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May 17, 2018
LOCAL/NATIONAL NEWS/ADVERTISING
Man Hires White Supremacist to Hang his Black Neighbor "$500 and he's a ghost," Brandon Cory Lecroy offered the hired killer — unaware he was an FBI agent. Kaitlyn D'Onofrio May 10, 2018 A South Carolina man has been arrested after he attempted to solicit a white supremacist group to murder his Black neighbor and have him hanged from a tree. The disturbing request represents a modern-day attempt at lynching. Brandon Cory Lecroy, 25, reached out to a white supremacist organization to enlist help in killing the man. According to an affidavit cited by the Index-Journal, Lecroy spoke with an FBI informant. The next day he was, unbeknownst to him. in contact with an undercover agent. "$500 and he's a ghost," Lecroy offered the agent, per the affidavit. Lecroy reportedly ask that his neighbor be hanged from a tree and that a flaming cross be placed in his yard. "He also texted the agent a picture of the neighbor, who was identified in court documents only as 'FJ,'" the Washington Post reported. According to the affidavit, Lecroy wanted to take ownership of his neighbor's property. According to the Post and Courier, Lecroy met with the agent on April 9, at which time he put down a $100 down payment "with acknowledgement that this payment was for the murder of his neighbor"; Lecroy and the agent also reportedly talked about "future targets." Lecroy was charged with solicitation to commit a crime of violence and use of interstate com-
merce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire, the South Carolina district attorney's office reported. He faces up to a decade in prison and a $250,000 fine. It was not reported which organization Lecroy reached out to, and it is unclear what relationship — if any -— he had with his neighbor, according to the Washington Post. The Index-Journal reported that Lecroy is currently at Federal Medical Center Devens in Ayer, Mass.; a psychiatric evaluation was ordered to determine if Lecroy is fit to stand trial. According to the NAACP, 3,446 Black people were lynched between 1882 and 1968. The Na-
tional Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum opened in Montgomery, Ala., this past April. It honors the victims of racial terror lynchings with monuments, sculptures and words from famous pioneers of the civil rights movement. However, the idea of lynching continues to rear its ugly head in today's society. In January, an Ohio middle school teacher faced no consequences after telling her 13-yearold Black student he would face a lynch mob if he didn't do his work. The following month, a member of a school board in Louisiana shared a photo with a noose on
Facebook, and while he apologized, he didn't appear to understand its racial overtones. Mike Whitlow of the Tangipahoa Parish School Board reportedly reposted a meme featuring a noose and an interesting choice of words on his personal Facebook account: "If we want to make America great again, we will have to make evil people fear punishment again." In April, former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick received the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award. When receiving the award he acknowledged "the lawful lynching of Black and brown people by the police."
What You Should Know: What to Do if You What You Should Know: What to Do if You Believe You Have Been Harassed at Work...continued Believe You Have Been Harassed at Work Local/National News
1) If you feel comfortable doing so, tell the person who is harassing you to stop. 2) If you do not feel comfortable confronting the harasser directly, or if the behavior does not stop, follow the steps below: a. Check to see if your employer has an anti-harassment policy. This may be on the employer’s website. If it’s not, check your employee handbook. Finally, you can ask any supervisor (it does not have to be your supervisor) or someone in Human Resources (if your employer has an HR department) whether there is an anti-harassment policy and if so, to give you a copy. b. If there is a policy, follow the steps in the policy. The policy should give you various options for reporting the harassment, including the option of filing a complaint. c. If there is no policy, talk with a supervisor. You can talk with your own supervisor, the supervisor of the person who is harassing you, or any supervisor in the organization. Explain what has happened and ask for that person’s help in getting the behavior to stop. d. The law protects you from retaliation (punishment) for complaining about harassment. You have a right to report harassment, participate in a harassment investigation or lawsuit, or oppose harassment, without being retaliated against for doing so. e. You always have an option of filing a charge of discrimination with the EEOC to complain about the harassment. There are specific time limits for filing a charge (180 or 300 days, depending on where you work), so contact EEOC promptly. See EEOC’s How to File a Charge of Employment Discrimination. You can also meet with EEOC to discuss your situation and your options. This conversation is confidential. Note: federal employees and job applicants have a different complaint process and different time limits. Additional information on workplace harassment includes the following: · Harassment · Facts About Sexual Harassment · Youth at Work: Harassment · EEOC’s Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace Facts About Retaliation NEW Retaliation: Considerations for Federal Agency Managers Retaliation is the most frequently alleged basis of discrimination in the federal sector and the most common discrimination finding in federal sector
