Environmental Civil Rights Protections, For Black Communities, Louisiana — (Photo: Pixabay/Pexels)

by Daniel Johnson

August 25, 2024

Court Permanently Blocks Environmental Civil Rights Protections For Black Communities In Louisiana

EarthJustice, a nonprofit environmental law organization, said the ruling gives companies carte blanche to pollute predominantly Black and Latinx communities in Louisiana.

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana has issued a permanent injunction barring the EPA and the Department of Justice from using Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to influence Louisiana’s regulation of polluting facilities.

According to the Louisiana Illuminator, James Cain, an appointee of former president Donald Trump, issued a permanent injunction against both the Department of Justice and the EPA, blocking the entities from controlling how the State of Louisiana regulates pollution.

EarthJustice, a nonprofit environmental law organization, said in a statement that the ruling essentially gives companies that pollute in predominantly Black and Latinx communities carte blanche to poison those communities.

“Louisiana has given industrial polluters open license to poison Black and brown communities for generations, only to now have one court give it a permanent free pass to abandon its responsibilities,” Patrice Simms, EarthJustice’s vice president for healthy communities, said. “Louisiana’s residents, its environmental justice communities, deserve the same Title VI protections as the rest of the nation.”

The EPA, meanwhile, released a statement expressing that both it and the DOJ would continue to enforce civil rights law in accordance with the court’s order.

According to Grist, the EPA did not attempt to resolve most of the complaints it received from the organization’s inception in 1970 until 2015 when EarthJustice sued them for that practice and won.

In 2020, after President Joe Biden won the election, the EPA’s federal regulators finally resolved some complaints and announced an investigation into Louisiana’s Cancer Alley, a predominantly Black swath of land stretching from the lower Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, containing over 150 chemical plants that pump carcinogens into the air.

The federal government had begun making some significant progress with Louisiana officials, that is, until then-Louisiana Attorney General and current Gov. Jeff Landry sued the EPA to block it from pursuing their disparate impacts, which Cain agreed with.

According to Debbie Chizewer, an attorney at EarthJustice, the EPA and the DOJ could choose to appeal the ruling and cautioned that were another court to be petitioned using Landry’s theoretical argument, “if another state filed a case using the same theories, they will point to this case as persuasive authority for another court to consider.”

President Biden Designates Site Of 1908 Springfield Race Riots A National Monument — African Americans near homes burned during the race riot in Springfield, Ill., in August 1908/ Sangamon Valley Collection / Lincoln Library

by Nahlah Abdur-Rahman

August 25, 2024

President Biden Designates Site Of 1908 Springfield Race Riots A National Monument

The site designation will ensure the remembrance of the race riots and their place in Black history.

President Joe Biden has officially made the site of the 1908 Springfield Race Riots a national monument. The designation will ensure the remembrance of of the riots and those it impacted.

Biden signed a proclamation on the site’s new federal status on Aug. 16, as reported by CNN. The site’s designation recognizes its importance in Black history, especially amid the ongoing movement to not teach the darker parts of America’s past.

“Over 100 years ago this week, a mob not far from Lincoln’s home unleashed a race riot in Springfield that literally shocked the conscience of the nation,” Biden said. “A lot of people forgot it. … We can’t let these things fade.”

The moment coincided with the riots’ 116th anniversary. From Aug. 14 to 16 in 1908, the Black residents of Springfield, Illinois, lost their homes and businesses after a white mob attacked. The race riot, initiated by a white woman’s claim that a Black man raped her, also resulted in the lynchings of two Black men. NPR reported that the woman later admitted to lying about the assault.

However, the mob’s looting and burning of the Black-owned business in Springfield severely stunted the area. The lynchings also resulted in Black Americans creating the NAACP as the fight for racial justice grew. The organization’s current President, Derrick Johnson, also attended the ceremony at the Oval Office.

“It was a catalyst, not only for the creation of the NAACP… but the catalyst to recognize that the political tool of race and ethnic difference and othering is more harmful to our democracy than it should be,” said Johnson prior to the historic signing.

The Vision 1908 project also works to recognize those who endured this tragedy. The project gained traction following the 2014 discovery of homes impact by the riots. Teresa Haley, a former president of the NAACP’s Springfield Chapter, believes the site designation will allow many to find healing.

“The people in Springfield can truly begin to heal because it’s been a deep, dark secret that no one wanted to talk about except for those of us in the Black community who were directly impacted by the 1908 riots,” expressed Haley.

She added, “It’s going to allow people to say, ‘Oh my God, this happened right here in Springfield on the ground in which I’m standing.’ This is Springfield’s history, it’s Illinois history and it’s American history.”

