Del. Plaskett Slams Qualified Immunity, Calls It Modern-Day KKK Police
by Derek Major

April 27, 2021

Del. Plaskett Slams Qualified Immunity, Calls It Modern-Day KKK Police

U.S. Del. Stacey Plaskett is among a growing list of Democrats pushing back on qualified immunity laws that protect law enforcement officials.

The resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement last summer and pledges by more than 100 companies to fight racism and police brutality and advance racial equity seem like lip service today. Police across the country are still killing Black men and women.

Plaskett, one of many Democrats fighting qualified immunity for police, described the protection as a “hood” for bad cops who she described as a modern-day Ku Klux Klan intimidating and killing Black Americans.

“Qualified immunity has in many instances become the hood for bad police officers to, in fact, act as modern-day Ku Klux Klan members against Black and Brown people in this country. And it has got to stop,” Plaskett told CNN on Saturday.

Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) agrees with Plaskett as does former NYPD officer and New York City mayoral candidate Eric Adams.

Democrats and Republicans are trying to reach a compromise on a police reform bill. Democrats in the House of Representatives have passed the George Floyd Justice In Policing Act. The bill would limit qualified immunity to a defense in a private civil suit against a law enforcement or corrections officer.

The bill is a longshot as at least ten Republicans would have to support it, which is unlikely.

Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) told CNN she is unwilling to support any compromise bill that keeps qualified immunity intact.

“We compromise on so much. You know, we compromise, we die. We compromise, we die,” Bush told Abby Phillip on Inside Politics when asked about the compromise on qualified immunity floated by Republican Sen. Tim Scott (D-SC) “I didn’t come to Congress to compromise on what could keep us alive. … If you don’t hurt people, if you don’t kill people, if you are just and fair in your work, then do you need the qualified immunity anyway?”

Dr. Umar Johnson Blames Regular Degular Black Folk for His Inability to Start Black School
by Christian Spencer

April 27, 2021

Dr. Umar Johnson Blames Regular Degular Black Folk for His Inability to Start Black School

Social media sensation and school psychologist Dr. Umar Johnson said his Black school for boys in Delaware would have been completed if it were not for the lack of support from Black people.

In an interview with the Breakfast Club on Monday, Johnson spoke about the construction of Frederick Douglass Marcus Garvey Academy and how the school needs $300,000 in electrical and plumbing installation.

Related stories: EDUCATOR LAUNCHES INITIATIVE TO FUND ALL-BLACK BOYS ACADEMY

Johnson wanted pro bono services from Black contractors to offset the remaining cost of his dream institution, but he claims their priorities were elsewhere, NewsOne reported.

“If we had some Black folks who were willing to donate their time, the school would be up and running in three weeks,”  Johnson said.

Johnson also cited slavery as one of the reasons why Black people do not want to work for free, saying it is “one of the psychological residuals of slavery.”

Because of slavery, Black people are deprived from their “natural desire to want to control your environment and your destiny.” He also added that “[Black people] are not used to being responsible for building our own institutions… If I was opening up a nightclub, basketball league, I would have the support.”

“I haven’t come across Black folks who are willing to donate their time…so we have to raise enough money to pay market rate for those repairs,” he added.

In his honest opinion, the pan-Africanist personality believes if he were Mexican, the school would have been completed because some communities care more about education than the Black community.

“If I were Mexican, the school would be done,” Johnson said. “It’s only because it’s us…that we don’t take something like [education] as serious.”

NewsOne also reported Johnson is requesting donations from Black people on Instagram, saying they collectively spend $19 million annually on Quaker Oats grits.

“Can I have your grit money for one year? I don’t want your Louis bag money, I don’t want your Mercedes money, I don’t want your weave, perm, haircut, Air Jordan, Timberland money—give me your grits!” he implored before getting to the heart of his point: “We spent $19 million on grits and I don’t have enough money to renovate the Garvey building.”

It is reported that Johnson received $1 million for FDMG, yet the school still in need of the same services one year after the initial announcement since 2014.

BET Founder Bob Johnson Proposes $30 Billion Tax Incentive For Those Who Invest In Black Businesses
by Derek Major

April 27, 2021

BET Founder Bob Johnson Proposes $30 Billion Tax Incentive For Those Who Invest In Black Businesses

BET and RLJ Cos. founder Robert Johnson has proposed a program that will revolutionize the way Black businesses gain access to capital.

The Better Opportunity and Outcomes for Socially Disadvantaged Talent (BOOST) Act was created in the 1970s to increase minority ownership of media properties. Johnson believes if the BOOST Act was enacted by Congress, it would help elevate Black businesses.