cases. As EEOC works to address this issue, you can help. Learn more about what constitutes retaliation, why it happens, and how to prevent it. Written by EEOC staff, this article ran in the summer 2015 issue of The Federal Manager. The EEO laws prohibit punishing job applicants or employees for asserting their rights to be free from employment discrimination including harassment. Asserting these EEO rights is called “protected activity,” and it can take many forms. For example, it is unlawful to retaliate against applicants or employees for: · filing or being a witness in an EEO charge, complaint, investigation, or lawsuit · communicating with a supervisor or manager about employment discrimination, including harassment · answering questions during an employer investigation of alleged harassment · refusing to follow orders that would result in discrimination · resisting sexual advances, or intervening to protect others · requesting accommodation of a disability or for a religious practice · asking managers or coworkers about salary information to uncover potentially discriminatory wages. Participating in a complaint process is protected from retaliation under all circumstances. Other acts to oppose discrimination are protected as long as the employee was acting on a reasonable belief that something in the workplace may violate EEO laws, even if he or she did not use legal terminology to describe it. Engaging in EEO activity, however, does not shield an employee from all discipline or discharge. Employers are free to discipline or terminate workers if motivated by non-retaliatory and nondiscriminatory reasons that would otherwise result in such consequences. However, an employer is not allowed to do anything in response to EEO activity that would discourage someone from resisting or complaining about future discrimination. For example, depending on the facts, it could be retaliation if an employer acts because of the employee’s EEO activity to: · reprimand the employee or give a performance evaluation that is lower than it should be; · transfer the employee to a less desirable position; · engage in verbal or physical abuse; (continued in next 2 columns)
· threaten to make, or actually make reports to authorities (such as reporting immigration status or contacting the police); · increase scrutiny; · spread false rumors, treat a family member negatively (for example, cancel a contract with the person’s spouse); or · make the person’s work more difficult (for example, punishing an employee for an EEO complaint by purposefully changing his work schedule to conflict with family responsibilities). For more information, Questions and Answers: Enforcement Guidance on Retaliation and Related Issues, https:/ /www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/retaliation-qa.cfm. How to File a Charge of Employment Discrimination Note: Federal employees and applicants for federal jobs have a different complaint process. A charge of discrimination is a signed statement asserting that an organization engaged in employment discrimination. It requests EEOC to take remedial action. The laws enforced by EEOC, except for the Equal Pay Act, require you to file a charge before you can file a lawsuit for unlawful discrimination. There are strict time limits for filing a charge. Time Limits for Filing a Charge Where the discrimination took place can determine how long you have to file a charge. The 180-calendar-day filing deadline is extended to 300- calendar days if a state or local agency enforces a state or local law that prohibits employment discrimination on the same basis. The rules are slightly different for age discrimination charges. For age discrimination, the filing deadline is only extended to 300 days if there is a state law prohibiting age discrimination in employment and a state agency or authority enforcing that law. The deadline is not extended if only a local law prohibits age discrimination. Online - Use the EEOC Public Portal to Submit an Inquiry, Schedule an Appointment, and File a Charge A Charge of Discrimination can be completed through our online system after you submit an online inquiry and we interview you. EEOC’s Public Portal asks you a few questions to help determine whether EEOC is the right federal agency to handle your complaint involving employment discrimination. In Person at an EEOC Office Each EEOC office has appointments, which you can schedule online through the EEOC Public Portal. Offices also have walk-in appointments. Go to https://www.eeoc.gov/field/
index.cfm for information about the office closest to you. In the EEOC’s experience, having the opportunity to discuss your concerns with an EEOC staff member in an interview is the best way to assess how to address your concerns about employment discrimination and determine whether filing a charge of discrimination is the appropriate path for you. In any event, the final decision to file a charge is your own. An EEOC staff member will prepare a charge using the information you provide, which you can review and sign online by logging into your account. You may file a charge of employment discrimination at the EEOC office closest to where you live, or at any one of the EEOC’s 53 field offices. Your charge, however, may be investigated at the EEOC office closest to where the discrimination occurred. If you are a U.S. citizen working for an American company overseas, you should file your charge with the EEOC field office closest to your employer’s corporate headquarters. It is always helpful if you bring with you to the meeting any information or papers that will help us understand your case. For example, if you were fired because of your performance, you might bring with you the letter or notice telling you that you were fired and your performance evaluations. You might also bring with you the names of people who know about what happened and information about how to contact them. You can bring anyone you want to your meeting, especially if you need language assistance and know someone who can help. You can also bring your lawyer, although you don’t have to hire a lawyer to file a charge. If you need special assistance during the meeting, like a sign language or foreign language interpreter, let us know ahead of time so we can arrange for someone to be there for you. By Telephone Although we do not take charges over the phone, you can get the process started over the phone. You can call 1-800-669-4000 to discuss your situation. A representative will ask you for some basic information to determine if your situation is covered by the laws we enforce and explain how to file a charge. At a State or Local Fair Employment Practice Agency Many states and localities have agencies that enforce laws prohibiting employment discrimination. EEOC refers to these agencies as Fair Employment Practices Agencies (FEPAs). EEOC and some FEPAs have worksharing (continued in next 2 columns)
