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For some,nGwagon that tied Coe Ryen’s home and inThey unang prosecutor Miclehd. Just last month,way their cases ort by Gov. Nlawyers hope the re innocence wyer w d a o ae er o p th S v. l er an in p e S su N re ew to el g Bernardino ssure for m yem, who help prove som, which cou lts of the re-testin over the of in the case is bein ewsom’s order to b the murders. o n ak is so in W ci g hite, resign al edia. H g cru ld ke sev g metNewspapers Volume 45 Number Group Southern Wednesday, May 1, 2019 their client’ the Observer ordered aden murder with ismay roof him. 34 D A test-California ed er chelle Obm s innocenta insults targde and racist and com . The lone N ama, U,Sis ce and final months, will porters of the sRJoshua Ryen anddfa et m ed en fo su ts B . rm R la In 1985, a rv ep. 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He te other mino she expects i Krause, a veterin is keeping rs across the politica rizing privilege.” rities liv- C barriers to achieving economic and social the 11-pou arian, tells l ectruHe his focus o btoackfocus ontinued nd (5 into on m arplans during am visit tothe ne n fairnessspan -kilogra the black e on page A wild afvoters advancement, for those who have been jus) ca te d justCarolina t to be r 2 M it South next month that includes a stop hiscG re ice th gains stat uire visited renagth at if he sees th . tice involved and for their loved ones,” said e torically black university. b o b ca t it again, he’ n Friday. H ll issue a tiock Jennifer Jones Austin, FPWA CEO and Exet for jaywea ecutive Director.
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The Disproportionate Incarceration of Black Men
By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Correspondent The fact that African Americans make up a disproportionate amount of the United States’ prison population remains a defining characteristic of the nation’s criminal justice system, and though the latest numbers from the U.S. Sentencing Commission show a gradual change, many organizations said it’s still cause for alarm. The most recent available report shows that African Americans comprise only about 12 percent of the total population in America, but still represent 33 percent of the federal and state prison population. By contrast, 64 percent of American adults are white, but just 30 percent of those individuals are locked up. It’s statistics like those that have some organizations and media outlets trying to get to the bottom of why America continues to lock up African-Americans, particularly Black men. (The Vera Institute have continued to write about this issue and CNN now has a series called “The Redemption Project with Van Jones,” which airs Sundays at 9 p.m.) According to the most recent U.S. Sentencing Report, which analyzed data over five years from 2012 to 2016, black men serve sentences that are on average 19.1 percent longer than those for white men with similar crimes. Without considering all of the facts involved per case, some might argue that criminal history and other mitigating circumstances come into play when a judge imposes a sentence – regardless of color. However, the Commission’s report also debunks that view. “Violence in an offender’s criminal history does not appear to contribute to the sentenced imposed,” according to the authors of the Commission’s study. When accounting for violence in an offender’s past, black men received sentences that were on average 20.4 percent longer than that of white men, the report noted. The nonprofit Sentencing Project found that Black men are nearly six times as likely as white men to be incarcerated and for Black men in their 30s, one in every 10 are in prison or jail on any given day. Though the gap is closing presumably because of stiffer policing in rural and predominately white areas and the
St. Louis NAACP Pres Suspended
The result is a continuing cycle of poverty and incarceration that has a devastating impact on families for generations. (Photo: iStockphoto / NNPA)
opioid epidemic that’s hit white areas hardest, agencies in cities around the country are still trying to offer ways to stop the mass incarceration of blacks. According to a report from the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA), if you are poor in New York City – especially if you’re a low-income person of color – there’s an increased likelihood that you’ll be drawn into the criminal justice system. And once justice-involved, climbing out of poverty becomes harder, the report said. Also, the report’s authors said the local government should be doing more to support those who are justice-involved, including those who are formerly incarcerated and those with parole, probation, and community supervision. These individuals and their families struggle with access to housing, employment, educational opportunities, and meeting health and mental health needs and experience a patchwork of services that are under-resourced and not targeted to meet the complex challenges that come before, during, and after justice involvement, FPWA officials said. The result is a continuing cycle of poverty and incarceration that has a devastating impact on families for generations, they said. “If we are serious about ending mass incarceration, if we want to disrupt systems that criminalize the poor,
