in the state of Mississippi. How does one know this is the reason he was stopped? Because the Tupelo Police Department itself is unable to provide the slightest hint as to why Mr. Shumpert was stopped and harassed. Regardless, his family insists Ronnie was complying with the officer’s request when he was viciously attacked by a police canine (K-9). Officer Cook in the meantime has seemingly concocted a story about Ronnie Shumpert fleeing from him, thus making him feel compelled to unleash the dog on him. I think it’s safe to assume that most people would flee a vicious canine, especially when one considers the harsh sentences imposed on people who hurt police dogs. And while Cook’s assertion that Shumpert went hiding in some bushes is questionable, what’s not in dispute is the fact that Shumpert was tortured and ultimately killed by the police officer.
According to photographs obtained by the Guardian, the K-9 mauled Antwun Shumpert’s testicles and clawed his back ferociously. This was not to be the end of this torturous affair however. For as he was being ripped apart by the police dog, officer Cook walked over with his gun and shot Antwun a total of four times. He died five hours later in a hospital.
A graphic image of Emily Newman who was bit into by a police canine in Kenwood, Oklahoma.
It is perhaps no coincidence that this tragedy took place in Tupelo, where a week earlier police shot and killed another Black man after he allegedly lead them on a chase. Tupelo is the same city where a major in the police department once instructed his officers to “single out blacks for tickets and citations specifically.” Unfortunately the issue of K-9 dogs being used to torture and mutilate people is not confined to the state of Mississippi. Back in September, a total of 6 Delray Beach police officers in South Florida threw an unresisting handcuffed man to the ground and sicced their trained beast on him, all the while they sat back and watched and shouted “quit resisting” while the canine literally mauled the helpless man’s face off. In February 2010 a woman in San Diego who went to sleep on a couch at the office where she worked accidentally triggered a burglary alert. She was shocked to awaken to a K-9 on top of her, “tearing open her upper lip.” In Kenwood, Oklahoma a K-9 was used to attack a woman allegedly pulled over for speeding, and it bit off her face (A graphic image of it can be viewed here). And in Campbell, Ohio in 2011, a K-9dragged to the ground by his arm an 8 year old playing hide-and-seek in his grandmother’s backyard.
Interestingly enough, when an everyday civilian owns a dog and that dog either injures, attacks, or kills someone, it is the dog’s owner who is held criminally responsible and faces up to 24 years in prisonif convicted of murder. Time will tell if such an indictment, if any, is in the books for Officer Tyler Cook. Given the lack of police ever being held to account for anything that they do, you’d be advised not to hold your breath.
https://ushypocrisy.com/2016/07/02/...l-mans-testicles-before-shooting-him-4-times/
********************
Mississippi Officer Allegedly Shot An Unarmed Man And Let A Police Dog Mutilate His Groin
BY KIRA LERNER
JUN 28, 2016 8:50 AM
Antwun "Ronnie" Shumpert
The Tupelo Police Department in being investigated by Mississippi officials after one of its officers allegedly shot and killed an unarmed man and allowed a police dog to mutilate him. The incident occurred after the man ran from the officer during a routine traffic stop.
Antwun “Ronnie” Shumpert was driving a friend’s vehicle around 9:30 pm on Saturday, June 18 when he was pulled over by Tupelo Police Officer Tyler Cook, according to attorney Carlos Moore, who’s representing Shumpert’s family. The 37-year-old father of five immediately exited his vehicle and ran for unknown reasons.
In response, the officer released a K-9 who found Shumpert hiding under a nearby home. The dog attacked him, gashing a hole through his testicles and scratching him across his body. When the officer found Shumpert, he shot him four times.
According to Moore, Shumpert was also found with injuries to his face and teeth, indicating that there may have also been a physical altercation between him and the officer.
well-documented. But the details of Shumpert’s attack are particularly gruesome.
“It whipped and mutilated and annihilated this man,” he said. “He tore his body to shreds, basically. It’s just horrible the way it was done.
has said that he is “in dialogue” with the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding the incident and that the federal agency will monitor the examination into Shumpert’s death.
In a press conference Monday, Moore demanded that the city appoint an independent police review board and that the police department ends its use of racial profiling and eliminates itsquota system.
“My investigation has revealed that black lives, in fact, do not matter in Tupelo,” Moore said.
“Tupelo, you are no better than Ferguson.”
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/06/28/3793133/tupelo-mississippi-shooting/
*****************
Shumpert family makes demands on city following shooting death
By Zac Carlisle Jun. 27, 2016
TUPELO, Miss. (WTVA) – The attorney for the family of Antwun Shumpert held a news conference Monday evening to release "new information" to the media and public.
Attorney Carlos Moore stated "black lives do not, in fact, matter here in Tupelo," in reference to the shooting death of Shumpert on June 18.