“The biggest challenge to racial equality in our nation is the glaring wealth chasm between Black and white American families,” said Johnson in a press release. “To close that gap, there must be a commitment to finding a workable solution to the lack of capital in the Black community. The BOOST Act, if enacted by Congress through tax legislation and embraced by investors, would elevate Black and minority businesses into the wealth-building and wealth-accumulation economic system that is the principal driver of economic opportunity and achievement in our capitalistic economy.”

Black-owned and minority businesses have been starved of access to capital for decades and the coronavirus pandemic hasn’t helped. The federal government hasn’t helped either and as a result, minority businesses have limited growth potential, cannot create generational wealth, or help improve their communities.

The act would help by giving tax incentives to investors and entrepreneurs who invest in minority businesses.

“Therefore, I urge Congress and The White House to quickly move to evaluate my legislative language for the enactment of the BOOST Act,” Johnson said. “I fundamentally believe the BOOST Act is consistent with and a real solution to the Biden/Harris focus on equity and thus merits full support. Lastly, I hope that the American people will support the BOOST Act as a morally responsible and economically viable solution to help solve socioeconomic problems confronting this country.”

The Brookings Institute supports the effort saying it would help grow the economy as a whole.

“This shortage of Black businesses throttles employment and the development of Black communities. Furthermore, the underrepresentation of Black businesses is costing the U.S. economy millions of jobs and billions of dollars in unrealized revenues,” authors Andre Perry and Carl Romer wrote.

Johnson appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box Tuesday and said he hopes corporate America will support efforts to boost access to capital for Black businesses with the same vigor as they had in supporting voting access.

“If you believe that voting rights is a primary need of the Black community, I would argue that access to capital is equal to or more so,” Johnson said. “Voting rights without access to capital to build wealth is, in my opinion, an empty cup.”

Lawyers For Andrew Brown Jr. Say He Was Shot Five Times, Died From Kill Shot To Head
by Derek Major

April 27, 2021

Lawyers For Andrew Brown Jr. Say He Was Shot Five Times, Died From Kill Shot To Head

Reuters – Lawyers for the family of Andrew Brown Jr., a Black man killed by sheriff’s deputies in North Carolina during an attempted arrest, said on Tuesday that an independent autopsy showed he was shot five times and died from a ‘kill shot’ to his head as he tried to drive away.

Brown, 42, was struck with four bullets in the arm before the fatal shot to his head, lawyers for the family told a briefing in Elizabeth City, a riverfront community near the Virginia border where the shooting took place last week.

“It was a kill shot to the back of the head,” said Ben Crump, one of the attorneys. “It went into the base of the neck, bottom of the skull and got lost in his brain. That was the cause of death.”

Brown’s death led to six nights of protests in Elizabeth City and came one day after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering George Floyd in a trial that put a spotlight on police violence against Black people.

The Brown family’s lawyers have said the deputies continued firing their weapons after Brown drove his vehicle away from them, calling his death an “execution.” The lawyers have also accused officials of withholding evidence after being shown only 20 seconds of footage from one police body camera on Monday.

Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten and Chief Deputy Daniel Fogg have said the deputies were trying to serve warrants on Brown stemming from a felony drug charge, and that Brown had a history of resisting arrest. They urged the public to reserve judgment until all evidence is reviewed by the State Bureau of Investigation, which is overseeing the probe of the shooting.

“An innocent man was killed by law enforcement. Overkill. He wasn’t fleeing. He was trying to run because he was scared for his life,” said Harry Daniels, attorney for the family.

Wooten’s office said on Friday that seven sheriff’s deputies had been placed on administrative leave after the shooting.

Khalil Ferebee, Brown’s son, said his father was trying to “get away” when the officers shot him.

“Yesterday, I said he was executed. This autopsy report shows me that was correct.”

(Reporting by Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut, Barbara Goldberg in Maplewood, New Jersey, and Maria Caspani and Peter Szekely in New York; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Dan Grebler)

White Woman Fired For Being Racist; Called Neighbor The N-Word, Called The Police On Her
by Christian Spencer

April 27, 2021

White Woman Fired For Being Racist; Called Neighbor The N-Word, Called The Police On Her

A white woman was fired from her job for yelling the n-word at her Black neighbor, telling her she is “not the right color.”

First reported by USA Today on Monday, Laquetta Good took footage of former Chesterfield Food Bank worker Hilary Langlois acting racist.