The city continues to deal with racial tensions, currently reeling from a white officer’s killing of Sonya Massey in July. An investigation into her death remains ongoing. In the meantime, Haley plans to further recognize the riots’ history with a monument in the area.

Tyre Nichols, Officer — Photo credit: Brandon Dill for The Washington Post via Getty Images

by Daniel Johnson

August 25, 2024

Second Officer Pleads Guilty To Violation Of Tyre Nichols’ Civil Rights

Emmitt Martin was one of the officers who beat Nichols to death during a traffic stop.

Emmitt Martin, the second of five officers set to go on trial over the 2023 beating and subsequent death of Tyre Nichols in 2023, pleaded guilty on Aug. 23 to violating Nichols’ civil rights during the traffic stop.

Nichols, a Black 29-year-old father from Sacramento, California, who worked at Fed-Ex, was allegedly beaten by five Black Memphis Police Department officers so severely that it resulted in his death. The autopsy report declared the cause of his death was homicide caused by blows to the head, and it also described brain injuries as well as cuts and bruises to his head and other parts of his body.

According to NPR, Martin initially pleaded not guilty before changing his plea in U.S. District Judge Mark Norris’s courtroom in Memphis following a deal he struck with prosecutors. The prosecutors agreed to seek no more than 40 years in prison for the former officer in exchange for a guilty plea on charges of excessive force and witness tampering. According to the outlet, Martin’s sentencing has been set for Dec. 5.

Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, said in a press conference following the hearing that it was both “very emotional” and “bittersweet” and indicated that although it was a step in the right direction, she would not be satisfied until the officers who killed her son are brought under the heel of justice.

“Tyre was just coming home. He was just minding his own business. I will never have my son back. I will never hear his voice again,” Wells told reporters at the press conference. “They murdered my son for nothing. And until we get justice for all of them, I won’t be content.”

In November 2023, another former Memphis officer, Desmond Mills, Jr., worked out a similar deal with the prosecution. He also changed his plea to guilty in exchange for an agreement that would not extend his prison sentence beyond 15 years.

According to NPR, both Mills and Martin could be called as witnesses in the trials of the other officers, Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, and Justin Smith. All three officers are charged with federal civil rights violations, but they have all pleaded not guilty so far.

Judge Norris has set an Aug. 26 deadline for any more plea agreements in the case, but it is unclear if the remaining defendants intend to file any plea deals. All five of the former officers accused in the death of Nichols have also been charged separately in state courts on second-degree murder charges, but those trials have been paused pending the completion of the federal trials.

Black-owned Businesses, New Orleans, Startup Noir NOLA — (Photo: iStock)

by Mary Spiller

August 25, 2024

New Jersey Small Black And LGBTQ Businesses Awarded $1.2M In Grants

The grant money has been split between restaurants, education centers, and community spots in Newark.

A group of small businesses owned by people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community in Newark, New Jersey, have been named as recipients of about $1.2 million in grants under the Newark Retail Reactivation Initiative.

The Newark Retail Reactivation Initiative was created to help build the retail sector and support new businesses in the area. According to city officials, the grants will serve to help promote the city’s increased downtown development.

Mayor Ras J. Baraka said in a statement, “This initiative spurs our progress toward infusing Newark’s downtown with the energy of diverse, local retail entrepreneurship. We are not only enhancing the economic vitality of our city but also creating spaces that reflect the rich culture and community spirit of Newark. Together, we are building a brighter, more inclusive future for residents and a dynamic mecca for travelers.”

In an announcement on Aug. 21, Invest Newark President and CEO Marcus T. Randolph explained that the grants were investments in the community’s future.

Randolph said, “Each of these companies brings something unique to Newark.”

Baraka and Invest Newark created the Newark Retail Reactivation Initiative in September 2023. The program was equipped to award grants to diverse small businesses up to $650,000, with the amount determined by factors such as square footage. The grants are available to restaurants, shops, or other types of retail establishments that open in currently vacant downtown storefronts. The only requirement of the Newark Retail Reactivation Initiative grant is that applicants’ businesses must be open at least five days a week, at least five hours a day, as well as have already signed a lease.

The state Urban Enterprise Zone program finances the grants themselves, and the award can be used for exterior improvements to equipment purchases.

So far, seven grant recipients have been named this week; there are four restaurants and three “education or entertainment-related businesses.”

This round’s recipients and their awards include Melba’s Restaurant with an award of $650,000, Mediterranean Grill & Thrill with an award of $149,600, and Caribbean restaurant Isle 15 with an award of $127,060. Aside from the restaurant, “edutainment” space Bricks 4 Kidz Essex County was awarded $112,000, nonprofit glass art studio GlassRoots was given a grant of $110,000, Honeypot Montessori was granted $60,620, and Sweet Jeans Kitchen & Espresso Bar was given $38,500.