He went on to state "Tupelo is a special kind of evil." This is in reference to the City of Tupelo continuing to fly the Mississippi State flag above city buildings.
The main question that Moore raised throughout the press conference was why there was a traffic stop to begin with.
Moore said Shumpert ran from the vehicle before the officer approached it. He also stated that the officer did not know who he was chasing and did not ask for any ID.
Moore said Shumpert tried to voluntarily surrender and that witnesses heard four gunshots. Moore says Shumpert was shot three times in the chest and once in the abdomen.
"A search for the suspect led officers to the suspect’s hiding place under a house. The suspect emerged from hiding and attacked the K9 unit and officer. During the struggle, the suspect was shot," stated the City of Tupelo in a press release on June 19.
In the middle of the conference, Moore took to his feet to show blown-up images of Shumpert's injuries and the alleged police officer that shot Shumpert.
He identified the officer as Tyler Cook.
The images showed lengthy cuts to Shumpert, and Moore showed a picture of Shumpert's mouth where the teeth were pushed back into his throat.
Moore also invited the City of Tupelo to look into his investigation. He called Cook a "murderer" and he should be fired and charged with murder.
Finally, Moore stated the demands of the family. One of those was to take down the Mississippi State flag this week. He also gave the City of Tupelo 72 hours "to come to grips with what I announced." He stated that if a settlement is not reached by Thursday, he will file a federal lawsuit.
Below is a timeline of 9-1-1 events released by the City of Tupelo on Sunday.
Moore claims there was a delay in the arrival of the ambulance.
"The family wants to know why there was a delay in medical treatment for Ronnie. Even by the city's own admittance when they released a timeline last night. If you take the passenger in the car's version, it says that he was shot within five minutes of him running. The city says it took about 10 minutes before the ambulance was ever called. We know that the hospital was just a mile away, so what was the delay in calling for the ambulance? And why does the video captured show that the ambulance arrived an hour later? That's what the video shows, so you tell me where this other ambulance came about within 10 minutes?," stated Moore.
When mentioning the release of the reason for the traffic stop, Moore stated that the release of the information would not harm the current investigation.
"But you know when you're getting a lie together, when you get all your people together to tell the lie, it takes time to come up with one," stated Moore.
- See more at: http://www.wtva.com/news/Family_att...w_information_today.html#sthash.HGHUfFbt.dpuf
*****************
Mississippi Police Officer Allows K-9 to Maul Man’s Testicles before Shooting Him 4 Times
BY CALEB GEE on JULY 2, 2016 • ( 8 )
Antwun “Ronnie” Shumpert
Last month, 37 year old Antwun “Ronnie” Shumpert of Tupelo was racially profiled by a white police officer by the name of Tyler Cook who pulled him over for no other reason than being a Black man driving a car in the state of Mississippi. How does one know this is the reason he was stopped? Because the Tupelo Police Department itself is unable to provide the slightest hint as to why Mr. Shumpert was stopped and harassed. Regardless, his family insists Ronnie was complying with the officer’s request when he was viciously attacked by a police canine (K-9). Officer Cook in the meantime has seemingly concocted a story about Ronnie Shumpert fleeing from him, thus making him feel compelled to unleash the dog on him. I think it’s safe to assume that most people would flee a vicious canine, especially when one considers the harsh sentences imposed on people who hurt police dogs. And while Cook’s assertion that Shumpert went hiding in some bushes is questionable, what’s not in dispute is the fact that Shumpert was tortured and ultimately killed by the police officer.
According to photographs obtained by the Guardian, the K-9 mauled Antwun Shumpert’s testicles and clawed his back ferociously. This was not to be the end of this torturous affair however. For as he was being ripped apart by the police dog, officer Cook walked over with his gun and shot Antwun a total of four times. He died five hours later in a hospital.
A graphic image of Emily Newman who was bit into by a police canine in Kenwood, Oklahoma.
It is perhaps no coincidence that this tragedy took place in Tupelo, where a week earlier police shot and killed another Black man after he allegedly lead them on a chase. Tupelo is the same city where a major in the police department once instructed his officers to “single out blacks for tickets and citations specifically.” Unfortunately the issue of K-9 dogs being used to torture and mutilate people is not confined to the state of Mississippi. Back in September, a total of 6 Delray Beach police officers in South Florida threw an unresisting handcuffed man to the ground and sicced their trained beast on him, all the while they sat back and watched and shouted “quit resisting” while the canine literally mauled the helpless man’s face off. In February 2010 a woman in San Diego who went to sleep on a couch at the office where she worked accidentally triggered a burglary alert. She was shocked to awaken to a K-9 on top of her, “tearing open her upper lip.” In Kenwood, Oklahoma a K-9 was used to attack a woman allegedly pulled over for speeding, and it bit off her face (A graphic image of it can be viewed here). And in Campbell, Ohio in 2011, a K-9dragged to the ground by his arm an 8 year old playing hide-and-seek in his grandmother’s backyard.