Related stories: WHITE TEACHER PUT HER FOOT ON BLACK STUDENT’S NECK, OUTRAGE ENSUED

The women were arguing on Good’s front porch on Lynchburg Avenue in Colonial Heights, that is when Langlois’ racist side came out.

“You are not the right color, honey!” Langlois told Good. 

“I’m a n—-?,” Good asked. “Yes, you are!” Langlois responded.

The video went viral and reached back to Langlois’ CEO, who promptly fired her in a letter, apologizing to anyone offended.

“In response to this situation, we have terminated this employee,” CFB CEO Kim Hill wrote. “We remain committed to creating and providing a positive, uplifting, and encouraging environment for our staff, volunteers, and clients.”

According to the Daily Mail, initially, Langlois and Good were arguing because their children do not get along, but things escalated very quickly.

“I feel like a prisoner in my own home,” Good told the Daily Mail. “She has called me many names before but to hear her being racist, that really shocked me. You should be able to feel comfortable in your own home. This is not acceptable. We still have a long way to go as a society for equality.”

The two have been feuding for months, with Langlois calling the police to search Good’s house, calling her a drug dealer.

“Let’s rewind back to the beginning when she called the police to search my house for drugs because her words were I couldn’t afford my house, I never leave the house so I had to sell drugs because I’m Black and had a Porsche,” Good wrote on Facebook. “Yes the POLICE SURE DID SEARCH MY HOUSE FOR DRUGS SMH. No drugs were found I work from home!! This has been going on for MONTHS.”

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

April 27, 2021

Twitter Users Respond to Chad ‘Ochocinco’ Johnson After He Tells his Daughter to Get a Job to Buy Expensive Shoes

The “internets” is not happy with Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson at this present moment. The former NFL player has been roasted for trying to “encourage” his daughter to get a job as he had done when he was in high school. He screenshot text messages between himself and his daughter and posted them over the weekend on Twitter.

Twitter decided to respond to his attempts at trying to teach his daughter financial literacy. Others who agreed with him felt the former start NFL wide receiver was trying to teach her the right way to manage money.

by Andrea Blackstone

April 27, 2021

Long Before Colin Kaepernick Knelt, Forgotten Black Female Athlete Defied the U.S. National Anthem

Eroseanna “Rose” Robinson was a track and field athlete and activist who refused to stand when the National Anthem played in the 50s. Although Colin Kaepernick is often referenced when it comes to athletics and social justice, Robinson was the original trailblazer. Zora pointed out out that the Black woman protested at the Pan American Games, during the summer of 1959.

“As the U.S. national anthem started to play, the crowd inside Soldier Field rose to its feet in excitement. But high jumper Eroseanna “Rose” Robinson stayed sitting. The track and field athlete was not here for the bloated displays of American greatness. To her, the anthem and the flag represented war, injustice, and hypocrisy,” Zora reported.

During an interview with CNN Sports,  Dr. Amira Rose Davis, the professor of history and African American studies at Penn State University who wrote the Zora piece on Robinson, said that Robinson was someone “who really saw her athleticism and that platform as a place with which to critique the government, to critique local regulations and segregation.”

CNN also mentioned that Robinson excelled at Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) track events in the 1940s before developing into a leading high jumper, then winning at the National AAU Championships in 1958. She later joined the U.S. Track and Field team.

“Activism was already part of her life–through the 50s, she had been prominent in direct action de-segregation protests, including one at a skate rink in Cleveland,” CNN said.

In 2018, the National Football League (NFL) announced that “personnel who chooses not to stand for the anthem may stay in the locker room, until after the anthem has been performed.”

Kaepernick is the American activist and former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who stirred the controversy about refusing to stand at the beginning of football games as the National Anthem played, in 2016. However, Robinson adds a new dimension to this conversation.

Conservatives Angry At Kids’ Network Teaching Environmental Racism
by Christian Spencer

April 27, 2021

Conservatives Angry At Kids’ Network Teaching Environmental Racism

Conservatives are angry at Nickelodeon for its Nick News segment covering environmental racism. 

BlazeTV, the Glenn Beck-owned media outlet, reported that many right-wing commenters felt that discussing environmental racism on a family-friendly network is indoctrinating children with liberal propaganda.

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On Earth Day, April 22, Nick News: Kids and the Impact of Climate Change aired. It was hosted by CBS News’ Jamie Yuccas and guest-starred former Secretary of State John Kerry.

“What do these cities have in common?” Yuccas asked. “They’re all examples of environmental racism, a form of systemic racism where minority and low-income communities are surrounded by health hazards because they live near sewage, mines, landfills, power stations, [and] major roads.”