Western leaders betrayed Palestinians 70 years ago. There is no sign that’s about to change...continued from page 3 ians who tried to return to their lands as “infiltrators”. That entitled Israeli security officials to shoot them on sight – in what was effectively execution as a deterrence policy. Nothing much has changed seven decades on. A majority of Gaza’s population today are descended from refugees driven into the enclave in 1948. They have been penned up like cattle ever since. That is why the Palestinians’ current protests take place under the banner of the March of Return. For decades, Israel has not only denied Palestinians the prospect of a minimal state. It has carved Palestinian territories into a series of ghettos – and in the case of Gaza, blockaded it for 12 years, choking it into a humanitarian catastrophe. Despite this, Israel wants the world to view Gaza as an embryonic Palestinian state, supposedly liberated from occupation in 2005 when it pulled out several thousand Jewish settlers. Again, this narrative has been crafted only to deceive. Hamas has never been allowed to rule Gaza, any more than Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority governs the West Bank. But echoing the events of the Nakba, Israel has cast the protesters as “infiltrators”, a narrative that has left most observers strangely indifferent to the fate
of Palestinian youth demonstrating for their freedom. Once again, these executions, supposedly carried out by the Israeli army in self-defence, are intended to dissuade Palestinians from demanding their rights. Israel is not defending its borders but the walls of cages it has built to safeguard the continuing theft of Palestinian land and preserve Jewish privilege. In the West Bank, the prison contracts by the day as Jewish settlers and the Israeli army steal more land. In Gaza’s case, the prison cannot be shrunk any smaller. For many years, world heads of state have castigated Palestinians for using violence and lambasted Hamas for firing rockets out of Gaza. But now that young Palestinians prefer to take up mass civil disobedience, their plight is barely attracting attention, let alone sympathy. Instead, they are criticised for “breaching the border” and threatening Israel’s security. The only legitimate struggle for Palestinians, it seems, is keeping quiet, allowing their lands to be plundered and their children to be starved. Western leaders and the public betrayed the Palestinians in 1948. There is no sign, 70 years on, that the West is about to change its ways.
What You Should Know: What to Do if You Believe You Have Been Harassed at Work...continued agreements in place to prevent the duplication of effort in charge processing. According to these agreements, if you file a charge with either EEOC or a FEPA, the charge also will be automatically filed with the other agency. This process, which is defined as dual filing, helps to protect charging party rights under both federal and state or local law. If you file a charge at a state or local agency, you can let them know if you also want your charge filed with the EEOC. By Mail If you have 60 days or fewer in which to file a timely charge, the EEOC Public Portal will provide special directions for providing necessary information to the EEOC and how to file your charge quickly. You can also file a charge by sending us a letter that includes the following information: · Your name, address, email, and telephone number · The name, address, email,
and telephone number of the employer (or employment agency or union) you want to file your charge against · The number of employees employed there (if known) · A short description of the actions you believe were discriminatory (for example, you were fired, demoted, harassed) · When the discriminatory actions took place · Why you believe you were discriminated against (for example, because of your race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age (40 or older), disability, genetic information, or retaliation · Your signature Don’t forget to sign your letter. If you don’t sign it, we cannot investigate it. Your letter will be reviewed and if more information is needed, we will contact you to gather that information.
Blacks Can't Afford to Ignore Dental Health...continued from page 4 distilled to the 3 A's: Access, Assets, and Attitudes. All too often access is limited, because people live in the wrong areas, because providers are unavailable, or because there are other reasons people can't physically get to the care they need. Assets determine almost everything—if you don't have the dollars, no matter what the proximity, you won't likely have the care you need. Finally, the attitudes of both providers and patients make a difference in who seeks care and in what kind of care is provided. Recent work on maternal mortality among African American women, regardless of race, suggests that racial attitudes in treatment make a difference. Consider the case of our superstar, Serena Williams, who almost died giving birth to her precious Alexis Olympia, partly, because of some preconceived notions about Black folks on the part of misguided medical professionals. Mental health and dental health are the two parts of healthcare that are most frequently ignored. It is not enough to simply get an annual checkup. Increasing research shows that mental health and physical health are inextricably intertwined. Dental health, all too frequently, is ignored. Even those with “good” health insurance may have limited dental insurance. And lower-income folks rely on Medicaid and CHIP, but may not have anywhere to go to get the help they need. Dental practitioners like Dr. Diane Earle, a second-generation Meharry-trained dentist, stand in the gap for those who may not
have access to healthcare. In her role as Managing Dental Director for Kool Smiles, Earle said that, “Sharing Smiles Day is an opportunity for our dentists and staff to put a smile back on the faces of children who need dental care but whose families cannot afford it.” Pew says that more than 18 million low-income children had no access to health care in 2014. Kool Smile's effort to see 500 or more children on May 20 doesn't begin to deal with the enormity of the challenge, but it's an effort that will make a big difference for the children who are treated. And it's an opportunity for us to reflect on the importance of dental health that the role that organizations like Kool Smiles can play in closing the dental health gap. Full disclosure: I've worked with Kool Smiles and their dental service organization, Benevis, on a program called Watch Yo' Mouth, featuring Dr. Diane Earle and healthy living author Debra PeekHaynes. We plan to offer more of these programs in coming months. Meanwhile, though, I am excited about Sharing Smiles Day and about developing ways more lowincome children can have access to dental care, so that there can be a healthy smile for every child in our nation. Julianne Malveaux is an author, economist and founder of Economic Education. Her latest book “Are We Better Off? Race, Obama and Public Policy” is available to order at Amazon.com and at www.juliannemalveaux.com. Follow Dr. Malveaux on Twitter @drjlastword.