Interestingly enough, when an everyday civilian owns a dog and that dog either injures, attacks, or kills someone, it is the dog’s owner who is held criminally responsible and faces up to 24 years in prisonif convicted of murder. Time will tell if such an indictment, if any, is in the books for Officer Tyler Cook. Given the lack of police ever being held to account for anything that they do, you’d be advised not to hold your breath.
https://ushypocrisy.com/2016/07/02/...l-mans-testicles-before-shooting-him-4-times/
********************
Mississippi Officer Allegedly Shot An Unarmed Man And Let A Police Dog Mutilate His Groin
BY KIRA LERNER
JUN 28, 2016 8:50 AM
Antwun "Ronnie" Shumpert
The Tupelo Police Department in being investigated by Mississippi officials after one of its officers allegedly shot and killed an unarmed man and allowed a police dog to mutilate him. The incident occurred after the man ran from the officer during a routine traffic stop.
Antwun “Ronnie” Shumpert was driving a friend’s vehicle around 9:30 pm on Saturday, June 18 when he was pulled over by Tupelo Police Officer Tyler Cook, according to attorney Carlos Moore, who’s representing Shumpert’s family. The 37-year-old father of five immediately exited his vehicle and ran for unknown reasons.
In response, the officer released a K-9 who found Shumpert hiding under a nearby home. The dog attacked him, gashing a hole through his testicles and scratching him across his body. When the officer found Shumpert, he shot him four times.
According to Moore, Shumpert was also found with injuries to his face and teeth, indicating that there may have also been a physical altercation between him and the officer.
well-documented. But the details of Shumpert’s attack are particularly gruesome.
“It whipped and mutilated and annihilated this man,” he said. “He tore his body to shreds, basically. It’s just horrible the way it was done.
has said that he is “in dialogue” with the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding the incident and that the federal agency will monitor the examination into Shumpert’s death.
In a press conference Monday, Moore demanded that the city appoint an independent police review board and that the police department ends its use of racial profiling and eliminates itsquota system.
“My investigation has revealed that black lives, in fact, do not matter in Tupelo,” Moore said.
“Tupelo, you are no better than Ferguson.”
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/06/28/3793133/tupelo-mississippi-shooting/
*****************
Shumpert family makes demands on city following shooting death
By Zac Carlisle Jun. 27, 2016
TUPELO, Miss. (WTVA) – The attorney for the family of Antwun Shumpert held a news conference Monday evening to release "new information" to the media and public.
Attorney Carlos Moore stated "black lives do not, in fact, matter here in Tupelo," in reference to the shooting death of Shumpert on June 18.
He went on to state "Tupelo is a special kind of evil." This is in reference to the City of Tupelo continuing to fly the Mississippi State flag above city buildings.
The main question that Moore raised throughout the press conference was why there was a traffic stop to begin with.
Moore said Shumpert ran from the vehicle before the officer approached it. He also stated that the officer did not know who he was chasing and did not ask for any ID.
Moore said Shumpert tried to voluntarily surrender and that witnesses heard four gunshots. Moore says Shumpert was shot three times in the chest and once in the abdomen.
"A search for the suspect led officers to the suspect’s hiding place under a house. The suspect emerged from hiding and attacked the K9 unit and officer. During the struggle, the suspect was shot," stated the City of Tupelo in a press release on June 19.
In the middle of the conference, Moore took to his feet to show blown-up images of Shumpert's injuries and the alleged police officer that shot Shumpert.
He identified the officer as Tyler Cook.
The images showed lengthy cuts to Shumpert, and Moore showed a picture of Shumpert's mouth where the teeth were pushed back into his throat.
Moore also invited the City of Tupelo to look into his investigation. He called Cook a "murderer" and he should be fired and charged with murder.
Finally, Moore stated the demands of the family. One of those was to take down the Mississippi State flag this week. He also gave the City of Tupelo 72 hours "to come to grips with what I announced." He stated that if a settlement is not reached by Thursday, he will file a federal lawsuit.
Below is a timeline of 9-1-1 events released by the City of Tupelo on Sunday.
- 9:38 p.m. – vehicle is pulled over.
- 9:47 p.m. – request for medics.
- 9:48 p.m. – ambulance dispatched.
- 9:50 p.m. – medics on the scene.
- 10:03 p.m. – Shumpert transported to North Mississippi Medical Center.
Moore claims there was a delay in the arrival of the ambulance.