we must better utilize and resource the organizations that are already providing critical services in these communities,” Jennifer Jones Austin, FPWA CEO and Executive Director, said in a news release. “Systemic racism drives both poverty and the mass incarceration of low-income people, especially people of color. This cycle of poverty and criminal justice involvement feeds on itself and creates herculean barriers to achieving economic and social advancement, for those who have been justice involved and for their loved ones,” Jones said. “There are proven ways to support communities experiencing high levels of poverty, income insecurity and incarceration. Human services organizations are a key part of those solutions,” she said. There’s a need for more resources, “more compassion, and more political will to end the poverty to prison pipeline and we must also recognize the role of intergenerational trauma in creating the pipeline and provide mental health and trauma-informed services to those who are justice-impacted,” said Michael A. Lindsey, Ph.D., MSW, MPH, Executive Director of the McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research at New York University. “As recommended, let’s create a ‘trauma-informed New York,’ where health and human service providers, managed care companies, policymakers, governmental agencies, and community and faith leaders, have the tools to effectively work together to solve this crisis,” Lindsey said.
REPARATIONS
Workable & Should be Provided By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Correspondent As Joe Biden prepares to enter the crowded Democratic field for the 2020 presidential election, it wouldn’t be surprising if the former vice president will join the other 19 declared candidates in using reparations for the Transatlantic Slave Trade as a political platform. Candidates including New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, California Sen. Kamala Harris, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, and former HUD Secretary Julian Castro have said they intend to seek reparations for African Americans. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has asked for reparations for both African Americans and Native Americans. Just three
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“WiththeracialdividestokedbyPresidentDonaldTrump’sracial bias, the need for some healing among the races is a progressive and necessary policy and redress and reparations promote this healing so that we can move toward a less factionalized, less racially divided country,” Minami said. years ago, a United Nations working group jumped into the fray. Following 14 years and 20 days of speaking with U.S. officials, activists, and families of people killed by police in major American cities, the U.N. working group issued its conclusion that the slave trade was a crime against humanity and the American government should pay reparations. The experts traveled to major cities including Washington, D.C.; Jackson, Mississippi; Baltimore; Chicago and New York. “Contemporary police killings and the trauma it creates are reminiscent of the racial terror lynching in the past,” a French member of the working group of U.N. experts Mireille Fanon-MendesFrance, told CBS News. Dr. Mary Frances Berry, a Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and the author of numerous books including “My Face is Black Is True: Callie House and the Struggle for Ex-Slave Reparations,” t o l d NNPA Ne w s w i r e
“The odds against success are great but given the meager gains to date, it’s just as fruitful to argue for reparations as anything else and besides it is a just cause,” said Dr. Mary Frances Berry, a Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and the author of numerous books including “My Face is Black Is True: Callie House and the Struggle for Ex-Slave Reparations.
that, “as matter of justice and no matter how long it takes, there should be a full-throated demand for reparations for slavery echoing the demand of the thousands of ex-slaves in the 19th century and reasserted time and again since.” “The odds against success are great but given the meager gains to date, it’s just as fruitful to argue for reparations as anything else and besides it is a just cause,” Dr. Berry said. “Whatever we do, we should remind ourselves, as Frederick Douglass said, ‘Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has. It never will,’” she said. Berry, who once served as chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and as Assistant Secretary for Education in the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, scoffed at the idea that reparations are “unworkable.” Precedent has already been set, she said. “The country has lots of experience with reparations. The federal government gave compensation to slave owners in the border states who let their slaves enlist in the Union Army,” Dr. Berry said. “Also, during the Civil War, compensation was given to slave owners in the District of Columbia when slaves there were freed in 1862 and, more recently, compensation for Holocaust victims and the victims of Japanese Internment are examples of reparations,” she said. Dr. Berry continued: “In the 19th century after the Civil War, Callie House, a former slave, led a movement to demand pensions for old ex-slaves as reparations for their poverty and unrequited labor during slavery. “Her organization collected petitions including the names of former owners of ex-slaves and succeeded in having bills introduced in Congress and sued the federal government, losing on technical grounds.” Continued on page A2
ST. LOUIS (AP) – The president of the St. Louis County NAACP has been suspended by the national organization, in part for his support of a bill that would change how Missouri colleges respond to allegations of sexual assault by giving the accused more legal rights. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Saturday that St. Louis County NAACP President John Gaskin was notified of his suspension via a letter from national NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson. The letter cites Gaskin’s support for legislation targeting federal Title IX protections for women on college campuses. Johnson says Gaskin offered the support without first getting authorization of the branch’s executive committee. The letter also alleges a conflict of interest, saying Gaskin sought support for a proposal to merge St. Louis city and county governments without disclosing he was a paid consultant for an organization pushing the merger. Gaskin told the Post-Dispatch via text the suspension was an “internal NAACP matter.”