Environmental racism is about policies and practices that create injustices and inequalities between urban and exurban areas after white flight or sudden or gradual large-scale migration of white people from diverse regions. 

Reaction from the Right was typical:

https://twitter.com/AlienAddicts/status/1385982595981352962?s=20

 

On one of the Nick News segments, a small residential area in Duplin, North Carolina, was featured as one of the nation’s biggest pig farms that pollutes the air and water supply of some Black residents , including children.

Instead of sympathizing that the Black community is inhaling toxic pig feces due to White industrialized farmhouses, outlets like Red State, another conservative news media outlet, believed the less populated countryside and the low cost of living justified Duplin’s horrible conditions.

According to Dr. Robert Bullard, an example of environmental racism would be that 75 percent of Black people, regardless of being impoverished or middle-class, have a higher chance of living near facilities that produce hazardous waste in a toxic environment than White people who make less than $10,000. 

This is not Nickelodeon’s first fray into social justice. In June, the first kids’ network suspended its programming and paid tribute to George Floyd following his death in May by broadcasting the message “I CAN’T BREATHE” for eight minutes and 46 seconds with the sound of a person struggling to breathe.

Family of Andrew Brown Jr. Label his Death by North Carolina Cop an ‘Execution’
by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

April 27, 2021

Family of Andrew Brown Jr. Label his Death by North Carolina Cop an ‘Execution’

The latest police killing of a Black man has been described as an “execution” by members of the victim’s family and the attorneys representing them.

According to USA Today, the attorneys and family of police killing victim, Andrew Brown Jr., have labeled his death in North Carolina as an “execution.’’ The family spoke at a press conference Monday after they were allowed to see just 20 seconds of police bodycam video of the incident that resulted in Brown’s death at the hands of law enforcement.

Sheriff’s deputies shot and killed 42-year-old Brown while executing a search and arrest warrant at his place of residence last Wednesday in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

Before the family was shown the video clip, Elizabeth City Mayor Bettie Parker declared a state of emergency that will extend at least into Tuesday. The mayor stated that the emergency status will continue “until deemed no longer necessary to protect our citizens,” according to the declaration. “There may potentially be a period of civil unrest within the city following the public release of that footage,” Mayor Parker stated in the emergency declaration.

“We do not feel that we got transparency,” said Benjamin Crump, one of the attorneys representing the family. “We only saw a snippet of the video. … And they determined what was pertinent. Why couldn’t the family see all of the video? They only showed one body-cam video, even though we know there were several.’’

“It’s like we’re against all odds in this world,” Brown’s son Khalil Ferebee stated during the press conference. “My dad got executed just by trying to save his own life. The officers were not in no harm of him at all. It’s just messed up how this happened. He got executed. It ain’t right. It ain’t right at all.

CNN reported that the Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office posted a video statement to its Facebook page. Pasquotank Sheriff Tommy Wooten stated: “This tragic incident was quick and over in less than 30 seconds, and body cameras are shaky and sometimes hard to decipher. They only tell part of the story.”

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

April 27, 2021

LeBron James Responds to Ohio Bar Owner Who Cancelled Showing NBA Games Until He’s ‘Expelled’

Last week, BLACK ENTERPRISE reported that Los Angeles Lakers central player, LeBron James, had a moment when he tweeted a photograph of the latest police officer to shoot and kill a Black teenager in Columbus, Ohio, and wrote: “YOU’RE NEXT #ACCOUNTABILITY.” Presumably speaking about being the next police officer charged and convicted in killing a Black person, in reference to Derek Chauvin being found guilty of killing George Floyd.

Apparently, a bar owner in Cincinnati had a problem with James for speaking up, so he decided that he will no longer show any more NBA games until James is “expelled.”

Well, James had an unexpected response upon hearing about the bar owner’s declaration:

According to USA Today, the owner of Linnie’s Pub in Delhi Township posted on his Facebook account that, until James is expelled from the NBA, he will no longer show basketball games from the league. In the since-deleted post, he stated, “If anyone wants to watch an NBA game, don’t come to Linnie’s Pub. We will not air them until Lebron James has been expelled from the NBA.”

The bar owner, Jay Linneman, also said that he is tired of all athletes’ statements.

“They just need to play the game and that’s it,” Linneman wrote in the original post on Facebook. “Their opinion doesn’t really matter. They’re using their position to push their opinions, and that’s just not right.”

Linneman also said that if a high-ranking government official of the likes of former President Donald Trump or President Joe Biden had made similar statements there would be calls for “impeachment.”


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