"The family wants to know why there was a delay in medical treatment for Ronnie. Even by the city's own admittance when they released a timeline last night. If you take the passenger in the car's version, it says that he was shot within five minutes of him running. The city says it took about 10 minutes before the ambulance was ever called. We know that the hospital was just a mile away, so what was the delay in calling for the ambulance? And why does the video captured show that the ambulance arrived an hour later? That's what the video shows, so you tell me where this other ambulance came about within 10 minutes?," stated Moore.
When mentioning the release of the reason for the traffic stop, Moore stated that the release of the information would not harm the current investigation.
"But you know when you're getting a lie together, when you get all your people together to tell the lie, it takes time to come up with one," stated Moore.
- See more at: http://www.wtva.com/news/Family_att...w_information_today.html#sthash.HGHUfFbt.dpuf
*****************
Old, but still relevant...
Tupelo protesters demand police reform
The Associated Press
August 1, 2016 9:23:04 AM
TUPELO -- Hundreds of people marched through downtown Tupelo on Saturday to demand changes in the city's policing more than a month after a black man was fatally shot by police.
About 500 people attended a rally where demonstrators sang gospel songs, chanted and spoke out against police brutality.
A small group of counter protesters also showed up and waved American, Christian and Confederate flags, according to Leesha Faulkner, a city spokeswoman.
She was reached by telephone. She said the demonstrations were peaceful.
Another rally, this one organized by the Confederates United Patriots Society, took place Saturday afternoon.
The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports two groups faced off, with one group shouting "Black lives matter" while the other one shouted "All lives matter."
The march through downtown Tupelo was in support of the family of Antwun "Ronnie" Shumpert, who was shot by a white police officer on June 18.
David Jones, an organizer of that march, said in a telephone interview that the demonstrators are calling for a federal civil rights investigation into long-standing accusations of police harassment and shootings of blacks in Tupelo.
"It's been going on for quite some time and people are now just sick of it and we're speaking out about it," Jones said. "Nobody is policing the police. We need someone to watch them."
He said more rallies and protests were planned to demand change.
****************
‘Our Lives Matter’ Rallies Take On Hate, Police Murder in Tupelo, Mississippi
July 31, 2016 Idavox Crossing the Thin Blue Line, News, U.S. 0
“Love trumps hate”, one speaker said. It most certainly did.
TUPELO, MS – a local group fighting against police brutality held a rally downtown to call for justice for a young man that was killed by a police officer last month, and two hours later many from that group went to a park to oppose a rally originally promoted as a League of the South event to defend the Mississippi state flag and particularly the Confederate flag that adorns it.
500 protesters sponsored by the group Our Lives Matter 2 marched to support the family of Antwun “Ronnie” Shumpert, 37, an unarmed Black man whowas shot and killed by Tyler Cook, a White police officer on June 18. Marching from the Bancorp South Arena through downtown and to Tupelo City Hall demonstrators sang gospel songs, chanted and spoke out against police brutality.
When the Our Lives Matter 2 rally was first announced there was a call from the White Supremacist League of the South (LOS) to hold an “Enough is Enough” rally to oppose it, but they canceled those plans based on the notion that rally organizers were ran out of town and that any attempt to march would be met by citations from the City of Tupelo. A small Klan group however, briefly held a counter demonstration at a nearby realtors’ office building, but was largely ignored by the attendees of the much larger rally.
Despite the cancellation from the League of the South, a rally was held a few miles away two hours after the Our Lives Matter 2 rally by a group that called itself the Confederate United Patriots Society (CUPS) that held their rally to support the Confederate flag after telling WCBI they felt the rally was necessary after some have called for the state flag to come down in the wake of Ronnie Shumpert’s death. Curiously, the Mississippi state flag was not flying at City Hall during the rally there.
Many of those who planned to come out to the event when the LOS were the sponsors were in attendance and even spoke, including Arlene Barnum and Andrew Duncomb, two African Americans from Oklahoma who have made a name for themselves defending the Confederate Flag and attacking the Black Lives Matter movement. Barnum was promoting the event even when it was being sponsored by the LOS, despite it being a hate group. There was also a brief altercation with members of the LOS and the Klan that counter demonstrated the earlier rally that resulted in the Klan leaving the event. The altercation was unrelated to the rallies.
Participants of the Our Lives Matter 2 rally also made their way to Ballard Park and despite the fact that the CUPS brought attendees from a number of different states, the mostly local group opposing them were able to outnumber the neo-Confederate attendees. Both events remained peaceful with no arrests, although Duncomb had to be pulled away from a discussion with the counter-protesters when a discussion became increasingly heated.
Our Lives Matter 2 says that there will be more rallies for Ronnie Shumpert in the future.
Tupelo protesters demand police reform
The Associated Press
August 1, 2016 9:23:04 AM
TUPELO -- Hundreds of people marched through downtown Tupelo on Saturday to demand changes in the city's policing more than a month after a black man was fatally shot by police.