Officer Can Sue Black Lives Matter
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – A Louisiana police officer injured during protests over the 2016 killing of a black man can sue a Black Lives Matter organizer on the grounds he acted negligently by leading people to block a highway, a federal appeals court has ruled. The Baton Rouge officer, identified only as John Doe in court records, had sued DeRay Mckesson and others who gathered as part of the Black Lives Matter movement after police fatally shot Alton Sterling, The Advocate reported. A federal judge threw out the lawsuit in 2017, citing First Amendment rights and noting Black Lives Matter was too loosely organized to sue. But the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that the officer should be able to argue that Mckesson, a prominent Baltimore activist, didn’t exercise reasonable care in leading protesters onto the highway, setting up a police confrontation in which the officer was injured by a thrown concrete block. Mckesson, reached Thursday for comment, said, “I’m disappointed and troubled by the 5th Circuit’s reversal of the district court decision. I am currently exploring my legal options and will respond formally soon.” Doe’s lawyer, Donna Grodner, called the ruling “a stand-up victory for the Baton Rouge PD.” Circuit Judge E. Grady Jolly, writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, said, “Mckesson should have known that leading the demonstrators onto a busy highway was most nearly certain to provoke a confrontation between police and the mass of demonstrators, yet he ignored the foreseeable danger to officers, bystanders, and demonstrators, and notwithstanding, did so anyway.” The court said it wasn’t addressing whether Doe’s arguments were valid. “Our ruling at this point is not to say that a finding of liability will ultimately be appropriate,” Jolly wrote. “We are simply required to decide whether Officer Doe’s claim for relief is sufficiently plausible.” U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson had ruled that Black Lives Matter was a social movement and that Doe’s lawsuit had no suitable target in that regard. The 5th Circuit agreed. “The district court took judicial notice that (Black Lives Matter) is a ‘hashtag’ and therefore an ‘expression’ that lacks the capacity to be sued,” the judges said. A Baton Rouge police officer fatally shot Sterling during a struggle outside a convenience store in 2016 after being summoned to the store. The 37-year-old had been selling homemade CDs and officers later recovered a loaded revolver from his pocket. As a convicted felon, Sterling could not legally carry a gun. Video of Sterling’s death set off days of protests, including the July 9, 2016, protest on Airline Highway outside the Baton Rouge Police Department headquarters. Doe was among the officers at the scene to arrest protesters after they failed to clear the roadway. According to the 5th Circuit, Doe was struck in the head and suffered the loss of teeth, a jaw injury, a brain injury, a head injury, lost wages, “and other compensable losses.
Smollett Prosecutor Subpoenaed
CHICAGO (AP) – Chicago’s top prosecutor has been subpoenaed to appear in court by a retired appellate judge who’s pushing for a special prosecutor to investigate the handling of the case against actor Jussie Smollett. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Sheila O’Brien also subpoenaed Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s top deputy and requested that Smollett appear at a hearing on her request. Foxx was harshly criticized when her office announced it was dropping charges against Smollett that accused the black, gay actor of staging a racist and anti-gay attack on himself in downtown Chicago. Foxx has defended the decision to drop the charges and says she welcomes an independent investigation.