About 500 people attended a rally where demonstrators sang gospel songs, chanted and spoke out against police brutality.
A small group of counter protesters also showed up and waved American, Christian and Confederate flags, according to Leesha Faulkner, a city spokeswoman.
She was reached by telephone. She said the demonstrations were peaceful.
Another rally, this one organized by the Confederates United Patriots Society, took place Saturday afternoon.
The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports two groups faced off, with one group shouting "Black lives matter" while the other one shouted "All lives matter."
The march through downtown Tupelo was in support of the family of Antwun "Ronnie" Shumpert, who was shot by a white police officer on June 18.
David Jones, an organizer of that march, said in a telephone interview that the demonstrators are calling for a federal civil rights investigation into long-standing accusations of police harassment and shootings of blacks in Tupelo.
"It's been going on for quite some time and people are now just sick of it and we're speaking out about it," Jones said. "Nobody is policing the police. We need someone to watch them."
He said more rallies and protests were planned to demand change.
****************
‘Our Lives Matter’ Rallies Take On Hate, Police Murder in Tupelo, Mississippi
July 31, 2016 Idavox Crossing the Thin Blue Line, News, U.S. 0
“Love trumps hate”, one speaker said. It most certainly did.
TUPELO, MS – a local group fighting against police brutality held a rally downtown to call for justice for a young man that was killed by a police officer last month, and two hours later many from that group went to a park to oppose a rally originally promoted as a League of the South event to defend the Mississippi state flag and particularly the Confederate flag that adorns it.
500 protesters sponsored by the group Our Lives Matter 2 marched to support the family of Antwun “Ronnie” Shumpert, 37, an unarmed Black man whowas shot and killed by Tyler Cook, a White police officer on June 18. Marching from the Bancorp South Arena through downtown and to Tupelo City Hall demonstrators sang gospel songs, chanted and spoke out against police brutality.
When the Our Lives Matter 2 rally was first announced there was a call from the White Supremacist League of the South (LOS) to hold an “Enough is Enough” rally to oppose it, but they canceled those plans based on the notion that rally organizers were ran out of town and that any attempt to march would be met by citations from the City of Tupelo. A small Klan group however, briefly held a counter demonstration at a nearby realtors’ office building, but was largely ignored by the attendees of the much larger rally.
Despite the cancellation from the League of the South, a rally was held a few miles away two hours after the Our Lives Matter 2 rally by a group that called itself the Confederate United Patriots Society (CUPS) that held their rally to support the Confederate flag after telling WCBI they felt the rally was necessary after some have called for the state flag to come down in the wake of Ronnie Shumpert’s death. Curiously, the Mississippi state flag was not flying at City Hall during the rally there.
Many of those who planned to come out to the event when the LOS were the sponsors were in attendance and even spoke, including Arlene Barnum and Andrew Duncomb, two African Americans from Oklahoma who have made a name for themselves defending the Confederate Flag and attacking the Black Lives Matter movement. Barnum was promoting the event even when it was being sponsored by the LOS, despite it being a hate group. There was also a brief altercation with members of the LOS and the Klan that counter demonstrated the earlier rally that resulted in the Klan leaving the event. The altercation was unrelated to the rallies.
Participants of the Our Lives Matter 2 rally also made their way to Ballard Park and despite the fact that the CUPS brought attendees from a number of different states, the mostly local group opposing them were able to outnumber the neo-Confederate attendees. Both events remained peaceful with no arrests, although Duncomb had to be pulled away from a discussion with the counter-protesters when a discussion became increasingly heated.
Our Lives Matter 2 says that there will be more rallies for Ronnie Shumpert in the future.
Dope thread!
The president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is staging a sit-in at the Roanoke office of Virginia congressman Bob Goodlatte to demand a hearing on the Voting Rights Act, which was signed into law 51 years ago on Saturday.
Nearly 30 protesters occupied the Republican’s office on Monday morning, demanding that Goodlatte, as chairman of the House judiciary committee, convene a hearing on the Voting Rights Act.
“People bled, sweated and died for the right to vote,” Cornell Brooks, the NAACP president, said in a phone call from Goodlatte’s office. “Why can’t Congress conduct a hearing on the right to vote? All we’re asking for is a hearing. It’s not radical.”
Stephen Green, the NAACP’s national director of youth and college division, who is also at the protest, said the police had arrived at the congressman’s office but there were no arrests.
“We’re here to raise the moral consciousness and push for the strengthening of the Voter Rights Act,” Green said. The protesters are calling for a hearing in order to make their case against restrictive voter identification laws.
“It is clear there is racial intent to suppress the right to vote,” Green said, referring to the recent appeals court decisions in North Carolina and Texas.
Green said the group intended to remain in the office until Goodlatte appeased their request for a hearing. If the congressman does not agree to hold a hearing, he said, they anticipate arrests.
A representative from Goodlatte’s office did not return requests for comment.
^^^^ Good Read. A trend I'd noticed also, but couldn't articulate fully.
^^Troubling, if true. Website mentioned in the article is http://www.blackisbackcoalition.org/ It looks interesting.
In Defense of Korryn Gaines, Black Women and Children [Opinion]
America’s investment in policing and prisons prevents our ability to create systems of safety and protection for Black families. Given this, we must question the means Black parents have to protect their children.
Charlene Carruthers Aug 5, 2016 12:16PM EDT
Korryn Gaines poses with son, Kodi.
Photo: Korryn Gaines' Instagram page
The execution of Korryn Gaines at the hands of the Baltimore County Police Department (BCoPD) requires a national call-to-action to defend Black women. Gaines’ story shows us the inextricable links between the struggles to secure Black liberation and reproductive justice in America. In this moment, everyone who believes that Black lives do indeed matter is needed to build a defense of Gaines and all Black women (transgender and cisgender) who are victims of state-sanctioned violence.
The full story of what happened to Gaines and her 5-year old son on August 1, 2016 continues to emerge. What we know for sure is that police came to Gaines’ home at about 9:40 a.m. to execute a “failure to appear” bench warrant connected to a March traffic stop, and about five hours later the 23-year-old, who had a legally registered shotgun, was shot dead and her son wounded.
Speculations about Gaines’ mental state based on a possible history of lead poisoning and her behavior in Instagram video footage she took of the traffic stop and another interaction at the police station should lead us to ask more questions—not further pathologize her choices as a person and mother.
After officers kicked down the door to enter Gaines’ apartment, she made the rare choice to take agency over her life and the life of her son in the moments before her death.
The uncomfortable truth is that Gaines was not a passive or perfect victim. And in a society that teaches us that Black motherhood is inherently inferior, it is tempting to pass judgment against her ability to be a good mother and make smart decisions for her child. Black women live with the harsh reality of not having full control over the ability to 1) choose to parent, 2) choose to not parent, and to 3) parent the children they have in safe and well-resourced environments. These three tenets are the core of what reproductive justice must look like. The failure of politics in America to provide leadership on supporting reproductive justice and the dismantling of policing institutions prohibits the protection of human rights for all.
The connection between policing and reproductive justice is not new. However, this moment tells us that there is more work to be done to protect Black women and children. America’s investment in policing and prisons prevents our ability to create systems of safety and protection for Black families. Given this, we must question the means Black parents have to protect their children. Countless events of Black people attempting to exercise the right to bear arms show us that the right to bear arms is not extended us (regardless of citizenship status).
Gaines legally owned the gun police say she used to threaten the police officers who entered her home. Her right to own and yield her weapon in self defense is not only in question in this moment, it is being completely invalidated by a public jury. Like Gaines, Black women often find themselves trying to defend our bodies and our children—both of which are deemed as indefensible throughout society.
BCoPD officers used Gaines actions to justify their escalation in tactics. Officers behaved as though Gaines held her son hostage, and presented themselves as actors able to keep her son safe. Painfully, Black mothers like Gaines live in a country where the same institutions claiming to create safety and stability show themselves to be the exact opposite in moments when a child is involved. The promise of citizenship, full human rights and safety have never been fully extended to Black people in America. Gaines understood this and decided to bear arms in defense of herself and her son. Her actions demonstrate an aspect of self-defense far too many pontificate about, yet fail to ever do themselves.
Be it Korryn Gaines, CeCe McDonald, or Marissa Alexander – society tells us that Black women have “no selves to defend.” This imperative increases every hour as the media and BCoPD develops its own story about Gaines and the events surrounding her death. In this moment, we are all called to make a choice to defend Gaines, Black womanhood and motherhood. If we choose to not connect our work to end the crisis of police with ending the crisis of reproductive justice, we will fail Gaines, her children and our people.
As we witness the growth of our movement and celebrate the release of the “Vision of Black Lives: Policy Demands for Black Power, Freedom and Justice,” created by the Movement for Black Lives, we must take stock of our collective responsibility and response to all Black women who experience state-sanctioned violence. Black women consistently place our bodies on the line for our families, communities and this movement. Now is the time for our issues to be placed on the frontlines and not on the margins.
Charlene Carruthers is national director of the Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100) and a writer with over 10 years of experience in feminist, queer and racial-justice organizing work. She currently serves as a board member of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective.
http://www.colorlines.com/articles/defense-korryn-gaines-black-women-and-children-opinion
America’s investment in policing and prisons prevents our ability to create systems of safety and protection for Black families. Given this, we must question the means Black parents have to protect their children.
Charlene Carruthers Aug 5, 2016 12:16PM EDT
Korryn Gaines poses with son, Kodi.
Photo: Korryn Gaines' Instagram page
The execution of Korryn Gaines at the hands of the Baltimore County Police Department (BCoPD) requires a national call-to-action to defend Black women. Gaines’ story shows us the inextricable links between the struggles to secure Black liberation and reproductive justice in America. In this moment, everyone who believes that Black lives do indeed matter is needed to build a defense of Gaines and all Black women (transgender and cisgender) who are victims of state-sanctioned violence.
The full story of what happened to Gaines and her 5-year old son on August 1, 2016 continues to emerge. What we know for sure is that police came to Gaines’ home at about 9:40 a.m. to execute a “failure to appear” bench warrant connected to a March traffic stop, and about five hours later the 23-year-old, who had a legally registered shotgun, was shot dead and her son wounded.
Speculations about Gaines’ mental state based on a possible history of lead poisoning and her behavior in Instagram video footage she took of the traffic stop and another interaction at the police station should lead us to ask more questions—not further pathologize her choices as a person and mother.
After officers kicked down the door to enter Gaines’ apartment, she made the rare choice to take agency over her life and the life of her son in the moments before her death.
The uncomfortable truth is that Gaines was not a passive or perfect victim. And in a society that teaches us that Black motherhood is inherently inferior, it is tempting to pass judgment against her ability to be a good mother and make smart decisions for her child. Black women live with the harsh reality of not having full control over the ability to 1) choose to parent, 2) choose to not parent, and to 3) parent the children they have in safe and well-resourced environments. These three tenets are the core of what reproductive justice must look like. The failure of politics in America to provide leadership on supporting reproductive justice and the dismantling of policing institutions prohibits the protection of human rights for all.
The connection between policing and reproductive justice is not new. However, this moment tells us that there is more work to be done to protect Black women and children. America’s investment in policing and prisons prevents our ability to create systems of safety and protection for Black families. Given this, we must question the means Black parents have to protect their children. Countless events of Black people attempting to exercise the right to bear arms show us that the right to bear arms is not extended us (regardless of citizenship status).
Gaines legally owned the gun police say she used to threaten the police officers who entered her home. Her right to own and yield her weapon in self defense is not only in question in this moment, it is being completely invalidated by a public jury. Like Gaines, Black women often find themselves trying to defend our bodies and our children—both of which are deemed as indefensible throughout society.
BCoPD officers used Gaines actions to justify their escalation in tactics. Officers behaved as though Gaines held her son hostage, and presented themselves as actors able to keep her son safe. Painfully, Black mothers like Gaines live in a country where the same institutions claiming to create safety and stability show themselves to be the exact opposite in moments when a child is involved. The promise of citizenship, full human rights and safety have never been fully extended to Black people in America. Gaines understood this and decided to bear arms in defense of herself and her son. Her actions demonstrate an aspect of self-defense far too many pontificate about, yet fail to ever do themselves.
Be it Korryn Gaines, CeCe McDonald, or Marissa Alexander – society tells us that Black women have “no selves to defend.” This imperative increases every hour as the media and BCoPD develops its own story about Gaines and the events surrounding her death. In this moment, we are all called to make a choice to defend Gaines, Black womanhood and motherhood. If we choose to not connect our work to end the crisis of police with ending the crisis of reproductive justice, we will fail Gaines, her children and our people.
As we witness the growth of our movement and celebrate the release of the “Vision of Black Lives: Policy Demands for Black Power, Freedom and Justice,” created by the Movement for Black Lives, we must take stock of our collective responsibility and response to all Black women who experience state-sanctioned violence. Black women consistently place our bodies on the line for our families, communities and this movement. Now is the time for our issues to be placed on the frontlines and not on the margins.
Charlene Carruthers is national director of the Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100) and a writer with over 10 years of experience in feminist, queer and racial-justice organizing work. She currently serves as a board member of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective.
http://www.colorlines.com/articles/defense-korryn-gaines-black-women-and-children-opinion
Excerpt:
Our country’s legacy of racism and persistently racialized politics depresses the political power of Black people, and creates opportunities for exploitation and targeting — exemplified by the subprime lending crisis, mass incarceration, and voter suppression laws. The dominance of big money in our politics makes it far harder for poor and working-class Black people to exert political power and effectively advocate for their interests as both wealth and power are consolidated by a small, very white, share of the population.
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SNCC Legacy Project Endorses the Movement for Black Lives Policy Platform
By Jamilah King August 08, 2016
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By Jamilah King August 08, 2016Get Mic daily:
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A group of civil rights era activists have passed the torch to a younger generation, so to speak.
One week after the Movement for Black Lives released a wide-ranging, and long-awaited, policy platform, the activists' vision for change has also earned an endorsement from delegates of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a famed student organizing group that formed in the 1960s.
In a letter signed by more than 67 former SNCC members, the activists, under the umbrella of the SNCC Legacy Project, wrote that "we of yesterday's SNCC say to today's #BlackLivesMatter, 'Ya'll take it from here!'"
Leaders of SNCC James Forman, Cleveland Sellers, Ruby Doris Smith Robinson and Stokely Carmichael in 1966.
Source: Horace Cort/AP
"With their protests and demands, the Movement for Black Lives is continuing to exercise their rights, guaranteed to all Americans under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution," the letter continues. "We, the still-active radicals who were SNCC, salute today's Movement for Black Lives, for taking hold of the torch to continue to light this flame for a knowingly forgetful world."
The letter's signees include Robert "Bob" Moses, the architect behind the civil rights era's famed Freedom Schools, and Berniece Johnson Reagon, founder of the acapella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock.
The Movement for Black Lives released its policy platform on Aug. 1. It was collaboratively built over a year of discussions between more than 40 black organizing groups from across the country. At 22 pages long, it includes more than 40 demands, including an end to capital punishment, redistribution of resources from police departments to mental health treatment programs, the right for workers in on-demand tech economies to unionize and divestment from fossil fuels.
Stokely Carmichael and Julian Bond, leaders of SNCC, in 1967.
Source: Charles Kelly/AP
SNCC (colloquially pronounced "snick") was a pioneering group of predominantly black activists mostly known for staging lunch counter sit-ins and helping to coordinate 1964's Freedom Summer, which brought dozens of volunteers to rural Mississippi towns to help register black voters. Many of its members would go on to play important roles in American civic life, including former leader Stokely Carmichael (who later adopted the name Kwame Ture) and helped popularize the phrase "black power;" and the late Julian Bond, who would go on to lead the NAACP.
Previous generations of black activists have not always been so kind to the generation that followed them. Rev. Al Sharpton has been sharply critical of the group's "leader full" approach to organizing, which shuns the idea of a traditional movement spokesperson a la Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement. And former activist Barbara Reynolds penned a critique in the Washington Post in 2015, writing that she supported the modern activists' cause, but "not their approach."
https://mic.com/articles/150945/snc...nt-for-black-lives-policy-platform#.iZVgvyLrr
Source: Horace Cort/AP
"With their protests and demands, the Movement for Black Lives is continuing to exercise their rights, guaranteed to all Americans under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution," the letter continues. "We, the still-active radicals who were SNCC, salute today's Movement for Black Lives, for taking hold of the torch to continue to light this flame for a knowingly forgetful world."
The letter's signees include Robert "Bob" Moses, the architect behind the civil rights era's famed Freedom Schools, and Berniece Johnson Reagon, founder of the acapella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock.
The Movement for Black Lives released its policy platform on Aug. 1. It was collaboratively built over a year of discussions between more than 40 black organizing groups from across the country. At 22 pages long, it includes more than 40 demands, including an end to capital punishment, redistribution of resources from police departments to mental health treatment programs, the right for workers in on-demand tech economies to unionize and divestment from fossil fuels.
Stokely Carmichael and Julian Bond, leaders of SNCC, in 1967.
Source: Charles Kelly/AP
SNCC (colloquially pronounced "snick") was a pioneering group of predominantly black activists mostly known for staging lunch counter sit-ins and helping to coordinate 1964's Freedom Summer, which brought dozens of volunteers to rural Mississippi towns to help register black voters. Many of its members would go on to play important roles in American civic life, including former leader Stokely Carmichael (who later adopted the name Kwame Ture) and helped popularize the phrase "black power;" and the late Julian Bond, who would go on to lead the NAACP.
Previous generations of black activists have not always been so kind to the generation that followed them. Rev. Al Sharpton has been sharply critical of the group's "leader full" approach to organizing, which shuns the idea of a traditional movement spokesperson a la Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement. And former activist Barbara Reynolds penned a critique in the Washington Post in 2015, writing that she supported the modern activists' cause, but "not their approach."
https://mic.com/articles/150945/snc...nt-for-black-lives-policy-platform#.iZVgvyLrr
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NONE OF THIS MATTERS & NEVER WILL!
BLACK HAS NO STANDING @ LAW! WAKE DA FUCK UP!
BLACK HAS NO STANDING @ LAW! WAKE DA FUCK UP!
Thankfully our ancestors didn't think like you or we'd all still be picking cotton.
I suggest you read my very first post. This thread is informational on BLM, protest, justice and liberation related information. If you want to bitch about BLM, start your own thread. Further attempts to derail my thread will result in your posts being deleted. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.
